Washington, D.C., Art Historian to Speak at Pitt About the Evolution of the National Mall

PITTSBURGH—The National Mall in Washington, D.C., has expanded and evolved throughout its 200-year history, but some say it has become too cluttered with new museums, security barriers, and tents hosting mega-events and national celebrations.

Despite a 2003 Congressional moratorium on building, various groups are jockeying for new construction, such as a National Museum of African American History, a Vietnam Memorial Visitors Center, and concessions at the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.

Art historian Judy Scott Feldman, president of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall, will address this issue at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 24 in the Frick Fine Arts Building, Schenley Drive, Oakland, in a free presentation titled "Designing for Democracy: A Third-Century National Mall."

A frequent and popular lecturer actively involved in national arts programs, Feldman has taught classes for the Smithsonian on Washington, D.C., art and architecture, medieval art, and sacred spaces. She is a former assistant professor of art history at American University in Washington, D.C., and received her doctorate in art history from the University of Texas at Austin.

Feldman's talk is part of an ongoing lecture series, Designing the Future, Preserving the Past, cosponsored by Pitt's Department of the History of Art and Architecture and Chatham College's Interior and Landscape Architecture programs. For more information, call 412-648-2405.

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