You’ve gained attention for incorporating self-empowerment and activism into your eighth-grade English classes, which are made up of students from across the city. How do you work in those kinds of lessons?
It always goes back to the text. If I read a story, I’m going to find something that relates to [some of] my students’ trauma. We read about a woman who did not speak for years because she saw someone get killed. I asked the kids, “Why did she feel that way?” Once I get them talking about her, I can then ask, “Have you ever felt that way? Do you know anyone who feels that way?” If I can figure out a way to pull out the social-emotional discussion points, then I can get them to open up enough for me to motivate them. I’m all about doing what I feel our curriculum is missing.

How does that compare to how other schools approach emotional learning?
A lot of schools are adopting social-emotional learning curriculums that are supplementary to [their normal] work, such as 10 minutes of meditation in the middle of the school day. There are so many ways to implement social-emotional stuff into every class, but no one’s doing it yet. So that’s what I’m modeling through my curriculum, and eventually I’m going to bleed that throughout the entire nation—that’s my plan.

You’re so open about your struggles with depression on Instagram and in your classroom.
Yeah, I’m pretty open about everything. The only thing I do not share is my love life. I’d rather have something I can keep for myself. But the depression—I don’t feel like it’s mine to keep. Depression is really our fight—it’s an American fight; it’s a universal issue; it’s something that so many of us saw our parents try to live through. We didn’t know what we were looking at. Now for everyone who understands it and has the courage to speak about it, it’s our responsibility to do so.

How does that relate to your relationship with reading?
I didn’t fall in love with reading until a few years ago when I didn’t get into my PhD program at the University of Maryland. I’ve always been a strong teacher because I love teaching and I love kids, but I was not grounded in theory. My professor was so upset when I didn’t get into the program, but she gave me a book by bell hooks and said, “Start with this—this is critical race theory.” And bell hooks not only helped me begin to read theory, but she helped me forgive my family members who had hurt me. She talks about mental health, shame in the black community, lack of love, and things that are direct results of post-traumatic slave syndrome. I read that and thought, “Woah! This is everybody that I’m around!” There were so many nuanced things that I began to see when I got into theory, and I got addicted to that fast.

Then I fell into my deepest depression in 2015 and I was unable to do anything but read. I found my sanity in reading about people who are bipolar and schizophrenic, and I was like, “Oh my god—this is me, this is my mother, this is my grandmother.” Reading really healed me. And these weren’t just books by black authors. You gotta read everybody. Because our stories are in everybody’s stories. I don’t give my kids as many books by black authors as people assume that I do. I used to do that before I began reading as much because I thought that’s what my students needed. Now I’m like, ‘I want you to read about this child in India whose mother was killed, and this little boy in Africa who had to escape, and this little girl in Mexico.’ I want them to see themselves in all of these people. And then we can bring it back to Baltimore.

What are some of the books that you’re teaching this year? How do you motivate students to read extra books that are outside of the curriculum?
We have to teach The Crossover, which is a narrative poem about a kid who plays basketball and his dad dies at the end. I think it’s a good book, but I don’t love it so I added three more. I have this chart that says Master Reader, and if you read five books in the marking period, then you’re a master. If you only read one, then you’re a reader. It’s not a competition; it’s more of a discussion. I let them know that not everyone is going to [read] five books. You may only do one, and that’s okay. And why did you only do one and someone else did five? When you go home, you have to help your mom; when they go home, they’re chillin’, so they have more time. We have these open discussions where we talk about how intimate reading is and how diverse we are as learners.

Tell us about last year’s after-school trip to the new Baltimore City Correctional Center with your Reading Club students.
The jail trip was big for me because we didn’t have books [in my classroom] last year. All the books I have this year came from a book drive on Instagram, and now there are enough for kids to read at home in addition to the class set. How does the city give the jail $32 million, but our schools are lacking? So I walked the kids down to the jail and let them see. Where are the playgrounds? Why do we have all these Chinese restaurants and liquor stores and carryouts? Where’s the actual supermarket? For the kids, it was eye-opening. I let them ask all of the questions.

How have your students affected your life?
The children that I’m teaching are my family. I don’t know how, and I honestly don’t care how, but the work that I’m doing is beyond me, and I take a lot of pride in that. It’s really an honor, and it allows me to trust the process. I had a student who was murdered at barely 22 years old and had a 6-year-old daughter. I can hear his voice saying, “Now I’m actually with you, Ms. Clay, while you’re dealing with these boys. You won’t lose another one.” I can feel that, I can hear that, I can see it in the butterflies, I can feel it in the wind, and I know that everything’s going to be good. That’s why, for me, I would call Baltimore ‘Charm City’. It’s like that witchy charm. And not witchy with a notion of scary, harmful magic. It’s the magic that most people don’t know is inside of them. And I get to pull that out of these kids, and they pull it out of me.

Exhibits

Artists for Truth Benefit Exhibition
June 2-23, SpaceCamp Gallery, 16 W. North Ave.  Some of Baltimore’s greatest artistic minds have come together to form a fundraising and educational platform they called Artists For Truth. They aim to support information literacy and freedoms, and to explore the artist’s role in amplifying, reflecting, and addressing societal concerns. Their exhibition at SpaceCamp features 250 artworks by 150 artists, hailing from Baltimore and across the United States, and the works will all be for sale through a silent auction. The exhibition will raise funds for organizations that work to combat the spread of misinformation, teach news literacy, ensure the right to share and access factual information, and protect the rights of truth-tellers in our democracy. Proceeds from the auction benefit Enoch Pratt Free Library (Baltimore), Baltimore Action Legal Team (Baltimore), News Literacy Project (Bethesda), and the Center for Media Justice (Oakland, CA).    

2017 Sondheim Artscape Prize Finalists Exhibition Opening
June 17-Aug. 13, The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St. The finalists for the city’s top visual art prize never fail to astound and inspire. Each year for the past 12 years, this acclaimed group from the greater Baltimore region is showcased at an exhibit as they vie for a $25,000 fellowship. This year’s finalists are Mequitta Ahuja, Mary Anne Arntzen, Cindy Cheng, Sara Dittrich, Benjamin Kelley, Kyle Tata and Amy Yee. The competition winner will be announced during an award ceremony and reception on Saturday, July 15.

Deconstructed
June 10-July 1, Terrault Contemporary, 218 W. Saratoga St. 3rd Floor  Whether temporary, permanent or in this context imagined, humankind has been making structures as long as we’ve existed. These structures mark time, history and memories, sometimes functional and others monumental. The artists in Deconstructed, which is curated by Esther Ruiz, all employ their individual aesthetic in making their own “structures”. Borrowing likeness from household items, architecture, formalism, symbols, and found materials, these artists deconstruct preconceived elements of structure to create distinct visual languages. At times combining the familiar with the unfamiliar and juxtaposing abstraction with representation while deconstructing defined uses of material, scale and imagery. 

‘Sindikit presents Lauren Davies and Melissa Webb
Through July 1, 405 E. Oliver St.  Check out the work of Joan Mitchell Foundation Award winner Lauren Davis, and Melissa Webb, who is presenting her first new installation work since she started facilitating and curating exhibitions as exhibitions manager at School 33.

Murmurs: New Works by Lydia Petit
June 10, Hotel Indigo, 24 W. Franklin St. Check out the latest works from Platform Gallery co-founder Lydia Petit, curated by Maryland Art Place’s Amy Cavanaugh Royce.

Events

Highlandtown’s Inaugural Art Walk
Friday, June 2, various locations  Baltimore’s east side arts district is the latest area to encourage cultural appreciation with a stroll through its many galleries and cultural centers. Stop by Y:ART for a solo show by abstract painter Effie Gereny, or check out Highlandtown Gallery’s Our Baltimore show, which showcases all things Charm City.

West Baltimore Celebrates 10th Boundary Block Party
June 3, Pennsylvania Avenue Triangle Park, Fremont and Pennsylvania Ave.  Organized by the The No Boundaries Coalition, and Pennsylvania Avenue’s own community arts program, Jubilee Arts, the Boundary Block Party is an annual event the brings residents in the 21217 zip code together across race and class lines. The block party will feature marching bands, local music acts Eze Jackson, Mova Dween, and About The Flute Maker, face painting, mural painting, a community-run produce stall, free food and voter registration.

Books In Bloom: The Inaugural Book Festival of Downtown Columbia
June 11, Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods, Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia As part of Columbia’s 50th anniversary celebration, this new festival will brings together some of the country’s best and brightest writers for a daylong festival celebrating the joy of books and reading. Attend readings by Baltimore’s own April Ryan, panel discussions, a poetry wall, and pop-up bookstore by Politics & Prose.

The Storyteller Series: An Acoustic Evening at Cask & Grain
June 21, 2823 O’Donnell St. Last month, new Canton restaurant hot spot Cask & Grain introduced its Storytellers Series, which features acoustic performances by local and regional artists. This second event will highlight the soulful blues of Maryland native Jordan Sokel of the Annapolis-based trio Pressing Strings. Guests enjoy a three-course dinner with beverages served a la carte in the upstairs dining room.

BmoreArt Panel with ARTS.BLACK
June 24, The Motor House, 120 W. North Ave.  This second iteration of BmoreArt’s discussion series will focus on ARTS.BLACK and its founding editors Jessica Lynne and Taylore Renee Aldridge. Arts.Black is a journal of art criticism from Black perspectives predicated on the belief that art criticism should be an accessible dialogue—a tool through which we question, celebrate, and talk back to the global world of contemporary art.

Performances

Flock of Dimes and Amy Reid
June 8, Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St. Jenn Wassner is one of the powerhouses of Baltimore’s music scene, with her Joni Mitchell-esque introspective lyrics and her soulful alto. Her solo project Flock of Dimes is showcased at the Ottobar, along with Chiffon’s Amy Reid. 

Maryland Traditions Folklife Festival
June 10, Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. This celebration of Maryland’s many cultures is one of the most unique and fun events of the year. This year, learn Native American round dancing, hear the story of Baltimore jazz, and experience the beauty of Beijing opera, among many, many more participatory activities and performances. The festival was created 16 years ago by folklorists Elaine Eff and Rory Turner  as part of the Maryland State Arts Council‘s longstanding folklife program, Maryland Traditions works to identify, support, and present Maryland folklife from the Appalachian Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay.

ART/SOUND/NOW
June 22, The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St. This innovative experience brings live performance into the galleries on fourth Thursday nights in the summer. Experience the collections in new ways as musicians provide intriguing soundscapes in the galleries for one night only. Pop and electronic artist Pangelica will explore our emotional attachments to inanimate objects and the hidden sacrifice of luxury in the museum’s Treasury, while jazz bassist Jeron White, trumpeter Brandon Woody, and drummer Kweku Sumbry will reflect on the pluralism of cultures and beliefs represented in the Walters’ Icons gallery, which houses Jewish, Ethiopian Christian, and Eastern Orthodox objects. 

News

• Bill Gilmore, chief executive officer of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA), announced today that he will resign after 37 years with the organization. To ensure continuity during this transition, Gilmore will remain on board until his replacement has been chosen. BOPA, a nonprofit 501 (c)(3), is the city’s arts council, events center and film office. “It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with Team BOPA, the most outstanding and dedicated staff on planet Earth. The work that we have accomplished together has had a profound, long lasting and positive effect on the City of Baltimore,” said Bill Gilmore.
Gilmore began his career at the organization as a graphic designer. Under his leadership, BOPA has produced nationally renowned events such as Artscape and Light City along with the Baltimore Farmers’ Market & Bazaar, the holiday celebrations for New Year’s Eve and Fourth of July, the unveiling of public art including sculptures of Governor William Donald Schaefer, musician Frank Zappa and Orioles Hall-of-Famer Brooks Robinson as well as various parades. He was also the founder of the Baltimore Book Festival, and originated Free Fall Baltimore, providing citywide cultural access for the month of October.

• Baltimore Design School, Maryland’s only school dedicated to preparing middle and high school students for careers in design, will graduate its first class of seniors on Saturday, June 3. This marks a major milestone for the school, which provides an innovative model in which design and creative problem-solving pervades and informs all aspects of the rigorous curriculum. Each of the 36 graduating seniors has been accepted to a two- or four-year higher education institution, many with scholarships. BDS graduates will be primed to become designers and architects who see design as a way of living an ethical, productive, and rewarding life.