Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Craig Hudson

After a two-year, approximately $70 million renovation, the National Museum of Women in the Arts reopens this weekend, allowing museum members and the public to explore the reimagined galleries — curators say exhibition space has expanded by 15 percent — and take in the featured art, 40 percent of which has never been on display in D.C. before.

All free tickets have been claimed for Saturday’s grand reopening and Sunday’s Community Day, though <a href="https://nmwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/NMWA-Opening-Release_final_.pdf" target="_blank">a “limited number” of walk-up tickets</a> will be available at noon. Instead of a weekend-long celebration, think of this as a new beginning for the museum dedicated to championing women through the arts. “The Sky’s the Limit,” a display of modern sculpture in the upgraded second-floor galleries, remains on display through February, while other temporary exhibitions are scheduled to stick around for a year. Meanwhile, the museum is planning events including discussions with artists and hands-on art-making classes, as well as offering free admission one Wednesday and one Sunday per month.

Here’s what you need to know about visiting the museum’s revamped digs.

Critic Philip Kennicott on the renovated space and the art on view

1. Gallery spaces have a new look and feel

The biggest change is the most obvious one: The permanent collection, which had been displayed in a warren of small rooms and nooks, is now in an airier space, separated into alcoves and vestibules. Vastly improved sightlines from the third-floor entrance pull the viewer through the museum, thanks to glimpses of familiar works — a painting by Amy Sherald straight ahead through the gallery, the majestic Lavinia Fontana on a wall to the right — while the division of space allows visitors to stop and notice different pieces along the way.

There are more subtle changes, too, including a Unistrut grid in the ceiling that makes it easier to suspend heavy works — the “Sky’s the Limit” sculpture exhibition on the revamped second floor, where art hangs from the ceiling and seems to tumble down the walls, wouldn’t be possible in this form otherwise — as well as better lighting and climate control.

On the fourth floor, near the library, there are two new galleries for temporary exhibitions. On display through October 2024 are Hung Liu’s “Making History,” with paintings and prints inspired by vintage Chinese photographs, and “Holding Ground,” which juxtaposes artists’ books with prints hanging on the walls. (Don’t miss Maricarmen Solis Diaz’s contribution, shaped like a miniature National Museum of Women in the Arts building, adjacent to lithographs by the feminist art activists Guerrilla Girls.)

2. The museum’s permanent collection has been ‘remixed’

There are more than 6,000 works spanning five centuries in the museum’s permanent collection, from Renaissance paintings to LED-illuminated chandeliers. But rather than display works chronologically, a la Art History 101, the collection has been “remixed” around various themes: An alcove dubbed “Fiber Optics” juxtaposes Laure Tixier’s felt houses, Sonya Clark’s wood-and-thread “Ties That Bind,” and Faith Ringgold’s painting “American Collection #4: Jo Baker’s Bananas,” which has a pieced, quilt-like border. The section dubbed “Seeing Red” offers works in multiple hues of red, from the rich fabrics in Fontana’s 16th-century “Marriage Portrait of a Bolognese Noblewoman” to Alma Thomas’s 1973 space-inspired abstraction “Orion.”

While it’s easy to browse the reorganized galleries, a digital touch screen on the third floor — look for it near the Grand Staircase — serves as a wayfinder and guide. Visitors can learn about works on display, zooming in close enough to see brushstrokes, then see where the art is located in the gallery. It also encourages interaction, asking users questions like, “What discipline would you turn to for artistic inspiration?” and showing poll results.

3. Feel free to curl up with a book — or a graphic novel or a zine

The museum’s library is a treasure trove for academics and researchers, home to the Judy Chicago Visual Archive and personal papers of Frida Kahlo. But it’s now more inviting to the public, too: Feel free to wander in, pull some reading material off the shelf — there are boxes of woman-made zines and shelves of graphic novels in addition to heavyweight art books (Judy Chicago’s “Frida Kahlo: Face to Face”) and catalogues of previous exhibitions — and curl up in the soft, spinning, C-shaped chairs.

4. Visitors can make art, not just look at it

While the museum has long offered hands-on art activities for visitors, it’s never had a facility like the Susan Swartz Studio on the fourth floor: an art studio and classroom with sinks. Running water makes it easier for everyone to get messy creating art, whether that’s papermaking classes for adults or watercolor painting for kids. Look for the studio to host activities on the twice-monthly Community Days.

5. Activities are planned for museum visitors — and for those far from D.C.

One upgrade that probably won’t be mentioned as many times as the refurbished galleries: the Mars Performance Hall, an auditorium dating back to the building’s early-20th-century use as a Masonic lodge, with an expanded stage, new seat cushions, space for wheelchairs, and new audio/video technology that should improve the museum’s ability to host artist talks and film screenings.

The museum will waive its admission fees on the first Sunday and second Wednesday of every month as part of its Community Days. Look for gallery talks, tours and activities, especially in the art studio, on those days. Additionally, there are regularly scheduled lunchtime talks on Wednesdays and guided tours of the collection on Friday afternoons.

Other highlights on the calendar include a Nov. 12 panel discussion with art historian Katy Hessel, the author of “The Story of Art Without Men,” followed by a family-style dinner; a Dec. 3 discussion with digital artists about technology and equity; and, on Jan. 17, the return of NMWA Nights, the museum’s monthly after-hours program with tours, art making, cocktails and live performances. (Tickets will go on sale soon.)

During the pandemic, the museum gained a following for its online programming, including curator discussions, book clubs, exhibit tours and themed happy hours. These virtual events continued while the museum was closed, and although the staff is eager to get back to in-person happenings, there will be a Zoom element, too, for those who can’t attend or who live outside the D.C. area. A hybrid Art Chat @ 5, open to visitors online and at the museum, will be held Nov. 3, with registration required for both in-person and virtual participants, and an online-only discussion of select artworks at the museum will be held Nov. 17.

National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Ave. NW. <a href="https://nmwa.org/" target=_blank>nmwa.org</a>. Open Tuesday through Sunday beginning Oct. 21. $16; $13 for D.C. residents and visitors over 70; free for visitors 21 and younger.

University of Maryland-College Park, Journalism

Fritz Hahn has covered bars, drinks and nightlife for The Washington Post's Weekend section since 2003, but he also writes about a variety of local entertainment topics.