BmoreArt

This Week: IN Series: Desdemona/Othello at Baltimore Theatre Project, Katrina Sánchez Standfield and Tinglan Huang’s exhibition Woven: Art, Craft, and Healing at Gallery CA, Abdu Ali will be in dialogue with Dany Chan at the Walters, Bria Sterling-Wilson, Christopher Batten, Zach Wade, and Mitchell Noah at Bromo Arts Tower, Exploring Presence: African American Artists in the Upper South opening reception at the James E Lewis Museum of Art (JELMA) at Morgan State University, UMBC hosts The Maryland Arts Summit, Anacostia Portraits tintype sittings at Honfleur Gallery, Sight Unseen with Christopher Harris and Meg Rorison at SNF Parkway, and B-Side Pride Fest at the Farmer’s Market — PLUS Young Blood call for submissions at Maryland Art Place and other featured opportunities.

 

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]!

 

BmoreArt Newsletter: Sign up for news and special offers!

Subscribe

 

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.

 

 

 

Desdemona/Othello
Tuesday, June 8 + Wednesday, June 8
@ Baltimore Theatre Project

An epic theater experience in two evenings. Audiences experience Toni Morrison’s shattering and meditative play Desdemona, told with the music of the immortal Nina Simone, featuring world-renowned crossover soprano Claron McFadden. The work comes to life within a sculpture installation by renowned visual artist Maya Freelon.

Audiences then take in an audacious reimagining of Verdi and Shakespeare’s Othello, with new musical “sea-interludes” composed and performed by Matthew Evan Taylor and in an all new English poetic treatment by Andrew Albin, featuring the searing images of British visual artist Keith Piper. Multifaceted artist Maribeth Diggle takes the role of Desdemona in both evenings.

COVID Policy: All patrons must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Please bring a proof of vaccination (either the original vaccination card, or a photo of the card) along with a valid I.D.

All guests must wear masks while inside Theatre Project. Seating will be limited.

If you have any COVID-associated symptoms the day of the show, please do not attend.

**Tickets are non-refundable.

*Tickets are also available at the door beginning 45 minutes prior to each show.

 

 

Woven: Art, Craft, and Healing | Reception
Thursday, June 9 • 5-7pm | Ongoing through June 30
@ Gallery CA

Woven: Art, Craft, and Healing is an exhibition that will focus on community engagement and learning methods of dealing with the effects of mental illness through fiber crafting therapy. Opening at Gallery CA in Baltimore, MD, on June 7th, and on view through June 30th, 2022, this exhibit welcomes audiences of all kinds, but focuses on African American communities in Baltimore—which research indicates are the most in need of access to mental health care. Woven features works by Katrina Sánchez Standfield and Tinglan Huang, two artists who use textiles for material exploration, cultural expression, and introspection. With forms ranging from traditional tapestries to woven sculptures and interactive installations, curator Yéjidé Washington opens a conversation to break down stigmas around mental health within Black communities and create safe spaces for contemplation and healing.

The exhibition includes a hands-on workshop that invites audiences to immerse themselves in fiber crafting and fiber craft therapy. Both the exhibition and the workshop aim to dispel stereotypes attached to fiber crafting: Younger Baltimore audiences may view knitting, crocheting, and weaving as hobbies for the older generation. Some may have never been exposed to these crafts at all. This exhibit reintroduces fiber crafting as a vibrant, contemporary creative medium and an effective tool for dealing with depression and anxiety.

Katrina Sánchez Standfield is an interdisciplinary textile artist born in the Republic of Panama and currently living and working in Charlotte, North Carolina. With an interest in texture, color, and touch, Katrina is inspired by both the history of textiles and its intrinsic connection to humanity. She creates works that explore social experiences and are often viewer interactive. Katrina received her BFA in Fibers from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Tinglan Huang is a mixed-media sculptor who was born and raised in the south of China. She received her MFA from the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and her BFA in animation at LuXun Academy of Fine Arts, China. She is currently in a nine-month residency program at the Textile Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY.

Baltimore native, curator, artist, and travel enthusiast Yéjidé Washington earned her MFA in Curatorial Practice from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and her BA in history from the University of Maryland Global Campus. Yéjidé’s research and professional goals are to develop new tools for treating mental health through engagement with fiber art

 

 

Queering the Collection: Gender Fluidity and Buddhist Deities
Thursday, June 9 • 6-7pm
@ The Walters

Gender fluidity can be traced back several centuries and across cultures. In Buddhism, Avalokiteshvara (Chinese: Guanyin) is a gender-fluid bodhisattva, or divine being, who has put off enlightenment in order to first help humanity. In this program, multidisciplinary artist and community activist Abdu Ali will be in dialogue with Dany Chan, Associate Curator of Asian Art at the Walters, in a unique event that combines art historical and artistic perspectives of this deity. This conversation between curator and artist will expand understanding of images of Avalokiteshvara on display in the Walters collection and will connect to contemporary viewpoints about gender fluidity and representation.

Visitors will meet at the Centre Street entrance lobby or Upper Charles Street entrance lobby. Note: The closest accessible entrance to the program location is the Upper Charles Street entrance lobby.

Registration required. Capacity is limited.

 

 

Behind Closed Doors
Thursday, June 9 • 6-9pm
@ Bromo Arts Tower

The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) is excited to announce the second installation of the Emerge Baltimore artist series at the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower. This exhibition series is made possible through the generous support of the Maryland State Arts Council. This series will feature the work of 10 emerging Baltimore-based artists working in mediums from glass and acrylic to metal and fiber throughout 2022. The second installment of this series features visual artists Bria Sterling-Wilson and Christopher Batten, along with glass artists Zach Wade and Mitchell Noah.

All four of these artists’ narratives will unfold simultaneously across the three galleries at the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower from June 9–August 2, 2022, with an opening reception on Thursday, June 9.

The Emerge Baltimore artist exhibition series is a continuation of BOPA’s efforts to raise the profiles of promising Baltimore artists — and the city itself — as a vibrant destination for working creatives. Curated by Kirk Shannon-Butts, this installation highlights glass art, painting, and collage.

In the Lobby Gallery, SterlingWilson’s exhibition, “Behind Closed Doors,” reveals the privacy of home via collage. For their show in the Mezzanine Gallery, “Heat Rash,” glass artists Zach Wade and Mitchell Noah deliver form and function through blown glass sculptures. Painter Batten’s solo exhibition, “The Eye of the Tiger,” is based on his love of martial arts juxtaposed conflict and resilience. This quartet of artists showcases the dynamism and diversity of Baltimore City artists and highlights the bold, modern, and expressive vision of our creative community.

 

 

Exploring Presence: African American Artists in the Upper South | Opening Reception
Friday, June 10 • 6-8pm | Ongoing through July 15
@ James E. Lewis Museum of Art (JELMA) at Morgan State University

We are excited to announce the opening of Exploring Presence: African American Artists in the Upper South at the James E Lewis Museum of Art (JELMA) at Morgan State University this Friday, June 10 – July 15, 2022.

Please join us for an opening reception at JELMA Friday, June 10th, 6-8 pm with a  live performance from free-jazz ensemble Konjur Collective and a special screening of all ten (10) films from the Exploring Presence: African American Artists in the Upper South Docuseries.  Light refreshments will be served.

About the Exhibition:

Exploring Presence: African American Artists in the Upper South showcases a succinct selection of prolific visionaries who create from and are informed by the liminal realms between northeastern art metropolises and the South. Artists include Schroeder Cherry, Linda Day Clark, Oletha DeVane, Espi Frazier, Aziza Claudia Gibson Hunter, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Ed Love, Tom Miller, Joyce J Scott, and Paula Whaley.

Exploring Presence reviews the projects, interventions, activations, and constructions that each artist engaged between 1970 and the contemporary moment. This era is marked by significant ruptures, renaming, reclamation, and revision for BIPOC creatives in the country, across the diaspora, and in the Global South. The geospatial significance of this project is compounded by the sociopolitical tumult of the era which informs the subjects that each artist examines in this period and offers greater insight into some of the struggles each artist navigated to sustain their art practice. Selected artworks included in this collection also mark significant intervals of experimentation with process, material, and form for each artist.

 

 

Maryland Arts Summit
Thursday, June 9 + Friday, June 10
@ UMBC

The Maryland Arts Summit, hosted at UMBC by Maryland Citizens for the Arts, is a statewide conference presented by and for the Maryland arts sector, which includes, but is not limited to: Arts Advocates, Arts Educators & Teaching Artists, Independent Artists, Arts Organizations, Youth, Community Stakeholders, Arts and Entertainment Districts, County Arts Agencies of Maryland, Public Artists, Boards of Directors, and Folklife Artists.

It is an opportunity to network, share the fantastic work that is being done across the state, learn about communities different from your own, celebrate the accomplishments of what we as a sector have achieved, and, through dialogue and action, bring to light where systems have fallen short of the support required to help artists and organizations thrive. The Maryland Arts Summit is a place for productive conversations to move the Maryland arts sector forward and ensure its long-term success.

Click here for the full schedule of presenters.

 

 

Anacostia Portraits | Public Tintype Sessions
Friday, June 10 + Saturday, June 11
@ Honfleur Gallery

This event is FREE for the participants. We invite Anacostia residents and people who are otherwise connected to the community to participate. During our next sessions, we would like to offer priority to Anacostia residents, and waiting list spots to people with roots in the region.
(If you do not have any connections to the region, perhaps you may be interested in a private sitting.)

Event Timing: June 10 & 11, 2022

Event Address: Honfleur Gallery, 1241 Good Hope Rd SE. Washington, DC 20020

Contact us at [email protected]

WHAT TO EXPECT:
A tintype (or, wet plate collodion) is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal coated with collodion and light-sensitive silver nitrate. During the sessions, each plate is hand-coated, exposed in camera, and developed instantly, with the process visible to the participants.
Tintypes enjoyed their widest use during the 1860s and 1870s, and have been revived as a fine art form in the 21st century.
Two tintypes will be produced in a session: one for the sitter(s) and one to be placed in Anacostia Arts Center’s collection.  The sitter will receive a digital copy of the tintype within two weeks, and may be able to pick up the plates from Anacostia Arts Center.
The process requires a powerful flash of strobes to produce an image.  Please note that this process is not suitable for small children or animals.

 

 

Sight Unseen – Footsteps, Voices, Fragments of Time
Saturday, June 11 • 6:30pm
@ SNF Parkway

Sight Unseen and the SNF Parkway are honored to present the closing program of the series with two celluloid-based works: still/here (2000/01) by Christopher Harris & BALTIMORE (2021) by Meg Rorison with the filmmakers in person.

still/here (60m)

The midwest’s great cities can be alienating, and [this] urban essay articulates disturbed relationships between people and landscapes through imagery and editing. In the hour-long black-and-white film still/here (2000/01), Christopher Harris suffuses the blighted north side of Saint Louis with a powerful melancholy, lingering on rubble-strewn lots, decrepit buildings, and empty streets, while footsteps and a continually ringing phone on the soundtrack suggest lives interrupted by the devastation. Holes in a movie theater marquee are powerfully evocative, but even more impressive is the film’s sprawling, almost chaotic form: its calculated incompleteness truly matches the subject, and Harris’s long takes imply–not without a hint of anger–that the ruins of his hometown are eternal.—Fred Camper, Chicago Reader

BALTIMORE (22m, 16mm to digital, 2021, sound)

BALTIMORE catalogs the landscapes and architecture of the filmmaker’s hometown of Baltimore City. Personal and observational, this 16mm film, shot from 2016 to 2018, explores exterior spaces, material and psychic fragments of historic buildings, many of which have been demolished or renovated since the completion of the film.

Christopher Harris

Christopher Harris’ work has shown internationally at festivals, museums and cinematheques from solo shows at MoMA, Locarno, and Arsenal Berlin to group shows at the NYFF, IFFR, and the Whitney, among many others. Harris’ honors include a Creative Capital Award and fellowships from Radcliffe, Chrysalis, and Alpert/MacDowell. Writing about his work has appeared in numerous books and periodicals including Film Comment, BOMB Magazine, and Film Quarterly. Harris is the F. Wendell Miller Associate Professor of Film and Video Production in the Department of Cinematic Arts at the University of Iowa.

Margaret Rorison 

Margaret Rorison is filmmaker and curator from Baltimore, MD. Her current work focuses on portraiture, memory, and concepts of absence. She is interested in the potential of storytelling through the use of 16mm projection, installation, performance, and sound.

Her work has been exhibited at various festivals and venues including Anthology Film Archives, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Images Festival, Miami PULSE Art Fair, Mono No Aware VI & VII, Microscope Gallery, The Museum of The Moving Image, The National Gallery of Art, and The Walker Art Center.

She received her BA from UMD, College Park in Creative Writing and Spanish Literature, and a MFA in Photographic & Electronic Media from MICA. She is an audiovisual specialist at The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and teaches filmmaking and photography at The Baltimore School for the Arts, Maryland Institute College of Art, and Anne Arundel Community College. She is also the co-founder and curator of Sight Unseen Screening series which has been running since 2012.

Sight Unseen is supported by a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

 

 

The B-Side | Pride Fest
Sunday, June 11
@ Baltimore Farmer’s Market

Welcome to the B-Side! BOPA announces a special monthly extension of the Baltimore Farmers’ Market starting in June. The B-Side runs from 11:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m. in the same space as the Market — underneath the Jones Falls Expressway at Holliday & Saratoga streets. After the regular Market, enjoy an afternoon of food & drink vendors and a free performance showcase featuring local artists, musicians, doers, and performers!

The first B-Side kicks off on Sunday, June 12, 2022, with PrideFest! Hosted by Baltimore’s 2020 Drag Queen of the Year Evon Dior Michelle, with DJ sets by Trillnatured & Thommy Davis, and a special performance by Kotic Couture. Bring your friends, some lawn chairs, and your most fabulous self to the inaugural B-Side on June 12 and surround yourself with joy, pride, & music.

Then, every month the B-Side will bring a different flavor to the Farmers’ Market. Here is the B-Side summer track list:

• PrideFest — Sunday, June 12, 2022
• Summer of Soul — Sunday, July 3, 2022
• Music Mashups & Cover Bands — Sunday, August 7, 2022
• School House Rock — Sunday, September 4, 2022
• BSO Playlist — Sunday, October 2, 2022

< Calls for Entry >

 

Banneker-Douglass Museum Juneteenth | Call for Volunteers
deadline June 10

We hope all is well with you and your families. We are reaching out to you in order to request your volunteer services for this year’s Annapolis’ Juneteenth Celebration. Scheduled to take place Saturday, June 18, 2022, 12:00 p.m., the museum, the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture and our friends and foundation groups will all be participating and would love to have some of our volunteers join us for this celebratory event!

Volunteering would involve walking the parade route and greeting onlookers, carrying/handling our parade banner and distributing museum paraphernalia to parade attendees. Of course everything we do will be in alignment with current COVID-19 restrictions as our main priority is to keep everyone safe.

You can find more information about all of the activities associated with this fun-filled and educational weekend here.

Again, we would love to have you join us on this day. If interested in volunteering, please use this google form link sign up. We are asking that you sign up no later than Friday, June 10th. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Thank you in advance,
Your friends at the Banneker-Douglass Museum

 

 

Young Blood | Call for Submission
deadline June 13
posted by Maryland Art Place

Maryland Art Place (MAP) is proud to announce a call for Young Blood, an exhibition showcasing the works of recent Baltimore-area Masters of Fine Art graduates.  We are soliciting artists from local (Maryland) universities who are currently or have recently graduated from MFA programs. MFA candidates who graduated this year (2022) are eligible to participate in this exhibition opportunity.

This marks MAP’s 13th Young Blood program which has, to date,  provided an important post-graduate artistic platform for transitioning Masters of Fine Arts students. Since 2008 Young Blood has continually brought recent graduates together to make new connections and present special selections from their thesis project(s). The exhibition will highlight exceptional works ranging in media.

The deadline for submission is Monday, June 13 by Midnight. The exhibition will take place at MAP running July 14 through September 3 with an opening reception on Thursday, July 14 from 6 pm to 9 pm.

To apply please complete this virtual application form OR email the submission materials outlined below to [email protected]

*The exhibition is a self-install show. Applying artists should plan accordingly. The installation period will be Wednesday, July 6 – July 12, 2022.

 

 

‘Making It Public’ Registration for Maryland Artists
deadline June 17
posted by Maryland State Arts Council

The Maryland State Arts Council invites Maryland artists to participate in ‘Making It Public’, a free 5-week virtual workshop series designed to support artists of all disciplines in exploring and expanding their public art making practice. We urge visual artists in Maryland to utilize this free educational opportunity.

This workshop series, comprising five 90-minute virtual workshop sessions, covers practical and tactical subject matter such as site analysis, stakeholder considerations, community engagement, RFPs vs RFQs, funding opportunities, contracting, and insurance. Select sessions include guest public art professionals, both local and national, adding a depth of knowledge about the field of public art, the profession, and its contemporary issues. ‘Making It Public’ is facilitated by Forecast Public Art Consultant Candida Gonzalez on the Zoom platform.

Workshop Dates: This 5-part series is held on Thursdays (5:00-6:30pm ET) beginning on July 7 and concluding on August 4. An additional pre-recorded video session will be emailed prior to each meeting.

Workshop Registration Deadline: June 17, 2022
Registration is on a first come, first served basis and is limited to 50 individuals.

 

 

Call for Artists: BMA Commission
deadline June 18
posted by Baltimore Museum of Art

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) has announced an Open Call/Request for Qualification (RFQ) from artists and artist teams for a site-responsive commission for works to be in dialogue with Fred Wilson’s Artemis/Bast, 1992, which will be on extended loan and installed in the John Waters Rotunda beginning April 2023. Artists must submit their qualifications no later than June 27.” In July 2022, five artists/teams will be invited to develop detailed proposals. In August, a jury will choose two finalists who will be commissioned to create works that will occupy the two galleries on either side of the Rotunda.

The purpose of this project is to engage and support emerging and mid-career artists in an open and expansive dialogue around critical questions integral to their own practices, while also examining the complex and unresolved legacies unfurled in Wilson’s art as, at key moments, it has intersected Baltimore’s cultural life and specific histories. Two virtual information sessions will be held the week of June 13. Visit the BMA’s website atartbma.org/opencall for more information and details.

 

 

2022 Artist as Instigator Residency
deadline June 20
sponsored by the National Public Housing Museum

NPHM’s Artist as Instigator Residency provides support for artists, activists, and cultural workers to incubate ideas and produce new work in collaboration with NPHM. The selected artist receives a $10,000 honorarium and a $10,000 budget for project expenses. NPHM also provides accessible outdoor exhibition space, programming and administrative support, partner opportunities, and publicity. NPHM offers the exterior walls of the future museum site (1322 W Taylor) as accessible outdoor exhibition space. NPHM provides accommodations for disability accessibility needs of artists, partners, and program participants.

The residency does not currently include live or work space, though it may in the future. Beyond the 1-year residency, NPHM seeks to sustain generative and mutually beneficial relationships with Artists as Instigators and their collaborators.

Join previous Artists as Instigators William Estrada (2019), Jen Delos Reyes (2020), and Tonika Lewis Johnson (2021), in making creative public policy interventions that lead to more equitable communities.

For more information contact Tiff Beatty, [email protected]

 

 

Mark Ryder Original Choreography Grant Applications
deadline June 22
sponsored by Howard County Arts Council

Howard County Arts Council (HCAC) is pleased to announce that applications for the FY2023 Mark Ryder Original Choreography Grant Program are now available. Established at the bequest of Mark Ryder’s family in honor of his life’s work, this program recognizes individual creative expression by providing financial assistance to choreographers to create new original work. A fund has been established at the Community Foundation of Howard County to enable monies to be awarded for this purpose in perpetuity. The grant award recipients will be announced at HCAC’s Annual Meeting and Grant Awards Ceremony in September 2022. The minimum grant amount will be $500.

Mark Ryder was an established dancer, choreographer and leader in the dance community. He danced alongside Martha Graham in the 1940s until founding the Dance Drama Duo — later called the Dance Drama Company — with Emily Frankel. Mr. Ryder went on to teach dance in the 1960s at Goddard College in Vermont, served two years as chairman of the dance department at the University of Maryland, College Park beginning in 1974, and retired from teaching in 1988. After moving to Howard County in 1975, Mr. Ryder also became very involved in choreographing local productions. Mr. Ryder believed individual expression to be the most important part of the creative process for both choreographer and dancer and that more is learned through being a part of the process and actively participating in it than by simply being taught the movements or viewing the final product. He passed away in July 2006 and is survived by his wife and family, who wish to honor his legacy by offering an annual competitive grant award to choreographers through HCAC.

Please refer to the guidelines for criteria and other requirements.  The application and guidelines for the Mark Ryder Original Choreography Grant Program are currently available to view and submit at hocoarts.org/grants. Please e-mail [email protected] for more information. The deadline to submit applications is June 22, 2022 at 4pm.  

The Howard County Arts Council is a private, non-profit organization established to serve the citizens of Howard County by fostering the arts, artists and arts organizations.   

 

 

Masks | Call for Submissions
deadline June 26
sponsored by SE Center for Photography

We all wear masks. At Halloween, Mardi Gras. At work we are one person, at home, another, and with friends we have yet more masks to choose from. We’re looking for images with masks, literal and figurative, color or BW, analog, digital or antique processes.

Our juror for Masks is Andrew Fedynak, a photographer, photobook publisher, and educator based out of Richmond, Virginia. Formally of Asheville, North Carolina, his projects are often centered on his personal views regarding the practice of Zen.

Fedynak created Zatara Press in 2014 to publish uniquely designed and collaboratively crafted “Artist’s Styled Photobooks” centered around the aesthetic design principles of Wabi Sabi.

35-40 Selected images will hang in the SE Center’s main gallery space for approximately one month with the opportunity to be invited for a solo show at a later date. In addition, selected images are featured in the SE Center social media accounts (FB, IG, Twitter) and an archived, online slide show. A video walkthrough of each exhibition is also featured and archived.