Image: Illustration by Peter H. Reynolds, courtesy Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden will host an International Dot Day celebration on September 19, inviting families to join author-illustrator Peter H. Reynolds for a free public program centered on his picture book 'The Dot'. The museum's own event listing gives the times as 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Washington, D.C., with read-alouds, book signings and collaborative art-making activities.
According to the museum’s announcement, the program draws on the message associated with 'The Dot'—confidence, creativity and making a mark. Reynolds will read from and sign the book in the Hirshhorn’s Ring Auditorium, while participants take part in hands-on activities inspired by the story’s central character, Vashti. The museum describes the celebration as a chance to “get courageous and creative” through dot-making and related art exercises.
The day’s activities extend beyond the auditorium. The Hirshhorn says visitors can make dots in Art School, join “dot light” tours of the museum and contribute to collaborative chalk art on Hirshhorn Plaza. The newsletter also frames the museum itself as “the biggest dot on the National Mall,” tying the event’s theme to the museum’s distinctive building and location in Washington.
International Dot Day is part of the Hirshhorn’s broader slate of children’s and family programming, which the museum presents through its Art School initiative. The newsletter notes that Art School is “part studio, part classroom, and part hangout,” and says its programs are free for in-person or virtual participants. The museum positions these activities as a way for artists of all ages to access guided, hands-on learning.
The Dot Day announcement also appears alongside other educational offerings in the museum’s newsletter, including Open Studio sessions and Storytime Studio programs. Those separate events connect visitors with works by Barbara Kruger and Mark Bradford, as well as with Spanish-language and English-language storytelling activities, but the International Dot Day celebration remains the featured family event in the September listing.
Reynolds, who is identified by the Hirshhorn as the author-illustrator of 'The Dot', will anchor the September 19 program with the book’s read-aloud and signing. The celebration is listed for Saturday, September 19, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. The museum's event page schedules the read-alouds and signing in the Ring Auditorium at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., “dot light” tours setting off from the Lobby on the half hour from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., chalk dot art with Ground Shift Studio on the Plaza and dot art-making in the Hirshhorn Art School, both running 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The listing names Hirshhorn Education as organiser and the Art School as the venue; the newsletter had given the event an 11 a.m. start.
