When The Walters Art Museum mounted the exhibition Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe in 2012, Dr. Myrtis Bedolla saw an opportunity. She approached chief curator Dr. Joaneath Spicer about a collaboration, one where contemporary artists represented by her own Galerie Myrtis would create new works in direct response to the exhibition. Spicer not only said yes, she generously met one-on-one with Bedolla’s roster, sharing her research.

“The work they created was informed by all this scholarship,” says Bedolla. “We called it the ‘new knowledge,’ because there was historically this notion that all Africans in Europe during that period were enslaved, when in fact they were not.”

Featured alongside works by Black Renaissance masters were now-Baltimore-based artists, including the multidisciplinary Jeffrey Kent and a young painter by the name of Amy Sherald, whom Bedolla represented at the time. In the end, visitors from across the country came to witness this creative change and correction of the artistic historic record.

This magical moment was just one among many over the past two decades of Galerie Myrtis, Bedolla’s brick-and-mortar space located on North Charles Street in Old Goucher. And it captures something essential about how Bedolla has built this gallery—by putting artists in conversation with history, with institutions, with each other, with ambition, clarity, taste, and stewardship.

Bedolla grew up in Chicago, where her parents were devoted collectors who instilled in her a love of art. She sharpened her professional instincts in Washington, D.C., where, with Creative Artisans, she helped artists develop their portfolios as an advocate, representative, and advisor.

Those relationships organically evolved into her becoming a curator and gallerist. In 2006, she opened her first exhibition space in Capitol Hill and, in 2008, she moved Galerie Myrtis to Baltimore.

“It’s a city with a deeply rooted creative community,” she says, “one that is both historically rich and unapologetically authentic.”

From the beginning, her work reflected a clear mission. She would create a platform for African-American artists whose work she knew was vital but underrecognized and subsequently undercollected. The milestones have accumulated steadily since. By 2022, a partnership with Christie’s placed her artists in the secondary market alongside blue-chip names.

“It signaled to collectors and institutions that they belong in those conversations,” she says. “More importantly it expanded the possibilities for how their work could circulate and be valued globally.”

That same year, an invitation came to curate the Venice Biennale.

This anniversary year offers a moment of reflection. The gallery’s annual Art of the Collectors exhibition brought together works by African-American and African Diasporic artists, from emerging talents to celebrated masters. In hallmark Galerie Myrtis style, informed and creative programming ran alongside the exhibition, including a sold-out special edition of her intimate salon-style conversation series, Tea with Myrtis, always free to the public.

“Building community is just as important as mounting exhibitions,” says Bedolla. “The two are inseparable.”

In this next chapter, assistant director Ky Vassor and director of sales Noel Bedolla, Myrtis’ son, will take on more of the curatorial work and artist roster development. That includes newly signed artists from the who’s who of local Black artistic talent—photographer Devin Allen, painter Jerrell Gibbs, and collagist Bria Sterling-Wilson—which has Bedolla particularly energized about the future.

As for her role, the founder is focusing on writing projects, curatorial projects, and deeper institutional conversations.

“The canon,” she says, “is still being written, and I intend to have a hand in that.”

In a penthouse with a breathtaking view across the city, with the waterline of the harbor shimmering in the distance, Rachel Rabinowitz sits beneath a neon sculpture that spells out “America” in black typewriter font. A 2005 work by artist Glenn Ligon, “America” glows with a white background in the evening, a statement on race in its eponymous country.

“It was a prescient piece as it came out at the dawn of the Obama era,” says Rabinowitz, a broker with her own firm, Guerilla Construction, which connects creative professionals with unconventional spaces. She shares the apartment with her husband (and fellow art enthusiast), Joseph, and their daughter.

Rabinowitz and her husband began their collection in 2005, long before their penthouse years, when they purchased an architectural abstraction painting by Sarah Morris, striking for its bright colors and geometry.

“We were, I think, sharing Joseph’s dad’s Buick at the time,” she laughs. “We should’ve put the money toward a car. Instead, we bought a painting.”

While Joseph developed his artistic eye through architecture (he’s the principal of Guerilla Architecture), Rabinowitz’s love for art is practically genetic. Her grandparents, Israel and Selma Rosen, amassed one of Baltimore’s largest and most acclaimed collections of modern art, and her mother and sister are both artists.

But Rabinowitz put in the time to develop her own eye, working as a docent at the Baltimore Museum of Art, at auction houses, and C. Grimaldis Gallery, a contemporary and modern art gallery near The Walters Art Museum.

As an art history major in college, Rabinowitz realized she wasn’t cut out for the academic side of art appreciation but was drawn to the sales aspect. She’s always wanted to own her own gallery, a dream that will finally become a reality later this year when she opens Guerrilla Gallery, an 18,000-square-foot space in Towson that will focus on mid-career artists from the Baltimore-Washington region.

Rabinowitz was obviously knowledgeable when she started collecting and knew to buy “real deal” artists from established galleries.

Someone with a love of art but no experience collecting may find getting started a tad more intimidating.

First rule, says Kristen Hileman, an independent curator and art advisor with more than 20 years of experience working as a museum curator, is don’t be afraid to ask questions.

“Collecting can mean different things to different people,” says Hileman. “But I think the approach that brings the most joy and reward is one where you’re deciding to commit to engaging with art over time because you learn from it and love it and enjoy the community you get involved in.”

But, she cautions, there’s a step before engagement and that’s deciding what interests you.

“Do you want to bring things into your home that are beautiful? Or that ask you questions? Do you like abstraction or do you gravitate to representational work? You need to do a little soul-searching.”

There are those who own art and those who collect. The difference is intentionality, Hileman explains.

Rabinowitz, for example, says she and Joseph look for pieces that capture the cultural zeitgeist of an era. They have many Black artists from the ’70s and ’80s through contemporary—who were once underappreciated and thus easier for them to afford, though that is no longer the case—and pieces that represent the “funk” of the 1970s.

“I’m looking for things that are iconic of their period,” says Rabinowitz. “My litmus test is to look at a piece and say, ‘Can I have a dialogue with this piece?’”

Myrtis Bedolla is the founding director of Galerie Myrtis Fine Art & Advisory, specializing in 20th- and 21st-century American art with a focus on work created by African-American artists. She has some basic rules she shares with new collectors, which she says are the same rules she follows when acquiring work for her own private collection.

“Visit art fairs, galleries, and museums to discover your aesthetic,” she says. “Read books on art history and collecting art, join art-collector groups, and attend museum lectures and visit artists’ studios.”

Rabinowitz likens art education to learning about wine. You start with what you like, you read books, attend tastings, speak to vintners, and try many things.

“Don’t just go to one gallery or one museum or only look at Instagram; the art world is not a straight path,” says Rabinowitz. In addition to going to lectures and meeting artists, she likes the online education offerings at art21.org and points to the local creative online journal BmoreArt as a resource. “Be willing to learn for the sake of learning.”

Both Hileman and Rabinowitz extol the virtues of the art scene in Baltimore, not least because there are many living artists with whom a would-be collector can develop a personal relationship.

Some of Rabinowitz’s acquisitions are from people she knows. One of the first large sculptures the couple bought, “Well,” is by Korean artist Chul Hyun Ahn, whom she met when they were neighbors in the city’s CopyCat building. Another piece is by Dan Steinhilber, a connection made through the Baltimore Museum of Art. Being part of the community that surrounds art collecting is part of the joy of collecting itself.

Newcomers to collecting may be concerned that this is a pastime only for those with money. While Rabinowitz says it is fair to say collecting is often the purview of the wealthy, it’s a little like the stock market or golf—yes, there are monied players, but you can get in at any level if you really want to.

And while there is money to be made by buying art as an investment, Rabinowitz says the people who seem to have the most success buying art that holds its value are the ones motivated by a love of the work, not aspirations of asset appreciation.

“I believe you can have an amazing collection at any price point,” says Hileman, adding that easy access to the Maryland Institute College of Art, our many local academic art programs, and D.C. makes Baltimore a prime spot to find emerging—and potentially more affordable—pieces. There are also community-based and nonprofit art spaces, like the Creative Alliance and Maryland Art Place, that offer opportunities for both engagement and investing.

Being part of the community that surrounds art collecting is part of the joy of collecting itself.

Another distinction between those who buy art and those who collect is that many collectors set aside a certain amount of money for this pursuit.

Bedolla suggests that would-be collectors “establish a budget. This will help you prioritize your purchases.” She adds, “Don’t be shy about asking if the gallery offers a payment plan. Most galleries do, especially those that cater to novice collectors.”

That doesn’t mean you can’t stretch that budget for a special piece, though. “Acquire the best piece you can afford,” says Bedolla.

“There’s a bit of a myth that if you meet the right people at the right time, you can buy something for nothing and make a fortune,” says Hileman. “It’s not that it isn’t possible, but there are many reasons, many unpredictable, an artist doesn’t realize their potential.”

She continues, “I strongly recommend making sure you have other motivations for building a collection, that have to do with feeling joyful, stimulated, provoked, or connected with creative minds, rather than being overly concerned with the monetary aspect.”

Once you know what you want to own, think carefully about its care. Rabinowitz loves raising a child with art in the home and says you can purchase things like sculpture that are durable and can withstand having fingerprints wiped away.

Similarly, Hileman says that if you opt for innovative pieces made from fragile materials, understand they may have a lifespan.

“Educate yourself about materials,” she says, “and how durable they are and how easy they are to keep in your house.”

At the very least, a collector needs to cultivate a good relationship with a knowledgeable framer and set aside a certain amount of the art budget for framing.

And, says Bedolla, “Maintain and protect records of your purchases.”

Hileman is currently part of a team writing a book, How to Fall in Love with Art, about Robert Lehrman and Barbara and Aaron Levine, collectors she met through her time working at the Hirshhorn Museum in D.C. The book chronicles the knowledge of these collectors, but also their friendship and shared passion for art.

Hileman says the book, which is expected to publish in 2024, “Is meant to demonstrate that no matter what level you’re collecting, you’re part of a community and the community is essential to the experience of collecting.”

The engine that fuels collecting and that builds a sense of shared experience among collectors, she says, “is finding joy in the beauty that art offers in a world that is often not joyful.”

Make an appointment at this Old Goucher gallery from September 11 to October 16 to examine personal links to the South, both concrete and conceptual, in the work of 10 Black artists. Co-curated by artist Felandus Thames and historian-curator Key Jo Lee, this collection does not just ruminate on the past, but experiments with current identity and sets the region apart as something beyond location: “a repository for memory, hallowed ground for Black people, and a cornerstone for cultural transmission in the West.”

EAT

May 22-24: Sporty Dog Creations Memorial Day Pop-Up at Hotel Revival

101 W. Monument St. 12-9 p.m. Prices vary.

Nothing says Memorial Day Weekend like hot dogs. We know, we know. The all-American barbecue food isn’t for everyone. But LaShauna Jones and Daejonne Bennett, the mother-daughter duo behind Sporty Dog Creations, craft franks to satisfy all palates. This weekend, they’re setting up a grill in the valet lane at Hotel Revival in Mt. Vernon to offer curbside pickup and delivery of their signature vegan, hot honey chicken, jerk chicken, and classic beef hot dogs. There will also be crudos, grilled oysters, burgers, and to-go cocktails from the hotel’s rooftop bar, Topside. Through Sunday, customers who spend $20 ordering online will receive a 20 percent-off coupon to spend on any of The Sporty Dog’s pre-packaged hot dogs to grill at home.

DRINK

May 23: Whiskey Among Friends: A Fundraiser and Tasting

Zoom. 8:30 p.m.

If you’re looking for a way to show some love to the city’s hard-hit hospitality industry, donating to the Baltimore Bartenders’ Guild is a great option. And this weekend, the guild is offering a special virtual whiskey tasting for the folks who generously donate $100 or more. Funders can pick up a tasting kit, which contains selections from Bardstown Bourbon Company’s latest lineup, from either Dutch Courage in Old Goucher or Mr. Nice Guy Cocktails in Canton. Then, log on to Zoom to taste the spirits, learn about the whiskey-making process with the team from the Kentucky distillery, and raise a glass to Baltimore’s beverage community.

SEE

May 22: Tea with Myrtis: Artistically Speaking

Instagram & YouTube. 2 p.m. Free.

Gallery owner Myrtis Bedolla has been hosting recurring one-on-one salon-style conversations with artists featured in the Women Heal Through Rite and Ritual exhibit at the Mount Vernon gallery. Up next this Saturday is a virtual chat with painter Shanequa Gay. Brew your favorite tea and listen in as the two discuss Gay’s work in the exhibition, which features imaginative narratives that explore women’s roles.

HEAR

May 22: A Tribute to Bill Withers With Cris Jacobs

Facebook Live. 8 p.m. Donations encouraged.

In celebration of Union Craft Brewing’s latest release, the “Somebody to Lean On” double IPA, its brewers have organized a virtual tribute to the late musical legend whose lyrics inspired the beer’s name. Charm City’s own Cris Jacobs will perform his renditions of Bill Withers’ greatest hits on Facebook Live beginning at 8 p.m. Along with 100 percent of the profits from the new beer, a portion of Jacobs’ virtual tip jar will be donated to the Baltimore Restaurant Relief Fund. Be sure to stock up on six packs before the show starts by placing orders for delivery or curbside pickup.

DO

May 22-24: Drive-Thru Strawberry Festival at Weber’s Cider Mill Farm

2526 Proctor Lane, Parkville. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

The farmers at Weber’s in Parkville have come up with a way to enjoy the sweetness of their fourth-annual strawberry festival while maintaining social distancing measures. Kicking off this weekend from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., visitors will be able to drive through the property and safely order from a selection of the farm’s treats that make use of the current harvest, including strawberry donuts, sundaes, slushes, quarts of fresh berries, and even strawberry pancake breakfast boxes to assemble at home.

Additional reporting by Lydia Woolever.

EAT

April 20: Greener Fest

Diamondback Beer, 1215 E Fort Ave. 12-10 p.m. Free.

Any seasoned drinker will tell you that wine isn’t the only type of adult beverage that deserves a good food pairing. This Saturday, take your beer-tasting experience to the next level during this all-day festival that couples Diamondback’s limited-release beers with delectable bites by local pop-ups like Masarap Bmore, Clark Burger, and Avenue Kitchen & Bar. Spend the day snacking on fresh burgers and truck tacos, knocking back a few IPAs, and jamming out with area bands like folk group Pressing Strings, whiskey-rockers Old Eastern, and garage-folk band Skribe.

DRINK

April 20: Brews & Bands

WTMD, 1 Olympic Pl. 12-4 p.m. $30.

The only thing that pairs better with beer than great food is great music. For the fifth year, pack the WTMD studio for all-you-can-drink beer from 15 local breweries, including regional favorites like Heavy Seas Beer, Nepenthe Brewing, and Flying Dog Brewery. With a beer (or two) in hand, bop along to performances by local indie rock band Thunder Club and Baltimore-born Mark Hopkins & the Pretty War. With unlimited tastings of 30 beers, this annual shindig will have you swaying to the rhythm and buzz.

SEE

April 20-June 15: Blackface: A Reclamation of Beauty, Power and Narrative

Galerie Myrtis, 2224 N Charles St. 6-8 p.m. Free.

In collaboration with multicultural arts platform The Agora Culture, Galerie Myrtis will fill the walls of its Old Goucher gallery with photographs, paintings, and multidisciplinary works that explore contemporary notions of black identity. In this two-month exhibition, striking artworks, along with a compilation video, offer a counter narrative to historical and current negative stereotypes of African Americans and reassert the power and beauty of black bodies. Mark your calendar for June 15 for a discussion with contributing artists Tawny Chatmon, Alfred Conteh, Jerrell Gibbs, Jas Knight, Arvie Smith, and Felandus Thames on the final night of the exhibition.

HEAR

April 19: Rise Bmore

Union Baptist Church, 1219 Druid Hill Ave. 7-9:30 p.m. Free.

We already gave this momentous evening of words, music, and movement our seal of approval as 2017’s Best Concert, now get ready to give it yours, too. Now in its fourth year, this Druid Hill concert in honor of Freddie Gray, the Baltimore man who died while in police custody in 2015, will bring local spoken-word artists, activists, musicians, and dancers together for a free evening of artistic expression on the anniversary of his death. Starting with a conversation about art and activism with the founders of A Revolutionary Summer (a program for young women to discuss the creative works of black female artists), take in performances by the Peabody String Sinfonia as well as acts like singer-songwriter J. Pope, poet Tariq Touré, and beatboxer Shodekeh—and reflect on what’s still needed to instill justice and inspire change in our city.

DO

April 20-21: Easter Egg Hunts

Multiple locations. Times vary. Free.

This Sunday, don your best pastel-colored outfit and hop along to parks across the city for a sugar-crazed Easter morning. From Patterson Park to Federal Hill to O’Donnell Square Park, tag along as the little ones hunt for candy-filled eggs and then spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying bouncy castles, cotton candy, photo booths, and visits from the Easter Bunny during this picture-perfect day of family fun.

To call Delita Martin’s art merely portraits would be doing them a disservice. Her works stand as inspiring monuments to living and late black women in her family and extended community.

At the core of her exhibition Between Sprits and Sisters—on display at Galerie Myrtis through February 2, 2019—is a desire to “capture the spirit of a person,” as she says, more than just relay a photorealistic representation.

Martin’s unorthodox approach to portraiture and distinctive aesthetic cleverly juxtapose myriad printmaking techniques with drawing, painting, sewing, and her own symbolic flourishes to create fantastical, spiritually intoned black figures. Martin uses grand embellishments, dense layering of geometric patterns from relief or callograph prints, decorative papers, and hand-stitching to realize intimate scenes of black women’s encounters with ethereal realms.

The worlds Martin illustrates are startlingly beautiful, meditative, and reveal the artist’s ever-expanding mastery of the mediums she engages. We recently talked to the artist about her latest work, spirituality, and the impact of the collection on the canon of portraiture.

What inspired the creation of Between Spirits and Sisters?

It was really a combination of things. Me wanting to grow in my work. It’s always about how do I expand the conversation? How do I continue to talk about the women in my community and the things I want to say and talk about? Also, in terms of working with material, how do I push the envelope as far as processes that I use? I moved from Little Rock back to Texas with my family and I’m interested in how my current environment impacts the work that I have and I’m really allowing that to come through and show in my work.

What’s really beautiful about the work is that those patterns and textures that recur really do create the feeling of another world, a spirit world or otherworldly dimensions. When did you begin to visualize the spiritual world as densely patterned landscapes?
Early on . . . I didn’t want to get in the studio and just be a printmaker or just a painter, or draftsman. I wanted to create, to be an artist. I began to bring all of the different processes together and really marry them. It was really difficult. You learn these different processes in school, but if you are a painter, you are a painter. If you are a printmaker you are a printmaker, I realized that I didn’t have to be any of those things or I could be all of those things.

In terms of the ideas and the development of how did I get the figures in the work, I really began to tell more of my own personal story. Not that other works weren’t personal, but I think that I was concerned with representations of the entire community. But with this body of work you begin to see myself in the work as well as my close family members and extended family. I’m actually drawing them as I see them which was new for me. I never worked from models before and now I am, and its really added a different dimension to the work.

I began to think about how women navigate the spiritual realm. What does it visually look like when we pray? What does it look like when we meditate? What does that look like for me? In terms of the veil, that space between the spiritual and the waking world, what does that look like? The patterns make sense to me.

You’ve spoken about walking into your studio and having a guidance, or hearing a voice, or having the works reveal themselves before they are made.
I am really a vessel or a tool that this message comes through. When I am in the studio, I will come in or have an idea or I will say “I want to work with a full figure.” Or “I want to work with just a portrait today.” That is really as much information as I have when I come into the studio. Once I start working, I may start on the pattern or background first and that determines the figure. Once I get the figure roughed in, I usually start with the facial features and then from that point on everything tells me what to do next.

How do you hope that your work will contribute to the greater canon of portraiture?

I want it start and continue a conversation about what portraiture is and what it means. I’ve always been interested in the figure, drawing the figure and portraits, I didn’t know where I was going with it. I was maybe a sophomore in college and I went on a field trip with my class . . . and we visited stained-glass artist Jean Lacy. We walked into her home and she had all of this beautiful artwork and she had one picture that was a portrait of her done by John T. Biggers. It looked nothing like her, but when you saw it you instantly knew who it was because he had captured her spirit. I knew at that point that was what I wanted to do.

I don’t have an interest in hyper realism. I would use a camera if I did. I’m really interested in capturing that moment, the twinkle in your eye, the slight smile that is known only to you, the simple gesture of your hands. Those are the things I want to capture. I want the essence of who you are.

Visual Art

Maren Hassinger: The Spirit of Things
Maren Hassinger’s four-decade career in art is rooted in sculpture and dance. A selection of her sculptures, made with wire rope, plastic bags, and newspapers, are on exhibit in the Contemporary Wing of the Baltimore Museum of Art in the solo show The Spirit of Things. Some have been reconfigured for this exhibition, which also contains video installations of her performance art and dance. She’s also known for her role at the Maryland Institute College of Art as director of the Rinehart School of Sculpture, which she has served since 1997. July 18-Nov. 25, performance and conversation with the artist at 3 p.m. Sept. 8. BMA, 10 Art Museum Drive.

ISLA: Regarding Paradise
Ironically, the etymology of the word “paradise” goes back to its Greek and Old Iranian roots meaning “walled enclosure.” In this group exhibit at Towson University, curated by Baltimore artist Jackie Milad, contemporary artists working in an array of mediums examine the figurative and literal walls that enclose the pristine beach images of the Caribbean islands, a place that has worked toward political autonomy and environmental justice. Sept.7-Oct. 20. Reception on Sept. 6. Center for the Arts Gallery at Towson University, 8000 York Rd., Towson.

DOS-à-DOS
Baltimore artists L. Nef’fahtiti Partlow-Myrick and Jenny O’Grady met as students in the Creative Writing and Publishing Arts master’s program at the University of Baltimore and will now exhibit the fruits of their labor: a collection of art books, made from a variety of materials both traditional and unorthodox (paper—but also metal and beans, for example). The show’s title references a bookbinding technique that ties together two text blocks with a shared spine-that spine being the MFA program, in this context. Sept. 7-30. Hamilton Gallery, 5502 Harford Road.

Baker Artist Awards 2017 & 2018
Recent Baker Awards awardees—Abraham Burickson (interdisciplinary, 2018), Sara Dittrich (interdisciplinary, 2017), David Marion (visual art, 2017), and Amy Sherald (visual art, 2018)—will show work in an exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Included in the show will be Burickson’s “The Odyssey Works Box,” an archival box filled with books, photographs, and other ephemera, accompanied by a video tour of the history of the arts collective Odyssey Works; Dittrich’s wall sculptures, arranged with hundreds of clay ears; Marion’s multimedia sculptures “Extinction Event” and “Fracking,” which explore violence perpetrated on the natural environment; and two portraits by Sherald. Sept. 12-Oct. 14, with a free opening event with performances on Sept. 13. Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive.

Balancing Act
Joseph Paul Cassar has been working in Baltimore for 13 years as a visual artist and art historian, and is a professor at the University of Maryland University College. He’s shown his work around the world, and this month will exhibit in our city, when Y:ART Gallery in Highlandtown shows his recent work in Balancing Act—drawings in ink and pastel, paper cut-outs, collage, and acrylic on canvas. Sept. 12-Oct. 20, opening reception from 6-9 p.m. Sept. 15, artist talk from 4-6 p.m. Oct. 13. Y:Art Gallery, 3402 Gough St.

Mark Bradford: Tomorrow is Another Day
Renowned contemporary artist Mark Bradford represented the U.S. at the 2017 Venice Biennale and will bring that work to Baltimore for the exhibit Tomorrow is Another Day, accompanied by a new site-specific installation, at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Bradford explores themes from his personal life, black identity, Greek mythology, and the universe through mixed-media pieces, paintings, and video. Sept. 23, 2018-March 3, 2019; opening celebration, 1-5 p.m. Sept. 23. Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive.

What Makes Us (Us)
Gina Pierleoni exhibits some 200 paintings and mixed-media portraits of people encountered over a 25-year period in Baltimore and beyond. She’ll lead a coinciding workshop which will include live music to help to dig deeper into questions of place and perception. Aug. 25-Sept. 29; workshop, 6-7:30 p.m. Sept. 15. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave.

AfriCOBRA: The Evolution of a Movement
This group exhibit at Galerie Myrtis celebrates artists in AfriCOBRA, aka African Commune for Bad Relevant Artists, a coalition that was born from the black arts movement that began in the 1960s and is now celebrating its 50th anniversary. The aesthetic of these artists emerged from activism and aims to speak to black people specifically. The show will display paintings, photographs, prints, and 3-D pieces by the group’s earliest and most recent members, including Akili Ron Anderson, Kevin Cole, Adger Cowans, Michael D. Harris, Napoleon Jones-Henderson (founding member), James Phillips, Frank Smith, Nelson Stevens (founding member), and Renee Stout. Coinciding programming will include Tea with Myrtis (as in, founding director of Galerie Myrtis, Myrtis Bedolla) and an art salon with AfriCOBRA members who will talk about their artwork and its impact on the black arts movement. Sept. 15-Oct. 17, with an opening reception from 5-7 p.m. Sept. 15. Galerie Myrtis Fine Art, 2224 N. Charles St.

Music

Taste of Tuva
Celebrated artist Joyce Scott will host this special evening featuring the music, art, and food of Asia. Alash Ensemble, a trio of throat singers from the Central Asian state of Tuva, will bring both their music and culinary specialties, while collaborating with Baltimore musicians Shodekeh and J Pope. The event supports the Asian Arts & Culture Center at Towson University. 6-9 p.m. Sept. 15. TU South Campus Pavilion at Towson University, 8000 York Rd.

Abdu Ali’s Last Show of 2018
Baltimore music artist Abdu Ali will perform their last live show of the year this month at Metro Gallery, joined by Kotic Couture (hip-hop with pop, Baltimore club, and underground art influences), Pamela_ and her sons (the solo music project of Alessandra Hoshor), and W00dy (Philadelphia-based experimental pop artist). 8 p.m. Sept. 5. Metro Gallery, 1700 N. Charles St.

BeatClub at the Lewis
Over the years, Bmore BeatClub has met regularly inside clubs, bars, and initially a record shop to celebrate hip-hop and beats. Novice artists rap alongside experts at these gatherings, and this month’s event will be extra special, as Bmore BeatClub will bring hip-hop, spoken word, and poetry to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. 7 p.m. Sept. 28. Reginald F. Lewis Museum, 830 E. Pratt St.

Theater

Fades and Fellowship Barbershop Stories
Barbershops are places of conversation and camaraderie—and from this idea came the production Barbershop Stories by Baltimore-based theater troupe Fades & Fellowship. A cast of real barbers will perform the stories overheard in the shop—and then give actual haircuts to selected audience members. Sept. 28. The Motor House, 120 W. North Ave.

Literary Arts

CityLit Swing: A Special Celebration Honoring Kwame Alexander
CityLit will honor poet, educator and New York Times bestselling children’s author Kwame Alexander with its Chic Dambach Award for Service to the Literary Arts during a celebratory evening at The Motor House. Sliding-Scale tickets are available for this CityLit fundraiser, which will include lite fare, libations, jazz, and a reading by Alexander. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 13. The Motor House, 120 W. North Ave.

Small Press Expo
The annual Small Press Expo celebrates indie cartooning and comic arts, bringing more than 4,000 creatives to Bethesda for readings, workshops, and to meet with one another. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sept. 15 and noon-6 p.m. Sept. 16. Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, 5701 Marinelli Road, North Bethesda

Miscellanea

Mortified: Share the Shame
Everyday adults share their most mortifying moments via teenage diary entries, poems, love letters, lyrics, and locker notes in this popular show. 6 and 8 p.m. Sept. 22. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave.

Mono Practice
Founding director Ruri Yi is opening a new contemporary art gallery, Mono Practice, in Station North this month, with a focus on abstract and reductive art. The inaugural exhibit, Pointing To The Sun | An Exercise In Abstraction, is curated by Rod Malin and will feature work by Baltimore-based artists David Brown, Zoë Charlton, Ariel Cavalcante Foster, Terence Hannum, Stephen Hendee, Bill Schmidt, and Yi. Sept. 6-Oct. 13, with an opening reception from 6-9 p.m. Sept. 6. Mono Practice, 212 McAllister St.

EAT

June 30: The Night Brunch

The Field, 200 E. Cromwell St. 6-10 p.m. Free.

We can’t get through a weekend without spotting a new way to eat brunch—bottomless, all-day, or accompanied by a drag show—and now, thanks to The Night Brunch, Baltimoreans have an excuse (like we need one) to now eat breakfast for dinner. On Saturday, this bimonthly foodie hangout will take over Port Covington’s pop-up event space, The Field, for a night of elevated eats under the stars. Dig into South American-inspired plates by Chef Patrick Morrow of Ryleigh’s Oyster and Bluegrass Tavern, including brioche French toast topped with roasted stone fruit and drizzled with agave nectar and smoked salmon tacos garnished with mango cabbage slaw and griddled avocados.

DRINK

June 30: Checkerspot Brewing Co. Grand Opening

Checkerspot Brewing Company, 1399 S. Sharp St. 12 p.m.-12 a.m. Free. 410-591-5527.

After a year and a half of planning and taste-testing, the long-awaited Checkerspot Brewing will open the doors of its new South Baltimore home this Saturday. Named after Maryland’s state butterfly, this farm-to-glass brewery uses locally-sourced ingredients to create a variety of beers like Keeper’s Stout, fortified with crab shells from J.M. Clayton Seafood Company, and opening weekend pours like the Juniperus juniper IPA and Southside pale ale.

SEE

June 30-July 28: Ronald Jackson Solo Exhibition

Galerie Myrtis, 2224 N. Charles St. 5-7 p.m. Free. 410-235-3711.

This weekend, Galerie Mrytis will debut its first-ever solo exhibition by Virginia artist Ronald Jackson. Head to Station North to take in Profiles of Color III: Fabric, Face, and Form, featuring paintings from Jackson’s reimagined world of African-American portraiture. On display until late July, arts lovers will be wowed by the way his bold use of geometric patterns, vivid colors, and rich fabrics to imbue each work with power and emotion.

HEAR

June 30: Bmore BeatClub

The Windup Space, 12 W. North Ave. 8:30 p.m.-1 a.m. $10. 443-243-5400.

This Saturday marks the return of Bmore BeatBlub, the epic bimonthly hip-hop gathering where MCs and rappers of all experience levels are invited to show off their skills on the Station North stage. Hosted by local MC Eze Jackson, this open-mic series is the go-to spot to catch rising talents and established artists alike as they prove their bent for beatmaking. Hear new tracks from local producers, like the ambient-inspired Gentei and the trap-minded SocialN3rd, and be sure to stick around until the end of the show for a late-night dance party.

DO

June 29-July 1: Dundalk Heritage Fair

Dundalk Heritage Park, 2717 Playfield St., Dundalk. Fri. 4-10 p.m., Sat. & Sun. 12-10 p.m. Free-$8. 410-284-4022.

With July 4 right around the corner, get a jumpstart on your Independence Day celebrations this weekend with Dundalk’s 42nd annual Heritage Fair. During this three-day extravaganza filled with everything from amusement rides and carnival games to a petting zoo and pig races, join locals and don your red, white, and blue in this time-honored tradition that leads up to the community’s parade and fireworks show on the Fourth of July. Each night will feature big-name entertainment, including the lead singer of Mötley Crüe, the Get The Led Out Zeppelin cover band, and legendary local rocker Crack The Sky.