Architect and educator Bradford C. Grant has been named as the inaugural Instagram artist-in-residence by Smithsonian Institute's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Grant, who is a professor in the Department of Architecture at the Howard University College of Engineering and Architecture, will "provide engaging insight into the museum’s programs and its community through his sketch work and made-from-life drawings," according to the university's website. Grant's work will be shown via the gallery's Instagram account, @smithsoniannpg, throughout his residency, which will last through the Fall 2020 semester. 

In a press release National Portrait Gallery Director Kim Sajet writes, “Bradford Grant is a talented member of the D.C. community, with a gifted eye for finding and documenting stories,” adding, “Brad’s work as a sketch artist is rooted in both his training as an architect and in his fascination with the intersection of space, structure, community and culture. We hope his residency will be an opportunity for visitors to experience the museum from new angles as we continue to try to unpack and explore the complexities of American history through biography and portraiture.”  

To which Grant added, “It’s an honor to join the National Portrait Gallery through this residency and to help tell a piece of the American story through drawing,” Grant said. “On-the-spot life drawings present an opportunity to both engage visitors in a new way and shed light on the often unseen stories unfolding right under our noses every day. I look forward to doing that at the Portrait Gallery and documenting the museum itself as a living entity.”

Grant, who has held leadership positions at Howard and Hampton University, helped organize the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Shifting Landscape: Black Architects and Planners 1968-Now symposium in 2018. Grant will be on leave from his duties at Howard University in order to more fully engage with the Smithsonian residency program.