BmoreArt’s Picks: January 10-16

This Week:  Katharina Cibulka lecture at NMWA, virtual screening of Titus Kaphar doc at the BMA, Islamic art lecture at the Walters, Akea Brionne in conversation at the BMA, ‘Baltimore Music on Film’ with Sam Sessa at Creative Alliance, Idle Times: Pop Disorder opening reception at Current, MLK Day celebration with Kondwani Fidel at the Walters, Ruri Yi solo opening reception at HEMPHILL, MLK Day Celebration at AVAM, and Baltimore Clayworks January opening receptions — PLUS deadline to apply for the Sondheim and more featured opportunities!

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< Events >

NMWA xChange: Lookout with Katharina Cibulka
Tuesday, January 10 • 12-12:45pm
presented by National Museum of Women in the Arts

Join NMWA staff and special guests who consider topics relevant to our world and offer insight into collaborations that the museum is fostering while the building is closed for renovation. In this episode, artist Katharina Cibulka and her collaborator Margarethe Causen discuss Cibulka’s Lookout installation on the façade of NMWA’s building, as well as other iterations of her “SOLANGE” project. Hannah Shambroom, NMWA’s exhibitions coordinator, joins to share her role in and perspective on the Lookout series.

Katharina Cibulka works as an artist, filmmaker, and photographer and develops concepts for artistic processes. She is co-founder of the all-female band telenovela and the performance group peek a corner. Cibulka studied art and film at the Academy of Fine Art and School for Artistic Photography, both in Vienna, as well as the New York Film Academy. Her work has appeared in exhibitions and film festivals at venues including the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast; Glucksman Gallery, Cork; Künstlerhaus, Vienna; Kunstverein, Bonn; Lidgett Gallery, Budapest; Museum of Applied Art, Belgrade; Neue Galerie, Innsbruck; Shedhalle, Zürich; and St. Claude Gallery, New Orleans. Her work was also featured in the 2006 St. Petersburg Biennale, Marmara University’s 2010 International Student Triennial in Istanbul, the inaugural Rabat Biennale for Contemporary Art in 2019, and the Vierzon Biennale in 2022.

For more information, email [email protected].

Screening: Shut Up and Paint
Wednesday, January 11 • 6:30-7:30pm
presented by Baltimore Museum of Art

Called “a fascinatingly layered piece…unusually occupied by questions of process and power,” Shut Up and Paint was recently recognized as one of 15 films to advance in the Documentary Short Film category for the 95th Academy Awards.

A free virtual screening will follow a pre-recorded conversation with Asma Naeem, BMA Interim Co-Director and Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Chief Curator. They will discuss what led Kaphar to make the documentary, the relationship between his paintings and film, and how the documentary unpacks the challenges that Black artists face in today’s art world and market.

Naeem co-curated UnSeen: Our Past in a New Light, Ken Gonzales-Day and Titus Kaphar at the National Portrait Gallery in 2018. Shut Up and Paintreceived the Grand Jury Prize at both the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and Independent Film Festival Boston and was also selected for DOC NYC’s “Shortlist: Shorts” and is a Cinema Eye Honors nominee for Outstanding Nonfiction Short. A co-production of DCTV and Revolution Ready, Shut Up and Paint is directed by Titus Kaphar and Alex Mallis, produced by Chloe Gbai, and executive produced by Matthew O’Neill and Perri Peltz.

Senses and Sensibilities: Curating Islamic Art at the Walters Art Museum
Thursday, January 12 • 5:30-6:30pm
@ The Walters Art Museum

Location: Walters’ and YouTube

Art objects in museums are typically kept in climate controlled microenvironments and are viewed through glass. While this ensures preservation of the rare and valuable objects we steward, this barrier physically separates the viewer from being able to experience the materiality and physicality of many objects as they were originally meant to be experienced.

In this talk, Dr. Ashley Dimmig, former Wieler-Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Islamic art and guest curator for Across Asia, will discuss some of the ways in which the new galleries will evoke the sensory experience of art in the Islamic world. For example, scents from rosewater and incense bore religious and cultural meaning, the tastes of coffee and tobacco were central to Ottoman conviviality and hospitality, and the sense of touch invoked God’s blessing (baraka) and allowed a raised watch face to be read by people with blindness and low vision. Moreover, as we ask people to look, think, imagine, and feel something in relation to the art on view, we must take responsibility for handling sensitive issues of culture and identity with care. In this way, the new galleries both bring to life and honor the living legacy of art across Asia and the Islamic world.

JJC Talks: Akea Brionne
Thursday, Januar 12 • 6-7:30pm
@ Baltimore Museum of Art

Join us in the BMA Auditorium for an evening with Akea Brionne and the Joshua Johnson Council (JJC).

This two-part event will feature a screening of the artist’s film Mississippi Goddamn, followed by a conversation in dialogue with curator Jessica Bell Brown. Conceived alongside her commission for A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration, and shot and directed by Felix B. Abeson, Mississippi Goddamn uses documentary form to unpack the artist’s family connection to Columbus, Mississippi, where her grandfather William T. Brown was born and raised. Akea and her grandfather return to their family homestead, to reckon with the complexity of memory, and to come to terms with the past.

Baltimore Music On Film
Thursday, January 12 • 6:30pm
@ Creative Alliance

Join us for an evening of short films that explore pioneering Baltimore musicians, from Beach House, Dan Deacon, and DDm to trailblazing bluegrass musician Hazel Dickens. This collection of three short films chronicles various corners of Maryland’s rich music scene. It’s also the Baltimore debut of “Don’t Put Her Down,” a new work by Baltimore filmmaker Julia Golonka. Plus: A sneak preview of the forthcoming Baltimore House Music documentary, Music Liberated: Baltimore’s in the House.

Join WTMD’s Sam Sessa and directors Julia Golonka and Joe Tropea in a Q+A with Dan Deacon, Lydia Woolever, and Abdu Ali after the screening.

Do Whatever You Want, All the Time: The Baltimore Music Scene 2005-2020
Runtime: 24 minutes
From 2005 to 2020, Baltimore’s music scene went from near obscurity to being named Best Music Scene in the nation by Rolling Stone magazine. But the breadth and depth of the scene has never before been documented in one place. This new short documentary, produced by WTMD, gathers the diverse strands of Baltimore’s music community and presents them with a fresh perspective.

Don’t Put Her Down
Runtime: 30 minutes
This film takes its title from Hazel Dickens’ powerful anthem “Don’t Put Her Down, You Helped Put Her There,” and explores how she, along with her musical partner Alice Gerard, became the first women to front a bluegrass band and reflects on the role of women in bluegrass today. The film covers Hazel’s migration to Baltimore from coal country West Virginia, her activism for coal miners and working people, and the impact her upbringing had on her songwriting. Lifelong collaborators and up-and-coming musicians share what it means to have bluegrass songs written from a woman’s point of view and keep Hazel’s memory alive.

Fugazi’s Barber by Joe Tropea
Runtime: 16 minutes
When 1980s hardcore kids frequent an old school Italian barber shop in their Washington, DC, neighborhood, legends and bonds that will last a lifetime are formed. A short documentary by Joe Tropea & Robert A. Emmons Jr.

Music Liberated: Baltimore’s in the House is the story of how a group of overlooked people in a cast-aside city used grit to forge a unique sound that changed the nation and the world. Undeterred by a city deteriorating around them and the political opposition they faced, Baltimore DJs, producers, and music artists helped spread house music to heal the nation and the world.
Extended Preview

Sam Sessa is Director of Events and Community Engagement for WYPR and WTMD. From 2006 to 2022, he hosted “Baltimore Hit Parade” on WTMD, and was a reporter and editor with the Baltimore Sunfrom 2005 to 2013.

Julia Golonka is an editor and cinematographer with a degree in film from the Maryland Institute College of Art. She has worked on documentaries covering a diverse range of topics, including fine artists, prisoner reentry, and Anatomy of Wings, a film 12 years in the making about an after-school program that became a family. She was a 2019 Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund Fellow for her documentary Don’t Put Her Down, and currently works as a Senior Editor and Producer at a Baltimore-based production company.

Joe Tropea is a filmmaker from Baltimore and a curator at the Maryland Center for History and Culture. He is the co-director of the award-winning 2013 documentary, Hit & Stay, and the director of 2018’s Sickies Making Films.

Robert A. Emmons Jr. is the Associate Director of the Digital Studies Center and an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Fine Arts Department at Rutgers University-Camden. His 2014 film, Diagram for Delinquents, is about Fredric Wertham and the comic book panic of the 1940s and 50s. It has played at various comic book conventions including Wizard World Chicago and the San Diego Comic Con. His previous films include the award-winning, Goodwill: The Flight of Emilio Carranza (2007), and De Luxe: The Tale of Blue Comet (2010).

Runtimes and films are subject to change.

Idle Times: Pop Disorder | Opening Reception
Friday, January 13 • 7-10pm
@ Current Space

Current Space is proud to present “Idle Times: Pop Disorder,” an exhibition of works by Lolo Gem, Jason Herr, Dina Kelberman, Reuben Francois, Andrew Laumann, Seung-Jun Lee, Troy Taylor, and Julianne Yost; curated by Elena Johnston, Reuben Francois, Julianne Hamilton, and Michael Benevento. Please join us for the opening reception!

A child’s hand; pained by the weight it was born with. The playful use of cartoons, comics, pop culture, and punk imagery; disembodied and recontextualized. Scrolling through memories of screens filled with broadcast, internet, and photostreams. Generating mashups of an internal search engine, recalling fragments of modern folklore and personal narratives, deconstructed and reconstructed. Piece by piece, each artist carries a definitive edge; slicing through the humbug of daily life.

—–

Opening Reception: Friday, January 13, 7-10pm
Exhibit Runs: January 13 – February 4
Closing Reception & Artist Talk: Friday, February 3rd, 7-10pm
Gallery Hours: Fri & Sat 1-5pm* or by appointment.
Location: Current Space, 421 North Howard Street, Baltimore, MD

*No afternoon gallery hours on Feb 3rd. Join us that evening for the closing reception and artist talk instead!

MLK Jr. Day Celebration by Kondwani Fidel
Saturday, January 14 • 2-4pm
@ Walters Art Gallery

In honor of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., please join us for an afternoon of spoken word poetry curated by Kondwani Fidel, author, poet, and professor at Coppin State University. Special guests include Eddie Vanz, local rapper of “I Choose Me.” To cap off the performances, Fidel will perform new work accompanied by John Tyler, musician and founder of the Love Groove Festival. After the program, we welcome you to mingle with the artists and learn how to support their work.

Ruri Yi | Opening Reception
Saturday, January 14 • 6-8pm
@ HEMPHILL DC

Yi presents a basic unit or form inspired by daily life, urban space, and the natural landscape. The Eq. or Equilibrium Series explores the function of a single defined shape, deployed by the artist in marching arrangements where a grid of like forms is punctuated by contrasting colors. Yi has described this shape as a racetrack, and it appears as a capsule, neither flat nor three-dimensional. The elongated oval creates a sense of speed, suggesting an entity in constant motion, circles straining against their borders to fill all available space on the canvas.

Yi’s vivid palette is alternated with compositions dominated by black pigment, where the black provides an optical metric to understand the balance of color throughout the painting.

Seemingly monochromatic application of paint defies an appearance of flatness, with colors placed adjacent to each other, demonstrating how a color can change the feeling of a space and fully occupy the visual field of the viewer. It is this field that concerns Yi – her purpose is to reflect the viewer’s perspective and perceptions.

Ruri Yi (b. South Korea, 1969) lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland. She graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia, PA). Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. In 2018 Yi founded Mono Practice, a gallery in Baltimore, Maryland. This is the artist’s first exhibition at HEMPHILL.

MLK Dare to Dream Day
Monday, January 16 • 10am-5pm
@ American Visionary Art Museum

Baltimore’s internationally-acclaimed museum for self-taught, intuitive artists will host an all-day event celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.- MLK Dare to Dream Day – on Monday, January 16, 2023 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., featuring an engaging and imaginative schedule of events and activities for visitors of all ages. MLK Dare to Dream Day marks the one day each year AVAM is open on a Monday and, for the first time in two years, the event returns at full capacity with live music and dance performances, an open mic and poetry slam, docent-led museum tours, art workshops, and more. All festivities and museum admission are FREE on the day of the event.

“When we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on this national holiday, we are standing in the space of unity and equality, qualities that have gotten lost or have become obscured in the mire of many besetments,” says Executive Director Jenenne Whitfield. “Nevertheless, we are encouraged and remain hopeful through our remembrance of Dr. King and his timeless example and as we reassert the precious attributes of love, kindness and equality that shape us as human beings. It’s important that we remember these on MLK day, but even more important that we put these attributes into action every day!”

There will be several interactive, family-friendly activities to take part in throughout the day’s events in the Jim Rouse Visionary Center (JRVC). The Open Mic and Poetry Slam is an opportunity for artists of all ages to showcase their talents before a wide audience of museum visitors and to possibly earn a cash prize for their performance. As a special guest, Executive Director Jenenne Whitfield will be presenting poetry to mark the occasion. Those interested in performing are encouraged to pre-register in order to secure their slot, although participants may also register on the day of the event.

Another special event will feature Author Tellie Simpson, who will be holding a storytime session, featuring her book A Girl in a Museum World. Ms. Simpson’s children’s book highlights the important, overdue conversations surrounding the representation of Black people and their history in the context of museums. For the duration of the event, visitors will be able to donate new, unused toiletries, winter hats and gloves for Paul’s Place: providing programs, services, and support that strengthen individuals and families, fostering hope, personal dignity, and growth.

Lunar New Year // Care•ful/less // EARTH and LIFE | Exhibition Openings
Monday, January 16 • 6-8pm
@ Baltimore Clayworks

“Lunar New Year” Curated by Adam Chau. Main Gallery
The Lunar Project, started by curator Adam Chau in 2019, is a series of exhibitions across the United States featuring artists that celebrate the Asian New Year. Fourteen artists are invited to create a work inspired by the animals from the Asian zodiac – a rabbit for the year 2023 – which will be exhibited at Baltimore Clayworks. It is important to note that multiple cultures are represented in this project, thus far including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Participating Artists

Ian Basset, Ling Chun, WangLing Chou, Grace Gittleman, Gunyoung Kim, Steven Kin, Nikki Lau, Cindy Leung, Eun-Ha Paek, Shoji Satake, Juliane Shibata, Hitomi and Takuro Shibata, Micah Sweezie

“Care•ful/less” Solo Exhibition by Gerald A. Brown. Solo Gallery
Dedicated to the journey of self-actualization, Care•ful/less is a glimpse at the inherent friction occurring internally when realizing one’s fullest self. Tending to one’s gifts, flaws and dreams is messy and often conflicts with one’s desire to be more careless or more careful. Does the act of caring less make you more mindful of oneself? Or does being very careful make you deserving of care from others? Can negligence be advantageous and who does it primarily serve? At the intersection of optimism and bitterness, I wonder how caring am I really. This show is a moment of celebration and bereavement. In the midst of shedding old ways, this is a grand toast as well as salute to internal battle waged, within a young Black girl.

“EARTH and LIFE” Solo Exhibition by Wayman Scott. Community Arts Gallery
EARTH AND LIFE, pays tribute to historical figures and bears witness contemporary struggles. It highlights the likes of Mother Mary Lang, who founded the first black catholic school in America, along with Frederick Douglass, and Elijah Cummings for their work toward civil rights and freedom of black people during their lives.

The killing of unarmed black people prompted me to sculpt a new Pieta to highlight the value of black life. EARTH AND LIFE, displays an interpretation of Michael Angelo’s Pieta with Jesus and Mary as African American people to show that black lives matter.  Johnny J who models Jesus is a GNA and hospice aide who shared how his experience of police harassment effected is ability to trust police. Sharmean Y who models for Mary is a GNA has two brothers who serve as police officers. While both models have different experiences, they both support the movement for Black Lives.

< Calls for Entry >

34th National Drawing & Print Competitive Exhibition
deadline January 15
posted by Gormley Gallery

Gormley Gallery at Notre Dame of Maryland University is now accepting entries for the 34th National Drawing & Print Competitive Exhibition.

DEADLINE: January 15, 2023

AWARDS: A minimum of $1,500 available in purchase prizes

JUROR: Teri Henderson, Arts and Culture Editor of Baltimore Beat

ELIGIBILITY AND MEDIA: Drawings and prints (not photography) in any medium up to 60 inches high (with frame) are eligible with no limitations as to color, surface, or materials. All drawings and prints must be original works of art. Each artist may submit up to 3 works online only. No mailed or emailed entries will be accepted.

ENTRY FEE: A nonrefundable entry fee of $36 entitles the artist to submit up to three entries.

SELECTION PROCESS: Initial jury will be of online submissions received by January 15, 2023. Notification will be by email on January 31, 2023. Accepted drawings and prints received by March 3 will be juried for purchase prize awards at the value set by the artist. No substitutions will be accepted. Works selected for purchase prize awards will become the property of Notre Dame of Maryland University.

SUBMISSIONS: Submissions are accepted online at artndm.slideroom.com

EXHIBITION DATES: March 13 – April 21, 2023

MORE INFORMATION: gormleygallery.com

CONTACT: gormleygallery[at]ndm[dot]edu.

Janet & Walter Sondheim Art Prize
deadline January 16
posted by BOPA

BOPA is proud to announce that submissions are now being accepted for the 18th edition of the Janet & Walter Sondheim Art Prize. This year’s prize is supported in part by the generosity of the Maryland State Arts Council.

The Sondheim Art Prize will award $30,000 to a visual artist or visual artist collaborators living and working in the Baltimore region. Approximately three finalists will be selected for the final review and their work will be exhibited in the Walters Art Museum from July–September 2023. The remaining semifinalists will have a selection of their work exhibited at School 33 Art Center in September–October 2023. The application deadline is Monday, January 16, 2023.

We will also be awarding two residencies to finalists not selected for the SondheimPrize: a six-week, fully funded residency at Civitella Ranieri in the Umbria region of Italy, and a residency at the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower in Baltimore.

Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency 2023-24
deadline January 24

Artists selected for this program are at all stages of their careers and work in all media, including drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, film, video, new media, installation, fiction and non fiction writing, interdisciplinary, social practice and architecture. JTHAR fosters creativity through opportunities for exploring, experimenting, quiet reflection, engagement and cross-cultural exchange with the vibrant local artist community.

We establish spaces where inspiration happens on a daily basis, so artists can do the work of innovating, changing the cultural landscape and generating a fresh look at the way we connect to each other and to the world. The residency provides studio space and living accommodations. Each artist will be assigned their own house in which to live and work for the length of the residency. Artists may choose to work in the JTHAR dedicated studio, a large studio space, divided by movable walls, depending on the artist’s needs. Housing Accommodations are located in the Highlands near the West Entrance of the Joshua Tree National Park. Artists chosen must be able to attend for the six week program.

Howard County Arts Council’s 2023 Arts Scholarship Program
deadline January 26

The Howard County Arts Council’s 2023 Arts Scholarship application is now available for Howard County high school seniors planning to pursue higher education in the arts.

The Arts Council will award a minimum of $10,000 in scholarship funds to students entering college in the 2023-2024 academic year. Scholarships must be used for enrollment in an accredited college program for a degree in the arts. Award amounts will range between $1,000 and $5,000 and may be used for tuition and fees only.

Applications will be reviewed by the Arts Council’s Scholarship Panel, made up of professionals working in a variety of artistic disciplines. Review criteria will include artistic merit, demonstrated knowledge of an artistic discipline, commitment to a career in the arts, and a demonstrated track record of success in an academic setting. Applicants will be notified of the committee’s decision in March 2023.

Applications for the scholarship program must be submitted online. Prospective applicants should visit hcac.gosmart.org to initiate the application process.

Applicants must be legal residents of Howard County in their senior year of high school. Applications must be submitted electronically by January 26, 2023. Contact the Howard County Arts Council at 410-313-2787 or email [email protected] for more information.

Bmorphosis: Transforming with Baltimore | Call for Submissions
deadline January 31

Submissions are accepted from October through January of each year and should relate to the theme of each issue.  Content Collaborators are assigned to review each submission and provide feedback to the creator. We will contact you to finalize your submission prior to publication.  Publication is once per year in May.  Content remains accessible on the site.

Written submissions should be in Word or Google Doc format and preferably 3,500 words or less.

Images should be submitted as high-resolution JPEG or PNG files. Video storage capacity is limited, however links to Vimeo, YouTube  and other platforms can be posted as part of your submission

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Content Coordinator at [email protected]

Emerging Voices Fellowship
deadline January 31
posted by PEN America

The Emerging Voices Fellowship provides a virtual five-month immersive mentorship program for early-career writers from communities that are traditionally underrepresented in the publishing world. The program is committed to cultivating the careers of Black writers, and serves writers who identify as Indigenous, persons of color, LGBTQ+, immigrants, writers with disabilities, and those living outside of urban centers.

Through curated one-on-one mentorship and introductions to editors, agents, and publishers, in addition to workshops on editing, marketing, and creating a platform, the five-month fellowship nurtures creative community, provides a professional skill-set, and demystifies the path to publication—with the ultimate goal of diversifying the publishing and media industries.

The Emerging Voices Fellowship grew out of PEN America Los Angeles’s forum “Writing the Immigrant Experience,” held at the Los Angeles Central Library in March 1994, which explored the experiences of first- and second-generation immigrant writers. In 1996, PEN America Los Angeles initiated Emerging Voices as a mentorship program designed to provide professional resources to writers seeking financial and creative support to pursue their craft professionally. Virtually accessible programs and an expanded cohort of fellows will further the goal of diversifying the publishing and media industries by enabling participation from writers across the country.

Entomophagous Dining (Eating Insects) | Call for Entry
deadline January 31
posted by The International Museum of Dinnerware Design

Billions of Brood X cicadas emerged in May and June of 2021 in parts of the United States. Some people took Cicada-cations to catch a glimpse of them. Others left town to escape them and the cicada tourism surrounding their emergence. Other people stir fried them with garlic in a wok. Whether that makes you smile, lick your lips, or triggers your gag reflex, eating insects is a thing.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that two billion people, more than a quarter of the world’s population, eat insects as part of their standard diet. Some believe that this is the only way to feed a population of 9 billion by 2050. At the least, eating insects can help fight hunger and food insecurity. They are a fantastic source of nutrients, such as protein and iron. Insect farming, which can be carried out in an urban environment, utilizes smaller amounts of land, water and feed when compared to meat production, and produces far fewer greenhouse gases.

Some people don’t realize they are already eating insects (or parts of insects). Take, for example, the situations described in a recent edition of the FDA guidance handbook Food Defect Levels Handbook. It is true, this source shares the maximum allowable levels of mold, dirt, bits of insects, rodent hairs, etc., in our food. The FDA guidelines, updated in 2018, allowed for one of my favorite spices, ground cinnamon to have no more than an average of 400 or more insect fragments per 50 grams. Hops, which is in all beer, has as the action level an average of 2,500 aphids per 10 grams. So, we have all inadvertently eaten some insects (or parts of insects).

Whether or not you are nodding your head and thinking “yup” or shaking your head and thinking “yuck,” we must all agree that dining on insects requires special dinnerware. And perhaps some ritual sculpture. For its Fifth Biennial Invitational and Juried Exhibition in 2023, the International Museum of Dinnerware Design wants artists and designers to explore how dining on insects (entomophagy) may be in our future, if not our present.