This Week: The Lines We Cross ongoing at The Lewis Museum, CCCC Residency Roundtable with Ultra Naté at the BMA, The Records & The Ruse performance at The Voxel, Baltimore Jewelry Center Graduate Exhibition opening reception, Fabrication of the Soul opening reception at Zo Gallery, Soft Water opening reception at Area 405, Crystal Moll Gallery Paint Out + Summer Plein Air Show, Baltimore Toy Theatre Festival at Current, and The BIG Show artist meet + greet at Creative Alliance — PLUS apply for Baltimore Open Studio Tour Weekend 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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THE LINES WE CROSS: 250 Years of Maryland Forging America
Ongoing through October 31, 2027
@ The Lewis Museum
As America marks 250 years, The Lewis invites you into a deeper conversation.
Maryland sits directly below the Mason-Dixon Line—a border state where freedom and slavery once existed side by side. In this landscape of impossible boundaries, Black Marylanders learned to navigate through movement, making, and profound creativity. They crossed literal and symbolic lines to claim their freedom, build thriving communities, create lasting culture, and challenge America to live up to its highest ideals.
Now open at The Lewis, The Lines We Cross: 250 Years of Maryland Forging America is an immersive three-floor exhibition that explores these remarkable journeys through powerful artifacts, interactive experiences, and unforgettable stories—including the stunning blonde piano of legendary Baltimore native Billie Holiday.
Whether you’re visiting for the first time or returning to discover something new, this exhibition offers an experience that will inspire, challenge, and stay with you long after you leave.
The Residency Roundtable with Ultra Naté
Wednesday, August 12 :: 6-9pm
@ Baltimore Museum of Art
Join us at Charm City Cultural Cultivation (CCCC) for The Residency Roundtable featuring, Ultra Naté. Presented in partnership with the BMA, this landmark conversation gathers the collaborators, producers, and cultural architects who shaped Naté’s legendary career and solidified Baltimore City’s indelible impact on global house music.
The roundtable participants include Bill Coleman; The Basement Boys (Teddy Douglas, Thommy Davis & Jay Steinhour); Gladys Pizzaro; Wayne Davis; Mookie “Maurice” Brock; Jada Givenchy; Jonathan Knox; and Kemba Shannon. The discussion will be moderated by writer and CCCC Operations Manager Teri Henderson.
Friday, August 14 – Sunday, August 16
@ The Voxel
The Records & The Ruse is a live documentary theatre performance about previously hidden government actions that targeted the Baltimore Chapter of the Black Panther Party. The play is rooted in historical evidence, new groundbreaking freedom of information journalism, and original documentary and cinematic materials adapted for live performance. This residency presentation of The Records & The Ruse is part of the project’s ongoing development, and we invite an engaged audience to share their questions and feedback following the performance.
If further equity access OR additional access assistance is required for performances, please email [email protected].
Baltimore Jewelry Center Graduate Exhibition | Opening Reception
Friday, August 14 :: 5-8pm
@ Baltimore Jewelry Center
The Baltimore Jewelry Center is proud to present its third annual Graduate Exhibition, celebrating the next generation of jewelers and metalsmiths. The exhibition will be on view in the BJC’s gallery in the Station North Arts & Entertainment District (10 E. North Ave.) from August 14, 2026 through September 25, 2026. An opening reception will be held on Friday, August 14, from 5–8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Featuring artists completing both undergraduate and graduate degree programs, the exhibition reflects the breadth of contemporary jewelry education through a diverse range of materials, concepts, and making practices, highlighting emerging voices at a pivotal moment in their artistic development.
This year’s exhibition features the work of 13 artists selected by the BJC’s seven-member Exhibitions Committee, representing undergraduate and graduate programs at 12 institutions across the United States and abroad. Participating artists include: Grace Barden,
Taney Basinger, Stina Eknert, Jake Jessop, Cole Kamerick, Stella Lee, Weiwei Li, Larissa McPherson, Ryan Moyer, Ella Parker-Harley, Olivia Plummer, Sarah Roberts, and Ryan Seng.
“As a school for metalworking, growth and learning are central to everything we do here at the Baltimore Jewelry Center,” said J Diamond, Director of Education. “Since we house one of the only art jewelry galleries in the Mid-Atlantic, we really appreciate the opportunity to showcase emerging artists from all over the world and celebrate them as they step out of the classroom and into their careers as makers.”
Fabrication of the Soul | Opening Reception
Friday, August 14 :: 5-9pm
@ Zo Gallery
Fabrication of the Soul is a multimedia group exhibition examining the intricate relationships between humanity and the environment through the lenses of identity, heritage, and diaspora. Featuring works by Spencer Tran, Makayla Castillo, Kimberly Reider, and Kyle Ramseur, the exhibition blends painting, illustration, and audiovisual elements to navigate how environmental destruction and societal expectations shape our contemporary lives.
Soft Water | Opening Reception
Friday, August 14 :: 5-9pm
@ Area 405
AREA 405 presents Soft Water, featuring New-York-based artists and couple Qiuyu Wu and Yuhan Shen. Weaving the 5000-square-feet gallery with 6-mm PVC hoses connected to kinetic sculptures, their collaborative installation renders three states of water (solid, liquid, and gas) mirroring the water cycle in nature. The resulting movements produce a soundscape that flows throughout the gallery, proposing that varied forms of resilience can create collective transformation within social ecosystems. The exhibition opens with a soundscape experience on August 14, 2026 from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. as part of the Station North Second Friday Art Walk. It also collaborates with First Flush, a tea-centric electronic music listening event, on August 23, 2026 from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
The title of the exhibition draws inspiration from the New Museum’s 2021 Triennial Soft Water Hard Stone, curated by Jamillah James and Margot Norton. Paraphrasing a Brazilian proverb, “Água mole em pedra dura, tanto bate até que fura” (“Soft water on hard stone hits until it bores a hole”), the title finds a similar form in the Chinese idiom “水滴石穿.” The proverb speaks of the unexpectedly penetrative impact of accumulated subtle resilience on an object seemingly permanent. Continuing this pondering, Soft Water at AREA 405 moves beyond the microscopic focus on water itself and zooms out to its nuanced interaction with stone.
The erosion of stone by water happens in extraordinarily diverse ways. The most familiar include flowing water smoothing jagged edges, abrasion as sand, dirt, and rocks collide against stone, and the tumbling of stones in rivers. Yet the interaction extends far beyond these. Water evaporates upon contact with heated stone, condenses into clouds that reshape the distribution of sunlight across the Earth’s surface, and eventually returns as precipitation. Through this continual cycle, water also influences local and global climate, generating winds, storms, and countless ecological interactions. […] (Joyce Liang)
Crystal Moll Gallery’s 13th Annual Summer Plein Air Show | Opening Reception + Paint Out
Saturday, August 15 :: 3-5pm
@ Crystal Moll Gallery
EXHIBITION DATES: AUGUST 7TH – SEPTEMBER 26TH, 2026
PAINT-OUT BEFORE 3 PM / RECEPTION 3-5 WITH WET PAINT SALE!!
DEMO BY AMANDA MILLINER STARTING @ 3:00
Here’s a peak of a few of our selected artist’s works.
Tim Kelly, Zhaobo Li, Lissa Abrams, and our demo artist Amanda Milliner.
Plein Air is a French term meaning “in the open air”. We are fortunate to have many nationally recognized plein air artists living in our region. We will showcase works by some of the most talented plein air artists working today.
Paint-Out & Wet Paint Sale: In addition to our curated exhibition, we invite all artists to paint throughout Baltimore on August 15th. These fresh off the easel paintings will be on display and for sale during the reception from 3-5.
SO FUN!!!
The 2nd Annual Baltimore Toy Theater Festival
Saturday, August 15 :: 3:30pm
@ Current Space
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL PUPPETRY GUILD &
BLACK CHERRY PUPPET THEATER
present
An evening of performances and fun celebrating tiny theatre.
2nd Annual Baltimore Toy Theatre Festival, outside at Current Space
Saturday, August 15, 2026
All ages
Tickets: $15-30 sliding
Schedule
3:30pm – Legacy Toy Theatre performance making
4:30pm – Lambe Lambe performances
6:30pm – Toy Theatre performances on the main stage
8:30pm – Toy Theatre videos from across the country and around the world.
Email [email protected] for more information about the festival.
The BIG Show | Artist Meet & Greet
Sunday, August 16 :: 6pm
@ Creative Alliance
Meet Our Member Artists!
The BIG Show Exhibition is a celebration of our incredible community—and now you can meet the artists making it happen. We’re hosting gallery meet-and-greets throughout the exhibition. Pull up, ask about their creative process, get the behind-the-scenes stories on your favorite pieces, and connect with fellow art lovers.
Featured Opportunities
2026 DC Zinefest Poster Artist Application
deadline August 13
DC Zinefest 2026 is looking for a poster artist to create art that will be used for the festival’s posters, t-shirts, and other art assets. The selected artist will receive an honorarium of $350. The judges will prioritize artists with experience designing event posters using a 3-5 color Risograph or similar color-separated method, artists with proximity to the DC metro area, and artists with prior zinemaking experience.
CALL FOR ENTRIES: MICA x The Paramount Baltimore
deadline August 15
The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is pleased to invite students, faculty, alumni, and staff to submit artwork for consideration in a new exhibition partnership with The Paramount Baltimore, a premier live music and entertainment venue located within Baltimore’s Warner Street Entertainment District. The venue is designed to host concerts, performances, and cultural events while welcoming thousands of visitors annually.
Artists are encouraged to submit large-format work that explores the themes of “Sound. Story. Celebration.” Both representational and abstract interpretations are welcome, along with various 2- and 3-dimensional mediums.
After Dark
deadline August 26
posted by Maryland Federation of Art
After Dark is a captivating art exhibition that explores the quiet, mysterious, and evocative world that emerges when the sun goes down. Whether it’s the gentle flicker of a single lamp in an open window or the vast, starlit silence of a rural field, After Dark reveals how night transforms the way we see, feel, and imagine. The exhibition invites visitors to slow down and attune to the subtleties of light and shadow, of sound and silence the work seeks offer a sensory experience that is both immersive and deeply reflective.
MFA invites artists to use limited palettes, subtle contrasts, and softened forms to express the stillness and introspection that twilight and night inspire. This exhibition is a meditation on the nocturnal, a celebration of the unseen, and a tribute to the artistry that arises when the world grows quiet and the light begins to fade. Through a curated collection of paintings, photographs, installations, and mixed media works, After Dark will lure viewers into a realm where light fades, shadows stretch, and the ordinary becomes infused with mood, ambiguity, and atmosphere.
Central Baltimore Weaver Awards
deadline August 31
posted by Central Baltimore Partnership
Baltimore City and many other cities around the country are struggling with a breakdown in social trust- with institutions, with the business world, and sometimes even with their neighbors.
Social trust is cultivated through relationships and connection. In times like this, we need to support those community leaders that are making connections, combatting the darkness and leading with heart, and spreading joy by leaning into each other in a hyperlocal way.
The Weaver Awards offer rare support for the community capacity building and organizing that is essential to thriving, equitable, sustainable neighborhoods.
Gallery B 2027 Exhibit
deadline August 31
posted by Bethesda Urban Partnership
Gallery B is now taking rental applications for 2027 exhibits for solo or group shows. We offer the opportunity for you to sell your art and receive exposure in downtown Bethesda with no commission on artwork sold. The rental agreement is for one month and the cost is $1,200. Suggested gallery hours for the artists managing the space are Thursday – Saturday, 12-5pm and Sunday, 11am – 4pm.
Baltimore Open Studio Tour (OST) Weekend 2026
deadline September 1
posted by Create Baltimore
Baltimore Open Studio Tour Weekend is one of Create Baltimore’s signature events for Free Fall. It brings together professional artists and the public to give art lovers, students, collectors, and creative influencers the opportunity to meet, connect with, and purchase art from some of Baltimore City’s most vibrant artists.
All eligible artists are invited to register. This form is for artists in individual studios and artists in buildings with multiple artist studios. In order to have your studio name and information individually listed on the OST website and map, you must fill out this registration form.
The deadline to register your participation is 5:00 PM on Tuesday, September 1, 2026.
The Figure as Art
deadline September 1
posted by SE Center for Photography
The fine art nude has been a celebrated subject of photography since the beginning and played an important role in establishing photography as a fine art medium. Early on, both in history and most photographers experience, the nude has been featured in a classical pose and setting, maturing to illustrating the human body as a sculptural abstraction, and with some pushing boundaries.
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 where legal are welcome.
Dance of the Nipples | A Breast Cancer Awareness Exhibition
deadline September 13
posted by XoXo Gallery
XoXo Gallery is accepting submissions for “Dance of the Nipples” and exhibition responding to Breast Cancer awareness month. This exhibition invites artists and individuals who have been personally affected by breast cancer—including survivors, those currently undergoing treatment, in recovery, in remission or survivors of breast cancer. Caregivers, family members, friends, and loved ones are also welcome to apply. We recognize that breast cancer informs each individual differently and want to acknowledge the voices and perspectives of those affected.
Artists of all backgrounds and experience levels are encouraged to apply. Whether you are sharing your own journey, honoring someone you love, documenting the role of caregiving, or exploring the broader social and cultural impacts of breast cancer, we invite you to contribute to this collective conversation.
XoXo Gallery is a curatorial initiative, not exclusive to the Goxxip Girl Collective, meaning anyone and everyone is eligible to apply to our open calls regardless of gender.
1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art
deadline September 14
posted by The Gibbs Museum of Art
The Gibbes Museum and Society 1858’s Prize for Contemporary Southern Art is awarded to an artist whose work contributes to a new understanding of art in the South. Presented annually, the Prize recognizes the highest level of artistic achievement and welcomes applications from artist working across any media. Artists who reside, work in, or are from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia are encouraged and eligible to apply. Previous winners have subsequently received awards from the Joan Mitchell Fellowship, the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. Additionally, winning artists’ work has been received into the permanent collections of The National Gallery of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Gibbes Museum of Art.
☀️ SUMMER * $1,800.00 Innovate Grants for Art + Photo
deadline September 17
Innovate Grant awards (2) $1,800.00 grants each quarter, to one Visual Artist and one Photographer. In addition, (18) honorable mentions (9 in art and 9 in photo), will be featured on our website and join a growing community of vibrant and talented artists. Innovate Grant’s commitment extends beyond the grant cycle by promoting the work of selected winners and honorable mentions into the future. For more information and to apply visit https://innovateartistgrants.org
Innovate Grant supports artists and photographers through quarterly grants. We’ve simplified the grant process, so that artists and photographers can focus on making their innovative work. The work should speak for itself and our application reflects that.
Call for Artists: Functional Art at Sandy Spring Museum
deadline September 18
posted by Sandy Spring Museum
Sandy Spring Museum is creating a growing collection of permanent functional artworks that will shape the visitor experience across our campus for years to come. Selected works will become part of a long-term cultural landscape initiative that combines public art, environmental stewardship, and regional storytelling. We are seeking artists who are excited to create highly visible functional artworks that invite interaction while celebrating the people and traditions of Montgomery County.
As part of its Master Plan, Sandy Spring Museum is transforming its grounds into a campus where visitors discover cultural heritage, nature, and community through a network of walking trails and gathering spaces. We are seeking proposals from artists interested in creating functional artworks inspired by the stories, traditions, landscapes, agricultural history, immigrant communities, and living cultural heritage of the Sandy Spring region and Montgomery County.
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