Welcome to Smithsonian Associates Streaming

At Christmastime in 1914, months after World War I began, hundreds of soldiers in Flanders spontaneously stopped fighting one another, left their trenches, and shook hands in no man’s land. For a short time, British and German soldiers barely fired a shot, helped bury one another’s dead, and even played soccer together. Historian and battlefield guide Simon Jones tells the story of what happened in Flanders during the Christmas season in 1914.

While shooting for his book Working the Water, photographer Jay Fleming traveled up and down the Chesapeake documenting all facets of the region’s commercial fisheries and the people and businesses that depend on the harvest. Join him for a vividly illustrated program that brings the bay's iconic seafood industry into focus.

Discover how to easily capture a variety of subjects with loose lines and painterly colors using a quick-sketch watercolors method. This go-with-the-flow technique is perfect for studies, travel journals, and finished fine art.

Harness your imagination to create writing instruments with common household items and found objects in nature. In-class exercises are geared toward experimental calligraphy, mark making, and spontaneity.

Create a powerful personal record of experiences by drawing and painting moments from your life that you include in your sketchbook.

Coleen Christian Burke, a former White House design partner and author of Christmas with the First Ladies, examines how modern first ladies have combined the shimmer of holiday magic with meaningful reflection, creating a celebration narrative for all Americans.

The beautiful decorations of religious and secular manuscripts are centuries-old Islamic traditions. Learn the elements of gold-leaf manuscript illumination in the Afghan tradition.

This introductory course teaches the basic skills needed for drawing. Working with a variety of materials and techniques, including charcoal and pencils, students explore the rendering of geometric forms, volume, and perspective, with an emphasis on personal gesture marks.

For centuries, religious and secular Islamic manuscripts have contained beautiful geometric decorations. Explore the history and construction of these traditional designs before creating ones of your own with opaque watercolors and gold; outlined in black ink.

Take your ideas from banal to beautiful by learning how to create mind maps worthy of framing. Choose from three different styles to illustrate your thoughts and goals.