This week’s news includes: Amy Sherald on the cover of Time, Devin Allen’s new exhibition, Artscape 2027 updates, BMA names Alexandra Letvin as Senior Curator and Department Head of European Painting and Sculpture, La Sonora’s Maggie Villegas, Adam Frank named Executive Director of Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Dan Deacon’s musical mind, on the hunt for Zoë Inderia Austrie, New/Next Film Festival line-up, NGA names Christiane Ellis Valone Senior Curator of American Art, Creatively Black Baltimore is on top of the world, Ham makes a scene, KAL speaks out about The Sun’s AI cartoons, Brady Ebert incompetent to stand trial, and The Club Car closes to reopen.
Amy Sherald Would Rather Walk Away Than Water Down Her Art
by Belinda Luscombe
Published September 17 in Time Magazine
Nobody knows in advance the moment that will change everything, but some of Amy Sherald’s friends sensed something was up. The artist had been called to meet Barack and Michelle Obama as they decided who would paint their official portraits. Her best friend’s mother insisted on taking her to MaxMara and buying her a taupe sheath and kitten heels. When she walked into the Oval Office, both the President and the First Lady were wearing the same color. The President quipped that she must have gotten the memo. Sherald did not get the joke. But she did get the job that changed her life: the portrait of Michelle Obama that is the highlight of “American Sublime,” the blockbuster show of Sherald’s work that is just finishing an almost two-year, four-museum national tour.
Devin Allen’s Latest Solo Exhibit Taps Into Grief, Memory, and the Importance of Black Stories
by Alanah Nichole Davis
Published September 23 in Baltimore Magazine
Before social media and shortened attention spans, it was more common to lay out a photo album for visitors in the family home. That ritual is rarer now that we post everything online, which is partly why the latest show by Baltimore-based photojournalist, educator, and activist Devin Allen is so unique. It’s a tribute to his upbringing and the photography he’s always been surrounded by.
Allen inherited many of his firsts from his maternal grandmother—Dorothy Marie Kearney, lovingly known as “Dawt”—including his first car and camera, which he bought using her Best Buy credit card. (He paid her back with interest.) She also gave him his first house.
That house came out of loss. Allen’s grandfather worked for Bethlehem Steel and died of lung cancer. In 1976, his grandmother used the insurance money, along with the last of her savings, to buy a house in Liberty Heights. It became the family home, where everyone lived or stayed at some point—the hub for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and summer cookouts.
Artscape festival to keep its downtown footprint and late May schedule in 2027, organizers say
by Ed Gunts
Published September 21 in Baltimore Fishbowl
Baltimore’s Artscape festival will have the same downtown footprint in 2027 as it has for the past two years and will again be held over the Memorial Day weekend, organizers say.
Robyn Murphy, the CEO of Create Baltimore, formerly the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA), told its board of directors this month that her staff is starting to make plans for the 2027 edition of the annual event, considered one of the largest outdoor arts festivals in the country.
Murphy said after the meeting that the festival will have the same footprint as it had in 2025 and 2026, an area that includes War Memorial Plaza east of City Hall; the War Memorial building at 101 S. Gay St. and land under the Jones Falls Expressway where the weekly Baltimore Farmers’ Market is held.
Baltimore Museum of Art appoints Alexandra Letvin as Senior Curator and Department Head of European Painting and Sculpture
by Ed Gunts
Published September 23 in Baltimore Fishbowl
The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) has appointed Alexandra Letvin as Senior Curator and Department Head of European Painting and Sculpture.
She joins the BMA from the Princeton University Art Museum, where she currently serves as the Duane Wilder, Class of 1951, Curator of European Art.
Letvin brings extensive experience in developing exhibitions; reinstalling galleries; advancing collections and presenting European art within broader global narratives. She has a Ph.D. and a Master’s degree in art history from the Johns Hopkins University. She replaces Lara Yeager Crasselt and will begin Nov. 9.
La Sonora bridges the worlds of Baltimore’s second generation of Latino immigrants
by Maria Eberhart
Published September 22 in Baltimore Beat
Last summer, among the usual sea of hardcore and punk fliers slapped onto windows and telephone poles, I started spotting posters for cumbia concerts and reggaeton nights all over the city. They stood out for their warm, saturated palette. But it wasn’t until I passed a few of them that I noticed a recurring emblem: a leafy green palm stamped with “La Sonora.”
I made it to my first event in October: Yeison Landero, grandson of the legendary “King of Cumbia” Andrés Landero, and an extraordinary musician in his own right. Stepping into Le Mondo immediately brought me back to the dark, sweaty Bogotá bars where my cousins and I had recently spent so many nights dancing. Aesthetic-wise, this crowd wasn’t all that different — young, tattooed, tastefully curated band tees. But most weren’t speaking Spanish, and one woman was noticeably attempting the bouncing cumbia steps in high heels. It felt like a room of people looking to reconnect with their roots.
Baltimore Choral Arts Names Adam Frank as Executive Director
Press Release :: September 23
Baltimore Choral Arts Society (Choral Arts) announced today that experienced nonprofit arts leader Adam Frank will become its next executive director, permanently taking on the role after joining the 60-year-old vocal organization in an interim capacity earlier this year. Frank’s appointment comes as Choral Arts opens its 61st season on Oct. 18 with “American Belonging,” a concert featuring classics of musical Americana and new works exploring American ideals of welcome, resilience and opportunity for all.
“As a tenor myself, I understand firsthand the power of choral music and the connection and community that comes from singing together,” said Frank. “Baltimore Choral Arts has an extraordinary legacy, and I believe we have an exciting opportunity to build on it by bringing new audiences into the art form, expanding our commitment to music education, and deepening our connections throughout the Baltimore region. ‘American Belonging’ is a great example of where we are headed, and I’m thrilled to work alongside Music Director Anthony Blake Clark, our singers, board and staff to shape what comes next.”
Inside the Magical Mind of Dan Deacon
by Lydia Woolever
Published September 14 in Baltimore Magazine
THE SOUNDS ARE EVERYWHERE. On an enclosed bridge over a man-made wetland, the first notes trickle out of the National Aquarium’s “Blue Wonders” wing—that iconic landmark topped with a glass pyramid on the edge of the Inner Harbor’s Pier 3.
Inside, one mysterious source sits in the center of the entrance: an upright player piano, plugged into a laptop, playing all by its lonesome, the sharks behind it swimming slowly in shallow pools of turquoise water.
Then other instruments come into focus, this time powered by real live humans. There is longtime radio host Sam Sessa with an accordion in the corner between tubes of blooming bubbles. And DJ Amy Reid sitting on the floor with a synthesizer near sitarist Ami Dang against a backdrop of gliding fish. Up the escalator, Patrick McMinn picks at a pedal steel guitar beside tanks of diamondback terrapins. And even further up, drummer Bashi Rose riffs on a kit, rapper Eze Jackson leans into a mic, while saxophonist Daoure Diongue jams in front of a bustling coral reef.
A Baltimore artist’s scavenger hunt gives anyone a chance to get their hands on her paintings
by Jasmine Vaughn-Hall
Published September 23 in The Baltimore Banner
Zoë Inderia Austrie paints femme-forward, abstract worlds. Her gallery? Anywhere in Baltimore she sees fit.
Over the last several months, Austrie has introduced a scavenger hunt across the city as a way to share her artwork and give anyone an opportunity to pick up an original piece. The giveaway exposes people to different parts of the city and fulfills Austrie’s philosophy that art should be more accessible.
“There’s something really special about someone not necessarily seeking out art but having art find them,” Austrie said.
Austrie, 33, is originally from Alexandria, Virginia, and moved to Baltimore with her family three years ago. She has been a full-time artist since 2019, but paused her creative flow after her daughter was born about a year ago.
New/Next Film Festival announces full lineup of more than 160 films at Charles Theatre
by Aliza Worthington
Published September 23 in Baltimore Fishbowl
The New/Next Film Festival, taking place the first weekend of October at the Charles Theatre, has announced its full lineup of more than 160 films. This is the fourth year of the festival.
From Oct. 1 through Oct. 4, across the historic theater’s five screens, the film festival will host more than 30 emerging titles, six world premieres, and five United States or North American premieres. Movie fans can expect more than 100 cutting-edge short films and features like “Chronovisor,” “Everytime,” “La Gradiva,” “The Lorraine,” and “Zi.” The festival will also include the newly restored films “Sitting Ducks” and “The Shepherds of Berneray.”
National Gallery of Art Appoints Virginia Anderson as Christiane Ellis Valone Senior Curator of American Art and Head of the Art of the Americas
Press Release :: September 23
The National Gallery of Art announced today that Virginia Anderson will join the museum as the Christiane Ellis Valone Senior Curator of American Art and head of the art of the Americas. She will assume the role in November.
Anderson will lead the art of the Americas department, which stewards the National Gallery’s collection of paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts from the Americas. In this role, she will advance the museum’s continued development of a collection of art of the Americas that is reflective of the broad scope of artistic innovation across various media and time periods. Anderson will oversee a permanent collection of paintings, sculptures, and works of decorative art from the 18th century to present day, including the Kaufman Collection, one of the most significant collections of early American furniture and decorative arts ever assembled.
Creatively Black Baltimore begins a new chapter with an exhibition at the Top of the World Observation Level
by Ed Gunts
Published September 18 in Baltimore Fishbowl
Visitors to Baltimore’s Top of the World Observation Level typically spend much of their time looking out the window – at panoramic views of the city below.
But starting this week they have a new reason to look around inside the building as well.
The popular attraction on the 27th floor of the World Trade Center Baltimore is now the setting for an art installation by Creatively Black Baltimore that features works by African American artists from the Baltimore area.
The Naked Man: Freedom of Expression in the Land of the Free
by Rafael Alvarez
Published September 21 in Baltimore Fishbowl
Like Cher – who also leaves little of her physique to the imagination – there’s an artist in Baltimore who goes by a single name: Ham. The persona, a diminutive of his given name, relates not to a sandwich but how the word is used in the theater, the act of flying over the top to bring attention to one’s self.
Ham’s theater is the public square. In pursuit of art, defending freedom of expression and a craving for publicity, he has taken to posing naked between Manhattan and Baltimore. By the time you read this he will likely have done it several times more, a campaign that is more of a march than a streak. A dramatic turn took place on the Fourth of July in Little Italy when he jumped a fence to climb the high marble pedestal that once held a statue of Christopher Columbus.
Baltimore’s most acclaimed cartoonist pushes back against AI images in The Sun
by David Nitkin
Published September 22 in Baltimore Fishbowl
Baltimore’s most-acclaimed editorial cartoonist doesn’t like what he’s seeing from his former employer, with outcry over the use of AI illustrations in the Baltimore Sun reaching new heights.
Earlier this month, The Sun published its latest editorial “cartoon” that had clearly been created by artificial intelligence. It showed a likeness of Mayor Brandon Scott receiving what was likely intended as sarcastic praise from a group representing business owners in Fells Point. Late-night weekend disturbances in the popular bar district prompted a security crackdown by Baltimore Police that began in July that drew mixed reviews.
Ex-Turnstile guitarist deemed incompetent in attempted murder case
by Antonio Planas
Published September 22 in The Baltimore Banner
A judge on Tuesday found a former guitarist for Baltimore band Turnstile incompetent to stand trial after police say he hit his former bandmate’s father with a car.
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Karla Smith deemed Brady Ebert mentally incompetent and said he was a danger to himself and others. Ebert, 34, was remanded to the custody of the Maryland Department of Health, and his competency will be reevaluated at a hearing on Jan. 19.
The Club Car to close in January, then reopen as part of North Avenue Market
by Sara Ruberg
Published September 19 in The Baltimore Banner
The Club Car, a popular LGBTQ+ bar in Station North, will close in January to renovate and reopen as part of the historic North Avenue Market.
The owners, Darius McKeiver and Ryan Haase, made the announcement Thursday afternoon on social media, telling patrons the collaboration with the market and Central Baltimore Partnership will “help elevate our dreams of what a queer bar can be.”
As part of the collaboration, the owners of The Club Car said, they signed a 10-year lease, keeping the business in Station North.
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