BmoreArt

This Week:  Mount Vernon + Bromo District First Thursdays, Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival, Vision & Spirit | African American Art: Works from the Bank of America exhibition opens at the Lewis Museum, opening reception for Jacob Henry, Fanni Somogyi and Elena Volkova at Alchemy of Art, Christine Duckworth in conversation at The Walters, Doors Open Baltimore launch, Highlandtown First Friday Art Walk, 2023 BJC Symposium, Essential Tremors podcast with Will Oldham at Design Distillery, and Indigenous People’s Day celebrated at Baltimore Center Stage — PLUS The Gutierrez Memorial Fund Legacy Grant 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 >

 

Mount Vernon + Bromo District First Thursdays
Thursday, October 5 :: Galleries Open until 8pm

On Thursday October 5 2023, art galleries in the Bromo Arts District and in Mount Vernon will remain open until 8pm. First Thursdays was a staple of the Mt Vernon art circuit for many years and since May of this year, arts spaces have been looking to re-energize audiences and patrons. Galleries participating in this evening time event in October include Current Space, First & Franklin Church, Cotyledon Arts, The Walters Art Museum, Unit B, Gallery Blue Door, and Maryland Art Place @ Hotel Indigo. Check each gallery’s website for current exhibitions, shows, talks, events and how to access their spaces. Galleries participating are all less than a square mile from each other and are under a twenty minute stroll from one end to the other.

Join Maryland Art Place at Hotel Indigo located at 24 West Franklin Street for Grace Doyle’s reception from 5 to 7pm. Grace Doyle (b. 1988) lives and works in Baltimore, MD. Through paint, Grace Doyle explores her friends and family in quiet, introspective moments and her compositions reveal a vulnerable side of the human experience.

To learn more about galleries and other art venues in these neighborhoods:

https://www.cgrimaldisgallery.com/
https://www.gallerybluedoor.com/
http://cotyledonarts.com
https://www.currentspace.com/
https://thewalters.org/
https://nomunomu.org/
https://www.firstfranklin.org
https://theblackgeniusartshow.com/
http://www.bromoseltzertower.com/
https://www.mdartplace.org/home
https://www.blackartistresearchspace.com/
http://www.gallery410.com/
https://www.unitb.net/
https://www.aiabaltimore.org/the-center/

 

 

Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival 2023
Thursday, October 5 – Sunday, October 8

Toon In, Baltimore! Sweaty Eyeballs returns for the 5th Annual international festival of animated short films.

The 5th Annual Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival offers in-person screenings at the MICA Falvey Hall Theatre, the Charles Theatre, and TU Van Bokkelen Hall Theatre with individual screenings ($12/ea) showing from October 5-8, 2023. Along with individual tickets there is an all-access festival pass option ($80) that allows access to all of the screenings and events of the festival. As always, the festival will focus on independently produced short animations from across the globe, with a lean towards the quirky and boundary-pushing.

“I am always amazed at the vibrant animation scene right here in Baltimore,” says Phil Davis, the festival’s founder and creative director and professor of animation at Towson University. “We Strive to highlight animated short films that are wacky, thought-provoking, unique and can’t be seen on your normal streaming platforms.”

Since 2012, Davis and his “Sweaty Eyeballs” moniker have been carrying the torch of the animation scene in the Mid-Atlantic with original, one-night-only, animation programming and live performances in Baltimore. Many of the series’ veteran artists have gone on to earn critical acclaim at large festivals like Sundance and the Academy Awards. Now in its 12th year, the beloved series partners with nonprofit, Central Baltimore Partnership  to launch a multi-day festival of animation in theaters around Baltimore city and in Towson, with programming supported by area universities, arts organizations and businesses.

Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival’s 9 Program Blocks include 82 animated short films in total, hailing from 25 countries and 4 continents. The festival’s opening night, however, will showcase local talent, with a juried showcase of work created exclusively byBaltimore area artists. A  family-friendly “Young Audiences” showcase returns this year, along with 4 blocks of international juried programming, two FREE visiting artist talks by Isaac King (Toronto, ON) and Paul Harrod (Portland, OR), and the feature animation “Eyeballs in the Darkness” by Baltimore director Albert Birney. The festival also includes Sweaty Eyeballs: Outside the Frame, a corresponding exhibition of animator process work and expanded animation at the Current Space gallery. The festival concludes each night with after parties, free screenings and DJs at the Current Space outdoor garden bar.

For more information on Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival, visit: www.sweatyeyeballs.com

 

 

Vision & Spirit | African American Art: Works from the Bank of America Collection
Thursday, October 5 | Ongoing through January 15
@ The Reginald F. Lewis Museum

Vision & Spirit | African American Art: Works from the Bank of America is composed of more than 100 paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, and mixed-media works by 48 artists born in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The exhibition highlights key aspects of these artists’ lives, as well as the important objects they created. Vision & Spirit focuses on these talented individuals’ strength and spirit as creative forces whose work continues to shape our understanding of the world.

The wide variety of artists represented in the exhibition look forward, contribute to progress and guide the visitor toward greater equity and understanding. The theme of Vision & Spirit is resilience and demonstrates how African American artists have embodied this quality in their work. The exhibition explores the meaning of resilience: Is it perseverance? Is it staying power, or is it something much deeper? Resilience embodies strength and humanity.

Artists in the exhibition include Henry Clay Anderson, Chelle Barbour, Romare Bearden, Dawoud Bey, Willie Cole, Murry DePillars, Jacob Lawrence, Whitfield Lovell, Gordon Parks, Faith Ringgold, Jamel Shabazz, and James VanDerZee.

Artists have always mattered. Whether it’s Lorna Simpson, whose work challenges narrow, conventional views of identity, history and memory using the African American woman as a visual point of departure, or Dewey Crumpler, whose examinations of the lure of contemporary pop culture in his mixed-media works explore global consumer capitalism, they inspire other artists to push forward and develop new ideas.

Vision & Spirit inspires viewers to go on a journey of revelation and discovery. Passion, ingenuity, and beauty are brought forth by the creative geniuses in this exhibition. Art is a two-way conversation; viewing art is not a passive act. The artist speaks through their work, and, by way of their experience, the viewer has the opportunity and privilege to listen, reflect and to be transformed.

 

 

Jacob Henry, Fanni Somogyi and Elena Volkova | Opening Reception
Thursday, October 5 :: 6-9pm | Ongoing through November 2
@ Alchemy of Art

Jacob Henry

As a life long artist born and raised in the suburbs of Baltimore, I have had local exhibitions since my early teenage years. I continue to leverage my life experiences to fuel the creative process through acrylics.  Scratching and clawing, this collection of work is a reflection of my battles to overcome anxiety.

Fanni Somogyi is a multi-disciplinary artist and writer, living and working between Baltimore, MD and Budapest, Hungary. She completed her BFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Interdisciplinary Sculpture and Creative Writing, and a Master in Curation from the Node Center for Curatorial Studies in Berlin, Germany.

Somogyi has shown work both nationally and internationally including at the Maryland Art Place in Baltimore, MD, Vox Populi in Philadelphia, PA, Transformer in DC, New Collectors Gallery in New York City, NY, and the Target Gallery in Alexandria, VA among others. She has had temporary public sculptures at the Franconia Sculpture Park in Minnesota, the Olala Street Festival in Lienz, Austria, and at Art Market Budapest in Hungary. When she is not metal fabricating she can be found researching or avidly composing short stories and reviews.

www.fannisomogyi.com

Instagram: @fanni_somogyi

Elena Volkova. Meanwhile

Several concepts come to mind when thinking about liminality: uncertainty, as well as openness, potential, and the state of becoming, between-ness, transition, neutrality. The Liminal surrounds us; it is the periphery of every moment of our existence, the behind-the-scenes of our reality; it makes no judgments and no assertions; it constitutes our everyday mundane poetry. It is simply there. In the liminal state, the boundaries and factors dissolve, bringing to the attention the low-key overlooked moments.

Meanwhile is a series of photographs that explores the concept of becoming. Created in the immediate everyday environments, the images are observations of moments in constant flux, which poetically document what it means to be living in this time, and to be compelled to get to know one’s place in a deep introspective way. Experienced through the lens of subjectivity, glimpses of domestic environments are juxtaposed with natural forms, leading into an escapist journey.

The Alchemy of Art is a local contemporary gallery focusing on but not limited to local up and coming artists. The building itself is a unique space as it is a converted convent and the gallery is on the entry level and one of the two rooms is the old chapel room with beautiful arched ceilings.  Along with the gallery there is a boutique which carries locally made art and goods. The gallery hours are by appointment only. The gallery most recently won Baltimore Style Magazines Viewer Choice award for Best Gallery of 2018. To keep posted on hours of operation and events follow us on facebook and keep an eye on our website 

 

 

Queering the Collection: Christine Duckworth
Thursday, October 5 :: 6-7pm
@ The Walters Art Museum

Location: Galleries (Please meet in the lobby on Level 1.)
Registration required.

In honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day (October 9), join us for a conversation about nature, identity, and art between beaded jewelry artist Christine Duckworth, a beaded jewelry artist, and Ellen Hoobler, William B. Ziff, Jr., Curator of the Art of the Americas. In this program, Duckworth, a member of the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina and the 2Spirit community, and Hoobler will discuss works by Indigenous artists in the Walters collection.

Duckworth’s jewelry is available for purchase in the Museum Store.

Queering the Collection is an in-gallery program series that invites queer-identifying perspectives to participate in a conversation that connects art-historical and artistic knowledge about works in our collection. Speakers discuss works of art in our galleries followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

 

 

Doors Open Baltimore 10th Anniversary Lecture
Thursday, October 5 :: 6-7:30pm
@ Enoch Pratt Free Library, Central Branch

Join the Baltimore Architecture Foundation and Baltimore Heritage for the Doors Open Baltimore 10th Anniversary kick-off with guest Jessica Henkin, Co-Founder, Producer, and Host of “Stoop Story Telling.” The Stoop’s motto is “Everyone has a story. What’s yours?”

The Baltimore Architecture Foundation believes that, not only does everyone have a story, but every building has a story too and that, by opening doors and connecting people, we can inspire creativity, foster inclusivity, and contribute to the continued growth and success of Baltimore’s artistic and cultural landscape..

Doors Open Baltimore is an annual event that celebrates Baltimore’s diverse cultural tapestry by highlighting its vibrant neighborhoods, captivating architecture, and distinctive spaces, both grand and intimate, that contribute to the city’s exceptional charm. In this 10th anniversary year, Doors Open Baltimore invites you to be a tourist in your own backyard, exploring new areas, meeting different people, and finding out what goes on inside some of Baltimore’s most interesting buildings.

About the Speaker

Jessica Henkin co-created the Stoop Storytelling Series with her friend Laura Wexler in 2006. The Stoop is a Baltimore-based live show and podcast that has featured the tales of more than 3000 people onstage. It’s featured weekly on WYPR, 88.1.

She is a first-generation college student and has a Masters in Education from Johns Hopkins University, allowing for a robust career in special education that has ultimately allowed her to become the Coordinator for Baltimore City Public School’s Office of Early Learning Program.

Jessica moved to Baltimore in 2004 and became a founding member of the Baltimore Improv Group. She’s passionate about her family (husband Aaron Henkin and children Charlie and Abby), special education, Baltimore City, storytelling, keeping her house clean, rescuing strays (both animal and human), and finding most things funny.

 

 

Highlandtown First Friday Art Walk
Friday, October 6 :: 5-9pm

FRIDAY, OCT 6 | 5-9 PM

Stay tuned for more details about Highlandtown’s October Art Walk!<

In the meantime, check out previous months to see what fun we were up to or check our digital map with specific venue activities from last month: bit.ly/3Jl0Mor

Link to digital map: bit.ly/3Jl0Mor

As always, the Art Walk is FREE to attend, with drink and food specials at restaurants and bars like Snake Hill, Sally O’s, and IndoViet. The Art Walk is self-guided —check out the Art Walk Map for venue locations and details to plan your night!

Mask wearing preferences vary per venue, but we encourage keeping your distance to be safe and above all – have fun! If you’re not feeling well, consider staying home and joining us next month!

**Some venues are open earlier than 5pm and some stay open past 8pm. Please check individual listings.**

GETTING HERE: Free street-parking is available throughout the neighborhood. Metered parking is available on Eastern Ave and Conkling Street (and is free after 6pm). City buses #21, #22, Navy, Blue bring you to the district.

 

 

This Must Be the Place | 2023 BJC Focus Symposium
Saturday, October 7 + Sunday, October 8
@ Baltimore Jewelry Center

The BJC Focus symposium is a free annual event that features workshops, demonstrations and presentations all centered around a particular theme. Our featured speakers are artists and intellectuals who are well-studied and acquainted with the chosen topic for the year. The symposium, while developed with jewelry and metalsmithing students and enthusiasts in mind, is free and open to public, with something to offer everyone. The event culminates with an artistic challenge posed to our maker community: to create a new piece of work that aligns with the theme of the symposium.

Our 2023 Symposium, This Must Be The Place, will explore the complexities of place and how artists and makers utilize place, both the direct artifacts of locations and spaces, as well as the memory and imagination they can refer to, to inspire and influence their work. Our two-day symposium will feature speakers whose academic or artistic work utilizes specific references to place. Speakers will be: Demitra Thomloudis, Christina P. Day, Khanya Mthethwa, and Liesbet Bussche. We will also host a series of free workshops, each related to the symposium theme. The event will culminate with a charge to artists who will participate in our community challenge, which asks artists to create jewelry and objects that evoke a sense of place.

Join the BJC October 7 & 8, 2023 for our annual symposium. Two days of lectures, workshops, and demonstrations all focused on jewelry. Opportunities to participate online and in-person!

 

 

Essential Tremors Presents: Selector Series #8: Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Billy)
Saturday, October 7 :: 7pm
@ Design Distillery

Essential Tremors, a radio show and podcast in which the hosts, Matthew Byars and Lee Gardner, talk to musicians and other creators about the three songs that were formative for them, are happy to announce their next Selector Series event. It will take place on Sat., 10/7/23 and feature guest selector Will Oldham, aka Bonnie Prince Billy, at Design Distillery in South Baltimore.

The Selector Series is a fully immersive, shared listening experience in a high-fidelity environment with craft cocktails. Modeled on the “jazz kissas” founded in Tokyo in the 1950’s in which people gathered to drink and listen to records, The Selector Series features a guest “selector” (DJ) who chooses a record that’s important to them that we then play that evening. Previous Selectors have included Mike Lowry (Future Islands) and MC Schmidt and Drew Daniel from Matmos, among others.

The Selector will begin the evening by introducing the record and its relevance to them, as well as the history behind it, followed by a deep listen on the our high-fidelity sound system. (Will has asked for his choice of record to remain secret until the evening of the event). As noted, our upcoming 10/7/23 Selector Series event, the venue will be South Baltimore’s esteemed modernist furniture store Design Distillery, and our guest will be renowned musician Will Oldham, aka Bonnie Prince Billy. Will was previously a guest on Essential Tremors, as well as a guest host for another episode.

“We’re thrilled with the continual growth of the series, and that there’s an audience in Baltimore for this kind of communal experience around vinyl,” Byars said. “Will is a deeply passionate music fan and listener, and his appearance as a selector will represent a high-water mark for the series.”

Please note that this is not a musical performance by Will.

Distributed by WYPR, Baltimore’s NPR affiliate, and produced by Byars and Gardner, Essential Tremors releases re-recorded shows monthly as podcast episodes, as well as on-air shows that are broadcast the second Sunday of every month on WYPR, 88.1 FM in Baltimore. Essential Tremors is a partner of the Big Ears Festival, contributes segments to NPR’s Here and Now, and is sponsored by Atomic Books, Beyond Video, and Royal Books.

 

 

Indigenous Peoples’ Day Celebration
Monday, October 9 :: 5-9pm
@ Baltimore Center Stage

Please join our friends Native American LifeLines of Baltimore here at Baltimore Center Stage for a FREE celebration of Indigenous People’s Day with food, film screenings, storytelling, and multigenerational craft activities on Monday, October 9 from 4-9 pm.

We are honored to partner with and host our neighbors again this year. Native and non-native people are invited and encouraged to attend. We encourage you to bring a dish to share, but it is not required. Hope to see you there!

 

 

< Calls for Entry >

 

Curator of Collections | Job Opportunity
posted by Banneker-Douglass Museum

The Curator of Collections leads and manages the accessions, researches, and catalogues all objects collected and exhibited by Banneker-Douglass Museum including use of relevant records, as well as physical identification, legal status, historical use, care and storage items. The position also manages the location and filing of information to enhance documentation and interpretation of collections.

 

 

Alex J. Ettl Grant
deadline October 9
posted by National Sculpture Society

The Alex J. Ettl Grant is a prize of $5,000 sponsored by the National Sculpture Society.

It is awarded annually to a figurative or realist sculptor who has demonstrated a commitment to sculpting and outstanding ability in his/her/their body of work. The Ettl Grant is for a mature body of work; sculpture created in workshop or instructional settings should not be submitted.

Applicants cannot be elected members of the National Sculpture Society. All applicants must be citizens of or residents in the United States with a social security number.
The jury will consist of three prominent sculptors.

The grant will be awarded in June 2024.

 

 

Bruce Museum Artist-in-Residency Program
deadline October 7

Open to all disciplines, this nine-month residency starts in November 2023 and includes studio space, a $35,000 stipend, and ran $8,000 materials budget.

 

 

Heritage Award Nominations
deadline October 15
posted by Maryland State Arts Council

Nominations for the Heritage Award are being accepted through Oct. 15 at 11:59 p.m. The public is invited to nominate individuals, places, and traditions that have demonstrated outstanding achievement in traditional arts and culture. Awards are $10,000 each. Click here to learn more or begin a nomination.

 

 

BJC Exhibition Proposal
deadline October 20

The Baltimore Jewelry Center is currently seeking exhibition proposals for our 2024/25 gallery schedule. Proposals are not limited to jewelry and might include thematic exhibitions or exhibitions showcasing an artist or group of artists. We are looking for exhibitions that explore the gallery setting in an unexpected way, seek to place jewelry and craft within a larger context, and expand connections in our community at large. Our goal is to demonstrate unique curatorial viewpoints, expose our audience to fresh and emerging makers and ideas, and present art jewelry and metalsmithing in a broader art context. We are especially excited to see proposals that create a diverse and inclusive gallery space in order to elevate underrepresented voices. Proposals should consider the size and dimensions of the gallery space.

 

 

2024 RAIR Open Call
deadline October 22

Applications are open for two Recycled Artist in Residency (RAIR) programs: The Standard is a four- to six-week traditional residency, while The Biggie Shortie is project-based. Both grant access to Revolution Recovery’s waste stream and RAIR’s staff. There is a $25 application fee.

 

 

Loewe Foundation Craft Prize
deadline October 25

The LOEWE FOUNDATION launches the seventh edition of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize, an international award celebrating excellence in craftsmanship.

The LOEWE FOUNDATION seeks to recognize uniquely talented artisans whose artistic vision and will to innovate set new standards for the future of craft.

The prize for the winning entry is 50,000 euros. The shortlisted and winning works will feature in the exhibition and accompanying catalogue in Paris in spring 2024.

 

 

Gutierrez Memorial Fund’s Legacy Grant
deadline October 30

The Gutierrez Memorial Fund is pleased to present its 2023 Legacy Grant. The project-based arts grant calls for proposals from arts organizations, individual artists, and educators who are residents of Maryland and whose programs or projects serve Maryland communities. Special consideration is given to projects that build skills, engage community and transform the built environment. For more information on eligibility and to download an application please visit https://gutierrezmemorialfund.com/grant-info/.

The deadline for submissions is October 30, 2023.