This week’s news includes: An alternative vision for the Jones Falls, Galerie Myrtis turns 20, Future Islands celebrates 20 years, Artscape round-up, Devin Allen and Under Armour’s Scout Fair shirts, highlights of The Baltimore Film Summit, American Artist Abroad at JHU’s Frary Gallery, John Waters is now a published poet, an op-ed on Baltimore’s Confederate monuments, the return of a removed monument in DC, and Crow’s Nest + Youth Climate Institute’s youth art showcase.
Could Baltimore unearth the Jones Falls? An art project imagines it in 2076.
by Adam Willis
Published May 26 in The Baltimore Banner
For generations, planners and dreamers have imagined a stream rushing through the heart of Baltimore where a highway now divides it. One utopian vision, popular in corners of the Baltimore internet, pictures the “Jones Falls Riviera,” a Venetian-esque canal complete with arched bridges, boats and a waterfront promenade.
To some, this image might as well be cribbed from fantasy.
But a new art project, called Jones Falls 2076, dares to dream. Its curators challenge residents to set aside traffic reports and feasibility studies to picture the Jones Falls 50 years in the future. Does it have a highway on top? How about gondolas?
Each day, tens of thousands of drivers commute into Baltimore along Interstate 83, also known as the Jones Falls Expressway for the stream it covers. Baltimore leaders buried the Jones Falls from Station North to downtown more than a century ago and, about 50 years later, topped it with a highway.
At 20, Galerie Myrtis Continues to Champion Black Artists in Baltimore
by Teri Henderson
Published May 27 in Baltimore Magazine
When The Walters Art Museum mounted the exhibition Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe in 2012, Dr. Myrtis Bedolla saw an opportunity. She approached chief curator Dr. Joaneath Spicer about a collaboration, one where contemporary artists represented by her own Galerie Myrtis would create new works in direct response to the exhibition. Spicer not only said yes, she generously met one-on-one with Bedolla’s roster, sharing her research.
“The work they created was informed by all this scholarship,” says Bedolla. “We called it the ‘new knowledge,’ because there was historically this notion that all Africans in Europe during that period were enslaved, when in fact they were not.”
Featured alongside works by Black Renaissance masters were now-Baltimore-based artists, including the multidisciplinary Jeffrey Kent and a young painter by the name of Amy Sherald, whom Bedolla represented at the time. In the end, visitors from across the country came to witness this creative change and correction of the artistic historic record.
Future Islands Celebrates 20 Years at Pier Six
by Lydia Woolever | Photography by J.M. Giordano
Published May 26 in Baltimore Magazine
Last week, as The Late Show officially wrapped its iconic run on CBS, we couldn’t help but think about Future Islands. How had it already been 12 years since the Baltimore indie rock band’s gliding, growling performance of “Seasons (Waiting On You)” on the show—then hosted not by Stephen Colbert, but David Letterman—sent them careening into the cultural spotlight? By that point, the band was already promoting its fourth album, Singles, and local audiences were familiar with the kinetic magic of vocalist Samuel T. Herring, William Cashion on bass, Gerrit Welmers on keys, and, since 2014, Mike Lowry on drums.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Future Islands, and in celebration, they’ve released a compilation album, From a Hole in the Floor to a Fountain of Youth, out now as a double LP via 4AD. Featuring artwork by local designer Noren Strals, the album highlights, not their greatest hits, but 20 songs from over the years that never quite made the final cut. They’ve also been on a mini tour of their home state, North Carolina, where the East Carolina University students initially united in Greenville in the early 2000s. That’s where they first met electronic artist Dan Deacon, setting in motion their eventual move north in 2008.
A printmaker. A lawyer. A MICA student: Meet the artists and collectors behind Artscape 2026
by Sara Ruberg
Published May 23 in The Baltimore Banner
Curious buyers dodged puddles and dripping rain to peek into the white tents lined up under the Jones Falls Expressway. Inside, painters, photographers and clothing designers waited to greet them.
Despite the 50-degree temperatures and the rain, collectors and artists made the most of this year’s Artscape, which is going on all weekend in downtown Baltimore. The arts festival, one of the largest in the country that is free and open to the public, has been a celebration of culture since 1982.
One of the dozens of artists braving the rain was Alyssa Curry, a 25-year-old who recently moved to Baltimore with her art partner, Sam Mullen, 26. The two sell an array of art, including ceramics and prints.
“The art scene in Baltimore is great,” she said, adding that the creative community “has opened their arms” to the duo.
SCOUT Art Fair Curator Devin Allen collab with Under Armour to design limited-edition DVNLLN x SCOUT shirts
Press Release :: May 22
Create Baltimore reveals a collaboration between Devin Allen and Under Armour to be activated at the Scout Art Fair, the city’s premier affordable art fair presented as part of Artscape.
In addition to serving as this year’s SCOUT curator, Devin Allen is continuing his longstanding “From Baltimore, For Baltimore” collaboration with Under Armour, where he has brought creative storytelling to life across both the brand’s heritage performance business and growing sportswear category. As part of the partnership, Under Armour will outfit SCOUT staff and key city and community partners in custom limited-edition DVNLLN x SCOUT shirts throughout the festival weekend.
The Baltimore-based brand will also gift shirts to the first 50 attendees who purchase artwork from the SCOUT exhibit, further celebrating local creativity and investing back into Baltimore’s arts community.
The DVNLLN x SCOUT shirts will also be available for purchase at Under Armour’s Brand House in the Baltimore Peninsula.
Dark City Beneath the Beat & Other Highlights of the Baltimore Film Summit
Published in All Ones That Got Away
I was lucky enough to be invited to preview an upcoming film festival across the pond. And, though its primary focus is on championing local talent, I unsurprisingly found that all of the stories have universal resonance.
The Baltimore Film Summit is a three-day event taking place at the city’s historic SNF Parkway Theatre, showcasing the best Baltimore filmmakers from the past decade across narrative, documentary, and animation.
The summit kicks off with the Baltimore premiere of comedy horror Friday the 69th (2026), which I’ll later dedicate a full review to. It continues with screenings of short film blocks with names like “Strange Connections” and “Pride and Prejudice.” There’s also room for a couple of special and revival screenings, including the 1982 Baltimore-set film Diner.
Artistic Generosity and the American Artist Abroad at Frary Gallery
by Claudia Rousseau, Ph.D.
Published May 14 in East City Art
In the decade or so following the end of World War II, Americans were tremendously buoyed by their victory in the war, a victory that had saved Europe from the Nazi regime and gave the comparatively young nation a new sense of itself. What can only be described as a widespread surge of patriotism in the country became evident in every aspect of society, including the arts. It can be seen in every medium, from the visual arts to dance, music—even nascent television. American themes and imagery were increasingly popular, while artists looked for specifically American sources for their work, including in American Indian arts and culture. The latter would culminate in the exhibition Indian Art of the United States at the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1949 that deeply affected the work of many.
It became increasingly important to find ways to project the cultural excellence of the United States overseas that was flourishing in its democratic system of government—of particular significance in countering Soviet propaganda during the Cold War. In August 1953 President Eisenhower established the United States Information Agency (USIA) with the mission of “telling America’s story.” Known as USIS (US Information Service) abroad, until 1999 the agency had offices in our embassies around the world, handling cultural exchanges of all kinds, libraries and media.
John Waters is “officially a beatnik” with his first poem published in The Atlantic
by Ed Gunts
Published May 22 in Baltimore Fishbowl
Filmmaker, writer and raconteur John Waters can add another occupation to his resume: He’s now a published poet.
Waters noted during a recent interview with the hosts of the “Las Culturistas” podcast that a poem he wrote has been printed in a national magazine, and it’s the first time that has happened.
“I just had my first poem published in The Atlantic,” he told hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers. “Now I’m officially a beatnik!”
Streeter: I know exactly what to do with Baltimore’s Confederate monuments. Burn them.
by Leslie Gray Streeter
Published May 21 in The Baltimore Banner
After a trip across the country to take part in a California exhibit, four controversial monuments will soon be making their way back to Baltimore. The problem is the city hasn’t yet said what it’s going to do with the Confederate sculptures.
In the spirit of civic responsibility and general helpfulness, I have a modest suggestion: Anybody got a wood chipper?
I jest, of course. These behemoths of hate, created long after the Civil War ended to memorialize racists and slaveholders, are made of metal, not wood. So maybe it’s more appropriate to just let them burn? If we can’t do that, I’d like them locked in a storage unit where they get lost in a box, anonymously, like the Ark of the Covenant in that Indiana Jones movie.
Trump Re-Erects Monument of Enslaver Removed in 2020
by Emma Cieslik
Published May 26 in Hyperallergic
A group of sculptures installed at Freedom Plaza on Friday, May 22, includes a statue of a Revolutionary War officer who enslaved at least 200 people during his lifetime. The equestrian monument of Caesar Rodney, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, had been removed by the city of Wilmington in Delaware in June 2020, amid historic Black Lives Matter protests against racist violence.
The sculpture, created by artist James Edward Kelly, joins a long-standing bronze statue of Casimir Pulaski, an American Revolutionary general who was born in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The identities of the other 11 sculptures are unknown, but the Interior Department told Hyperallergic that they depict soldiers from the US Revolutionary War.
Youth Art Showcase Launches in Baltimore
Press Release :: May 19
Baltimore’s The Crow’s Nest is partnering with The Youth Climate Institute (YCI) and youth across the state to present “Claiming the Future,” an art showcase and contest featuring works from high school and college students. The exhibit features 50+ pieces of art from schools across Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Cash prizes sponsored by The Crow’s Nest and YCI will be awarded to three student artists participating in the exhibit. Winners will be announced at the opening reception on Saturday, June 13 at 2:30 P.M. All are welcome to attend and celebrate these inspiring young artists!
“The Crow’s Nest is delighted to showcase our first student exhibit,” says Alexi Scheiber, The Crow’s Nest Artistic Coordinator. “Making artwork from hope and desire is incredibly vulnerable, and we are astounded by the range of works made for this exhibit. We are grateful to YCI for connecting us to schools and students across the region.”
YCI is a high school program that combines climate education and action to prepare students to become effective environmental stewards, pursue green jobs and combat the climate crisis. YCI began in 2020 and has worked with more than 1,000 students through 59 active chapters in 13 states.
“To me, climate anxiety feels thick and almost sticky – like some sort of sludge – and sometimes I feel that I don’t have the power to do anything about it,” says Shriya, a YCI ambassador and student artist from Marriotts Ridge High School. “The idea of ‘Claiming the Future’ helped me realise that lessening climate anxiety for myself and for young people is something that I value and need to make happen.”
The showcase will kick off on Saturday, June 13 and run until July 11th, and will be closed on the 4th of July. To learn more, please reach out to Alexi Scheiber at [email protected].
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