This week: Joan Jonas at MICA, BmoreArt Magazine Release Party at Enoch Pratt Free Library, just let the dead in closing ritual at Waller Gallery, Expanded Dialogue opening receptions at Guest Spot @ The Reinstitute and MONO Practice, Larry Cook: Eternal Splendor opening reception at Galerie Myrtis, Maryland Art Place 2019 Fall Benefit, The space between (us) at Le Mondo, Two Jewish Artists in Baltimore: Alex Ebstein and Zemer Peled at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, and Courtney BANH: Busy Susan opening reception at Project 1628.
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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Joan Jonas | Lecture – Part of MICA’s Fall Mixed Media Lecture Series
Tuesday, November 5th • 4pm
MICA Brown Center, Falvey Hall
1301 Mount Royal Avenue : 21217
World-renowned artist Joan Jonas — whose work encompasses a wide range of media including video, performance, installation, sound, text and sculpture — will speak at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) as a part of the college’s annual Mixed Media Series.
MICA’s Mixed Media Series brings notable art makers, designers and thinkers to campus to fuse our community with their insight and practices. The aim of this series is to build imaginative public events that showcase the diversity of practice in our fields and the complex relationship between creativity and the world around us. Earlier this fall, MICA and the ACLU of Maryland held its annual Constitution Day symposium, which tackled topics that have affected democracy for decades, in the first Mixed Media event of the semester.
Jonas will speak at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5 in Falvey Hall, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave. The event is free and open to the public.
Joan Jonas’ experiments and productions in the late 1960s and early 1970s continue to be crucial to the development of many contemporary art genres, from performance and video to conceptual art and theater. Working between mediums and across genres — like biography, mythology and folklore — she has animated countless intellectual and artistic experiments in translation, technology and narrative. She is often said to be a pioneer, but her work is frequently a site of collaboration. Since 1968, her practice has explored ways of seeing, the rhythms of rituals and the authority of objects and gestures.
Jonas was born in New York in 1936. She studied at Mount Holyoke and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston before returning to the city and receiving her MFA in sculpture from Columbia University in 1965.
Her work has been the subject of retrospectives at many museums in Europe and the United States. Jonas represented the United States at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, and has participated in six editions of Documenta in Kassel.
She is currently Professor Emerita in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Program in Art, Culture and Technology in Boston, and is the author of reference texts on the performing arts. Jonas is the recipient of fellowships and grants, and in 2018, she was awarded the prestigious Kyoto Prize, which is presented to those who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of mankind. She lives and works in New York.
BmoreArt Magazine Release Party for Issue 08: Archive
Thursday, November 7th • 7:30-9:30pm
The Enoch Pratt Free Library Main Branch
400 Cathedral Street : 21201
BmoreArt’s magazine release parties are hosted in Baltimore’s most iconic and interesting locations. Join us to celebrate Issue 08: Archive at the newly renovated central branch of Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Library, a gorgeous historic building in Mount Vernon that has served as a consistent advocate for “equal access to information, services, and opportunities that empower, enrich, and enhance the quality of life for all.”
The new issue’s theme is archive, and will include stories about Baltimore’s rich culture’s past, present, and future. Dress for the event is based upon the theme, so wear cocktail party attire from your favorite era.
Each ticket includes a cocktail, seasonal foods from Classic Catering, a Whiskey tasting with Old Line Spirits, a Wine Tasting with La Cuchara, Union Craft Beer, Pixilated Photo Booth, and a copy of our newest issue!
Get dressed up and celebrate in one of Baltimore’s most beautiful locations!!
just let the dead in | Closing Ritual
Friday, November 8th • 6-10pm
Waller Gallery
2420 North Calvert Street : 21218
just let the dead in is a ritual to honor and celebrate the black and brown women fighting to build a world where we are free. join artist and poet Saida Agostini to hear from her first manuscript, just let the dead in: an archival of the guyanese mythologies and histories, and help her honor the often nameless black women who have fought for our liberation.
Featured guests include:
Richael Faithful
Teri Cross Davis
Tafisha Edwards
Expanded Dialogue | Opening Reception
Friday, November 8th • 6-8pm
Guest Spot @ The Reinstitute
1715 North Calvert Street : 21202
GUEST SPOT @ THE REINSTITUTE is excited to be working with Tiger Strikes Astroid New York and MONO Practice on a collaborative three-part exhibition featuring works from Kat Chamberlin (Brooklyn, NY), Brian Michael Dunn (Takoma Park, MD), Giulia Piera Livi (Baltimore/Philadelphia), and Doreen McCarthy (New York, NY).
THE REINSTITUTE will be hosting an opening reception for Expanded Dialogue on Friday November 8th, 2019, 6pm-8pm. MONO Practice’s opening reception will be on the following afternoon, Saturday November 9th,1pm-3pm. Expanded Dialogue will be on view at both THE REINSTITUTE and MONO Practice through Saturday, December 7th, 2019.
Tiger Strikes Astroid New York’s Precursor to Expanded Dialogue runs from October 11, 2019 through November 17.
Expand. Inflate. Swell. Envelop.
Rest. Lean. Prop. Sag.
Overlap. Overlay. Obscure. Adorn.
Unfold. Spread. Reveal.
Breathe. Digest. Discuss.
An exploration of uncanny familiarity and spooky actions at various distances…
Expanded Dialogue | Opening Reception
Saturday, November 9th • 1-3pm
MONO Practice
212 McAllister Street : 21202
EXPANDED DIALOGUE
November 9 – December 7, 2019
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 9, 1-3pm
Expand. Inflate. Swell. Envelop.
Rest. Lean. Prop. Sag.
Overlap. Overlay. Obscure. Adorn.
Unfold. Spread. Reveal.
Breathe. Digest. Discuss.
An exploration of uncanny familiarity and spooky actions at various distances…
MONO PRACTICE is excited to be working with Tiger Strikes Astroid New York and Guest Spot @ The Reinstitute on a collaborative three-part exhibition featuring works from Kat Chamberlin (Brooklyn, NY), Brian Michael Dunn (Takoma Park, MD), Giulia Piera Livi (Baltimore/Philadelphia), and Doreen McCarthy (New York, NY).
Expanded Dialogue opening reception at Mono Practice will be Saturday, November 9, 2019, 1pm-3pm, following the Guest Spot’s opening on Friday, November 8, 6pm-8pm. The exhibit will be on view through Saturday, December 7, 2019. Tiger Strikes Astroid’s Precursor to Expanded Dialogue runs October 11, 2019 through November 17.
Eternal Splendor | Opening Reception
Saturday, November 9th • 5-7pm
Galerie Myrtis
2224 North Charles Street : 21218
Solo Exhibition featuring Larry Cook
November 9, 2019 – January 25, 2020
In “Cool Pose: The Dilemmas of Black Manhood” Richard Majors and Janet Mancini Billson describe the posing and posturing of black men as a tool “to communicate power, toughness, detachment, and style-self – a carefully crafted persona that is key to the negotiation of black urban environments.” I am interested in how photography encapsulates this persona—specifically within prison and club photography aesthetics. Posing for the camera provides an outlet in which the subject can reclaim agency.
Eternal Splendor explores the cultural aesthetic of “club” and prison photography to examine how urban culture and incarceration systems become entwined through backdrops. The backdrop is central for its relationship to the formal, social, and cultural aspects of photographic history. My work includes found polaroids of subjects posing in front of backdrops to focus on elements of performance, expression, and spectacle. I employ elements of pictorial realism and fantasy to examine the broader questions of status, individualism, and materialism within black culture.
Larry Cook, 2019
The Visiting Room Series, Digital Print, 40×30 inches, 2019
Maryland Art Place 2019 Fall Benefit
Saturday, November 9th • 7pm
Maryland Art Place
218 West Saratoga Street : 21201
Join Maryland Art Place at MAP in celebrating our 2019 Fall Benefit on Saturday, November 9th from 7pm to Midnight.
This year’s theme is Great Gatsby, so come in your finest Roaring 20’s attire. Enjoy live music and delicious food to the back drop of our 2nd Tri-Annual Maryland State Artist Registry Juried Exhibition. Bambi Galore will be handing out candy cigarettes!
Come dressed to and parttake in an evening of entertainment, art, fine food and libations. There will be live perfromances by artists Stephanie Barber, Dominique Zeltzman, Shonita Johnson,Ceylon Mitchell, & Nicoletta De La Brown in the cabaret with David Page’s performance piece taking place in our main gallery.
To purchase tickets click HERE
The space between (us)
Saturday, November 9th • 7pm
Le Mondo
406 North Howard Street : 21201
The space between (us) – a collaboration of interdisciplinary artist/sculptor Lisa Dillin and choreographer/artistic director of Deep Vision Dance Company Nicole A. Martinell.
Performances:
November 9th @ 7 PM & 8 PM
(each performance lasts 30 minutes)
Le Mondo, 406 N. Howard St. Baltimore
$10 Suggested Donation.
The space between (us) unpacks the human experience within the built environment, which commonly evokes feelings of isolation and emotional disconnection from the banal, everyday places we move through and inhabit. Such experiences stem from a variety of factors such as design that separates us from one another and controls our movements in space, social norms that discourage interconnection with those we do not know, and the increasing level of mediated interaction that takes place through digital communication. During two performances, several sculptural objects act as a site for a weaving journey that begins in a meaningless, modern space but, coming unhinged from the norm, is remade into a place of exploration, creativity, freedom, and, ultimately, intimate human connection.
Featured dancers include Deep Vision Dance Company members Deontay Gray, Samantha Hopkins, Melissa Lloyd, Sofie Massa, Rachel Moore, Sarah Smith, and Ann Zickefoose.
Additional collaborators include an original score by PJ Dorsey (Tarotplane) and Erik Spangler (DJ Dubble8), dancing by Deep Vision Dance Company and costuming by Kendra Shapanus with 3D fabrication support by Chip Banister, Wilder Childs and Pete Karis.
Image credit by Jonathan Hsu. @jhsumedia
Two Jewish Artists in Baltimore: Alex Ebstein and Zemer Peled
Sunday, November 10th • 2-3:30pm
Enoch Pratt Free Library
400 Cathedral Street : 21201
The Enoch Pratt Free Library and BmoreArt Magazine present: Two Jewish Artists in Baltimore. Internationally renowned artists Alex Epstein and Zemer Peled work and live in Baltimore. They will discuss their art and the inspiration they derive from our city with Cara Ober, publisher of BmoreArt Magazine.
Alex Ebstein is an artist and curator based in Baltimore, MD. She received her MFA from Towson University in 2015, and her BA in Studio Art from Goucher College in 2007. Recent solo exhibitions include Victori + Mo gallery in Brooklyn, NY, Cuevas Tilleard in New York, NY, Frutta Gallery in Rome, Italy and Kent Place Gallery in Kent, NJ. Her work has received write-ups in the New York Times, FastCo, Self Magazine, BmoreArt, Baltimore Beat, City Paper, Beautiful Decay and ArtFCity. In addition to her studio career, Ebstein is the founder and director of three galleries in Baltimore between 2009 and present, Nudashank, Phoebe and Resort. Ebstein is newly the Director of Exhibitions and Curator at Goucher College.
Zemer Peled’s work examines the beauty and brutality of the natural world. Her sculptural language is formed by her surrounding landscapes and nature, engaging with themes of nature and memories, identity and place. Her works are formed of thousands of porcelain shards constructed into large-scale/small-scale sculptures and installations. Peled was born and raised in Israel. She earned her MA at the Royal College of Art. In recent years, her work has been exhibited internationally at venues including Sotheby & and Saatchi Gallery, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art among others. She has been featured in Vogue, O Magazine, Elle and other international publications.
Cara Ober writes about Baltimore’s unique cultural landscape from the perspective of an artist, feminist, and culture worker. She approaches the art community from a constructive and critical perspective informed by material and pop culture, history, social movements, and politics. As the founding editor of BmoreArt, Baltimore’s daily online art magazine and biannual print journal, Ober has written critical reviews, essays, interviews, and opinion editorials for the past decade about contemporary art, museum culture, and the innovative ways artists sustain a professional creative practice. Ober has taught and lectured at MICA, Johns Hopkins University, American University, UMBC, Towson University, and Goucher College. She holds an MFA in painting from MICA and a degree in fine arts from American University.
BmoreArt is Baltimore’s art and culture magazine, based both in print and online. We are a community-based, independent art publication that reflects the culture of Baltimore and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic region, including Maryland, Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia. We provide creative and critical coverage of Baltimore’s cultural landscape and work with a diverse team of local writers, editors, and artists. In addition to our online and print publications, we engage through social media and a events, including biannual magazine launch events and speaker series.
We believe that Baltimore’s culture producers and creative makers deserve to be discussed, critiqued, and informed. BmoreArt covers the arts of the region on a daily basis and presents it to an engaged audience that is both local and global. Our mission is to build awareness, equity, and community through critical dialogue about art and culture.
The program is part of the Festival of Jewish Literature. Central Library, Wheeler Auditorium
Courtney BANH: Busy Susan | Opening Reception
Sunday, November 10th • 2-3:30pm
Project 1628
1628 Bolton Street : 21217
[cotton rope coil / objects and interactions]
Busy Susan explores objects of home, and the idea of homebody. Habitual actions, routine gestures, a culture of collecting and sharing spirals through the rope coil, both rigid and tender.
