This week: Janet Olney artist talk at ICA Baltimore, D. Watkins in conversation with Lisa Snowden-McCray at Red Emma’s, Adam Stab at the Peale, Summer ’19 opens at C. Grimaldis Gallery, sur/reality: a trans art show @ City Hall, Nick Primo + Hae Won Sohn opens at MONO Practice, ART/SOUND/NOW with Liz Donadio + Shannon Collis + Maria Chavez at the Walters, the MICA Grad Show IV reception, Dark City Beneath The Beat screening at Reginald F. Lewis Museum, New Works screening at Normals, Baltimore Clayworks Resident Artists Solo Exhibitions opening receptions, and FRESH TALK: Accessory to Action—Adorning Wakanda.
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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D. Watkins in conversation with Lisa Snowden-McCray
Wednesday, June 26th • 7-9pm
Red Emma’s
30 West North Avenue : 21201
Five years ago, in June of 2014, 10 months before the Uprising, D. Watkins was still on the come up, a freelance essay writer grinding towards success. His viral essay “Too Poor for Pop Culture” had dropped earlier in 2014, putting him on the map for a local and national audience for the first time. Red Emma’s had the honor to partner with D. on his first print publication, a zine version of this essay and a few others. At the time, we wrote that “D. Watkins’ essays for Salon and elsewhere, chronicling the struggles and hustles of Black Baltimore and his own trajectory from street dealer to creative writer, are no doubt the first shots fired by a major literary talent in the making.”
Turns out this was a fair assessment. With his third book in five years out, writing in the New York Times, and a high-profile gig as a regular Salon columnist and videomaker, D. is a voice to be reckoned with, and one who has studiously made a point of using his success to lift up new rising voices from Baltimore’s streets.
To mark the fifth anniversary of his first print publication, D.’s coming to Red Emma’s for a conversation with the essential Lisa Snowden-McCray of the Baltimore Beat for a conversation about what’s changed, what remains to change, and how his new book We Speak for Ourselves fits into this picture.
Adam Stab STREET LIFE ART exhibition | Opening Reception
Wednesday, June 26th • 6-8pm
The Peale
225 North Holliday Street : 21202
June 26-September 1
Opening Reception: Wednesday, June 26, 6pm – 8pm | Free
Adam Stab’s (American) ‘Street Life Art’ is an uncomfortable acknowledgement of the experience of growing up and living on the streets where graffiti is made, and where others tend to avoid. This suite of artwork is inspired by the consideration of what it means to be a part of the world during this time of extreme polarization. Labels of ‘outcast’ and ‘outsider’ may be sought out and embraced by some, while adding to the already sizeable burden of those born without access to wealth, opportunity or privilege and subjugated to the lowest rungs of (American) society. This work is not pretty or vibrant as is a lot of graffiti and “street art.” It is literally trash.
Collages of trash scraps, rubbings of manhole covers, and spray paint are intensely flat up close. From afar they are full of depth, messy, and chaotic-symbols of survivalism from the street. There are shadows, and you swear you can see the pieces of trash pulling up from the surface, and as you walk closer, and you inch your face nearer, you have to stop your impulse to reach out with a fingernail to see if you can get under that one piece… But no, the surface is impossibly smooth, texturally the definition of flat. This same extreme two-dimensional quality mimics graffiti -or style- writing, Stab’s foundational technique.
When Adam Stab first moved to Baltimore in 1983 he was 13 years old, without siblings or friends, alone and a loner. He was drawn to the streets, plunging into its depths on his skateboard, into alleys so deep they became urban canyons, a webbing of traverses opening to infinite possibilities for a kid searching for himself in a concrete jungle. It was in this state of search and discovery that Stab found the “heat (he) had never known, a first full breath of passion” never inhaled before.
The vast majority of Stab’s work will likely never be seen by the “Art World” within gallery or museum or private collectors’ library walls – it is permanently and consciously installed on walls never meant to show art, never meant to be observed by those passing by and frequently passing judgement. Observing Stab’s work does not require” proper” attire, but the hiking gear of an adventurer, or the broken shoes and cast-off clothing of those without the option to be anywhere else. This work, made of the stuff of the world beneath our feet, found and repurposed detris and urban municipality industrial textures, is an inverse of graffiti, instead of creating artwork in the lost urban landscape, he has brought that landscape inside as art.
Graffiti reclaims the dismissed and forgotten urban landscape; this artwork is that landscape making claim to the world which would rather forget that it’s there.
Summer ’19 | Opening Reception
Thursday, June 27th • 6-8pm
C. Grimaldis Gallery
523 North Charles Street : 21201
BEVERLY MCIVER, “Sisterhood II”, 2019, oil on canvas, 72 x 60 inches
sur/reality: a trans art show @ City Hall
Thursday, June 27th • 6-8:30pm
Baltimore City Hall
100 Holliday Street : 21201
sur/reality is Baltimore City Hall’s first-ever art exhibition highlighting the work of local transgender artists from Baltimore. Curated by Gender Museum in partnership with the Mayor’s Office and Baltimore City LGBTQ Affairs, sur/reality is an exploration of the dual existence of transness both as an experience & as an identity. Featuring a multitude of mediums, motifs, textures and concepts, the show will culminate in a reception and intimate artist talk-back with Gender Museum Curator and creative Jamie Grace Alexander. The show is FREE, and all are welcome. Some art will be available for sale. Questions? Contact [email protected].
Featured artists:
Alexis Reehill
they.girl
Avery Chang
Daphne Pugliese
Devin Cherubini
Diana Reighart
Eliot Raynes
Felix Sweeney
Maddy Kelly
Mars Hoggard
Prescott S
Sim
Smith “Smith” Smith
Tristan Heelys
Juliana Ross
Viv Licata
Featured Vendors:
Free People Farm
Person Abide www.instagram.com/_buttress/
Kevi Smith — www.instagram.com/crystalbratt/
VICE VERSA : Nick Primo + Hae Won Sohn | Opening Reception
Thursday, June 27th • 6-8pm
MONO Practice
212 McAllister Street : 21202
– Sol LeWitt
Art/Sound/Now : Liz Donadio, Shannon Collis, and Maria Chavez
Thursday, June 27th • 7-8:30pm
Walters Art Museum
600 North Charles Street : 21201
Thursday, June 27th at 7 pm Shannon Collis & Liz Donadio will be performing Sounding Place, a site-specific video and sound installation for the Art/Sound/Now series at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.
Sounding Place is a live performance that combines recorded audio and visual elements and merges them with the existing architecture of the Walters and its vast collection. By engaging visitors in unexpected places, Sounding Place brings attention to hidden characteristics of the museum and reintroduces these findings back into the existing site. The artists will engage with the Walters as an emergent performative space, seeing the museum as a living, breathing entity that harbors sonic and visual complexities beyond the works formally on display.
New York artist Maria Chavez debuts a new work, The Breaks, composed of broken-record recordings that fans from around the world created for the artist.
One night only, 6/27 at 7 pm
$10
Tickets are limited – register in advance: https://thewalters.org/event/
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/
Grad Show IV, Studio Art, M.F.A. | Reception
Friday, June 28th • 5-7pm
MICA : Various Locations
On View: June 21st – July 7th
Reception: Friday, June 28th 5-7PM
Locations:
Sheila & Richard Riggs & Leidy Gallery
Fred Lazarus IV Center
131 W. North Avenue 21201
Dolphin Gallery
Dolphin Design Center
1204 W. Mt Royal Ave 21217
Pinkard Gallery
Bunting Center
1401 W. Mt Royal Ave 21217
Middendorf Gallery
Station Building
1400 Cathedral St 21201
Gateway Gallery
Gateway Building
1601 W. Mt Royal Ave 21217
BBOX**
Gateway Building
1601 W. Mt Royal Ave 21217
** BBOX On View Dates will be slightly altered, July 3 – July 12 | Reception July 8 7-7:30 PM
Behind the Lens: Dark City Beneath The Beat
Friday, June 28th • 5:30pm
Reginald F. Lewis Museum
830 West Pratt Street : 21202
REGINALD F. LEWIS MUSEUM PRESENTS
Behind The Lens: DARK CITY BENEATH THE BEAT
“An audio visual Baltimore club music and dance experience” – TT The Artist, Director
Join us for an exclusive first look preview of Dark City Beneath The Beat, a musical documentary highlighting the rising Baltimore club music and dance culture.
Rhythmic and raw, Dark City Beneath the Beat directed by TT The Artist, is an audio visual experience re-imagining the narrative of Baltimore, a city rising above social and economic turmoil to develop a vibrant and close knit community for the arts through it’s homegrown sound Baltimore club music.
Inspired by an original Baltimore club music soundtrack, Dark City Beneath The Beatshowcases local musicians, DJs, poets, dancers and producers who are pioneering Baltimore club music as a positive subculture in a city overshadowed by trauma, drugs and violence.
Event Schedule Info:
The Reginald F. Lewis Museum: Behind The Lens
830 E Pratt St. Baltimore, MD | June 28, 2019
5:30pm: Opening Mixer Hosted by Bmore Than Dance music by DJ Ayymello
6:40pm: Film Presentation
7:50pm: Behind The Lens: Meet The Cast Panel
8:30pm – 9:30pm: Closing Reception
Janet Olney | Artist Talk
Thursday, June 27th • 6-8pm
ICA Baltimore
16 West North Avenue : 21218
Artist talk and Q&A with Janet Olney about her ICA project, Absence/Presence! Light refreshments provided.
Absence/Presence is a new body of work that explores absence as a presence and a sensation connected to spatial memory. Through a series of drawings, paintings, and digitally fabricated objects, Janet Olney asks viewers to navigate the ambiguity of the seen and unseen while grappling with the fleeting nature of perception. Using a language of abstraction and gesture, Olney remixes the various components to reflect on existence and the passage of time.
Janet Olney – janetolney.com
Using a personal language of shape and color, Janet Olney reframes the familiar to reveal an alternate world populated with things that defy naming. Her paintings and installations investigate the realm of uncertainty that lies just outside our awareness: a peripheral world straddling analog and digital spaces. Originally from Boston, MA, Janet received her BFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art and her MFA from the Hoffberger School of Painting (MICA) in 2014. She is the recipient of the Henry Walters Traveling Fellowship, a Marcella Brenner Grant for Faculty Research, and a Lucas Grant for Faculty Teaching and Curriculum Development. She was a resident at the Vermont Studio Center, and her recent projects include an installation for the Facebook AIR program in Washington D.C. and a solo exhibition, If x, Then y at VisArts in Rockville, MD. In 2019, Janet has upcoming shows at the ICA Baltimore and the Lightwell Gallery, University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. She currently teaches at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
ICA Baltimore – icabaltimore.org
ICA Baltimore is a collaboration of volunteers working to stage contemporary art exhibitions in available spaces in Baltimore. Absence/Presence is the thirtieth exhibition by the ICA since 2011.
New Works Screening: June
Saturday, June 29th • 7-10pm
Normals Books and Records
425 East 31st Street : 21218
New Works is a screening series dedicated entirely to Film and Video artists based in Baltimore, MD. Our mission is to foster community among local image makers and promote, support, and grow the local scene. The series was founded by Jimmy Joe Roche in 2016 and is hosted by Normal’s Book Store in the Red Room. Saturday June 29th will showcase various, never seen before work by thirteen local video artists. Screenings will be held at 7 and 9PM, and a cash donation of $5-10 is required at the door. We hope to see you there!
TWO SHOWS:
7 PM (Doors at 6:30)
9 PM (Doors at 8:30)
All tickets at the door
Featuring the work of:
Lucas Haroldsen
Aidan Spann
Stephanie Barber
Danielle Hernandez
Cieara Adams
Will Bryson
Lydia Milano
Jacob Lindsay
Isabella Pittman
Danielle Criqui
Emma Ayala
Ruby Waldo
Nick Hope
RED ROOM
@ Normals Books and Records
$5-10
For more information about New Works, please check out our site: https://newworksbmore.tumblr.com
Resident Artist Solo Exhibitions | Reception
Saturday, June 29th • 6-8pm
Baltimore Clayworks
5707 Smith Avenue : 21209
Baltimore Clayworks is proud to showcase the work of our four resident artists through a culminating exhibition extravaganza celebrating their past year in our studio. A diverse offering of styles and surfaces will be display: refined functional vessels in jewel-tone glazes, monolithic, rustic sculptures, narrative figurative sculptures, and quiet, slip-cast installations. The Main Gallery will be shared by Wes Brown‘s “Momentum” and Jason Piccoli’s “Resonance”. The Solo Gallery will host Hannah Pierce‘s “A Fault In My Structure,” and the Project Space will be filled by Hae Won Sohn’s installation “In One Piece.”
Read more about the shows here: https://baltimoreclayworks.org/exhibitions/resident-artists-solo-exhibitions/
The shows will run from June 29 – August 24, with an opening reception on Saturday, June 29th from 6-8. All exhibitions are free and open to the public.
FRESH TALK: Accessory to Action—Adorning Wakanda
Sunday, June 30th • 4:30-6pm
National Museum of Women in the Arts
1250 New York Avenue, NW : Washington DC
Join us for FRESH TALK on the aesthetics of gender equity.
As Marvel Comics’ first licensed jewelry designer, Douriean Fletcher created the power-packed accessories for the blockbuster film Black Panther (2018). The Afro-futurist-inspired design propelled audiences into a world where power and gender roles were based on expertise and ability.
With the jewelry in a starring role, Fletcher created looks that reflected gender equity in Wakandan society. Join us for a conversation that explores how we communicate gender, power, and expertise through adornment.
SPEAKERS:
• Douriean Fletcher, artist and jeweler
• In conversation with: Dr. Ayana Omilade Flewellen, UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California Berkeley and Co-Director of the Estate Little Princess Archaeology Project and Maia Nuku, the Evelyn A.J. Hall and John A. Friede Associate Curator for Oceanic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Followed by Catalyst, a cocktail hour with a topic and a twist.
RESERVATIONS:
Required. $25 general; $20 members, seniors, students. Price includes museum admission and Catalyst cocktail hour. Program will be live-streamed at nmwa.org/freshtalk4change.
ACCESSIBILITY:
This event will have an American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation option. If interested, please email [email protected] at least two weeks prior to the event.
[Jewelry photos: BJ Photographer]
