Tumble down the rabbit hole. Trip through an immersive installation. Stumble upon an interactive performance. At Hidden Paths: An Exhibition About Walking As Art presented by Cardinal in Bolton Hill, audiences can experience artist-led tours to experiential and visual artworks situated in communities around the gallery’s walls.

“We’re inviting people to go on these artist-led walks and learn from artists how to look at their neighborhoods,” says Alexander Jarman, Cardinal’s co-founder and curator. “Some people will be walking down streets they’ve never walked down before.”

With installments running through November 8, the exhibit features seven artists—many of whom are Baltimore-based—including Todd Shalom, Miguel Braceli, J$Fur, Malcolm Peacock, Ada Pinkston, and Graham Coreil-Allen. They offer a broad range of in-person and virtual tours designed to illuminate lesser-known facts and newly imagined encounters in the area.

The exhibition opened with an improvised tour from Shalom, founder of New York City walking-as-art festival Elastic City, which included a printed guide and talk about “tactics and strategies for how to show up and occupy a place when creating walking art.”

Throughout September, interdisciplinary artist J$Fur shared ambient soundscapes from around Baltimore, and Braceli and award-winning textile artist and MICA professor Susie Brandt hosted talks about their current projects. The last three tours in the series will be presented by conceptual artists Pinkston and Peacock, as well as visual artist Coreil-Allen.

During Peacock’s walk on Saturday, October 5 at 2 p.m., he will present “I Guess I’m Stuck With Me,” which he describes as “a work that explores themes of codependency and interdependency focusing on a range of lived experiences that took place in Baltimore between the years 2016-2019.” The interactive piece encourages audiences to come in pairs to the main branch of the Enoch Pratt Library with a fully charged cell phone (or device with internet access) and headphones.

“This work has to do with presence, physical presence and the absence of it,” Peacock says. “I want whoever experiences it to have an experience that places them in a position of reflection, but also urgency in regard to the ways they are navigating their past experiences—which are really palpable and alive in the present.”

At the conclusion of the tour, Peacock will post links to downloadable audio files so that others who could not attend can still have the opportunity to experience the work.

On October 19 at 2 p.m., trans-media artist Pinkston will present the “Post-Colonial Historical Monuments Tour Artist-Led Walk”—an interactive, ritual-based, performance on the corner of Mosher Street and West Mount Royal Avenue.

The work explores and interrogates the history of confederate monuments in Bolton Hill. During the performance, Pinkston will read excerpts from womanist scholars, including Audre Lorde and bell hooks, on a loudspeaker to facilitate dialogues about the relevance of confederate statues.

—Ada Pinkston

—Ada Pinkston

After the performance, visitors can grab a copy of Pinkston’s zine that documents participant responses to workshops conducted by the artist in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Dallas about the removal of confederate monuments.

Hidden Paths will conclude on November 8 at 7 p.m., with a 90-minute tour led by Coreil-Allen, a public artist and OSI Community Fellow. His piece titled, “Arches and Access Evening Wander,” leads audiences through Druid Hill Park. Attendees will meet the artist at the Druid Hill gates on Madison Avenue to, “explore monuments to community connectivity and a riptide of traffic priorities between the Druid Hill Park gate and the Jones Falls Expressway.”

The work is presented as part of The Access Project for Druid Hill Park (TAP Druid Hill), led by a coalition of artists, residents, city officials, and community partners to increase activation at the park.

Coreil-Allen is especially looking forward to exploring, “the challenging impacts of surrounding highways on local neighborhoods, engineering behind the ongoing reservoir construction, and efforts to better access Druid Hill through participator transportation planning and public art.”

Visual Art

Profiles of Color III
Fredericksburg, Virginia, artist Ronald Jackson reimagines African-American portraiture in his solo show Profiles of Color III: Fabric, Face, and Form at Galerie Myrtis. The mixed-media pieces are collaged with bold shapes and patterns, reminiscent of Klimt but with a contemporary African accent. June 30 through July 28, with an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. June 30 at Gallery Myrtis, 2224 N. Charles St.

Landmarked
Ada Pinkston explores historical landmarks and monuments in Landmarked, a highly participatory show that invites visitors to respond to prompts and, in doing so, become part of the exhibit as it unfolds. A pedestal in the gallery will serve as a space for performance art pieces throughout the duration of the show, including a special night of guest performers on June 16. June 1 to 22 at Cardinal, 1758 Park Ave.

Music

BSO’s New Music Festival
Imagine the elegance of classical music performance against the backdrop of Graffiti Alley and you have the June 22 Chamber Jam with Mind on Fire, Shodekeh, and Ok Miss, part of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s four-day New Music Festival. In its second year, the fest brings contemporary classical music to venues across the city, highlighting living composers. This year, Kevin Puts’ oboe concerto Moonlight, a piece commissioned by the BSO, will premiere at a free show at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. June 20 to 23.

John Williams at Camden Yards
Celebrated American composer (and lifelong baseball fan) John Williams—who has written scores and served as music director for films that include E.T., Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, and Star Wars—will be at Camden Yards on June 11 to throw the first pitch. Before the Orioles game, the BSO will perform a selection of his well-known pieces, starting at 6:30 p.m. The game will be followed by the June 13 Evening with John Williams performance at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

Theater

Nights on the Fringe
Ballet, theater, puppetry, film, crankies, spoken word, dance, circus arts . . . the list goes on for Nights on the Fringe, a vaudeville-inspired cabaret weekend presented by Charm City Fringe—in case you are itching to see some Fringe-worthy shows before the main festival in November. The evenings will be hosted by Aaron Henkin (WYPR’s Out of the Blocks) and Umar Khan (Gin & Jokes, Super Comedy). 8 p.m. June 8 and 9 at the Baltimore Theatre Project.

Literary Arts

Books in Bloom
The daylong Books in Bloom festival brings a host of writers across all literary genres to Columbia for readings, discussions, children’s activities, and a pop-up bookstore. The lineup includes Amanda Lucidon, Edwidge Danticat, Elliot Ackerman, Ian Mackenzie, Jane Delury, Jeannie Valasco, Katia D. Ulysse, Nathan Bomey, Sujata Massey, Vikram Sunderam, and others. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 10 at downtown Columbia Lakefront, 10221 Wincopin Circle, Columbia.

Miscellanea

CreateScape
Creative Labs’ CreateScape event celebrates the DIY arts culture of Baltimore through a free, three-day open house at the group’s headquarters. With a focus on health, creativity, sustainability and collaboration, the fest, hosted by Creative Labs, will cross yoga and dance battles with live music and street art. An array of artisan vendors will give this event a festival feel. June 8 to 10 at Creative Labs, 1786b Union Ave.

Healthy Baltimore: A Festival of Wellness
The free Healthy Baltimore festival at Port Covington will bring an array of music, food, and health and fitness vendors aimed to get you on track—plus the inspiration to move your soul and your body with a performance by Talib Kweli. Pre-registration is required. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 16 at The Field in Port Covington, 200 E. Cromwell St.