This Week: Jerrell Gibbs solo exhibition opens at the BMA, The Peale presents a virtual panel discussion on preserving cultural heritage, the BCAA x Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Museum Convening, Make Studio artist exhibition at Chesapeake Arts Center, Lewis Hine opening reception at UMBC, Dr. Leslie King Hammond documentary screening at Maryland Center for History and Culture, LIFTD featuring E.L. Broscoe at BLFTD STVDIOS, opening reception for BmoreArt contributor E. Brady Robinson at Georgetown University, Baltimore Book Festival, and an opening reception for Alex Ebstein + Amy Boone-McCreesh curated exhibition at PFA — PLUS apply for a spot at the YNot Lot 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.
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Jerrell Gibbs: Come home with me | Exhibition Opens
Wednesday, September 16 | Ongoing through May 2
@ The Baltimore Museum of Art
Step into a world shaped by memory, family, and the enduring power of connection. In Come home with me, acclaimed Baltimore artist Jerrell Gibbs presents approximately 35 new paintings inspired by the people, places, and experiences that have defined his life.
At the heart of the exhibition is the home of Gibbs’s Aunt Ella, a cherished gathering place where loved ones came together. Through richly expressive works, Gibbs transforms personal stories into reflections on home, community, and the moments that shape who we are.
Come home with me celebrates the relationships and experiences that connect us across generations, backgrounds, and communities. Through this powerful new body of work, Gibbs reminds us that home is more than a place; it is a feeling of belonging that resonates with us all.
Jerrell Gibbs: Come home with me is curated by Antoinette Roberts, BMA Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art.
:: Related Event ::
Jerrell Gibbs and Dr. Adrienne L. Childs in Conversation
Thursday, September 17 :: 6:30-7:30pm
@ The Baltimore Museum of Art
Online registration is sold out. Walk-up seating may become available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Preparing Museums for a Crisis: Lessons from Ukraine
Thursday, September 17 :: 12:00pm
@ The Peale
A virtual panel talk from international cultural professionals discussing best practices for preserving cultural heritage.
Join The Peale for a virtual panel discussion featuring international cultural professionals discussing the vital practice of preserving cultural heritage.
Panelists include Milena Chorna, Co-founder and Head of Association of Ukrainian Museums, Kateryna Chuyeva, former Ukraine Vice-Minister of Culture and museum expert, Kateryna Kulai, Director of the Odesa National Fine Arts Museum, Ihor Pashyvailo, Director General of the Maidan Museum and co-founder of HERI and ACURE, and Arnoud Odding, Strategic Advisor for the Dutch museum and cultural heritage sector. Glen Davis, retired Foreign Service Officer of the U.S. Department of State, will be moderating this discussion.
This discussion aims to provide understanding of the destruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage by Russia and the steps taken by Ukrainians and the international community to protect it, learn from the responses of Ukrainians how to prepare museums anywhere for possible future crises, and encourage partnerships between American and Ukrainian institutions to support cultural heritage workers and share best practices.
This event is hosted by The Peale, a community museum located in Baltimore, MD USA, in collaboration with Baltimore Sister Cities (Odesa and Rotterdam Sister City Committees). This event is held in conjunction with the We Know Who They Are: Artworks and Narrative From the Invasion of Ukraine exhibition on display July 31 – October 2, 2026 at The Peale. Thank you to event partner, DutchCulture – the Netherlands’ network organization for international cultural cooperation – for advice and logistical support.
This webinar will take place Thursday, September 17 at 12PM ET [Baltimore Time], 19.00 EET [Ukraine Time], 18.00 CET [Netherlands Time].
image: Majors Hands by Karen Buster
(Visual description: Majors Hands is a black-and-white giclee print measuring 18 inches by 24 inches showing a profile close-up of two hands plucking a harp’s strings. The frame shows a portion of the harp’s body, including a glimpse of the curved neck at its top. Our view of the left hand, which is closest to us, also features the black cuff of a shirt sleeve which has a pattern of small vertical and horizontal white lines. The details of the harp and hands are illuminated in white, as if the scene was lit by a dramatic light.)
BCAA x Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Museum Convening
Thursday, September 17 :: 2-4pm
@ Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum
Dear Baltimore: The City of Accessible Arts (BCAA) Community,
The BCAA Leadership Team invites you to join us for an in-person and online convening at the Bearman Gallery in the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Museum. Curator Kibibi Ajanku will lead a tour of the exhibition Susie’s Steel & Spirit, curated by Ajanku and the Black Art Today Foundation. Learn more about the exhibition here.
We will also enjoy a featured artist talk by Karen Y. Buster, who has developed a distinctive practice rooted in intricate hand-cut imagery, mixed media, printmaking, and sculpture. Learn more about Buster’s work on her website.
Arrival: 1:45 PM
Convening: 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (approx. two hours)
Location: 1417 Thames St, Baltimore, MD 21231
Please RSVP here at your soonest convenience.
All BCAA convenings are hybrid and include ASL interpretation and live captioning.
Commercial parking lots are near the museum and metered street parking is available.
We look forward to seeing you there!
The Water and All the Things that Surround the Water | Opening Reception
Thursday, September 17 :: 4pm
@ Chesapeake Arts Center
This exhibition collects works from fourteen Make Studio artists, including curator Patrick Dwyre, who make artwork about subjects in, around, under and over the water. The pieces include beaches, ships, submarines and many sea creatures. Patrick’s bridge portraits connect the pieces from one side of the gallery to another.
This exhibition is on view in our Hal Gomer Gallery from September 10 – November 8, 2026.
About Make Studio: Make Studio is a nonprofit community art center that supports artists with disabilities in growing their professional art goals. With a studio and gallery located in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore City, Make Studio has 45+ member artists who exhibit work across the country, facilitate workshops and give artist talks in the greater Baltimore metropolitan area.
Make Studio creates opportunities for everyone to connect through art. We empower artists with disabilities to grow as professionals with visibility and voice in their communities. We envision a world of acceptance and inclusion where art opens doors for everyone.
For more information, please visit their website at www.make-studio.org/home.html
Lewis Hine in Maryland | Curatorial Tour + Opening Reception
Thursday, September 17 :: 5pm
@ UMBC CADVC
The Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery presents Lewis Hine in Maryland, on display from August 24 through December 18. The exhibition will be accompanied by Lisa Oppenheim/Lewis Hine: Spine/Verso.
From 1908 to 1924, documentary photographer Lewis Hine (American, 1874–1940) traveled throughout the United States, using his camera to document child labor on behalf of the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC). He photographed children working in coal mines, cotton mills, farms, tenements, and city streets. The NCLC used Hine’s photographs and eyewitness reports to support its campaigns for labor regulation and reform. His images appeared in pamphlets, posters, traveling exhibitions, and lantern-slide presentations across the country. Ultimately, these searing photographs helped shape labor legislation in the United States and established a model for documentary photography.
In July 1909, Hine visited Maryland, photographing child workers at Bottomley berry farms in Anne Arundel County and at the J. S. Farrand Packing Company in Baltimore. Drawn from UMBC’s Photography Collections, this exhibition explores the places and people behind these photographs. A selection of Hine’s most iconic and enduring images situates his Maryland work within the broader context of his documentary project. The exhibition also examines how Hine’s photographs functioned as tools of visual persuasion, working in tandem with captions, pamphlets, slogans, and posters to shape public opinion — and ultimately legislation — regarding the changing role of children in the workforce and in American society.
This exhibition commemorates MD250 and the U.S. Semiquincentennial, exploring themes foundational to the nation’s history, including immigration and migration, the power of documentary photographs, and social justice.
A Life in Art: Through the Eye of Dr. Leslie King Hammond | Film Screening
Thursday, September 17 :: 6-8pm
@ Maryland Center for History and Culture
Filmmakers Ben Baker–Lee and Rassaan Hammond present a portrait of the life and work of artist, curator, and educator Dr. Leslie King Hammond. This documentary celebrates Dr. King Hammond’s extraordinary contributions to the art world and her lifelong dedication to championing the work of artists of color. Following the screening, the filmmakers will be joined by several artists featured in the film for a panel discussion and audience Q&A.
Doors open at 5:30 pm, film screening begins at 6:00 pm.
Thursday, September 17 :: 7pm
@ BLFTD ART STVDIOS
LIFTD is a new Baltimore art series where one artist’s work is met with story, sound and taste across the 15,000 square feet of BLIFTD ART STVDIOS. The inaugural evening centers on E.L. Briscoe, a Baltimore-based artist and BLIFTD Resident Artist whose work explores the dualities of African American life through childhood memory, history and the influence of popular media. Dr. LaMarr Darnell Shields responds to his work with live storytelling and spoken word, while DJ Tanz and The Sound Garden shape the sound of the room. Pendry Baltimore brings the taste, with passed bites and an art-inspired cocktail served throughout the evening.
Featuring
E.L. Briscoe, BLIFTD Resident Artist. and published author. Dr. LaMarr Darnell Shields, co-creator of The Short Kuts Show Narrative Therapy Initiative & Live Storytelling Series. Music by DJ Tanz and The Sound Garden.
We invite you to join us at BLIFTD ART STVDIOS on Thursday, September 17 from 7:00pm – 10:00pm to enjoy this experience. This experience is open to hotel guests and the local community. Guests must be 21 years of age or older with valid identification. $50 per Guest is inclusive of tax and service charge. Reservations are required a minimum of 24 hours in advance. Walk-in guests are welcome thereafter, subject to availability. Included in this experience are passed bites and a complimentary cocktail inspired by the art of E.L. Briscoe. Please arrive 10 – 15 minutes prior to your scheduled start time. Transportation is not provided. Smart evening attire is suggested.
This experience is hosted by a trusted and local partner of Pendry Baltimore.
Friday September 18 :: 6pm
@ Georgetown University Art Galleries
The Georgetown University Art Galleries are pleased to present Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Look Alive a selection of installations by the internationally acclaimed Mexican-Canadian artist, whose work over the past three decades has explored the intersections of contemporary art, architecture, performance, and technology. Join us for the Opening Reception on Friday, September 18 from 6pm – 8pm.
Spanning the Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery and Lucille M. & Richard F. X. Spagnuolo Gallery, Look Alive brings together works from more than three decades of Lozano-Hemmer’s practice exploring presence, participation, machine vision, and the act of looking. Throughout the exhibition, visitors become part of responsive environments that shift through their movement, gaze, and biometric data, blurring the boundaries between observer and observed.
The title Look Alive draws on a familiar expression calling us to attention, awareness, and engagement, but takes on new meaning throughout the exhibition. To look is not only to observe, but also to become visible. To be alive is not simply to exist, but to be present.
At the center of Look Alive is the premiere of Pulse Map, a new site-specific installation created for Georgetown’s de la Cruz Art Gallery and the newest work in the artist’s celebrated Pulse series. Nearly 3,000 lightbulbs will fill the gallery, each pulsing with the recorded heartbeat of a past participant. Visitors can record their own heartbeat, adding their presence to an installation that continually changes over time.
Across the exhibition, individual actions become collective experiences. A heartbeat joins countless others. A glance activates a machine’s gaze. Faces return the visitor’s look. Each interaction leaves a trace.
Also opening on September 18th is Studio Hours / After Hours by Professor E. Brady Robinson in our Spagnuolo South Gallery.
This exhibition explores and documents the people and places that continue to define Baltimore’s creative community. Through portraiture, editorial collaborations, and documentary work, Robinson has photographed this community for the past decade. Moving between the controlled environment of the studio and the city’s music venues, galleries, and performance spaces, these photographs celebrate agency, individuality, and the energy of the people who shape Baltimore’s cultural landscape.
Studio Hours / After Hours brings together studio portraits, album cover collaborations, and photographs from Robinson’s archive documenting Baltimore Club culture. Featured throughout the exhibition are Underground Club Queen Kotic Couture, filmmaker, musician, and director of Dark City Baltimore, TT The Artist, and Ballroom ICON Marquis Clanton of the House of Revlon. The documentary photographs were made at venues including The Crown, Metro Gallery, and Creative Alliance.
Saturday, September 19 + Sunday, September 20 :: 10am-6pm
@ Waverly Main Street
The 27th annual Baltimore Book Festival will take place on September 19 & 20, 2026, in the Waverly neighborhood (on 30th, 31st, and 32nd streets to the west of Greenmount Avenue).
The festival was founded in 1996, inspired in part by Mayor Schmoke’s “The City That Reads” initiative.
The 100% free festival features conversations and readings with hundreds of authors, and three blocks full of literary vendors, with something for people of all ages, including a dedicated children and teen stage.
Nothing but Net | Opening Reception
Saturday September 19 :: 5-9pm
@ PFA Gallery
PFA is pleased to announce Nothing but Net, a group exhibition curated by Alex Ebstein and Amy Boone-McCreesh, presenting nine contemporary artists: Eleanor Anderson, Amie Cunat, Regina Durante Jestrow, Jody Joyner, Meg Lipke, Evan Nesbit, Gelah Penn, Lauren Rice, and Molly Zuckerman-Hartung. The exhibition brings together artists who subvert, recompose, and bend the limits of the line through abstraction, with the works that invoke or challenge contemporary questions towards notions of the grid, material and medium.
Nothing but Net will be on view at PFA–Kensington., located at 4228 Howard Ave, Kensington MD 20895, from September 19 through November 28, 2026. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, September 19, from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.
Nothing but Net presents practices that expand the application of the grid across spatial dimensions, incorporating both wall and floor, and extend material explorations from paper to nylon, ribbon, and additional flexible media. Nets are traditionally used to hold or to capture – in basketball, the phrase nothing but net celebrates a clean score, suggestive of skill or precision, one that comes from hard work and practice. The artists in the exhibition painstakingly repeat processes that they have created for the purpose of art making – looping, weaving, cutting – the associations of labor and work are embedded in the pieces. Nets have an undeniable visual presence and yet are not solid. The amount of negative space, color, and overall scale work together to aid in how a viewer’s body could interact with the work and ultimately, its function. Through a consideration of repetition, the artists engage themes of presence, labour and tactility. While the grid has long served as a foundational tool in abstraction, here, its historical modes of organising space offers precedent, as an armature for experimentation and re-thinking. Though grounded in physical grid-like patterning in each piece, notions of the net function as a conceptual system that invites viewers to examine structural interactions across the gallery.
Featured Opportunities
Ynot Lot: Art at Large Honorarium: Application
Are you a talented performer, artist, or event organizer? Bring your creativity, community and innovation to the Ynot Lot!
Station North Arts District is thrilled to announce a new an honorarium series for the second half of our 2026.
Ynot Lot Art at Large is made possible by the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund.
Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund
deadline September 22
posted by Johns Hopkins University
The Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund is an incubator program for emerging filmmakers in the Baltimore area. Every year, a new cohort of Fellows goes through our cornerstone lab — StoryLab — and receives professional mentorship as they develop their projects. Once accepted into the cohort, fellows are also eligible to apply for funding in one of three categories: production, development, and screenplay.
In mid-June, applications open for a new cohort of Fellows. We are looking for a diverse pool of Fellows working on a wide range of projects including documentary, fiction, features, shorts, virtual reality, and emerging technologies. Applications are accepted and evaluated on a rolling basis through early September.
Sewing is Revolutionary, Sewing is Community. Bmore Fabric Swap Group | Exhibition Application
deadline September 27
posted by Chesapeake Arts Center
Sewing is Revolutionary, Sewing is Community is presented in collaboration with Bmore Fabric Swap and reflects its ethos of reuse, resourcefulness, and collective care. This group exhibition features garments, wearable works, and sculptural or traditional art created from repurposed textiles, each incorporating sewn elements by hand or machine. Through fabric, artists create a visual narrative of sustainability and craftsmanship while honoring the long tradition of making functional and decorative objects by hand.
Artwork must use fiber materials or processes and contain some amount of repurposed or upcycled material (does not need to be entirely recycled materials). Examples of fiber materials includes but is not limited to fabric, yarn, thread, beads, etc. There are also no restrictions on size as long as the work can fit in the gallery, and nontraditional mediums are welcomed. Artworks must be made by artists in the Maryland or D.C. area and created within the last 2 years. Artwork that has been previously exhibited cannot be shown more than once in CAC’s exhibitions. One application permitted per artist.
Gala Silent Auction-Exceptional Tabletop Sculptures
deadline October 1
posted by Frederick Arts Council
We are seeking exceptional sculptors and contemporary artists to participate in an upcoming gala silent auction featuring a curated collection of beautiful, sophisticated tabletop sculptures. This is an opportunity for artists to showcase distinctive, museum-quality or gallery-caliber work before an engaged audience of collectors, philanthropists, arts supporters, and community leaders.
The Raven-Off: A Nationwide Poetry Reading Contest of “The Raven”
deadline October 4
posted by The National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre
Fans of the Edgar Allan Poe poem “The Raven,” this is your time to shine
“The Raven-Off” is a national reading contest celebrating creativity, performance, and the legacy of Edgar Allan Poe by encouraging fans to read and record their best interpretation of “The Raven.”
Winners of both the College Student and Lifelong Student categories will each receive a $100 cash prize, a featured video placement across The National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre’s official social media platforms, and an exclusive opportunity for a potential spotlight in a future episode of the acclaimed Poe Theatre On The Air, on National Public Radio, Audible, Amazon, and other platforms.
No purchase or payment is necessary to enter or win.
Battle of the Bands
deadline October 8
posted by Baltimore Rock Opera Society
We are looking for existing Baltimore bands across any genre and musical act with either existing material, or material that will be recorded by June of 2027. The BROS Artistic Council will narrow the applications down to a handful of groups. To make the final selection, the selected artists will go head to head in a Battle of the Bands.
Once selected, the winner will join a BROS writing team to create a new stage production built on their existing music. Bands bring the music and the vibe, BROS makes the story and the show in collaboration!
In more than one band? The more the merrier! Please submit a separate form per band.
Not in a band? Send this to your favorite local band and encourage them to apply!
Paint Bethesda Competion
deadline October 9
posted by Bethesda Urban Partnership
The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District and Bethesda Urban Partnership are delighted to announce their newest arts initiative: “Paint Bethesda,” a painting competition of downtown Bethesda’s buildings, icons, scenes and landmarks. This art contest and exhibition will feature outdoor paintings of downtown Bethesda. Artists from DC, MD and VA are invited to come to downtown Bethesda and paint “plein air” or paint a Bethesda icon in studio.
High school artists are also encouraged to apply. Up to 20 artists will be selected for the exhibition, and $4,500 in prize monies will be given to the top prize-winning artists.
The exhibition of the selected works will be held at The Writer’s Center in December 2026 with a public reception for the artists on Friday, December 11.
The Portrait
deadline October 15
posted by SE Center for Photography
The Portrait, classic to contemporary. We use portraits as objects of remembrance and reverence, of seduction and glorification. From the keepsakes in lockets as tiny remembrances of love, to the likenesses of leaders meant to inspire and seduce with their power. They can stir, and confront, and drive us to action. Just as they can lull in longing for a time since passed. They act as a mirror in whose reflection we find the inward experiences of ourselves, or as a window from which we look out toward the virtues of another.
Analog and digital manipulation in all its forms welcome. Monochrome or color, all subjects, analog, digital or antique processes, photographers of all skill levels and locations are welcome.
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