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BMOREART’S PICKS: BALTIMORE ART OPENINGS, GALLERIES, AND EVENTS APRIL 23 – 29

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This week: 2019 MFA Thesis Exhibition at UMD Art Gallery, You Are Here: A Multimedia Event at MICA’s BBOX, Independent Bookstore Day + Atomic Books Anniversary, the 2019 CityLit Festival, MICA’s Grad Show III, Pinta Manta /// TRY SOFTER at Current Space, School 33 hosts a gallery talk with Ben Piwowar, Afro House’s 100 Year Symposium, the 2019 Marquee Ball: OZ! takes the Creative Alliance by storm, and Unruly Bodies opens at Stevenson University.

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.

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

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!! Upcoming BmoreArt Event !!

BmoreArt Magazine Party: Issue 07 Body
Thursday, May 23rd • 7:30-9:30pm

The Parkway Theatre
3 West North Avenue : 21201

Tickets $25-30 / More information here

Join us to celebrate Issue 07: Body, an exploration of Baltimore and DC-based artists who represent the body, who nourish it in their work, who use it as art medium and concept, and offer new patterns of thought around the politics, benefits, ethics, and limitations of having a body in 2019.

This event will be hosted at The Parkway Theatre and is an opportunity to celebrate in one of Baltimore’s architectural gems and to do it in style. Dress code is old school Hollywood glam. Have we mentioned they have best popcorn in Baltimore? Your ticket includes an adult beverage, popcorn, photo booth, and the first opportunity to take home our latest issue.



2019 MFA Thesis Exhibition | Preview Event + Opening Reception
Wednesday, April 24th • 4-7pm

University of Maryland Art Gallery
3834 Campus Drive : College Park

The Art Gallery and Department of Art cordially invite you for an exclusive preview of exciting new work by four MFA Candidates. Please join us for cocktails with a select group of artists, curators and fine arts supporters for a chance to meet and talk with the artists before the exhibition opening.

The 2019 MFA Thesis Exhibition features work by UMD Department of Art MFA students graduating at the end of the 2018-2019 academic year and showcases cutting-edge graduate research that utilizes a myriad of new approaches in art-making. This year the exhibition features work by four MFA candidates: Clay DunklinMason HurleyMonroe Isenberg, and Irene Pantelis. This exhibition is organized by the University of Maryland Art Gallery, in association with the Department of Art, and is supported in part by the Dorothy and Nicholas Orem Exhibition Fund as well as a generous grant from the Maryland State Arts Council.

Preview Event: Wednesday, April 24, 2019, from 4-5pm.

Opening reception: Wednesday, April 24, 2019, from 5-7pm.



You Are Here: A Multimedia Event

Friday, April 26th • 8pm + Saturday, April 27th • 5pm

BBOX: The Gateway
1601 West Mt. Royal Avenue : 21202

The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) presents “You Are Here,” a Multi Media Event a debut of the work of 12 MICA students in the Fiber Department’s yearlong Multi Media Event I and II course. The annual showcase of student-designed fashions and performance takes place at 8 p.m. Friday, April 26 and 5 p.m. Saturday, April 27 in BBOX, 1601 W. Mount Royal Ave.

The work presented on these two nights was developed by 12 MICA undergraduate seniors in the class ranging from the majors of Painting, Ceramics and Fiber. The show will be presenting 12 perspectives on textile and place, activated and informed by light, sound, movement, and props.



Independent Bookstore Day & Atomic Books Anniversary

Saturday, April 27th 

Atomic Books
3620 Falls Road : 21211

Independent Bookstore Day is a one-day national party that takes place at indie bookstores across the country on the last Saturday in April.

Independent bookstores are not just stores, they’re community centers and local anchors run by passionate readers. They are entire universes of ideas that contain the possibility of real serendipity. They are lively performance spaces and quiet places where aimless perusal is a day well spent.

In a world of tweets and algorithms and pageless digital downloads, bookstores are not a dying anachronism. They are living, breathing organisms that continue to grow and expand. In fact, there are more of them this year than there were last year. And they are at your service.

More about Independent Bookstore Day.
http://www.indiebookstoreday.com/

It’s also Atomic Books’ Anniversary –
Double Big Spender Marks!
Free commemorative tote for a purchase of $50 or more!

And it’s ALSO the 2nd annual Local Yarn Store Day! We’re doing a special project with our BFF’s Lovelyarns! More info to come!

Author, comedian, musician, Lane Moore, will be at Atomic Books to sign copies of her book, How to Be Alone. 2-4pm!



CityLit Festival 2019

Saturday, April 27th 

The William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center
11 West Mt. Royal Avenue : 21201

CityLit Project is pleased to announce Dani Shapiro, The New York Times best-selling author of “Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love,” will deliver the 16th CityLit Festival keynote in conversation with Marion Winik, author of “Baltimore Book of the Dead.” This one-day, literary arts celebration will be held April 27 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at The William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center at the University of Baltimore located at 11 W. Mount Royal Ave., Baltimore, Md., 21201.

“Dani Shapiro is a writer whose latest mesmerizing work will reel you into the discussion of who you belong to, family secrets and what happens when we learn the unknowable. To have her headline this year’s Festival in a presentation with Baltimore’s own Marion Winik is a can’t-miss opportunity,” said CityLit Project Executive Director Carla Du Pree. “This festival is a celebration designed specifically for readers and writers on the subjects they care about. The festival is free, but bring your energy, as we present sessions from screenwriting and children’s literature to panel discussions focused on timely and important topics such as challenging mass incarceration, journalism in the age of Trump, the lack of representation for Asian-American writers and narratives about being mixed race in America.”

CityLit Festival 2019 will feature the master class “Diving into Stage Writing: Dialogue and Drama” with Maryland playwright Kia Corthron, as well as 30-minute one-on-one editorial critiques with Tafisha Edwards, Karen Houppert, Bret McCabe, Lauren LaRocca and Brian Price; over 20 sessions featuring published authors and emerging writers; and a literary marketplace showcasing a diverse community of self-published authors, small presses, literary journals, accessories and organizations.

The Festival is FREE. Pre-registration is required for the Master Class and One-on-One Editorial Sessions ($10 each). The Festival bookseller is The Ivy Bookshop. For more information, visit www.citylitproject.org.



Ben Piwowar | Gallery Talk

Saturday, April 27th • 2-4pm

School 33 Art Center
1427 Light Street : 21230

Ben Piwowar will be giving an artist talk about his exhibition “soft obstacle” in the Project Space at School 33 Art Center on Saturday, April 27th, 2019 at 2pm. Piwowar will discuss his installation, and the alterations he has made to his work throughout the duration of the exhibition. The talk will be followed by a conversational Q&A where visitors will have the opportunity to ask Piwowar about his work and practice.



Afro House’s 100 Year Symposium

Saturday, April 27th • 3-5pm

Afya Public Charter School
2800 Brendan Avenue : 21213

Northeast Baltimore, let’s talk about what our neighborhoods will look like 100 years into the future. A live performance by Afro House’s Astronaut Symphony will serve as an entry point and source of inspiration for a robust conversation about our city’s future.

This event is free, family-friendly and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

The 100 Year Symposium is funded in part by Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and the Baltimore Office of Promotion and The Arts and is a collaboration between Afro House and Belair-Edison Neighborhood, Inc.


MICA Grad Show III | Opening Reception
Saturday, April 27th • 5-8:30pm

MICA
1301 West Mt. Royal Avenue : 21201

MICA Grad Show III combines thesis works students from five MICA MFA graduate departments: Community Arts MFA, LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting, Mount Royal School of Art, Photographic and Electronic Media, and Rinehart School of Sculpture. Located across multiple galleries on and off campus, the work was organized by curators Darren Jones and Manuela Paz.

APRIL 19TH – MAY 5TH
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 27th, 5:00PM – 8:30PM

Tours with Curatorial Fellows during the Opening Reception
Leaving from Riggs and Leidy Galleries @ Lazarus Center
6pm + 7pm. Look for the Yellow Umbrellas!


Pinta Manta /// TRY SOFTER | Opening Reception
Saturday, April 27th • 7-10pm

Current Space
421 North Howard Street : 21201

Current Space is proud to present Pinta Manta, a collection of collaborative paintings and neons made by William Cashion & Elena Johnston and TRY SOFTER, a solo exhibition by Lexie Mountain. Please join us for the opening reception.

Pinta Manta
William Cashion & Elena Johnston

Pinta Manta is a collection of collaborative pantings and neons made by William Cashion & Elena Johnston. The work debuted at the Dare County Arts Council in Manteo, NC, June 2018. Pinta Manta was named after the 1983 António Sanches song of the same name, played in heavy rotation during the creation of this body of work.

TRY SOFTER
Lexie Mountain

TRY SOFTER presents watercolors from 2015-2019, acknowledging a social world of crowded nature, necessary retreat, and the detritus of physicality. Synthetic and natural pigments collide in intimate conflict, and congested vistas full of eyeballs and noses suggest the damage we do to ourselves.

As geological approach to both studio practice and one’s interior landscape, trying “softer” engages with a temperament of radical self-forgiveness through automatic mark-making. Frailty is a form of strength, flaws become gifts, and collapse is an opportunity to rebuild. A watery approach erodes the boundary between mistake and deliberation, masculine and feminine, self and other. Wearing patiently away at obstacles while hewing to its own singular nature, this method of persistence is transformative, permeable, fearless, and constantly at risk.


2019 Marquee Ball: OZ!
Saturday, April 27th • 8pm

Creative Alliance
3134 Eastern Avenue : 21224

5:30pm VIP Dinner | 8pm Party
w/ Jonathan Gilmore & The Experience, Betty O’Hellno & More!

Follow the yellow brick road, dance with the Lollipop Guild, roll with the Wheelers, and wander through OZ!

L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written in 1900, inspired 14 of his own books in the series and countless other movies, adventures, TV shows, stage performances, and much more. The majestic land of OZ has captured our imaginations into adulthood. From Judy Garland’s Dorothy to Michael Jackson’s Scarecrow in The WIZ, this year’s Marquee Ball celebrates them ALL!

Click your sparkling heels or ruby slippers and find yourself in The Patterson Theater transformed for a night of dancing, performances on two stages, a silent art auction, open studios, treats galore, and fabulous attire!

Are you a misunderstood witch, a cowardly lion, an evil tree, a many-headed villain, or a wayward wizard? The MANY adaptations of OZ are a feast for costume inspiration!

Suggested Inspiration:
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (book)
The Wizard fo OZ (movie)
The Return To OZ (movie)
The WIZ (movie, musical)
Tin Man (TV series)
Wicked (book, musical)
Once Upon A Time (TV series)

TICKETS:

8pm-Midnight  |  Party Tickets: $55, $50 members. Purchase Tickets Here!
Tickets include beer, wine, signature cocktail, and light fare.

5:30pm-Midnight  |  VIP Dinner at 5:30pm
Honoring Artist Oletha Devane! 

VIP Dinner Tickets $250 each, table of ten $2,500. Advance tickets only. Tickets include entry to the 8pm party.
Please call our box office at 410-276-1651 to purchase dinner tickets.

Proceeds support Creative Alliance’s FREE Youth Education Programs.


Unruly Bodies | Reception
Monday, April 29th • 5-7pm

Stevenson University Greenspring Art Gallery
1525 Greenspring Valley Road : Stevenson

Featured Artists:

Arit Emmanuela
Nia Hampton + Emani Castillo A. Moon
Mandy Morrison
Katie O’Keefe
Felandus Thames
Alan Vincent
Stephanie Williams

The body that is too fat, too sick, too Black, too foreign, too femme, too queer, too old…

One year ago, Roxane Gay asked 24 writers to consider what it meansto live in an unruly body. The prompt for Medium was deceptively simple, personal but universal, and yielded beautiful narratives.

Stevenson University is pleased to present nine artists who probe the themes of Gay’s Unruly Bodies magazine in an exhibition of video, installation, textile, and photographic artwork. What does it mean to move through the world in a body that contradicts societal norms? What does it mean to struggle against, come to terms with, or assert our physicality? How can we claim the space that we deserve?

About the Artists

Emani Castillo is a Miami based multimedia artist interested in themany histories a body holds and the performance of these narrativesdemanded by society. Emani explores the body as politics and the queermodal-tensions it holds, and analyzes varying performances of freedomthrough its intersections.

Arit Emmanuela is a Nigerian American experimental storyteller whosepractice focuses on layers of identity and life experience. She uses her background in film, theater, creative writing, photography, and sculpture to create symbol laden self-portraits that explore the multiplicities within a single person. Arit will receive her MFA from Nottingham Trent Universitythis spring.

Nia Hampton is a Baltimore native who dabbles in nomadism whenher funds allow. She is a ball of ideas and her means of expression vary depending on her environment and mental state. As of right now,her work is about exploring spirituality and identity through writing,photography, filmmaking, and, most recently, building altars.

A. Moon is an experimental filmmaker whose work has screened
in eleven countries on three continents. Her work uses analoguefilmmaking technology and already-existing images, narratives, orcinematic conventions to investigate marginalized subjectivities and minehidden meanings. She has been the recipient of awards, grants, and fellowships in Baltimore and internationally.

Mandy Morrison uses narrative video and performance work to explore how the body is represented in different contexts. She has a distinguished career, featuring exhibitions, screenings, reviews, facultypositions, residencies, grants, and honors. In her recent work, Morrisoncontrasts the ways in which bodies are defy the conditions of theirphysicality, desirability, and sexuality.

Felandus Thames | Da Blacker Da Berry | 2019 | Archival inkjet | 108 x 72 in.

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