This week’s news includes: Cynthia Daignault’s hard work pays off at Art Basel, Tom Hall stepping down from WYPR’s Midday, John Waters’ top ten movies of 2025, Baltimore Beat’s culture year in review, Baltimore musicians are the best, new episode of Free Admissions from The Walters, a story on inflatable architecture by BmoreArt contributor Liz Flyntz, Ashley Wallace becomes Executive Director of Central Baltimore Partnership, East City Art Review of NMWA’s Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600-1750, Monkton Mill’s restoration, Matilda Myers of Maryland wins the NPG Teen Portrait Competition, and a dance protest outside the Kennedy Center.
A Baltimore artist’s $110K payday at Art Basel
by Wesley Case
Published December 10 in The Baltimore Banner
There are countless types of artists — from geniuses to nepo babies, technicians to expressionists.
After years of 100-hour work weeks, Baltimore’s Cynthia Daignault knows exactly who she is: “a grinder.”
“I’m a reliable, old workhorse, like old Susie in the field who you can always count on to hook up to the plow,” Daignault said on the phone from her Remington studio. “So I’m happy to be that. I’m happy to be here.”
image: Artist and Baltimore native Cynthia Daignault talks about her painting “Huntingdon Avenue” at the Baltimore Museum of Art in February 2025. (Wesley Case/The Banner)
WYPR’s ‘Midday’ host Tom Hall stepping down after 10 years
by Marcus Dieterle
Published December 5 in Baltimore Fishbowl
Radio veteran Tom Hall announced Thursday that he will step down as host of WYPR’s “Midday” program after 10 years.
“Thank you for your interest and attention throughout my tenure as the Midday host, and thank you for sticking with Midday, and with me, as together, we navigate the future,” Hall said on air at the end of his show Thursday.
But don’t worry, Hall won’t be leaving WYPR’s airwaves. In the new year, he will transition to the role of the Baltimore public radio station’s Senior News Analyst.
image: WYPR’s “Midday” host, Tom Hall, speaks on air. Photo credit: Sam Bermas-Dawes, WYPR.
‘Eddington’ and ‘Final Destination Bloodlines’ head filmmaker John Waters’ list of the “Top Ten Movies” of 2025
by Ed Gunts
Published December 4 in Baltimore Fishbowl
“Eddington,” a neo-Western thriller about a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor in Eddington, New Mexico, heads filmmaker John Waters’ list of the “Top Ten Movies” of 2025, released this week in New York Magazine and Vulture.
Directed by Ari Aster and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone and Austin Butler, “Eddington” examines the political and social turmoil caused by an election pitting the town sheriff against the incumbent mayor at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
image: John Waters. Photo by Greg Gorman.
Best Of 2025: Arts & Culture
by Eze Jackson, Lisa Snowden, Baynard Woods, Grace Hebron, Rahne Alexander, MacKenzie River Foy, E. Brady Robinson, Bry Reed, Alejandro Danois and nat raum
Published December 7 in The Baltimore Beat
The best of Baltimore’s arts scene this year.
image: The reimagining of the area left the space under the Jones Falls Expressway with new murals and colorful lights that accent a previously dismal part of the city. Credit: Valerie Paulsgrove
Maryland musicians dominate best-of lists from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and more
by Wesley Case
Published December 5 in The Baltimore Banner
In future history books, the story of music in 2025 will need plenty of room for Maryland.
Around Baltimore, this year will be remembered as Turnstile’s takeover, the moment when the veteran quintet’s expansive, blurred-edges take on hard-core reached the masses.
But there was also Nourished by Time, Dijon and, of course, HUNTR/X, the fictional K-pop group behind a history-making smash hit.
image: Maryland artists made headlines in 2025. Clockwise from top left, Nourished by Time, HUNTR/X, Dijon and Turnstile. (Lauren Davis; Todd Owyoung/NBC; Dijon; KT Kanazawich for The Banner)
Season 2, Episode 6: Where Do You Find Comfort?
Free Admissions Podcast
Aired by The Walters
For many, the holiday season brings about feelings of nostalgia and hope. During this time of year, we nourish ourselves with tradition, spend time with loved ones, and seek comfort in its many forms. Art offers opportunities through which we can do each of these things, allowing us to experience and navigate this season with greater depth, warmth, and grace. In this episode, members of the Walters community delve into the ways art has made a meaningful impact on their lives.
Inflatable Architecture: A Brief-ish History of Buildings Supported by Air (Part 1)
by Liz Flyntz (BmoreArt Contributor)
Published December 9 in Medium
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, architects, artists, and countercultural collectives seemed to simultaneously become captivated by the possibilities of constructing with plastic. Pneumatic structures — buildings supported by nothing more than pressurized air pushing against thin plastic membranes — promised a radical reimagining of what architecture could be. They were cheap, fast and relatively easy to construct, transportable, and almost impossibly light.
image: Victor Lundy’s snack bars for the 1964 World’s Fair in New York.
Central Baltimore Partnership Announces Leadership Transition: Ellen Janes Retires After a Decade of Service; Deputy Ashley Wallace Promoted to Executive Director
Press Release :: December 10
The Central Baltimore Partnership (CBP) today announced that Ellen Janes, Executive Director, will retire on Dec. 23, 2025, after ten years of leading the nonprofit. Ashley Wallace, CBP’s Deputy Director, has been promoted to Executive Director.
Janes joined CBP in 2015, creating and contributing to many significant initiatives and achievements, including the launch and oversight of the Central Baltimore Future Fund, which acquired 12 key properties, including Town Hall and North Avenue Market, with a $10 million fund to activate them and support over 80 businesses to locate or expand in Central Baltimore. This effort expanded the organization’s work to include one of the State’s most comprehensive commercial corridor revitalization initiatives called the Neil Muldrow Small Business Fund (the Fund) named after Ackneil “Neil” Muldrow for his pioneering work in increasing access to capital for startups and small businesses. The Fund has deployed over $5 million in small business support since its inception in 2018. In addition, she played a crucial role in preserving the AREA 405 Arts hub, and merging CBP with the Station North Arts District, which launched community events like the annual Asia North Festival and current Inviting Light initiative.
“Of all of the things I’ve done during my ten years at CBP, I am most proud of the incredible team and board, as well as the strong partnerships–with over 150 organizations–we have built into a highly productive, diverse, public/private/grassroots collaborative working together toward shared community goals. I am very optimistic about CBP and Central Baltimore’s future,” said Janes.
Additionally, Janes initiated Baltimore’s first grassroots Equity Plan, engaging over 200 community members to promote investment in affordable housing and public health. Her dedication to parks resulted in over 100 supported projects, including the $3.4 million Cecil Community Park in partnership with the Parks and People Foundation and Cecil Elementary School. During the pandemic, CBP provided essential resources to students, including mobilizing hundreds of laptops and desks, distributed food and essential supplies to households, and helped over 50 small businesses to survive.
“Well beyond her work at CBP, Ellen has left an indelible mark on Baltimore through her visionary leadership, positive outlook and dedication to community development throughout her career,” said CBP Board President Lauren Kelly-Washington. “At CBP, she spearheaded numerous initiatives that have transformed neighborhoods and strengthened community ties, and we are grateful and better for it.”
Wallace, who began her journey with CBP in 2009 as an AmeriCorps VISTA from Wisconsin after earning her master’s in urban and regional planning, has been a vital contributor to the organization’s growth and success from almost the very beginning. Most recently, she has been acting Deputy Director, responsible for overseeing major revitalization efforts, including deploying $15M in state capital investments, organizational development, financial administration, strategic planning, human resources, and major funder relationships. Since 2022, Wallace has also served as Executive Director of the Central Baltimore Future Fund (CBFF), CBP’s real estate subsidiary. In this role, she manages an expanding portfolio of commercial and mixed-use properties and leads real estate strategies that reduce vacancy, support minority and emerging developers, and catalyze economic development in Central Baltimore. She has overseen several major acquisitions and redevelopment efforts and the restructuring of CBFF’s governance, financial, and administrative systems. Under her leadership, CBFF secured more than $2M in new capital grants and launched an innovative joint venture model to reactivate the historic North Avenue Market.
“We couldn’t think of a better person to fill the role at this time than Ashley, who has been instrumental in CBP’s revitalization efforts, organizational growth, and key initiatives,” added Kelly-Washington. “With a strong foundation in community engagement and development, Ashley is well-prepared to lead CBP into its next chapter and continue its mission of enhancing the quality of life for residents, fostering sustainable development, and strengthening community partnerships across Baltimore.”
Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam 1600-1750 at NMWA
by Claudia Rousseau, Ph.D.
Published December 9 in East City Art
Examine, if you will, the striking painting illustrated above. It was painted by Maria van Oosterwijck, one of the most talented and successful artists in the Netherlands in the 17th century. It greets the visitor in the first gallery of the extraordinary exhibition now on view at the National Museum of Women in the Arts through early January 2026. In many ways, Oosterwijck’s Vanitas Still Life on the right and Judith Leyster’s confident Self-Portrait on the left of the wall facing the entrance are a fine introduction to the work and the historical context of this self-evidently didactic presentation of the art and activities of women in the region during this period. The Oosterwijck is possibly the highest quality and most interesting painting in the show, yet it is not surprising that, unless an art history student had specialized in the art of the region and period in graduate studies, her name would be unknown, until now.
image: Maria van Oosterwijck, Vanitas Still Life, oil on canvas, 29” x 35”, 1668. Photo Wikimedia Commons.
‘It’ll build itself’: Monkton’s Manor Mill stands test of time
by Céilí Doyle
Published December 7 in The Baltimore Banner
The waters of Charles Run turned the gears at Manor Mill for the first time the same year Handel’s “Messiah” debuted — 1742 — decades before the Revolutionary War.
The nearly 3-century-old grist mill in Monkton, originally powered by a 24-foot waterwheel to grind grain into flour, has worn many hats: a long-abandoned mill, an antique shop and, most recently, a failed cidery.
None of that deterred Angelo Otterbein.
image: Manor Mill, a partially restored 18th-century grist mill, stands along Monkton Road in Baltimore County. (Jerry Jackson/The Banner)
National Portrait Gallery Announces Winners of Its 2025 Teen Portrait Competition
Press Release :: December 10
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has announced Matilda Myers of Maryland and Kate Stermer of California as winners of the 2025 Teen Portrait Competition, a triennial event inspired by the museum’s Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. The teen competition is open to students between the ages of 13 and 17 who reside in the United States and its territories. Ten finalists were selected from the 13 to 15 age group, and nine finalists were selected from the 16 to 17 age group. The selected works showcase the next wave of contemporary portraiture by teens. Myers received the top prize from the 13–15 age group, and Stermer from the 16–17 age group. The photographs by the 19 finalists will be on view in a video presentation on the second floor of the National Portrait Gallery from Jan. 24, 2026 through Aug. 30, 2026. The video will also be available to view online. […]
image: “Rest” by Matilda Myers, photograph, 2024
Protest Dance Outside Kennedy Center Targets Trump’s Attack on Culture
by Emma Cieslik
Published November 24 in Hyperallergic
On Saturday, November 22, protestors expanded and crunched their bodies, arms rising and falling with flicked wrists, as they marched in front of the Kennedy Center with stoic expressions. Passersby would be excused for mistaking it for an official performance, but the show outside the nation’s art center was actually a “dance protest” organized in response to President Trump’s rising authoritarianism.
While DC was buzzing with action across the city at the Remove the Regime march and fold-in event at the Lincoln Memorial, the Kennedy Center offered a powerful backdrop for resistance. Days before, the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works launched an investigation into cronyism and corruption at the Kennedy Center under the leadership of Richard Grenell, whom Trump appointed as the institution’s interim president in February.
image: Movement Movement and Hands Off the Arts host a “dance protest” outside the Kennedy Center on November 22, 2025. (all photos Emma Cieslik/Hyperallergic)
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