Sitka: A Piano Documentary

I’m so excited about yesterday’s launch of H. Paul Moon’s exquisitely designed Sitka: A Piano Documentary! It’s about the rebuilding of The Phillips Collection’s piano, now lovingly called “Sitka,” after the 600–800 year-old Sitka spruce tree native to Alaska from which the new soundboard was made. This film offers a fascinating and beautiful look into what exactly happens at PianoCraft, what I call a ‘hot-rod shops for pianos,’ and how they masterfully dealt with our piano from the inside out. Hearty congratulations, Paul!

Caroline Mousset, Director of Music

Redefining Identity with Question Bridge

Installation view Question Bridge AW

Installation view of Question Bridge: Black Males and the accompanying in-gallery interactive station

On your next visit to the Phillips, don’t miss a gallery on the second floor which has been temporarily converted into a theater for the recently opened Question Bridge: Black Males installation. The documentary-style video art project aims to represent and redefine black male identity in America. Like the subjects on the screen, visitors are invited to answer questions and leave responses at an interactive station in the gallery.

A Woodmans Exhibition on Screen

With the exhibition Francesca Woodman at the Guggenheim in New York through June 14 and the post-impressionists’ deeply personal experiments with the camera on view in our own galleries through May 6, we couldn’t resist showing C. Scott Willis’s award-winning documentary The Woodmans (2010). The screening will take place this Saturday, April 14, at 1 pm, and audience members will have the chance to chat with the director after the film. Last week, a few Phillips staff members sat down to watch the documentary (which took home Best New York Documentary at the  Tribeca Film Festival in 2010 and Washingtonians may remember it from Silverdocs that same year). By all accounts, the film is so packed with artwork, you’ll leave feeling like you’ve attended an exhibition.