At first, Peruvian artist Kukuli Velarde was reluctant to sell her sculpture, Wak’a del Agua—a five-tiered painted ceramic structure that resembles a precarious rock cairn. The work grapples with the impact of colonialism and references the Inca tradition of stacking stones to mark a place as a wak’a—a sentient entity embodied as a mythical ancestor hardened into earth.

Velarde now lives in Philadelphia and teaches at the Maryland Institute College of Art, but her sculpture narrates her Indigenous origins through its five fired-clay layers, each linked to a unique period of history in her native country.

“It’s very much alive to her, so she had to be sure we would care for it and that it would be respected,” says Patricia Lagarde, Wieler-Mellon postdoctoral curatorial fellow for Art of the Americas and co-curator of The Walters’ new permanent collection exhibition, Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano.

Today, Velarde’s wak’a welcomes visitors at the entrance to Arte Latinoamerico, located in the second-floor galleries next to the Sculpture Court. Featuring more than 200 works from 40 cultures across North, South, and Central America, as well as the Caribbean, it’s the first permanent exhibition of Latin American art at The Walters. It’s also one of the few substantive displays of art of the Americas on the East Coast.

It’s an ambitious showcase, representing 4,000 years of history, bringing together the ancient past and the present. Organized by geographic area and theme, the installation mixes antiquities, many from the museum’s collection and others on loan, with current works made by living Latinos and Latin Americans—including Baltimore artists Jessy DeSantis, Edgar Reyes, and René Treviño.

“One thing that [co-curator Ellen Hoobler] and I have been trying to put forth with the installation is the idea that these are living cultures,” says Lagarde, pictured left, above. “These are not just old things from the past—they are things people are using to identify and write their cultural and historical narratives today.”

Historically speaking, this has not always been an easy story to tell. Museum founder Henry Walters began collecting during an era when the very concept of Indigenous American art was questioned, and he invested less in antiquities from Latin America than from places like Europe, Egypt, and Asia.

When the museum first opened in 1934, the Latin American art collection was displayed in a single drawer. But it was two significant  exhibitions and a major gift of 350 artworks in the 2000s that shifted their course. In 2017, they hired Hoobler as the museum’s inaugural curator of Art of the Americas. Lagarde’s position was created in 2023.

To ensure that Latino voices were authentically represented in Arte Latinoamericano, Hoobler and Lagarde initiated two Spanish-language focus groups and a 12-member Community Advisory Group to help shape the installation. Many of the show’s living artists wrote their own wall labels, which, like the catalogue co-authored by Hoobler and Lagarde, present English and Spanish text side-by-side.

This kind of commitment to Latin American art on the part of cultural institutions is important to Velarde, who sees the exhibition as significant—not just historically, but politically.

“Museums can help people to understand that we immigrants are not coming empty-handed,” she says.

And though the exhibition opened in May, it is already having an impact on the community. More than 1,000 visitors attended the exhibition’s opening, a day-long celebration featuring local Latino chefs, musicians, performers, and artisans.

“Many of our community advisors came to the opening and brought their families and friends, and to me, that is a huge metric for success, because they were proud of their association with the project,” says Hoobler, pictured right.

But perhaps the best part of the opening for her and Lagarde was watching artists like DeSantis and Velarde respond to seeing their work installed alongside the antiquities.

As Velarde later put it, “It was a magical experience to see my little wakita next to her ancestors, her predecessors, promising them continuity, letting them know that we, they, are still here.”

The search is on. Next month, Julia Marciari-Alexander will step down as executive director of The Walters Art Museum. On the eve of her arrival in 2013, the California native and San Diego Art Museum curator was described to The Sun as an “up-and-comer” with “a gift for making art engaging and accessible to the public.”

Now fast-forward nearly 12 years, as she ends her tenure in September to become president of the New York-based Kress Foundation, Marciari-Alexander leaves behind an impressive era as the first woman to helm the Mount Vernon institution. Under her direction, the museum launched innovative exhibits, shed light on the Walters family’s difficult history, navigated through COVID, and unionized its staff—with Marciari-Alexander becoming a pillar of the city’s arts scene along the way.

What role does The Walters play in the broader arts community?
The Walters has positioned itself as a steadfast leader when it comes to what role art, culture, and museums can play in creating great civic life, and great cities. I also think we have been a leader in being very intentional in building change for the institution, bringing what is a 90-year-old museum into a 21st-century conversation about why art and art museums matter in this moment of seismic societal change.

What are some of the ways you’ve done this within the museum?
We’re finally seeing the result of decades-long work of my predecessor and the preceding boards . . . just thinking differently about how we use the collections that we have to tell stories that are relevant to where we are today. And that work plays itself out in bringing different voices to the table, different ways of seeing and looking and displaying the art, and how we talk about the art, so that we can reveal the ways that humans relate to each other in their present moment, but also see how humans have related to each other through these wonderful objects of human creativity from across the globe and time.

Are there any exhibitions that encapsulate these efforts for you?
One of the biggest achievements was the complete refurbishment of the Hackerman House—looking at buildings not simply as receptacles for art but the largest and most complex objects that we steward. That project was a showcase for looking differently at how we tell the stories. So, telling the story of the [original] owners, who had two enslaved women living there, and then revealing the little history we have of Sybby Grant, the enslaved cook, and then commissioning a contemporary artist to engage in a conversation with a letter that is written by this woman who did basically invisible labor in this house. All of that comes together through art, and you make the invisible visible. How can we understand objects differently when we think about the context in which they are made, used, and handed down?

Do you have any museum favorites?
My current favorite place in the museum is Across Asia. Around my third week of work, I told some donors that I thought the Asian collection should go on the fourth floor, but museum time is like ocean liner time, not speed boat time—and that’s how you make change. I’m a fan of radical incrementalism, because otherwise, you’re just redecorating, and your house still is the same house. But having Across Asia up there just shows these objects in such a different way. . . . You can learn so much in every room, it bears going back over and over, and that’s our goal.

Speaking of radical incrementalism, after a years-long process, employees at The Walters just voted to unionize. How does it feel to be here?
I have always valued putting the employees first and giving them the opportunity to vote for themselves [for or against unionization]. That was the goal the whole time, and I’m so happy that they did that, and that we are on the other side of that, and that we are now collective bargaining. I’m absolutely sure that, if it doesn’t finish with me, it will keep going and come to a good resolution.

Of course, during your tenure, you also had the pleasure of being dressed by Baltimore fashion designer Bishme Cromartie for a few galas. What was that like?
The first time, I was super star struck. He knew that he was going to be on that first Project Runway, but we couldn’t tell anybody, so it felt like I was wearing this giant secret. I really am a such a [big fan]. Not a Swiftie, but a Bishme-ie.

How would you describe the state of the Baltimore arts right now?Baltimore is one of the premier art and cultural scenes in America, if not the premier city for its size. . . . I will say, I think the future needs to be more truly collaborative, not just, “Hey, let’s do things alongside each other.” Museums have changed more in the last 10, maybe 15, certainly five years than the last before then. And that means that what we do and how we do it is ever more important, because if we don’t meet the moment, we are going to become irrelevant. We have the opportunity to create an even richer community relationship within in the ecosystem of the arts and cultural scene here.

I was seven years old, standing by the cash register at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., with three dollars wadded in my hand, free to choose anything I wanted from the gift shop. My sights were set on the space ice cream—the obvious choice of any red-blooded child of the 1980s. A Neapolitan wafer of Styrofoam-like sugar, it was the next best thing to bouncing weightlessly around the moon’s potholes.

This was no mere souvenir. Instead, my crinkly package of freeze-dried dessert was a tangible thread connecting my little-kid body to the superheroes who ascended into the stars. And from that instant, it was official: I was hooked. Not on the space ice cream—it’s pretty disappointing, actually—but on the magic of the museum gift shop.

Of course, these abound in Baltimore, a city of world-class museums that run the gamut from industrial history to postmodern art. And inside each one, the gift shop is another curated collection, tailored to reflect the people, objects, and stories that make that museum special.

Some are cool. Some are whimsical. Some are surprising. All of them distill the contents of their collections to human size, offering a little bit of the extraordinary to fit into our everyday lives. Their curios let you take some of that wonder home with you, as well as, often enough, the vibrancy, diversity, and unmistakable je ne sais quoi of Baltimore.

Every time I’m in town, I make sure to stop into at least one. A trip to the museum just isn’t complete without them.

American Visionary Art Museum

The G.O.A.T. of Baltimore museum shops is without a doubt Sideshow at the American Visionary Art Museum in Federal Hill. Owned by renegade retailer Ted Frankel, aka “Uncle Fun,” Sideshow is one-part outsider art gallery and one-part tchotchke dreamscape.

Local filmmaker John Waters describes it as “the best museum gift shop you’ve ever been to in your life,” and clearly the man knows what he is talking about. A funky riot of color, objects, books, clothing, antiques, and crafts, each surface and cupboard is bursting with everything you never knew you needed, be it for gag gifts, artsy gifts, kids’ stuff, grown-up stuff, and even stuff for your own home.

There’s a working Zoltar machine, hundreds of novelty sunglasses in the most improbable shapes and colors, whoopee cushions and miniature naked baby dolls, carved coconut monkeys and a stuffed tiger the size of a loveseat. You can spend hours opening tiny drawers full of glass eyeballs or perusing the world’s most robust supply of trick buzzers, squirt cameras, and fart powders.

But the true heart of Sideshow—and where it most closely reflects AVAM’s philosophy of joyful self-expression—is found in the rotating exhibits of artworks by contributing artists from across the country.

It was in this section that I found my favorite museum shop find of all time, a Christmas tree angel crafted from a National Bohemian beer can. To me, that little topper encompasses the spirit of AVAM’s Sideshow—a celebration of the wonder, whimsy, and imagination of those who are called to create. And how Baltimore is that?

Baltimore Museum of Art

Think of it as the Metropolitan Museum of Art—in miniature. The BMA’s collections include 97,000 works that span the art of ancient Egypt to some of the most significant works of modern-day.

The breadth is the point. By developing, maintaining, and now broadening a deep, global collection of the best 18th-, 19th-, and, increasingly, 20th- and 21st-century art and making it accessible to the public, the BMA continues to cultivate a vibrant and healthy city. After an hour or two of edification in the museum’s collections, with the help of free admission, I cultivate my civic duty with a stop in the BMA’s expansive gift shop.

Snag some Cone Collection-inspired journals, prints, and notecards, and don’t sleep on the shop’s jewelry section, which bypasses “statement” and goes right to “declaration.” Collars of acid-treated brass, necklaces of blown-glass globes, and geometrical wire bracelets mirror the Calders in the sculpture garden and Matisse paintings in the galleries.

The shop transforms with each changing exhibition (this past summer’s The Culture hip-hop show had an epic selection), so check out the latest and plan your shopping list accordingly.

I always come prepared to be enchanted and am never disappointed, with my best BMA purchases being a pair of ever-chic punched gold earrings with tiny metallic rays and a postcard of Vincent van Gogh’s painting of hobnailed boots. Pinned above my desk, the latter transports me in an instant to the cool, quiet beauty of the museum’s halls.

Baltimore Museum of Industry

“Industrial chic” is a recent trend, but at the BMI in Locust Point, it was always in style. Their exhibits feel like a Barry Levinson film set come to life—I love to wander through recreated historic shopfronts, printing presses, and workrooms under the glow of neon signs from bygone businesses, traveling back in time each time I turn a corner.

And the museum shop celebrates the city’s long tradition of manufacturing, too, with merch featuring the likeness of the neighboring Domino Sugars sign and books detailing the story of Baltimore’s packing houses, steel mills, and umbrella factories.

The mission of the museum especially shines through in their “Made in Baltimore” section, where you can buy one-of-a-kind treasures crafted on-site. Definitely check out the wonderful handmade iron keychains of beech leaves made by volunteer blacksmith Bob Webber on the BMI’s own working forge. A lifelike little leaf hangs from my key fob, a reminder that I need to plan my annual BMI pilgrimage for 2024.

The BMI also hosts entrepreneur pop-up events throughout the year, where you can support local small businesses and artisans selling prints, crafts, food, artwork, and other goods, including the seasonal farmers market that takes place in its parking lot come spring.

Maryland Center for History and Culture

Who needs reproductions when you can get the real thing? It makes perfect sense that a museum shop celebrating Maryland’s history and culture would sell antiques and vintage clothing on consignment, which has my name all over it.

Just a few steps from the displays of Orioles team cleats and the New Look sportswear of Frederick fashion designer Claire McCardell, you can find your own Maryland treasures at the MCHC. Snap up period finds like chased copper julep cups from the glitzy brownstones of Mount Vernon or fabulous hats from the Hutzler’s department store.

The museum’s changing exhibits, like the recent retrospective on one-time Marylander Jim Henson, also infuse the shop with all sorts of unique state-centric goodies impossible to find anywhere else.

A few years ago, I picked up a jaunty straw clutch from the 1950s, imagining it tucked under the arm of some well-to-do lady taking in a few races at Pimlico. I carry it around in the summertime to channel a little bit of Baltimore’s post-war glamour. And I often think that would make the MCHC proud.

Reginald F. Lewis Museum

Long before there was the Smithsonian’s world-renowned National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, D.C., there was the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, located at a cultural crossroads on the edge of historic Jonestown in downtown Baltimore.

The Lewis Museum features more than 400 years of Black Maryland history in its halls and, over the years, has highlighted both the past and present, such as midcentury painter Ruth Starr Rose, who documented Black life on the Eastern Shore to modern-day photographer and West Baltimorean Devin Allen, whose images have graced the cover of Time magazine.

This same sort of expansive oeuvre is on display in the museum’s gift shop, which offers one-of-a-kind ways to celebrate the icons and imagery of Maryland’s Black history. Frederick Douglass merch and original prints, jewelry, and artwork made by local artists of color, as well as children’s books introducing little readers to Maryland’s iconic Black musicians, artists, athletes, and visionaries, are all great reasons to take advantage of the always-free shop admissions. Inventory rotates weekly, so it’s worth popping in on a semi-regular basis. And while you’re there, be sure to stop a while and watch the city go by through its grand floor-to-ceiling windows along President Street.

The Walters Art Museum

The Walters has roots in a core collection of art and artifacts bequeathed to the City of Baltimore in 1934 by its namesake scion, Henry Walters.

Spanning seven millennia of art from around the world, much of the collections are personal in nature, providing glimpses of what museums looked like in the 19th century, when private salon-style exhibits blended artistic techniques and periods to suit individual tastes. The vast Classical and Egyptian galleries in particular make me feel like Claudia in From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, with covetable Roman torcs and impassive sphinx figurines.

Fortunately, the gift shop provides the perfect place to scratch that same itch. Replicas of ancient Egyptian, Roman, Greek, Chinese, and Pre-Columbian earrings, cuff links, and pins in gold and silver are shockingly modern in their simplicity and design.

The paper and prints section echoes the global scope of the main collections, with illuminated Ethiopian holiday cards, Renaissance landscape prints, and notecards with delicate Japanese watercolors.

My personal favorites are the replica blueprints of the iconic Walters Museum building itself—the perfect insider gift for the Baltimorean who has everything.

Small But Mighty

Many of Baltimore’s smaller institutions boast their own wildly cool shops with mission-inspired inventories that are delightful to explore.

The B&O Railroad Museum, for instance, has gifts for locomotive lovers of all ages, from striped engineer caps and model train kits to 19th-century replica railway maps and vintage Rails Across America comic books.

At the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum, snap up Poe “Death Week” vigil candles, “Nevermore” highschool iron-on patches, and International Poe Fest swag.

At The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, find books, clothing, and souvenirs highlighting notable African Americans, like Baltimore’s own Billie Holiday.

And the T-shirt game at the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum is on point, featuring an homage to the baseball icon’s original period uniform and a “Call It” top commemorating the Babe’s epic prediction of his own home run hit to deep center field in 1932, both of which will leave baseball fans with plenty of ways to rep their native son.

Meanwhile, you can find chemistry kits and glow-in-the-dark skeletons at the Maryland Science Center, stuffed animals and shark-tooth necklaces at the National Aquarium, and all sorts of books, games, and puzzles at Port Discovery’s brand-new, minority-owned Snug Books.

The Walters Art Museum’s stunning collection of Asian art spans some 5,000 years and 900 works, stretching across Japan, Korea, and China to India, Nepal, Tibet, Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia. The Walters is also home to one of the richest collections of Islamic art in the U.S., comprising 1,200 objects mostly from Persian, Turkish, and Mediterranean cultures, as well as Islamic South Asia.

With an opportunity presented by a restoration of the Hackerman House, the previous home to much of its Asian and Islamic collection, along with a reexamination of the museum’s longtime centering of its European work, the Walters recently unveiled a landmark reinstallation of its Asian and Islamic collection that encompasses the museum’s entire fourth floor.

Led by Adriana Proser, the Walter’s chief curator of Asian Art, Dany Chan, the museum’s associate curator of Asian Art, and guest curator Ashley Dimmig, a former postdoctoral curatorial fellow in Islamic Art, the exhibition brings together diverse regions and religious and artistic practices in a sweeping show that highlights their interaction and influence upon one another.

Notably, visitors will also encounter a Japanese digital animation of nature and a mixed media meditation piece from MICA graduate Lingling Lu, pointing to the ongoing influence of Asian art in the West.

We recently caught up with Proser to discuss the reimagining process, curation of the exhibit, and some of her favorite works.

I went to see the new exhibition late one afternoon and was so enthralled by it that the guards eventually said, “We’re getting ready to close, you’re welcome to come back tomorrow. We open at 10 a.m.” And I did. I came back the next day.
Well, that’s great. You know that warms a curator’s heart.

This new installation of the Asian and Islamic collections was years in the making. Can you describe the reimagining process a bit?
When I came for my interview [three-plus years ago, from New York’s Asian Society], they were already talking about the project and about this idea of movement of artworks across cultures and between Asian countries and Islamic countries, and also, beyond that, with places in Europe and Africa.

That’s it. It’s that the movement within the installation across geography and eras that is enlightening and rewarding. It also feels natural and seamless. Not at all like you’re just moving from one object, painting, or sculpture to the next.
I think what made this project unique and successful was that. From the get-go, we were trying to make sure that, as much as possible, we were looking at the various components of the project as a whole.

The inclusion of local voices from the Muslim community and the Asian community was also an inspired idea. It adds a dimension to the exhibition and fits in seamlessly as well.
I want to put together narratives that make sense and don’t feel awkward. I also think that we were able to find members of the community, like the head monk from the Silver Spring Thai Buddhist temple and Aisha Imam from Reed Society for the Sacred Arts, who helped us do that.

This installation also feels like part of the museum’s reexamination of its collection, how it’s presented, and general effort to be more inclusive.
Definitely, and I think it’s going to feel even stronger when the new Ancient Americas gallery is open in a couple of years. We’re deliberately trying to make the non-Western cultures not seem like they’re add-ons or afterthoughts, but really have a museum that is presenting its collections on equal footing because they also reflect the heritage and cultures of so many different Americans. And again, it’s by putting these things from many cultures in proximity to each other that we can recognize and highlight how long all of our cultures have been engaging with, interacting with, and sometimes even influencing each other.

I realize this may be an impossible question. Do you have a favorite work?
Oh, my goodness. You know, all my geese are swans, right? The thing that really seems to make the installation special is the thammat [the Buddhist pulpit from Thailand]. It was clearly made for a temple with royal sponsorship. It’s very, very elaborate and it also kind of encapsulates what we’re trying to do it. It’s this combination of a 19th-century object that has elements that show ties to China, like the wood carving in it. Probably a lot of the craftsmen who worked on it originated in China and then emigrated to Thailand. But it has very unique qualities of Thai art, too. It’s such a striking, glittering presence and yet it also gives us an opportunity to tie its architecture to other objects in the collection in a way that we never could before.

Earl Martin is a curator of several thousand ordinary but extraordinary things. A snuffbox with a tiny portrait of Louis XIV. A Russian drinking bowl made of gilded silver. A Fabergé sugar bowl covered in botanical garlands.

Specifically, Martin is the Deborah and Philip English Curator of Decorative Arts, Design, and Material Culture at The Walters Art Museum, a new position created with a $2.5-million endowment from its namesake local art collectors and tasked with caring for the Mt. Vernon institution’s collection of 18th- and 19th-century artifacts.

But the job requires more than just preserving pretty things from the past, ranging from ceramics and textiles to glass: Martin is looking at how these pieces—both functional and ornamental—had an impact on the world around them.

Like paintings and sculpture, “[These objects] reflect the cultures and histories of the world,” says Martin, pictured above. “They can range from everyday objects that you might actually have all around you at home to [those that] the royalty and elite of Europe and the Americas would own,” from small simple mugs by Baltimore silversmith Samuel Kirk & Son to ornate rococo clocks made with French and German techniques.

This will soon include more than 400 pieces of majolica pottery to be donated by the Englishes and overseen by Martin, who first arrived at the museum as a collaborator on Majolica Mania. Launched last March, the building-wide exhibition in the newly renovated Hackerman House was part of the museum’s newfound emphasis on creating a world-class venue for the study of decorative arts in Baltimore.

Majolica, a style of ceramics first introduced at London’s Great Exhibition of 1851, was a favorite of the Victorians, who celebrated its colorful glazes and natural themes. Given its high quality and comprehensive selection, the acquisition means that the Walters, “without hyperbole. . .will probably have the greatest collection of this material in the world,” says Martin.

The Wisconsin native came to the Walters after 15 years as a curator at the Bard Graduate Center in New York City. Before that, he interned with the Center in New York City. Before that, he interned with the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, during which time he earned his M.A. in art history from the Parsons School of Design.

Particularly enchanted by material culture, Martin’s area of study includes an appreciation for the artistic techniques used to create these objects, but also an understanding of the artisans themselves, and perhaps the lives they led.

In curating the Walters’ collection into new displays, he wants viewers to understand these objects holistically—from their function to the industries that created them to their role in global trade. Through this intimate exploration of the past, we can connect these stories to present-day, says Martin, as well as, “convey histories that might otherwise not be told.”

That includes his interest in highlighting little-known Baltimore makers of the 18th- and 19th-centuries—especially ceramicists, of which the Walters has an extensive collection. One such object is a covered pitcher created in the mid-1880s by D. F. Haynes & Co. of Locust Point. Made of Maryland clay, its decorations were applied by Maryland Institute artisans, many of whom were female at a time when few jobs existed for women beyond domestic labor.

Says Martin, “Something as simple as a pitcher can be key to telling a wonderful story of the history of this city and its people.”

TO 4/30: WOMEN OF STEEL
The Baltimore Museum of Industry has opened its next exhibition outside
of the museum to allow for social distancing and open-air exploration during COVID-19. The exhibition, titled Women of Steel, hangs on the museum’s fence along Key Highway in South Baltimore. Women of Steel highlights the stories of women who worked at Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point mill in Baltimore from the 1930s until the mill closed in 2012. The Baltimore Museum of Industry. Daily.

TO 9/19: LISA YUSKAVAGE: WILDERNESS
Co-organized with the Aspen Art Museum, this new exhibit features more than 15 paintings that show the New York-based artist’s expansive treatment of landscape on expansive canvases, imagining entire worlds that are both highly detailed and mysterious. The Baltimore Museum of Art. Wed.-Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

TO 8/2022: THE SCIENCE & MYSTERY OF SLEEP
In AVAM’s newest third-floor gallery exhibition, a compilation of all the latest sleep-related scientific research mingles with three artist-made visionary bedrooms, delving into an array of topics, from the impact of sleep on health, sleep and adolescence, and the power of the Hypnagogic state championed by famed Harvard geneticist Dr. George Church. American Visionary Art Museum. Wed.-Sun., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $15.95.

TO 9/2022: FLICKERING TREASURES
In a now-and-then showcase, this exhibit delves into Maryland’s historic movie theaters, featuring historic images from the MCHC photograph collection paired with contemporary images by Sun photographer Amy Davis, author of the exhibit’s namesake book, Flickering Treasures. Maryland Center for History & Culture. Wed.-Sat.10 a.m.-3 p.m. Free-$9.

TO 9/2022: WILD AND UNTAMED
This selection of revered Baltimore album quilts introduces visitors to Dr. William Rush Dunton, known by many as the father of occupational therapy, as well as one of the first inductees to the Quilters Hall of Fame. Maryland Center for History & Culture. Wed.-Sat. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Free-$9.

Visual Art

Amalie R. Rothschild Rock Icons & Images

Don’t miss your opportunity to catch the work of Amalie R. Rothschild, the “unofficial photographer of Woodstock,” at Goya Contemporary Gallery. The documentary-style work captures some of rock’s greatest personalities during the turbulent late ‘60s and early ‘70s, chronicling one of the most iconic periods of American music and history. Through March 2. Goya Contemporary Gallery, 3000 Chestnut Ave.

Literature

Writers LIVE! R. Eric Thomas, Here For It

Park School alum R. Eric Thomas offers the internet his best jokes and hottest takes in his daily humor column, “Eric Reads the News.” Now get a more personal set of tales with his new book of essays, Here for It. The man himself will make a stop at Central Library’s Wheeler Auditorium this month to discuss his childhood between two vastly different neighborhoods, finding love, and the wild world of internet fame. Feb. 20. Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral St.

Bruce Goldfarb’s 18 Tiny Deaths

Hear the story of one of Baltimore’s most impactful quirks as Bruce Goldfarb presents his 18 Tiny Deaths, The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics. The 18 tiny deaths refer to the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, a series of painstakingly recreated crime scenes that, at first a hobby for Lee, turned into a teaching tool for generations of criminal investigators. The scenes, now housed Maryland Medical Examiner’s Office, are still used for forensic seminars today. 7-9 p.m. Feb. 15. Atomic Books, 3620 Falls Rd.

Music

Psycho Killers at Union Craft Brewing

Before David Byrne takes the SNL stage this month, get your fix with this tribute to the New Wave icon’s first project: The Talking Heads. The boys of Psycho Killers will be on hand at Union on Valentine’s Day to play hits like “This Must Be The Place” and “Once in a Lifetime,” as well as love songs from other bands’ discographies, throughout the evening. 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. Feb. 14. UNION Craft Brewing, 1700 W. 41st St.

Pleasure For Your Palette: A Colorful Night With Emerging Opera Stars

February is the month for opera, with multiple opportunities from the likes of The Acme Corporation and Opera Alchemy around the city. But for those looking for a survey of the operatic talent Baltimore has to offer, Creative Alliance has gathered a crew of rising stars. In this intimate performance, soprano Victoria Zelefsky, mezzo Taylor Hillary Boykins, tenor Henry William Hubbard, bass Aaron Thacker, and pianist Maria Adele Scott will join together for a night of solo and ensemble work and discussion. 8 p.m. Feb. 28. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave.

Theatre

MICA Fifth Annual Benefit Drag Show

Great music, creative costumes, lots of glitter, and the chance to support MICA’s LGBTQ scholarships—this drag show truly has it all. Members of the art school’s Faculty and Staff Queer Alliance will join pro kings and queens Miss Sue Nami, Dee Dee Dereon, Venus Festrada, Gadfrie Arbulu, and Chris Jay for this night of fun that helps fund the FASQA Awards, given each year to a a student in the community who demonstrated financial need and another to a student who has shown involvement in and commitment to LGBTQ+ issues. 8-10 p.m. Feb. 28. The Gateway BBOX Theater, 1601 W. Mount Royal Ave.

Film

Open House: True Laurels—A Gallop Through Time

Though they’re not as prevalent as they once were, Baltimore’s arabbers remain an essential part of the city’s cultural identity. On Feb. 22, join True Laurels founder Lawrence Burney for a screening of the documentary We Are Arabbers and a discussion with former members of the trade to discuss the occupation’s past and what can be done to preserve it for the future. 2-4 p.m. Feb. 22. The Baltimore Museum Art, 10 Art Museum Dr.

News

Black Arts District Launches its New Brand

The new Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts and Entertainment District plans to launch its first branding initiative in style with a party at Shake & Bake Family Fun Center on Feb. 16. Creative Director Tia Newton and her team will be on hand to talk about what’s coming up for the newly minted arts district in addition to plenty of fun events such as dancing, $1 skating and bowling, and themed giveaways.

The Walters Receives $500,000 Endowment from Boshell

The Boshell Foundation, the group responsible for The Walters’ long-running ancient art and architecture lectures, recently announced a $500,000 endowment for the museum to go toward the continuation of the popular series. “We are deeply thankful for their generous endowment gift and look forward to the lectures it will provide in years to come,” Walters Director Julia Marciari-Alexander said in a statement released by the museum. The Boshell Lecture Series was originally launched in 2017, and the newest installment, “How Many Noses Can One Face Have?,” about the evolution of taste when it comes to restoration and repair work, will take place Sunday, April 19.

Whether for the love of art or the love of a venerated saint, viewing The St. Francis Missal, opening at The Walters Art Museum on Feb. 1, is an essential pilgrimage.

At the center of this exhibition, housed on the third floor among other medieval treasures, is the Missal itself, said to have been the book consulted by St. Francis when he was looking for guidance from God on what his path might be. Legend has it that Francis and two followers opened the Missal, which sat on an alter in Assisi, three times at random. Each time, the text encouraged the renouncing of earthly possessions, thus laying the foundation for the Franciscan order.

As with most relics, the veracity of the claim can’t be positively proven, but the known facts about the manuscript do make its interaction with the saint plausible.

“This was a very heavily used manuscript,” says The Walters’ Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts Lynley Herbert. “This is the book that would be on the altar and used regularly during the services. It was made for the church of San Nicolo, so we know that it was in the church that we want it to be in for the story of Francis. And we also have the name of a donor who was known to have lived in the 1180s and 1190s. So we can sort of use those things to triangulate the date and place of this manuscript. There really has never been another proposed book that could have been the book he opened. It’s actually more unlikely that I get to touch this book then that he would have.”

The Missal was acquired by Henry Walters in 1924. Since then, this relic of touch has been visited by scores of pilgrims and scholars. The decades of handling took their toll, and in 2017 a restoration to preserve it begun. Head of Book and Paper Conservation Abigail Quandt and Mellon Fellow Cathie Magee presided over the meticulous repair and stabilization project, which included taking the manuscript apart, hand-sewing the pages back together with linen thread, and binding new leather to heavily damaged 15th-century boards.

“The fact that it’s handled, and the pages are turned, we took that into consideration when making the decision about whether to actually take apart the whole book,” says Quandt. “But ultimately we decided that it would be best for the text to take it apart because then we could do the repair more successfully. It would be stronger repairs and it would last longer.”

Magee’s 21st-century stitches now run through the 15th-century binding holes and the 12th-century pages, very literally tying the relic’s presence at the Walters to its medieval past.

The new exhibition, which runs through May 31, is the first time in nearly 40 years that the Missal has been displayed publicly. It’s surrounded by other Franciscan pieces and relics pulled from the Walters’ archives, including items of private devotion and images of Saints Anthony and Clare—two important early Franciscan followers. They’re arranged around the Missal in an intimate space that evokes the side chapels of Europe’s old cathedrals—the traditional homes of many a Catholic relic.

In fact, the Missal is one of very few relics of St. Francis available to worshipers and historians in the United States. “I’m not aware of any other major relics connected to him in the country,” says Herbert. “This is one of the ones that people are most excited about.”

To give visitors the best experience with the Missal, on crowded days a limited number of people will be allowed in the small exhibition space at a time, with no time limit on viewing. The goal, says Herbert, is to allow those captivated by the relic to have their space and take the time they need, whether for interest or devotion.

“You don’t have to be religious to appreciate the fact that it’s this important historical moment,” says Herbert. “If somebody wants to come and stand here for an hour, having a moment with the book, that’s going to be probably one person in a hundred. It’s not going to cause a traffic jam. I’d rather that they get to have that experience, and I hope that people will feel comfortable coming in here and not having the crowds around. I hope it’s special for different reasons for different people.”

The St. Francis Missal opens Feb. 1 and will run through May 31. Herbert and Quandt will also present a lecture on the conservation of the manuscript, “Saving the Sacred: Medieval Tales and Modern Technology in the St. Francis Missal” on April 9.

EAT

Nov. 2: Stars, Stripes, and Chow

South Point, Port Covington. 1-4:30 p.m. Free-$50.

There’s nothing better than a warm bowl of chili on a brisk fall evening. Presented by the Baltimore Orioles, The Baltimore Station will host this fifth chili cook-off fundraiser to further its mission of helping veterans overcome daily obstacles and regain self-sufficiency. Come hungry and judge unlimited chili samples made by local teams competing for awards such as Best Chili, Best Decorated Booth, and the crowd-selected People’s Choice Award. In between bites, entertain the kiddos with activities like sack racing and face painting.

DRINK

Nov. 1: Skeleton Spirit Halloween Dance Party Extraordinaire

Union Collective, 1700 W. 41st St. 9 p.m.-1 a.m. $10.

Who says that costume parties and spooky shenanigans have to end on October 31? This Friday, don your Halloween costume one last time and head to Union Collective for an all-out dance party, featuring a cocktail and beer bar by Sugarvale, eats by Dooby’s, and tunes by DJ Cian Noteman. This ghouly shindig also marks the fourth birthday of The Baltimore Spirits Company, and to celebrate, the award-winning distillery will debut its latest concoction, the Skeleton Spirit, during this bone-shaking anniversary party.

SEE

Nov. 2: DÍa de los Muertos

The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.

This beloved Mexican holiday—translated to “Day of the Dead”—is a colorful celebration filled with music, sugar skulls, and marigolds that honor family members and loved ones who have passed. Luckily for locals, the Walters Art Museum hosts one of the largest celebrations in the region, bringing traditional dance performances, Mexican folk-art activities for families, authentic snacks and drinks, and a community altar to its halls. After the festivities, stick around to take tours of the collection in English or Spanish.

HEAR

Nov. 2: BMORE Lit!

Patterson Park, 27 S. Patterson Ave. 6:30-8:30 p.m. Free.

Although Light City and the Baltimore Book Festival have combined to create Brilliant Baltimore (see more below), there are still some fan-favorite traditions from the original events that will continue on, including the Light City Neighborhood Lights program. Kick off the first weekend of the citywide extravaganza with the lighting of the Patterson Park Pagoda followed by a glow-in-the-dark dance party set to classic soul and funk tunes spun by DJ Rob Macy of Save Your Soul. Dance in the light of the park’s historic observatory and be sure to check out the full itinerary of Brilliant Baltimore events running through November 10.

DO

Nov. 1-10: Brilliant Baltimore

Locations, times, and prices vary.

For the first time ever, two of the city’s much-anticipated festivals—Light City and the Baltimore Book Festival—will be combined into one free celebration called Brilliant Baltimore, which will take place across Charm City over the next 10 days. Billed as a festival of literature and light, this one-of-a-kind event features everything from author talks and panel discussions to live music by local acts and world-class light installations. Feeling overwhelmed by the number of can’t-miss sights and sounds? Check out our activity-based guide to tailor your Brilliant Baltimore experience.

Visual Art

Time and Place

In this second exhibition at the reopened 1 West Mount Vernon Place, contemplate the bridges between past and present through Jay Gould’s evocative portraits and Antonio McAfee’s haunting composite images from W.E.B. DuBois’ Exhibit of American Negroes. The combination of the two artists work offers a contemporary perspective on 19th-century imagery. Through March 1, 2020. The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St.

Music

Lower Dens Album Release

Join Jana Hunter and Nate Nelson as they celebrate the release of The Competition and kick off a month-long tour with two nights of shows at Rituals in the former home of The Windup Space in Station North. Soak up their synth-laced beats and dance like the lead in your favorite ‘80s heartbreaker before these local legends head out of town for September. 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. Rituals, 12 W. North Ave.

Literature

Jessica Gregg: News From This Lonesome City

Jessica Gregg has spent the past decade living in and writing about the city her family has called home for five generations. This new collection of poems from the editor of Baltimore’s Child and Baltimore’s Style explores the experiences gathered by living and working in Baltimore and the loneliness, fear, and ultimate hope that they inspire. Join Gregg at Bird in Hand for a discussion of these new verses and the stories that inspired them. 7-9 p.m., Bird in Hand Charles Village, 11 E. 33rd St.

Film

2019 Black Femme Supremacy Film Fest

Back for its second year at the SNF Parkway, this weekend-long film festival celebrating and connecting black femme filmmakers will feature dozens of films, from music videos to documentaries. This year’s theme is “Access,” and the idea will guide programming throughout the festival. Be sure to catch screenings of Baltimore-made docs such as B. Monet’s Ballet After Dark and Antonio Hernadez’s Indelible: Abdu Ali, both about local artists changing this city for the better. Aug. 30 to Sept. 1. The SNF Parkway Theatre, 5 W. North Ave.

News

Home Sweet Home for Current Space

If you haven’t been by 421 North Howard Street recently, we have good news for you. After three long years of red tape and renovation, Current Space finally has the forever home they’ve been after. Owners Julianne Hamilton and Michael Benevento had been working to acquire the building since 2015 and announced the purchase in late July. Next steps include updates to the roof and HVAC system, among other improvements. Stop by Aug. 31 to pass along your congratulations to Hamilton and Benevento and jam to Horse Lords, Wume, Smoke Bellow, and DJ/MC Lexie Mountain in the backyard.

New Digs for The Ivy Bookshop

The Ivy is already a book-lover’s dream, but take a moment to imagine perusing one of its tomes while rocking back and forth on a peaceful front porch, or maybe even moving into the shop itself. Those dreams will soon be a reality, as The Ivy plans to move into a 19th century home at 5928 Falls Road this spring. New additions will include more space for books, an upstairs workshop, and a writer’s residency apartment, all inside a charming former church near the Jones Falls.

It’s a Woman’s World at the BMA

The Baltimore Museum of Art has announced on Aug. 1 that, starting this fall, the museum will play host to 20 exhibitions celebrating women and female-identifying artists over the course of a year. The program, called 2020 Vision, recognizes the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and will kick off this fall with By Their Creative Force: American Women Modernists, which will feature 20th-century painters, followed by an installation of Mickalene Thomas’ living rooms in the museum’s east lobby in November. Vision 2020 begins in September and will stretch through Summer 2020.

Given the political division so evident in last year’s presidential election, there’s no better time to come together and celebrate the life of one legendary man who fought for equality, unity, and peace. Through music, dance, and many other mediums, these eight events help commemorate and immortalize some of Martin Luther King Jr.’s most important messages.

Films

SELMA
Jan. 9, Enoch Pratt Free Library, 1531 W. North Ave. 5 p.m. Jan. 18, Enoch Pratt Free Library, 3601 Eastern Ave. 12:30-7:30 p.m. This film depicts MLK Jr.’s violent and dangerous campaign through the South in 1965, a campaign that ended in a triumphant march on Selma.

RACE
Jan. 16. Carroll Arts Center, 91 W. Main St., Westminster. 1-3 p.m. In honor of MLK Day, see this 2016 film about African-American Olympic athlete Jesse Owens.

Festivals

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY
Jan. 16. American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Celebrate MLK Day with guided tours, music, and special events throughout the day, with a birthday cake fit for a king.

MLK DAY CELEBRATION
Jan. 16. Reginald F. Lewis Museum, 830 E. Pratt St. 12-4 p.m. Honor King’s legacy with family activities including crafts, a film screening, and dance performances by the Full Circle Dance Company.

Family

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. PARADE
Jan. 16. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 12-2 p.m. See community bands, color guards, dance groups, civic organizations, steppers, floats, and more in this 17th annual parade.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: I HAVE A DREAM
Jan. 26. Enoch Pratt Free Library, 3601 Eastern Ave. 5:30 p.m. Give your full attention to this legendary speech, played aloud in its entirety.

Discussion

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. CELEBRATION
Jan. 12. The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St. 5-8 p.m. The Baltimore Urban Debate League and Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle discuss King’s accomplishments with presentations, art making, and a ’60s-themed photo booth.

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
Jan. 14. The Maryland Historical Society, 201 W. Monument St. 2 p.m. Prolific author, labor economist, and educator Julianne Malveaux presents the library’s commemorative annual lecture on MLK’s impactful career.

EAT

Feb. 8-17: Maryland Vegan Restaurant Week

Locations, times, and prices vary.

Whether you’re a lifelong plant-eater or started veganism last week to score free Beyoncé and Jay-Z concert tickets (we get it), Baltimore’s annual winter celebration of all things herbivore has got you covered. Spend the weekend eating your way through meat- and dairy-free options at local vegan standbys like Golden West Café, Land of Kush, and Red Emma’s Bookstore & Coffeehouse, as well as participating restaurants like Wicked Sisters and Paulie Gee’s in Hampden and Café Fili and The Grub Factory in Mt. Vernon.

DRINK

Feb. 8: Will’s Back!

Monument City Brewing Company, 1 N. Haven St. 5-10 p.m. Free.

One of the most shared local stories of the week was the citywide search for Monument City Brewing Company’s adopted cat, Willow. Thanks to the Highlandtown brewery’s viral Facebook post and calls to action by local media outlets, Willow (or Will to regulars) was returned on Wednesday by brewery patrons who mistook him for a stray. To celebrate the return of the brewery’s mouse-catcher, Monument City is throwing a party in his honor, featuring the final release of its seasonal IPA and eats from Taco Bar food truck. Bring a cat-related donation on Friday to support BARCS Animal Shelter and raise a glass to the greatest pet saga since Homeward Bound.

SEE

Feb. 8: Devin Allen: Spaces of the Un-Entitled

The Peale Center, 225 N. Holliday St. $20.

Although this West Baltimore photographer has gained national acclaim since his iconic shot of the 2015 Uprising graced the cover of Time magazine, it’s clear that Devin Allen’s heart and inspiration still lies in Baltimore. For the next six weeks, Allen’s latest project and first-ever color show, Spaces of the Un-Entitled, will be on display at The Peale Center, showcasing the young photographer’s analysis of architecture and its impact on impoverished communities. On Friday, experience a live performance by Allen himself as he speaks to the ghosts who were left behind in the gentrification of areas shown in his must-see series.

HEAR

Feb. 8: Jim Gaffigan

The Modell Lyric, 140 W. Mt. Royal Ave. 7 & 9:30 p.m. $35.25-55.25.

Whether it’s in his scene-stealing TV roles, his bestselling books, or his four Grammy-nominated comedy albums, Jim Gaffigan always manages to earn a laugh. The family-friendly comic, who is known for finding humor in the mundane—like doctor visits, food, and fatherhood—will take over the Modell Lyric on Friday for two back-to-back shows that are sure to deliver side-splitting laughs.

DO

Feb. 10: Lunar New Year Celebration

The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.

Across Asian cultures, the lunar new year marks the beginning of a new calendar year. To ring in the Year of the Pig, the Walters Art Museum is throwing a free, family-oriented celebration in their sprawling Mt. Vernon complex. Visitors of all ages can explore the museum’s expansive and much-lauded Arts of Asia exhibition, followed by a chance to create their own Asian-inspired works. Make sure to catch the traditional lion dance performance, which is believed to bring good luck in the new year.

Looking to add a bit of culture to your afternoon? There is no shortage of great museums around Baltimore. Whether it’s art, science, history, or a particular famous figure you’re interested in, there’s a place nearby to spend your day wandering and learning.

American Visionary Art Museum

This unique museum celebrating outsider art was named by Congress as the country’s official museum for self-taught art. Come for the elaborate sculptures, gorgeous drawings, and interesting assemblage pieces, then stick around to browse Sideshow, the treasure trove of a museum store downstairs. As a bonus, AVAM is free for federal employees (and up to three others) during the 2019 government shutdown with a valid ID.

For more visionary and local art, try: MICA Galleries, Eubie Blake Cultural Center

Baltimore Museum of Art

This free museum houses a collection of 95,000 works, so you’re sure to find something to interest everyone among its vast collection. Lovers of modern art will want to linger in the galleries housing the famed Cone Collection, while those looking for the more non-traditional can usually find something interesting and extraordinary in the Contemporary Wing or special exhibition galleries. Recent shows have included a John Waters retrospective, surreal visions of some of Europe’s great conflicts, and a look back at the BMA’s first exhibit to feature black artists.

For more art and antiques, try: Maryland Art Place, School 33 Art Center

Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History & Culture

The Smithsonian-affiliated Reginald F. Lewis Museum is home to art, photographs, sculptures, military antiques, and ephemera chronicling Maryland’s African-American history from 1784 to the present. Although it’s connected to the Smithsonian, the Lewis Museum remains open throughout the shutdown and is offering free admission to furloughed workers and up to three guests with a valid government I.D.

For more African-American history and culture, try: Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park, National Great Blacks in Wax Museum

The Walters Art Museum

Housed across three buildings (including a historic residence) in Mount Vernon, the Walters features an extensive collection of Asian antiquities and decorative arts. Wander the Chamber of Wonders to experience what a 1600s nobleman might have shown off in his lavish home, or head to the 1 West Mount Vernon Place to see contemporary art placed alongside the preserved architecture of a 19th-century townhouse.

For more historic homes and exhibits, try: The Johns Hopkins Museums, The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House

The Baltimore Museum of Industry

Explore Baltimore’s history as a hub of business and industry at this South Baltimore museum housed in a former cannery. Exhibits include a 1900s garment loft, a recreated soda fountain, a print shop, and a gallery dedicated to how Baltimore fueled the rise of the automobile. Don’t forget to stop by the Baltimore docked outside—she’s the oldest steam-powered tugboat in the United States.

For more transportation and industrial history, try: The B&O Railroad Museum, Baltimore Streetcar Museum

Maryland Historical Society

The MdHS is the state’s oldest, continuously operating cultural institution, having been responsible for documenting Maryland history since 1844. With exhibits featuring figures such as The Catonsville Nine, Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, and the Peale Family of painters, this collection is comprised of more than seven million items from pre-Colonial times to the present.

For more great figures from Baltimore’s past, try: The Babe Ruth Birthplace & Museum, Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum

Maryland Science Center

With a history going back to 1797 with the Maryland Academy of Sciences, this Inner Harbor spot has evolved into a family-friendly exploration of the natural world, from the smallest cells to history’s largest creatures. Visitors can also take advantage of Davis Planetarium or catch a movie on the IMAX screen, which will reopen in March after theater renovations are complete.

For more hands-on learning, try: Port Discovery Children’s Museum, Historic Ships in Baltimore

National Aquarium

Plan to spend some serious time at this colorful spot. Beyond the normal fish, rays, and other aquatic critters, you’ll find sloths, puffins, crocodiles, and more scattered across the many habitats housed in this multi-level aquarium. An indoor rainforest, a stories-high shark tank, and a living reef featuring Calypso, a rescued sea turtle, are just a few of the highlights in this gem overlooking the Inner Harbor. Book your timed entry ticket online to avoid long lines, and go first thing in the morning or late in the day to avoid the field trip crowd.

For more nature encounters, try: The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, Rawlings Conservatory

Visual Art

Raoul Middleman: Watercolors & Monoprints
An artist’s passions are explored with frenetic mono-prints and impressionist watercolors in this new show from Baltimore native Raoul Middleman at C. Grimaldis Gallery. From his studio 19 floors above the city streets, Middleman has documented the changes in daylight as well as changes in the skyline itself. Back on the ground, his inky depictions of horses and burlesque capture motion and beauty in two distinctly different venues. Opening reception 6-8 p.m. Jan. 17; on view during gallery hours Jan. 17-Feb. 16. C. Grimaldis Gallery, 523 N. Charles St.

Art and Healing with WombWork Productions
Explore The Walters Museum’s historic property at 1 West Mount Vernon Place, and enhance your experience of this storied residence with a performance from local social change theater group WombWork Productions. One of WombWorks’ goals is to use art as a method for healing, and this new work will seek to connect the present to stories from 1 West Mount Vernon Place’s past. 7-8 p.m. Jan. 24, The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St.

Music

BSO Pulse: Dan Deacon
Two forces of Baltimore’s music scene will combine their talents for one night only during the next iteration of the BSO Pulse series. Come early for Deacon-curated entertainment from Jamal Moore, Amy Reid, Stewart Mostofsky, Alex Silva, and Amanda Schmidt in the Meyerhoff lobby and stay to hear the world premieres of new compositions blending acoustic and electronic sounds. 6-10 p.m. Jan. 17, Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St.

Kentavius Jones Album Release w/ Brooks Long & Mad Dog No Good
An Eastern Shore native releasing his long-awaited album and the return of Brooks Long & The Mad Dog No Good? Count us all the way in. Join singer-songwriter Kentavius Jones as he celebrates his new album, The Bohemian Beatbox, at Creative Alliance. He’ll be joined by CA curator of special projects Brooks Long and his rock and soul band for a full night of homegrown hits. 8-11 p.m. Jan. 25, Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave.

Super City, Chaunter, and Soul Cannon
Embrace the “freakwave” sound of Baltimore’s Super City as they return home after dancing their way through the south. You’ve probably heard tracks off the band’s latest project, Sanctuary, by now, but nothing compares to experiencing these guys’ rock anthems and expert choreography live. Local acts Chaunter and Soul Cannon will also join the party at the Ottobar. Doors at 8 p.m., show at 9 p.m. Jan. 26, Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St.

Theater

Thank You, Dad
His twisted legacy has been immortalized by filmmakers, songwriters, authors, and poets. Now revisit Jim Jones’ deadly Peoples Temple with the world premiere of this collection of three plays by Aladrian C. Wetzel. Performed by Rapid Lemon Productions Artistic Director Lance Bankerd, this trio of works based on the life of Jones will kick off RLP’s 2019 season, which explores the power of belief. Jan. 11-20, Baltimore Theatre Project, 45 W. Preston St.

Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Dive into a world of pure imagination with Charlie, Willy Wonka, and the rest of Roald Dahl’s colorful characters in this musical based on the beloved work of children’s fiction. With colorful costumes, classic songs, and plenty of twists and turns, this tale is sure to be a delight for all ages. Just be sure not to slip Slugworth any trade secrets on your way out of the theater. Jan. 22-27, The Hippodrome Theatre, 12. N. Eutaw St.

Film

Who Will Write Our History
When lies and hate took over their world, a group of journalists, scholars, and community leaders fought back with the only weapons they had left—their words. This new documentary from Roberta Grossman exposes the secret band of writers known at Oyneg Shabes, who documented life under Nazi rule in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Drawing from the group’s writings, new interviews, dramatizations, and archival footage, Grossman has crafted a film that carries on the legacy of this brave group determined to ensure their stories would survive. The Who Will Write Our History screening at Landmark Theatres, Harbor East is one of several around the world that will take place as part of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. 1 p.m. Jan. 27, Landmark Theatres, Harbor East, 645 President St.

Literature

Roxane Gay With One N
Loyola University’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation always brings incredible personalities with powerful stories to Baltimore, and this year is no exception. For the 26th annual event, author Roxane Gay will discuss feminism, body image, and social justice at Reitz Arena and end the evening with a book signing. Though the event is free, you’ll want to register early to secure your seats. 7-9 p.m. Jan. 22, Loyola University Maryland, 4501 N. Charles St.

As the dog days of summer give way to the crisp winds of fall, Baltimore’s art season kicks into full gear. Come September, theater seasons launch, galleries host their biggest shows, and an abundance of art-centric colleges and universities—including the renowned Maryland Institute College of Art and Peabody Conservatory—means a swelling of cultural and educational activities. Here, we round up our recommended events to catch from now through the end of 2018.

Kubrick 90: A Would-Be Birthday Retrospective
Through Dec. 2018. Parkway Theatre, 5 W. North Ave.
In honor of what would be Stanley Kubrick’s 90th birthday, the Parkway will screen a retrospective of work by the celebrated filmmaker, semi-chronologically, including classics such as Lolita, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Dr. Strangelove, Eyes Wide Shut, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Each film will play twice throughout the festival, and many will be presented on 35mm.

Baltimore Comedy Festival
Aug. 29-Sept. 3. Motor House, 120 W. North Ave.
More than 100 comedians from around the U.S. will be in town for the second Baltimore Comedy Festival, where Motor House will serve as headquarters and a performance venue for this five-day, citywide event.

The Institute of Visionary History and the Archives of the Deep Now
Sept.-Dec. The Peale Center, 225 Holliday St.
With the historical Peale Center as its backdrop, Submersive Productions will present its latest theatrical experience, featuring a different production each month. It will culminate with a December shadow performance themed around a 1980s movie set in pre-World War II Germany.

The Thing is Close
Aug. 31-Sept. 29. School 33 Art Center, 1427 Light St.
Cindy Cheng and Jackie Milad will present work in a two-person exhibit that examines identity and home. Cheng creates sculptural installations that reference the interior of her parents’ house in Hong Kong, with meditations on the importance of particular objects within the space. Milad’s work on paper explores ethnic backgrounds through actual and invented symbols associated with her Egyptian and Honduran heritage

Baltimore Taxidermy Open
Sept. 6. The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St.
The Walters Art Museum’s Chamber of Wonders houses treasures from around the world, among them taxidermied birds, beasts, and reptiles. But only during this annual event does the museum play host to an array of contemporary taxidermy artists (the term “taxidermy” is used loosely in this context) alongside these antique ones for a pop-up exhibit and taxidermy competition.

DOS-à-DOS
Sept. 7-30. Hamilton Gallery, 5502 Harford Rd.
Baltimore artists L. Nef’fahtiti Partlow-Myrick and Jenny O’Grady, who met as students in the Creative Writing and Publishing Arts master’s program at the University of Baltimore, exhibit a collection of their art books, made from a variety of materials both traditional and unorthodox. 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.

Survival Bias
Sept. 8-29. Current Space, 421 N. Howard St.
This two-person exhibition of sculptures, wall works, and video by Brittany De Nigris and Adam Milner investigates what defines the immediate present and how things are often an accumulation of past subjects, places, and times. The show’s title is based on the term “survivorship bias,” which describes how our history is shaped, in part, by the artifacts that survive.

Putin On Ice (That Isn’t The Real Title of This Show)
Sept. 12-Oct. 7. Single Carrot Theatre, 2600 N. Howard St.
A mix of fable, melodrama, and theater, the satirical Putin on Ice elevates the man to myth, from dictator to deity, in a collaboration between theater companies Single Carrot and The ACME Corporation.

Balancing Act: Paintings, Drawings, Collages. Works by Joseph Paul Cassar
Sept. 12-Oct. 20, artist talk from 4-6 p.m. Oct. 13. Y:ART Gallery, 3402 Gough St.
Art historian, author, and artist Joseph Paul Cassar will show recent drawings in ink and pastel, paper cutouts, collage, and acrylic on canvas.

Repurposed with Purpose: Meaning in the Materials of Making
Sept. 20-Nov. 10. Maryland Art Place, 218 W. Saratoga St.
This large group exhibit, curated by former Baltimore Museum of Art director Doreen Bolger, nudges viewers to look deeper into pieces and think about the materials used and why, what statement they make, and whether they are a reflection of the artist’s personal story or have a broader significance.

Lovelight Yoga and Arts Festival
Sept. 21-24. Pearlstone Conference & Retreat Center, 5425 Mount Gilead Road, Reisterstown.
Music, art installations, and lots of yoga and meditation will be held in a serene, natural setting at the annual Lovelight Festival in Reisterstown, featuring Krishna Das and Rising Appalachia, among others, plus more than 40 classes and workshops.

Mark Bradford: Tomorrow is Another Day
Sept. 23, 2018-March 3, 2019. Opening Celebration, 1-5 p.m. Sept. 23. Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Dr.
This major exhibition by renowned contemporary artist Mark Bradford will bring together work he showed at the 2017 Venice Biennale and a new site-specific installation. The Los Angeles-based artist explores themes from his personal life, black identity, Greek mythology, and the universe through mixed-media works, abstract paintings, and video.

Fades and Fellowship Barbershop Stories
Sept. 28. Motor House, 120 W. North Ave.
Baltimore-based theater troupe Fades & Fellowship brings black barbershop culture to the stage. Not only does the cast of actual barbers perform the conversations and stories—true and embellished—as overheard in barbershops, but they finish the show by giving a few lucky audience members haircuts onstage.

High Zero
Sept. 28-29. Theatre Project, 45 W Preston St.
Experimental music in all its glory will be performed during this two-day festival by musicians who will expand your definition of music and instruments. Performers include Wendel Patrick, Ada Pinkston, Neil Feather (who plays invented instruments), Carrie Fucile (who plays objects and cassettes), Orlando Johnson (who plays found objects), and several others.

Baltimore Book Festival
11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sept. 28-30. Baltimore Inner Harbor.
The annual Baltimore Book Festival along the Inner Harbor is a free, three-day celebration of the written and spoken word, featuring presses from indie to university and every genre imaginable. Hundreds of authors will participate in readings, talks, book signings, panels, and workshops, and more than 100 exhibitors and booksellers will line the Inner Harbor Promenade, from the Inner Harbor Amphitheater to Rash Field. Highlights this year: authors A.J. Jacobs, April Ryan, Bill Whitaker, Jonathan Abrams, Carol Anderson, D. Watkins, Nic Stone, Tim Junkin, and Wayétu Moore, plus numerous stages and tented areas, including Tablers Tent, Charm City Comic Pavilion, CityLit Stage, Food for Thought Stage, Ivy Bookshop Stage, Literary Salon, Maryland Romance Writers’ Stage, Red Emma’s Radical Books Pavilion, Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America Stage, and a music stage.

Chinese Snuff Bottles
Sept. 30-Dec. 9. The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St.
Chinese snuff bottles—historically used to hold a medicinal blend of tobacco, spices, and herbs and worn around the neck—were not only intriguing and practical pieces but also intricate works of art. The Walters will exhibit nearly 250 snuff bottles made from stone, glass, porcelain, ivory, lacquer, enamel, and precious metals. The show coincides with the 50th annual Convention of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, which will be held in Baltimore in October.

Afro Punk Ballet
Oct. 4-6. The Peale Museum, 225 Holliday St.
This sci-fi, futuristic ballet opera is the second in a trilogy produced by Afro House. As the story goes, mad scientist Levi created a second sun that is drying up the lands and bringing the nation’s inhabitants to near extinction. His descendants are left with his mess to clean up.

Parenting: An Art Without a Manual
Oct. 6, 2018-Sept. 1, 2019. American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy.
AVAM’s next annual mega-exhibit is a meditation on the art of parenting—from cultural wisdom to scientific breakthroughs in cognitive and behavioral research. Work by three dozen artists will incorporate a wide spectrum of media and styles, such as Allen Christian’s life-sized torso sculptures of Mother, Father, and Child made from antique piano parts; Leon Borensztein’s black-and-white photos documenting his daughter, who was born legally blind; and a group of women who sewed their fathers’ old ties into hexagonal assemblages and provided six-word stories to accompany them.

John Waters: Indecent Exposure
Oct. 7, 2018-Jan. 6, 2019. Opening Celebration, 1-5 p.m. Oct. 7; Artist Conversation with John Waters and Senior Curator Kristen Hileman, 6 p.m. Nov. 1. Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Dr.
Enter the wonderfully absurd world of John Waters in this retrospective exhibition of photos, video clips, early films, photocopied drawings, and sculpture from the legendary Baltimore filmmaker. The artist’s penchant for black humor is evidenced in the more than 160 pieces he has made since the early 1990s that criticize, dramatize, and exploit popular culture and celebrate the LGBTQ and other marginalized communities.

Open Studio Tour
10 a.m.-6 p.m. Oct. 13-14. Assorted venues citywide.
More than 100 artists open their studio doors across the city for this two-day, self-guided tour, where visitors can watch the artists in their element and talk with them about their work.

A Charmed Life
Oct. 13-Nov. 24. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave.
This retrospective of more than 130 photographs will span Jim Burger’s 30-plus years as a photojournalist with The Baltimore Sun and City Paper. Burger will present an illustrated talk of his life’s work from 7:30-8:30 p.m. on Nov. 8 to coincide with the exhibit.

Leonard Bernstein’s Mass
7:30 p.m. Oct. 26. New Psalmist Baptist Church, 6020 Marian Dr.
This massive theatrical spectacle, conducted by Baltimore Symphony Orchestra director Marin Alsop, will feature hundreds of Baltimore performers—Peabody Conservatory instrumentalists, singers, and dancers; Preparatory students including members of the Peabody Children’s Chorus; and others from the community including the Morgan State University Choir and students from the Baltimore School for the Arts. The show is loosely based on a Catholic Mass and uses song and dance to raise questions about faith.

Charm City Fringe Festival
Nov. 1-11. Various venues in the Bromo Arts District.
Experimental theater and performance art will be highlighted in this 11-day festival that brings performers from across the continent to Baltimore for more than 90 performances in theater, comedy, dance, crankies, film, and more.

Romare Bearden: Vision and Activism
Nov. 10, 2018-March 3, 2019. Reginald F. Lewis Museum, 830 E. Pratt St.
Romare Bearden is considered one of the most important and influential artists of the 20th century. As an artist, educator, scholar, writer, songwriter, and social activist, he examined race through his work: paintings, editorial cartoons in the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, collages, and other artwork. More than 50 of his pieces will be displayed at this major exhibition.

A Wonder in My Soul
Nov. 29-Dec. 26. Baltimore Center Stage, 700 N. Calvert St.
Set in a Baltimore beauty shop, this story of friendship and community confronts the issues of gentrification and crime as its co-owners decide whether or not to move the shop.

Violinist Joshua Bell
8 p.m. Nov. 30, 3 p.m. Dec. 2. Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St.
Joshua Bell, one of the most celebrated violinists of his era, with appearances on The Tonight Show and Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle, will perform Dvorák’s romantic Violin Concerto under the baton of Romanian conductor Cristian Măcelaru.

Alice Gadzinski
Dec. 7, 2018-Jan. 12, 2019. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave.
Baltimore sculptor Alice Gadzinski was a resident artist at the Creative Alliance when she passed away earlier this year from cancer. In honor of her creative spirit, the art center is hosting an exhibit of work she made at the Creative Alliance, as well as never-before-seen pieces.

Black Nativity
Dec. 7-30. Motor House, 120 W. North Ave.
Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity, a musical originally performed Off-Broadway in 1961, is a retelling of the Nativity story with an entirely black cast. The show, presented in Baltimore by ArtsCentric, includes Hughes’ poetry as well as traditional Christmas carols sung gospel-style.

If they could talk, the walls of the 19th-century Hackerman House in Mt. Vernon would reveal their storied past and promising future.

The former residence’s 170-year history covers multiple generations of tenants, renovations, and even a period when it fell into disrepair—all before Baltimore philanthropist Willard Hackerman purchased it and gave it to the city in 1984. The property was then awarded to The Walters Art Museum to expand its square footage and house its Asian art collection, which it did until 2014.

Fast-forward to June 16 of this year, when, after a four-year revitalization process, the house will be revealed, once again, as a stunning architectural treasure. The transformed—and renamed—1 West Mount Vernon Place will open to the public as a hybrid of its past: part historic mansion and part art museum.

“We’re getting away from object-label-object-label,” says Eleanor Hughes, project curator and deputy director of The Walters’ art and program division. “This is a different way of encountering The Walters.”

Gone are the mansion’s velvet drapery, worn carpets, and dark, heavy feel. Now, floor-to-ceiling windows flood the marble-floored conservatory with natural light, while fresh coats of paint intentionally reflect a modern palette. It’s lavish—chandeliers, pillars, and a staircase spiraling toward a Tiffany skylight—yet free and available to everyone.

Visitors can engage with the space casually by browsing digital manuscripts on the library’s iPads, working in the all-ages art studio, or roaming the halls to take in rotating exhibits—predominately ceramics—which will fill the entire house, even the stairwell. Guests can also download an app for archival stories about the mansion’s builders, craftspeople, and past residents, giving listeners a micro-history of Baltimore through diverse perspectives.

Philadelphia ceramic artist Roberto Lugo’s handmade dishes and urns, which depict historical African-American figures such as Freddie Gray and Frederick Douglass, will be on display during the grand opening. Although guests will enter the new space through The Walters, the doors of 1 West Mount Vernon Place will be open on special occasions so people can wander in from the sidewalk, as they would have many years ago.

OPEN

The Walters Cafe: If hunger pangs strike while perusing the collections at the Walters Art Museum, this recently renovated café on the first floor has got you covered. The eatery has been updated with contemporary décor and a brand-new menu offering beer and wine, as well as salads, sandwiches, sweets, and snacks sourced from local purveyors. Be on the lookout for hometown favorites including Scotty Cakes baked goods, Mouth Party Caramels, Ceremony Coffee, and other sustainable fare from the socially conscious chefs at City Seeds. Aside from regular breakfast and lunch service, the café will be open until 8:30 p.m. on Thursday evenings for visitors hoping to grab bite to eat before touring the galleries or attending performances in the museum’s famed Sculpture Court. 600 N. Charles St., 410-547-9000

Baltimore Soup Company: South Baltimore locals are already raving about the newest restaurant tenant to open on the first floor of the 2 E. Wells apartment complex in Riverside. Earlier this week, the second location of Baltimore Soup Company—whose flagship is in Towson—opened its doors offering a variety of sandwiches, salads, and, of course, its namesake soups. Daily specials vary, but frequent options include steamy bowls of Maryland crab, hearty vegetable, chicken corn chowder, and tomato-basil bisque. 2 E. Wells St.

Culinary Architecture Cafe: In other South Baltimore news, this spinoff of Culinary Architecture Market in Pigtown debuted inside the historic Lion Brothers Building in Hollins Market earlier this month. The building, which was recently restored by Cross Street Partners, is also home to The Grid—a modern co-working space from University of Maryland BioPark. The spot specializes in coffees paired with fresh-baked pastries, biscuits, sandwiches, soups, and flatbreads. 875 Hollins St.  

COMING SOON

Darker Than Blue: Waverly locals probably remember Darker Than Blue—chef Casey Jenkins’ sophisticated soul food spot that closed its doors in 2013. Now, Jenkins has plans to revive the concept in the Northwood Plaza Shopping Center near Morgan State University. He’s currently in the final phases of raising capital for the project, and hopes to open during the second quarter of 2019. Although the location will be different, Jenkins says that the restaurant’s classics (think fried catfish, citrus-glazed salmon, chicken and waffles, and Louisiana tilapia) will make a comeback on the menu. 1534 Havenwood Rd.

NEWS

Michelle Obama Celebrates Birthday with Spike Gjerde: Spike Gjerde’s new restaurant A Rake’s Progress, situated inside the trendy Line Hotel in the Adams-Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C., might not be open to the public yet—but its team got in some good practice serving a special meal to former First Lady Michelle Obama and former President Barack Obama in honor of Michelle’s birthday. Although D.C. boasts plenty of culinary options, we’re not surprised that the former FLOTUS chose one of Gjerde’s spots to celebrate the big 5-4. She’s been known to frequent Woodberry Kitchen whenever she is in town. A Rake’s Progress is expected to officially debut later this month. 770 Euclid St NW, Washington, D.C., 202-588-0525

EPICUREAN EVENTS 

1/24: Calasag Filipino x Soul Food Pop-Up at Ida B’s Table
At this special culinary collaboration next week, Dylan Ubaldo of the local Calasag Pop-Up will fuse his Filipino flavors with the modern soul food at Ida B’s Table. Dishes on the evening’s menu will include grilled octopus marinated in a banana ketchup, catfish with sweet potato fritters and collard greens, smoked pork cheek, and Louisiana-style beignets made from purple yams and coconut sugar. Both Ubaldo and Ida B’s owner/executive chef David Thomas will be sharing their thoughts on the inspiration behind the dishes throughout the evening. Ida B’s Table, 235 Holliday St., $65, 6:30-9:30 p.m.

SHUT

Dimitri’s Tavern: Another dive bar bit the dust last week. After nearly 45 years in business, Dimitri’s Tavern on Falls Road in Hampden has closed its doors as owner James Dimitri prepares for retirement. According to reports by The Sun, the building—now owned by local developer CityWide Properties—will soon be transformed into a Mexican restaurant offering scratch-made dishes and happy hour specials. Aside from its affordable drinks, Dimitri’s was best known for its packaged goods and no-holds-barred karaoke nights. 3820 Falls Rd. 

Five things to eat, drink, see, hear, and do with your Charm City weekend.

 EAT

Dec. 8: R. House Birthday Bash

R. House, 301 W. 29th St. 6 p.m.-12 a.m. Free. 443-347-3570.

We can’t believe that R. House is only turning one this weekend. Even as the neighborhood continues to evolve, the modern food hall and incubator space feels as if it’s been in Remington all along. How had we ever lived without those Ground & Griddled breakfast sandwiches? In true foodie fashion, the space will be celebrating its first birthday with a medley of eats. Each stall will be whipping up limited-edition bites, with ouzo shrimp at Arba Mediterranean, a breakfast banh mi at Ground & Grilled, spicy salmon temaki at Hilo Sushi, and vegan doughnuts at Stall 11, to name a few. Along the way, enjoy a half-off drink menu at R. Bar, confections from Charm City Cakes, and live music by David Jacober and The Swingin’ Swamis.

 DRINK

Dec. 9: On the Rocks: A Drinks Party

The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St. 7-10 p.m. $75. 410-547-9000. 

There’s no better way to start off the holiday season than with a fancy night of cocktails. This Saturday, the Walters Art Museum’s beloved Rye Rocks event is returning—but this time, with Russian flair. While the event has featured regional rye since 2015, this year will also highlight vodka and other international spirits in honor of the museum’s new exhibition on Faberge eggs. As you stroll through the galleries and view the exquisitely rare egg-shaped art forms, sip on handcrafted Russian-inspired drinks mixed by Baltimore’s favorite bartenders, including Verde’s Christian Stoddard and R. Bar’s Josiah Dells (who will also be participating in a people’s choice cocktail competition). And while the drinks are fun, it’s also for a good cause as proceeds will benefit bus transportation to the art museum for Maryland Title I school students. 

 SEE

Dec. 10: Charm City Roller Girls: A Battle of Hearty Proportions

Skateland North Point, 1113 North Point Rd., Dundalk. 7-9:30 p.m. $7. 410-282-0223.

Technically, the Charm City Roller Girls are off-season until January, but that doesn’t mean we can’t see them rumble before their home opener. This Sunday, cheer for the women of CCRG as they roll side by side with visiting skaters inside Dundalk’s beloved Skateland. But don’t expect your typical derby—the night is all about a peculiar pasta theme in honor of one of the league’s signature sponsors, Noodles & Company. With teams Spaghetti and Meatballs duking it out with skaters like Pad Thai Grrr and Wisconsin Smack & Cheese, there’s no doubt that you’ll have a heaping plate of fun—even, sadly, though there won’t be any actual carbs. 

 HEAR

Dec. 8: Version with Trillnatured ft. D.K. The Punisher

The Crown, 1910 N. Charles St. 10 p.m.-2 a.m. Free. 410-625-4848. 

We don’t know about you, but we’re already feeling the stress of holiday shopping and the down-in-the-dumps doldrums of winter blues. On Friday night, throw your gift lists to the wayside and unwind with DJ Trillnatured and a night of feel-good tunes. Voted Baltimore magazine’s Best DJ of 2017, she will be spreading the good vibes with her R&B and jazz-influenced club mixes with the help of Grammy-nominated producer D.K. the Punisher, who will be hosting a guest set featuring his new Castle EP. Considered one of the best dance parties in the city, Version will have you feeling like the best version of yourself again in no time.  

 DO

Dec. 8-10: MICA Art Market

MICA Brown Center, 1301 W. Mt. Royal Ave. Thu.-Sat. 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Sun. 12-7 p.m. Free. 

If you decided to skip the crowds of Black Friday or the web clog of Cyber Monday, fear not—this weekend’s Art Market has the local gifts you’ve been looking for. For the 11th year, shoppers and collectors can browse or purchase works made by 275 emerging and established artists from the Maryland Institute College of Art, including patterned totes, printed tees, greeting cards, embroidery art, ornaments, and even wintery dog-patterned wrapping paper. You’ll give your loved ones presents that can’t get on Amazon, but best of all, your purchases will support local creators with a portion of the proceeds going toward scholarships for MICA students. 

Since 2015, local cocktail enthusiasts and art lovers alike have packed into the sculpture court at the Walters Art Museum for its annual Rye Rocks event. There, a handful of bartenders from the Baltimore Bartenders’ Guild (BBG) served various rye whiskey cocktails for guests to imbibe while perusing the museum’s collections.

On Saturday, December 9 from 7-10 p.m., the event is returning to the museum—but with a new twist. Instead of highlighting regional rye, organizers with the Women’s Committee of the Walters Art Museum have decided to feature vodka and other international spirits in celebration of the museum’s new exhibition Fabergé and the Russian Crafts Tradition: An Empire’s Legacy.

“It’s interesting to see a vodka event because people have moved away from vodka over the past few years,” says BBG president Brendan Dorr. “It’s still very popular, but whiskey has overtaken vodka as the number-one spirit right now. It will be interesting to see what everyone comes up with.”

Now named On the Rocks, the evening will offer an array of Russian-influenced cocktails from a dozen BBG bartenders, hearty fare from Catering by Uptown, and an up-close look at the new Fabergé galleries.

The exhibit, which opened earlier this month and runs throughout June 2018, centers around two imperial eggs that were designed by famed goldsmith Peter Carl Fabergé, and given to Russian czars as Easter gifts during the early 1900s. In addition to the rare eggs (the museum estimates that only 50 were ever made), the show displays more than 70 other art objects including lavish jewelry and carved stones.

“This is the first time that the Walters has put all of its Russian stuff in one place like this,” says co-curator Jo Briggs, the museum’s associate curator of 18th and 19th century art. “We’re trying to put the eggs in a much broader context of Russian decorative arts—more than just Fabergé and the czars.”

Even more specifically related to the On The Rocks event is the exhibition’s array of silver and gold drinking vessels, as well as two shot glasses, and an antique vodka carafe in the form of a gryphon with an inscribed Slavonic proverb that reads: “Drinking is not a hindrance, but youth’s diversion.”

“A lot of these luxury drinking objects were used to show off wealth when people would have guests over at their house or palace,” Briggs says. “When you think about Russia, there’s no way you can’t think about vodka.”

In keeping with the theme, On the Rocks will offer plenty of vodkas for sampling. Guild members including Verde’s Christian Stoddart, R. Bar’s Josiah Dells, freelancer Aaron Joseph, and Alex Dang of Ida B’s Table have all chosen from a diverse list of international and domestic spirits to incorporate into their cocktail recipes.

Dorr mentions Cathead vodka, Stoli Elit, Bar Hill gin, Filibuster Bourbon, and St. George’s Spirit vodka as examples of what guests can expect. To add to the fun, there will be a people’s choice competition to see which bartender’s cocktail reigns supreme.

“Vodka is a little more of a white wall,” Dorr says. “You can paint it with any color you want, and therefore it makes it a little more difficult to feature the spirit. But that’s what gets the bartenders thinking outside of the box.”

Proceeds from the party will aid in funding transportation to the Walters for students at Maryland’s Title I Schools. Aside from introducing the exhibition to additional eyes, Briggs says she’s excited to see how art can influence its surrounding community.

“One of the nicest things about working in a museum is you can inspire people,” she says. “That’s always really rewarding—to put it out there and see where they take it.”

The Lion King
Nov. 16-Dec. 10. The Hippodrome Theater, 12 N Eutaw St. Tues.-Sun. 1 p.m.-8 p.m. Prices vary. Hakuna matata. Whether you sang it as a kid or to your tots, who can forget belting out these words along with Timon and Pumbaa as scenes of Africa and its animal kingdom crossed the silver screen? The Lion King was a childhood dream, in the heyday before kids’ movies became overcomplicated by too much computer animation and 3D. Since 1997, Julie Taymor’s record-shattering stage interpretation has hauled in millions of viewers and heaps of awards to make it the third-longest running show on Broadway. It’s been 20 years since the original cast graced the stage in gigantic animal head costumes and intricate patterns of bright body paint, but the show has proved its staying power, still churning out about $2 million in sales each week and nabbing the title of highest-grossing show in history. This month, see what all the hype is about when The Lion King comes to Baltimore for some 30 performances at the Hippodrome. From November 16 to December 10, bring your young ones—in age or at heart—and let the show transport you to the savanna as you sing along to all those beloved songs. We know you remember the lyrics.

Baltimore Voices
Nov. 1-3. Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St. Wed.-Fri. 10 & 11:30 a.m. Free-$6.50. 410-783-8000. From its outdoor community concerts to the BSO Pulse series, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has been upping the ante when it comes to celebrating our homegrown musical talent. This month, the symphony highlights city voices during its mid-week educational concert, featuring beatboxer Shodekeh, hip-hop collective Baltimore Boom Bap Society, and the co-founders of WYPR’s Out of the Blocks podcast. In a showcase of talented Charm City residents, high-energy remixes and local student interviews mingle with Beethoven classics.

Trevor Noah
Nov. 4. The Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St. 7 & 9:30 p.m. Prices vary. 410-837-7400. For one night only, The Daily Show host and South African comedian brings his signature stand-up—a mix of incisive political commentary with charmingly comical personal stories—to the hallowed Hippodrome stage. 

Charm City Fringe Fest
Nov. 2-12. Locations & times vary. $27-98. 410-682-8902. At the beginning of the month, Baltimore’s indie performing arts festival returns for the sixth year, with 11 days and more than 90 performances across six stages in the Bromo Arts District. Catch eclectic, original works, from off-kilter comedy, poetry readings, and magic to a rock opera and even a haunting thriller performed on roller skates.

Across the Bay 10K
Nov. 5. Chesapeake Bay Bridge, Stevensville. 5 a.m.-2 p.m. $60-200. For one fall Sunday, lace up your sneakers and join the more than 20,000 people in the state’s largest running event—a 10K across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Whether you’re a practiced runner or novice jogger, this 6.21-mile course should be a breeze, with stunning views of the Eastern Shore and crisp autumn air blowing over the brackish waves beneath your feet.

Fabergé and the Russian Crafts Tradition
Nov. 12-May 27, 2018. The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St. Wed., Fri.-Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Thurs. 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Free. 410-547-9000. Through the lens of the famous Fabergé egg, learn about the extraordinary artistry of Russian jewelers and enamel workers during the turn of the 20th century. Explore more than 70 ornate objects, including two original Easter eggs crafted for Romanov royalty, plus a contemporary print exhibit that reimagines the delicate shells.

Bazaart Holiday Art Market
Nov. 24-25. American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy. Fri. 12-6 p.m. Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Free. 410-244-1900. Escape the commercialized chaos of Black Friday sales at this Baltimore-centric art shop, equipped with hand-crafted gifts by more than 40 regional artists. From homespun jewelry and hand-pressed prints to organic beauty goods and kids’ toys, there’s something for everyone on your list, including visionary art as whimsical and wacky as AVAM itself. 

Just a Kid from Highlandtown
To Nov. 18. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. Tues.-Sat. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Free. 410-276-1651. Graffiti, skate, and club culture have deep roots in Baltimore’s Highlandtown neighborhood, thanks in large part to local success story Aaron LaCrate. With his rise to international renown in the early 2000s, the creator of streetwear brand Milkcrate Athletics put the city’s counterculture movement on the map and has since become a trendsetting staple and collaborator with everyone from JAY-Z and Kanye West to Madonna. This month, the Creative Alliance celebrates the Southeast Baltimore native’s career with an exhibit that journeys all the way back to his crate-hopping youth.

Miracle on 34th Street
Nov. 25-Dec. 31. 700 block of W. 34th St. Times vary. Free. The holidays officially arrive in Baltimore when the 34th Street stretch of Hampden transforms into its annual winter wonderland. Grab a cup of hot cocoa and partake in this kitschy tradition. See the neighborhood houses decked in thousands of twinkling lights, including illuminated Natty Bohs and Maryland crabs and, of course, the iconic Christmas tree made entirely out of hubcaps. 

For three years, it has been carefully stowed away, waiting to once again share its magnificence with the world.

Now, the Asian art collection at the Walters Art Museum—one of the most lauded collections of Asian art in North America—is back. But don’t expect to see these splendid works displayed in the same way, or even in the same place.

The Arts of Asia installation inhabits what was once a carriage house that sits between the Hackerman House and the Walters’ main museum. The 150 works—including 30 objects that have never been on view—showcase the artistic traditions of countries that span 2,000 years and Asian countries from Thailand to Korea.

As for the Hackerman House, where the Asian collection was displayed prior to 2014, it remains closed until late spring 2018, when the revitalization of One West Mount Vernon Place will be complete.

“This project is a way of focusing the museum to re-tell the story of our collection,” said director Julia Marciari-Alexander. These new efforts are ushering in “a new way of how we work at the Walters. We’re asking the question, how is it that we frame the experience for the visitors?”

The Walters has taken steps to ensure that the art is displayed in unique ways that allow you to have new experiences take new meaning from the works. So here are a few things to keep in mind before your journey to the Far East. 

Artistic Meditation

Strolling through Arts of Asia, you might encounter a work that is set off by itself, perhaps with a bench close by, as if it’s inviting you to take a seat and savor what you are encountering. These tranquil spots were put in place to encourage viewers to have a more personal, perhaps spiritual connection to these objects. “We wanted singular works of art to really sing,” said Amy Landau, director of curatorial affairs and curator of Islamic and South and Southeast Asian art.

One particular spot where this rings true is in a gallery with deep red walls that holds a late 14th or early 15th century Chinese sculpture of the compassionate bodhisattva Guanyin, as well as a monumental Buddha from 18th to 19th century Myanmar that sits in a meditative pose, flanked by sculptures of devotees. The air is hushed and you can hear the faint toning of a gong playing over loudspeakers. 

Girl Power

At the foot of the grand staircase that leads to the John and Berthe Ford Gallery, on the carriage house’s lower floor, the Hindu goddess Devi greets you with a penetrating gaze. The Indian sculpture, which dates from 975-1000, is one of several prominent depictions of female goddesses that show just how much significance these powerful beings had in India, Nepal, and Tibet.

The Tibetan scroll painting (one of the earliest surviving examples of its kind) of the enlightened goddess Tara is another example. She sits in the lotus position in a mountain paradise, beckoning to you to pause and reflect.  

Collecting Histories

The new installation also tell the stories of three sets of collectors through the wondrous works they gathered.

Longtime Baltimoreans John and Berthe Ford have been profiled by The New York Times for having one of the world’s most important private collections of Himalayan and Indian art. Native Baltimorean Alexander Brown Griswold became interested in Asian art while stationed in Thailand during World War II and the Thai sculptures of Buddha that he acquired grace the second floor of the carriage house.    

And who could forget tobacco heiress Doris Duke, who, as Landau said, was one of the first collectors of Islamic and Southeast Asian art. She had hundreds of works stored in the barn of her New Jersey estate until the Walters obtained them after her death. 

UPDATE: 7/16/2017

FORCE: Cindy Cheng has won the 2017 Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize at a ceremony at the Walters Art Museum.

Cheng, who teaches drawing at the Maryland Institute College of Art, creates complex constructions and installations that investigate the relationship between drawings and objects and are incubators for history, memory and reflections on the physical and abstract self. Her work has been the focus of shows in Baltimore, Toronto, and later this year in Portland, Oregon. 

———————————-

Every year, the arts community waits anxiously for the announcement of the finalists for the Janet and Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize, the city’s largest visual art award that brings with it a $25,000 fellowship.

And each summer, those finalists exhibit their work at a show that is one of the highlights of the summer, showcasing the depth and range of artistic excellence in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. region (this year, all seven artists are Charm City residents). This show also gives visitors the rare treat of seeing contemporary art displayed at The Walters Art Museum, which has a collection that mostly predates the 20th century.

As is typically the case, this show—which opens to the public on Saturday, June 17—is markedly different from last year’s, which dealt with themes including sexual violence, the inequalities of the African-American experience, and our relationship with the environment. This crop of winners is just as varied, but even if the subject is serious in nature—for example, the value of personal information in commercial culture, and the inability of art to capture reality, the artist explores it in a bright, lively, even playful, way that draws the viewer further in.

Mequitta Ahuja
Ahuja’s newest paintings are self-portraits, but that doesn’t mean they’re just about her. She uses figurative painting as a way to explore conventions over centuries, and her work finds inspiration in the symbolism of early American art. “My work is a form of tribute, analysis, and intervention,” Ahuja said in her artist statement, “by positioning a woman of color as primary picture-maker, in whose hands the figurative tradition is refashioned.”

Mary Anne Arntzen
Several forms dominate Arntzen’s canvasses—interlocking tubes, repeating stripes, and folded chevron shapes to name a few. Her work resembles sections of a quilt as they repeat and mirror each other across square frames. “The physical state of paint is crucial to my process: I paint thickly then thinly, dig through, wipe off, and repaint,” Arntzen said in her artist statement. “I braid painted marks together like strands of rope or allow them to misbehave, taking on the chaos of knotted strings.”

Cindy Cheng
Cheng’s practice is based on drawing, but her work also takes on a form that merges sculpture and assemblage. “By creating works that incorporate thoughtfulness with a sense of play and optimism, I hope to make my practice accessible to anyone who cares to spend time with the work,” Cheng said. Take, for example, the work above, Untitled (Straight and Narrow), which incorporates foam, sawdust, and plexiglass along with ceramic figures made by Cheng herself.

Sara Dittrich
Dittrich wants to give viewers a renewed awareness of their bodies. For example, she wore enormous celluclay and foam feet and hands she fashioned and shot pictures of herself moving haphazardly, which became the work Arrhythmia of the Body #1-20. As she said in her artist statement, she “uses devices such as repetition, absurdity, and collaboration to filter in the physical rhythms and movments of the body created by the accumulation of footsteps, breaths, and heartbeats.” 

Benjamin Kelley
Using four seemingly unrelated events—including the fossilization of a tree in a peat bog, astronauts departing for a space mission in 1995, and the opening of the Walters in 1934—Kelley explores how objects were shaped by these happenings and became relics. Take, for instance, his piece Residual Evolutions, (above) which incorporates a cylindrical tube that runs along one gallery wall, containing an ancient bog oak and the right glove from an astronaut’s space suit.

Kyle Tata
Tata’s newest work utilizes patters derived from security-tinted envelopes, which he uses to mask film images. It gives the effect of seeing figures and colors through a screen. “This series investigates the notion that within an increasingly immaterial culture, personal information can become as valuable as currency,” Tata said in his artist statement.

Amy Yee
“I’m interested in the failure of art,” Yee says matter-of-factly in her artist statement. She’s also curious about art objects and the problems they run into when pretending to be “the real thing,” and she wants the media she works with to clash with the subject matter. Like her piece The Field (Arranged), where she has organized on shelves Giant-brand Kleenex boxes that have a design of waving grass. The white Kleenex peak out of the boxes, mimicking the grass. 

The finalists’ exhibit is on view until August 13.

BABY BEATS
6/6. Center Plaza, 100 N. Charles St. 10:30 a.m. Free. Parents and kids can learn a new skill at this fast-paced beat-boxing workshop.

FISHING FUN DAY
6/10. Lake Roland, 1000 Lakeside Dr. 9:30 a.m. $5.
Learn how to bait a hook and catch a fish outside at Lake Roland. 

CELEBRATING AFRICAN-AMERICAN DADS

6/10. Reginald F. Lewis Museum, 830 E. Pratt St. 12 p.m. Free-$8. This fete for African-American dads features live drumming, poetry readings, and collage crafts. 

DAD’S DAY 5K
6/11. Rash Field, 201 Key Hwy. 8 a.m. $5. Grab your father, family, and friends for this festive 5K to benefit local parks.

CREATURE FEATURES

6/17. The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St. 11 a.m. Free. Fathers, sons, and families can come together for a hands-on tour with activities at the museum. 

SATURDAY
MORNING TUNES
6/17. WTMD Studios, 1 Olympic Pl., Towson. 9 a.m. Free-$40. Bring the kids for weekend morning music by Barry Louis Polisar.

FATHER’S DAY COOKOUT
6/18. Cromwell Valley Park, 2002 Cromwell Bridge Road, Parkville. 1-3 p.m. $3-5. Enjoy hot dogs and cornhole with dad.

ORIOLES VS.
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
6/16-18. Oriole Park at Camden Yards, 333 W. Camden St. Times & prices vary. Spend Father’s Day weekend with hot dogs, cold beers, and the O’s at Camden Yards.

SCHOLA FATHER’S
DAY DINNER
6/18. Schola, 1005 N. Charles St. 5 p.m. $69. Treat dad to dinner with this hands-on cooking class full of confit duck, juicy filet, and s’mores bread pudding.

CHEF

6/18. Enoch Pratt Free Library, 6310 Reisterstown Road. 5:30 p.m. Free. Catch this funny film about an out-of-work chef who opens a food truck and reconnects with his son.

MOUNT CLARE
FATHER’S DAY
6/18. Mount Clare Museum House, 1500 Washington Blvd. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Free- $8. Bring your father figure for special admission, war reenactors, and lessons on 18th-century weaponry.

THE CRAWDADDIES
6/18. Ladew Topiary Gardens, 3535 Jarrettsville Pike, Monkton. 6 p.m. Free-$15. Celebrate Father’s Day with live music that combines zydeco, blues, and ska influences. 

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.

Events

Toward Equity in the Arts
April 13, The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St.  This talk will examine how race and class have impacted access and inclusion practices for funding, promotion, and exhibition opportunities in the arts, and will look at efforts to improve equity in these areas. The conversation includes Jess Solomon of Art in Praxis, Sheila Gaskings, and Darryl Ratcliff. Jonothan Gray and Chelsea Gilmer will open the evening with performances of their spoken word poetry. The annual lecture is held in honor of the Walters’ founding Director of Education, Ted Low, and focuses on an important current topic in the museum field.

Starts Here Reading Series
April 15, Bird in Hand Coffee Shop, 11 E. 33rd St.  This latest reading in the series hosted by Best of Baltimore winner Jen Michalski features Elise Levin, the director of the MA in Writing program at Johns Hopkins University, and Meghan Kenny, who held the Tickner Writing Fellowship in Baltimore and now lives and teaches in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.     

Bromo Spectacular
April 22, 29, various locations in the Bromo Arts District
These free, 90-minute walking tours of the arts district that includes downtown and the Howard Street corridor will invite people into invisible public spaces and storied buildings while learning about the speculative and spectacular efforts shaping the neighborhood. This free, 90 minute New Public Sites walking tour will feature little known histories, urban design successes and challenges, and current artist-led redevelopment projects, including Le Mondo and Current Space.

Exhibits

Thought Forms
April 20-May 27, C. Grimaldis Gallery, 523 N. Charles St.  This exhibition of paintings by Lisa Beck, Lydia Dona and Joan Waltemath stages the work of these New York artists who have simultaneously developed distinct practices in conceptual abstract painting. They are united by their strategic approach, in which a painting operates as a structural field that animates the subject’s relationship to architecture, machinery, and the universe surrounding it. 

Sacrifice
April 13-May 14, Motor House, 120 W. North Ave.  About this exhibit, artist Rene Trevino writes: “History is subjective; there are many blurred lines and so much distortion.  Context and point of view are very important. One person’s hero is another person’s villain…it depends on who tells the story.  As a gay Mexican-American I have always felt excluded and under-represented by history.  By using a historical context as a backdrop for my work, I can reweave these “lessons” of the past.”

Performances

David London’s Weekend of Magic
April 13-15, Theater Project, 45 W. Preston St.  Magician David London combines magic with storytelling, comedy, puppetry, philosophy, surrealism, and that which cannot be defined, to create original shows of magic unlike anything you have experienced before.

Rise Bmore
April 19, Union Baptist Church, 1219 Druid Hill Ave.  This free evening of words and music, of and for Baltimore, is in honor of Freddie Gray, who died on April 19, 2015. The event starts with a conversation featuring writers Sharea Harris, LOVE the poet, Brittani McNeill, and Hannah V. Sawyerr. The concert that follows features music by Peabody Conservatory professor Judah Adashi, Tariq Al-Sabir, Ruby Fulton, Lafayette Gilchrist, Brooks Long, and Martina Lynch, as well as poetry by Tariq Touré and images by Joseph M. Giordano.  

A Short Reunion
April 20-30, Single Carrot Theatre, 2600 N. Howard St.  For its latest play, Single Carrot is breaking out of its theatre space and onto the streets of Remington. Local businesses have partnered with Single Carrot to help transform this sprawling piece – a Frankenstein hybrid of never-before-seen shorts – into a short walking tour of the neighborhood. Charmington’s, Miller’s Court, Parts & Labor, Sweet 27, B. Willow, and Brick and Board will all be stops on the journey, along with neighborhood landmarks like the Remington ‘R’. In addition to creating new foot traffic and introducing potential customers to the businesses, A Short Reunion will give audience a taste of the complex and changing flavor of the neighborhood as a whole.

Spectral Lines
April 23, Maryland Science Center, 601 Light St.  Digital art, science, and music meet on and under the Planetarium dome. Local artist, Kevin Blackistone, inspired by extrasolar planets, manipulates computer software to create digital art for the Planetarium dome. The immersive visual art is enhanced by live music performed by Baltimore band Wume. 

Charm City Bluegrass Festival
April 29, Druid Hill Park, 900 Druid Park Lake Dr.  This fifth iteration of this celebration of all things bluegrass (and in a stunning setting) has a heck of a lineup, including Supergroup, which blends members of Yonder Mountain String Band and Leftover Salmon, The Lone Bellow, and local boy Cris Jacobs.

News

The Enoch Pratt Free Library announced this week that Heidi Daniel would be taking over as president and chief executive officer. Daniel has served as the executive director of The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County in Ohio since 2012. Daniel called the Pratt “one of the crown jewels of public libraries in the country, and I believe it is an integral part of the future success of Baltimore.”

You might remember that a few months ago we brought you the story of Throw, a documentary that told the story of East Baltimore resident Coffin Nachtmahr, who found acceptance among a subculture of yo-yo “throwers” and it turns out, he’s a virtuoso. He now helps others find a creative and social outlet by sharing what inspired him. Earlier this week, Throw was named as a nominee in the 21st Annual Webby Awards by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences. The nomination for the Internet’s highest honor is in the category of Documentary – Branded, where it will be judged against four other films. Other Webby nominees include the Netflix series Stranger Things, Pokemon Go and Beyonce.

The students who are a part of the iRhyme program at  Lakeland Elementary Middle School have done something most of their peers have not—they’ve created and starred in a music video, Guns Weak. And that video won the grand prize earlier this month at an art contest sponsored by Shock Trauma’s Violence Prevention Program. Take a look at it here:

Women’s rights have been in the news a lot lately, with fears of female freedoms being endangered by the new right-leaning Republican White House and Congress. But if January’s Women’s March (and these 13 events) are any indication, our country’s wonder women won’t be backing down any time soon.

Lectures & Workshops

3/8: Nadia Hashimi
Baltimore County Public Library, 1301 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville. 2:30 p.m. Free. The young novelist behind The Pearl That Broke Its Shell comes to the county to discuss Afghan women and the immigrant experience.

3/12: Guerrilla Girls
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Dr. 3 p.m. Free. In conjunction with the closing of the Guerrilla Girls exhibit, artist-activist Frida Kahlo joins the BMA’s contemporary curator Kristen Hileman to reflect on the human rights group’s legacy.

3/15: Society of Excellent Women
Open Works, 1400 Greenmount Ave. 6-9 p.m. Free. At this new monthly meet-up that celebrates lady power, enjoy a zine workshop with the female frontrunners of Baltimore’s self-publishing community and explore the new Open Works makerspace in Station North.

3/23: Roxane Gay
Maryland State Library for the Blind & Physically Handicapped, 415 Park Ave. 6:30 p.m. Free. The acclaimed author chats about her best-selling books, such as Bad Feminist and Difficult Women.

History

3/2: Celebrating Women of the Renaissance
The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St. 6:30 p.m. Free. National Museum of Women in the Arts associate curator Virginia Treanor discusses the experience of women artists and patrons in European history.

3/17: 4,000 Years of Women in Science
Benjamin Banneker Historical Park & Museum, 300 Oella Ave., Catonsville. 7 p.m. Free. Join astronomer Sethanne Howard to learn about female contribution to the study of science.

3/19-5/19: Women of the B&O Railroad
B&O Railroad Museum, 2711 Maryland Ave., Ellicott City. Fri.-Sun. 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Free-$8. Get to know the female employees of the B&O, including legendary engineer Olive Dennis.

3/22: The Female Gaze in Anime & Manga
MICA, Brown Center, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave. 12-1 p.m. Free. Delve into the gender politics of graphic novels.

Theater

3/30: Women Rabbis, Revealed
Gordon Center for Performing Arts, 3506 Gwynnbrook Ave., Owings Mills. 7:30 p.m. $20-25. The Strand Theater presents a staged reading of stories from On The Fringe, a documentary film about L.A.’s female rabbis.

3/17-4/9: The Taming of the Shrew
Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, 7 S. Calvert St. Times & prices vary. This topical comedy follows the rollicking story line of the “untamable” Kate and her romantic escapades.

To 3/19: Motherhood Out Loud
Vagabond Players, 806 S. Broadway. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. $10-20. This moving play turns the notion of parenthood on its head with comedy and celebration.

3/24-25: Womanizm
Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute & Cultural Center, 847 N. Howard St. 8 p.m. $20-25. The Eubie Blake Cabaret Company performs this celebration of black women.