This week’s news includes: MICA announces a new exhibition featuring Ford/Philip Morris Foundation Fellows for Artists of Color, National Gallery acquires “significant new work,” Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party returns to The Phillips Collection, Iron Crow Theatre finds a brick and mortar home, Baby’s on Fire owners respond, Baltimore’s Marching Elite, new Youth Engagement Initiative launched, create a mosaic scultpure, and the NGA protects artwork ahead of the grand prix.
Maryland Institute College of Art Announces Exhibition Opening for Making America Again: So Strong, So Brave, So True
Press Release :: August 18
The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) will present Making America Again: So Strong, So Brave, So True, an exhibition featuring work by a representative cohort of Ford/Philip Morris Foundation Fellows for Artists of Color (1985-99), whose careers have had a lasting impact on the contemporary art world. The exhibition runs August 28 to September 29, 2026, in the Sheila & Richard Riggs Gallery at MICA’s Fred Lazarus IV Center, located at 131 W. North Ave. in Baltimore.
The Ford/Philip Morris initiative was the only program of its kind in the nation. Spearheaded by MICA and funded by the Ford Foundation and the Philip Morris Foundation, the initiative expanded to four additional independent art colleges—the Cranbrook Academy, the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Yale School of Art. Their combined effort enabled 200 artists of color to earn Master of Fine Arts degrees while providing the education, mentorship, and professional training needed to ensure they could become active contributors to the mainstream of American art and culture and beyond. The artists represent a variety of stylistic tendencies, and many are now prominent global forces in the art world with work in the collections of major museums.
Featured artists from the cohort include Candida Alvarez, Dawoud Bey, Sanford Biggers, and others. The exhibition also showcases work by artists who preceded the fellowship program, including Joyce J. Scott, Oletha DeVane and Lola Flash, as well as artists who came to MICA following the program, including Jerrell Gibbs, Monica Ikegwu, Jeffrey Kent, Amy Sherald and others.
The title of the exhibition—Making America Again: So Strong, So Brave, So True—is inspired by Langston Hughes’ 1935 poem, Let America Be America Again, which contrasts the promise of the American Dream with the lived experiences of Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized communities.
Dr. Leslie King Hammond and Dr. Lowery Stokes Sims are guest curators for this exhibition. Dr. Hammond is the graduate dean emerita and founder of the former Center for Race and Culture at MICA. She also previously served as a senior fellow at the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation in Baltimore. Dr. Sims is an independent curator and art historian and the curator emerita of the Museum of Arts and Design. In 2021–2022, she was the Kress Beinecke Professor at the Center, National Gallery of Art. She received an honorary degree from MICA in 1988.
The exhibition is free and open to the public daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. A public reception will be held Thursday, Sept. 3, from 5 to 7 p.m.
For more information about the exhibition, visit mica.edu.
The National Gallery of Art Announces Acquisition of Notable Historical and Contemporary Works
Press Release :: August 19
The National Gallery of Art today announced the acquisition of significant new works, marking a meaningful expansion of the nation’s art collection. The acquisitions, spanning rare examples of devotional art, historical paintings, contemporary print multiples, and a noteworthy photography collection, showcase major artistic movements and innovative uses of materials across centuries.
Notable among the additions to the collection are a suite of woodblock prints by T.C. Cannon; a 17th-century crucifix painting by María Josefa Sánchez; a major work by Wifredo Lam, completed after his return to Cuba in the early 1940s; and a painting by Christina Quarles, one of the only finished works in her Altadena studio to survive the 2025 Eaton Fire in Southern California. Many of the acquisitions introduce important artists to the nation’s collection for the first time, including Marie Bracquemond, LaToya Hobbs, Stacey Kranitz, and Lorraine O’Grady. Others deepen the National Gallery’s existing collection, such as the first painting by social realist artist Ben Shahn and a major bronze sculpture by Fritz Scholder that reveals a new facet of the celebrated artist’s practice.
The Phillips Collection Announces the Return of Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party
Press Release :: August 6
Following its historic loan to the Musée d’Orsay in Paris for the exhibition Renoir and Love: A Joyful Modernity (1865–1885), Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party—a cornerstone of The Phillips Collection—returns to public view beginning Tuesday, August 11.
The painting will again be on display in Gallery 201 where guests can experience one of the defining works of Impressionism in its longtime home.
WHERE:
The Phillips Collection, Gallery 201 | 2nd Floor Permanent Collection
1600 21st Street NW, Washington, DC
ADMISSION:
Included with museum admission
HOURS:
The Phillips Collection is open Tuesday–Sunday, 10 am–5 pm, with extended hours on select days
The painting’s return also sets the stage for Feast for the Eyes: Celebrating Renoir at the Phillips (Summer 2027), an unprecedented installation that will reunite Luncheon of the Boating Party with Renoir’s Bal du Moulin de la Galette (1876), on loan from the Musée d’Orsay. Never before shown together in the United States, these two landmark paintings will offer guests a rare opportunity to experience Renoir’s most ambitious multi-figure compositions side by side, highlighting the artist’s vibrant visual language that captured the vitality of modern life.
Iron Crow Theatre finds a permanent home in Remington, announces the initial events in its 2026-2027 ‘Season of Chance’
by Ed Gunts
Published August 19
After 17 years performing in borrowed and rented venues, Iron Crow Theatre has found a permanent home.
Directors of the organization, which started in 2009 and describes itself as Baltimore’s only queer theater company, announced this week that they have signed a lease for space at 2600 N. Howard Street in Remington, previously home to the Single Carrot Theatre and most recently ArtsCentric.
“The move marks a major milestone in Iron Crow Theatre’s history,” the company said on its website, www.ironcrowtheatre.org. “After seventeen years of producing throughout Baltimore, and over a decade fighting for space, the company is establishing a permanent home of its own and creating a year-round space where Baltimore artists, queer artists, and their allies can create, gather, take risks and bring new ideas to life…Queer theatre has a permanent home in Baltimore.”.
Baby’s on Fire owners speak out on sudden closure, say they received death threats
by Christina Tkacik
Published August 13 in The Baltimore Banner
Former Baby’s on Fire owners David Koslowski and Shirlé Hale Koslowski spoke out Thursday for the first time about their decision to close their popular Mount Vernon café.
The couple shut down the coffee shop and record store last month, citing ongoing financial problems. But staff said they believed the closure was a response to employees’ attempts to unionize with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27.
The labor group’s president, Jason Chorpenning, called the shop’s shutdown “union-busting 101.” Influencer and former political candidate Bobby LaPin made a video about the workers’ last day.
The Marching Elite: Nurturing Charm City’s youth through the arts
by Andrew Hall
Published August 13 in The AFRO
Music is woven into Baltimore’s cultural identity. For some Charm City youths, music serves not only as an outlet for emotional relief, but an opportunity for academic growth and personal development. Organizations like The Marching Elite Foundation (TME) use music to foster a community where young people can express themselves and develop a sense of belonging.
In 2000, Dennis Lee Jr. co-founded community classes for kids and teens around the city to learn about music. Recognizing a need for music education and seeing an opportunity to leave a positive impact on those around him, Lee launched TME in 2006.
“I went to several schools and saw that from the time I was home, to the time I got back from the military, not much was changing,” Lee said.
MD Two Fifty Commission and Maryland Humanities Launch Youth Engagement Initiatives for Middle and High School Students
Press Release :: August 17
As part of Maryland’s 250th anniversary commemoration, the MD Two Fifty Commission, in partnership with Maryland Humanities, is excited to launch Civics Moonshot: A MD Two Fifty Youth Engagement Initiative.
This initiative will provide unique educational opportunities for Maryland students by offering programs for middle and high school students:
• Where History Lives: Middle School Field Trip Program
• Envision Maryland: High School Essay Competition
Help create a landmark mosaic sculpture for Randallstown, with live music and neighborly vibes
by Aliza Worthington
Published August 14
Art with a Heart (AWAH) is inviting people of all ages to be part of Randallstown history by helping create the public art installation for the Milford Mill Market Square.
The final workshop will take place during the Liberty Live Concert Series on Friday, Aug. 21, from 6–9 p.m.
The nearly eight-foot-tall mosaic sculpture will be installed as part of a joint initiative to create a welcoming public gathering place that reflects the identity, pride, and resilience of the Randallstown community. The shopping center’s renovations are part of the revitalization of Milford Mill Market Square and the Liberty Road Corridor. AWAH was chosen to design and create a sculpture that honored Randallstown’s history and culture.
National Gallery of Art Protects Works Ahead of Trump’s IndyCar Race
by Anna Lee
Published August 10 in Hyperallergic
An IndyCar race taking place in the nation’s capital later this month as part of President Trump’s “Freedom 250” celebrations is under scrutiny as experts study the possible impact of race car vibrations on thousands of artworks held in museum collections near the track.
The National Gallery of Art (NGA), one of several institutions located on the 1.7-mile Freedom 250 Grand Prix circuit — along with the Hirshhorn Museum, the National Archives, and the National Museum of the American Indian, and others — conducted a study to examine possible consequences “out of a great abundance of caution,” a spokesperson said.
“Based on the results, we have implemented a set of measures to ensure the safety of our staff, visitors, collection, and facilities during the race,” the NGA spokesperson told Hyperallergic in a statement, noting that the museum is not disclosing specific findings.
Become a Member
Artist Memberships Include 2 Tickets to Each Magazine Release Party!
