BmoreArt’s Picks: July 9-15

This Week: Artist talk with Mark West at Motor House, Summer ‘24 opening reception at C. Grimaldis Gallery, closing receptions + artist talks for Space Mission & Placebo Effect at Current, James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance opens at the Portrait Gallery, Station North Art Walk, Nikki Stokes opening reception at Make Studio, Joyce J. Scott performance at the BMA, and an upcoming home buying workshop series — PLUS two residencies at Corning Museum of Glass 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, July 9 :: 8pm

@ Motor House

Join us for an evening of discussion with Mark West, curator of The Category is Red.

This exhibition was conceived by Mark West and features a mix of local, national, and international visual artists that showcase artwork and mixed media in our Main Gallery. Some of the artists being featured include Baltimore’s own Qrcky, Kim Rice, Ann Stoddard and VLLAGER, Monique Ribeiro and Ayra Aziza from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and red paintings from the Mark West Private Collection.

Thursday, July 11 :: 5-7pm

@ C. Grimaldis Gallery

C. Grimaldis Gallery is pleased to present its 47th annual summer group exhibition, Summer ‘24, featuring contemporary painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture.

The work of James Hennessey (1936-2023) guides us through subtle interplays of figure and object. His intimate narratives span from the stoic to the surreal, creating a dialogue of nuanced color within both refined and ambiguous spaces. Grace Hartigan (1922-2008) melds washes of color, fusing figurative content with her distinctive approach to abstraction, characterized by vibrant hues and dynamic gestures. Summer ‘24 includes paintings from the artist’s “Lexington Market Series” exemplifying how the later works hold increased presence because of Hartigan’s developed understanding of expression in painting. The exhibition includes a print from another contemporary of the Abstract Expressionist movement, Elaine de Kooning (1918-1989). This piece from the artist’s “Lascaux Series” came after de Kooning’s trip to the Paleolithic caves of France, sparking principal works based on cave paintings, in which outlines of animals such as deer, bison, and goats, are rendered against turbulent grounds of dense marks.

The sculptures of Jae Ko and John Ruppert converse on ideas of naturally occurring versus human-created energy and form. Jae Ko transforms her chosen medium of paper into a living voice within her work. Through binding, gluing, and submerging, Ko imbues the paper with a soft vitality that evokes the forces of nature. In contrast, John Ruppert explores hard-edge materials to delve into human influence on the environment. His castings emphasize a spatial grounding and violent solidity, inviting viewers to contemplate textured surfaces with a sense of serene attention. Together these sculptural works find a balance between celebrating the raw creativity of the earth and acknowledging humanity’s role in shaping the landscape.

Summer ‘24 showcases work from the photo series “SHE” by Lebanese photographer Rania Matar. Drawing from her personal experiences as both a woman and mother, Matar’s ongoing series portrays female-identifying subjects in familiar settings, providing insights into the exploratory journey of independence. Her lens focuses on probing themes of personal and communal identity, using photography to depict female adolescence and womanhood in both the United States and the Middle East. And in another offering of cultural and political narrative, this exhibition debuts work by recent MICA graduate Amelie Wang. Within layers of color and storytelling, Wang communicates a tumultuous relationship with China’s deeply censored history; attempting to understand how the social structures in her home country have impacted her daily life as an individual and her family as a unit. These paintings provide the artist with a sense of grounding embedded in their swirling compositions.

Thursday, July 11 :: 7pm

@ Current Space

Closing Receptions & Artist Talks for “Space Mission” & “Placebo Effect”

6-9pm, special Artist Talks by Se Jong Cho, Iris Hughey, and Alex Ebstein at 7pm. Please join us!

“Space Mission” is an exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Se Jong Cho and Iris Hughey exploring humanity’s relationship with space and imagining beyond the terrestrial, also featuring flowers by Crimson & Clover.

“Placebo Effect” is a solo exhibition by Alex Ebstein interpreting biological phenomena, perceptions and routines.

Born in Seoul, SE JONG CHO makes art to explore the extent of her imagination and broaden her creative domain. She began painting while pursuing her PhD in environmental engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Her training as a scientist taught her to become observant and think critically, and she cultivated her brand of creative expression that combined multidisciplinary perspectives.

IRIS HUGHEY is a multidisciplinary artist from Dallas, Texas. She works sculpturally, primarily using clay and woodworking. Her sculptures and ceramics are humorous and often interactive, involving tactile surfaces, moving mechanisms, and multi-purpose wearables that are enlivened by the viewer/wearer. Her work explores the importance of leisurely play in our lives now more than ever as we live in a fast-moving, emotionally burdened, and overworked civilization.

ALEX EBSTEIN is an artist and curator born in New Haven, CT and based in Baltimore, MD. She received her

MFA from Towson University in 2015 and her BA in Studio Art from Goucher College in 2007. Her recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Victori + Mo in New York, NY, De Novo Gallery in Washington, DC, Steel House Projects in Rockland, Maine, Terrault Gallery in Baltimore, MD, Cuevas Tilleard, New York, NY, Frutta Gallery in Rome, Italy, and Kent Place Gallery in Kent, New Jersey. She has been featured in a number of group exhibitions including Towson University’s CFA Gallery, CPM Gallery, Trestle Gallery, Greenpoint Terminal Gallery, Crossing Collective, Guerrero Gallery and Loyal Gallery. Her work has received write-ups in The New York Times, FastCo, Self Magazine, BmoreArt, Baltimore Beat, City Paper, Beautiful Decay and Aft F City. In addition to her studio practice, Ebstein is the co-founder and director of three galleries in Baltimore since 2009; Nudashank, Phoebe, and Resort.

Friday, June 12 | Ongoing through April 2025

@ The National Portrait Gallery

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has announced “This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance,” celebrating the 100th anniversary of the writer, essayist, playwright and activist. Through portraiture and biography, the one-room exhibition will explore Baldwin’s legacy alongside his contemporaries in art, music, film, literature and activism. The exhibition is curated by the National Portrait Gallery’s Director of Curatorial Affairs, Rhea L. Combs, in consultation with Hilton Als, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New Yorker staff writer. It will be on view July 12, 2024 through April 20, 2025.

“On the centennial of Baldwin’s birth, it is important to look at this prolific thinker and writer, not only for his visionary insights but his influence that still resonates,” Combs said. “Baldwin was bolstered by a community of like-minded creatives, including Lorraine Hansberry, Nina Simone and Bayard Rustin, and his influence remains steadfast in the next generation of activists and artists. This exhibition seeks to highlight Baldwin’s significance through a collective portrait that not only offers a portrait of him, but also honors those who helped him become the man known for holding a mirror up to America and her promise.”

Born in Harlem, New York, Baldwin (1924–1987) considered himself “a witness” and used his writings and his work to talk about America and its history. Attempting to ensure the United States “kept the faith,” Baldwin was often recognized for speaking out against injustice when other like-minded artists, collaborators and organizers were overshadowed. Baldwin’s formative years—growing up poor in New York City, serving in the ministry during his teen years, his personal essays and novels and working closely with civil rights activists of his time—greatly influenced who the artist would become and how he carefully negotiated what were considered acceptable ideas of race, gender and sexuality.

“This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance,” presents portraits in a range of media and ephemera to reveal how Baldwin’s sexuality and faith, artistic curiosities and notions of masculinity—coupled with his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement—helped to shape this formidable figure. Images feature Baldwin alongside other gay civil rights activists who affected his life, notably Rustin—the political activist and principal organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom—and writer and playwright Hansberry. Portraits of fellow creatives in Baldwin’s circle will also be on view, including Beauford Delaney, Essex Hemphill, filmmaker Marlon Riggs and singer Simone. The exhibition will feature works by artists Lyle Ashton Harris, Richard Avedon, Beauford Delaney and Bernard Gotfryd, along with contemporary art by Glenn Ligon, Donald Moffett, Sedat Pakay, Faith Ringgold, Lorna Simpson and Jack Whitten.

“This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance” is the first exhibition presented by the Portrait Gallery dedicated to Baldwin and inspired by the 2019 exhibition “God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin,” curated by Als. The richly illustrated companion publication, published by the National Portrait Gallery and DelMonico Books • D.A.P., will feature select writings by Baldwin on themes of gender politics and religion.

“This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance” is presented with the support of the Ford Foundation and Tommie L. Pegues and Donald A. Capoccia. Additional support has been provided by the Portrait of a Nation Gala.

Friday, July 12 :: 5-9pm

@ Station North Arts + Entertainment District

This series of monthly self-guided tours of all the art and culture that Station North has to offer is a grassroots, artist-led effort organized by community members and stakeholders. Spanning the neighborhoods of Charles North, Greenmount West, and Barclay, Station North is a diverse collection of artist live-work spaces, studios, galleries, rowhomes, and businesses, all just steps away from Penn Station and several higher learning and cultural institutions in the heart of Baltimore.

See below for venue list (coming soon)! Join us every Second Friday of the month for MONTHLY Art Walks in the neighborhood.

Check out the map for venues and create your own self-guided tour! Map will continue to be updated: https://shorturl.at/fuCV6

Co_Lab

2209 Maryland Ave

Present Company will be serving boozy refreshments and having special discounts. Featured artist’s work will be on display. Join us from 5pm – 7pm

@colabbaltimore

Sheila and Richard Riggs Gallery

@ Fred Lazarus IV Center, 131 W North Ave

MICA MFAST 2nd and 3rd year graduate exhibition: “At Home, But Not at Home” 2nd and 3rd year graduate students from MICA’s MFAST program group exhibition.

@mfast_mica

Baltimore Jewelry Center

10 E North Ave, Suite 130

Please visit the BJC to check out our latest exhibition Transforming the Prototype 2. Artists participating in this project received a collection of vintage wax patterns which they were asked to radically transform into a bespoke object(s) or jewelry through additive or subtractive processes. In addition to the gallery visit the BJC studio to learn more about our space, check out our community studio, our retail space, and the plethora of classes and workshops we offer. Accessible entrance is located on the Charles St. side of the building next to the BJC mural. Ring doorbell for entry.

@baltimorejewelrycenter

The Club Car

12 W North Ave

Johnson has selected pieces from a wide range of styles, intentions, and storytelling over 3 decades of painting. From the gentle and sublime to the lurid and confrontational, many of these paintings have never been shown publicly before. Watercolors, normally displayed behind glass, are instead shown bare, so the powerful light and colors are raw and uninterrupted by a reflective barrier. A personal love-letter to Baltimore, there will never be an exhibit like this one again, opening reception from 5pm-9pm on Friday, July 12 at Club Car Baltimore.

https://www.facebook.com/share/ZCfU4BT1Q931XwQF/

@theclubcarbaltimore

Blue Light Junction

209 McAllister St Suite A, Baltimore, MD 21202

Come join us for a free, family-friendly dye activity! We will be dyeing small pieces of cotton with marigold, cochineal, & indigo. You can choose to keep your dyed fabric or add it to our community quilt. On the second floor, browse our Concept Store, visit artist studios and peruse The Alternative Library.

Night Owl Gallery

1735 Maryland Ave, 2nd Floor

“When She Smiles”, curated by Alexis Tyson, is an all-femme show that explores how we center joy and identity in a world that often controls our bodies and narratives. It offers femme-identifying artists a platform to share their voices and happiness, fostering community and mutual support. Featured Artists: Vanessa Villarreal, Jazz Williams, Jaylah Hamilton, TWZ, Ashiara Freeman, Shelby Strickler and Tia Nellie Thomas.

Live music by Cynthia Marie

@night_owl_gallery

Station North Books

34 E. Lanvale

Browse music and music books; art and artifacts!

Guilford Hall Brewery

1611 Guilford Ave.

Offering BOGO Beers (buy one, get on on us!) for Art Walkers – mention this promo

@guilfordhallbrewery

Gallery CA // City Arts Apartments

440 East Oliver Street

Catharsis by Perry Gross. Closing Reception and Artist Talk. Featuring remarks from the artist, refreshments, and her fiber works on display.

@GalleryCA

Station North Tool Library

417 E. Oliver St.

@stationnorthtoollibrary

Open Works

1400 Greenmount Ave

Join us for an opportunity to connect with other creatives. Learn firsthand about our community and the benefits of membership.

https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/classic/ws?studioid=656126&stype=-104&sTG=28&sVT=96&sView=day&sLoc=0&date=07/12/24

@open_works_bmore

Rapid Lemon Productions @ The BBOX, MICA’s Gateway building

1601 West Mount Royal Avenue

https://square.link/u/Idc8hzZ8

Content advisory: The plays in Variations on Courage explore a variety of topics, including ageism, police brutality, racism, mass suicide, and sex work. Several contain profanity.

@rapidlemon

Mount Royal Tavern

1204 W Mt Royal Ave

Sculptural works on canvas by artist Rick Santiago.

@mtroyaltavern

Friday, July 12 :: 6-8:30pm

@ Make Studio

HGE Designs Co. is thrilled to announce the opening of “Roman’s Room: The Touch Me Exhibit”, a groundbreaking sensory art experience designed to make art inclusively accessible through spaces that bring beauty, healing and value to the lives of our community. This immersive experience will debut to the public on Friday, July 12, 2024, 6- 8:30 pm.

“Roman’s Room” features a curated collection of interactive installations by Nikki Stokes of HGE Designs Co. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience the art through the senses of touch for sensory reception, smell to inspire creativity and visually to stimulate the mind. This immersive display of art provides an unforgettable and unique experience that challenges the traditional boundaries of artistic expression.

The exhibit includes a variety of handmade elements and mediums from fiber and yarn. Each expression evokes emotional responses and creates a dialogue between the art and the audience. “Roman’s Room” will include numerous sensory accommodations and a quiet room for guests.

“Art has been an experience many communities find inaccessible due to cost and behavioral expressions that do not conform to societies outdated definition of normal.” says Nikki Stokes. This exhibit is an ode to the sensory room Nikki created during the pandemic when her son, Roman, no longer had access to sensory tools at school that he relied upon to self-regulate.

Being committed to accessibility and inclusivity, she has worked to ensure that “Roman’s Room” is an experience that can be enjoyed by all, regardless of ability or age.

Please join us for the opening reception where guests can meet the artist, Nikki Stokes, and be amongst the first to explore this multisensory adventure. The exhibit will run through August 2024.

Roman’s Room: The Touch Me Exhibit is generously funded by a Creativity Grant from MSAC (Maryland State Arts Council), and a Weaver Award from The Aspen Institute & Walton Family Foundation.

About the exhibiting studio:

Make Studio is a community-based arts center and gallery in Baltimore, MD, envisioning a world of acceptance and inclusion where art opens doors for everyone. Make Studio empowers artists with disabilities to grow as professionals with visibility and voice in their communities. We create opportunities for everyone to connect through art. Make Studio is the only progressive art studio in the Baltimore metro area and currently serves 45 member artists.

3326 Keswick Rd. Baltimore, MD 21211

Gallery hours: Tuesday – Friday, 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m., Saturday 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. & by appt.

Sunday, July 14 :: 2:30-3:30pm

@ Baltimore Museum of Art

Online ticket reservations are now sold out! Walk-up seating in the BMA Auditorium is limited and will be given on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets to Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams are not included and must be purchased separately.

Join us for a momentous musical performance by artist Joyce J. Scott to mark the closing of her 50-year retrospective, Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams.

Scott will be accompanied by long-time collaborators Lorraine Whittlesey and jazz pianist Derrick Thompson, with opening remarks by womanist, abolitionist, and cultural worker Sharayna Christmas.

This program is sponsored in part by the Joshua Johnson Council, one of the nation’s oldest museum support groups devoted to African American and Black Diaspora art. An affiliate organization of the Baltimore Museum of Art.

< Calls for Entry >

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

deadline July 10

The Parkway Theatre is excited to announce “Artscape at the Parkway” – a curated selection of the scenes, excerpts, and images of Baltimore-area film and media makers projected onto street-facing windows at the SNF Parkway Theatre.

We welcome works in a wide variety of formats including narrative, documentary, experimental, animated short films, video art pieces, select scenes from larger works, and other forms of visual imagery. This is a great opportunity for local artists to have work seen by a diverse audience during one of America’s largest free outdoor arts festivals.

Selected works will be on display from August 1 – 31, 2024

Note: This is a silent installation.

deadline August 5

The International Florence Price Festival invites scholars, educators, and performers to submit abstracts for presentations at PriceFest 2024 on October 4-6, 2024, at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. This annual festival serves as a medium to share research, lectures, performances, and have meaningful discussions on the performance and interpretation of the music of Florence Price, her contemporaries, and the music of historically marginalized composers.

Applicants may submit abstracts for the following presentation formats:

Podium Presentations

Lecture-Recitals

Poster Presentations

Lightning Talks

All submissions will be evaluated by the PriceFest Program Committee. The primary criterion for acceptance will be the proposal’s relevance to the Festival’s mission, as well as its artistic and/or scholarly quality. Students and emerging scholars are especially encouraged to apply.

deadline August 9

posted by Maryland State Arts Council

We are pleased to share the Request for Qualifications for artists, or teams of artists to design and create a Maryland Monument to Honor Black Patriots who served in the Revolutionary War.

The idea for a memorial artwork was initially proposed by Steven X. Lee the author of ‘The Story of Mr. Thomas Carney – A Maryland Patriot of the American Revolutionary War.’ Carney was one of many Maryland African Americans, who enlisted and served in integrated units during the Revolutionary War. Just like their white counterparts, the Black Patriots traveled with an army that included free and enslaved women and children who were integral to its functioning. Their contributions have been overlooked in historical narratives. Their legacy is but one of the omitted chapters in the heritage of early Maryland’s extensive Black community. The purpose of the sculpture is to honor these unsung Patriots who were members of the Continental Army community and to expand public understanding of the people who contributed to the fight for American independence. This Monument should celebrate the contributions of Maryland’s free Black population to our State and Country through figurative depictions and the selected artist’s interpretation.

Those interested in applying are invited to attend the How to Apply Webinar: A Monument to Honor Black Patriots, Thursday, July 11, 2:00 – 3:00 pm; To register: Click here. Representatives from the Maryland State Archives and the Maryland State Arts Council will provide an overview of the project and offer detailed information on how artists can apply to be considered for this project.

Budget: $5000 proposal fee to four semi-finalists; $500,000 artwork budget

Request for Qualifications: to review the project and submission details click here

Deadline: August 9, 2024: No artwork proposals, background qualifications only

Apply online: click here

deadline August 29

posted by LOOSEN Art

Fragments of matter or of an idea, broken and interrupted, or inter-ruptured, forms, disintegrated by human behavior or by nature, an action-effect that makes the nature of its composition and its existence even more concrete, manifesting its fragility and its ephemeral utilitarian and/or meaningful function.

Starting with the cubist aesthetics, the fragmentation of forms became the object of analysis of perception: such a fragmentation and reorganization of forms meant that a work no longer had to be seen as a window through which the image of the world is seen, rather it is a physical object on which a subjective response to the world is created.

The selected works will display form and the loss of its functional entity, with the constitution of new visual compositions and new meanings.

A further interpretation of this call sees the breaking of the form as the trace of a cause and effect that is testament to a violent act: an act that represents the urgent need for change.

deadline August 31

posted by Corning Museum of Glass

BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Color) Residency is an extension of The Studio’s Artist-in-Residence program. Through this dedicated residency, the Museum aims to assist underrepresented artists while actively fostering a culture and community of inclusion that promotes, respects, and celebrates diversity.

Artists spend five weeks at The Studio exploring new directions in glassmaking or expanding on their current bodies of work while using the immense resources of the world’s leading glass museum. Applicants who identify as BIPOC artists are welcome to apply for this residency and for our other residencies.

Artists will benefit from the just-completed Wendell Weeks & Kim Frock Residency Center, which features seven studios surrounding a light-filled lounge that will be a hub for creative exchange and connection among residents.

The Studio facility is equipped for furnace working, flameworking, kiln working, and cold working processes, and can support other glassworking and fabrication methods upon request. Transportation, as well as room and board, is provided to those awarded residencies. A generous supply budget and studio space are provided to each resident. Residents have access to the Rakow Research Library, the extensive collection of The Corning Museum of Glass, and expert Museum staff. A residency manager serves as a liaison to additional services in Corning and at the Museum.

Selected applicants are invited for a five-week-long residency during the year. During the residency, artists will make their own work and are invited to give a presentation about their artistic practice or process during a free public event in The Studio.

deadline August 31

posted by Corning Museum of Glass

The Studio’s Artist-in-Residence program brings artists from around the world to Corning, New York. Artists spend focused time at The Studio exploring new directions in glassmaking or expanding on their current bodies of work while using the immense resources of the world’s leading glass museum.

Artists will benefit from the recently completed Wendell Weeks & Kim Frock Residency Center, which features seven studios surrounding a light-filled lounge that will be a hub for creative exchange and connection among residents.

The Studio facility is equipped for furnace working, flameworking, kiln working, and cold working processes, and can support other glassworking and fabrication methods upon request. Transportation, as well as room and board, is provided to those awarded residencies. A generous supply budget and studio space are provided to each artist. Residents have access to the Rakow Research Library, the extensive collection of The Corning Museum of Glass, and expert Museum staff. A residency manager serves as a liaison to additional services in Corning and at the Museum.

deadline August 31

The Opulent Mobility 2024 call for art is now open! Please share your art that re-imagines disability as opulent and powerful.

We challenge you to imagine a world where disability, mobility, and access are not merely functional, but opulent.

Opulent Mobility challenges you to imagine a world where disability, mobility, and access are not merely functional, but opulent. Share your art that re-imagines disability and true freedom of movement. Open to all artists. Fee: $20, but get in touch if the fee causes hardship.

deadline August 31

The focus of Bryn Du’s Artist in Residence program is to enhance local awareness and engagement in the arts by introducing new and varied artists to the Granville community throughout the calendar year. Equally important, the Bryn Du Artist in Residence program will provide an inspirational setting for the creation of artistic works by one artist at a time, of any discipline, over an 8 or 12 week time frame. While in residence, the chosen artist will reside in the Cramer House, the renovated laundry building designed for Artists in Residence, behind the Bryn Du Mansion. Artists may be in any stage of their career to apply and participate in a Bryn Du residency.

Residencies at Bryn Du are open nationwide for artists of all disciplines to apply including but not limited to those in the fields of visual arts, literature, music, theatre, fashion, dance, storytelling and audiovisual studies. Residencies are available in the Winter (January-March), Summer (June-August) and Fall (September-November). Upon applying, artists will specify which seasons they may be interested in and if they prefer an 8 or 12 week residency. The application window is open from June 1 through August 31 for residencies in the following calendar year. There is a $15 non-refundable application fee.

All Artists in Residence are expected to provide a minimum of 2 community engagement activities per month which will be agreed upon by Bryn Du and the artist prior to the residency. Examples might include a community poetry reading, performance on the outdoor stage, artist talk or gallery show. Bryn Du is open to lots of ideas and will happily work with accepted artists to determine engagement activities that are enjoyable to the artist, may advance his or her journey, and engage the community. Stipends include $2000 for an 8 week residency and $3000 for a 12 week residency.

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