the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Later 

 during the show, which closed on February 19, the artist 

 conducted a Young at Art paper-cutout workshop and a 

 gallery tour and book signing at a Family Day also 

 featuring a Mexican American theater piece and music. 

 The exhibition, organized by Research Assistant Anne- 

 Louise Marquis, was accompanied by free, illustrated 

 brochures in English and Spanish. 



November ip 



■ Portrait Unveiling Ron Sherr's portrait of former 

 President George Bush was unveiled at the National 

 Portrait Gallery's Hall of Presidents. Guests included 

 President and Mrs. Bush, Ron Sherr and Mr. and Mrs. 

 Robert E. Krueger, donors of the funds to commission 

 the portrait. 



November 22— February 25 



■ Exhibition The exhibition "Three Explorations: 

 Yoruba, Temne, and Baga" presented the curatorial re- 

 search on three unusual and rarely collected works of art 

 recently acquired by the National Museum of African 

 Art. The works — a Yoruba mask, a "Temne" female fig- 

 ure and a Baga ritual object — were explored in terms of 

 attribution, iconography, style, use and meaning, and 

 history. 



December 



■ Special Initiative Through the generosity of Cooper- 

 Hewitt, National Design Museum's Board of Trustees, 

 members, friends, and staff, the Museum raised the $7 

 million needed to complete the $20 million renovation 

 project designed by Polshek and Partners Architects. 



December 



■ Acquisition The National Museum of African Art ac- 

 quired a carved bowl with figures, considered to be one 

 of the finest works by Nigerian sculptor Olowe of Ise (c 

 1875— 1938). The bowl exemplifies the artist's highly per- 

 sonal handling of the Yoruba canon of style. 



December 



■ Corn Island Upon the death of Mr. Ernest Cory, by 

 terms of his will, an 18-acre wooded island on the Rhode 

 River and a substantial house became the property of 

 the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Work 



is under way to renovate the house to be used as a con- 

 ference center. 



December 



■ Online Reference Services Smithsonian Institution 

 Libraries' Branch Libraries Home Pages came online at 

 http:llwww.sil.si.edul to bring reference services to the in- 

 ternational user community. By March SIL Home Pages 

 were ranked in "top 5%" of web sites worldwide by 

 Point Communications Corporation. By end of FY 96, 

 Libraries had Home Pages online for nine branches. 



December 



■ Promotional Initiatives VIARC coordinated the 

 design, production, and delivery of large interior 150th 

 anniversary promotional banners, featuring the names of 

 all Smithsonian museums and research facilities, to each 

 of the listed locations. In addition, to promote the 

 Institution's 150th anniversary, VIARC coordinated the 

 design and installation of double-sided metal banners 

 featuring the 150th logo and color scheme on the lamp 

 posts on the National Mall parallel to the museums. 



December 



■ Publication The Office of Equal Employment and 

 Minority Affairs published and distributed the twelfth 

 "SI Equal Opportunity Report to Congress," covering 

 the period September 1994 to September 1995. 



December 



■ Latino Outreach The Office of Public Affairs ran the 

 first of three advertising campaigns for the year in local 

 Latino newspapers. OPA staff wrote the text in Spanish 

 and placed the advertisements in two newspapers. The 

 campaigns were geared toward the winter holidays, the 

 Folklife Festival and Hispanic Heritage Month. 



December-May 



■ Acquisitions With the acquisition this year of 70 

 works of art by modern African artists, the National 

 Museum of African Art expanded the scope of its ac- 

 quisition and research focus. These modern works — 

 including paintings, drawings, ceramics and mixed 

 media — will be displayed in a new gallery to be estab- 

 lished and named for Sylvia H. Williams, who served as 



