Face-to-Face, from the National Portrait Gallery

Interview with Neil Shigley, whose work "Michael 67 (Pastor Shelby)" was selected as part of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013 exhibition. Neil Shigley writes: "My subjects are homeless people living on the streets near my studio. They are people who are invisible to most of us. Their daily struggle to survive has given them incredible character that could not be earned any other way. Nobility, beauty, strength, vulnerability: they are there if we only look. Presenting them in this large format will perhaps force people to confront these people and their situation, and bring them into focus. Pastor Shelby wasn't like most people I've met on the streets. He was a happy, compassionate man who said that his purpose was to help others on the streets. When asked how he ended up there he said, 'I need to be here!' When asked how he deals with the elements he replied, 'I am the elements!' I am lucky to have met him. I never saw him again, but he left a great impression." "Michael 67 (Pastor Shelby)" / Neil Shigley / Plexiglas-block print on paper mounted on canvas, 2011 / Collection of the artist

Interview with Saeri Kiritani, whose work "100 Pounds of Rice" was selected as part of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013 exhibition. Saeri Kiritani writes: "After I began living in the U.S., I came to take a more detailed notice of my eating habits: "I am mostly made of rice!" I thought. In "100 Pounds of Rice," the self is literally and symbolically reconstructed out of rice. Using Elmer's Glue and rice, even translucent rice noodles as hair, I re-created my likeness as a "rice woman." The sculpture is standing on a mountain of rice that the female figure both triumphantly emerges out of and drowns down into. Ordinary things I had never paid attention to in Japan became unique in my everyday life here. I look different; I eat rice; I am an Asian. I drink green tea; when I speak I have accent; and I do in fact behave differently. I find myself torn—sometimes I deliberately try to appeal to my natural existence and sometimes I just want desperately to blend in. "100 Pounds of Rice" / Saeri Kiritani / Rice, rice noodles, Elmer's Glue, epoxy glue, wood and metal sticks, 2010 / Collection of the artist . Music: "Budding" by Broke for Free: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Gold_Can_Stay/Broke_For_Free_-_Gold_Can_Stay_-_01_Budding . https://soundcloud.com/broke-for-free . Used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Interview with Heidi Fancher, commended artist at the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013 for her work "For Delia." Heidi Fancher writes: "The inspiration for my work is taken from my archival research into the philosophical, pseudo-scientific, and religious foundations of racism. In this piece, I am exploring how the Age of Reason's reliance on physical appearance as scientific fact justified the dehumanization of non-European groups to the position of chattel. Delia was a slave who was photographed by Joseph Zealy in 1850, in South Carolina. The series of Zealy's photographs was used to support naturalist Louis Agassiz's premise that Africans were biologically inferior to Europeans. 162 years later, I revisit Agassiz's premise in the hopes of exposing Delia's humanity, nobility, and beauty. In exposing the humanity of Delia, I seek to open a discourse about how science, religion, and appearance obfuscate issues of identity and 'otherness' in our world." "For Delia" / Heidi Fancher / C-print, 2010 / Collection of the artist. Music: "Budding" by Broke for Free: http://freemusicarchive.org/search/?quicksearch=broke+for+free . Used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Interview with Paul D'Amato, commended artist at the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013 for his work "Lillian, New Covenant Church of Deliverance, Chicago, 2011." More on the Portrait Competition at http://portraitcompetition.si.edu Paul D'Amato writes: "I have no clever strategy for making these pictures, and I have no simple answers for what they mean. I'm a white photographer taking pictures in the west side of Chicago, a neighborhood that is African American and poor. I'm not supposed to be there. That's part of the attraction; difference is inherently attractive and part of what got me started." "When I'm there, however, when I'm visiting a family I know, or when I'm at the Original Providence Baptist Church, as I often am, or whether I'm simply stopping someone I've never met—I'd like to think that something more important, less superficial occurs. It varies from picture to picture. Maybe it's about a kind of grace or beauty; maybe it's about the pleasure of attention, or the desire to do something out of the ordinary like collaborating on a photograph." "Lillian, New Covenant Church of Deliverance, Chicago, 2011" / Paul D'Amato / Ink jet print, 2011 / Collection of the artist, courtesy Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago. Music: "Budding" by Broke for Free: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Gold_Can_Stay/Broke_For_Free_-_Gold_Can_Stay_-_01_Budding . https://soundcloud.com/broke-for-free . Used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Interview with Beverly McIver, commended artist at the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013 for her work "Depression." More on the Portrait Competition at http://portraitcompetition.si.edu Beverly McIver writes: "This is one of several paintings made during the time of grieving my mother's death. In 2004, my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and three months later she died. At the time, I inherited my mentally disabled sister, Renee. Although Renee is fifty-two, she has the mind-set of a third-grader. She also has epilepsy. I promised my mother that when she was no longer able to care for Renee that I would. This act deepened my depression. I felt overwhelmed and as if I had given up my life. These paintings express what I felt during that time. They portray a sense of sadness, grief, and vulnerability. This self-portrait describes the heaviness I felt." "Depression"/ Beverly McIver / Oil on canvas, 2010 / Collection of the artist, courtesy Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York City . Music: "Budding" by Broke for Free: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Gold_Can_Stay/Broke_For_Free_-_Gold_Can_Stay_-_01_Budding . https://soundcloud.com/broke-for-free . Used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Historian Dan Okrent, author of "Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition" discusses Pauline Sabin and the her role in repealing prohibition. He was interviewed by the NPG's Warren Perry, on May 5, 2013.

David C. Ward, historian at the National Portrait Gallery, discusses poet Robert Frost. He is one of the many poets that was featured in our exhibition "Poetic Likeness: Modern American Poets" which was on view from October 12, 2012 through April 28, 2013. See portraits from "Poetic Likeness: Modern American Poets" on the exhibition website: http://npg.si.edu/exhibit/poets . Recorded at NPG, February 13, 2013.

Interview with artist Sequoyah Aono, Third Prize, Portrait Competition 2013 for his self portrait. Sequoyah Aono writes: "From time to time I think about the reason of my existence, / who I am, what I can do, how I am needed . . . / Whenever I think of this, I feel unstable and unsteady./ At such times I feel like carving myself. / I have been carving self-portraits one by one mindlessly for confirming my existence, as if some response / would come out after completion. / At times of losing myself in this life, / I just feel so sure of standing on my own feet / when working on self-portraits." The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition is a juried exhibition of portraits at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition includes 48 works created from both traditional media like oil paintings, drawings and photographs as well as more surprising materials such as rice, glitter, thread and video. The museum received over 3,000 entries in a variety of visual arts media. The competition and exhibition are made possible by the vision and generosity of Virginia Outwin Boochever. Jennifer Levonian was interviewed on March 22. 2013 at NPG. "Buffalo Milk Yogurt" by Jennifer Levonian / Digital video/animation (6:46 minutes), 2010 / Collection of the artist. Music: "Budding" by Broke for Free: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Gold_Can_Stay/Broke_For_Free_-_Gold_Can_Stay_-_01_Budding https://soundcloud.com/broke-for-free . Used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Interview with artist Jennifer Levonian, Second Prize, Portrait Competition 2013 for her work "Buffalo Milk Yogurt." A clip of this video portrait can be viewed here: http://vimeo.com/34870841 . Jennifer Levonian writes, " 'Buffalo Milk Yogurt' (2010) is a cutout animation portrait of Corey Fogel, an artist and musician from Los Angeles. Corey and I met in 2008 when we were residents at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida. During a conversation at the residency, Corey suggested that he "star" in one of my animations. "All of my animations depict people's longing for something beyond their everyday lives. In this work, Corey suffers a nervous breakdown in a gourmet supermarket while a nude woman practices yoga in a display of fall pumpkins. The narrative is loosely inspired by Corey's experiences and features his original music." The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition is a juried exhibition of portraits at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition includes 48 works created from both traditional media like oil paintings, drawings and photographs as well as more surprising materials such as rice, glitter, thread and video. The museum received over 3,000 entries in a variety of visual arts media. The competition and exhibition are made possible by the vision and generosity of Virginia Outwin Boochever. Jennifer Levonian was interviewed on March 22. 2013 at NPG. "Buffalo Milk Yogurt" by Jennifer Levonian / Digital video/animation (6:46 minutes), 2010 / Collection of the artist. Music: "Budding" by Broke for Free: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Gold_Can_Stay/Broke_For_Free_-_Gold_Can_Stay_-_01_Budding https://soundcloud.com/broke-for-free . Used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

Interview with Bo Gehring, winner of first prize at the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013 for his work "Jessica Wickham." This video portrait can be in its entirety here : http://vimeo.com/62003620 . Bo Gehring writes, "The idea of my portraits is to record intimately emotional response over time as the subject listens to a favorite piece of music. For her portrait, Jessica Wickham, a precision woodworker in Beacon, New York, chose Arvo Pärt's "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten. A precisely controlled video camera hovering inches away from the subject travels the length of her body, timed to synchronize with the length of the piece of music. The camera, nearer than the eye can focus, captures minute actions like breathing and pulse as living elements of the portrait. The camera also closely explores the drape and wear of clothing, expressions of personal choice that Jessica (like each of us) has chosen to present to the world." The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition is a juried exhibition of portraits at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition includes 48 works created from both traditional media like oil paintings, drawings and photographs as well as more surprising materials such as rice, glitter, thread and video. The museum received over 3,000 entries in a variety of visual arts media. The competition and exhibition are made possible by the vision and generosity of Virginia Outwin Boochever. Bo Gehring was interviewed on March 22. 2013 at NPG. "Jessica Wickham" by Bo Gehring / HD video (5:05 minutes), 2010 / Collection of the artist. Theme Music: "Budding" by Broke for Free: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Gold_Can_Stay/Broke_For_Free_-_Gold_Can_Stay_-_01_Budding . https://soundcloud.com/broke-for-free . Used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

NPG historian David C. Ward discusses Jefferson Davis. While traveling in the United States in 1849, English-born artist George L. Saunders painted this miniature of the future president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis. At the time, Davis was a senator representing Mississippi. A few years afterward, a contemporary recorded this impression of Davis: "His slender, tall and erect figure, his spare face, keen eyes and fine forehead . . . presented the well-known strong American type. There was in his bearing a dignity which seemed entirely natural and unaffected, that kind of dignity which does not invite familiar approach but will not render one uneasy by lofty assumptions." Recorded at NPG, April 24, 2013

NPG historian David C. Ward discusses Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. At the First Battle of Manassas in July 1861, the unrelenting vigor with which Confederate General Thomas Jonathan Jackson held his position inspired a general nearby to rally his troops with the cry, "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall." From that moment on, he was known as "Stonewall" Jackson, a name that he repeatedly lived up to, fighting under the command of General Robert E. Lee. The deeply religious Jackson believed intensely in the righteousness of the southern cause, and a key to his success was his ability to instill his own fighting fervor in his men. One of his most brilliant victories came at Chancellorsville in the spring of 1863. Tragically for Jackson and the South, this would prove to be his last battle, as he died of wounds accidentally inflicted by his own men. Recorded at NPG, April 24, 2013

Photography curator Frank Goodyear discusses an 1858 portrait of John Pelham by Mathew Brady. Frank Goodyear was interviewed by the National Portrait Gallery's Warren Perry in September 2011. John Pelham (1838 - 1863, born Benton County, Alabama) was within weeks of graduating from West Point in the spring of 1861 when he resigned to join the Confederate army as a lieutenant. Posted to Virginia, Pelham soon earned the admiration of cavalry general J.E.B. Stuart, who provided him with horses to transform his battery into a mobile unit. Demonstrating the effectiveness of this "horse artillery" at Antietam and Fredericksburg, Pelham won glowing praise from his superiors, including General "Stonewall" Jackson, who declared, "It is really extraordinary to find such nerve and genius in a mere boy." In March 1863, Pelham was mortally wounded in a cavalry engagement.

David C. Ward, historian at the National Portrait Gallery, discusses poet Marianne Moore. She is one of the many poets featured in our exhibition "Poetic Likeness: Modern American Poets" on view from October 12, 2012 through April 28, 2013. Recorded at NPG, February 13, 2013. See portraits from "Poetic Likeness: Modern American Poets" on the exhibition website: http://npg.si.edu/exhibit/poets

Amy Henderson, historian at NPG, discusses the upcoming exhibition "Dancing the Dream" on view from October 4, 2013 - July 13, 2014. Filmed in the museum's McEvoy Auditorium on February 14, 2013.