BmoreArt’s Picks: June 25 – July 1

This Week: TU + MAP closing reception for Invisible Architectures \ Social Contracts; Dierra Jones resident artist talk at Baltimore Jewelry Center; Kelly Walker opening reception at Lord Baltimore; the Banneker-Douglass Museum hosts a virtual conversation with Angela Carroll, Deyane Moses, and Webster Phillips III; opening reception at Bromo Arts Tower for Alexander D’Agostino, kolpeace, and Ali Mirsky; Stoop Storytelling ‘Queer Tales of Charm City’ at Creative Alliance, Market Center Street Fest, and artist Ed Istwan and Curator Kristen Hileman host cocktails at The Peale — PLUS apply for Blue Light Junction’s Ibura Art & Research Residency 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.

To submit your calendar event, email us at [email protected]!

< Events >

Tuesday, June 25 :: 6-8pm

@ Maryland Art Place

Exhibition:

Thursday, May 16 – June 25, 2024

Opening Reception:

Thursday May 16, 2024 | 5 -9 pm

Performances:

Thursday, June 13 | 6 – 8 pm

Closing Reception:

Tuesday, June 25 | 6 to 8 pm

Maryland Art Place in collaboration with COFAC CoLab Directors Dr. Kalima Young and Ada Pinkston, are excited to present Invisible Architectures \ Social Contracts. This exhibition explores the impact of geographic, economic, social, and institutional structures on personal relationships. This dynamic interdisciplinary art festival and Co-Lab sponsored project (Spring 2024) investigates the past, present and future directions social contracts may take. Join us on Thursday, May 16 from 5 pm to 9 pm for the opening reception taking place during the BROMO Art Walk with accompanying performances held on Friday, June 14 (details forthcoming).

About Invisible Architectures:

As we approach another election year in the United States, agreements about what is included in an American social contract continue to be up for debate. The term social contract started when philosophers from France to England started to think about the nature of humanity and the tensions that exist between the people who enact power and the people who do not. What are the agreed upon boundaries that exist within our social, family and political structures? How do these boundaries create or negate cognitive distance with what actually happens in any social theater? Artistic interventions have the potential to offer us much needed insights and possibilities for our collective future.

Exhibiting Artists:

Visual Art – Elizabeth Ashe, Samia, Bzioui, Se Jong Cho, Monique Crabb, Noël Da, Julianna Dail, Pack, G., Katie Gill-Harvey, Helen Glazer,QRCKY, Sanzi Kermes, Nate Larson, George Lorio, Dereck, Mangus, Kellan Marriott, Hope & Faith McCorkle, Claudia McDonough, Bruce, McKaig, Sasha- Loriene McClain, Lisa Moren, Pamela Thompson, Jamal Thorne, Jared Ragland, Agustin Rosa, and Heidi Younger.

Video – Gabriel Bejarano, Nia Hampton, Jackie, Hoysted, Alexandra Garove, Patrick Riley, and TimaAflitunov.

Performance – Jacob Budenz, Laure Drogoul, Sheila Gaskins, Nora Howell, Nigel Semaj, Peter Redgrave, VILLAGER, Move Move Collaborative, and Monsieur Zohore

Doreen Bolger Bio:

Doreen Bolger, retired Director of The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA), served from 1998 to 2015. During her 17-year tenure, she led a successful $100 million fundraising campaign, oversaw BMA’s renovation, implemented free admission, and transitioned the institution from a city agency to a private organization. Bolger holds a BA magna cum laude from Bucknell University, an MA from the University of Delaware, and a PhD from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. Prior to her BMA role, she worked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art as Curator and Manager of the Henry R. Luce Center for American Art, Curator at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, TX, and served as Director of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. Since retirement, Bolger has contributed to local arts organizations including: Creative Alliance, Maryland Citizens for the Arts, Maryland Art Place, and Woman’s Club of Roland Park; curated exhibitions in the co-curation of MICA’s 2015/2016 Graduate Exhibition; and gifted twenty works to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. She also contributed to BmoreArt’s publication City of Artists Baltimore (2023).

About Invisible Architectures in CoLab

The COFAC CoLab is an incubator for ideas, projects and collaboration. The lab is a home for interdisciplinary work. It’s a hub where ideas can be cross-fertilized and put into motion. Designed as a space where fields of study are porous, the objective is to build new knowledge for an ever-evolving world. Professors Dr. Kalima Young, (Department of Electronic Media & Film) and Ada Pinkston (Department of Art + Design, Art History Art Education) were selected to be Towson University’s College of Fine Arts and Communication CoLab Directors from 2021-2024.

About Maryland Art Place

Maryland Art Place (MAP) inspires, supports, and encourages artistic expression through innovative programming, exhibitions, and educational opportunities while recognizing the powerful impact art can have on our community. MAP creates a dynamic environment for artists of our time to engage the public by nurturing and promoting new ideas. MAP has served as a critical resource for contemporary art in the Mid-Atlantic since 1981.

Wednesday, June 25 :: 7pm

@ Baltimore Jewelry Center

Please join us Wednesday, June 26th at 7pm for Dierra Jones’ culminating residency artist talk. Dierra is an artist and visual arts teacher based in Savannah, GA. She holds a BFA in Ceramics from Virginia State University, Petersburg, Virginia as well as a MFA in Jewelry from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Savannah, GA. Dierra utilizes storytelling and place as the driving forces in her studio practice. Using the medium of jewelry she creates delicate, small-scale, wearable objects and non-traditional installation works, containing her identity and emotions. To learn more about Dierra and the work she’s completed during her residency join us Wednesday, June 26th at 7pm on zoom or in the studio for Dierra’s culminating residency artist talk. The talk is free, but pre-registration is required.

Wednesday, June 26 :: 5-7pm

@ Lord Baltimore Hotel

Join local artist Kelly L. Walker as she showcases her artwork at the Lord Baltimore Hotel as part of its rotating Good Taste art exhibition.

On display will be pieces from Walker’s Vacation series of abstracted landscapes inspired by scenes from her travels. These works are intricately layered using a wide range of atypical materials like plaster, rust, gold leaf, and anything else within reach in her studio. She pushes mediums past their intended purposes, encouraging them to collide and react, not rejecting happy accidents and forcing incompatible materials to meet. All pieces are available for purchase.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Kelly L. Walker is an American born, self-taught artist who continues to study at the ‘School of Life’. She found her way to Baltimore by the age of 18 where she has lived ever since. Walker absorbs the beauty, chaos and reality of Baltimore City channeling it into her work. She is the owner and operator of Artstar Custom Paintworks, a decorative paint and faux finishing company serving Baltimore and beyond. For more information, visit https://www.kellywalkerfineart.com/.

WHAT:

Good Taste Art Exhibition Series Featuring Kelly L. Walker

WHEN:

Exhibit runs June 26 through August 2024

Opening reception: Wednesday, June 26, 2024, from 5:00-7:00pm

WHERE:

LB Bistro & Bakery

(Lord Baltimore Hotel)

20 W. Baltimore Street

Baltimore, MD 21201

ADMISSION: Exhibition and reception are open to the public and free to attend. The event will feature free light fare and discounted beverages. All artwork is available for purchase.

Thursday, June 27 :: 1-3pm

presented by the Banneker-Douglass Museum

Join us for a virtual discussion with Baltimore-based scholars Angela Carroll, Deyane Moses, and Webster Phillips III. Moderated by Martina Dodd, Curator of Collections & Exhibitions, this conversation will explore the enduring impact of archiving Black histories, with a special focus on Maryland. We will delve into historical parallels, cultural significance, and personal reflections related to the REVISIT/REIMAGINE: The Civil Rights Era in Maryland and Parallels of Today exhibition currently on view at the Banneker-Douglass Museum.

Thursday, June 27 :: 6-8pm

@ Bromo Arts Tower

In the Lobby Gallery, interdisciplinary artist Alexander D’Agostino explores themes of time and history through a queer lens in his exhibition, The Tower.

The Mezzanine Gallery hosts the exhibition, Fo Er’body Blk, by visual performance artist kolpeace. His fire-infused paintings present a harmonious and celebratory reflection of Black culture juxtaposed with saccharine-tinged sympathy.

Mosaic artist Ali Mirsky is inspired by the intricate relationship between nature and humanity. She invites viewers of her solo exhibition, Pieces of Me, to touch her work for a tactile experience.

Thursday, June 27 :: 7:30pm

@ Creative Alliance

The Stoop Storytelling Series, in partnership with the Queer Jewish Arts Festival, presents B-more Proud: Queer Tales of Charm City! For this show, we are seeking individuals who identify as queer and Jewish to share a true, personal tale. Stories can be about anything related to identifying as queer and Jewish—how you met your partner, your bubbie ally, how your chosen family is your tribe—we want to hear them all!

The Stoop Storytelling Series is a Baltimore-based live show and podcast that features “ordinary” people sharing the extraordinary, true tales of their lives. It showcases the stories of “ordinary” people, told in front of live audiences as large as 1,400. Stoop stories are weird, wonderful, hilarious, and heartbreaking—and, above all, intimate.

Market Center Streetfest: A Day of Celebration, Creativity, and Community!

Saturday, June 29 :: 12-8pm

@ Lexington Market

Join us on June 29th from 12 PM – 8 PM at Lexington Market Plaza and along Lexington Street for the first-ever Market Center Street Festival! Hosted by the Market Center Community Development Corporation (MCDC) and Lexington Market, this event promises to be a spectacular celebration of Baltimore’s vibrant Market Center neighborhood and the Bromo Arts and Entertainment District.

Sunday, June 30 :: 2-5pm

@ The Peale

Free RSVP in Advance (21 and over please)

Please join us on Sunday, June 30, for an afternoon of cocktails and casual conversation with artist Ed Istwan and Curator Kristen Hileman. We will begin at 2pm with a Peale Garden party and convene in Istwan’s FLOWERS exhibition at 3pm for an artist talk. Ed and Kristen will discuss the show from an intimate inside perspective, providing an informative glimpse into Ed’s particularly driven creative process. This is a free event. All are welcome (non-alcoholic beverages will be available for those under 21).

Ed Istwan received his MFA from the Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1996. Since then, he has worked at various Baltimore institutions, including the American Visionary Art Museum – where he has been a judge for the Kinetic Sculpture Race since it began in 1999. Over two decades of his professional life has been spent as a visual merchandiser for the Swedish home furnishings giant IKEA- designing and outfitting new stores across the United States. Much of the work whilst there informs his artistic output today both in terms of process and aesthetic result. While Istwan’s work has been included in various exhibitions over the years, this is his first large museum exhibition.

Kristen Hileman is a Baltimore-based independent curator and educator who spent nearly two decades working in museums, first as a curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and more recently as the Head of the Contemporary Department at The Baltimore Museum of Art. She is a Core Critic at the Yale School of Art and Critic-in-Residence at the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She also teaches regularly for the Intermedia and Digital Arts program at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Since 2019, she has operated Kristen Hileman Art Advisory. This June, Washington DC’s Kreeger Museum opened a 30th-anniversary exhibition organized by Hileman, featuring 14 Maryland, Virginia, and Washington artists. A retrospective of Baltimore-based photographer Connie Imboden’s work for the American University Museum organized by Hileman will open in September 2024.

Hileman’s curatorial practice combines a strong interest in finding relevant platforms for celebrating under-recognized and regional artists and a desire to innovate within the museum and exhibition field. John Baldessari; Cai Guo-Qiang; Njideka Akunyili Crosby; Maren Hassinger; Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley, Meleko Mokgosi; Sarah Oppenheimer; Dario Robleto; Tomas Saraceno; Jo Smail; Anne Truitt; and John Waters are among the artists who have been the focus of Hileman’s exhibitions.

< Calls for Entry >

deadline June 30

The City of Takoma Park is seeking submissions for future performances in the Takoma Park Arts series as part of our mission to support the arts in the D.C. area and provide free performances for city residents and visitors. The series, which is organized by the City’s Arts and Humanities Division, provides a performance venue, an honorarium, extensive promotion, and a professional recording of the performance.

There is no application fee, and performers do not need to be Takoma Park residents but are responsible for all travel expenses. Performances should be suitable for a general audience and may include music, theater, dance, multi-media performances, etc.

Performances are usually held on Friday evenings in the 160-seat auditorium at the Takoma Park Community Center at 7500 Maple Avenue, Takoma Park, MD. Performances should be approximately 60 to 90 minutes in length. A professional sound and lighting crew is provided along with a recording of the performance on a local cable channel and our YouTube channel to reach a worldwide audience.

SNF Parkway Theatre Invites Baltimore Area Filmmakers to Participate in “Artscape at the Parkway”

deadline July 10

In conjunction with the 2024 Artscape Festival, the SNF Parkway Theatre proudly presents a curated selection of original short film and video works to be projected onto the floor-to-ceiling, street-facing windows of Parkway’s Reception Hall (located at the intersection of North Avenue and Charles Street) throughout the month of August.

This is an open call for film and media makers of all ages and experience. Narrative, documentary, experimental, and animated short films, video art pieces, select scenes from larger works, and other forms of visual imagery will all be considered. Baltimore-based filmmakers are especially encouraged to apply.

deadline July 15

posted by Blue Light Junction

Blue Light Junction (BLJ) opens a fourth round of applications for The Ibura Art and Research Residency in Central Baltimore.

Fall 2024 residency cycle: September 15th – December 15th

After successful residencies in 2022, Blue Light Junction is seeking two people for the Fall 2024 residency. The Ibura Art & Research Residency (IARR) provides a studio, financial support and thought partners for researchers to explore their work and practice through the lens of people, plants, and place.

The Fall IARR call opens on Friday, June 14th.

The deadline to apply is Sunday, July 14th.

William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund

deadline July 19

posted by Baltimore Community Foundation

The International Documentary Association (IDA) invites applications for its Enterprise Documentary Fund and Pare Lorentz Fund, both of which support the vital work of documentary storytellers and champions a thriving and inclusive documentary culture. The Enterprise Documentary Fund will support in-depth explorations of original, contemporary stories that integrate journalistic practice into the filmmaking process. The Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund will support feature-length documentary films that reflect the spirit and nature of Pare Lorentz’s work, exhibiting objective research, artful storytelling, strong visual style, artistic writing, and outstanding music composition, as well as skillful direction, camerawork, and editing. The deadline for non-IDA members is June 25, 2024. The deadline for IDA members is July 9, 2024.

deadline July 20

This residency provides 2-3 month residencies tailored for visual arts, music, film, and writing. The contemporary arts organization boasts galleries, studios, exhibition spaces, a screening room, and performing arts venues. Residents benefit from access to three fully equipped music production studios, the Shared Art workspace, and 24/7 use of a private studio. Lodging options available for non-local participants.

deadline July 26

posted by LoosenArt

Ever since the 18th century, the world of art has given us landscapes that attest to the urban changes imposed by the industrial and technological development of that time.

With this call LoosenArt wants to collect photographic, video and digital visual design works capable of offering visions of present-day landscapes dominated by human presence.

The works on display will address the theme through the many aspects that concern the relationship between man and environment, all this from a perspective that focuses on different levels of interest, such as anthropological, social, historical, cultural, political and environmental.

deadline July 26

posted by AIA Baltimore

The window to submit projects for consideration for AIA Baltimore’s Excellence in Design Awards is now open. The deadline is Friday, July 26.

Eligible projects include:

Built or unbuilt projects designed by AIA Baltimore licensed architect members anywhere in the world.

Built or unbuilt projects built in AIA Baltimore’s region designed by AIA members of other chapters.

Unbuilt projects designed by Associate AIA members of AIA Baltimore.

Projects must be completed on or after January 1, 2019 and cannot have previously received an award from AIA Baltimore.

deadline July 31

posted by Buckham Gallery

It is the mission of Buckham Gallery to enrich the cultural life of its surrounding communities by presenting a broad range of innovative contemporary art, both visual and nonvisual, of the highest quality and standard.

Buckham Gallery, also known as Buckham Fine Arts Project, is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization founded in 1984. It is Buckham Fine Arts Project’s vision to actively encourage and support artists who are making unique and significant statements in their chosen disciplines, providing opportunities for our greater community to engage with and think about sometimes challenging works of art.

We are currently accepting applications for Buckham’s 42nd Exhibition Season, October 2025 – September 2026. The museum-quality gallery is located in downtown Flint, Michigan. Our exhibitions are open to the public four days a week. The Buckham Fine Arts Project is pleased to announce partial shipping reimbursements available for artists selected to exhibit during our 42nd Exhibition Season!

Details:

Solo, group, and curatorial proposals of all media are welcome to apply. Buckham Gallery will celebrate its 42nd season from October 2025 to September 2026 with nine exhibitions each spanning four to five weeks. Solo artist shows generally run concurrently with one or two other artist presentations.

Proposals must be submitted via Buckham Gallery Website. Artists must submit to 2025 – 2026 Season Call For Entry to be eligible for partial shipping reimbursements to offset transportation costs.

Any special A/V (audio/video) equipment required for the exhibit will need to be provided by the artist(s). Gallery staff will assist as possible, but cannot guarantee availability of equipment.

All shows are laid out and installed by Gallery Staff with consideration given to each artist’s vision. Site-specific installation artists may request to personally execute complex installation proposals. Installation work must be able to be installed within three days due to our short turnover time between shows.