• Students Move In To Campus For Fall Semester, August 20 – 21
• Reminder:  Movie Night Featuring LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, August 23
• Next “American University Planning 101” Sessions Scheduled for Sept. 5 and Nov. 5
• "Art All Night" Returns To Tenleytown, September 14 – Want to Volunteer?
• OLLI Fall Registration Is Open Now
• Calendar and Events

Once again, it’s that time of year when new and continuing students return to American University’s campus for the start of a new academic year. Incoming students and their families are expected to arrive on campus during the First-Year Move-in spread out over a two-day period between Tuesday, August 20 and Wednesday, August 21. Move-in times are between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Cars will be directed to enter both Fletcher and Glover Gates for drop-offs. To minimize disruption to the local community this year, AUPD will partner with the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) to ensure that signage and enough personnel are present to direct traffic. More than 200 faculty, staff, and volunteers also will be present to facilitate the orderly drop-off of students. Neighbors are invited to volunteer to welcome students to campus. 

For more information regarding the move-in days, visit the move-in day page.

Don’t forget to attend American University’s annual summer movie night on Friday, August 23 (rain date: August 30). Bring a picnic and the whole family to campus for an outdoor screening of the animated hit movie, LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part.

The sequel to the critically acclaimed, global box office phenomenon that started it all, LEGO Movie 2 reunites the heroes of Bricksburg in an all-new, action-packed adventure to save their beloved city.

The movie will be screened at the Woods-Brown Amphitheatre at 8 p.m. Piles of LEGO and DUPLO bricks will be on hand prior to the movie, so be sure to arrive early and join us for some LEGO building from 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. A fun time will be had by kids and LEGO lovers of all ages. Free popcorn also will be provided and all are welcome to attend.

For additional information, contact Maria Barry, Director of Community Relations at 885-2146 or mariab@american.edu.

American University invites neighbors, students, faculty, and staff to its latest round of “American University Planning 101” Sessions on September 5 and November 5 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. in the Butler Board Room. These sessions are an opportunity to engage with the entire campus community on various facets of planning.

On September 5, we will explore “AU in Context of a Changing City." Learn about District planning in Ward 3 and how AU fits into the changes that are happening throughout Washington, DC. Join us to share your views about these changes and your thoughts on their impacts to our community. 

On November 5, we will focus on "AU and Our Campus: Shaping the Future." Through collaborative group discussions, we will consider various elements of a campus plan and exchange ideas about what could benefit AU and the campus community. Contribute your voice to the future of American University's campus!

These Planning 101 Sessions are part of a series of stakeholder meetings designed to help foster healthy and constructive dialogue around planning at American University.

RSVP by email to communityrelations@american.edu.

For the fourth consecutive year, Tenleytown will host Art All Night on Saturday, September 14 from 7 p.m. to midnight. Local businesses and public spaces will transform once again into pop-up galleries and performance stages to welcome artists from across the city. Last year, nearly 13,000 people attended Art All Night in Tenleytown. With the addition of more venues, artists, performers, and specialty vendors, this year’s event is expected to be bigger and better than ever. 

If you would like to take part in helping to make this year’s celebration a success, Tenleytown Main Street seeks 40 – 50 enthusiastic volunteers with a love for our community. Night-of volunteers play a crucial role, as they provide support to talented local artist and festivalgoers. With multiple shifts available, you can volunteer and then explore Art All Night for the rest of the evening. All volunteers receive a FREE t-shirt as a thank-you gift, and get to work with a fun, creative team. Find out more about Art All Night and volunteer opportunities by visiting www.tenleytownmainstreet.org/event/art-all-night or call 202-362-1815.

This year's celebration promises an evening of music, dance, literature, and the visual arts, including: painters, sculptors, photographers, and other visual artists; ensembles showcasing dance from around the world; live music, ranging from classical to bluegrass to rock; and an array of martial artists, circus performers, poets, playwrights, and more. Art All Night in Tenleytown offers something for every art lover at every age. As always, Art All Night is free to attend.

American University is a proud sponsor of Art All Night in Tenleytown. The American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center invites Art All Night attendees to a special after-hours viewing of their early fall exhibitions as part of the festival. Free shuttle service will be available between the museum and the Tenleytown Metro plaza, connecting visitors to all Art All Night has to offer in Tenleytown.

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at American University invites you to register for fall classes. Open registration period is from now until September 2, and classes begin the week of September 23. 

Lectures and study groups meet for 90 minutes weekly between September and November and are based on the concept of peer learning and teaching. Members come from varied backgrounds with a shared common interest in continuing their learning experiences and intellectual stimulation in an organization of like-minded people. 

For a membership fee, participants may enroll in up to three study groups, either by leading them or attending them. There are no tests and no grades, as members participate purely for the joy of learning.  In addition to study groups, OLLI offers a Friday Lecture Series during each semester.

To become a member of OLLI, simply create an account, pay a membership fee, and register for the study groups of your choice during open registration. Membership costs $300 per semester or $550 if you choose to pay for fall and spring. Benefits to becoming an OLLI member include: 

• Eligibility to enroll in up to three study groups in a semester.
• Opportunity for increased social interaction and new friendships based on a shared interest in learning; and informal lunchtime discussions and special events such as open houses or the holiday party.
• Invitation to attend Special Events featuring day trips, museum tours, discussions, and other activities.
• Invitation to attend a holiday party held in December and a springtime social event.
• Access to AU's Bender Library during the academic programs for which you are registered.
• Eligibility for an annual membership at the Jacobs Fitness Center at a discounted rate.
• Eligibility to enroll in February and July “Shorts,” three- to five-day immersion study groups; and June “Minis,” study groups which are one session per week for four weeks.

Visit the OLLI website for more information and to register for classes. 

If you have been a member of OLLI in the past, you may login to renew your membership.

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at American University is an association of, by, and for the people in the Washington, DC area who wish to continue to study and learn. OLLI at AU is dedicated to the proposition that learning is a lifelong process and that curiosity never retires.

Being Here as ME - New Media Art Exhibition of Women Artists from Taiwan

Now through August 11, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Katzen Museum 2nd Floor Exhibition

This exhibit presents six women artists striving towards constructions of female subjectivity. Pey-Chwen Lin, Tzu-Ning Wu, Yung-Chieh Wu, I-Chun Chen, Pei-Shih Tu, and Hui-Chan Kuo create new media artworks through diverse media and methods. Their work transcends gender discussions and through social strategies, action, and engagement, they express their concerns and create artworks revealing their anxiety and opinions about the ecology of society, science, technology, and the environment. Curated by Yu-Chuan Tseng.

Crossing Boundaries & Breaking Borders: DMV Printmaking

Now through August 11, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Katzen Museum 1st Floor Exhibition

The District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) region is full of boundaries and borders, both physical – like the state lines that divide the artists in this exhibit – and imagined political ideology, economic class, gender identity, and religious belief. These boundaries delineate spaces, groups, ideas, and more, but they are walked over easily, pushed through, and broken down. Furthermore, the artists featured in the exhibit also question, push, and break down the traditional notions of what printmaking is as a technique, how it can be used, and how printmaking can be defined. Curated by Matthew McLaughlin.

Maia Cruz Palileo

Now through August 11, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Katzen Museum 3rd Floor Exhibition

There is a mystery in the act of burying and even more so in uncovering. Maia Cruz Palileo’s paintings and drawings are the metaphorical teeth in this body of work spanning from 2013 to 2019.  These works, including a small painting titled Burying Teeth, depict historical narratives from the colonial past of the Philippines, Palileo’s country of origin, as well as stories and moments about her own life as a Filipina American growing up in the United States. Her paintings and drawings replicate figures from old family photographs, as well as photos from the American government’s archives depicting anthropological documentation of Filipinos during the American colonization. While her work evokes nostalgia and romanticism, it is imbued with a critical undertone of America’s colonization of the Philippines. Palileo’s work is an examination of the Filipino diasporic psyche through a personal and political lens. Curated by Isabel Manalo.

Passages: Keith Morrison, 1999-2019

Now through August 11, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Katzen Museum 3rd Floor Exhibition

This exhibit surveys thirty paintings and watercolors by the Jamaican-born Keith Morrison. A magician of color and space and a teller of tales, fanciful and real, Morrison focuses on the tangible and spiritual components of culture. His subjects encompass Afro-Caribbean and Meso-American art and architecture, as well as the somber history of the Middle Passage. By turns mystical, meditative, and joyous, Morrison’s work invites our entry into the rich visual world of his making. Curated by Judith Stein.

Plans to Prosper You: Reflections of Black Resistance and Resilience in Montgomery County's Potomac River Valley

Now through August 11, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Katzen Museum 2nd Floor Exhibition

The exhibition’s title takes its name from bible verse Jeremiah 29:11 to echo the central role of the Black church in bringing communities together, inspiring hope, and acting as a vector for social change. The goal of this exhibition is to offer a space for learning and meditation that highlights the Black history of Montgomery County and western Washington, DC and pay homage to the communities that championed fights against racial discrimination through faith, family, and fellowship. While this exhibition highlights the communities of Scotland, Tobytown, and Macedonia-Moses, MD, it is intended to inspire similar exhibitions and continue to prompt in-depth collaboration within and beyond these communities.

Forward Press: 21st Century Printmaking

Now through August 11, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Katzen Museum

Printmaking Legacy Project’s® first national print exhibition features ten innovative print artists from across the country who employ the finest examples of hand printed and digital techniques. They explore themes of culture, identity, religion, environment, memory, and art history. Some work in traditional forms, like lithography, intaglio, relief, and screen printing, while others explore these methods as the basis for large-scale sculpture, collage, and integrating technology into printmaking. These ten artists are changing the way American printmaking is seen and understood.

Squire Broel

Now through August 11, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Katzen Museum

A selection of Broel’s life-sized to monumentally-sized totemic bronze sculptures creates space for reflection and contemplation about what it means to be human and be engaged as an individual within community and interact intentionally with the natural world. In his series of vertically-oriented structures, Broel references tangible and intangible notions that resonate universally: botanical and architectural structures, environmental rhythms, physical and emotional solitude. Intentional abstraction creates a generous context for engaging with the sculptures. Allusions to historical references create a sense of timelessness and familiarity, yet the pieces exist outside the rapidly shifting visual language of stylized contemporary aesthetics.

African Twilight A Forty Year Odyssey Meets the Return of a Legend

August 1, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
AU Museum, Katzen Arts Center

Angela Fisher and Carol Beckwith have spent more than 40 years traversing the African continent photographing the vanishing rituals, ceremonies and cultures of Africa. This documentary by Realitymediaonline documents the spectacular launch of their double volume book of the vanishing rituals and ceremonies of the African continent with a carnival of music, dance, cuisine, fashion, and hand-woven and hand-printed textiles of Africa at African Heritage House, Nairobi. Free, please RSVP by at museum@american.edu

AVATAR: Figurative Sculpture Class with Melissa Ichiuji

August 3, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
AU Museum, Katzen Arts Center

In this two-day workshop, participants will have a hands-on opportunity to work with one of DC’s most dynamic sculptors, Melissa Ichiuji, known for her visceral, emotionally charged, and doll-like sculptures. Ichiuji will demonstrate her method of building a figure from the inside out using found materials, textiles, and meaningful artifacts. Participants will use movement, sketching, and guided visualization to unlock the body and mind and learn techniques to create a uniquely personal AVATAR sculpture. Cost for the class is $275 (all materials included). Deadline for registration is Friday, August 2. To register, call 202-885-3617 or email museum@american.edu.

Yoga in the Galleries

August 7, 14, 21, 28, 10 a.m. 
American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center

Led by certified Kripalu Yoga teacher Eva Blutinger, this yoga class provides mental clarity and relaxation in the peaceful surroundings of our art galleries. Please bring a mat. Cost is $10 for non-members, $5 for museum members, and free for members at the Associates level and above. www.tinyurl.com/aumtickets.

AU Museum Docent-led Tour

August 10, 2 – 3 p.m. 
Katzen AU Museum

A docent-led tour of one or more of our current exhibitions. No RSVP required. Please meet at the front desk.

Women’s Soccer vs. Howard University (exhibition)

August 18, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Reeves Field

Women’s Soccer vs. George Washington University

August 28, 5 – 7 p.m.
Reeves Field

Women’s Soccer vs. VMI

August 31, 1 – 3 p.m.
Reeves Field