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BMOREART’S PICKS: BALTIMORE ART OPENINGS, GALLERIES, AND EVENTS JULY 31 – AUGUST 6

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For the Love of Hair and Music

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]!

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<><><><><><><><>Book Reading: Amber Tamblyn
Wednesday, August 1st • 7pm

Creative Alliance
3134 Eastern Avenue : 21224

Lidia Yuknavitch. Roxane Gay. Carmen Maria Machado. Amelia Gray. Han Kang. By turning women’s bodies into a place of resistance, these pioneering feminist authors are rewriting how we understand trauma. Their influence can be found in Amber Tamblyn’s searing debut novel, ANY MAN– a groundbreaking work that challenges our understanding of rape culture and the experience of trauma, while also searching for hope – and a space for victims to be heard – in the darkest of places.

ANY MAN follows six men: an English teacher, an unsuccessful standup comedian, a bi-racial web designer; a high school student, an alt-right media personality, and a transgender man. While one man’s experience launches him into the spotlight as an unlikely activist and voice for justice, another’s trauma is told through every voice but his own, a damning commentary on how we abuse and erase the stories and experiences of survivors.

In ANY MAN, the serial rapes act as a mirror, reflecting prejudices from the media and society back towards each victim as they grapple with guilt, shame, fear, PTSD, anger, and confusion about their attack. Journalists and people on social media hound and harass the victims, some going so far as to question whether it is even physically possible for a woman to rape a man.

Soon the culture feels equally as complicit and violent as the actual predator herself. The power of this novel comes from the victims’ resistance of the narrative thrust upon them, refusing to be plot devices, but actual agents of action, central, and ever-present as they summon the strength and courage to speak out.

After writing a widely shared and lauded opinion piece for The New York Times, “I’m Done with Not Being Believed,” Amber Tamblyn has emerged as an important voice, writing about sexual assault and abuses of power. Now, the Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated actress, director, and poet uses the novel form to explore a provocative and haunting story of a violent serial predator who, in the form of a woman, is the personification of a culture responsible for re-traumatizing, disbelieving, and silencing the stories and voices of her victims.

Equally disturbing and lyrical, empathetic and sardonic, this novel is a riveting, suspenseful read—part crime thriller, part cultural commentary, part poetic prose. ANY MAN is a remarkable examination of the darkest parts of our culture: what we see and what we don’t see, how we act and how we don’t act, and what we will and will not tolerate. It is a timely, necessary, and strikingly original work that challenges us all to do better and celebrates the transformative power of language when the stories of victims are at long last heard.

<><><><><><><><>The Materials & Meanings of Color in Antiquity
Wednesday, August 1st • 7-9pm

Johns Hopkins Archeological Museum
34oo North Charles Street : 21218

Objects and surfaces in antiquity were often brightly colored, in contrast to how they were depicted in traditional printed reproductions. What role did the colorful surfaces of sculptures, architectural spaces, paintings, and textiles play in the ancient world?

This talk will highlight research on the technologies of color in antiquity and will discuss current analytical techniques used to study polychromed objects from the collection of the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum.

Sanchita Balachandran analyzes ancient objects and the history, ethics, and practice of art conserva­tion.

<><><><><><><><>Spectral Displays: Paintings by Scott Redding | Opening Reception
Friday, August 3rd • 6-9pm

Gallery CA
440 East Oliver Street : 21202

Spectral Displays is an attempt to create images that can withstand durational viewing, in competition with television media, which can hold consumers attention to the point that it has achieved ubiquity. In selecting pieces, artist Scott Redding uses the criterium “active” to curate the paintings which mimic a hallucinogenic response, which some have described as “3-D”, similar to the 80’s popular art phenomenon known as “Magic Eye”. These works were created through an obsessional process, working on the edge of surreality, in the pursuit of honing a technique that helps to move visual culture forward.

You are invited to stare at these full spectrum color displays as they ripple and shift, and demand such focus that you forget to blink, leaving your cheeks stained with tears.

<><><><><><><><>We Are Not Voiceless By Joaquin Esteban Jutt | Opening Reception
Friday, August 3rd • 6-9pm

Waller Gallery
242o North Calvert Street : 21218

The exhibition “​We Are Not Voiceless”​ is an art exhibition about the importance of speaking your mind and uplifting those that are not given opportunities to advocate for themselves. This will be the first east coast solo exhibition of Joaquin Esteban Jutt, a platform to utilize his art as advocacy for the voiceless. Several of Jutt’s series will take to task the challenges and themes of the black and brown American experience. Themes in the exhibition include: unemployment and overworking, figures of oppression such as the trope of the angry black woman, and figures of protest such as the Black Panthers.

We Are Not Voiceless​​ will be shown at Waller Gallery in Baltimore, Md; a community that is in need of larger conversations and opportunities to exchange ideas that Jutt is illustrating in his work. The opening reception is Friday, August 3rd, 2018 6-9pm. Programming will consist of talks with the artist, a scholarly panel, and other events that connect Jutt’s work with the Baltimore community.

Waller Gallery​​ is a multidisciplinary art gallery focusing on art created by people of color. Conceived in 2017 Waller Gallery has a vision to support artists in Baltimore, the US, and globally through exhibitions, programming, and collaborative projects. The gallery considers all forms of art including design, social practice, craft, and digital art. We are passionate about engaging with artists at any stage of their practice. Notwithstanding the current political assault on artists, especially queer and poc artists, we stand with them and will continue the tradition of black owned businesses in Baltimore.

<><><><><><><><>Kini Collins: Finger Painting | Opening Reception
Saturday, August 4th • 6-8pm

The Laughing Pint
3531 Gough Street : 21234

Dream of Venice — 24” x 48”  pigment on wood

I came back from a recent trip to Italy with several bags of powered paint pigment — red and yellow ocher, raw sienna, a sort of Prussian blue and viridian.  So beautiful, I needed to touch them, wanted no tool between me and the color.
So I sprinkled them onto surfaces, like you would sprinkle flour when kneading dough, then rubbed the colors with my hands, sometimes using a little water, sometimes not.  Final touch was an acrylic sealer.

<><><><><><><><>The Comics Process | Opening Reception
Saturday, August 4th • 7-10pm

Tectonic Space
2000 Greenmount Avenue : 21218

Tectonic Space art gallery is excited to announce its partnership with Bmore into Comics for The Comics Process, an exhibition illustrating the comic book production process opening August 4th 2018 from 7 PM- 10 PM.

 The exhibition will detail the work and talent that goes into the making of comics, featuring concept art, scripts, doodles, and finished comic pages by the members of Bmore Into Comics. The featured artists and writers will be: Monica Gallagher, Jonathan Eaton, Kathleen Brenowitz, John Bintz, M. Victoria Robado, Deandra Tan, Parker Hicks, Jabari Weathers, Cait May, Gordon Harris, Anna Sellheim. This immersive exhibition will also feature various events, such as, a drink and draw, vending market, and panel discussion. The show will be up for display until September 30th.

 Founded in 2013 by illustrator Monica Gallagher, Bmore Into Comics hosts events around Baltimore City and County featuring vendors and insightful panel discussions. The collective aims to highlight Baltimore creatives and connect a wide audience with indie comics.

Tectonic Space is an art gallery in Baltimore, MD, primarily focused on highlighting illustration, graphic and graffiti style artwork, comic book art, and sci-fi/fantasy artwork. Updates on upcoming events can be found on social media (@tectonicspace) and by visiting www.tectonicspace.com.

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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!

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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!