Americana

Across the U.S., big cities and small towns bring out their splashiest art works for the summer crowds. Here is a sampling.

The show, "Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery," is at the New York Historical Society museum through Jan. 7, 2007. This picture, supplied by the New York Historical Society, is "Native Trespasser," a mixed-media work with oil on wood by Jeff Sonhouse.

Molly Theobald and Jeremiah Schiffman view artist James Turrell's skyspace "Light Reign" at the Henry Art Gallery on the University of Washington campus in Seattle on June 21, 2006. The permanent installation incorporates light entering from a ceiling opening as an element, creating changing moods and feelings in the viewers according to the light and shadows of the Seattle sky.

Whistler's Mother has returned to the U.S. for a rare visit to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. The iconic work by James McNeill Whistler, a native of Lowell, Mass., was painted in London and is owned by the Musee D'Orsay in Paris. Formally titled "Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 1: Portrait of the Artist's Mother, 1871," it's in Boston until Sept. 24, 2006 as part of an exhibit, "Americans in Paris 1860-1900."

Daniel Donohue, of Vicksburg, Miss., looks at Hurricane Katrina-related art work on display at the University of Southern Mississippi's Museum of Art on the Hattiesburg, Miss., campus, June 21, 2006. The exhibition of drawings, paintings, collages and prints by elementary school children whose lives were altered by Hurricane Katrina runs through July 8.

Marilyn Monroe memorabilia is part of a new exhibit, "Idols of Gay Hollywood," at the Hollywood Museum, June 8, 2006.

A replica of the grand staircase on the Titanic is displayed at the Metreon in San Francisco on June 6, 2006. The exhibition includes 300 artifacts recovered from the Titanic's debris field. The Metreon is an entertainment and technology complex owned by Sony; it houses 15 theater screens, an IMAX theater and interactive attractions.

Former Baltimore Orioles star Brooks Robinson, right, stands with veterans Bill Douglas, Bill Boyle, Samuel Krauss and Donald McKee at the unveiling of a painting by Norman Rockwell titled "Gee, thanks Brooks" on June 6, 2006. The painting is included in "Rockwell's America: Celebrating the Art of Norman Rockwell" at the Maryland Science Center.

The Portland Museum of Art is breaking attendance records with a painting of a dark beauty with a mysterious smile. She bears a striking resemblance to the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. Experts say this portrait dates from the same era -- before 1510. But they can't agree on whether Leonardo da Vinci might have painted it, perhaps as a preparatory study, or if it's a student's copy.

Sarah Brown, 11, tosses a beach ball at the unveiling of the Ameriquest Chelsea Piers Project in New York on June 21, 2006. More than 1,000 children helped create the art installation, which includes murals and a tugboat. The project is intended to inspire teamwork, education and creativity, says sponsor Ameriquest Mortgage. It will be on display through September.

Barbara Smith of the Museum of Art & Archaeology hangs Thomas Hart Benton illustrations for Mark Twain's novel "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" on June 7, 2006, for an exhibit at the State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia. The pen-and-ink drawings were bequeathed to the society by the artist.

Melissa Soltesz, a staff member at the Julie Nester Gallery, walks through an exhibit on June 1, 2006, in Park City, Utah. Twenty-three of Park City's galleries have formed an association to promote the area an art destination as well as a ski resort.

In Philadelphia, a provocative new exhibit suggests that art is right under your nose. Christopher Brosius, a collaborator in the "Scent is Life" exhibit, adds a scented flower while working on the installation at the Klein Art Gallery on May 16, 2006. The exhibit aims to prove that scents inspire the senses and emotions as much as paintings, drawings and sculpture.

Nancy Mellon holds a hand-painted toilet seat inside the Chamber of Commerce building in Yellow Springs, Ohio, on June 15, 2006. The seat was a door prize at the opening of an art show in the chamber's public restrooms. Dubbed the ChamberPot Gallery, it's the brainchild of Mellon and another local artist hoping to draw visitors to their artistic town -- especially the hikers and bikers who use a nearby path.