Reading

BmoreArt’s Picks: Baltimore Art Openings, Galleries, and Events April 25 – May 1

Previous Story
Article Image

Seven Finalists Announced for $25k Sondheim Prize

Next Story
Article Image

MICA Graduate Thesis Show III

BmoreArt’s Picks presents the best weekly art openings, events, and performances happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas. For a more comprehensive perspective, check the BmoreArt Calendar page, which includes ongoing exhibits and performances, and is updated on a daily basis.

To submit your calendar event, email us at [email protected]!

GET BMOREART’S WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

We’ll send you our top stories of the week, selected event listings, and our favorite calls for entry — right to your inbox every Tuesday.

<><><><><><><><><><><>Melody Hoffman Presents “Bike Lanes Are White Lanes”
Tuesday, April 25th : 7:30-9:30pm

Red Emma’s
30 West North Avenue : 21201

Here at Red Emma’s, if we want to think about the big issues around racial equity in bicycling, we only need to look out our windows. On the one hand, there’s the amazing Maryland Avenue cycle track—one of the safest and most pleasant rides in the city—running right down the spine of the “White L” of economic and racial privilege. No such exciting accommodations for cyclists exists (yet) on North Avenue as it stretches east and west into the wings of the “Black butterfly.”

But is the answer simply that the city should hurry up and get bike lanes running on North Ave. too? Or are there a complicated set of issues to be unpacked, accompanied by real community deliberation, regarding the connections between bike infrastructure and gentrification, and between the image of who a “bicyclist” is and the real experiences of bikers of color as they navigate both traffic and racial disparities in policing and neighborhood investment?

To help sort through these questions and set the stage for a conversation with the audience on bike equity in Baltimore, we are thrilled to welcome Melody Hoffman, author of Bike Lanes Are White Lanes: Bicycle Advocacy and Urban Planning, a study of how the burgeoning popularity of urban bicycling in Milwaukee, Portland, and Minneapolis has been trailed by systemic issues of racism, classism, and displacement. Highlighting both the perils of a bicycling advocacy mindset that focuses on the white and upwardly mobile, and the potential of bicycling to create real urban community, Hoffman’s book is a essential place to start in this important discussion. On hand to MC the event and lead the discussion afterwards will be desegregation activist and Morgan professor Lawrence Brown.

Melody Hoffman is a Mass Communication instructor at Anoka Ramsey Community College (Coon Rapids, MN), with a PhD from the University of Minnesota in Communication Studies, whose work focuses on bicycle activism and equity, community building, and racial & class justice. Melody is a bicyclist and a member of the Diversity and Equity Committee of the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition.

<><><><><><><><><><><>Project KALI: Puppet-Making Workshop
Wednesday, April 26th : 1-2pm

Current Space
421 North Howard Street : 21201

Project KALI is a social justice, community-based initiative focusing on the emotional needs of women – who have been the victims of abuse and trauma from East Baltimore – to explore the therapeutic relationship between artmaking and self. Inspired by the Hindu mythological figure, Goddess Kali who represents time and rebirth, the project defines how creativity, as a healing instrument, helps to overcome the hurt generated by abusive situations. The project secured a seed grant from The Pollination Project and three cycles of France-Merrick Opportunity Fund support provided by the Maryland Institute College of Art. Through these workshops, participants created artworks depicting their personal stories of pain and sorrow, thereby experiencing creative catharsis leading to a better sense of self, higher level of self-esteem, and increased sense of connectedness with their community. As a result, validation, resilience, and empowerment became the three key elements shaping the arc of the project.

The end of the year celebratory workshop invites people of all genders, colors, and ethnicities, to participate in a space where individual stories of horror and/or happiness are transformed into symbolic puppets that educate, enlighten, and shed light on the issues of abuse, trauma, and suffering.

Project KALI is the brainchild of Hamida Khatri (MFA in Community Arts ‘17). She is an artist, arts educator, creative arts therapist, and a community activist. She is the Founder and Director of Creative Therapy Platform – a voluntary travel-community project focused on crafting healing spaces in underrepresented areas. Her practical and professional experience focuses on a personal yet parallel journey towards community mediation with the merger between creative arts and psychotherapy. She has been active in conducting creative healing workshops in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, United Kingdom, and the United States.

<><><><><><><><><><><>2017 MFA Thesis Exhibition :: Opening Reception Reception
Wednesday, April 26th : 5-7pm

University of Maryland Art Gallery
2202 Art-Sociology Building : College Park

The University of Maryland Art Gallery presents the 2017 MFA Thesis Exhibition, an exhibition that marks the culmination of fine arts education and training in the University of Maryland Department of Art. This year the exhibition features work by four Department of Art MFA candidates: Zac Benson, C.W. Brooks, Kevin Hird, and Dominique Wohrer.

<><><><><><><><><><><>Affect + Effect: Art and Social Responsibility Senior Capstone :: Reception + Talk
Thursday, April 27th : 5:30-7:30pm

Rice Gallery, Peterson Hall
McDaniel College : Westminster

“Affect + Effect: Art and Social Responsibility runs Tuesday, April 25Friday, May 5, with a reception on Thursday, April 27, 5:307:30 p.m., including a gallery talk at 6 p.m. Students with works in the exhibition are Mei-Le Apalucci of Woodbine, Md., Anna Eckard of Westminster, Md., Sarah McRoberts of Damascus, Md., Hunter Metcalf of Blain, Pa., Rachel Sentz of Felton, Pa., and Hannah Sommer of Taneytown, Md.

<><><><><><><><><><><>Peabody at Night: Peabody Dance
Thursday, April 27th : 7-8:30pm

The Walters Art Museum
600 North Charles Street : 21201

This group of pre-professional dancers will perform collaborative projects—inspired by works in the Walters’ collection—on the stunning Sculpture Court. Melissa Stafford, Director and Department Chair, and Constance Dinapoli, Artistic Coordinator of Contemporary Dance, will provide context and remarks on the program. Presented in partnership with the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

<><><><><><><><><><><>

Artist Fred Wilson in conversation with George Ciscle at MICA
Friday, April 28: 7 PM – 8 PM

MICA Fred Lazarus IV Center
131 West North Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland

Artist Fred Wilson was an important part of The Contemporary Museum’s early years. For his 1992 exhibition, Mining the Museum, he went through the collection of the Maryland Historical Society and designed an installation within their galleries that illustrated the complicity of museum practices in inadvertently upholding racism. The exhibition was displayed in unexpected arrangements that raised questions about the museum’s representation of African-American and Native-American experiences. Mining the Museum remains an influential show in the field and was a seminal show for Wilson.

In celebration of Mining the Museum’s 25th anniversary, Wilson returns to Baltimore in conversation with George Ciscle, MICA’s Curator-in-Residence and formerly founding director of The Contemporary.

Conversation sponsored by The Contemporary, Mixed Media Series, Critical Studies M.A., Art History, Graduate Studies, Curatorial Practice M.F.A., Communications and the Office of Community Engagement.

For more information click here.

<><><><><><><><><><>

The Balance: Work by Monika Andersson + Zoe Perry-Wood :: Reception
Friday, April 28th : 6-8pm

The Galleries at CCBC Essex
7201 Rossville Boulevard : Rosedale

The Balance is an exhibition of images by two New England photographers steeped in the tradition of social documentary photography: Monika Andersson and Zoe Perry-Wood. Both are “concerned photographers” whom Cornel Capa describes as “those photographers who demonstrate in their work a humanitarian impulse to use pictures to educate and change the world, not just to record it.”

Andersson’s black and white pictures of drag queen festivals were made 25 years ago, while Perry-Wood’s work is based in the LGBTQ community of present day. The narrative found in both bodies of work, although years apart, is strikingly similar. The Balance is the ebb and flow of living your life and being true to your identity in a society that may not approve. Your private life becomes public out of necessity. It’s a necessity to ensure that your rights, privileges and choices as individuals are granted and maintained.

Photography, by its nature, is generous. These photographers have made all the effort to travel, visualize, intellectualize, and then secure the facts. This culmination of their energy then asks that you study, interpret, summarize and understand. Step into the moment; empathize, respect, and share in the dignity of their identity.

The roots and traditions that gave rise to these brilliant, talented artists stem from the likes of Garry Winogrand, Henri Cartier–Bresson, Helen Levitt and Mike Disfarmer. Andersson’s and Perry-Wood’s works are not derivative of this history of photography – it is their perception and artistic skills that binds them together. It’s the ability to be invisible, to identify and energize the frame, and then to trigger the shutter when the arrangement of “things” is perfect. It’s not only an arrangement of shapes and edges, not only capturing the profound psychology of the sitter, but also of the time.

The frame, the gesture, the content, and the lives within seek The Balance.

<><><><><><><><><><><>Thrive No. 7 with Jasmine Hogan, Harp
Friday, April 28th : 8-11pm

Jordan Faye Contemporary
218 West Saratoga Street : 21201

Jasmine Hogan, an international prize-winning harpist makes new music the focus of her musical explorations. She works with composers and has solo’d and collaborated with renowned orchestras, opera companies, and chamber musicians. She’s also performed locally at the Baltimore Museum of Art and Walters Art Gallery.
Thrive No. 7 will be a combo of new works for harp, multimedia and Jasmine’s own settings of folk song.
Dessert and drink will be freely provided for your enjoyment.
Admission: $20/$10 student

<><><><><><><><><><><>The Fifth Baltimore Hackathon
Friday, April 28th – Sunday, April 30th

Impact Hub + Open Works
Station North : 21201

Like last year, teams have the chance to win over $10,000 in prizes for the best software project,hardware project, or civic tech project!

Embark on a 48 hour journey as we work across two maker campuses in Station North – Impact Hub Baltimore and Open Works.

For more info check out the site: https://www.baltimorehackathon.com/

<><><><><><><><><><><>

MICA + JHU 2017 MFA in Filmmaking Festival
Friday, April 28th – Sunday, April 30th

MICA Brown Center
1301 West Mount Royal Avenue : 21217

Episodic pilots, narrative films, and non-fiction programming by our inaugural class. All film screenings are in Falvey Hall in MICA’s Brown Center.

April 28: Friday Night Premieres
  • 5:00pm Photo Wall & Reception with Light Food and Drink
  • 6:00pm–7:00pm
  • Milo’s Misfits by William Bryson / 18-minutes, pilot episode, comedy
  • He’s Gone Now by Jacob Lindsay / 14-minute, comedy
  • #StrandedByVanity by Janique Robillard / 23-minute Pilot Episode, 2-minute Season Teaser, dark comedy series
  • Q&A with all 3 Filmmakers on Stage
  • 7:30pm–8:30pm
  • Blue before Gray by Phallon Beckham / 12-minutes, drama, thriller
  • Welcome Home Chanel by Jenahye’ Johnson / 19-minutes, drama
  • Mining the Museum by Ralph Sporay / 25-minutes, documentary
  • Q&A with all 3 Filmmakers on Stage
April 29: Saturday Night Premieres
  • 5:00pm Photo Wall & Reception with Light Food and Drink
  • 6:00pm–6:45pm
  • All to Myself by Maceo Lester / 7-minutes, drama, music short
  • The Painting by Andrea Lagos / 15-minutes, horror, arthouse
  • Telekinesis by James Duffy / 15-minutes, comedy
  • Q&A with all 3 Filmmakers on Stage
  • 7:15pm–8:00pm
  • The Eulogy by Carlos Harris / 15-minutes, drama
  • easter in america by Alexander Rubin / 15-minutes, dramedy
  • I’m Alive & Doing Well by Michael Smigiel / 15-minutes, comedy, road trip, bromancel
  • Q&A with all 3 Filmmakers on Stage
April 30: Sunday Screenings
  • 1:00–2:00pm
  • #StrandedByVanity by Janique Robillard / 23-minute Pilot Episode, 2-minute Season Teaser, dark comedy series
  • Milo’s Misfits by William Bryson / 18-minutes, Pilot Episode, comedy
  • He’s Gone Now by Jacob Lindsay / 14-minute, comedy
  • INTERMISSION
  • 2:15–3:15pm
  • Mining the Museum by Ralph Sporay / 25-minutes, documentary
  • Blue before Gray by Phallon Beckham / 12-minutes, drama, thriller
  • Welcome Home Chanel by Jenahye’ Johnson / 19-minutes, drama
  • INTERMISSION
  • 3:00–3:45pm
  • Telekinesis by James Duffy / 15-minutes, comedy
  • All to Myself by Maceo Lester / 7-minutes, drama, music short
  • The Painting by Andrea Lagos / 15-minutes, horror, arthouse
  • INTERMISSION
  • 4:00–5:00pm
  • I’m Alive & Doing Well by Michael Smigiel / 15-minutes, comedy, road trip, bromance
  • The Eulogy by Carlos Harris / 15-minutes, drama
  • easter in america by Alexander Rubin / 15-minutes, dramedy

<><><><><><><><><><><>Creative Alchemy: Curated by Carol R. Dyson :: Reception
Saturday, April 29th : 2-5pm

Howard University Interdisciplinary Research Building
2400 Sixth St NW : Washington DC

Intersecting imagination and science at Howard University’s new Interdisciplinary Research Building, Creative Alchemy connects scientific innovation, research and experimentation with artistic vision. Art installations on all four floors parallel these distinct, yet interconnected, practices and create alternative narratives to the ongoing projects throughout the building.

<><><><><><><><><><><>American Made:  Mass Production | Mass Incarceration :: Opening Reception
Saturday, April 29th : 6pm

Maryland Art Place
218 West Saratoga Street : 21201

Prisons, mass production, and forced labor are the subjects of “American Made: Mass Production/ Mass Incarceration,” an exhibit and reading room organized by MICA’s Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS). The show, which opens on April 29 at Maryland Art Place, assembles photography, zines, video, and art produced by current and former prisoners.

Ongoing panels, workshops, performances, and screenings, hosted at Maryland Art Place and other venues, explore the intersection of mass incarceration and mass production.

For this year’s exhibit, EDS examines how craft works as currency in the U.S. prison system. “American Made: Mass Production/ Mass Incarceration” showcases creativity as a reaction to incarceration while exposing production from forced labor. Participants include Jesse Krimes (an installation artist), Anthony Rayson and Victoria Law (prison zine-makers), Sandra Cate and Robert Gumpert (documentarians), Bashi Rose (video artist), and other artists and producers.

<><><><><><><><><><><>Juan Fontanive: Machine Language :: Opening Reception
Saturday, April 29th : 7-10pm

Guest Spot @ The Reinstitute
1715 North Calvert Street : 21202

Guest Spot @ THE REINSTITUTE is excited to present Machine Language, a kinetic installation by Juan Fontanive. The new series of work will also be exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (MOCA), opening in fall of this year.

Just beyond the vision of dystopia lies a condition called normalcy. Capitalism has fashioned, reinforced, or subverted normative standards of what constitutes body, form and function.  The thaumatrope (an optical toy popular in 19th century, that depicted a bird on one side and cage on the other) symbolizes our understanding of the illusion of movement. Motion as the embodiment of ideas has long been influential in our worldview, ingrained in the mechanics of contextualizing history. The perturbations around modernity have fueled our understanding of dominant structures; illusion has been a variant of rationality. Art, the catalyst of a non-deterministic linear path, poses the idea that variation and structure do not necessarily need to be in opposition to one another. The beauty of paintingis the nebulous from which the work was created and how fate determines its value.

Juan Fontanive utilizes mechanical invention as a way to understand movement as the impetus for media. He looks to the intermittent mechanics of cinematography as an abstract for his installations. The work reflects a specific historical moment, which was the beginning of great industrial and cultural advancement. Yet it was also a time of emerging tensions between social and technological innovations, in the form of both systematic distrust and regulation. Fontanive challenges concepts surrounding film, painting, and installation, while exploring form and chaos.  Fontaniveexamines the relational  distinctions between metaphysical and fundamental concepts of action. His ‘animations’ conjure the beauty found in sequential and repetitive movement, while embracing mechanical chance and illusion.  The works evokes historic tensions between the prosperous Industrial Age ideology of unit-based progress, and modern sensibilities of expressionism and individualism.

Juan Fontanive grew up climbing the rusted iron bridges of Cleveland, OH. He drew machines at Montessori school and made claymations in high school. At Syracuse University, he majored in English and Textual Studies, while making 16mm experimental films. In 2004, while attending the Royal College of Art, London, he invented machines that breathe spirits into Victorian clocks. Currently his studio is in a buzzing factory in Bushwick, NYC.

<><><><><><><><><><><>14th Annual CityLit Festival
Saturday, April 29th :10am-4pm

UB William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center
11 West Mount Royal Avenue : 21201

CITYLIT FESTIVAL announces a Day of Poetry, Fiction & Nonfiction featuring WYPR’s Tom Hall in Conversation with Americanah’s Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie!

The 14h annual CityLit Festival promises a day for writers and readers to engage in 15 sessions devoted to the literary arts on Saturday, April 29, 2017 from 10:00am – 4:00pm at the William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center at 11 W. Mt. Royal Avenue. From Writers as Activists to Writing the Motherland, from Arab American women’s literary voices Writing Identity to Coming of Age in the Other America, from Writers Resist with Marc Steiner to Grants for Writers and Tips for Editing your work, CityLit braces for a convening of literary artists from across the region.

The Festival’s featured event is WYPR’s Tom Hall in Conversation with Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, whose book Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions is due for publication in March. CityLit’s signature event is free and open to the public. The ‘Conversation’ will be held midday directly across the street at the John and Frances Angelos Law Center at 1401 N. Charles Street in Baltimore. Adichie’s 2012 TED Talk, We Should All Be Feminists, has started a worldwide conversation about feminism. Her 2010 TED Talk, The Danger of A Single Story, is now one of the top ten most-viewed TED Talks of all time with over five million views.

Sessions are free, except for the master class and the morning 30-minute manuscript critiques provided by revered writers/editors, including Karen Houppert. Barnes & Noble Café will be open throughout the day.The Literary Marketplace will consist of exhibitors from across the region with magazines, books, information on literary programs and organizations. Tabling registration information is available at: http://www.citylitproject.org/index.cfm?page=news&newsid=177

<><><><><><><><><><><>

Bromo Spectacular – Voids & Vistas :: Walking Tour/ Performance
Saturday, April 29 : 2 PM – 4 PM

Explore the Bromo District’s invisible public spaces and storied buildings while learning about the speculative and spectacular efforts shaping the neighborhood to this day. On this free, 90 minute New Public Sites walking tour public artist Graham Coreil-Allen will reveal little known histories, urban design successes and challenges, and current artist-led redevelopment projects.

On this second tour, special guest guest Michael Benevento will talk about Current Space’s artist venue and studios expansion plans. Tour Highlights: Current Space Redevelopment, Tyson Canyon Trees, Umbrella Void, Superblock reboot, Greyhound Badminton, Howard Street Transitions, Hopscotch Crosswalk, and Bromo Tower Vista.

Bromo Spectacular is presented as part of Front, curated by Betty Gonzales. Front is an augmented reality and online exhibition addressing issues of urban renewal by reimagining vacant storefronts throughout the Bromo Arts and Entertainment District.

More info here and more on Art City Baltimore here.

<><><><><><><><><>Mike McConnell: Elsewhere :: Reception
Saturday, April 29th : 2-4pm

Black Rock Center for the Arts
12901 Town Commons Drive : Germantown

Aggressively manipulating paint, wax crayon and ink on the hard surface of his hand-built cradled wood panels, Mike McConnell first applies pigment with a brush then uses single edge razor blades to draw and scrape into the fields of color. His often playful and visually complex compositions are built using a collage-like process where the artist cuts out shapes and converts the history of his initial painting into a new conversation. A keen observer who paints intuitively, McConnell usually turns to nature for inspiration to create bold and vibrant works that reflect his varied interests and memories in abstracted scenes filled with patterns and witty narratives. To learn more, visit: www.wetinc.com

<><><><><><><><><><><>Marquee Ball 2017
Saturday, April 29th : 5:30pm

The Creative Alliance
3134 Eastern Avenue : 21224

Dig out your glittery platforms, hot pants, and bell bottoms for our biggest party of the year! Marquee Ball: Disco Nights celebrates the 1979 film Roller Boogie! The Patterson transforms into Highlandtown’s hottest, most outlandish, flamboyant Disco ever!

The VIP Preview Dinner
Honoring Randi Vega, Cultural Affairs Director at Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts!
A formal seated VIP dinner with our honoree, open bar with specialty cocktails all evening, live auction, and access to the Disco Nights Party w/ Rolled Gold!

5:30pm – Midnight Tickets: $250 each, table of ten $2,500Advance tickets only
BUY DINNER TICKETS HERE

Disco Nights Party!
Groove to the premiere of Rolled Gold, Baltimore’s all-star live band and get down to your favorite Disco hits in the Theater all night long! Organized by Matthew Pierce (Arbouretum, Big in Japan) and Stephen Strohmeier, Rolled Gold features Katrina Ford (Celebration), Hanna Olivegren (Zomes), Joy Postell, Walker Teret, Amanda Glasser, Charisse Nichols and more!

Plus roller dancers, roaming interactive performers, silent art auction, photobooth, delicious 70s party food and intoxicating cocktails.

8pm-Midnight. Party Tickets: $55, $50 members. Purchase tickets here!
Tickets include local beer, wine, signature cocktails and light fare. 

Proceeds support Creative Alliance’s free Youth Education Programs.

Beer provided by Union Craft Brewery and Monument City Brewing Company. Liquor provided by Baltimore Whiskey Company and Lyon Distilling Company.
Costumes encouraged! Click here for costume inspiration!

<><><><><><><><><><><>The Collective Presents: This is Home
Saturday, April 29th – Sunday, April 30th

Baltimore Theatre Project
45 West Preston Street : 21201

The Collective, Baltimore’s hub for dancers and choreographers, will present a collection of works entitled This is Home, featuring seven premier works crafted around the universal theme of home and inspired by the Imagining Home exhibit in the Patricia and Mark Joseph Education Center at the Baltimore Museum of Art. This is Home will run at Baltimore’s Theatre Project on Saturday, April 29th at 8pm and Sunday, April 30th at 3pm. The concert will feature works by the following choreographers: Samantha Hopkins, Martha Johnston, Adrienne Kraus Latanishen, Brittni Mann, Caitlin McAfee, Polly Mizani, Lynne Price, Gianna Rodriguez, Kristen Yeung & guest choreographers Iyun Ashani Harrison and Sarah Beth Oppenheim.

This collection of works also culminates a collaboration with the Baltimore Museum of Art in producing a series of free workshops for Open Hours @ the BMA on Saturday, April 15, 2017 from 1pm-4pm. The workshops will blend dance and the themes of the Imagining Home exhibit.

<><><><><><><><><><><>CoHosts II: Jenna Wortham
Saturday, April 29th : 5-7pm

Eubie Blake Cultural Center
847 North Howard Street : 21201

In 2014, we launched with CoHosts, our inaugural Speaker Series, which was organized with thirteen local commercial, artist-run, and independent galleries. Each gallery responded to a simple question: Who is the one artist or art professional that you want The Contemporary to bring to Baltimore? In 2016-17, we’ve decided to resume the series and have partnered with five artist-run platforms including galleries, spaces, collectives, and festivals. The participating cohosts are: KAHLON, The Agency, Penthouse GalleryPlatform GalleryTerrault Contemporary, and Transmodern Festival.

This lecture will take place in conjunction with KAHLON & 3Dot Zine: The Cut Up III, Brown Paper Zine Fair at the Eubie Blake Cultural Center, 847 N. Howard Street. Seating will be limited, and those with advanced registration will be given priority

<><><><><><><><><><><>Stephan Pastis: Pearls Hogs the Road
Sunday, April 30th : 5-6:30pm

The Ivy Bookshop
6080 Falls Road : 21209

Move over! Pearls Before Swine is back and badder than ever in the new treasury collection Pearls Hogs the RoadNew York Times bestselling author Stephan Pastis punches with the satirical wit and cynical commentary that devotees have come to love—covering everything from puns to politics. The Pearls gang returns with characteristically misanthropic humor (but more leather). No self-aggrandizing is too flagrant for Rat, no subject is too erudite for Goat and no sensory input is too basic for Pig. All topics are fair game: comic strip censors, apathetic baristas and IRS employees are all strongly advised to laugh or get out of the way. Pearls Hogs the Road also features playful and illuminating author commentary, a bonus section where Pastis revises his own work and three strips illustrated by the legendary Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes, who ended a 19-year hiatus to collaborate with Pastis. Pearls Before Swine appears in more than 750 newspapers and has sold over half a million books. Pearls Hogs the Road continues the celebration of satire, snark and sarcasm that is sure to make readers everywhere smile.

Stephan Pastis is an attorney turned cartoonist. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and the UCLA School of Law, he worked as a lawyer before trying his hand at cartooning. Pastis lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two children

<><><><><><><><><><><>Music and Memory
Sunday, April 30th : 2:30-3:15pm Forum, 4pm Concert

Kraushaar Auditorium
Goucher College : Towson

Mark your calendars now for this major concert event!  Music and Memory Collaboration Concert at Kraushaar Auditorium, Goucher College at 4:00 p.m. (1021 Dulaney Valley Rd. Baltimore, MD 21204).  

The Deer Creek Chorale, the Goucher Choirs, and guest conductor Bruce Rogers will present a collaborative concert on the theme of music and memory. We have each had moments when hearing a particular song brought a strong memory to mind, and seemed to transport us elsewhere. This is more than a simply pleasant phenomenon. Music is increasingly used to help Alzheimer patients, as Oliver Sacks said, “reacquire [their] identity” as “it will call the whole person.” This concert program will feature several pieces that illustrate the power of music to trigger memory and bring hope, including to those who have lost memory.

The program will present the mid-Atlantic premiere of Robert Cohen’s “Alzheimer’s Stories,” which dramatically interprets Dr. Alzheimer’s discovery of the disease, shares amusing and moving stories and experiences of patients, and conveys words of comfort and hope for caregivers. Audience members may find some of these experiences to be personally familiar, with a deeper appreciation for the powerful role music plays in summoning memory and connecting patients with their friends and family. Soprano Carolyn Black-Sotir and baritone Thomas Beard will be featured performers, along with a professional orchestra. Mr. Cohen will be present for the performance.

The concert will also feature the world premiere of a new work commissioned by the Deer Creek Chorale, “Three Memories,“ composed by Goucher College faculty member and Director of Choral Activities Daniel McDavitt, as well as a performance by the Deer Creek Youth Choir.   The concert will be held at Goucher College as part of a whole weekend of Alzheimer awareness activities including a pre-concert Alzheimer Awareness Panel Forum from 2:30-3:15 p.m., and a video presentation beginning at 3:45. Don’t miss this extraordinary event!

<><><><><><><><><><><>Young Playwrights Festival
Monday, May 1st : 1-7pm

Center Stage
700 North Calvert Street : 21202

Baltimore Center Stage is pleased to announce the honorees for the 31st Annual Young Playwrights Festival, a yearly competition that invites students in kindergarten through 12th grade in Maryland to submit original writing. The winning playwrights will be honored with workshops and in-school performances. A selection of plays will be staged at the Annual Young Playwrights Festival, which will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, May 1, at Baltimore Center Stage, 700 North Calvert St., Baltimore, Md. 21202.

“The Young Playwrights Festival gets students fired up about writing and builds their confidence,” said Baltimore Center Stage Education Director Michael Wiggins. “This year’s submissions run the gamut from wonderfully absurd comedy, to heartbreaking tragedy, and everything in between. We are delighted to produce performances in the honored students’ schools and to host the festival once again in our newly renovated home on Calvert Street.”

This year’s honorees include students in schools from across the state of Maryland, including Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Frederick County, Harford County, Howard County and Montgomery County.

The Young Playwrights Festival on May 1 will include an awards ceremony and staged readings of plays by Alia Zerhouni, Zoe San Luis, Adriyona Reese, Joshua Salazar Alvarado, Zeke Hickman, Ruth Dawit, Jaya Connor, Dominick Anderson, Kate Jacob, Brian Jaegar, Eva Hauf, Seydou Tounkara, Julianna Gross and Miguel Fernandez. The event is free and open to the public; however, a $5 donation is suggested. Please call the Baltimore Center Stage Box Office at 410.332.0033 to reserve tickets.

Related Stories
The best weekly art openings, events, and calls for entry happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas.

This Week:  I don’t dream of labor exhibition ongoing at the Galleries at CCBC, Visiting Voices: Supporting Disabled Artist-Educators and Learners lecture at MICA's Hurwitz Center, Womxn of the World Poetry Slam at the Baltimore War Memorial, Trans Day of Visibility at Red Emma's, and more!

Baltimore news updates from independent & regional media

Six Baltimore Artists Selected for Acquisition by JHU, Joyce J. Scott interviewed about her BMA retrospective, Lane Harlan, Carlos Raba, and Rey Eugenio's Mexican + Filipino Pop-up, Monica Ikegwu on CNN's "Art is Life" segment, Mark Rothko works on paper at the National Gallery of Art, and more!

The best weekly art openings, events, and calls for entry happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas.

Collection Connections at The Walters celebrates female leadership in conservation, Arts Every Day Cocktails and Conversation at The Peale, Dr. Raynetta Wiggins-Jackson lectures at The Lewis Museum, Xavier Hardison, BlissArmyKnife, and Jennifer McBrien opening reception at Bromo, and more!

Baltimore news updates from independent & regional media

Applications open for BMA JJC Residency, a Harborplace obituary, John Waters wins ACE Award, Jacob Kainen documentary, Dalila Scruggs named Augusta Savage Curator of African American Art at SAAM, Junius Wilson carves a backyard masterpiece, William H. Johnson exhibition at SAAM, Kreeger Museum 30th