Artist-Archivist
Originally published June 21, 2017 in Baltimore City Paper
"For thousands of years people all over the world have used materials sourced from the earth to record and grapple with cultural histories, memories, and identities in the form of masterful ceramics, tiles, and tools. Baltimore Clayworks' latest exhibition, "People of Color. People of Clay.," features a vast collection of works by 30 contemporary artists who continue this human tradition, folding their own stories into the earth." CONTINUE READING
"People of Color. People of Clay." is up at Baltimore Clayworks through July 1. For more info, visit baltimoreclayworks.org
Originally published June 19, 2017 in BmoreArt.com
"Inspired by early American figurative painting, Mequitta Ahuja’s huge portraits critique and engage the tradition of painting and the greater art historical canon. By featuring masterly rendered images of black women, primarily self-portraits in classical poses, the collection produces what Ahuja terms, “meaningful fictions,” to make atypical subjects, and the typically unnoticed compositional and aesthetic conventions of early figurative painting more visible." CONTINUE READING
More Sondheim Info:
The Walters and the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts are partnering to present the Sondheim Artscape Prize Finalists’ Exhibition, one of summer’s most anticipated events. On view at the Walters Saturday, June 17 through Sunday, August 13, the exhibition showcases the work of the seven finalists competing for the Janet & Walters Sondheim Artscape Prize, a $25,000 fellowship that is awarded each year by an independent panel of jurors to a visual artist or visual artist collaborators living and working in the Greater Baltimore region. This year’s finalists are all based in Baltimore.
The winner will be announced at an award ceremony and reception at the Walters on Saturday, July 15, at 7 p.m., with extended gallery hours from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. This year’s jurors are: Ruba Katrib, curator at SculptureCenter in Long Island City, New York, where she organizes exhibitions, educational and public programs, and publications, and coordinates program presentation; Clifford Owens, a New York-based contemporary artist who works in performance, photography, text, and video; and Nat Trotman, associate curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
The Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize is held in conjunction with Artscape, America’s largest free arts festival, and is produced by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts. Artscape runs from July 21 through July 23 along Mount Royal Avenue and North Charles Street. Additionally, an exhibition of the semifinalists’ work is shown in the Decker and Meyerhoff galleries at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) Friday, July 21 through Sunday, August 6.
Originally published June 12, 2017 in Bmoreart.com
A new venture from Wilde Thyme Baltimore, a catering company based in Charles Village/ Remington, hopes to pair locally sourced, organically grown food with creative goods from local artists and artisans in Baltimore City. Taking a note from the brilliant model famously employed by the Taharka Bros—who provide delicious ice cream and radical literature to neighborhoods throughout the city—Wilde Thyme seeks to offer Mexican-Greek fusion treats and a diversely curated selection of visual art works. The company also aims to have accessible price points to those starved of organic foods and imaginative creations. CONTINUE READING
Originally Published May 26, 2017 on BmoreArt.com
"Theo Anthony’s Rat Film is a nonlinear feature about rats and residential segregation in Baltimore City. I hesitate to call the film a documentary because the work is not always transparent about the people and events it depicts. Spoiler alert: the fishing rod rat killers are actors.
As such, it falls into an interdisciplinary category of hybrid films; films that combine traditional documentary aesthetics with fictional narratives to create or reinterpret a supposed truth. Footage captured by Anthony, the writer/director, is spliced with archival photographs and virtual worlds. The result is a hyperreal framing of the city and its residents, which is at times entertaining, but reveals issues around the artistic privilege of representation. A few days after the film screened at this year’s MD Film Festival, Anthony shared some thoughts with me about his intentions in making the film." CONTINUE READING
Originally published May 10, 2017 on Bmoreart.com
"DeVane’s works are revisionist histories that celebrate and activate the power and influence of colonially marginalized people; in her creations so called savages and pagan ritualists, are holy, her subjects are whole and fully realized humans, systems, and/or sciences." CONTINUE READING
Oletha DeVane: The Other Side of Darkness is up at Project 1628 from April 9, 2017 – May 21, 2017 (with a closing reception 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm)
Originally published on April 26, 2017 in Baltimore City Paper
Like Baldwin's queries about constructions of masculinity, race, sexuality, and gender, artist/writer Devin N. Morris' solo show "In a Dignified Fashion," at Terrault Contemporary through May 6, expands and subverts conventional categories of identity both in content— queer subjects in flat, surreal environments—and in his technical style. CONTINUE READING
"In a Dignified Fashion" is up at Terrault Contemporary through May 6. For more information, visit terraultcontemporary.com
Originally published April 5, 2017 on Baltimore City Paper
Think about the light that illuminates your community and how it makes you feel. When you see red and blue flashing lights, do you feel calm or anxiety? Do the light poles in your neighborhood bear blue flashing surveillance cameras? Have you noticed these cameras as you drive through other communities? Is a bright flood light installed at the end of your block? Do you have LED street lights? Are the lights in your community shattered or broken? Is your community devoid of light?
April Danielle Lewis created the Safe and Sound public art project with residents from the Greater Mondawmin neighborhood to answer these questions and examine the role of light in safety and community... CONTINUE READING
Originally Published on March 27, 2017 in BmoreArt.
"For many athletes, playing a sport is the gateway to success, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pursue higher education, or a one-in-a-billion opportunity to make millions playing professionally.
Dr. Gregory J. Kaliss explains this phenomenon in his essay, Men’s College Athletics and the Politics of Racial Equality. “The notion of meritocracy, deeply embedded in American culture, seemed best realized in Athletic competition, an arena many hoped could be free from the racial prejudice that abrogated millions of American’s opportunities in business, politics, and social life,” said Kaliss. At Baltimore’s Platform Gallery, artist Abdi Farah explores the insidious pathology of American sports culture, especially racialization of sports in a solo exhibit of drawings, paintings, and fiber works in America’s Team." CONTINUE READING
Originally published March 8, 2017 in Baltimore City Paper.
“I Am Not Your Negro” examines the idea of race, for people of color—who are given marginal identifications—and for those assigning the identifications: “white” people. Raoul Peck's documentary is not just a chronicle of Baldwin's memories, but a thorough historical compendium of America's morbid obsession with the idea of whiteness—a construct Baldwin states is “a metaphor for power, and this is simply a way of describing Chase Manhattan Bank.” Continue Reading...
Docs N Toons
A short experimental film celebrating and investigating the significance of Angela Y. Davis' scholarship and activism. Watch the Trailer
A powerful documentary covering the impact of the 2010 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti from the perspective of Haitians. Watch the full documentary.
"Operation Small Axe" is a timely raw and unflinching documentary that investigates the 2010 murder of unarmed Oakland resident Oscar Grant. Watch the Trailer.
Watch Docs N Toons
Originally published June 22, 2017 in Bmoreart.com
READ THE REVIEW
"Bloodlines at Transformer DC curated by Martina Dodd features fine and performance artists who work with blood as a medium and metaphor for the familial, feminine and/or spiritual experiences all women encounter. Artists Lisa Hill, Tsedaye Makonnen, Samera Paz, Iman Person and members of the aje collective, made up of queer Black trans-media artists, each honor, interpret and display their personal connections to blood, motherhood, women’s bodies and menstrual cycles." CONTINUE READING
This is the last week Bloodlines will be on display at Transformer DC (Closes June 24, 2017). Be sure to visit www.transformerdc.org for more info and visit the show before it closes this weekend.