BmoreArt

This Week: BJC’s Ornamenta online auction underway, Foad Hamidi and Tahir Hemphill in conversation at UMBC CADVC, The Afro Futurist Manifesto reception at Morgan State’s James E. Lewis Museum Of Art, “Framing Agnes” film screening and panel at the BMA, Kai Ito installation opening at Loyola University Maryland, Brinae Ali and the Baltimore Jazz Collective celebrate Baby Laurence at Creative Alliance, DATUM Observations opening reception at Stevenson University, Peabody Institute’s Black Student Union performs at The Walters, Celebrating Lucky 13 opening reception Make Studio, and Let The Right One In opening reception at CPM — PLUS Chesapeake Arts Center’s Pride Month 2023 Exhibition call for entry and more 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]!

 

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< Events >

 

Ornamenta 2023 Auction | Online Bidding
ongoing through March 4
presented by Baltimore Jewelry Center

The Ornamenta 2023 Auction goes live next monday, February 20th at 5pm and closes at 10pm during our signature event March 4th. Anyone can bid on an auction item, even if you can’t attend our signature event. All you have to do is create an account on betterworld. Artists participating in this year’s auction include Adam Atkinson, Amelia Toelke, Andy Lowrie, Arthur Hash, Cindy Cheng, Elaine Zukowski, Erica Bello, J Taran Diamond, James Betts, Joan Folguera, Jordan Furze, Joyce J. Scott, Kate Dannenburg, Kelly Jean Conroy, Laura Wood, Liz Clark, Luci Jockel, Lydia Martin, Margo Csipo, Nash Quinn, Sarah Parker, Shana Kroiz, Steven KP, and Susie Ganch. All proceeds from the auction go to supporting the work of the BJC.

 

 

Foad Hamidi and Tahir Hemphill
Thursday, February 23 • 2-3pm
@ UMBC CADVC

In conjunction with the exhibition Tahir Hemphill: Rap Research Lab, the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC) presents a conversation between Foad Hamidi, assistant professor in information systems and a specialist in human-centered computing, and Tahir Hemphill, who will discuss their shared interests in participatory digital research of media and cultural systems. The session will include a demo of choreography for a mechanized robotic arm based on hiphop data analysis by Hemphill as part of his series Maximum Distance, Minimum Displacement.

 

 

The Afro Futurist Manifesto: Blackness Reimagined | Reception
Thursday, February 23 • 5-8pm
@ The James E. Lewis Museum Of Art, Morgan State University

Featuring the works of:
Tawny Chatmon
Larry Cook
Morel Doucet
Monica Ikegwu
M. Scott Johnson
Delita Martin
Felandus Thames

 

 

Film Screening and Panel: Framing Agnes
Thursday, February 23 • 6:30-8:15pm
@ Baltimore Museum of Art

The Baltimore Museum of Art and the Winston Tabb Special Collections Research Center present a screening of the award-winning Framing Agnes (2022) followed by a discussion with director Chase Joynt and historian Jules Gill-Peterson.

Agnes, the pioneering, pseudonymized, transgender woman who participated in Harold Garfinkel’s gender health research at UCLA in the 1960s, has long stood as a figurehead of trans history. Through a collaborative practice of reimagination, an impressive lineup of trans stars take on vividly rendered, impeccably vintage reenactments, bringing to life case files from a 1950s gender clinic and other groundbreaking artifacts of trans healthcare. Framing Agnes endeavors to widen the frame through which trans history is viewed—one that has remained too narrow to capture the multiplicity of experiences eclipsed by Agnes’.

This event is part of the Tabb Center’s spring 2023 Curating Archives series.

Closed captioning will be provided for this screening.

This program is free. Registration is required.

REGISTER HERE

 

 

The Unknown Citizen: Art Installation by Kei Ito | Opening Reception
Thursday, February 23 • 6pm, Remarks 6:30pm
@ McManus Theatre Atrium, Loyola University Maryland

The Unknown Citizen is a multimedia, site-specific installation by artist Kei Ito that contrasts individuality with a crafted collective ideal – what British poet W. H. Auden noted in his 1945 poem by the same name. Utilizing materials that are cultural and yet universal such as clothing, as well as materials often used to control human movements such as searchlights, Ito intends to highlight an all too common recipe used since the invention of modern warfare to dehumanize others and create a paradigm where harming others not only becomes acceptable, but also desirable—the recipe for cultural scapegoats still in use today.

This installation and opening event is part of the Loyola University Maryland Center for Humanities 2023 Humanities Symposium themed around Displacement and Belonging. Learn more and register for this and other events in the series here.

 

 

Biba Schutz Jewelry Trunk Show and the Plan B Art Project at the Rebecca Myers Collection, Cross Keys
Reception: Friday, Feb 24: 6-9 PM
RSVP here.

Rebecca Myers Jewelry Collection is hosting two events here at the RMC showroom on Feb 24th. The opening of Plan B Art Project and a trunk show with Biba Schutz. The Plan B Art Project is a collective art project bringing together a large group of contemporary metal and jewelry artists to call attention to the current state of a person’s right to make choices about their own body.

These pieces will be shown in conjunction with the Biba Schutz trunk show. Biba will be here at the showroom on Friday the 24th and Saturday the 25th with an opening reception for the two events on the 24th from 6-9pm.If you’re a fan of Biba’s industrial NYC style and interested in checking out the work in the Plan B collection swing by, we would love to see you! We’re taking appointments with Biba for the afternoon of Friday the 24th starting at noon. Email us to secure an appointment with Biba and please rsvp at [email protected].

 

 

Baby Laurence Legacy Project: Baby’s 102nd Birthday Celebration
Friday, February 24 • 8pm
@ Creative Alliance

Tap dancer and vocalist, Brinae Ali, and her bandmates of the Baltimore Jazz Collective celebrate the life and legacy of Baltimore’s greatest tap dancer: Baby Laurence (February 24, 1921-April 2, 1974). Baby Laurence was the first tap dancer to record a jazz album—Dancemaster (recorded in 1959, released in 1977). Brinae will be sharing works in progress that reimagine his music, as well as original compositions and choreography.

The Baby Laurence Legacy Project is supported by NEFA National Dance Project, Johns Hopkins University Billie Holiday Center for Liberation Arts, and Peabody Jazz & BFA Dance Departments.

Line Up:

Baltimore Jazz Collective: Brinae Ali (vocals/tap), Kris Funn (bass), Eric Kennedy (drums), Alex Brown (keys) , Todd Marcus (bass clarinet), Sean Jones (trumpet)

Eze Jackson (Emcee, Vocals)

Wendel Patrick

Peabody Tap Ensemble

and Special Guests

Read more about Baby Laurence, the extraordinary jazz tap dancer who had a profound influence on rhythm dancers in the second half of the Twentieth Century, via the Library of Congress.

 

 

DATUM Observations | Opening Reception
Saturday, February 25 | 1-4pm
@ Stevenson University Art Gallery

The Exhibition Department at Stevenson University is pleased to announce the 2023 Art Gallery exhibition DATUM Observations. A datum is a bit or byte of information worth taking into account, or an organizing form that provides continuity between multiple design elements. The DATUM Observations installation considers the tension we might feel and encounter when multiple stimuli compete for our singular attention. The datum dialectic between Nature and the Man-made is this exhibition’s subject.

The work selected for this exhibition present extended observations of behaviors, spaces, people, places, and things. These works also help us consider ways in which environments inform our awareness of change-over-time. Each singular data set help us consider “pieces” of information worth taking into account.

The six artists featured in the exhibition are Inna Alesina, Jerome C. Gray, Christopher Hutchinson, Christopher Metzger, Dan Meyers, and Ross Wheeler. Three are photographers, two are designers, and one is a fine artist.

The DATUM Observations opening reception will be on Saturday February 25, 2023 from 1 to 4pm weather permitting*. A second reception before the Theatre Media and Performance production of  A Little Shop of Horrors will take place on April 23, 2023 from 12:30-2pm. Follow @suartsalive social media for additional programming information.

The Art Gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9am to 7pm and on Saturday from 11am to 4pm. The Stevenson University Art Gallery is located on the Greenspring Campus, 1525 Greenspring Valley Road, Stevenson, MD 21153.

For more information about this exhibition contact Lori Rubeling, Faculty Director of Exhibitions, [email protected].Additional information about Stevenson University’s Exhibition Program can be found at www.stevenson.edu/arts.

 

 

Activating the Renaissance: Performances by Peabody’s Black Student Union
Saturday, February 25 • 2-3:30pm
@ The Walters

Location: Walters’ Graham Auditorium and galleries

Join us for an afternoon of performances by the Peabody Institute’s Black Student Union as they take inspiration from contemporary works on view in the Italian Renaissance and Baroque galleries. In honor of Black History Month, students have selected music and dance pieces to perform in dialogue with Activating the Renaissance, currently on view at the Walters through February 26.

 

 

Celebrating Lucky 13: Make Studio’s Annual Anniversary Exhibition | Opening Reception
Saturday, February 25 • 2-5pm
@ Make Studio

Make studio’s upcoming exhibition and annual anniversary celebration, Lucky 13, opens with a reception on Saturday, February 25th  at our Showroom Gallery.  Every year that Make Studio exists, and our collective persists in their making, our anniversary is set aside as a time to highlight and proclaim our pride for each artists’ unique style and story.  Make Studio’s “lucky 13th” year – having thrived for a “maker’s dozen” – promises to be especially exciting for our artists and audiences alike.  After a pandemic-induced slowdown that gradually eased up at the end of 2022, Make Studio is ready to celebrate our packed programming calendar and that we are in the midst of a “population boom” of new artists working in the studio!  The reception will feature artist remarks (including reflections on “superstitions”), music, fun and interactive art-making, and an array of refreshments including the always popular birthday cake.  Lucky 13 will be on view from February 25th – March 25th, with an accompanying digital exhibition at www.make-studio.org.

 

 

Let the Right One In | Opening Reception
Saturday, February 25 • 6-8pm | Ongoing through April 8
@ Critical Path Method

CPM is pleased to announce Let The Right One In, a group exhibition featuring painting, sculpture, and photography by seven artists currently living and working in Baltimore.

Two years ago, CPM opened in a row house in Bolton Hill, Baltimore and entered into the creative life of this city.

Let The Right One In is taken from a 2008 Swedish Vampire film and refers to the idea that the threshold of a house serves as a barrier that a vampire cannot cross without an invitation. In the context of an art exhibition, this title calls attention to the bonds at the thresholds between the artist, the gallery, and the community.

In times of increasing transience and alienation, it matters who we count upon to uphold these borders of familiarity and trust. The seven artists in the show have been connected to the gallery by people who have been involved with the arts community in Baltimore for years or decades.

The exhibited works focus on the figure: abstracted body parts constructed from yoga mats; anthropomorphic paintings of trees and flowers that allude to human sexuality; densely detailed paintings of African deities; depictions of spirit animals; surrealist self portraits and romantic portraits of loved ones; tintypes using 19th century photographic technology to capture the likeness of city residents; and a photorealistic painting of a local barbershop that incorporates found objects, sound, and lighting elements that relate to the cultural activity in that space.

Collectively, the works thematize the tension between the familiar and the uncanny, external presentation and internal condition.

 

 

< Calls for Entry >

 

Mudflat’s Artist of Color Summer Residency
deadline February 25

Mudflat Studio in Somerville, Massachusetts, offers classes, workshops, outreach programming, and events focusing on the ceramic arts. They are currently accepting applications for their inaugural Mudflat Artists of Color Summer Residency program.

Residencies can be one, two, or three months long during June, July, and August. Residencies include a studio space at Mudflat Pottery School; a $2,500 per month stipend towards housing, materials, and expenses; opportunities to teach in educational programs or workshops; and opportunities for retail sales of works.

 

 

Pride Month 2023 Exhibit | Call for Entry
deadline February 27
posted by Chesapeake Arts Center

The Chesapeake Arts Center (CAC) is accepting applicants for its Pride Month 2023 Exhibition. There are no styles of art that will be given priority over others for this show. There are also no restrictions on size as long as the work can fit in the gallery. Nontraditional mediums are welcome. The only requirement is that the artist is part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

 

 

Keyholder Residency | Call for Applications
deadline March 1
posted by Lower East Side Printshop

The Keyholder Residency Program offers emerging artists free 24-hour access to printmaking facilities to develop new work and foster their artistic careers. Residencies are free and one year long, starting on April 1st and October 1st each year, and they take place in the shared Artists’ Studio, including the solvent/etching area and the darkroom.

Keyholders work independently, in a productive atmosphere alongside other contemporary artists. Artists from all disciplines are eligible to apply; printmaking skills are not required, but some familiarity with the medium is recommended. Basic instruction in printmaking techniques is available for new Keyholders. Technical assistance is not included in the program, but is available at additional cost.

Participation is competitive. Applications are evaluated by a rotating committee of artists, critics, curators, and art professionals based on the quality of submitted artwork. A total of 8 artists are awarded the residency annually. Artists based in the New York City area and without access to a studio space are encouraged to apply.

 

 

Al & Mickey Quinlan Artist Residency Fall 2023
deadline March 1

The residency invites artists to Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula to reside for a 8-week period at the Dome House, a familiar structure for many locals. It is a twin-lobed (one side for a residence, the other for a studio) domed concrete structure built into sand dunes abutting Whitefish Dunes State Park situated on the shores of Lake Michigan. It sits on a large, heavily wooded plot of dunes and forest north of Sturgeon Bay in the small lakeside community of Whitefish Bay that provided solitude and inspiration for Albert Quinlan, advertising executive and accomplished artist, who designed and built the home during the energy crisis of the mid-1970s. The concept for this “earth” home was that, built into the earth, it would require minimal heating and cooling. The building was acquired by the Quinlan family after many years of neglect and changes in ownership and rehabbed, returning it to a comfortable sanctuary in 2018.

The experience will offer artists a unique respite from day-to-day life and the sights and sounds of nature will serve to recreate the space as a haven for the development of creative work, given the proximity to the parks and surrounding natural areas. The program has been developed in partnership with the Quinlan family and will allow artists to focus in the areas of creative development, fellowship, sense of place and learning and community. A core component for chosen artists will be the opportunity to develop educational content for the community, including but not limited to, workshops, artist talks, demonstrations/open studio hours, and the production of materials for exhibitions and the Museum’s permanent collection. The resident artist will be expected to actively engage the public through educational outreach for a minimum of 5 hours per week, on or off-site.

 

 

Artist Residency Program
deadline March 1
posted by Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft invites applications for its Artist Residency Program. Five–10 residences will be awarded and available in three-, six-, nine-, and 12-month periods. Residencies include a $1,000 monthly stipend that includes a housing/materials allowance and 24/7 access to a 200-square-foot studio.

New this year is a funding opportunity to support BIPOC craft artists. Residents who identify as BIPOC can receive unrestricted funding in addition to their monthly honorarium. The additional support ranges from $500–1,000.

 

 

Gertie’s Window Project | Call for Submissions
deadline March 1

Open to applicants worldwide. All entrants will be juried by Gertie’s with selected artists getting a solo exhibition in our 9 x 10 foot storefront window space (on view 24/7!). To be considered for entry please send 3-5 images of the proposed work, a brief artist’s statement, follow us on Instagram or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. 100% of any sales of artwork will go to the artist. Gertie’s will provide installation support, email and Instagram marketing.

Please email [email protected] with your submissions, as well as a screenshot of your Instagram follow or newsletter sign-up. Gertie’s reserves the right to final say on works exhibited.