Robert and I decided to spend a couple of days in Washington D.C, during this past Memorial Day weekend. We got a great package deal from Southwest Airlines and it only took us 45 minutes to get to the Baltimore Airport. I know-I had to spend another hour traveling from Baltimore to our hotel near the Georgetown area, but the last minute deal was too good to pass up.

On the way to the Smithsonian Museums , we stopped by the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum. I had never been there before, and I was impressed by the building, located just steps from the White House.

If you go, see, “The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American  Internment Camps, 1942-1946.” On until January 30, 2011, it’s a fabulous exhibit that showcases arts and crafts made by Japanese Americans in U.S. internment camps during World War II.

The word “Gaman” means in Japanese to bear the seemingly unbearable with dignity and patience. The more than 120 objects that included tools, teapots, furniture, toys and games, musical instruments, pendants and pins, purses and ornamental displays were a marvel of skill as well as ingenuity.  I saw a terrarium of beautiful flowers made of unfurled pipe cleaners inside what was originally a glass jar of mayonaise. I also saw lovely dolls that were made of items including toilet paper and scraps of kimomos.

Click here for more information about this exhibit and pictures of some of the beautiful work displayed.