BmoreArt

This Week: Stephanie Mercedes at Silber Gallery, BmoreArt Holiday Open House at Connect + Collect, a memorial exhibition for Bonnie Schupp at Zeke’s, The Chicory Project’s Existence Beyond Code opening reception at MCHC, The Peale’s AAA apprentice program exhibition opening, Brumation opening reception at School 33, and Holidays at the Lewis — PLUS applications due for Baltimore Screenwriters Competition 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 >

 

Stephanie Mercedes: I hold you close
Ongoing through January 30
@ Silber Gallery

By appointment only. Please contact [email protected] to schedule an appointment.

Stephanie Mercedes’ I hold you close unfolds as a haunting exploration of queer identity, resilience, and the embodied experience of vulnerability in a society that often views difference with suspicion, if not hostility. Constructed from melted weapons reformed into steel forms, these works are lit with stark floodlights and animated by sound and motorized elements, immersing viewers in a charged atmosphere that mirrors the intensity of queer existence within a violent world.

Mercedes transforms tools of harm into symbols of strength, drawing from a personal archive of queer love, loss, and the precarious beauty that emerges from standing one’s ground in the face of adversity. Vulnerability, in this context, is reimagined not as a fragile state but as an active stance—a weapon in itself. By inviting viewers into a space that holds vulnerability and resilience in equal measure, I hold you close pushes against binary notions of power and softness, showcasing the courage inherent in being seen and the strength required to love openly.

This installation serves as both a memorial and a celebration of queer resilience, challenging the viewer to reflect on the ways society measures strength and the transformative potential of embracing vulnerability as a radical, defiant act.

 

 

BmoreArt Holiday Open House
Tuesday, December 17 :: 5-8pm
@ Connect + Collect Gallery

Join us for our Holiday Open House on Tuesday, December 17, from 5-8 pm at the BmoreArt Connect+Collect Gallery (2519 N. Charles Street) to view our exhibition City of Artists III, featuring works by Jackie Milad, Edgar Reyes, and René Treviño. We will also have BmoreArt books, print journals, and T-shirts available at 10% off at this event only! Give the gift of BmoreArt, and finish up your holiday shopping!

City of Artists III is the last of the series of exhibitions that serve as a visual extension to BmoreArt’s first full-length book City of Artists, featuring 220 pages of personal reflections from leading writers alongside visual artworks from some of our city’s most celebrated visual artists.

 

 

Bonnie Schupp – Memorial Exhibition | Opening Reception
Wednesday, December 18 :: 4-6pm
@ Zeke’s Coffee

Maryland Art Place (MAP) in partnership with Zekes’ Coffee Shop is excited to announce a solo exhibition featuring artwork by the late Bonnie Schupp curated in her loving memory by her surviving husband, David Ettlin.

Bio: BONNIE SCHUPP was raised in northeast Baltimore’s Four-by-Four neighborhood off Belair Road, and was a February 1963 graduate of old Eastern High School. She earned her undergraduate degree at Frostburg, a master’s at Johns Hopkins and her doctorate in communications design – at age 60 – from the University of Baltimore.

Bonnie began taking pictures at age 7, with an aunt’s gift of a little Kodak camera. Over a span of seven decades, she never stopped – although her cameras became ever more sophisticated and expensive. She was a junior high/middle school teacher in the city from 1967 to about 1974, and in Anne Arundel County from 1988 to 2003. In between, she owned a camera store in Severna Park and for six years wrote a weekly column on photography for the Baltimore Evening Sun, Prescott (Ariz.) Courier and South Bend (Ind.) Tribune. She also managed to raise two daughters.

Her awards over the years included $4,000 for second place in the Kodak International Newspaper Snapshot Awards (KINSA) in 1970, and honorable mentions in contests by Women in Photography International – one of them for a photograph taken as she was giving birth to her daughter in 1980.

Bonnie self-published six books, most of them combining her writing and photography. Notable among them are Dog Tag Poetry (2012, Blurb),  and 365 Gifts (2016, Amazon). A memoir, Curious Possibilities, which Bonnie completed writing three weeks before her death from pancreatic cancer in 2021, was edited and published through Amazon by her husband, retired journalist David Ettlin.

Join us on Wednesday, December 18 from 4 PM to 6 PM for the opening reception and birthday celebration of Bonnie Schupp. The exhibition will run November 27 – January 30, 2025 and will be on view at Zeke’s Coffee located at 4719 Harford Rd. Please see Zeke’s website for hours of operation to view the exhibition.

 

 

Existence Beyond Code | Exhibition Opening
Wednesday, December 18 :: 6-8pm
@ Maryland Center for History and Culture

Existence Beyond Code is a visual exploration of identity, visibility, and existence in the digital age, focusing on the experiences of Black communities. We challenge viewers to confront the paradoxes of the digital world, where technology can be used to create and manipulate identities while simultaneously denying the humanity of marginalized communities. A series of digital portraits of Black individuals were created using AI generative tools like Midjourney, FLUX, Stable Diffusion, and Gemini. These portraits challenge our understanding of existence by blurring the lines between the real and the virtual and highlight how algorithmic settings can influence representation.

Existence Beyond Code is curated by Devlon Waddell and presented by The Chicory Project, featuring the work of Kevin Johnson, Jr.

Join MCHC and The Chicory Project for an exclusive first look at this brand-new installation in the Museum’s Passion and Purpose community gallery. Connect with the artist and curators while you explore the questions raised throughout the space. Drinks & light fare will be served.

 

 

The Art of Restorative Resonance | Exhibition Opening
Friday, December 20 :: 6-7pm
@ The Peale

Free RSVP in Advance

Join us for the opening of a special exhibition celebrating the work of our AAA apprentices.

The Art of Restorative Resonance explores the intersection of historic restoration and holistic restoration, offering a unique comparison between the physical revival of art and architecture and the emotional healing of individuals and communities. Following the apprentices through a series of projects, the exhibition highlights how both forms of restoration aim to preserve the past while fostering renewal and balance. Visitors are invited to reflect on the parallels between repairing cultural heritage and nurturing human well-being, emphasizing the shared goal of creating harmony and continuity across time and experience.

This exhibition is sponsored by the Institute of Library Services (IMLS); Baltimore National Heritage Area; Aegon Transamerica Foundation; Maryland Heritage Areas Authority (MHAA); Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCH); Preservation Maryland; Historic Preservation Education Foundation; France-Merrick Foundation; and the many friends of The Peale.

 

 

Brumation | Opening Reception
Friday, December 20 :: 6-9pm
@ School 33 Art Center

“Brumation” is a show featuring 20 amazing artists opening at School 33 Art Center on Friday, December 20, with a reception from 6:00–9:00 p.m. Enjoy light refreshments and a chance to talk to the artists. Drawing on the biological phenomenon of brumation — hibernation-like behavior observed in certain reptiles — this collection of works explores themes of dormancy, survival, the symbiotic relationships between environment(s) and organism(s), and the perpetual tension between consciousness and unconsciousness.

 

 

Holidays at The Lewis
Saturday, December 21 :: 11am-3pm
@ The Reginald F. Lewis Museum

Celebrate the upcoming holidays this month to include Christmas and Kwanzaa activities at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. Festivities will include a Kwanzaa candle lighting ceremony with African dancing and drumming with Sankofa Dance Theater, choral singing by the Singing Sensations Youth Choir, a presentation on Center Stage’s Black Nativity and an author’s reading of Hair Like Obama’s, Hands Like Lebron’s by children’s author Carole Boston Weatherford.

 

 

< Calls for Entry >

 

Applications Now Open | 2025 Tephra ICA Arts Festival
deadline January 2

Now in its 34th year, the Tephra ICA Arts Festival (formerly titled the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival) will take place on May 17-18, 2025 at Reston Town Center. Over 200 contemporary artists and artisans will travel from across the country to present original handmade artwork to share with Festival audiences. Drawing upon a robust exhibitor and collector base coupled with Tephra ICA’s contemporary art foundation, the Festival has become one of the region’s most anticipated events, attracting tens of thousands of people to the unique, outdoor environment of Reston Town Center. The Festival is comprised of one-on-one experiences, performances, and special events leaving an exciting, thoughtful mark in the region. Scroll down to learn more about this marquee event.

Festival Dates: Saturday, May 17–Sunday, May 18, 2025

Artist applications are accepted through ZAPPlication.

Deadline to apply is Thursday, January 2.

 

 

McColl Center’s Artist-in-Residence
deadline January 3

Artists-in-Residence receive private housing adjacent to McColl Center, a large-scale private studio in our historic building in Uptown Charlotte, curatorial guidance, marketing and PR support, and a generous stipend. While in residency, our artists have the freedom to fully focus on artistic research, exploration, and creation while also engaging with McColl Center’s Igniters community and the local creative sector. While in residence, artists also have access to our shared labs and studios including: a 3D Lab (3D printer and laser cutter); Ceramics + Sculpture Studio; Darkroom; Media Lab with a large-scale printer and the Woodshop.

 

 

2025 National Guest Artist Open Call
deadline January 5
posted by Vox Populi

Vox Populi is pleased to announce our annual open call offering two artists the opportunity to extend and challenge their artistic practice. This opportunity includes a four-week residency in Philadelphia and a 5-week, two-person exhibition at Vox Populi. We seek to support artists who are working in a range of media, who take on various subject matter and material, and who represent the range of diversity present and underrepresented in our communities, including on the axis of race, class, gender, and sexuality, as well as geographic points of origin (eg. rural, non-art centers, underrepresented localities).

Vox Populi is interested in exhibitions by national artists from outside the larger Philadelphia area. We are seeking artists without commercial representation, who want to find new audiences. Vox Populi is interested in work that takes place in experimental media and employs alternative methodologies, pushing boundaries in terms of form and content. We want work that takes risks, is ambitious, timely, and experimental.

 

 

Yaddo Residency
deadline January 6

We offer residencies to professional creative artists from all nations and backgrounds working in one or more of the following disciplines: choreography, film, literature, musical composition, painting, performance, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and video. Artists apply individually. Peer review is the keystone of our selection process, with different panelists each season. Residencies last from two weeks to two months and include room, board and a studio.

All artists whose work falls within the five disciplines we serve are encouraged to apply. Generally, those who qualify for Yaddo residencies are either working at the professional level in their fields or are emerging artists whose work shows great professional promise. An abiding principle at Yaddo is that applications for residency are judged solely on the quality of the work. Yaddo places no publication, exhibition or performance requirements on artists in residence.

Not only is Yaddo an equal opportunity employer—we will not discriminate against any individual, employee, or application for residency based on race, color, marital status, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, national origin, disability, or any other legally protected status recognized by federal, state, or local law—we strongly encourage applicants from backgrounds underrepresented in arts and culture to apply.

 

 

Cultural Sustainability: Community Roots
deadline January 6
posted by Mid Atlantic Arts

Cultural Sustainability, a new grant program offered by the six U.S. Regional Arts Organizations (USRAOs) in partnership with The Wallace Foundation, provides general operating support to arts organizations rooted in communities of color with annual operating expenses under $500,000.

Mid Atlantic Arts’ Cultural Sustainability: Community Roots program provides unrestricted operational funding to arts organizations founded by, with, and for communities of color, allowing them to sustain and expand their practices, benefiting the communities they serve. It also supports cross-cultural arts experiences and fosters stronger collaboration between artists, communities, and the RAO’s.

The program provides general operating support to arts and culture organizations serving BIPOC communities with budgets under $500,000 and at least three years of programming. Mid Atlantic Arts will select up to 20 grantees from the ten states and territories we serve (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA, PR, USVI, VA, and WV).

 

 

Baltimore Screenwriters Competition
deadline January 8
posted by BOPA

The Baltimore Film Office at the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) is accepting entries for the 20th annual Baltimore Screenwriters Competition. This is an opportunity to craft a winning screenplay that highlights Baltimore. The competition awards prizes in both the feature and shorts categories for scripts that are set or able to be filmed in Baltimore. The Baltimore Screenwriters Competition is a project of the Baltimore Film Office in conjunction with film programs at Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University.

The deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. The applica$on and full guidelines are available online at promotionandarts.org/baltimore-screenwriters-competiton/. Submitted scripts receive coverage from students in the Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University screenwriting programs and by local screenwriters and producers. The final screenplays are judged by industry professionals in film and television, including producers and writers working on projects for HBO and other studios.

All screenwriters are encouraged to apply. “The Baltimore Screenwriters Competition nurtures writers of all levels by providing opportuni$es for screenwriters to have their scripts read, receive valuable feedback, and gain confidence in their storytelling,” says Debbie Donaldson Dorsey, Director of the Baltimore Film Office. The top entries in each category will win cash prizes and are scheduled to be announced during the 2025 Maryland Film Festival in May 2025.

In 2024, the 19th annual Baltimore Screenwriter Comptition judges — Nina Noble, Ken LaZebink, Dale Beran, and Annette Porter — awarded “A Better Chance” by L.T. Woody, “Car BNB” by Lee Connah, and “Champion” by Peter Kimball in the features category, and “Shipping and Handling” by Harrison Demchick, “Orchestra” by Felix Abeson, and “An Incredibly Stupid Idea (That Just Might Work)” by Evan Balkan in the shorts category.

Previous Baltimore Screenwriters Competition winners have also received Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund Fellowships, including 2020 Baltimore Screenwriter Comptition winners Stephen Schuyler for “Like You Think You Know Me” and “Stealing Cars,” and Chung-Wei Huang for “Squeegee Boys,” who both shot their films in Baltimore.

 

 

 

Art of the Collectors X Open Call
deadline January 8
posted by Galerie Myrtis

Galerie Myrtis is seeking consignments for the forthcoming exhibition “Art of the Collectors X,” scheduled to run from February 1 to March 1, 2025. Join us in celebrating the cultural richness and artistic diversity of unique works. We invite you to participate in this exclusive showcase, where art enthusiasts and collectors can explore and acquire pieces that have adorned private spaces for decades.

Criteria

The gallery seeks secondary market work with a primary interest in art created by contemporary Afro diasporic artists. Consignments will be limited to three items (3) per collection. Works selected will be at the discretion of the gallery owner.

Private collectors and institutions are encouraged to submit the following:

Paintings
Sculptures
Original works on paper (etching, lithograph, monotype, and serigraph)
Photographs

Submission Process

1) Provide your complete contact information:

Name, address, phone number and email address

2) Send image(s) of the artwork as attachments (cellphone images are acceptable) including the following:

Entire work (with edges showing)
Signature (if visible)
Back (with any labels and/or inscriptions)

3) A brief description of the work:

Name of artist
Medium (oil on canvas, watercolor on paper, etc.)
Dimensions (height x width)
Year
Provenance (history of ownership and exhibition history)

Send your submission with attachments to Gallery Manager, Ky Vassor, at [email protected] by January 8, 2025 for consideration. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance status by Friday, January 10. Please note, accepted consigned works need to be delivered to the gallery no later than Saturday, January 18.

 

 

Call for Performers and Presenters | Asia North 2025
deadline January 15
posted by the Asian Arts & Culture Center and Central Baltimore Partnership

Are you a Baltimore/DMV-based APIMEDA (Asian, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, Desi American) identifying musician, dancer, drag performer, comedian, spoken word poet, etc who wants to perform at the seventh annual ASIA NORTH Festival?
We are looking for performances of all kinds – from hip hop to traditional music, interactive cooking classes to spoken word poetry, drag shows to dance offs. ASIA NORTH celebrates Baltimore’s Charles North – a.k.a. Station North – neighborhood’s constantly evolving identities as a Koreatown, arts district, and creative hub.

This year’s festival runs from May 2nd to 31st.

For info on previous years, visit: www.towson.edu/asianorth

Locations: Arts venues in Baltimore’s Station North Arts District:
16 W. North Ave (former ICA Gallery)
Motor House, 120 W. North Ave
Other locations TBA.

WHAT IS THE APPLICATION DEADLINE?
Jan. 15th, 2024

IS THERE A STIPEND?
Yes, performers/collectives will be paid a minimum of $250 for their participation.

Whom should I contact for more information?
CONTACT [email protected] FOR MORE INFO