The Archives of American Art announces two free programs with artist Aram Han Sifuentes

Two FREE programs led by artist Aram Han Sifuentes.
Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art & Portraiture
8th and F Streets, NW
Washington, D.C. 20001

June 18
Artist Talk with Aram Han Sifuentes
5:00–6:30 PM, MacMillan Education Center (1^st floor, DWRC)
Artist Aram Han Sifuentes will present her work and touring art project, U.S. Citizenship Test Samplers within the context of the Archives of American Art’s current exhibition, Artist Teacher Organizer: Yasuo Kuniyoshi in the Archives of American Art.  Sifuentes will present an overview of the needlework samplers in her project, U.S. Citizenship Test Sampler. Sewn samplers were used in Colonial America to teach young children needlework and the alphabet. Sifuentes is currently hand-sewing the 100 civic study questions and answers of the U.S. Naturalization Test. As a group, Sifuentes will lead a discussion about the U.S. Naturalization test and consider what it means to be an American by crafting an alternative set of U.S. Citizenship test questions. The group will decide which questions are most meaningful, which are irrelevant to their experience, and what new questions should be added to better define the groups’ understanding of what is and should be American.

Space is limited, please register at http://s.si.edu/1RHtI6K

June 20
Sampler Workshop with Aram Han Sifuentes
12:00–3:00 pm, Kogod Courtyard (DWRC)
Participants create samplers during a 3 hour workshop. During this time the participants will go on an exhibit tour of Artist Teacher Organizer, learn about the U.S. Citizenship Test Sampler project, learn how to sew, and work on samplers. US Citizenship Test Project is a series of citizenship classes and workshops taking place where communities of non-citizen immigrants come together to learn the citizenship test material through the act of sewing. To reserve a space in this workshop, please contact Aram Han Sifuentes at ahan5@saic.edu.

Aram Han Sifuentes is a social practice fiber artist and works closely with Chicago based non-profit organizations, community centers, and public schools to facilitate workshops for immigrant communities. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally. Her solo exhibitions include “A Mend” at Hollister Gallery in Wellesley, MA, and “73,000 waiting” at Chicago Artists Coalition in Chicago, IL in October 2015. Her workshops include “Immigrant Takeover” at the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design in Ashville, NC. Han earned her BA in Art and Latin American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 2008, and her MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013. She is currently a Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Archives’ exhibition Artist Teacher Organizer: Yasuo Kuniyoshi in the Archives of American Art explores the multi-faceted life of Japanese-born artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi, who was once considered one of the most brilliant American painters of his era. Kuniyoshi was a passionate and principled painter, printmaker, and photographer; an immigrant excluded from citizenship and classified an “enemy alien” during World War II; and an influential teacher and an able organizer of artists’ causes. Included in this exhibition are letters, photographs, writings, and rare printed materials.