This week’s news includes: Amy Sherald named a Time Magazine Woman of the Year, David Driskell’s legacy, AWP Conference comes to Baltimore, Bria Edwards’ paintings of Black equestrians, MDFF lineup announcement, Baltimore Filmmakers Collective, artists bypass DC, local theater collaborations, and Merritt Gallery & Renaissance Fine Arts closes after 40 years.
Amy Sherald Sees the Beauty in Everyday Americans
by Erin McMullen
Published February 26 in Time Magazine
If Amy Sherald had to choose a favorite painting of her own, it would be Ecclesia (The Meeting of Inheritance and Horizons), a dreamy triptych depicting three Black figures, their skin shaded in her trademark grayscale palette, standing in tall white towers against a bright blue sky. Her largest work yet, it’s an apt choice for an artist who aims to fill as much space as possible with images of Black Americans.
Sherald, 52, is perhaps best known for her 2018 portrait of Michelle Obama, but the Georgia-born artist most often paints everyday people: a woman with a camera, a man in a cowboy hat, a child on a slide. “I’m drawn to expressions of humanity,” she says. “I want [viewers] to think about who these people are, what it’s like to interact with them, what stories they might be telling.”
David Driskell’s Gifts to Black Art
by Carl Little
Published February 26 in Hyperallergic
David C. Driskell: Collector at the Portland Museum of Art is a compact tribute to an artist and scholar with deep ties to Maine, one who assembled one of the foremost collections of African-American art in the United States.
Driskell started collecting in 1955 after taking a position as an art professor at Talladega College. As he explained in a 2017 lecture at the Whitney Museum of American Art, he put aside a small budget for art each year from his beginning salary of $3,000.
The Biggest Literary Festival in the Country Is Happening in Baltimore This Week
by Kerry Folan
Published March 2 in Baltimore Magazine
Expect to see a lot more corduroy blazers and horn-rimmed glasses around town this week, as this year’s Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference & Bookfair is happening right here in Charm City.
Beginning Wednesday, March 4 and running through Saturday March 8, the annual homecoming for the country’s literati will bring thousands of poets and writers to the area for readings, panels, and a de facto city-wide literary festival. Though the official conference headquarters will be at the Baltimore Convention Center, venues all over town are getting in on the hype by hosting their own off-site book bashes.
Bria Edwards’ figurative paintings answer the question ‘There are Black people riding horses in this area?’
by Angela N. Carroll
Published February 23 in Baltimore Beat
For decades, Prince George’s County has been recognized as a hub of Black affluence, representing one of the oldest and largest culminations of Black wealth in the state of Maryland and in the country. Still, depictions of American leisure activities like horse riding often refute Black experience within those histories. The history of African Americans and horses in Maryland is typically associated with horse grooms or famous jockeys like Baltimore-born champion George Anderson, the first African American to win the Preakness in 1889, or arabbers in the city selling fruit from horse-drawn wagons. It is rarer to see references to Black experience with horses in the context of landowners with intergenerational wealth who ride for leisure on their own estates rather than for sport or others’ entertainment.
Maryland Film Festival Announces First Selections in 2026 Festival Lineup, April 8-12
Press Release :: February 26
Repeatedly named one of the “25 Coolest Film Festivals In the World” by MovieMaker Magazine, the Maryland Film Festival (MdFF) announced that its 2026 festival, which takes place April 8-12 at the historic SNF Parkway Theatre in Baltimore’s Station North District, will feature an expansive slate of premieres, special presentations, live performances, community partnerships, and guest-driven conversations that highlight MdFF’s commitment to bold storytelling and inclusive creative exchange. Although getting a film into the Maryland Film Festival is highly competitive, MdFF does not award prizes, making it a precious opportunity for filmmakers to gather and share knowledge and experiences in a collegial, inclusive environment.
“One of the things I love about MdFF is how approachable it is. Although you get to rub shoulders with filmmakers and party with film superfans, it’s a very welcoming crowd, and a great way to discover new forms of filmmaking at your own pace and according to your own interests. There’s something for everyone, and because everyone is there, you’re sure to find your people, too!” said Nancy Proctor, the SNF Parkway’s executive director. “MdFF’s accessible and inclusive approach is also very Baltimore a.k.a Charm City, and mirrors how people can expect to be received not just at the Festival but wherever they go in the city,” Proctor added.
Selected from more than 900 submissions, the collaboratively curated festival will screen approximately 30 feature films and 130 short films of all varieties, and audience members will have opportunities to meet and mingle with the creative minds behind the movies. Unless indicated online, all events, receptions, and screenings require tickets (https://snfparkway.org/mdff/special-events/).
“We’re thrilled that so many emerging and established filmmakers have chosen the Maryland Film Festival as the platform to premiere their work again this year,” said KJ Mohr, Director, Maryland Film Festival & Film Programming at the SNF Parkway Theatre. “Instead of films that we sought out, our 2026 slate features two extraordinary festival submissions as our Opening and Closing Night films, which is a true testament to the quality and range of work that filmmakers are sharing with us. It’s equally exciting to announce some of the outstanding classic films on this year’s slate, along with our especially distinguished guest presenters and moderators, including some local legends.”
Baltimore Filmmakers Collective aims to level the playing field for creatives
by LaDawn Black
Published March 4 in The Baltimore Banner
Eric Cotten takes Baltimore storytellers seriously.
His ethos is instinctual: He sees something in the countless local creatives he encounters every day through his work as founding president of the Baltimore Filmmakers Collective. But it’s also partly inspired by the troubles he faced trying to be taken seriously in the field.
“I was excluded. I wasn’t treated well,” Cotten said of his early experiences trying to break into the local film scene after careers in nursing and real estate. “My feeling in life is, — if people don’t treat you well, create your own course.”
Maryland opens arms to welcome artists fleeing Trump’s DC
by Wesley Case
Published March 2 in The Baltimore Banner
When opportunity knocks, Lyric Baltimore CEO Thomas Bailey knows he has to be ready to answer. Even on a weekend.
So, when he saw the news on a Friday in January that the Washington National Opera was leaving the Kennedy Center after 55 years, he sent a Hail Mary through the group’s website: “We in Baltimore would really love to have you,” Bailey wrote.
He did not receive an answer. But Bailey spent the entire weekend working his networks until he connected with WNO officials. Less than a week later, the opera was coming to Baltimore.
Poe Theatre teams up with In the Dark Circus Arts and Everyman for creative collabs
by Aliza Worthington
Published February 26 in Baltimore Fishbowl
A collaborative trend is emerging in the local Maryland live theater community, and The National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre is fully engaged.
In the spirit of lifting all boats, The National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre has performances in March and May it hopes will be the start of an ongoing effort to foster greater artistic collaboration between local theater groups.
On March 14, the theater joins forces with In the Dark Circus Arts for “Night Circus”, a one-night-only blend of cirque performance, mind-reading, and magic, with a twist of Poe, of course. The evening will begin and end with cirque, and in between, audience members will be treated to The National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre’s above-average mind reader, Alexander the Pretty Good. Naturally, there will also be some POEtry reading to complete the circus-and-magic sandwich.
Merritt Gallery & Renaissance Fine Arts to close after more than 40 years
by Marcus Dieterle
Published March 2 in Baltimore Fishbowl
Merritt Gallery & Renaissance Fine Arts is shutting down after more than four decades of showcasing fine art collections.
“After more than 40 years, we are closing Merritt Gallery & Renaissance Fine Arts with full hearts and deep gratitude,” the owners announced on Instagram last week.
The business operates a location at Village of Cross Keys in Baltimore, next to the Fulton Bank branch. They also have locations in Chevy Chase, Maryland and Haverford, Pennsylvania.
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