Washington DC: Day 3

Bob Aron
Sep 3, 2022
2 min read

Raven and the Box of Daylight

By Preston Singletary

Every once in a while you see one of those special museum exhibits that blows your mind. The glass sculptures of Preston Singletary presented in the Raven and the Box of Daylight at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian was amazing. I’ve really never seen glasswork that had such precision. Sculpture seems more accurate a term for this work. I would highly recommend checking this exhibit out if you’re in DC before January when the exhibit is scheduled to conclude.

Pop Quiz:

1) Why are carrots orange?

Smithsonian National Museum

of the American Indian

The very first thing that came to my mind as we walked up to the museum was why it was named ‘American Indian’ instead of ‘Native American’. According to our friend Todd, it has to do with federal legal naming conventions, i.e. bureaucracy, and the fact that this a federally funded museum that must adhere to these legalities. Even while we know it makes more sense to use a term that more accurately the native peoples of the American continent, we let common sense stand aside for no good reason.

The star of our visit to the the American Indian museum was definitely the Preston Singletary exhibit. The museum is good, and the building is beautiful, but reading about the many treaties and history of the past few centuries is depressing. Did you know that treaties made with the many California tribes were kept secret for 50 years, all while the tribes were allowed to be decimated during that time. As a civilization we can do better. Much better in my opinion.

Seven Reasons

Foodie Alert! On your next visit to DC, try out the Seven Reasons. Great cocktails, outstanding food. Taste, Presentation, Staff were all fantastic!

Museum Scoreboard:

National Archives - Definite must see, though we really just had time for the big 3 documents: Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights.
Museum of American History - A casual museum with American cultural type exhibits. Not a staunchly, serious place but some interesting and amusing stuff. I had to explain the classic Julia Child SNL sketch (it was SNL right?) to Nick and Danielle as were walking the Food exhibition which included Julia Child’s actual kitchen. They had my Mom’s olive green crock pot there! Sorry no photo
Smithsonian National Museum of the America Indian - A good museum. Interesting building, mostly topics that I knew about to some degree but presented well. Until January 2023 there is an outstanding exhibit of Preston Singletary’s glass sculpture work. Really worth checking out.