This week’s news includes: Baltimore Magazine’s list of beautiful art books to gift this season (including ours!!), Jerrell Gibbs profiled in Forbes, NIck Cave exhibition coming to SAAM, Rauschenberg exhibition at the Academy Art Museum, Baltimore City festival dates for 2026, small plates for Spike Gjerde in Mount Vernon, 40 years of Helicon, Goucher College’s Jane Austen collection, and give the gift of art books!
Jerrell Gibbs: From NFL Dreams To His First Solo Museum Exhibition
by Chadd Scott
Published December 9 in Forbes Magazine
There Jerrell Gibbs (b. 1988; Baltimore) was, sitting in class at Bowie State University, wondering where his life was going. It wasn’t going to the National Football League. The running back and kick returner knew that by then. Football was his primary focus at the time. It was leading to fatherhood. His wife had just let him know she was pregnant.
“I asked myself, ‘Like, what are you really doing right now,’” Gibbs told Forbes.com. “In that moment, I thought to myself this is not the best place for me at this time; I literally got up out of class, got up out of my chair, and just walked to the train station and caught a train back home.”
Smithsonian American Art Museum Debuts Monumental New Commission by Nick Cave in February 2026
Press Release :: December 11
The Smithsonian American Art Museum will debut “Nick Cave: Mammoth,” a monumental new body of work by internationally acclaimed artist Nick Cave, in February 2026. Commissioned by the museum, “Mammoth” marks Cave’s first solo exhibition in Washington, D.C. and represents the museum’s largest-ever commission by a single artist.
“Mammoth” is Cave’s most personal project to date. Drawing on his childhood in Chariton County, Missouri—where his grandparents farmed and where the quilts, tools and clothing they made were a part of everyday life—Cave roots this installation in family history, landscapes and craft traditions. He transforms these sources into a world animated by memory and the transformative possibilities of the imagination. Combining sculpture, video and found objects, the exhibition reflects on the artist’s own creative impulse and invites audiences to consider their relationship to the natural world and the everyday objects and histories that shape our lives.
Rauschenberg 100: New Connections Now Open at the Academy Art Museum
Press Release :: December 15
The Academy Art Museum (AAM) proudly announces the opening of Rauschenberg 100: New Connections, a landmark exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of Robert Rauschenberg’s birth. Presented with generous funding from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the exhibition places Easton on the global stage as one of the premier U.S. sites participating in the international centennial.
Rauschenberg 100: New Connections is on view through May 3, 2026, with free admission. Focusing on the artist’s first trip to China in 1982, the milestone exhibition includes major works from the Academy Art Museum’s permanent collection and highlights Rauschenberg’s global vision, collaborative spirit, and deep personal ties to the Eastern Shore.
At the heart of the exhibition is Chinese Summerhall (1983), Rauschenberg’s monumental 100-foot color photographic panorama. Rarely displayed due to its size and fragility, the work has not been shown publicly for more than 40 years. It was produced in collaboration with Graphicstudio, the innovative print workshop founded at the University of South Florida by Donald Saff.
“Telling the story of Chinese Summerhall at the Academy is a unique occasion to honor an acclaimed artist in a way that is at once historical and immediate, global and local,” said exhibition curator Lee Glazer. “It shows how Bob’s approach to artmaking catalyzed not only new and daring creative production, but also fostered new connections with so many individuals and communities.”.
Rauschenberg’s surprising and meaningful connection to Maryland runs through Saff, who has lived and worked on the Eastern Shore since 1991. Their decades-long collaboration — including the groundbreaking 1982 journey to China — anchors the exhibition’s narrative and underscores Rauschenberg’s belief in art as a tool for cross-cultural dialogue. This week, Easton steps onto a global stage, joining international institutions commemorating the artist’s centenary.
The exhibition also debuts 100 Foot Photo, a short documentary film by filmmaker Matt Kresling that chronicles the making of Chinese Summerhall, featuring commentary from Saff and other collaborators.
Get the ’26 calendars out: Artscape, other Baltimore festival dates set
by Wesley Case
Published December 11 in The Baltimore Banner
For Artscape, Memorial Day weekend wins out again.
Baltimore’s biggest annual festival, entering its 42nd year, will again take place downtown on the holiday weekend of May 23-24, 2026, Mayor Brandon Scott said Thursday morning.
“Before anyone asks, yes, it will be back downtown in the farmer’s market area and in front of City Hall,” said Scott, who added that the festival will expand opportunities for ”local artists, makers and entrepreneurs.”
See Also
‘Holy Grail’: Mayor Brandon Scott announces 2026 dates for Baltimore’s major festivals and cultural events, including a third day to mark the 50th anniversary of AFRAM
by Ed Gunts
Published December 11 in Baltimore Fishbowl
James Beard Award-winning chef Spike Gjerde to open Spanish-inspired tapas bar in Mount Vernon
by Marcus Dieterle
Published December 11 in Baltimore Fishbowl
Spike Gjerde, the chef behind several acclaimed Baltimore restaurants, will open a tapas bar in Mount Vernon in early 2026.
Bar Dalí will be “a subterranean, neighborhood tapas bar inspired by Spain but rooted in Baltimore.” It will be located at 909 Charles St., the space formerly occupied by Mount Vernon Stable & Saloon until it became an event venue for Hotel Ulysses.
Known for his work in restaurants such as Woodberry Tavern (formerly Woodberry Kitchen), Gjerde has teamed up with Ash Hotels, the company in charge of Hotel Ulysses next door, to open the new bar.
See Also
Spike Gjerde to open tapas bar in former Mount Vernon Stable & Saloon
by Christina Tkacik
Published December 11 in The Baltimore Banner
Dan Rodricks: At 40 years, a genuine holiday tradition: Helicon’s winter concert
by Dan Rodricks
Published December 11 in Baltimore Fishbowl
Allow me to take a crack at my own question: When do we get to call something a tradition?
I think it’s when something endures through time and even generations, becomes familiar, takes on cultural significance and comforts with constancy.
Most of us know a tradition when we see one.
The Largest Jane Austen Collection in North America is, Surprisingly, Right in Our Backyard
by Janelle Erlichman Diamond
Published December 10 in Baltimore Magazine
Jane Austen never visited Baltimore. Yet, true Janeites know her deep connection to the area. This month marks 250 years since the acclaimed English novelist and social commentator was born, but she remains as noteworthy and popular as ever.
Since her death in 1817 at 41, Austen’s novels have rarely been out of print and her most popular tomes—Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma—are considered timeless classics that continue to be adapted for film, television, and theater. The 2025 French romantic comedy Jane Austen Wrecked My Life was shown at the Charles Theatre this past summer and an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion by Sarah Rose Kearns just closed at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company.
Local Art Books to Gift This Holiday Season
by Lydia Woolever
Published December 10 in Baltimore Magazine
In this digital age of divided attention spans, we can’t think of any better holiday gift to give this season than that of a beautiful book. That’s right—a physical, feel-it-in-your-hands, keep-it-on-your-bedside-or-coffee-table book—which, much like a magazine, you can return to time and time again for information and inspiration (not to mention a nice three-dimensional salve for your tired eyeballs).
And this winter, Baltimore artists have made it easy. Consider these beautiful new art books recently published by big-name creatives, ideally to be purchased from a local bookstore near you.
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