12 must-see museum exhibits in the U.S. this summer
It’s prime summer travel season, and with the “heat dome” in effect, many travelers will be looking for indoor options. Enter America’s museums, with a great lineup of fascinating exhibitions from coast to coast.
Icebergs at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.
July 2 - Sept. 5, 2016
Make sure to bring your camera to Icebergs at the National Building Museum in D.C. You’ll want photos in this otherworldly space. In the spirit of last summer’s all-white-ball “Beach,” this exhibit aims to immerse visitors in ice. “Icebergs invokes the surreal underwater-world of glacial ice fields,” said James Corner, whose company designed the exhibit. “Such a world is both beautiful and ominous given our current epoch of climate change, ice-melt, and rising seas.” Explore the exhibit from top to bottom, starting with an undersea bridge, caverns and grottoes on the ocean floor under the “water line”, moving to the balcony to gaze over the tallest iceberg peak at 56 feet, finish by sliding down an ice chute and picking up Japanese kakigori shaved-ice treats. Go now: Like melting icebergs, when it ends (in September), it’s gone forever. nbm.org/exhibitions-collections/exhibitions/icebergs/icebergs.html
Louder Than Words: Rock, Power and Politics at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland
May 20 - Nov. 27, 2016
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and Washington, D.C.’s Newseum have paired up for a powerful, political exhibit — perfectly timed as the 2016 election is at a fever pitch. Through its history, rock has had the power to change attitudes about patriotism, peace, equality and freedom. Nothing is off limits: Relive musical responses to the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, gender equality, social inequality, and police brutality in poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Bob Dylan is a major focus, with artifacts like original handwritten lyrics from his The Times They Are a-Changin. On display: John Lennon’s acoustic guitar from the 1969 Montreal and Amsterdam “Bed-ins for Peace”, correspondence between the FBI and Priority Records regarding Public Enemy’s Fight the Power, and original Village People stage costumes. rockhall.com/exhibits/louder-than-words-rock-power-politics/
Drag Racing: America’s Fast Time at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee
June 17 - Sept. 5, 2016
Buckle in for the drag racing exhibit as part of the “year of racing” at Milwaukee’s Harley-Davidson Museum. The show traces drag racing’s roots on the back roads and airport runways of post-World War II America to the raceways of today where vehicles hit 320 miles per hour. Drag racing has had an undeniable impact on pop culture, especially in movies. Film is a focus of the exhibit, along with drag racing bikes, toys like model car kits, safety gear including helmets and fire masks (an upgrade from the T-shirts and jeans worn by the first competitors after World War II), posters and advertisements. harley-davidson.com/content/h-d/en_US/home/museum/explore/exhibits/drag-racing-americas-fast-time.html
Flamenco — From Spain to New Mexico at the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe
Nov. 22, 2015 - Sept. 10, 2017
With the tagline “Passionate, fiery, sensual, intense,” the Museum of International Folk Art’s Flamenco exhibit is irresistible. This living tradition, handed down through generations, started as a rural, folkloric tradition and evolved into elaborate staged productions incorporating extravagantly costumed dancers accompanied by virtuoso guitarists. Through more than 150 objects, Flamenco’s story is told with costumes (both historic and contemporary), musical instruments, costume and set design sketches, playbills, sheet music and posters — from 15th- and 16th-century Spain to today, especially in New Mexico. internationalfolkart.org/exhibitions/exhibition-details?eventID=2683
Da Vinci — The Genius at Science Museum Oklahoma, Oklahoma City
June 25, 2016 - Jan. 8, 2017
The most comprehensive exploration of Leonardo da Vinci’s work ever created comes to Oklahoma this year. Da Vinci was a man of many talents: He was an inventor, artist, anatomist, sculptor, engineer, musician and architect. The exhibits features rarely seen perspectives on his famous works, including educational animation presentations of The Last Supper, and life-size recreations of inventions that visitors can push, pull, crank and interact with. The highlight, of course, is an in-depth analysis of his most famous piece, Mona Lisa, using large format multimedia representations that break down components of the work. sciencemuseumoklahoma.com/content/da-vinci
The Wonderful World of Oz at Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa
June 12 - Sept. 25, 2016
Thanks to a special grant, Iowa’s Figge Art Museum is completely free to the public for the entire summer. If that wasn’t reason enough to go now, consider The Wizard of Oz. A selection of 110 objects drawn from the largest collection of materials related to the Wizard of Oz story are on display until September. For your viewing pleasure: the finest known copy of the first edition/first state of Baum’s 1900 book; original sketches, costumes and props from the beloved 1939 movie starring Judy Garland; and Oz spinoffs such as puppets, toys and posters from other productions like Wicked and The Wiz. Highlights from the film include the hourglass that the Wicked Witch of the West uses to show Dorothy how much time she has left, a well-preserved Green Lollipop Guild Munchkin costume and Dorothy’s screen-test dress. figgeartmuseum.org/Figge-Art-Museum-(1)/April-2016/The-Wonderful-World-of-Oz-Selections-from-the-Will.aspx
Boeing’s Centennial at the Museum of Flight, Seattle
Jan. 23 - Dec. 31, 2016
The Museum of Flight honors the Boeing Company’s 100-year history with a year-long exhibit that draws upon its unrivaled collection of Boeing aircraft, artifacts, images and documents. The largest artifact is the original Boeing airplane factory, nicknamed The Red Barn and full of wooden planes, that is on permanent display. A timeline exhibit covers Boeing’s major milestones and includes artifacts like the official employee clock from the Boeing Airplane Company's main office in the first manufacturing plant. The centerpiece of the exhibit is a Boeing P-26 Peashooter fighter aircraft on loan from the San Diego Air and Space Museum. Visitors are invited to share their connection with the Boeing Company and strike a pose in front of a mockup of the posh 1960s 747-100 "Tiger Lounge.” museumofflight.org/Exhibits/boeing-centennial-exhibit
Birthday bash: Boeing rolls out jets from 707 to 787 to celebrate
Unguarded, Untold, Iconic: Afghanistan through the Lens of Steve McCurry at Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pa.
July 16 - Oct. 23, 2016
Thought-provoking perspectives on Afghan culture, food, religion and history come to the Philadelphia suburbs this summer. Philadelphia-born photographer Steve McCurry, best known for his iconic 1985 National Geographic cover photograph Afghan Girl, is the focus of the exhibit. “This exhibition presents a chance to explore both new and familiar photographs from McCurry’s career-long connection with the complicated, diverse, and intriguing country of Afghanistan, which he was first drawn to after reading James Michener’s novel Caravans,” said Kelsey Halliday Johnson, the Michener Art Museum’s curatorial fellow in photography and new media. In the collection: dozens of images captured by McCurry in Afghanistan during the last 35 years as well as his stunning photographs of locations from around the globe. michenerartmuseum.org/exhibition/unguarded-untold-iconic-afghanistan-through-the-lens-of-steve-mccurry/
Brick by Brick at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
March 10, 2016 - February 2017
Engineering marvels, represented by LEGO-built structures, take over the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago this summer. Inside the 7,000-square-foot exhibit with more than a dozen structures: a 60-foot-long Golden Gate Bridge, the International Space Station and the St. Louis Gateway Arch, constructed by a LEGO Certified Professional. Hands-on activities — like using simple machines and engineering to lift guests in the air, walking on a sturdy I-beam to feel its strength, and a build-your-own area — make learning fun. Visitors will walk away appreciating how architects and engineers push the limits of design, materials and location to make the seemingly impossible, possible. msichicago.org/press/exhibits-and-events/brick-by-brick/
View From Up Here: The Arctic at the Center of the World at the Anchorage Museum, Alaska
May 6 - Oct. 2, 2016
Covering the northernmost part of the world and home to four million people, the Arctic has long fascinated explorers and artists. The Anchorage Museum sets its sights on this vast region through film, photographs, installations and sculptures that highlight Arctic cultures, landscape, scientific research and visions of the future. Among many works on display: polar bear dens recreated in glass, a cinematic look at Alaska’s Arctic at a time of change, prehistoric ice formations portrayed in photography, sculpture and sound recordings, photo and film of the last living nomads of the Northern Hemisphere, and a sculptural garden on the Anchorage Museum’s front lawn that questions how environmental change might change the flora and the food sources of the arctic. Participating artists range from Indigenous artists from Alaska to international contemporary artists.
Baseball Oddities and Wonders of the World at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, Kentucky
March 5, 2016 - Jan. 8, 2017
A match made in quirky heaven: the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory and Ripley’s Believe It or Not! showcase bizarre baseball treasures this summer. “The entertainment factor is off-the-charts with this amazing show,” said Anne Jewell, VP and executive director of Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. “Ripley’s spin on baseball is full of fun and surprises.” A few highlights among the 100 items: a colorful and exotic uniform worn by Babe Ruth during a charity game in 1939, a Yankee Stadium replica made with toothpicks, a Hank Aaron sculpture made out of Oh Henry! Candy Bars, a portrait of Jennifer Lawrence made with 10,000 peanuts, a “painting” of Tom Cruise made from ketchup and mustard and a portrait of Pete Rose painted on rose petals.
The Greeks — Agamemnon to Alexander the Great at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C.
June 1 - Oct. 10, 2016
The National Geographic Museum is the lucky host to the only East Coast stop for this exhibit on the Greeks, the largest exhibition of its kind to tour North America in 25 years. It pulls together more than 550 artifacts, many of which have never been displayed outside of Greece, from the national collections of 22 Greek museums. “The Greeks is the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of Greek history and culture to visit North America in a generation,” said Kathryn Keane, vice president of exhibitions at the National Geographic Society. “From their Bronze Age beginnings to the height of classical civilization, the Greeks and the traditions they founded continue to have a profound impact on our lives today.” Curator favorites include iconic stone figurines from the Cycladic Islands, gold funerary masks from Mycenae, classical marble statues from the Acropolis Museum of Greek poets, athletes and heroes, and brightly painted ceramic vases featuring scenes from Greek mythology and daily life. natgeo.org/thegreeks