Reading

BmoreArt News: The Outwin, Creatively Black Baltimore, Dan Deacon

Previous Story
Article Image

A Wild Inauguration for the New Collaborative XoX [...]

Next Story
Article Image

Lusmerlin Captures Attention with The Uncatchable [...]

This week’s news includes: Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition artists announced, ‘Creatively Black Baltimore’ largest single tenant at Harborplace, National Aquarium’s Voyages with Dan Deacon, an interview with Bishme Cromartie, Pew Center grant awarded to Jerrell Gibbs, Ta-Nehisi Coates back in Baltimore, BOPA news, Frederick Douglass mural at the Lewis Museum, Everyman Theatre’s upcoming lineup, Cecilia Wichmann appointed BMA’s Curator and Department Head of Contemporary Art, WTMD’s new/ old home, the latest exhibition at the Phillips Collection, worker-owned cooperatives in Baltimore, Junius Wilson’s backyard, Red Line open houses, and new Fellows at Hamiltonian Artists — with reporting from Baltimore Magazine, Baltimore Fishbowl, Baltimore Brew, and other local and independent news sources.

Header Image: Photo from Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture.

Doc Brown GIF by Back to the Future Trilogy - Find & Share on GIPHY

 

Credit: “The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today” presented by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.

National Portrait Gallery Announces Artist List and Prizewinners for 2025 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition
Press Release :: October 8

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has announced the artist list and prizewinners for “The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today,” a major exhibition featuring juried selections from the museum’s seventh triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. The seven-person jury chose 35 portraits (by 36 artists) to go on view as part of the exhibition. The selection, which was drawn from more than 3,300 entries, includes artist contributions from 14 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Taína Caragol, curator of painting, sculpture and Latine art and history for the National Portrait Gallery, is the director of the 2025 competition. She and Charlotte Ickes, curator of time-based media art and special projects for the Portrait Gallery, are co-organizing the exhibition.

“The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today” will premiere at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., from May 3, 2025, through March 1, 2026, before touring to other cities in the United States. A ceremony announcing the order of this year’s three prizes will take place at a press preview with the co-curators May 2, 2025, at 10 a.m.

“Since its inception, the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition has presented the work of more than 275 contemporary artists to audiences in the nation’s capital and across the country,” said Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery. “The triennial competition is one of the many ways the Portrait Gallery is committed to supporting artists shaping the tradition of portraiture in the 21st century and to forwarding art’s ability to help us navigate the diverse threads of the American experience of the past, present and ever-evolving future.”

The first-prize winner will receive a cash award of $25,000 and a commission to create a portrait of a living person for the museum’s permanent collection. Additional prizes in the amounts of $10,000 and $7,500 will be awarded to second- and third-place winners, respectively, for the 2025 competition. Prize-winners whose commissioned portraits now reside in the museum’s collection include 2006 winner David Lenz (sitter Eunice Kennedy Shriver); 2009 winner Dave Woody (sitter Alice Waters); 2013 winner Bo Gehring (sitter Esperanza Spalding); 2016 winner Amy Sherald (sitter former First Lady Michelle Obama); 2019 winner Hugo Crosthwaite (sitter Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.); and 2022 winner Alison Elizabeth Taylor (sitter to be announced).

“This year’s competition saw a dramatic increase in the number of entries, with 600 more than in the last edition,” Caragol said. “The works selected show how contemporary artists are exploring the relationships between portraiture, state power and surveillance, personal empowerment, devotional practices and cultural memory. The competition focuses on broadening the definition of portraiture in medium as well as subject area. This edition shows a bold questioning of figuration as a key to portraiture, with artists embracing abstraction, through composition, materials or technique.”

Established in 2006, the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition is organized by the National Portrait Gallery and invites artists (18+), who are living and working in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands to submit one portrait created in the past three years for consideration by a panel of experts. Selected artworks, including three prizewinners, are then featured in a museum exhibition. Guest jurors for the 2025 competition were Carla Acevedo-Yates, the Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Huey Copeland, the Andrew W. Mellon Chair and Professor of Modern Art and Black Study, Department of History of Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh; LaToya Ruby Frazier, artist; and Daniel Lind-Ramos, artist. “The Outwin 2025” co-curators Caragol and Ickes also served on the jury with Rhea L. Combs, the Portrait Gallery’s director of curatorial affairs.

The competition and exhibition are made possible by the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition Endowment, which was established by Virginia Outwin Boochever, a longtime docent at the National Portrait Gallery. The endowment is sustained by her family.

“The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today” Artist List

Ron Anteroinen, New York, N.Y.
Gloriann Sacha Antonetty Lebrón and Juan Pablo Vizcaíno, Carolina, Puerto Rico
Sandra Bacchi, Sewickley, P.A.
Philip Cheung, Los Angeles
Rachel Cox, Iowa City, Iowa
David Antonio Cruz, New York, N.Y.*
Ruth Dealy, Providence, R.I.
Jess T. Dugan, St. Louis, Mo.
Mar Figueroa, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Joseph Mario Giordano, Baltimore, Md.
Steven Harwick, Brooklyn, N.Y.
LaToya Hobbs, Baltimore, Md.
Kevin Hopkins, Kansas City, Mo.
Vikesh Kapoor, Los Angeles
Clementine Keenan, Berkeley, Calif.
Luisiana Mera, Appleton, Wis.
Ramón Miranda Beltrán, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Stella Nall, Missoula, Mont.
Kameron Neal, Brooklyn, N.Y.*
Arcmanoro Niles, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Aliza Nisenbaum, Long Island City, N.Y.
Katie O’Keefe, Baltimore, Md.
Al Rendon, San Antonio, Texas
Sandy Rice, Canton, Mich.
Adrián Viajero Román, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Sarah Smith, Oakland, Calif.
Jared Soares, Washington, D.C.*
Christian Soto-Martín, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Edra Soto, Chicago
TT Takemoto, Daly City, Calif.
Vicente Telles, Albuquerque, N. Mex.
Daniel Terna, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Rupy C. Tut, Oakland, Calif.
Samantha Yun Wall, Portland, Oreg.
Stephanie J. Woods, Albuquerque, N. Mex.

*Denotes prizewinners
See also:

Photos: The New/Next Film Fest in Black and White
by J.M. Giordano
Published October 7 in Baltimore Magazine

 

 

Artists cut the ribbon at the Creatively Black Baltimore exhibition at Harborplace on Sept. 28, 2024. Photo by Ed Gunts.

‘Creatively Black Baltimore’ art exhibition is now the largest single tenant at Harborplace
by Ed Gunts
Published October 4 in Baltimore Fishbowl

Excerpt: Before it closed several years ago, a Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum was the largest single tenant at Harborplace, occupying 12,000 square feet of space on the second level of the Light Street Pavilion at 301 Light St.

As of Sept. 28, that distinction belongs to “Creatively Black Baltimore,” a temporary art exhibition that has taken over the Ripley’s footprint, including its “Odditorium” and multiple galleries.

More than 150 people, including dozens of artists, gathered last Saturday for the grand opening of the space, which will be open to public view at least until the end of the year and possibly longer.

 

 

Dan Deacon by Frank Hamilton

Dan Deacon to Transform the National Aquarium with Interactive Soundscape for Voyages: Chapter 6
Press Release :: October 9

Baltimoreans are invited to experience the sixth installation of Voyages, the National Aquarium’s adults-only event series where conservation, science, and art converge in a completely original experience. On November 21, 2024, guests will be immersed in a sonic journey led by Baltimore-based recording artist, composer and performer Dan Deacon. This event will feature a groundbreaking musical composition inspired by ecosystem feedback loops, composed by Deacon and performed by a collective of Baltimore musicians, creating a unique soundscape to echo throughout the Aquarium’s galleries.

Inspired by research at the Aquarium and insights from Patuxent Riverkeeper Fred Tutman, Deacon has developed a musical composition based upon the concept of feedback loops. The term feedback loop refers to how natural systems react to environmental changes and how these same systems undergo exponential transformation. His vision invites guests to engage with the musicians, influencing the music and shaping a dynamic soundscape that evolves with their interactions—echoing the intricate balance found within different ecosystems.

“I hope voyagers leave (this upcoming chapter) feeling a greater connection to and role in the feedback loops they are a part of—their actual ecosystem, those around them, and within themselves,” said Deacon. “My favorite part about interaction is that even by choosing not to participate, you’ve interacted with the work that’s asking you to participate. That’s been an aspect of my performance practice for many years now, but I think this performance will expand upon it in ways I’ve never done before.”

He adds, “I’m hoping the performance, and the audience’s role in it, will help highlight the endless fractalizing of the connectivity we all have with everything around us.”

After exploring the Aquarium’s exhibits, guests will end the night with fellow voyagers at an exclusive after-party featuring an intimate performance by Deacon. The evening will also include a curated bar menu crafted by Cane Collective, alongside delicious offerings from local eateries, including Ekiben,  ArepiSistah’s Sweets and Crust by Mack.

Voyages: Chapter 6 takes place on November 21, from 7 to 11 p.m. Learn more at aqua.org/voyages.

 

 

Bishme Cromartie from the designer's website

Bishme Cromartie talks Blackness, politics and grief ahead of Baltimore visit
by John-John Williams IV
Published October 8 in The Baltimore Banner

Excerpt: It’s 8 a.m. on a Saturday in Los Angeles and Bishme Cromartie postpones our phone interview for an emergency fitting for Oscar-winning actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph.

“Can I call once we are done?” the fashion designer texts me.

We connect later that evening and he is exhausted, and jokes he probably shouldn’t talk to a reporter in his state.

I’m glad he did.

… this story continues. Read the rest at The Baltimore Banner: Bishme Cromartie talks Blackness, politics and grief ahead of Baltimore visit

 

 

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. Galatians 5:13, 2024 Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 ", Image courtesy the artist and Galerie Myrtis

Jerrell Gibbs awarded by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage for forthcoming solo exhibition at The Brandywine Museum of Art
Galerie Myrtis Newsletter :: October 8

Galerie Myrtis is pleased to announce Jerrell Gibbs was awarded a Creative Project Grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage for his forthcoming solo exhibition at The Brandywine Museum of Art. Curated by Angela N. Carroll, the exhibition titled “Jerrell Gibbs: No Solace in the Shade” will highlight the subjects, aesthetics, and compositional strategies employed in Gibbs’s paintings. This exhibit will mark the artist’s first museum solo exhibit and the largest display of his works to date. “No Solace in the Shade” will be on view September 28, 2025 – March 01, 2026.

Additionally, Gibbs has recently completed new paintings that convey themes of kinship, nostalgia, and faith. Each piece is deeply personal and emotionally resonant, breathing new life into cherished family moments through the artist’s use of color, texture, and composition.

“This year’s creative project grants support 18 cultural institutions with $5.6 million, encompassing both project funding and unrestricted general operating support. The funded works will connect with communities and audiences across the region through newly commissioned theater, dance, and music performances, public art installations, and contemporary visual art and historical exhibitions that explore timely and compelling topics.” – The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

 

 

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates recalled how much time he spent at a local Pratt branch growing up and talked about how Baltimore still influences him today. (Ariel Zambelich/The Baltimore Banner)

Ta-Nehisi Coates in Baltimore: Takeaways from the author’s return home
by Cody Boteler
Published October 3 in The Baltimore Banner

Excerpt: Ta-Nehisi Coates came home to Baltimore Wednesday night and was greeted with applause, an ovation and an engaged crowd.

The interview, conducted by WYPR’s Tom Hall as part of the “Brown Lecture Series” at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, touched on Coates’ childhood in Baltimore, the craft of writing, what being a famous author is like and, yes, Palestine.

Since growing up in Baltimore, Coates has written for magazines (and became especially well-known for his blockbuster piece “The Case for Reparations” in The Atlantic), and published collections of essays, novels and comic books.

… this story continues. Read the rest at The Baltimore Banner: Ta-Nehisi Coates in Baltimore: Takeaways from the author’s return home

 

 

Artist Adam Himoff's contemporary portrayal of Douglass will be on display at the Lewis Museum through February 2025. —Photography by Kerry Folan

A Provocative New Frederick Douglass Portrait Is Unveiled at the Lewis Museum
by Kerry Folan
Published October 2 in Baltimore Magazine

Excerpt: Take a drive down President Street this week and you’ll notice a new banner of Frederick Douglass gracing the side of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum—but this is a Douglass you likely haven’t seen before.

The portrait of the iconic abolitionist—who was born into slavery on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and spent years working in the Fells Point shipyards before escaping to freedom in 1838—is two stories tall and depicts him dressed in a modern suit and Converse sneakers, flashing a fancy watch, and popping a “rap squat.” It’s an image that Lewis Museum President Terri Lee Freeman hopes will provoke conversation about race, art, and identity.

Titled Liberty, the banner is a reproduction of a linocut crafted by Utah-based entrepreneur-turned-artist Adam Himoff, who is white. It ignited a flare up of local controversy when it was displayed last November in Easton, near where Douglass was born.

See also:

Reginald F. Lewis Museum hopes to inspire discussions with new Frederick Douglass banner
by Aliza Worthington
Published October 9 in Baltimore Fishbowl

 

 

From Salon Series, "The Little Foxes" by Lillian Hellman. Photo from Everyman Theatre's Facebook page.

Everyman Theatre offers an intimate look at the newest plays
by Aliza Worthington
Published October 8 in Baltimore Fishbowl

Excerpt: Everyman Theatre is introducing “Script Tease,” a series of pay-what-you-choose readings of new works by regional playwrights, starting in November.

The 2024/2025 season of “Script Tease” features two playwrights from Baltimore, a D.C.-based playwright, and a Baltimore-based associate artistic director and playwright. Audiences have the unique opportunity to have an early look at new plays while peeking behind the curtain into the creative process of playwriting while providing local creatives with the chance to bring their stories to life.

The four plays in this year’s series include “Glitter in the Glass” by R. Eric Thomas (playwright of Everyman’s 2022 production of “Crying on Television”), “Trouble (At the Vista View Mobile Home Estates)” by Audrey Cefaly, “The Sandwich Ministry” by Miranda Rose Hall, and “Dawn” by Tuyết Thị Phạm (playwright of Everyman’s 2022 production of “Dinner and Cake”).

 

 

Cecilia Wichmann, BMA Curator of Contemporary Art. Photo by Mitro Hood.

BMA Appoints Cecilia Wichmann as Curator and Department Head of Contemporary Art
Press Release :: October 3

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced the appointment of Cecilia Wichmann as Curator and Department Head of Contemporary Art. Wichmann joined the BMA in 2017 as an Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art and was promoted to Associate Curator in 2019. She has organized or co-organized many important exhibitions, including most recently the Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams retrospective, for which she also served as co-editor of the eponymous catalog distributed by Yale University Press. Wichmann has also worked closely with many other artists with deep ties to the region, including Nekisha Durrett, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Jackie Milad, Stephen Towns, and SHAN Wallace, and spearheaded the acquisition of more than 150 contemporary artworks, including Jefferson Pinder’s Ben-Hur, the first work of performance art to enter the collection.

“Cecilia Wichmann is one of the most imaginative and experimental curators working in the field today. She deeply values collaboration and rigorous art historical research, both of which are core to the BMA’s programmatic vision,” said Asma Naeem, the BMA’s Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. “Her commitment to artists, to centering the cultural communities of Baltimore, and to illuminating new, compelling, and under-sung narratives and creative expressions are essential to realizing the museum’s next chapter. I am grateful for Cecilia’s abiding dedication to Baltimore and the BMA, and look forward to working with her on many exciting projects to come.” […]

 

 

WTMD exits the circle, but Towson wants it back
by Jon Morgan
Published October 7 in Baltimore Fishbowl

Excerpt: Towson wants WTMD, the alternative rock station whose call letters reflect its origins as part of the Towson University music department, back in the county seat.

The station moved earlier this year into WYPR’s facilities at 2216 N. Charles St. in Charles Village as part of the merger of the two public broadcasters. WTMD’s name has been stripped off its high-profile location just north of the Towson circle and its scrolling news ticker familiar to travelers on York Road has gone dark.

The departure leaves a hole in the county seat’s central business district, where officials have been trying to diversify a retail base that’s healthy but heavy with restaurants, Nancy Hafford, executive director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce, said.

 

 

Artscape, BOPA’s marquee event, could be farmed out to another organization, according to a plan put forward by senior City Hall officials last year. (Kaitlin Newman/The Baltimore Banner)

Confidential 2023 memo outlines how Baltimore could cut ties with BOPA
by Lee O. Sanderlin and Hallie Miller
Published October 8 in The Baltimore Banner

An internal 2023 memo from Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration lays out a potential road map for how the city could effectively end the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts — a missive recirculating now as speculation swirls about whether City Hall will sever ties with the beleaguered arts council.

Written a few months after ex-BOPA CEO Donna Drew Sawyer resigned in January 2023 from the organization at Scott’s request and before a new CEO was chosen, the previously unreported memo characterized the arts organization as unstable. It warned of low morale, mass resignations and “collapse” if it did not adjust its workload or make itself whole again. “Will the administration continue to fund and have indirect oversight with an organization that is dysfunctional and doesn’t serve the needs of the creative community?” it reads.

The document, reviewed by The Baltimore Banner, suggested two possible plans for BOPA. One, “Option A,” called for a review of all board members efficacy and giving the mayor’s office control of the organization for one year until a new CEO was selected.

A more detailed plan, “Option B,” would redirect all money the city gives the nonprofit to a wing of the mayor’s office and other organizations to put on BOPA’s signature events. Stripped of its core programming, BOPA would lose its quasi-governmental agency status under the plan, turning it into a private nonprofit that would have to raise funds independently of City Hall.

This story was excerpted with permission from The Baltimore Banner. Visit www.thebaltimorebanner.com for more.

 

 

Guest in the galleries with Arthur Dove, Flour Mill II, 1938, Oil and wax emulsion on canvas, 29 1/8 x 19 1/4 in., The Phillips Collection, Acquired 1934; Henri Matisse, Studio, Quai Saint-Michel, 1916, Oil on canvas, 58 1/4 x 46 in., Acquired 1940, © 2024 Succession H. Matisse/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Sylvia Snowden, George Chavis, 1984, Acrylic and oil pastel on Masonite, 49 1/2 x 49 1/2 in., The Phillips Collection, The Dreier Fund for Acquisitions, 2024; Photo: Carl Nard.

The Phillips Collection Presents Breaking It Down: Conversations from the Vault
Press Release :: October 3

The Phillips Collection presents Breaking It Down: Conversations from the Vault, an exhibition showcasing works from the permanent collection that emphasizes the museum’s historic and ongoing dedication to championing living artists. Featuring over 90 works, including paintings, works on paper, photographs, and sculpture, the exhibition presents an in-depth look at artists who are cornerstones of the collection, alongside a growing collection of works by contemporary innovators. Breaking It Down employs the museum’s legacy strategy of fostering visual dialogues between artists across diverse styles, generations, and cultural backgrounds. Organized by The Phillips Collection, the exhibition is on view from November 2, 2024, through January 19, 2025.

“The Phillips Collection has advocated for living artists from its founding, through early-career acquisitions, exhibitions, and direct financial support. Breaking It Down celebrates this rich legacy as we look to the museum’s future and imagine new ways to support the artists of our time,” says Vradenburg Director & CEO Jonathan P. Binstock. “We hope the exhibition will inspire guests and new generations of artists by offering a space for discovery, learning, and joy.”

From its inception, founders Duncan and Marjorie Phillips envisioned the museum as a place to test new approaches to collecting and exhibiting art, arranging works by aesthetic affinities rather than chronology or geography. At the core of this approach was their enduring support and encouragement of artists; the two nurtured vital relationships with many artists who today are mainstays of the collection. Over time, the museum developed what Duncan Phillips called “units,” or groups of works that survey an artist’s career or represent key aspects of an artist’s voice, vision, or creative development. The “unit” is the key organizing principle of the permanent collection, which enables the Phillips to convene artists in visual conversations, independent of any particular school or movement, with the hope of sparking new ways of seeing, experiencing, and understanding art. Breaking It Down explores these novel visual exchanges as well as connections between patron, museum, and artist.

The exhibition highlights several foundational artists from the collection, including Georges Braque, Richard Diebenkorn, John Marin, Sam Gilliam, Paul Klee, and Georgia O’Keeffe, alongside works by contemporary artists to showcase how more recently assembled “units” continue to shape the museum. Several acquisitions will have their exhibition debut at the Phillips, including works by William Christenberry, Walker Evans, Sam Gilliam, Joel Meyerowitz, Sean Scully, Aaron Siskind, Sylvia Snowden, Renée Stout, and Joyce Wellman.

“The featured artists work across representational and abstract styles, with a personal language of expression,” says Phillips Associate Curator and exhibition curator Renee Maurer. “Well-known artists are juxtaposed with a growing collection of works, reinforcing the museum’s active engagement with living artists, several of whom are grounded in the D.C. community.”

The exhibition also examines creative exchange between artists across generations and the museum’s role in fostering these connections. Works by Richard Diebenkorn and Kate Shepherd are shown alongside examples by Henri Matisse and Piet Mondrian, respectively. Matisse and Mondrian served as guideposts for the younger artists who ventured into new chapters of artmaking upon responding to the works in the collection. Dedicated galleries spotlight the Phillips’s early support of artists such as Georges Braque; Arthur G. Dove and Georgia O’Keeffe of the Stieglitz Circle; Augustus Vincent Tack; Sam Gilliam, whose work the museum was the first in the US to acquire; and Paul Klee, whose narrative imagery remains a source of inspiration and study for artists such as Joyce Wellman. The vibrant expression of works by Sylvia Snowden and Wellman conveys the power of color, which is a driving force of the permanent collection more broadly.

The exhibition includes archival materials, including letters, photos, and other ephemera, to contextualize the relationships between the artists and patrons Duncan and Marjorie Phillips, foregrounding the stories that are foundational to The Phillips Collection’s ethos and that inspire its future.

Nine employees of the Wine Source in Hampden are now worker-owners of the store, which has transitioned to a co-op model. Photo credit: Eric Lindberg.

From Red Emma’s to the Wine Source, Baltimore a hotbed of local worker-cooperative financing
by Adam DeRose
Published October 2 in Baltimore Fishbowl

Excerpt: A Hampden wine store has joined the growing number of worker-owned cooperative businesses in Baltimore, boosted by an infrastrure that is instilling democratic ideals into community-based firms.

After announcing in March that he would sell the Wine Source, the gourmet food and beverage shop at 3601 Elm Ave., longtime owner David Wells completed the transaction Sept. 30 by turning over the asset to his employees.

The deal was facilitated by the Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy, a worker-owned cooperative finance and technical assistance organization that is behind such businesses as Taharka Brothers Ice Cream and Waterbottle real estate co-op.

See also:

Pop a bottle: Hampden’s Wine Source to become worker-owned cooperative
by Christina Tkacik
Published October 2 in The Baltimore Banner

 

 

Junius Wilson (third from left) recently held an open house at his Woodlawn home so people could view his many backyard sculptures, which evoke ancient Egypt. He is joined here in a libation ceremony performed by Ishaka-Ra-Hannibal-El to honor ancestors. (Rona Kobell/The Baltimore Banner)

Windsor Mill sculptor Junius Wilson reveals his backyard Egypt to public
by Rona Kobell
Published October 2 in The Baltimore Banner

Excerpt: Junius Wilson knows it’s good to be king.

The 81-year-old artist emerged this weekend before 60 guests, a pharaoh headdress framing his face. His black robe, embossed with gold, swayed in the light breeze as he played Middle Eastern melodies on his flute. Members of the Park Vibe Drummers, who enliven Druid Hill Park every Sunday, backed him up with Afro-inspired beats. Slowly, the pharaoh of Windsor Mill and Woodlawn led a procession through his garden, complete with a water feature standing in for the Nile River and enough representations of Egyptian royalty to rival many museum collections.

Soon, Wilson’s work will be among those. After The Baltimore Banner featured Wilson in March, the American Visionary Art Museum contacted the former electrician and Baltimore City College graduate about a show at the Federal Hill museum. Wilson is creating new works for that fall 2025 AVAM show, and last weekend he held what he hopes is the first of several open houses to show the public what he’s been up to behind his white suburban fence.

 

 

Save the Date for our Fall Open Houses!
Newsletter :: October 4

Join the Maryland Transit Administration for five public open houses regarding updates on the Baltimore Red Line project. Attendees at the public open houses will learn about the selected transit mode, alignment alternatives under consideration and the results from the project team’s analysis, including projected cost, ridership, and implementation schedule.

Tuesday, October 22, 2024 | 6:00–8:30 pm

Vivien T. Thomas Medical Arts Academy
100 N. Calhoun St. | Baltimore, MD 21223
Transit accessible by LL 78; CL Orange, Navy, Purple

Wednesday, October 23, 2024 | 3:00–5:30 pm

Baltimore War Memorial
101 N. Gay St. | Baltimore, MD 21202
Transit accessible by QB 40; LL 67, 76, 78, 80, 105, 150, 160; CL Blue, Orange, Purple; Commuter Buses 210, 215, 310, 420; Metro SubwayLink; CCC Orange and Green

Wednesday, October 23, 2024 | 6:00–8:30 pm

Woodlawn High School
1801 Woodlawn Dr. | Gwynn Oak, MD 21207
Transit accessible by LL 31, 37, and 79 and CL Blue

Thursday, October 24, 2024 | 6:00–8:30 pm

Creative Alliance
3134 Eastern Ave. | Baltimore, MD 21224
Transit accessible by LL 21; CL Navy, Blue

Saturday, October 26, 2024 | 10:00 am–1:00 pm

Edmondson Westside High School
501 N. Athol Ave. | Baltimore, MD 21229
Transit accessible by QB 40 LL 78; CL Blue; Commuter Bus 150

Meeting materials will be available for review online for those unable to attend the meetings. Please visit redlinemaryland.com for more information and details about the meetings and project. We’d appreciate it if you could please share this meeting information with your networks.

Thank you, and we hope to see you at an upcoming Open House!

 

 

L to R: Sobia Ahmad, June Canedo de Souza, Jermaine Carter, Nilou Kazemzadeh, and Fargo Tbakhi

Hamiltonian Artists Announces New Fellows
Press Release :: October 9

Hamiltonian Artists is excited to announce the new cohort of Hamiltonian Fellows for 2024–2026: Sobia Ahmad, June Canedo de Souza, Jermaine Carter, Nilou Kazemzadeh, and Fargo Tbakhi. Each artist will receive a $2,000 annual honorarium, access to studio space, individualized mentorship, connection to an expansive network of alumni and professional contacts, group exhibition participation, and a final solo exhibition at Hamiltonian Artists in 2026. The first exhibition of new fellows’ work will be in new.now., on view at Hamiltonian Artists February 8–March 15, 2025.

The cohort was selected for their commitment to artistic excellence, growth potential, and alignment with Hamiltonian Artists’ value of community, by a panel of independent jurors: Amara Antilla, independent curator, Washington DC; Alyssa Mattocks, former director at Deli Gallery, New York; Julia Bloom, artist, director, and curator of Freight Gallery, Washington, DC; Luis Vasquez La Roche, artist and educator at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA; and Joey Enríquez, artist, designer, educator, and Hamiltonian Artists fellowship alum. For full juror bios, please visit https://hamiltonianartists.org/.

The returning 2023–2025 fellows are Ali Kaeini, Neha Misra, Hien Kat Nguyen, Edgar Reyes, and Kat Thompson.

Hamiltonian Artists fellows work to develop a single major project over the two-year program with guidance provided by mentors, Hamiltonian staff, peers, and other professional guests. Hamiltonian Artists provides expertise and resources to frame development from project idea to exhibition. Together, we help define the future of the field while providing the skills, knowledge, and resources to ensure the sustainability of independent artists as art professionals in their communities.

ABOUT THE FELLOWS

Sobia Ahmad was born and raised in Pakistan and moved to the United States at the age of fourteen. Her interdisciplinary art practice investigates the transcendental power of everyday experiences, objects, and rituals through photography, time-based media, and social practice. Ahmad earned her MFA from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA (2024), and a BA in Studio Art and BS in Community Health from the University of Maryland, College Park (2016, 2015). Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY; Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA; Queen Mary University, London, England; Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, CA; and the Women Filmmakers Festival at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC. She has attended the SOMA Summer residency, Mexico City, Mexico (2024), and Halcyon Arts Lab’s socially engaged art fellowship, Washington, DC (2019–2020).

June Canedo de Souza works with painting, sculpture, and performance. She earned her MFA from the Milton Avery School of the Arts at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, and is an alumni of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, ME. Recent projects and exhibitions include the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, CA; the Kitchen OnScreen, New York, NY; and MIMO Gallery, New York, NY. Her books have been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; New York University, New York, NY; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; the Getty Research Institute, and more. She was a finalist for the Foundwork Artist Prize (2022) and is a 2024–25 session artist at Recess, Brooklyn, NY.

Jermaine “jET” Carter is an interdisciplinary artist, originating from Southeast Washington, DC, whose diverse body of work encompasses painting, drawing, sculpting (both physical and digital), motion graphics, animation, casting, papermaking, fabrication, rendering, and world-building within his jETCO universe. He earned his BFA from the Cooper Union in 2020. jET’s art has been exhibited in numerous locations across the United States, including Washington, DC; New York City; and Chicago, as well as in his first solo exhibition SUPER-CHARGED in London, England. Additionally, his animations have been featured in various public spaces, including Washington, DC–train stations as part of Cultural DC’s TORRENTS Art in Transit Exhibition (Cohort II).

Nilou Kazemzadeh (b. 1993) is an Iranian American artist based in Maryland. She earned her BA in Studio Art and MA in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an MFA from Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Philadelphia, PA. Her work has been shown in various galleries in the DC and Philadelphia areas, including the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC; Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD; Target Gallery, Alexandria, VA; and IA&A Hillyer, Washington, DC. Her work has been reviewed and included in various publications, including the Washington Post and Baltimore City Paper.

Fargo Tbakhi is a Palestinian performance artist. He is calling on you to join with the revolutionary masses across the globe in fighting for the survival and liberation of Palestinians and all oppressed people. We are bound up with one another. Anywhere and everywhere you are, you can get in the way of the death machine; hold somebody’s hand tight and get in the way together. Revolution until victory for all of us.

 

 

Header Image: Photo from Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture.

Related Stories
Baltimore art news updates from independent & regional media

This week's news includes: Glenstone Museum announces new exhibitions, the sublime Amy Sherald, Savannah G.M. Wood awarded Tabb Center humanities fellowship, from France to Baltimore, Ky Vassor installs work at Govans Presbyterian Church, remembering Susan Alcorn, and more!

The best weekly art openings, events, and calls for entry happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas.

This Week:  A Media Quilt Project video installation opening reception, TINY Art Soiree at Hotel Indigo, "Obscured Legacy" film screening at MCHC, BSO at the Lewis Museum, Future Histories opening reception at the Driskell Center, Inviting Light Kick-Off at the Parkway, and more!

Opinion Editorial by Nicholas Cohen, ED at Maryland Citizens for the Arts

Governor Moore’s proposal overlooks how crucial the arts have been to Maryland’s prosperity—and how pivotal they will remain in the future. Let us not turn our backs on the very policies that made Maryland a national model for the creative economy.

Baltimore art news updates from independent & regional media

This week's news includes:  The Renwick has partnered with ReBokeh, National Gallery of Art ends DEI programs, Inviting Light Public Art Initiative, Eileen Koenigsberg's art filled home, Creative Alliance’s Inaugural Resident Performing Artist Brinae Ali, The DMV Collects the DMV and more!