BmoreArt

Photos from artNow: Baltimore at the Kohl Gallery, Washington College

2012-02-11T17:06:00.000-08:00

artNOW: Baltimore

Kohl Gallery, Washington College, Chestertown, MD

Feb 10 - March 30, 2012

Artists: Christian Benefiel, Leslie Furlong, Andrew Liang, René Treviño, Karen Yasinsky

Curators: Alex Castro and Cara Ober

Andrew Liang

René Treviño

Leslie Furlong

Christian Benefiel

Karen Yasinsky

Lairs: Drawings and Paintings by Ryan Browning at Rice Gallery - A Review by Jessica Oros

2012-02-10T10:53:00.000-08:00

Killing Tiamat

Lairs: Drawings and Paintings by Ryan Browning

January 24 - February 17, 2012

Rice Gallery, McDaniel College

Westminster, MD

Lairs by Ryan Browning lives up to its name. When walking into the Rice Gallery the viewer is transported into a new world. Browning’s inspiration comes from the video games of his childhood and these alternate realities and parallel worlds creep into his art, pervading the gallery with images from the imagination. The paintings on the walls show hideaways, caves, and secret spaces for individuals to escape to. Lairs exhibits Browning’s talents not only in oil but also in his use of graphite, watercolor and ballpoint pen. The intricately drawn landscapes and interior scenes of 'Every Last Mountain' and 'Torch Eyes' shows the attention to detail taken in the repetitive images. All of these works show Browning’s talent and the diversity of his abilities while remaining true to his ideas and the alternate world he has created.

The works are intended to imitate a digital world and this can be seen in the way the brushstrokes are hidden and the artist’s hand has been removed from the works. Even the ballpoint pen pieces seem to have been created by an outside force because of the repetitive and monotonous feeling of the works. Browning wants his works to be a type of re-visioning of the world around him and remind viewers of landscapes. His “remixes of landscapes” have a postmodern feel to them because they show reminisces of human interaction but there are no people in any of his works.

Torch Eyes

Browning does not stick to the traditional ways of showing his works. He tries new and inventive ways to present his pieces. In 'Torch Eyes', he frames the two works in round, crisp, white frames. The two pieces are meant to be seen as one work and appear like eyes to the viewer. Another piece that appears to be multiple works is 'Time Passes on the Mirror Planes'. This piece contains multiple framed images starting on one wall and creeping onto the adjacent wall. The landscape is suspended in air and three loops extend from framed piece to framed piece until one by one they end leaving only one to continue to the end of the piece. This idea of multiple pieces framed individually to make one whole work aids his connection to the virtual world of video games because each framed piece parallels to the individual snap shots of the worlds seen on the computer or TV screen when playing the game.

Time Passes on the Mirror Planes

The overall feeling of a fantasy world created from his mind is conveyed through the landscapes and scenes depicted in each of the pieces. These worlds correspond to the worlds made in a gamers mind when playing in a virtual reality.

- Review by Jessica Oros

Inspiration from Jim Jarmusch

2012-02-10T10:08:00.001-08:00

From the Moon to the Earth at the temporary (MICA's Studio Center Windows)

2012-02-05T17:28:00.000-08:00

From the Moon to the Earth: an installation by Mark Joseph Oliver (Rinehart School of Sculpture MFA, 2013)

now on view at the temporary (MICA's Studio Center windows)

typography by Kelcey Towell (Graphic Design MFA, 2013)

curated by Deana Haggag (Curatorial Practice MFA, 2013)

Friday, February 3rd - Friday, February 17th

Closing Reception details to follow.

Those three men have carried into space all the resources of art, science, and industry. With that, one can do anything; and you will see that, some day, they will come out all right. -Jules Verne, From the Moon to the Earth, 1865

Solar Etching and Monoprint Workshops with Soledad Salamé

2012-02-05T17:23:00.000-08:00

—Randi Reiss-McCormack, 2011

NEW WORKSHOP: March 2, 3, & 4 - no more than 4 artists will be accepted / The solar etching and monoprint workshop will also be offered the weekend of March 17, 18, and 19 for those who cannot make the first weekend.

This next workshop will now focus primarily on solar etching and monoprint, where each artist will be encouraged to create a series, or set of prints to compose one strong body of work. We will recycle your plates, so many of you do not have to produce new plates. This workshop is for every kind of artist interested in building a solid printmaking portfolio of both concept and aesthetic. We will work with you individually to create this portfolio with enough freedom and guidance for you to enhance your creative language and visual identity.

The workshop is 10am- 4pm
$200 per day for 4 artists; $250 for 3

To sign up for March 2-4, or 17-19, contact Soledad, solsa1@verizon.net or Soledad's assistant, Robin, robintalley.page@gmail.com .

On Location: MFA Thesis by Steven Riddle, Yiyun Chu, and Marie Danielsson-Yung February 9

2012-02-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

Where we come from and where we reside are two of the most significant pieces of information about a person. The three artists in this exhibition have experienced the sense of adventure and displacement inherent in moving to a new city. Each finds that the spaces they occupy influence their thinking and behavior and, most especially, their creative pursuits. The paintings, collages, digital and three-dimensional art in this exhibition are a testament to the variety of ways Riddle, Danielsson-Yung, and Chu make sense of their surroundings, using art as another language to find their way in a new and unfamiliar place.

LOCATION: Center for the Arts·Holtzman MFA Gallery

ONVIEW: Friday, February10, 2012—Saturday, March10, 2012

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, February 9, 2012, 7:30—9:00 pm

GALLERY HOURS: Tuesday—Saturday, 11 am to 4 pm

Gina Beavers: Le Sigh at Nudashank February 11

2012-02-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

GINA BEAVERS - LE SIGH

Nudashank is please to present Le Sigh, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Gina Beavers. Beavers' paintings reside somewhere between surrealism and abstraction. Glimpses of real life are isolated for their humor, intuitively and intentionally clipped and transformed through techniques borrowed from sculpture and design as well as painting.

Gina Beavers lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She received an MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her BA from UVA. Recent exhibitions include a solo show at PACS Gallery (Brooklyn) and group shows "Go Figure!" at Dodge Gallery (NYC) and "The Death of Affect" at ART BLOG ART BLOG (NYC).

Show runs: February 11th- March 10th, 2012

Nudashank

H&H Bldg.

405 W. Franklin St.

3rd Floor

Baltimore, MD 21201

www.ginabeavers.com

www.nudashank.com

art NOW opens Feb 10 at Washington College

2012-02-03T16:34:00.001-08:00

February 10 - March 30, 2012

Opening Reception: Friday, February 10, 5-7 pm

Kohl Gallery, Gibson Center for the Arts

Washington College

Chestertown, MD

Artists: Christian Benefiel, Leslie Furlong, Andrew Liang, Karen Yasinsky, and René Treviño

Curated by Alex Castro and Cara Ober

Sara Barnes: Foundation opens Feb 10 at EMP Collective

2012-02-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

Foundation: Works by Sara Barnes

February 10 - March 4, 2012

Opening Feb. 10 from 7-9 pm

EMP

306 W. Redwood Street

Baltimore, MD

Listen, Go Back, Listen opens February 11 at Current Space

2012-02-01T09:37:00.000-08:00

LISTEN, GO BACK, LISTEN

Opening Reception February 11, 7-10 p.m.

Exhibition February 11 - 26

Listen, Go back, Listen features works by artists who use a wide range of approaches to grapple with the act of remembering, and the joys and pains inherent in that act.

Artists

Anna Crooks

Ellen Paul

Brendan Sullivan

Hannah Mandel

Ryan Hammond

Jacob Weinberg

Robert Little

Luigi Tedone

Morgan Frailey

Gallery hours Saturday Sunday 12 - 4pm

Starting Sunday, February 12th till February 26th

//////////////////////

Everything That Rises Must Converge

March 2nd – March 18th

Opening reception: Friday, March 2nd, 6 – 9 p.m.

curated by Carl Gunhouse & Ginevra Shay

Everything That Rises Must Converge is a group exhibition that explores the connection between six emerging photographers and their neighborhoods. A dialogue is formed between these photographers and their immediate surroundings that helps shape their art and is expressed through a personal narrative in their work. The photographers have become ambassadors for their neighborhoods, communicating the stories, feelings and idiosyncrasies that surround them.

Heyward Hart, from Spartanburg, SC, studied photography and received his MFA from Yale University. His work has been exhibited nationally including shows at Nicole Klagsburn Project space in New York, NY, Aviary Gallery in Boston MA, and the Hanes Art Center in Chapel Hill, NC. He has also been awarded the Richard Benson Prize and Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship. Heyward currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA

Irina Rozovsky (b. 1981, Moscow) studied French and Spanish literature as an undergraduate at Tufts University, and received an MFA in photography from Massachusetts College of Art in 2007. Her work has been featured in numerous national and international exhibitions and publications, including 25 under 25: Up and Coming American Photographers (powerHouse Books and Duke University); 31 Women in Art Photography, curated by Charlotte Cotton and Jon Feinstein; Exposure at the PRC, curated by Mia Hamm; the Magnum Expression Award juried by Martin Parr; Collector’s Guide to New Art Photography(Humble Arts, NYC) ; Rencontres, Arles; PhotoEspaña, Madrid. Most recently, her work was the subject of a solo exhibition at the New England School of Photography, Boston. This spring she published her first monograph, One to Nothing (Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg), which was named a Selected Title at the German Photo Book Award and featured on the Top 20 Photo Books of 2011 list by Alec Soth. Irina lives in Brooklyn, NY, and teaches at the International Center of Photography.

Born to a Cuban mother and Puerto Rican father in New York City, and raised in Florida, photographer Joseph Michael Lopez began working as a documentary cinematographer, notably on the critically acclaimed Bruce Weber film, Chop Suey. Lopez’s recent solo work gravitates toward filmic still images, book forms, haptic installations that have been exhibited in New York and Berlin. He studied with photographer Danny Lyon and at Columbia University, where he holds an M.F.A. Lopez’s work has appeared on the cover of the Sunday Review of The New York Times and he is a contributor to Agence VU’. He has just completed working on the first chapter of his ongoing long-term book project, Birth Write: Patriarchy and Lust, which was nominated by the Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund. The project's second chapter has been proposed for production in 2012.

RaMell Ross is a photographer based in Greensboro, AL. A 2005 Georgetown graduate, RaMell double majored in sociology and English and received a minor in art. Merging his passions for art and service, RaMell is currently the Youthbuild Job Placement Manager at the Hale Empowerment & Revitalization Organization, Inc. This led him to document the Black Belt region of Hale County, Alabama, an endeavor, which he is still actively photographing. An unstoppable emerging artist, RaMell has already been published with The New York Times, ESPN, Penguin Group, The Washington Post, Simon and Schuster, Business Week, Food and Wine Magazine, Garden and Guns Magazine, CNN, Ready Made Magazine, and several online publications.

Trevor Powers was born in 1985 in Burlington, Vermont. He attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA where he studied Photography and bookmaking. He received his Diploma in 2008 and Fifth Year Certificate in 2009. His work has been published and exhibited throughout the United States. He now lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts.

Andrew Laumann was born in the spring of 1987 in Baltimore, MD, where he currently resides. He did not attend College, after high school he spent 4 years traveling and living around the country. His work is concerned with the act of destruction and reconstruction and its affect on the natural and supernatural world. He has multiple publications by the likes of Gottlund Verlag, JSBJ, & Hamburger Eye, and has been show nationally and internationally.

Current Space is an artist-run gallery, studio, and a headquarters for cultural production, nourishing an ongoing dialogue between artists, activists, performers, designers, curators, and thinkers. Operating since November 2004, we are committed to showcasing developing, and broadening the reach of artists locally and internationally.

Geoff Delanoy: Fugitive Landscapes opens Feb 11 at Gormley Gallery

2012-02-01T09:31:00.000-08:00

Gormley Gallery presents Fugitive Landscapes, an exhibit of the photography of Geoff Delanoy.
College of Notre Dame

Opening Reception - Saturday, February 11, 2012 from 4 to 6 pm.

Gormley Gallery is located on the second floor of Fourier Hall on the corner of N. Charles St. and Homeland Ave.

Under Cover opens at MICA February 2

2012-01-29T18:19:00.000-08:00

This year, MICA's Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS) class, along with 11 artists, examines the continuously shifting definitions of shelter and privacy through the interdisciplinary group exhibition, Under Cover. From Friday, Jan. 27-Sunday, March 11, the approximately 50 works of sculpture, photography and video explore how private dwellings and public spaces have begun to merge and how, as a result, concepts of and expectations for shelter, protection and privacy have been irrevocably altered. The class looks at how densely populated cities, surveillance of the public and digital overexposure of personal information have contributed to dissolving the boundary between public and private space. As public domain continues to advance, perhaps the only shelter left is in the privacy of the mind. The exhibition, taking place in Fox Building's Decker Gallery, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave., will include a reception on Thursday, Feb. 2, 7-9 p.m.

"The class has invited a group of artists to think about privacy in real and virtual spaces, new models of urban or nomadic living, and the omnipresence of surveillance in contemporary life," EDS faculty member Jeffry Cudlin said. "All of these issues are at the forefront of how we live now. They directly affect a group of students who are eyeing the current economic climate and trying to navigate a world in which all activities could be regarded as suspicious-and monitored accordingly."

The annual EDS class enables students to examine the curatorial process through the research, planning and production of a major exhibition.

Paper Shapers opens at Goucher College's Silber Gallery January 31

2012-01-29T16:39:00.000-08:00

Paper Shapers at Silber Gallery, Goucher College

January 31 - March 4, 2012

http://goucher.edu/x45558.xml

Paper Shapers will be presented at Goucher College's Silber Art Gallery in the Athenaeum from January 31 to March 4, 2012. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, can be viewed Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

An artist's closing reception will be held in the gallery on Friday, March 2, from 6 to 9 p.m., with an artist talk at 7 p.m.

In Paper Shapers, Jaime Bennati, Joe Cypressi, Elizabeth Dove, Scott Hazard, Jason Hughes, Leslie Shellow, and Renee van der Stelt, highlight the many ways paper can be manipulated. Whether by folding, cutting, rolling, piercing, layering, weaving, or molding, these seven artists use paper as their primary artistic medium, but show us much more than sheets, pieces, or scraps.

Sum of the Parts opens February 22 at MD Art Place

2012-01-26T10:36:00.000-08:00

The Sum of the Parts

curated by Amy Boone-McCreesh

February 22 - March 24, 2012

MAP is pleased to announce Amy Boone-McCreesh as the selected curator for the 2012 Curators’ Incubator Program. Established in 2003, the program was designed to assist aspiring curators in developing and presenting an exhibition at MAP.

The Sum of the Parts is an exhibition of four east coast, contemporary artists that utilize repetitive processes as a means of building grander works. Sculpture, installation, and drawing are explored through processes such as knitting, cutting paper, and mold-making for this multi-media exhibition.

Artists: Emily Barletta, Lauren Clay, Jerry Kaba, and Nikki Painter

Events

February 22, 6-8pm: Reception and Curator’s Talk

March 10, 12-3pm: Knitting & Crochet Workshop

Accompanying the exhibition will be a knitting and crocheting workshop. The workshop, sponsored by Lovelyarns, will serve beginners as an introduction to knitting and crochet while those with more experience are welcome to join in for a chance to meet the curator and work on existing projects in the MAP galleries.

Staging over Manipulation opens January 27 at Guest Spot

2012-01-25T19:24:00.000-08:00

Staging over Manipulation

January 27, 2012- March 3, 2012

Curated by: Heather Loughran and Rod Malin

Opening Reception: Friday January 27, 7pm-10pm

Closing Artist Brunch: Saturday March 3, 1pm-5pm

Hours: Saturdays 1-5pm & Wednesdays 5-7pm or by appointment

Staging over Manipulation is a group exhibition which brings together four artists whose works transcend traditional processes of manipulation. The exhibition explores roles in which artists set and shape the organizational context. These artists’ works reflect on attributes of a culture that demonstrates a malignant conscience in exposing an excessively branded society. While employing methods typically used for staging, the artists challenge not only the contextual framework of branding, they also expose the arena from which works are seen, i.e., the art branding syndicate.

Works By: Julie Benoit Eric Doeringer Jenny Drumgoole Kim Llerena

These engineered practices high light the tension between Fact and the ideas surrounding the America’s cultural need to orchestrate.

Julie Benoit was born in Gambrills, Maryland in 1975 and currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland. She received her MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art.. Through wandering about the city she has developed an interest in all of the small, unnoticed moments that surround her. Benoit has shown her work in galleries in Baltimore, DC, New York, Oregon, Los Angeles, and other cities. She also writes an occasional art review for local blogs and has in the past written for other local magazines.

Eric Doeringer is an artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Much of his artwork involves re-making the work of other artists. Doeringer has exhibited at institutions including MoMA PS1, The Whitney Museum, La Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, MUSAC, The Bruce Museum, and The Currier Museum. In 2011, he curated the exhibition “I Like the Art World and the Art World Likes Me” at EFA Project Space in New York and had solo shows at Another Year In LA (Los Angeles) and Plush Gallery (Dallas)

Kim Llerena is currently earning her MFA in Photographic & Electronic Media at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. She was and raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland before attending New York University, where she received dual BA degrees in Journalism and Spanish. Between her undergraduate and graduate studies, she interned at Jeff Harris Photography Studio, shot freelance photography work, and worked full-time as Assistant to the Director at CITYarts, a public art non-profit organization in Manhattan. Llerena has exhibited in Maryland and New York.

Philadelphia artist Jenny Drumgoole inserts herself into marginal spaces for pseudo-celebrity within popular culture—most recently, by entering absurdly humorous videos of herself in a “Real Women of Philadelphia” online video recipe contest sponsored by Kraft. Her most recent video-based performance work involves the artist physically and virtually infiltrating competitive events with subversive art actions which question our obsessions with celebrity, desire, and the limits and illusions of individuality in popular culture. Drumgoole received her MFA in photography from the Yale School of Art in 2006.

Curator
Heather Loughran was born in Baltimore, MD and currently lives and works in New York City. She is earning her BFA in Photography from Parsons the New School for Design. Loughran began working at Guest Spot as a Curatorial Assistant, starting when the Gallery opened in June. This is her first official collaboration working with professional artists.

For further info contact: Rod Malin rodmalin@guestspot.org

Subterfuge at Creative Alliance Saturday, Feb 25

2012-01-24T18:12:00.000-08:00

Subterfuge: CA Residents and Others

Sat Feb 25 Residents’ Open House. Receptions and Open Studios 7-9pm. FREE concert w/ Big in Japan 9pm. On view Feb 23-Mar 10.

The average visitor to The Patterson has only an inkling of the activity going on behind closed doors or in darkened corners. On the occasion of our annual blockbuster Residents Open House, with studio doors thrown open and the energy turned way up, our resident artists and a group of their friends take the notion of subterfuge -an act of purposeful deception - as the theme for a show that’ll have you looking over your shoulder. Coordinated by Alessandra Torres.

Spiral Cinema: Mystery Train January 25 at The Windup Space

2012-01-24T16:52:00.000-08:00

Wednesdays at 9PM, January 4th - 25th, 2012

Wind Up Space, 12 W. North Avenue, Baltimore MD 21201

Open Space, 2720 Sisson Street, Baltimore MD 21211

spiralcinema.tumblr.com

All events in Spiral Cinema are free and open to the public.

Wednesday, January 25th: Mystery Train (1989) dir. by Jim Jarmusch @ Windup Space

Soundtrack provided by Sterling Sisters

Poster by Chloe Maratta

Trudging through an empty street, one starts noticing things that might not have appeared during a time when a crowd of bodies flood the sidewalks. Unknown lamp posts, billboards, open fields, and dead animals appear where one's eyes previously glide past these transitory landmarks. The Sterling Sister's soundtrack inspired by Jim Jarmusch's 1989 film Mystery Train appears as a devoted voyage through a town once plagued by memories of lost loves, shaken faiths, and awakened memories. This five song EP stands at the end of the series as being one of the more emotionally raw and allegorical of the various soundtracks presented.

Spiral Cinema is an ongoing collaboration between Max Guy and Neil Sanzgiri in the form of film screenings and self-published essays. Spiral Cinema is made possible by Baltimore Print Studios, Open Space, the Windup Space, the National Endowment for the Arts; the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, creator of the Baker Artists Awards (www.bakerartistawards.com); and Station North Arts & Entertainment, Inc., (www.stationnorth.org).

Art NOW opens February 10 at Washington College

2012-01-24T09:32:00.000-08:00

February 10 - March 30, 2012

Opening Reception: Friday, February 10, 5-7 pm

Kohl Gallery, Gibson Center for the Arts

Washington College

Chestertown, MD

Artists: Christian Benefiel, Leslie Furlong, Andrew Liang, Karen Yasinsky, and René Treviño

Curated by Alex Castro and Cara Ober

UMBC's MFA Program in Imaging & Digital Arts & CADVC Present...

2012-01-24T09:29:00.000-08:00

MFA Thesis Exhibition, Jan. 26 - Feb. 18, 2012

Public Reception: Thursday, Feb. 2, 5-7 p.m

Performance dates and times vary. See exhibition webpage for more info.

UMBC's Sixth Annual Arts Integration Conference Features Gallery Talk by Gary Kachadourian, Feb. 11, 2012, 10:15 am

The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, UMBC (CADVC) is pleased to work in cooperation with the UMBC Department of Education, the organizers of UMBC’s Sixth Annual Arts Integration Conference to be held on the campus of University of Maryland, Baltimore County on February 11, 2012, 9 am - 3 pm.

Gary Kachadourian makes drawings and Xeroxed or ink jet printed booklets, prints or posters and occasionally curates small scale multi-artist exhibitions. The winner of both a Baker award and a prestigious Joan Mitchell Foundation award, Kachadourian will be speaking in the gallery at CADVC from within his own installation.

Conference attendees must register for the full conference, however, all CADVC events are free and open to the public.

Make/Shift: New Works by Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez at Open Space January 21

2012-01-21T09:49:00.001-08:00

Make/Shift: New Works by Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez

January - March, 2012

Opening Reception: January 21, 2012

Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez (b. 1983) is a cuban-born artist, musician, and writer who lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland. Using techniques borrowed from the world of commercial art, he examines the roles of design, labor and production in an atmosphere where virtuality often supersedes actuality. By diffusing the objective of marketing, he arrives at a commercial language mangled by its own transitory nature. His digital renderings, videos, paintings, and sculptures often express a sense of transitioning through a social hierarchy, as if third and first world sensibilities collided in an amalgamation of structure and disarray.

His work has been exhibited at home and abroad in such exhibitions as the Prague Contemporary Art Festival and Art 42 Basel in Basel, Switzerland. More recently, his illustration work was exhibited as part of Interboro Partners'"Holding Pattern", a summer exhibition at Moma PS1.

For more information, please visit: http://www.lessergonzalezalvarez.com and http://www.openspacebaltimore.com/

Zachary Thornton: Night Visions opens at Grimaldis Gallery January 24

2012-01-17T09:57:00.001-08:00

Zachary Thornton: Night Visions

January 24 - March 10

Reception: Tuesday, January 24 6-8 pm

Grimaldis Gallery

Lynn Rybicki: Cosmic Manifesto opens at Goucher College January 24

2012-01-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

Lynn Rybicki: Cosmic Manifesto

Goucher College's Rosenberg Gallery

Exhibit: January 24 - March 4, 2012

Closing Reception: Friday, March 2, 6-8 pm

Rosenberg Gallery is open Monday through Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

EPIC PROPERTIES at MD Art Place January 21, 2012: 12 - 4pm

2012-01-17T09:47:00.000-08:00

Join the Baltimore Rock Opera Society, Maryland's premiere marauding rock & roll theater horde, for a stage-craft workshop of epic "prop"-portions! Using ancient relics and artifacts from the far corners of Charm City, the B.R.O.S. will repurpose items such as, sousaphones and hula-hoops into giant, blinking eye-stalks, paper towel tubes into sticks of dynamite, and empty boxes of Natty Boh into robots and suits of armor. Learn the secrets of their wizardry and participate in the B.R.O.S. next original mind-blowing production, Valhella: The Ragnarockopera!!!

For all skill levels, younglings welcome. To reserve a space, contact Sofia Rutka at sofia@mdartplace.org.

For more information about the B.R.O.S. visit baltimorerockopera.org.

Altered States opens January 26 at Julio Gallery, Loyola University

2012-01-16T09:15:00.000-08:00

Altered States: Carolyn Case and Paul Jeanes

January 23 - February 26, 2012

Artist Talk/ Reception: Thursday, January 26, 5-7 pm

Julio Fine Arts Galery

Loyola University Maryland

What Time Is It There? @ Open Space Gallery Wednesday, January 18th

2012-01-16T08:50:00.000-08:00

This Wednesday, January 18th: What Time Is It There? (2001) dir. by Tsai Ming-Liang

@ Open Space Gallery

Soundtrack provided by Daytime

Poster by Mitchell Goodrich

Tsai Ming-Liang's prequel to The Wayward Cloud is in someways one of the most desperately romantic pieces of fucked up filmmaking that the romantic comedy genre can squeeze out. Even though it is obviously not what first comes to mind with the genre, some of the most poignant combinations of themes found in romantic comedies are fully executed in this film - slapstick absurdity, desperation, and heartbreak. In Neal Reinalda's new mix made special for this filmic occasion, what appears is the "fucked up" quality found in the chopped and screwed genre but rendered quite romantic through his choice of pairing popular R&B songs and overly sentimental sounds found in nature. The result is a subtly pleasant mix with a touch of deadpan humor that mimics the film in a surprising way.

Spiral Cinema is an ongoing collaboration between Max Guy and Neil Sanzgiri in the form of film screenings and self-published essays. Spiral Cinema is made possible by Baltimore Print Studios, Open Space, the Windup Space, the National Endowment for the Arts; the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, creator of the Baker Artists Awards (www.bakerartistawards.com); and Station North Arts & Entertainment, Inc., (www.stationnorth.org).

Wednesdays at 9PM, January 4th - 25th, 2012

Wind Up Space, 12 W. North Avenue, Baltimore MD 21201

Open Space, 2720 Sisson Street, Baltimore MD 21211

All events in Spiral Cinema are free and open to the public.

spiralcinema.tumblr.com

Construct, Body Magic, and Lana Stephens all open January 13 at School 33

2012-01-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

CONSTRUCT: Curated by Margaret Winslow at School 33 Art Center

Reception Friday, January 13, 6 pm - 9 pm

Exhibit runs January 13 - March 3, 2012

All seven artists included in this juried exhibition explore the notion of construction within their work, whether it be a physical, psychological, or social creation. Wes Kline and Katherine Nonemaker each respond to physical manifestations. Capturing images inside structures created by one of the most iconic architects of our time—Le Corbusier (1887–1965)—Kline layers modes of seeing with notions of interior and exterior space and the pursuit of an architectural utopian. Nonemaker’s prints and paintings adopt a somewhat apocalyptic approach, illustrating the precarious state of the industrial age with the constructed world in decay.

For collaborative artists Anand and Sauer it is an exploration of the psychological constructs of self-identity and personal boundaries. The photographs resulting from this investigation are physically woven together merging artistic production and authorship. Joshua Welker’s drawings and sculptures seem to come out of a study of art history and phenomenology. The artist investigates the ubiquitous forms of “the pedestal and the architectural support” while creating an experience that acknowledges the viewer’s consciousness of the physicality of the constructed world.

Language as a social construct and system informs the work of Katie Kehoe and Garry Noland. Kehoe utilizes the word “and” as a connector—a means through which to investigate structure and language particularly as it relates to a psychological state. Noland’s multimedia works provide a visual representation of the reduction of language into a binary system—the International Morse Code. Each of the seven artists highlight the dual nature of the word “construct” as both a verb and a noun—the building up of a physical structure or a concept systematically realized into existence—and perhaps underscore how this characteristic is akin to the art-making process itself.

Artists: Katie Kehoe, Wes Kline, Garry Noland, Katherine Nonemaker, Damon Sauer, Josh Welker

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Erin Zerbe: Body Magic

Opening Reception: January 13, 2012, 6 pm - 9 pm

Through photography, video, and performance art, Erin Zerbe’s work explores the body and its relationship to fatness, sexuality, and body policing. Zerbe is an artist, an activist, and a fat woman in a thin centric society and she calls into question what is abject about fatness. She puts the grotesque on display in a way that makes mention of the unrealistic standards set forth by hegemonic society, and how being fat can be a rejection of this pressure to conform. This work challenges the ideals placed upon the fat body in contemporary society with whimsy and resistance. Zerbe celebrates aspects of the fat body, emphasizes sexuality, and produces a visual language that borders on fetish; she strives to evoke a response, whether it is laughter, sadness, discomfort, or anger. These gut reactions speak to what we see in each other, and what we see in ourselves.

.........

Lana Stephens: Up in the Clouds

Opening Reception: January 13, 2012, 6 pm - 9 pm

School 33 Art Center is pleased to announce Up in the Clouds, a solo exhibit of art by Lana Stephens. Looking up at the sky and watching the “landscape” change form effortlessly is a quintessentially human activity. The sky is an entity known by all but it is also very specific in regards to our personal landscapes. The charcoal on vellum drawings and video in this exhibit, inspired by the sky, cloudscapes and the atmosphere, meditate on the relationship between power, beauty and environmentalism.

Tim Scofield: Toys and Relics opens January 14 at Creative Alliance

2012-01-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

Tim Scofield: Toys and Relics

Opens Sat Jan 14, 6-8pm. Demonstration 7pm.

On view Jan 14-Feb 18. Demonstrations also Thu and Fri Feb 2-3, 7pm prior to Mara Neimanis’ Naomi’s Flight.

Tim Scofield’s welded steel sculptures tend to look dangerous (which they are, sometimes) and fun (which they are, invariably). The City Paper said his Flying Machine, in which a participant is strapped to one arm of a pendulum and able to carom off walls and ceilings like Spiderman, looks like “a cross between a hyperactive Alexander Calder mobile and a Victorian amusement park ride.” Known for big, dramatic sculptures that are activated through performance, he makes art like the one-time BMX-biker/skater/snowboarder he once was. It’s not all backyard aesthetics and Jackass-inspired antics, however. There’s power and grace to the work, even with his own 200-pound frame strapped in, as much Gene Kelly and Buster Keaton as Johnny Knoxville.

The titles for Scofield’s pieces are descriptive more than poetic, as if he’s content to let the actions speak for themselves. Along with a pair of his Flying Machines and an array of harnesses, miscellany, and documentation of past performances, there are the Teeter Totter, the Tower and the Weeble Wobble. At the opening, and prior to performances of Mara Neimanis’ Naomi’s Flight, Scofield will demonstrate the Weeble Wobble, and possibly others.

Scofield and Neimanis are frequent collaborators and co-founders of the Alley Aerial Arts Festival, which brings together aerial performers from a range of backgrounds: dance, theater, circus and burlesque. They first worked together on the premiere of Neimanis’ Air Heart, a one-woman show about Amelia Earhart performed on a steel sculpture of an airplane, which premiered at CA in 2006.

Reflections on Combat: The Work of the Combat Paper Project at Friends School January 12

2012-01-09T08:47:00.000-08:00

Reflections on Combat: The Work of the Combat Paper Project

From uniform to pulp, battlefield to workshop, soldier to artist: "Reflections On Combat"-

The Work of the Combat Paper Project

Exhibit on Display at Friends School Jan. 9-Feb. 17

Friends School of Baltimore will present the exhibit "Reflections on Combat: The Work of the Combat Paper Project," in the Forbush Building's ground floor gallery (located outside the Learning Center), from January 9 to February 17, 2012.

Featuring artworks produced by veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Combat Paper Project engages veterans in cathartic paper-making, writing and printmaking workshops to help them reconcile and share their combat experiences through the creative process. The paper used in the artwork is created from the soldiers' own combat uniforms, which are torn and mashed into a pulp that is then formed into canvas-like sheets.

"Reflections On Combat" has appeared in such venues as the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., the Bavarian State Library, Munich, Germany; and the Fleet Library, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. The project's Friends School show is made possible by The Jay Katz '45 Art Fund.

The School will host an opening for the public on Thursday, January 12, from 5 to 7 pm. Individuals, schools and outside groups who wish to view the exhibit during its five-week installation may do so by appointment. Contact Jaime Moore at jmoore@friendsbalt.org or by phone at 410.649.3252 to schedule. For more information about the Combat Paper Project, click here http://www.combatpaper.org/ .

Jordan Bernier: New Waves opens at Nudashank January 14

2012-01-08T10:34:00.000-08:00

Jordan Bernier: New Waves

Solo Exhibition of New Drawings, Screenprints, Animation, and Video Work by Baltimore based artist Jordan Bernier.

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 14th 7pm - 10pm

Show Runs: January 14th - February 5th, 2012

Nudashank

H&H Bldg.

405 W. Franklin St.

3rd Floor

Baltimore, MD 21201

http://jordanbernier.tumblr.com/

http://www.nudashank.com/

Frank O’Hara and Jan Cremer: The Amsterdam New York Set or The End of the Far West at Load of Fun Gallery January 27

2012-01-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

Frank O’Hara and Jan Cremer: The Amsterdam New York Set or The End of the Far West. 1963 / 1978

Load of Fun Gallery (LOF/g) presents a silkscreen print exhibition and poetry reading of the works of Baltimore born artist, poet, curator and critic Frank O'Hara (1926 - 1966). The exhibition combines the silkscreen printed poems of Frank O’Hara, silkscreen illustrations by his associate Jan Cremer, and spoken readings of poems and texts by Frank O’Hara. The silkscreen prints were printed by Sherwin Mark and Zeger Reyers for The Printshop and Jan Cremer in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1978.

This exhibition is the first public exposure of these works in the USA. The exhibition opening and reading will take place in the newly renovated Load of Fun Gallery (LOF/g) 120 West North Avenue at 6:00 pm, Friday, January 27th, 2012 and continues for the month of February, 2012.

The poetry readings are presented by the i.e. Reading series (Michael Ball and Chris Mason, Curators) with readings by Chris Toll, Megan McShea, David Beaudouin, Chris Mason, and Michael Ball.

Spiral Cinema January 11 @ Open Space

2012-01-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

Wednesdays at 9PM, January 4th - 25th, 2012

Wind Up Space, 12 W. North Avenue, Baltimore MD 21201

Open Space, 2720 Sisson Street, Baltimore MD 21211

spiralcinema.tumblr.com

All events in Spiral Cinema are free and open to the public.

This wednesday, January 11th: Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) dir. Monte Helmond @ Open Space Gallery

Soundtrack provided by Gem Vision

It seems nearly too obvious at this point to take a road trip and listen to the likes of The Doors, Kris Kristofferson, Chuck Berry, and Arlo Guthrie. Yet there is something about those bands that blend in perfectly with the sunlight filtering in through the windshield and the "anything goes" attitude of their time. Revisiting this structure of the road trip soundtrack, Justin Kelly had this to say about his new mix, "Traveling to me is partly about repetition, since this film happens mostly on the road, I found it fitting to make a mix of original electronic music." In creating new standards for road trip soundtracks, can things such as acoustic guitars and catchy chorus hooks be eliminated in lieu of subtly shifting waves of sound that filter through the windshields just as appropriately?

Spiral Cinema is an ongoing collaboration between Max Guy and Neil Sanzgiri in the form of film screenings and self-published essays. Spiral Cinema is made possible by Baltimore Print Studios, Open Space, the Windup Space, the National Endowment for the Arts; the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, creator of the Baker Artists Awards (www.bakerartistawards.com); and Station North Arts & Entertainment, Inc., (www.stationnorth.org).

Flux/us Dance Projects Performance at MAP January 13 & 14

2012-01-07T09:20:00.000-08:00

Join Flux/us Dance Projects for a special performance of The Key Is Only One

January 13 & 14 at 7pm

Maryland Art Place

Maryland Art Place presents Flux/us Dance Projects performance of The Key is Only One choreographed by Judy Kurjan with selected works by Anne Reeder and Beth McKee Elliott.

Flux/us will present The Key is Only One, a piece that is constantly in flux, ever changing and developing. As Kurjan describes it, “The Key is Only One is an exploration of dualities. It explores relationships between mind and body (and spirit), self and other, dominance and subordinance, inner world and outer world.”

Saturday's event will be followed by a reception featuring Baltimore-based electronic music act Tek SubPort.

Judy Kurjan will also lead a free modern dance workshop on Saturday, January 14th, from 2pm - 4pm. This workshop is geared towards teens and adults. Space is limited for the performance and workshop, please contact Program Manager, Sofia Rutka at sofia@mdartplace.org to reserve a spot.

Tickets for the performance are $5 in advance, $10 at the door.

Dandy Lion: Articulating a Re(de)fined Black Masculine Identity opens at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum

2012-01-06T12:30:00.000-08:00

Hanif Abdur-Rahim, A Revolution in Etiquette - Connoisseurs of SWAG, 2010.

Dandy Lion: Articulating a Re(de)fined Black Masculine Identity
January 29 – May 13, 2012
The Reginald F. Lewis Museum

Twenty emerging photographers and filmmakers present refreshing images of young black men who challenge popular notions of urban black masculinity. Guest curated by Shantrelle P. Lewis, this exhibition defies the negative image of the black male as “thug” and explores contemporary expressions of the “Black Dandy,” the sophisticated urban gentleman whose “swagger” engages both African aesthetics and elements of classical European fashion.

New Urbanite A&C Ezine Feature: Jo Smail at Goya Contemporary

2012-01-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

Presence in Absentia: In her newest exhibit, Baltimore painter Jo Smail skewers the typical relationship between object and background—with a pair of scissors.
by Cara Ober

Degrees of Absence, a new exhibit at Goya Contemporary by Jo Smail, belies its title. Despite the painter's use of wide swaths of raw canvas in her compositions, a new and insouciant trick, Smail's abstract canvasses are imbued with a palpable sense of presence. Instead of exploring quiet emotional states and places as she has in past series, Smail's newest works are populated with figures and animals, rendered in the krunky, primitive, poetic style that the artist has developed over many years. Even Smail's series of small digital photographs, embellished with collage, conjure up the intimate presence of the artist and her collaborators on the project.

Scent of Melons

If you are not familiar with Smail's work, it may take some time to get acquainted. Her paintings are disarmingly simple. The artist has made a career of breaking the sacred tenets of painting with impunity. Under Smail's hands, assumptions about craftsmanship, taste, and depiction are trampled on, to varying effect. This big-eyed and probing manner of working has endeared her to generations of abstract painters, especially at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where many of her students emulate her with limited success. Although Smail herself describes her studio practice as a naughty pleasure, she's logged in decades of investigation into her modus operandi of choice. Over the years, Smail has developed a system of purposeful play, as well as the restraint and editing skills to balance it, that comes only from making mistakes in the studio and learning from them. Degrees of Absence is an example of a seasoned artist in her prime, someone determined to push beyond previous comfort zones into unchartered areas, while enjoying herself tremendously.

Broken and Off

In her newest works, Smail skewers the typical relationship between object and background, quite literally, with a pair of scissors. Instead of painting her "figures" into the picture plane, Smail cuts out the successful parts of old paintings and glues them onto new canvasses, creating figures in relief. In Scent of Melons, a characteristic Smail squiggle of black transforms into the edges of a cartoon-shaped figure. Up close, a scumble of purple, black, and red layer together into a cohesive jumble, reinforced by the literal edge of the shape, which creates a tiny shadow. Glued onto the canvas, the large shape dominates the composition, with a demure white square receding behind it. Visually, it makes no sense, but it feels right on a visceral level. In Room to Let, a smaller canvas, Smail applies similar tricks, positioning several layers of glued canvas onto a raw background. Rather than creating the illusion of depth, Smail contrasts the flatness of the painting physically, building it up with layers of canvas and three-dimensional blobs of white paint resembling polka dots. The result is a bit silly and jarring, but in a delightful "Why didn't I think of that?" kind of a way. Where other painters would call this a failed experiment, Smail manages to prevail.

Figure in Stripes Bird Watching

Another sacrosanct tradition of painting Smail profanes in her newest exhibit is in the boundaries of her canvasses. Numerous large works include "baby paintings" attached to their edges, like an apostrophe or a small tumor. Broken and Off depicts a lumpy camel-shaped blob, covered in a simple red and orange plaid pattern. It would appear to be headless, except for the tiny canvas attached to its lower right side. The red and orange pattern continues on the smaller canvas, just below where a head should be, advancing the figure out, onto the wall. In Figure in Stripes Bird Watching, the baby painting is positioned diagonally at the top right corner. The striped figure appears to be gazing up at the smaller canvas, which doesn't exactly resemble a bird, but it reminds you of one anyway. In both cases, the baby paintings awkwardly violate the edge of the canvas and force the viewer to make a decision: Do you reject these silly little appendages or love them? If you love them, you have joined the ranks of Smail admirers.

Works from the series Public/Private

In the smaller, back gallery, Smail's work takes a strange turn. Instead of paintings, several walls are filled with digital photographs printed on rag paper, like tiny etchings. On a recent trip to Florence, Smail couldn't resist documenting the crumbling, painted-over walls, the centuries-old cobblestones, fading floors of churches, and the recent graffiti that adorns it all. Much like Smail's paintings, her photographs capture color contrasts between subtle and bold, and flat surfaces accented by compositional marks along the edges. While a logical augmentation to the paintings in the show, the photographs don't add anything to it—until you realize Smail is breaking the picture plane here, too. The series is simply titled Public/Private, and each digital photograph is hand embellished with sewed-on buttons, bits of bead and lace, paper, string, and other small accoutrements from an old sewing kit. According to Smail, all the items were inherited from her mother and grandmother, and as "I glue, patch, measure, mark, decorate, fasten, mimic, pin, stitch, and recycle ... I smile, dedicate, and remember.” As with her paintings, Smail's additive musings imbue each print with a substantial sense of presence and seem completely wrong from a logical standpoint, but successfully knit together into odd and intimate moments.

In Degrees of Absence, Jo Smail continues a long-time trajectory where she often manages to capture ephemeral modes of thinking and non-thinking, moments which can't be described, but experienced in present tense. It's a rawness that exists somewhere between silence and expression, and this state is not logical, efficient, or common in daily life. For this reason, Smail's work can come off like an unfamiliar system of language, simultaneously vexing and charming, initially off-putting, but inviting, too, in the very best sort of way.

Jo Smail: Degrees of Absence will be on view at Goya Contemporary through the end of February.

Protect-IP, A New Bill in Congress

2012-01-04T09:43:00.000-08:00

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

PROTECT-IP is a bill that has been introduced in the Senate and the House and is moving quickly through Congress. It gives the government and corporations the ability to censor the net, in the name of protecting "creativity". The law would let the government or corporations censor entire sites-- they just have to convince a judge that the site is "dedicated to copyright infringement."

The government has already wrongly shut down sites without any recourse to the site owner. Under this bill, sharing a video with anything copyrighted in it, or what sites like Youtube and Twitter do, would be considered illegal behavior according to this bill.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, this bill would cost us $47 million tax dollars a year — that's for a fix that won't work, disrupts the internet, stifles innovation, shuts out diverse voices, and censors the internet. This bill is bad for creativity and does not protect your rights.

Make/Shift: New Works by Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez at Open Space

2012-01-03T18:28:00.000-08:00

Make/Shift: New Works by Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez
January - March, 2012
Opening Reception: January 21, 2012

Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez (b. 1983) is a cuban-born artist, musician, and writer who lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland. Using techniques borrowed from the world of commercial art, he examines the roles of design, labor and production in an atmosphere where virtuality often supersedes actuality. By diffusing the objective of marketing, he arrives at a commercial language mangled by its own transitory nature. His digital renderings, videos, paintings, and sculptures often express a sense of transitioning through a social hierarchy, as if third and first world sensibilities collided in an amalgamation of structure and disarray.

Artists' Top Picks of 2011

2011-12-30T18:47:00.000-08:00

Ten local artists, curators, and arts writers name their favorite exhibits of the year.
by Cara Ober

Gary Kachadourian's Interior/ Exterior Installation at the Baltimore Museum of Art

Last weekend I found myself in a discussion about the art market with an artist who had just returned from a week of art fairs in Miami. She visited Art Basel, NADA, Scope, and many of the other sprawling trade shows where art is treated as pure commodity and international blue chip works of art are purchased for more than a house costs in Baltimore. Rather than being dazzled by all the wealth and spectacle, she felt detached from it.

“It was depressing,” she confided. “I expected to be blown away by all these amazing works, but it all looked the same to me. And a lot of the work selling for millions was just awful. I just wanted to come back to Baltimore.”

When we switched topics and discussed some of the best art happening here in Baltimore, the tone of our conversation changed completely. The same artist had many accolades, favorites, and examples of high quality exhibits happening right here in Charm City. While familiarity does create amicability, I think she was on to something. I believe the art world is changing.

Instead of the hierarchical pyramid approach of the past, where exclusive galleries and artists in New York and London control all of the wealth and power, the art world is fanning out. Like the local food movement, regional artists are digging in their heels and investing their talents domestically, pursuing ambitious projects on the homefront. In light of this positive and continuing transition, I have enlisted a group of local artists, curators, and writers to name their favorite exhibits of the year. Through the eyes of the individuals who are deeply invested in the visual arts and choose to call Baltimore home, we all gain a richer sense of a complicated and growing movement, one that is potentially poised to encourage and nourish a whole new generation of artists. So here you have it, the year in art, direct from many of the artists and arts professionals who made it happen.

1. Craig Hankin: Gary Kachadourian's Interior/Exterior at the Baltimore Museum of Art's Baker Artist Awards exhibition; September 7 - October 2, 2011.

Craig Hankin is director of the Homewood Art Workshops at Johns Hopkins University, where he has taught drawing and painting since 1980. He is currently working on a graphic memoir, If I'd Known Back Then, with longtime collaborator, Tom Chalkley. According to Hankin, “Entering Gary Kachadourian's Interior/Exterior installation at the BMA was like taking a 360-degree stroll through the artist's mind. Obsessively detailed, beautifully rendered drawings of a bathroom, cinderblock walls, a dumpster, knotty pine paneling, and tangled weeds elevated the banality of contemporary life to epic scale. This exhibit was a real treat to see a hard-working, mid-career artist—and someone who has done much to advance the careers of other artists—recognized in one of his hometown's grand venues.”

30 Americans. Kehinde Wiley, Sleep, 2008. Oil on canvas, 132 x 300 inches.

Courtesy of Rubell Family Collection, Miami.

2. Rachel Rabinowitz: 30 Americans at the Corcoran; Corridor at the Art Museum of the Americas; and Tom Price: Meltdown at Industry Gallery

Rachel Rabinowitz is a contemporary art collector. She works with the C. Grimaldis Gallery and volunteers as a docent at the BMA. “My favorite exhibit of the year is 30 Americans … because black is beautiful," Rabinowitz says. "This iteration of 30 Americans brings together seventy-one works by African American artists—thirty-one [artists], to be exact, since the collection continues to grow. Everyone should see this exhibit; this is some of the most significant art made in America over the last thirty years and African American art is American art. It’s an obvious concept, but a complex relationship to explore. And the works in 30 Americans offer an excellent starting point. This traveling show, on view through February 12 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, draws from works owned by the Rubell family, a Florida-based couple with one of the world’s largest private collections of contemporary art.”

“Corridor deserves an A+,” she says. “The works in this exhibit were independently compelling as well as collectively appealing and included work by six important Baltimore artists and six Washington [D.C.] artists, hence the name. And, I cannot stop thinking about the Tom Price show. Technically, it was an exhibit of chairs, but design is playing a lead role in contemporary art. This show was incredible. The London-based artist also created an oversize cherry-blossom installation for the occasion.”

Print by Print at the BMA

3. Philip Koch: Print By Print at the BMA

Philip Koch is a contemporary landscape painter and self-described "reformed abstract artist." He's a longtime professor at Maryland Institute College of Art. According to Koch, “My favorite local exhibition would have to be Rena Hoisington's exhaustive Print by Print show at the BMA. An enormous compendium of historic and modernist prints in made in series, the show has something for everybody's taste. My personal favorites were the wonderful apocalyptic etchings by the usually way-over-the-top 19th-century British landscape painter John Martin.”

Points of Contention

4. René Treviño: Points of Contention at School 33

René Treviño is a local artist, represented by the C. Grimaldis Gallery, and exhibitions director at School 33 Art Center, a local nonprofit art space. According to Treviño, “My favorite exhibit of 2011 was, hands down, Points of Contention, a major installation by Jonathan Latiano at School 33 Art Center. Perhaps I am biased, because he is a former student and because I got to see the whole process from preliminary drawings to completion. But, this project was MAJOR. The artist created a rippled floor over the real floor in the gallery and then created a crystalized sculpture that looked as though it was crashing through it all. It was part-Superman's Fortress of Solitude, part-meteor, part-scientific experiment, and just really awesome—a well-executed spectacle.”

C A R T at Current Space

5. Rob Malin: C A R T at Current Space

Rod Malin is a New York City-based independent curator, as well as founder and director of Baltimore’s Guest Spot Gallery. Malin's top pick for 2011 is C A R T at Current Space. According to Malin, “Modeled after a corner store, Current’s "art bodega" offered more than a refuge from the typical gallery experience. With over 80 participating artists from Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, Canada, the UK, across the US, and every place in between, C A R T conveniently redefined the shelf life that most artist-run spaces travail to avoid.”

Luis Camnitzer

6. Julia Kim Smith: Luis Camnitzer at El Museo del Barrio

Baltimore-based artist Julia Kim Smith exhibits her conceptually-based works in Los Angeles, New York, and a number of other cities. Her With Banksy project has been covered in national art publications Juxtapoz and Kidrobot, as well as men's magazines Hypebeast, GW, and Shortlist. Smith's top pick for 2011 is Luis Camnitzer at El Museo del Barrio in New York. “I enjoyed Luis Camnitzer, a survey of work by the pioneering conceptualist,” says Smith. “Camnitzer is probably most famous for his trenchant, politically-based work and his critiques of the art market (the exhibition was heavy on the latter). Pintura, [an] original mural (1972), in the final gallery, is witty, self-deprecating, and dead-on—as relevant in 2011 as in 1972.”

Giovanni Battista Piranesi: Untitled Etching (The Drawbridge).

Plate VII of 16, from the series The Imaginary Prisons. Rome, 1761.

7. Soledad Salamé: Print by Print at the BMA

Soledad Salamé is originally from Chile, but has called Baltimore home for more than twenty years. Her prints and installations have been recently exhibited at the Contemporary Museum, and she is represented by Goya Contemporary in Baltimore. Salame was magnanimous in her choice of the best exhibit of 2011. “Print by Print at the BMA was the first time I have ever seen a large series of prints by an artist. I've always worked in series, but you never get to see this in exhibits. Just the print series by Piranesi was fantastic on its own, but the exhibit as a whole was truly mind-blowing. I loved this show and can't wait to go back and see it again.”

Strange Grip at Nudashank. Installation by John Bohl.

8. Monique Crabb: Strange Grip at Nudashank

Monique Crabb is originally from Houston, Texas, but now calls Baltimore home. In 2009, she graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art with a BFA in photography and is currently five years into operating Current Space with Michael Benevento and Andrew Liang. Crabb's top choice for the year was Strange Grip, a group exhibit by Andrew Liang, John Bohl, and Bonnie Brenda Scott at Nudashank Gallery in Baltimore. According to Crabb, “The lively and surreal visuals provided by Strange Grip gave viewers the opportunity to rummage through the minds of three emerging artists whose works seamlessly straddle the fine line between dream and reality, joy, and terror.”

Joyce J. Scott. Cobalt, Yellow Circles, 2010. Glass beads & threads

9. Oletha DeVane: Prospect 2: Joyce Scott and Nick Cave

Oletha DeVane is a prolific local artist and is currently the head of visual arts in the upper school at McDonogh School in Owings Mills. For DeVane, naming her favorite exhibit of the year was easy: “Prospect 2: Joyce Scott and Nick Cave at Tulane University's Newcomb Gallery. Joyce's work is challenging, provocative, and her ability to engage audiences is tremendous. The work intersects social and political concerns about race and culture and it's one of the best shows I've seen of her work in a long time. Nick Cave's work was more whimsical, and both were beautifully crafted.”

Full Color / Look Book

10. Alex Ebstein: Full Color/ Look Book at Current Space

Alex Ebstein is an artist, writer, curator and co-director of Nudashank Gallery in Baltimore. According to Ebstein, the best exhibit of the year was Full Color / Look Book, two simultaneous and complementary shows at Current. “Full Color included collaborative and individual works by John Bohl, Bettina Yung, and Justin Kelly, all of which veered into the colder digital color spectrum, along with an eighties' graphic sensibility,” says Ebstein. “Elena Johnston and Russell Hite's Look Book consisted of collages and mixed media works on paper that shared a retro, tribal theme and summery palette. In both exhibitions, the works were so conceptually well-grouped that individual hands blended into collective style. These two shows separately emphasized the collaboration and aesthetic cohesion that comes from close working relationships and shared studio space.”

A Merry Xmas to You and Yours! ... Bawlmore Style

2011-12-24T18:13:00.001-08:00

Matthew Porterfield in the 2012 Whitney Biennial!

2011-12-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

From the Mutual Art Website: The Whitney Museum of American Art today announced the list of artists participating in the upcoming 2012 Whitney Biennial, which takes place at the Whitney Museum from March 1 through May 27, 2012. This is the 76th in the ongoing series of Biennials and Annuals presented by the Whitney since 1932, two years after the Museum was founded.

The Whitney Biennial is an exhibition held every two years in which we gauge the current state of contemporary art in America. The 2012 Biennial is being curated by Elisabeth Sussman, Curator and Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography at the Whitney, and Jay Sanders, a freelance curator. The curators began working on the research and planning of the show in early December 2010. Fifty-one artists have been selected. The Biennial comprises work—including paintings, sculptures, photographs, and installations—from both emerging and established artists. In addition to visual artists, the exhibition includes a select group of filmmakers, choreographers, musicians, and playwrights. These multidisciplinary arts will be presented in a large open space in the Museum’s fourth floor galleries.

The curators are working on the Biennial’s film program with Ed Halter and Thomas Beard, the co-founders of Light Industry, a venue for film and electronic art in Brooklyn. The exhibition will be accompanied by an innovative catalogue designed by Joseph Logan with contributions from each Biennial artist. More details on the artists, other Biennial projects, and the schedule of events will be released in January 2012.

Artists in the 2012 Biennial: Kai Althoff, Thom Andersen, Charles Atlas, Lutz Bacher, Forrest Bess (paintings selected by artist Robert Gober), Michael Clark, Dennis Cooper and Gisèle Vienne, Cameron Crawford, Moyra Davey, Liz Deschenes, Nathaniel Dorsky, Nicole Eisenman, Kevin Jerome Everson, Vincent Fecteau, Andrea Fraser, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Vincent Gallo, K8 Hardy, Richard Hawkins, Werner Herzog, Jerome Hiler, Matt Hoyt, Dawn Kasper, Mike Kelley, John Kelsey, John Knight, Jutta Koether, George Kuchar, Laida Lertxundi, Kate Levant, Sam Lewitt, Joanna Malinowska, Andrew Masullo, Nick Mauss, Richard Maxwell, Sarah Michelson, Alicia Hall Moran and Jason Moran, Laura Poitras, Matt Porterfield, Luther Price, Lucy Raven, The Red Krayola, Kelly Reichardt, Elaine Reichek, Michael Robinson, Georgia Sagri, Michael E. Smith, Tom Thayer, Wu Tsang, Oscar Tuazon, and Frederick Wiseman.

Matt Porterfield was raised in northeast Baltimore. He moved to New York City at seventeen, studied film for two years, taught kindergarten for three, and remained there for eight before returning home to make HAMILTON, his feature film debut, in 2006 and then Putty Hill in 2011. Porterfield Currently teaches screenwriting and production in the Film & Media Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University, and won the 2011 Sondheim Prize.

Porterfield is the only artist from Baltimore that I know of to be included in the Whitney Biennial! This is a HUGE accomplishment! Congratulations to Matt!

Urbanite's Top 10 Art Exhibits of 2011

2011-12-21T08:54:00.000-08:00

Arts, Seen: Cara Ober Picks the Best Visual Arts Exhibits of the Year.

My Top Pick for 2011: MICA's Open City

On a recent wintry day, I struck up a conversation with a stranger in my local coffee shop. He asked me what I did for a living, and, when I explained that I write a weekly column on arts and culture for the Urbanite, he scratched his head and asked, “Is it difficult to find new art events to write about every single week? It must be a struggle to find enough art to write about.”

Despite his impression, nothing could be further from the truth. Baltimore's cultural landscape is a frenetic hotbed of visual art, performance, and music, and, now more than ever before, the creative communities here are kicking it into high gear. Obviously, this person has a busy life, but he expressed interest in the arts and a desire to know more about the local arts scene. The solution: I encouraged him to sign up for the weekly Arts and Culture E-Zine to gain a sense of the many offerings that Baltimore's cultural community produces on a weekly basis.

In the past year, I have been incredibly busy—attending exhibits, plays, performances, and concerts. More often than not, the projects I cover leave me impressed, surprised, and inspired. Looking back, I have more than a few favorites. This list is an opportunity to revisit the best visual arts exhibits of 2011, covered in the Urbanite Arts and Culture E-Zine. If you are not yet a subscriber, 'tis the season to sign up [www.urbanitebaltimore.com] for this free, weekly publication and get in tune with the exciting range of opportunities this city's cultural communities provide.

Now, on to the accolades.

1. Open City Baltimore was produced by MICA students and explored the city of Baltimore from social, economic, and historical perspectives, focusing especially on issues of geographical separation. Not only was it incredibly informational, this exhibit was also inspired, beautiful, outrageous, and humorous.

2. Material Girls at The Reginald F. Lewis Museum got loads of press this year, including an Art in America review. I would like to respectfully point out that Urbanite sang the praises of this terrific exhibit of eight contemporary African American female artists way before the bandwagon even existed.

3. Print by Print: Series from Dürer to Lichtenstein at the Baltimore Museum of Art is an energetic, elegant exhibit featuring half a millennia of printmaking. It includes huge names, as well as upcoming contemporary artists, and the serial aspect of the exhibit allows for a rich and unique viewing experience.

4. Gallery 4 had a number of excellent shows this year, including Andy Holtin's collaborative solo show titled Hypotheses. His quasi-scientific sculptures were beautifully constructed and his video works were an engaging mix of artificiality and authenticity.

5. This year's Sondheim Exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art had much to offer the local arts community, as well as general public visitors to the BMA. Filmmaker Matthew Porterfield took away the top honors and $25,000 check, but all the participants in the exhibit were worth a second, and a third, look.

6. Although he is new to Baltimore's art scene, (he is a current graduate student in MICA's Mt. Royal program) John Latiano's Points of Contention, a site-specific installation at School 33, possessed such a powerful rawness, as well as incredible craftsmanship. It is one of the most memorable exhibits I encountered all year.

7. Possibly because of its last minute deadline, The Baltimore Liste series of three exhibits at the Contemporary Museum created an amazing buzz in the artist community. Within just a few weeks, Baltimore's youngest artists and newest galleries were able to pull together some of the most provocative and ambitious exhibits of the year.

8. The Book: A Contemporary View exhibition at Towson University was a rare opportunity to peruse a national collection of the top practitioners of artist books. Curated by J. Susan Isaacs, the exhibit and its accompanying catalogue was extensive, thoroughly researched, and impressive.

9. Goya Contemporary exhibits nationally-known, mid-career artists and puts together consistently strong exhibits. Two concurrent solo shows by South African Paul Emmanuel and Baltimorean Lynn Silverman explored powerful contrasts between dark and light, both metaphorically and visually.

10. Loring Cornish is Baltimore's most prolific artist. He has covered numerous buildings, walls, and pieces of furniture with his characteristic mirrored mosaic style. His most ambitious project to date, In Each Other's Shoes at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, explored shared histories of African Americans and Jews.

Jo Smail’s “Degrees of Absence” at Goya Contemporary - A Review by Hannah Hill

2011-12-16T09:19:00.000-08:00

Toss Up

Jo Smail is a Baltimore-based, South African-born artist. Her life has thrown her several obstacles. First, a devastating studio fire and then a stroke that left her unable to walk or speak. Although she relearned speech after a year of silence, she never ceased to communicate through her visual work. Her solo show features paintings with amorphous blobs and bright, saturated colors juxtaposed on bare canvas. The meaning of the work remains open-ended, Smail’s motifs taking precedence.

The first room in her Goya Contemporary show “Degrees of Absence” houses three paintings; the largest of the three having its own wall. This larger painting, Figure In Plaid Walking a Dog, has green stripes in a plaid pattern over a dark, rounded blob – painted canvas collaged onto raw canvas striped with pink. At the top of the painting a strip of canvas is juxtaposed in a similar fashion. The problem, or perhaps the secret of this and all of Smail’s work is that the viewer may not understand why it’s all there. What governs the creation of these paintings? “Degrees of Absence” is at first spontaneous, laid-back, even blissful. Any cute feeling that the work emanates are only the first layer. Ultimately Smail’s work conveys a genuine, practiced attempt at communication with the outside world.

Figure In Stripes Bird Watching

Broken and Off

Stepping back from the plaid-striped painting you notice there is another canvas placed neatly at the bottom left hand corner of the painting. This is the Dog of Figure In Plaid Walking a Dog and though it is considerably smaller, its surprising placement is as loud and whimsical as its larger counterpart. You must squat down to see this baby painting as it is inches above the floor of the gallery. It is untouched canvas— except for another flat black blob edged in her pink paint, applied so thickly that it must have required something like a cardboard stencil.

Several other baby-paintings surprised me throughout the exhibition. Bird and Off float above or off to the side of their parent painting. Globs of yellow, baseball-sized balls of white paint lined up in a vertical row beside a white cut out with orange dots, smudges like lipstick, and a tiny strip of newspaper. Some of these elements were deliberate and others, we can guess, less so. It occurred to me that the work might serve as a record, billed as childlike, of scraps in the artist’s studio. More importantly, judging by many of her titles, it is her attempt to communicate not only momentary thought but also personal shortcomings. She presents to us what to her represents the inner webbings of her life and what remains to us a secret but captivating visual language.

Room to Let

Virtuoso Fingers

Complete with her own grammar of strings, lines and color, Smail’s unique vernacular is so complex with its own mysterious rules and regulations that it appears ancient to us outsiders. The artist, fluent in her own elegant syntax, gives us her titles as bridges to a more absolute reading: Impure Thoughts, Sitting Upright, Winks of a Day, etc. However Smail acknowledges that her titles, many of which are humorous, are often exactly what her paintings are not. Her images are not representational so the viewer is free to make of them what they will or choose to follow the lead of the title. The mysterious open-endedness that Smail values is exactly what holds a viewers attention.

Still— A Supreme Conjunction with Probability makes me wonder to what degree chance is a factor in Smail’s work. Her decisions to sew a button here or to paste there are clearly conscious ones, but maybe that lead mark over in Speed of A Shadow Pencil happened by a chance studio accident. But Dog of Figure In Plaid Walking a Dog did not hang itself only inches above the floor by chance. Perhaps chance is occasionally how a painting is begun. As it stands probability does not measure all of her work in this exhibition and is only hinted at in marks and titles (and can we rely on the factuality her titles anyway?). I trust that the curation of the show would reflect accordingly if Smail’s art were all about chance. “Degrees of Absence” exhibits choices made by the artist to place a little canvas down near the floor, but certainly no probability or else the paintings would be flung around the gallery. Everything is hung rather conventionally. In the end I had no qualms with the curation— it reflects just the right amount of minimal decisions that are made in the work itself.

Winks of a Day

I found it curious, at first, that all of the works were conventional rectangles. All of these experiments and no explosion into sculpture. Consider the origin of the work – paintings that assumed a role in a recovery. One of those original works, titled Tongues Wag is a calligraphic list of words that Smail could not say at the time. Even the meaning of her signature pink changed from being emblematic of love to representing the silence she experienced. Perhaps Smail utilizes the rectangle in the same way that languages we are unfamiliar with are served to us in the familiar form of ink on paper. Here I began to believe that Smail makes her work for the viewer to see. As well as an effort to show them at all she puts them into a context that we do understand, even if we don’t speak her language—the rectangular canvas.

At a critical point in her recovery, Smail used art to express thoughts and feelings that she could not say out loud and now in “Degrees of Absence” her work seems to function much in the same way. Governed by emotions and thoughts that she fixates on, and to some degree chance, the paintings are immediately playful, but her work beckons the viewer closer in hopes of decoding its meaning until they are all at once seized by the seduction of the sound of her lovely and profound but intensely private language.

- Hannah Hill is a Senior at MICA

Shibboleth: New works by Oreen Cohen at Area 405 December 16

2011-12-16T09:05:00.000-08:00

Shibboleth: New works by Oreen Cohen

Opening Reception FRIDAY, December 16th from 6-9 pm

This exhibition's opening coincides with David Brooks' Expanded Format Class from

The Maryland Institute College of Art Fall 2011 student reception 6-9pm

In this winter's solo exhibition, Shibboleth, Oreen Cohen transforms the front gallery space of Area 405 into a factory of abandon with re-purposed and found object assemblages, video, and paintings. Her multi media installation investigates the severance of perceptions of place and people.

Bio: Oreen Cohen is currently an MFA candidate in the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University (2014). She holds a BFA in Visual Studies from University at Buffalo and graduated cum laude in 2008. She has recently been featured in exhibits at Transformer Gallery (DC), a pop up gallery at Moderno (12 and U st NW, DC), Annmarie Garden and Sculpture Park (Maryland), and Art space (Buffalo). Upcoming exhibitions and events include "Future Tenant" (March 2012) Pittsburgh, PA, and NYFA artist and audiences program. Recent residencies include Annmarie Garden and Sculpture Park-Smithsonian Affiliate (Maryland), and Vermont Studio Center. Cohen is a 2011 New York Foundation for the Arts fellow.

About Us: Since 2003, Area 405 has hosted a range of events from visual arts exhibitions and dance performances to video screenings, theatre and experimental music performances. Area 405 also serves its community by hosting benefits and meeting space for non profits, schools and neighborhood groups. Area 405 offers one of the region's largest exhibition spaces. At nearly 7,000 square feet, this former industrial site is an ideal context in which to present large-scale exhibitions. It is housed in a 160 year old 66,000 square foot artist owned building in where over 30 artists create. Area 405 is in The Station North Arts and Entertainment District and is solely run by volunteers.

Hours and Contact Information: This exhibition is free, open to the public, and handicapped accessible. Dates for Shibboleth are December 16th, 2011 through January 20th. 2012, with an opening reception Friday, December 16th 6-9pm.

Area 405 hours for Shibboleth are by appointment due to the holiday season. Please check our facebook page for special open hours and contact us via email info@area405.com and leave us your phone number to schedule an appointment to see this amazing exhibition.

For more information, visit us at www.area405.com or contact us at info@area405.com We're also on facebook, www.facebook.com/area405.

AREA 405

405 East Oliver Street

Baltimore, MD 21202

Photos from Unreliable Narrators at Creative Alliance

2011-12-15T18:59:00.000-08:00

Megan Hildebrandt

Christine Sajecki

Megan Hildebrandt

Sarah Holwerda

Christine Sajecki

Sara Kelly

Ellen Mueller

Christine Sajecki

Big Girls opens Thursday, December 15 at Metro Gallery, 7-10 pm

2011-12-15T13:05:00.000-08:00

Big Girls: Photography by J.M. Giordano

Metro Gallery

December 15 from 7-10 pm

http://themetrogallery.net/

Big Nudes are 8, 12'x5' portraits that were created for Artscape's 1982 theme, inspired by the Big Nudes series by photographer Helmut Newton produced the same year. The exhibit also includes framed pieces and a limited edition box set of the series that will be signed, numbered matted and presented in a black clamshell box wrapped in a pink ribbon. The gallery's commission will go to LifeBridge Health Breast Care Center.

Photos from MICA's Sabbatical Exhibition opening Thursday, December 8

2011-12-08T10:16:00.000-08:00

David East

Tony Shore

Jyung Mee Park's 'Last Words' (glass)

Timothy App

Kristine Woods

Quentin Mosley

Kevin Labadie and Maren Hassinger

Frances Barth 'Opening Green'

Maren Hassinger, Philip Koch, Kristine Woods

Kevin Labadie

Laurence Arcadias & Juliette Marchand, Kevin Labadie

Kristine Woods

Philip Koch

Laurence Arcadias and Juliette Marchand

Eve-Andrée Laramée

Maren Hassinger

Zlata Baum & Jamy Sheridan

David East

“Engulfed” Exhibition Review by Hannah Matthews

2011-12-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

“Engulfed: Works on Paper by Allison Long Hardy” is an enigmatic exhibit currently in the Rice Gallery at McDaniel College that concludes the 2011 year with a reflective body of art that breaks down a fundamental and personal aspect of daily life: communication. Long Hardy takes these moments of contact and translates them as marks on colorful monotypes. The sensitivity that she has to the various layers of interactions between people is apparent in the layer after layer added to her monotypes, occasionally with the further addition of collage and pencil drawing atop already developed works.

The fact that the biggest inspiration for these detailed-rich prints are face-to-face conversations the artist has had with others makes them automatically intriguing to the viewer. Perhaps they contain universal truths, emotions, and maps of the ups and downs of human communication. For example, suppose you have made your way throughout the gallery and are beginning to comprehend this whole idea of abstract shapes and lines revealing communication and you stumble upon Experiment 2. The mind begins to reel—‘what kind of conversation was this?!’ It may even feel familiar. There are layers of marks that are precise and rhythmic jumbled in with the chaotic, spontaneous lines that are the cotton-swab intuitions of the artist that mirror the precariousness of communication. Most noticeably, the composition is torn in two and stitched back together in the form of a black scar that lies atop all other elements. This sense of brokenness is balanced by the fact that the colors remain upbeat and vibrant against a darker setting—several peach colored orbs stand out the most. The viewer is allowed to reach his or her own interpretation of the works and each monotype offers a surplus of elements to discover.

It is clear that Allison Long Hardy has been successful at translating the countless tiers of communication into clever works of art. In her artist statement she asks the question “Without communication what else do we have?” Even if one does not consciously acknowledge this fact, it is an essential element of life that makes it a fascinating theme to explore. - Hannah Matthews

Engulfed: Works on Paper by Allison Long Hardy

November 29 through December 16
Rice Gallery, McDaniel College, Westminster, MD

http://allisonlonghardy.com/home.html

Photos from Certainly So at PentHouse Gallery

2011-12-06T18:21:00.000-08:00

Certainly So

Works by David Eassa, Louis Abbene-Meagley, Kevin Jennings, and Taylor Black

Dave Eassa - "Constant State of Howl"

PentHouse Gallery, Copycat Building

1501 Guilford Ave. Apt B501

Strange Magic opens at Guest Spot Friday, December 9

2011-12-04T17:30:00.000-08:00

Jean Alexander Frater, Learning to write with my left hand. 2010

Strange Magic

Curated by: Skye Gilkerson

Opening Reception: Friday December 9, 2011 7pm-10pm

Works By: Jean Alexander Frater, James Johnson, Jassie Rios, Oscar Scantillan.

As protesters congregate in cities around the world, it’s clear that economic and political frustrations are cresting, and many people long for change. Common access to tools and media allows new perceptions to grow, and kindles the desire for collective and individual empowerment. Four artists with divergent practices wave their magic wands to create transformations of all kinds. Embracing wonder and surprise, they challenge reality through interventions to everyday life, shift perspectives through adaptations to architecture and space, and question what is malleable by attempting transformations of the self.

Strange Magic

December 9, 2011 – January 21, 2012

Closing Artist Brunch: Saturday January 21 1pm-5pm

Hours: Saturdays 1-5pm & Wednesdays 5-7pm or by appointment

Director Rod Malin

G U E S T S P O T

1826 Fleet Street

Baltimore, MD 21231

Current Work at Current Space December 10

2011-12-04T17:27:00.001-08:00

Hanna Kim

CURRENT WORK at CURRENT SPACE

11 MICA ARTISTS / PAINTINGS / DRAWINGS / SCULPTURE

DECEMBER 10 - 11, 2011

OPENING RECEPTION DECEMBER 10, 6-8PM

IRENA AZOVSKY

RYSSA BUCKINGHAM

AARON CHUNG

TERRANCE DAVID

GIOVANNI FLORES

HEATHER KAEHLER

HANNA KIM

GABY MARINO

CASEY REEDER

JUSTIN SCHMIDT

ANDY VIBLE

GALLERY HOURS:

December 10-11, 12-4 pm

Current Space

421 North Howard Street

Baltimore Md 21201

www.currentspace.com

Grass Party and Tasting at Area 405 December 10

2011-12-04T17:25:00.000-08:00

Saturday December 10, 8-11pm “Grass Tasting Party” @ Area 405,

405 Oliver St., Baltimore MD 21202

The Contemporary Museum, in collaboration with Area 405, come prepared to taste:
Tall Fescue, Kentucky Blue Grass & Perennial Rye

Hear SONDHEIM finalist Stephanie Barber present “FOR A LAWN POEM”!

Looking for a special holiday gift idea? Ever wonder what really fresh “house-made” grass tastes like? Curious to hear the latest in “New Grass Music”? Eager to see people sporting their winter green? Then we’ve got the event for you…

We’re talking all things “lawn” here, including special drinks to accompany our “house made” grass tastings, grown in trays in our temporary offices.

Over twenty local artists have made “sculpture gardens,” which will be for sale, starting at $10. “Sculpture gardens” are like Chia® Pets, only they’re sculptures that sprout seeds. These sculptures are perfect for “winter window sills,” yearning for spring green. They’ll also be a “sculpture garden” workshop on site.

COST: $10, Free for Contemporary Museum members

MICA 2011 Sabbatical Exhibition December 8

2011-12-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

Philip Koch

Thursday, December 1 - Sunday, December 18

Reception: Thursday, December 8 from 5-7 pm

Bunting Center Decker Gallery

The 2011 Sabbatical Exhibition will showcase the work of faculty members who took a semester away from MICA during the 2010/11 academic year to explore new themes, develop old ones, or collaborate with other artists and designers.

Celebration of the life of Nancy Haragan at the BMA Friday, December 2 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm

2011-12-02T09:51:00.000-08:00

Nancy M. Haragan, founding executive director of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, died on November 27, 2011, following complications from metastic melanoma. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Haragan was an iconoclastic cultural warrior who described herself as an “accidental arts administrator.”

A graduate of Dominican University in River Forest, IL, she arrived in Baltimore in 1974 and began her career in this city, which would quickly become her home, working as associate director of the Citizens Planning and Housing Association (CPHA). She then worked at the Greater Baltimore Committee, Chessie System, and then served as vice president in government affairs at USF&G for over 10 years.

In 1998, working with artists and arts administrators, Haragan launched the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance (GBCA),an association of over 95 Baltimore-area arts organizations that serves as a convener, a resource and an advocate for the local arts and cultural community. Because of her exceptional entrepreneurial skills and technical prowess, she immediately created the BaltimoreFunGuide.com, an on-line calendar of events with weekly half-price tickets, a resource developed on two platforms—one explicitly for college students and one for the general public. Discovering a model project that debuted in Pennsylvania, Haragan contacted and worked directly with Pew Charitable Trust to bring the Maryland Cultural Data Project here. This system, implemented in 2007, is a web-based system that standardizes all financial information from arts organizations and builds a clear financial picture of the strength of arts sector. She advised the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund and was instrumental in the development of the Baker Artist Awards. This resulted in an award-winning web showcase of Baltimore metropolitan artists, which now features almost 700 area artists.

After ten years, Haragan stepped down as GBCA’s founding director, but remained active on multiple boards until her death. These included Arts Every Day, where she served as board chair; Maryland State Arts Council, Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, Art on Purpose, Station North Arts and Entertainment District.

Known for her signature red lipstick and her eclectic fashion sensibility, Haragan, a self-described newspaper and political junkie, read broadly and was interested in everything. She is survived by her long-time partner Gwen Davidson; her father and step-mother Mary Ann and Robert Haragan of Ft. Myers, FL; five siblings, James Haragan of Louisa, KY, Ellen Haragan of NYC, Christopher Haragan of Louisville, KY; and Mary Radway of Louisville, KY; and Robert Haragan, Jr, from Los Altos, CA; seven nieces and three nephews.

A celebration of Nancy Haragan’s life will be held at the Baltimore Museum of Art on Friday, December 2, 2011 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. In lieu of flowers, her family has indicated that donations in her memory can be made to the Nancy Haragan Memorial Fund at the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. GBCA's address is 1800 N. Charles Street, Suite 810, Baltimore, MD 21201.

Ryan Lauderdale: Bed, Bath, and Beyond at Nudashank Saturday, Dec. 3

2011-12-02T05:59:00.000-08:00

RYAN LAUDERDALE: BED BATH AND BEYOND

reaching the beyond every day.

a transcendental mall in which to empty out.

bliss out spa.

stay super spiritual

Ryan Lauderdale is a Brooklyn based artist and Hunter MFA candidate.

This is his first exhibition with Nudashank.

Opening Reception Saturday, December 3rd, 7pm - 10pm

Show Runs December 3rd, 2011 - January 5th, 2012

Viewings are by appointment.

If you would like to schedule a viewing, please email us at nudashank@gmail.com.

NUDASHANK

H&H Bldg.

405 W. Franklin St.

3rd Floor

Baltimore, MD 21201

443-415-2139

www.nudashank.com

www.nudashank.blogspot.com

www.nudashankshop.bigcartel.com

Camougraphy in Cartopolis: Works by Anna Fine Foer Reception December 4

2011-11-30T09:51:00.000-08:00

Camougraphy in Cartopolis: A Solo Show by Anna Fine Foer

11 November-15 December

Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts Martino Gallery

Opening Reception: Sunday, December 4

Artist Talk: Thursday, December 8 noon-1 pm

Camougraphy in Cartopolis is an exhibition of map collage encompassing camouflage, topography, cartography, geography and the digital divide.

Foer says of her work, “My artwork is map collage that offers the viewer a combination of imaginary landscapes with mystical, scientific and ecological themes. The visual description of a three-dimensional world on a flat plane is conjoined with the depiction of the metaphysical. Maps that I incorporate into collages may be part of the regional, geographic, geological or religious narratives; boundaries may have been altered in hopes of furthering certain ends. Usually there is more than one story a map can convey. My work also has more than one story to tell. I may be trying to both describe the curve of the earth on a flat piece of paper and using maps to blur the boundaries between the natural and the manufactured/ technological world, representing simultaneously land, sky, water and architecture.

“Recently my work has incorporated images of mobile and technological devices. All pervasive in our society; cell phones, GPS, and hand held computers have become part of the land or cityscape,” adds Foer. “Integrating images of these devices allows me to further explore the relationship of the natural world and the man-made world and how we, as humans, navigate those worlds. To further that end, I have made imaginary archeological sites, using images of cell phones and digital photographs as the collage material.”

Foer decided she was going to be an artist at the age of 11 when she lived in Paris for a summer and visited every museum and gallery. As a fibers student at Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts) she became fascinated by the relationship between maps and the land they represent, embarking on a lifelong interest in maps and collage. After emigrating to Israel, Foer worked as a textile conservator in Haifa and Tel-Aviv and studied at the Textile Conservation Centre, Courtauld Institute in London, where she received a Post-Graduate Diploma in Textile Conservation. After returning to the U.S., Foer worked in conservation for the Textile Museum in Washington, DC, and for many museum clients as a freelance textile conservator. At the same time, she continued to create map collage landscapes with sacred, political and meta-physical significance, depicting three or more dimensions on a two-dimensional plane.

A resident of Annapolis, Foer has had her work at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Maryland Governor’s Mansion, and the Israeli Embassy and is in the permanent collection of the Haifa Museum of Art and the Beer-Sheva Biblical Museum. She was awarded a prize for the Encouragement of Young Artists for work exhibited in the Artist’s House in Jerusalem and received a Maryland State Arts Council grant for Individual Artists in 2008. Her web site is located at www.annafineart.com.

The exhibition will remain on display until December 15.
The Galleries at Maryland Hall are open Monday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm and are located on the 2nd and 3rd floors of Maryland Hall, 801 Chase Street, Annapolis. For more information, go to www.marylandhall.org.

Urbanite Arts and Culture Ezine Feature: String Theory: Gulp Yarn Bang at School 33 Art Center

2011-11-29T18:30:00.001-08:00

String Theory: Gulp Yarn Bang at School 33 Art Center presents a diverse range of artists reinventing yarn as a contemporary art medium. by Cara Ober

While most of us associate yarn with itchy homemade sweaters, knitting circles, or that unfortunate macramé home economics project circa seventh grade, contemporary artists are reinventing it as a new, cutting-edge art medium. On display at School 33 through December 23, Gulp Yarn Bang is a group exhibit of eleven artists—Heather Boaz, Gina Denton, Alex Ebstein, Clarissa Gregory, Sarah Matson, Jo Hamilton, Mindy Hirt, Ellen Nielsen, Courtney Puckett, Cat Sachse, and Anthea Zeltzman—who use yarn in a number of surprising and interesting ways.

Gina Denton #1

“Yarn is part of our human heritage,” says René Treviño, the curator of Gulp Yarn Bang. “We all share collective images of spinning wheels, afghan blankets, latch hook rugs, and rag doll hair. However, the line between fine arts and craft is becoming more and more blurred by contemporary artists, and yarn has become an important medium that many artists are incorporating into their work. The goal of this exhibit is to show a wide range of art objects that reference our traditional notions of yarn while also taking the medium to exciting new places.”

Jo Hamilton Portrait of Corey Hopper

The use of yarn is historically based in craft techniques, often handed down from one generation to the next. Several of the artists in Gulp use yarn in a traditional way—weaving, sewing, crocheting—to create products which are decidedly nontraditional. Gina Denton's soft sculptures embrace the sewing, felting, and stuffing techniques to create “alien” objects. Roughly the size of a stuffed animal in a range of bright, warm colors, Denton wants her works to be inviting; she wants viewers to touch and hold them, and describes their abstract and sometimes grotesque forms as “adult baby toys.” Another artist in the show, Jo Hamilton, uses yarn and a crochet hook to create highly realistic portraits in two dimensions. Hamilton works from her own photos and, despite their Photoshopped look, uses no computers, or even sketches, in her intuitive process. Using only traditional crochet techniques, Hamilton works one knot at a time, from the inside out, and row-by-row. Each portrait is larger than life and takes the artist about a month to complete. Due to their high degree of technical intricacy, these three portraits are among the most compelling works in the show.

A few artists in Gulp use yarn as an inside joke with their viewers, playing on past experiences with kitsch craft and commodity culture. Heather Boaz's humorous series of photographic yarn portraits depict five different people, each transformed by yarn. In one image, a close-up view of a man's face, brown yarn has been used to create a thick beard and mustache. He looks like an odd hybrid of Muppet and man. In another, tan yarn completely covers the subjects face, like spaghetti. And in a third, the subject is shown in profile, apparently sneezing a giant cloud of twisting, slime-green yarn. All of these scenes are shot in a clear, no-nonsense style, on a simple gray background, which curbs their silliness to a reasonable level.

Heather Boaz 'Dave'

Like Boaz, Anthea Zeltzman's knitted, three-dimensional logs function like a drawn-out inside joke. Arranged in three piles, reminiscent of a fireplace, Zeltzman's logs vary in color and size and invite touching and giggling. Another artist, Ellen Nielsen, uses giant yarn pompoms in videos that are both funny and visually arresting. By amplifying traditional elements of craft, like sequins and pompoms, Neilson uses humor to explore feminist and queerist perspectives, as well as to “assert the value of girl culture and traditionally feminine craft practices.”

Several of the artists in Gulp go in a different direction—they basically ignore the cultural associations with yarn and, instead, exploit its physical characteristics as a visual element. Mindy Hirt's string installation, covering a wall and ceiling in the side gallery, is a visually stunning and complex whirlwind of twine. From certain angles, Hirt's installation disappears, and from others, a chaotic, angular web of string careens out in every direction. Both visually delicate and overwhelming, Hirt's work highlights the versatility of her media, as well as the unique architecture of the gallery with which it interacts.

Anthea Zeltzman 'Soft Logs'

Alex Ebstein is another artist using yarn for abstract, compositional purposes; she draws and paints with the material, often layering it into concentric, textural layers and waves. In three smallish mixed media works that read like paintings, Ebstein creates bold and curious contrasts between bright and dull colors, slick and matte surfaces, as well as areas of implied texture with actual. Ebstein's tight, symmetrical compositions reference framing elements or letters of the alphabet, and she uses “auto-striped” and “self-patterning” yarns to create additional levels of volume, variety, and pattern.

Alex Ebstein 'Soft Sediment'

Courtney Puckett also employs yarn and fabric in a sophisticated, formal way. Although her sculptural forms are inspired by the textiles and décor of her childhood home, she transforms them into simplified, abstract compositions. Hung together in an arrangement on the wall, Puckett's construction of wrapped, braided, and fringed yarn is vaguely reminiscent of domestic objects and devices, but functions visually without any associations, as a curious and complex arrangement of color, texture, and form.

For knitting hobbyists and painting majors alike, Gulp Yarn Bang presents an appealing mix of technique, content, and visual complexity. It encompasses such a wide variety of approaches and skill sets, it guarantees to engage, impress, surprise, and educate contemporary viewers about an age-old material which is finding a new heyday. The exhibit is up in the Main Gallery at School 33 Art Center through December 23, 2011.

Contemporary Printmakers: Artist Talk at the BMA December 3

2011-11-29T18:28:00.001-08:00

Sat, Dec 3, 2 PM

Artist Talk: Contemporary Printmakers

FREE FOR ALL

Award-winning artists Daniel Heyman and Andrew Raftery discuss their work with master printer Brian Garner, founder of the Litho Shop, a fully equipped printmaking studio in Baltimore. Both artists are known for prints that explore the range of the human experience, from portraits of prisoners to people's private environments. Participate in this engaging conversation by posting your questions to www.facebook.com/artbma by December 3.

Heyman's work has been exhibited in major institutions across the country and has been acquired by prominent collections. He is a 2010 Guggenheim Fellow in fine arts and a 2009 Pew Fellowship in the Arts recipient.

Raftery trained in painting and printmaking at Boston University and Yale. His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in many private and public collections. He is currently a Professor of Printmaking at Rhode Island School of Design.

After the Artist Talk - Stay for a special reception in Fox Court. Network with artists and art lovers while enjoying seasonal treats. Signed books will be available for purchase.

Certainly So opens December 2 at PentHouse Gallery

2011-11-29T17:47:00.001-08:00

Certainly So

Works by David Eassa, Louis Abbene-Meagley, Kevin Jennings, and Taylor Black

Opening Reception: Friday, December 2 from 7-10 pm

PentHouse Gallery, Copycat Building

1501 Guilford Ave. Apt B501

Marty Weishaar's Match Box Heaven

2011-11-29T17:41:00.000-08:00

Marty Weishaar: SEA I MADe IT

Rosenberg Gallery at Goucher College

Exhibit Dates: October 25 through December 4, 2011

In Sea I MADe IT, Marty Weishaar forms symbolic relationships between traditional and nontraditional materials with various historical approaches, such as intuitive abstraction and conceptualism. Connections are made-between two-dimensional and three-dimensional projects, battle ships, systematic abstract paintings, diarist drawings, airplanes, and bridges.

From the exhibition catalogue: Geometric abstraction, paintings, and installation. Organized together, sharing space, each element evaluates, mirrors, and criticizes the other-there is no hierarchy of materials, or of symbols, or between drawing, painting, and sculpture, so each system points out the strengths and the pitfalls of the other.

Sea I MADe IT is not just a play of craftily made projects, but an exercise in finding linear and nonlinear organizational strategies between high art and craft. It is an exhibition of the process, the product, and the attitude. It is a rearranging of the discourse between style and technique-text to ships to abstraction; sculpture to drawing to painting; high art and craft.

Shop Locally at Holiday Heap and Merry Mart This Weekend

2011-11-29T17:01:00.000-08:00

HOLIDAY HEAP 2011

December 3rd, 2011 - 10am to 5pm

2640 St Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21218, inside St John's Church

This year's fair will have 60 of the best local and national crafters, as well as a yarn-spinning demonstration by Three Ravens and a raffle to win a huge basket full of goodies by supporting Arts Every Day! Check the blog to see vendor interviews and raffle basket sneak peeks. GrrChe, a local food truck, will be outside for lunch and snacks.

MERRY MART Holiday Craft Market

Sun Dec 4, 11am-5pm

Creative Alliance at the Patterson

Made in Charm City gifts! Jen Menkhaus and Allison Fomich host an amazing show with clothing, handbags, ceramics, soaps, kids' toys, mixed media, amazing jewelry, and great art! Indie crafters from the Charm City Craft Mafia, the Baltimore Etsy Street Team (BEST), and more from across Bmore! Food on sale by BlackSauce Kitchen.

Two Events at Guest Spot - December 3 & December 9

2011-11-28T08:46:00.000-08:00

image: Carl Gunhouse Kids, Sunland Park, NM 2011

CLOSING ARTISTS BRUNCH for BOUNDARY PROOF

Saturday December 3rd 2011 1pm-5pm

Works by: Gina Dawson Carl Gunhouse Cyle Metzger

Boundary Proof is a group exhibition that features three artists whose works address cultural use of border limitations, and the ability to navigate beyond and challenge specific cultural red lines. Each in their own right justifies expectations associated with their subject and examines contextual and metaphoric limitations, thus pushing past preconceived ideas.

Labels such as “rebel”, “freak” and “prophet” mainly serve to marginalize, thus reinforcing preconceived ideas about cultural boundaries. As didactic as one may be about transformation and innovation, programmatic barriers are still usually fully encouraged, driven by apprehension of existing restrictions. The line is drawn in the sand not to casually walk over, and it is the strained relationship between boundaries that one must supersede. In order to maintain a viable state, keeping up the appearance of boundaries and borders cultivates a close relationship with the opposition, creating a unique exchange that is anything but unpoetic.

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image: Jean Alexander Frater, Learning to write with my left hand. 2010

OPENING FOR STRANGE MAGIC

Opening Reception: Friday December 9, 2011 7pm-10pm

Curated by: Skye Gilkerson

Works By: Jean Alexander Frater, James Johnson, Jassie Rios, Oscar Scantillan.

Strange Magic

December 9, 2011 – January 21, 2012

Closing Artist Brunch: Saturday January 21 1pm-5pm

Hours: Saturdays 1-5pm & Wednesdays 5-7pm or by appointment

Director Rod Malin

G U E S T S P O T

1826 Fleet Street

Baltimore, MD 21231

Paper Chasers Closing Reception Saturday, Nov. 26 from 6-9 p.m.

2011-11-26T09:50:00.000-08:00

PAPER CHASERS at Nudashank

A group show of works on paper on view through November 26th

Closing Reception: Saturday Nov. 26th, 6 - 9pm

View installation photos HERE

Giving Thanks: Ten Baltimoreans propelling the city's arts scene forward.

2011-11-24T08:48:00.000-08:00

New Thanksgiving Reading from the Urbanite Arts and Culture Ezine - Movers and Shakers: Ten Baltimoreans propelling the city's arts scene forward.

by Cara Ober

It's that time of year where we take a moment to give thanks for all the good things in life. If you are an artist, musician, author, or actor in Baltimore, or a fan of these pursuits, chances are you've encountered more than a few of the individuals listed below. Each one has weighed in on the issues in a past Ask the Artist Questionnaire, a staple of every Arts and Culture E-Zine, and allowed Urbanite readers a rare opportunity to learn about them on a personal level, in their own words.

I consider myself fortunate to live in a town where such bright, accomplished, hardworking, and, also, hilarious people live and work. This week I chose ten interviews to highlight, giving Urbanite readers another chance to appreciate these cultural movers and shakers.

To read the 10 different interviews, http://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/baltimore/movers-and-shakers/Content?oid=1465587.

Happy Turkey Day!

2011-11-23T17:03:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Words of inspiration below...

Jon Stewart: "I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land."

MFA Exhibitions at Towson University November 18 - December 17

2011-11-22T08:49:00.000-08:00

Towson University MFA Thesis Exhibitions

November 18 - December 17, 2011

Criselle Anderson: I'm Discreet But I'll Haunt Your Dreams

Callandra S. Cook: Collections and Accumulations

Rusean Myers: The Truest Test - A Visual Exploration of the American Father

Center for the Arts

Holtzman MFA Gallery

www.towson.edu/artscalendar

Material Girls reviewed in Art in America!

2011-11-21T18:39:00.000-08:00

BALTIMORE “Material Girls: Contemporary Black Women Artists” at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture offers a glimpse of the sculptural practices of eight artists hailing from the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The exhibition brings together a selection of 40 objects and installations by Chakaia Booker, Sonya Clark, Torkwase Dyson, Maya Freelon Asante, Maren Hassinger, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Joyce J. Scott and Renée Stout. A tour de force of textures, colors and shapes, these tactile works range from small-scale and intricate—Scott’s Virgin Water (2000), a luminous glass sculpture made of beads and metalwork—to large-scale: Hassinger’s Love (2008), a buoyant, wall-hugging pyramid of inflated bubble-gum pink plastic bags containing paper love notes that climbs 20 feet from floor to ceiling.

The modest catalogue and wall texts both delineate each artist’s inheritance of craft-based practices by highlighting her family history and link her subject matter to Africa and the black diaspora. Clark’s Thread Wrapped (2008) weaves together colorful thread and simple black plastic combs (like those dispensed for school photographs) to produce a 4-by-5-foot tapestry that echoes West African kente cloth, while Dyson’s 1-by-2-foot Untitled (West African mask, V-8 Model engine, and bling T-shirt), 2008, an oblong assemblage that resembles an African mask, conflates disparate sources, including a model car engine and hip-hop paraphernalia.

The installations and sculptures by Stout are among the strongest in the exhibition. The Thinking Room (2005) is a reduced version of a space in the artist’s home; it is a colorful domain for her alter ego, the psychic Fatima Mayfield. The bright red walls cluttered with amateur painted and photographic portraits, African masks, crucifixes, wigs, a Byzantine icon, a Buddhist sculpture and other objects wrap around a boudoir furnished with a plush yellow velvet loveseat, acid green silk pillows, gilded wooden tables, mule slippers and myriad jars of herbal remedies and potions. This approximately 10-foot-square room exudes the power of female spiritual and curative practices that cross cultural boundaries. In contrast stands Stout’s Ogun’s Bed (1998), a sparse but quietly authoritative wall sculpture measuring 4 by 6 feet and resembling a rusty bed frame. Rather than evoking a restful place of slumber, this metal lattice bordered by chains hosts such objects as shovels, shackles, hinges and a hatchet, alluding to unspecified histories of violence in the name of the Yoruba god of iron.

“Material Girls” underscores various influences in many black women’s lives, from basket-weaving and quilting to the diasporic condition, spiritual worship and the natural world. But perhaps in asserting racial and gender-based explanations for the artists’ choices in the show’s supporting materials, the exhibition runs the risk of undermining the value of the works as part of a larger conversation about contemporary art.

Photo: View of Renée Stout’s installation The Thinking Room, 2005; in “Material Girls” at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. To see the original post at Art in America dot com click here.

Paul Chaat Smith Monday, November 28 at 7 pm

2011-11-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

Paul Chaat Smith

Monday, November 28, 7 pm

Brown Center: Falvey Hall, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave.

Paul Chaat Smith is a Comanche author and curator whose work focuses on the contemporary landscape of American Indian politics and culture. Smith joined the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in 2001, where he currently serves as associate curator. He is the co-author of Like a Hurricane: the Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee, a standard text in Native studies and American history courses, and author of Everything You Know about Indians Is Wrong. He served as creative consultant for the PBS television series. We Shall Remain: A Native History of America. This talk is sponsored by the Humanities Department. His residency is made possible by the MFA in Curatorial Practice and Rinehart School of Sculpture programs with the support of the Center for Race and Culture.

Premiere of 'tempest in a bedroom' at MICA, November 21 @ 7 pm

2011-11-19T08:40:00.000-08:00

Monday, November 21

7-9 p.m., MICA, Brown Center 320

Free Admission

Laurence Arcadias and Juliette Marchand will screen their short comedy, which began in Baltimore and was shot last year in France. The film pokes fun at class struggles and sexual attraction, and how unleashing desire can lead to a tempest.

We'll begin with a quick history of animation, followed by a presentation of the making of the film. The filmmakers will discuss behind-the-scenes actions, how stop-motion is made, how armatures and puppets were built for this film, green-screen compositing and special effects, and the use of actors for puppets' faces.

http://shag.squarespace.com

New Urbanite Ezine Feature: Half a millennia of printmaking, on display at the Baltimore Museum of Art

2011-11-16T11:24:00.000-08:00

Roy Lichtenstein. Haystack #3. Screenprint.

Print Matters: Big names like Albrect Dürer, Pablo Picasso, and Marcel Duschamp hang side by side with contemporary printmakers in the BMA's new exhibit, Print by Print. by Cara Ober

Andrew Raftery. Open House Series. Engraving.

If you've ever shopped for real estate, Andrew Raftery's Open House: Five Engraved Scenes, 2008 are all too familiar. Or are they? The large McMansion interiors have been adorned with fresh flowers and the countertops sparkle. Window light streams into the large rooms, while attractive couples inspect the appliances and open closet doors. In one scene, a man wears a smiling baby on his chest, and, in another, interested buyers converse and linger near a gleaming grand piano. It's all too perfect, and Raftery's clean, engraved lines and photorealitic detail reinforce the over-idealized scenario. Reminiscent of the Stepford Wives, Raftery's images are eerie in their perfection and oddly plastic. More importantly, they serve as a fractured mirror for the housing market in America today. As the American Dream of home ownership becomes more and more remote for many, Raftery's sleek environments become, more and more, a bittersweet fantasy.

Raftery's series of five disparate images are in good company in the Baltimore Museum of Art's newest survey exhibition from the permanent collection, titled Print by Print: Series from Dürer to Lichtenstein. The exhibit examines the practice of serial printmaking, a process that has stayed remarkably consistent over the past five hundred years. Like last year's huge photography exhibit, Seeing Now, this show covers a lot of ground. However, while critics of Seeing complained of overcrowding and a surface approach to certain individual works, this exhibit is limited to just twenty-nine artists and emphasizes a breadth of expression from each. Displayed in one complete series, their works include historical approaches to printmaking like woodcut, engraving, etching, as well as more contemporary practices, like lithography and screen-printing.

There are a variety of reasons why printmakers throughout history have worked in series. Sometimes the intent is narrative, with each consecutive print illustrating scenes from a story. Other reasons for creating multiple images around a common theme are purely visual. As the artist works out an idea, testing out different versions and approaches, the idea transforms and grows. Each complete series, whether it includes five versions or fifty, allows the viewer a unique insight into the artist's process. While serial printmaking is not unusual, exhibiting in series is. It is much more typical for an artist to select the strongest image or two for exhibit, so it is a real treat to see a few clunkers in the mix—and to gain a more complete picture of the way artists work through their ideas—rather than giving the impression of simply arriving at a masterpiece.

Ed Ruscha. News. Color Screenprint.

The exhibit starts out on a curious note, with two series composed of experimental materials. Ed Ruscha's six color screen prints, News, Mews, Pews, Brews, Stews, and Dues, 1970, depicts each word in an Old English typeface on a blank background. These particular words were chosen by the artist to communicate essential English qualities. What is particularly unusual about this series is Ruscha's use of food items as pigment, including axle grease over caviar, blackcurrant pie filling over red salmon roe, Bolognese sauce, mango chutney, daffodils, and Branston pickles. Like the words they depict, the materials directly represent what it means to be British. The colors created by these “inks” are subtle, ranging from tan, to beige, to yellow, to almost black. A counterbalance for Ruscha's series, Marcel Duschamp's circular discs, Twelve Rotoreleases, 1935, were originally intended to be spun, creating a sense of three-dimensional space. Record-sized and emblazoned with colorful, swirling patterns, the discs were not a critical success at the time, but Duschamp's offset lithographs were successfully used by doctors to help restore three-dimensional vision to patients who had lost sight in one eye.

Albrecht Dürer. Vision of the Seven Candlesticks. Woodcut print.

Along more traditional lines, Albrecht Dürer is possibly the most significant name in the history of printmaking. His sixteen-part series, The Apocalypse, printed in 1511, embodies all the techniques that established his fame. Initially intended as illustrations for an original book, Dürer's woodcut prints interpret the Book of Revelations with such innovation, both technical and creative, it is not difficult to understand how they have achieved such an iconic status. Despite their age, Dürer's prints retain a contemporary feel. Like many artists today, the artist blends fantasy with reality in intricate detail, and mixes the illusion of three dimensionality with flat, illustrative space.

However famous the Dürer prints, the centerpiece of Print by Print is a wall of forty pochoirs, or color stencils, titled Compositions, Colors, Ideas by Sonia Delaunay. The portfolio of prints was commissioned by Editions d’Art Charles Moreau in 1930. Displayed in a vertical grid on a tall museum wall, it’s a charming array of visual movement and color. The artist, along with her husband Robert Delaunay, used this series to develop the concept of simultaneity, which used bright color contrasts to create a sense of visual movement. These simple, lyrical abstractions became a popular pattern book, and have been used by countless textile designers as a basis for fabric and wallpaper designs.

Sonia Delaunay. Plate 36. Color Stencil.

Another standout series of prints, and there are many in this exhibit, are eight Drypoint Etchings by contemporary artist Daniel Heyman. Titled The Amman Project, 2006, each print depicts a different man in a spindly, cartoonish style and includes rambling handwritten texts in the background. When you read the quotes, their initial light-hearted impression changes drastically. “We were asked to undress, and stayed under the hot sun for hours, hand-cuffed,” reads one titled Our Eyes Were Covered With Plastic Wraps. “We were not guilty of anything. If I had done something, I would have been proud, but we had not done anything.” The artist created these portraits on site in Amman, Jordan, during interviews between American lawyers and former prisoners of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. As each man gave graphic accounts of their torture by U.S. guards, the artist struggled to capture not only their physical likeness, but also their words. This series of prints gives a voice to the victims of torture, and also educates Americans about the atrocities committed in their name.

Sonia Delaunay. Plate 24. Color Stencil.

Much of Print by Print includes more traditional topics, like landscapes, classical allegory, and historical narratives. There is enough variety to satisfy a diverse public, and famous names, like Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, and Julie Mehretu, are present along with new discoveries, like Italian soldier Lorenzi Fabius and German pianist Max Klinger.

Daniel Heyman. Our Eyes Were Covered. Drypoint Etching.

Prints, in general, tend to be small and this exhibit could have been a dizzying array of small, same-sized frames. However, by physically grouping each series into a larger body, this pitfall was neatly avoided. Another potential problem this exhibit carefully sidestepped is a chronological approach, which would present works as a timeline and allow viewers to focus on their comfort zones, while ignoring the rest. Instead, curator Rena Hoisington used a thematic approach, where prints from different time periods gain depth and relevance from one another, enhanced by the general themes of narrative, design, places, imagination, appropriation, and war.

As a follow up, contemporary printmakers Daniel Heyman and Andrew Raftery will be at the BMA Saturday, December 3, at 2 p.m. to discuss their work with master printer Brian Garner and BMA visitors.

To read the original article at the Urbanite Website, and other Arts and Culture features, click here.

Chul Hyun Ahn: Illuminated Void opens Nov. 16 at Grimaldis Gallery

2011-11-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

Chul Hyun Ahn: Illuminated Void

Grimaldis Gallery

Opening Reception Wednesday, Nov. 16 from 6-8 pm

November 16 - January 14, 2012

www.cgrimaldisgallery.com

Jo Smail: Degrees of Absence opens Friday, Nov. 18 at Goya Contemporary

2011-11-14T08:58:00.000-08:00

Jo Smail: Degrees of Absence

Goya Contemporary

Opening Reception: Friday, November 18 from 6-8 pm

November 18 - January 10

www.goyacontemporary.com

Photos from Gulp! Yarn! Bang! and Paul Jeanes at School 33

2011-11-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

Paul Jeans: Dead Reckoning opens at School 33 November 11

2011-11-11T09:25:00.000-08:00

Paul Jeanes: Dead Reckoning

A solo exhibition of recent paintings

at School 33 Art Center

Opening reception: November 11, 2011, 6 to 9pm

Exhibit runs: 11/11/2011 - 12/23/2011

In his recent ventures into abstraction, Paul Jeanes explores quasi-chance driven processes: dripping, pouring, glazing and scraping in order to build paintings that visualize turbulent chromatic atmospheres where fleeting gestures are at once illuminated and obscured. Jeanes abides by the notion that the visualization of complex thought and a kind of psychosomatic energy can be conveyed through the simplest means of expression possible, in the static slurry of colored pigment on canvas. His current Visions of Excess series explores themes of corrosion, ablation, liquefaction, and stratification through a romantically incidental approach to painting. In this process-driven approach, Jeanes is part color abstractionist and part quixotic alchemist, who instinctively sublimates thought, with time and matter to create his thinly layered, hallucinatory paintings.

Ron Cubbison Alumni Exhibition and Travel Awards Exhibition and Fellowship Call

2011-11-10T10:26:00.000-08:00

Ron Cubbison with then-student, Cindy Rehm

A Statement about Ron Cubbison by Cindy Rehm:
Ron taught painting and drawing at TU from 1966-1996. He inspired and mentored countless art students over the years. Ron saw art as a serious matter and demanded rigor in his classes, he was a tough critic. He was one of those teachers rumored "to make students cry." His bluntness didn't come from malice, but rather from his desire to spur his students onto their best work. He was deeply invested in his life as a teacher and always tried to inspire a sense of wonder in his students. He encouraged his students to experience the world, to explore the city, and her art museums and galleries. He was an avid traveler and a firm believer in the value of learning through encounters with new places and cultures.

Ron was my graduate advisor at TU (I graduated the same year he retired.) He was an amazing mentor and continued to be supportive of my work long after we both left TU. You may have seen him pass through spare room one night wearing his leather chaps! A few years ago Ron asked me to help him with a project to establish an exhibition with travel awards after his death. I thought it wouldn't happen for another 30 years and was saddened and shocked when he died in 2008. He wanted his legacy to be the gift of travel to his former students. There will be a juried exhibition, and five of his former students (graduate or undergraduate) will be awarded travel grants. The awards are funded through Ron's estate and this is a singular event (not an on-going foundation.)

Bio: Ron Cubbison (1939-2008) was an artist, teacher, and world traveler. He served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at Towson University from 1966-1996. Cubbison received an undergraduate degree from the University of the Arts (formerly Philadelphia College of Art) with awards in painting, watercolor and drawing. Upon completion of his undergraduate studies, he spent a year studying in New York on a Max Beckman Award from the Brooklyn Museum. Cubbison received an MFA in painting from Penn State University.

During his time as a professor, Cubbison actively pursued his painting and drawing practice. His work has been shown at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, the Carroll County Art Center, Galerie Françoise, Gomez Gallery, Slate Gallery, Doshi Gallery and the Studio Gallery in Washington, D.C. His work is in the permanent collections of the Penn State Museum, McDaniel College, and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Cubbison’s work was directly influenced by his passion for the natural world and his travels took him from the arctic to camping in Antarctica. He climbed in the Andes, the Brookes Range in Canada, the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, and Mount Sinai. He trekked the Peruvian rainforest, Manu, rode horseback in Petra, circumnavigated the Galapagos Islands, and spent time on Easter Island, Tierra del Fuego, and Waadi Rum.

Exhibition and Fellowship Call
Ron Cubbison Alumni Exhibition and Travel Awards

The Department of Art + Design, Art History, Art Education of Towson University seeks undergraduate and graduate alumni of former professor Ron Cubbison for exhibition of their work and the awarding of travel fellowships. Professor Cubbison, who died in 2008, taught at Towson University for thirty years, from 1966 to 1996. He was a firm believer in the individual vision of his students and in the power and impact of travel abroad as an inspiration for creativity. With this belief in mind, he created a one-time fellowship award for his former students to be used for travel abroad. All students who studied with Professor Cubbison and who are still actively making art should apply to take part in a juried exhibition to take place in the Center for the Arts, September 13, 2012—October 7, 2012. Five of his former students whose works are juried into this exhibition will then be chosen by a panel of judges to receive substantive travel abroad fellowships. Upon return home from their travels, these travel award winners will participate in a second group exhibition of their new works. The second exhibition of work by the fellowship winners will take place in 2014.

To be considered for the Ron Cubbison Alumni Exhibition please send a CD with jpgs of 8-10 works created since 2006. Please indicate the works that are available for exhibition. DVD entries of new media are also acceptable. Please include on the CD a copy of your resume, an artist statement, list of works (with title, medium, size, and date), and and if you want to be considered for the travel scholarship, a copy of your transcripts that indicates the courses that you took with Professor Cubbison (highlight in yellow the specific courses you took with Professor Cubbison). http://www.towson.edu/registrar/Records/Transcript_Request.asp

Please make sure to indicate whether you were an undergraduate or graduate student when you studied with him. This is an all digital entry application. Send all documents digitally. Please make sure that your CD and DVD operate on both MAC and PC computers. Postmark date: December 31, 2011. Send or drop off this information to: Professor J. Susan Isaacs, Curator of the Center for the Arts Gallery, Department of Art + Design, Art History, Art Education, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252. For further information or questions contact: sisaacs@towson.edu or cindyrehm@gmail.com. Current TU faculty who studied with Ron Cubbison may submit work for exhibition but they will not be considered for a travel fellowship.

Gulp Yarn Bang! opens at School 33 November 11

2011-11-09T08:44:00.000-08:00

School 33 Art Center

www.school33.org

Impact: MAP's 30th Anniversary Benefit Exhibition and Auction on 11.11.11

2011-11-07T17:44:00.001-08:00

MAP's 30th Anniversary Benefit Exhibition and Auction

MAP welcomes all gala guests to join the honorees and sponsors for fantastic food and drinks, provided by Chef's Expressions, the sounds of the entertaining Swingin' Swamis band and the highly anitcipated silent auction exhibition. Purchase your Gala Tickets here.

Don't Forget! The After Party begins at 9:30p - dance to the soundwaves of DJ Charisse Nichols as the gala continues! Purchase After Party Tickets here.

More IMPACT Info here. Contact Emily with any questions at emily@mdartplace.org or 410.962.8565

To check out the IMPACT website of available art for auction, click here.

Altered Truths, Fractured Myths: Jessica Damen and Oletha DeVane at City Arts Gallery November 12

2011-11-07T17:43:00.001-08:00

Altered Truths, Fractured Myths

November 12, 2011- January 9, 2012

Opening Reception: November 12, 2011 Time: 7:00PM

Artists Talk: December 3, 2011 Time: 3:00PM

Closing Reception January 7, 2012 Time: 3:00PM

Imagine being caught by the penetrating gaze of the mythical Leda and then struck by the beauty and power of her ravishing swan. Or experience the subliminal disquiet stirred when confronted with an iconic black Madonna haloed with nail like objects, which could be radiant light or a crown of pain. Such ironic juxtapositions are the mainstay of City Arts Gallery upcoming exhibition, Altered Truths, Fractured Myths featuring works of two Baltimore-based and nationally exhibited artists, Oletha DeVane and Jessica Damen. Through a variety of two and three-dimensional media both artists will address the mysterious convergence of cultures, race and myths. With sensuous snakes and swans, expressive brush strokes and layered prints, DeVane and Damen are able to seduce their viewers to contemplate the uncomfortable and unspeakable. Their mutual interests in goddess iconography and the subversive and violent nature of patriarchy are depicted with brush paintings on paper.

Altered Truths, Fractured Myths is curated by artist Stephen Towns. This is the fourth exhibition in the newly developed City Arts Gallery and fulfills the mission of City Arts to include a diverse range of artwork from a variety of local artists.

CITY ARTS APARTMENTS
440 East Oliver Street. Baltimore, MD
Gallery Hours: Monday Thursday 9am-5pm, Friday 10am-3pm

Power Struggles opens Friday, November 11 at Goucher's Silber Gallery

2011-11-07T17:42:00.001-08:00

Woojin Chang

Power Struggles: Leveraging Control

Power Struggles will be presented at Goucher College's Silber Art Gallery in the Athenaeum from October 25th through December 4th, 2011 except November 22-27th for Thanksgiving. This exhibit, which is free and open to the public, can be viewed Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

An artists' reception will be held in the Silber Gallery on Friday November 11, 2011, 6-8 p.m.

In Power Struggles: Leveraging Control, Dustin Carlson, Emily Denlinger, Lillian Bayley Hoover, Phyllis Plattner, Robby Rackleff, Tony Shore, and Calla Thompson explore notions of authority, oppression, and control and study the imbalances of power-whether societal, sexual, political, or economic-found in social hierarchies. Power plays are enacted globally, daily-by governments over citizens, doctors over patients, parents over children, teachers over students, male over female-and the battles between these forces bleed into every area of life. Unfortunately, our culture has become desensitized to the insidious violence of our times, a result of incessant overexposure to violent images and experiences.

At times brutal and direct, at others calm, poetic and rich with metaphor, thework of these eight artists is always disruptive, insistent, impossible to ignore. The anxious scenarios depicted within this exhibit attempt to destroy current notions of violence and dismantle the sinister glamorization of power.

Calla Thompson installing 'Lap' - a 10 x 7 foot installation,

comprised of black paint and approximately 12,000 rhinestones

Eye of the Beholder opens at the MFA Gallery in Annapolis on Sunday, November 6 from 3-6 pm

2011-11-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

Stephanie Reit, “Log Cabin Birdhouse”, Wood, glass, rusted metal

Maryland Federation of Art Presents National Juried Exhibition

Eye of the Beholder: The Fine Art of the Found Object

The Maryland Federation of Art (MFA) presents its 2nd Annual Found Objects exhibition Eye of the Beholder: The Fine Art of the Found Object. The exhibition showcases two and three dimensional works of fine art that have incorporated at least one or more found objects into their presentation. One hundred ninety-nine artists representing twenty-nine states, including D.C. and Canada, entered three hundred forty-three pieces to be considered by the Juror. Eighty-three artworks by fifty-eight artists were accepted. From colored machetes to reused cinese takeout containers, the artists in the exhibition have drawn inspiration from the oddest objects and have incorporated them into their artwork in the most inventive ways. The selected works will be on exhibit in the MFA’s Circle Gallery from October 30 to November 26, 2011.

Janet Maher, Associate Professor of Art at Loyola University Maryland, juried the exhibition. She has been a working artist for thirty-five years. She says, “It was a true pleasure to jury Eye of the Beholder, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have done so,” she goes on, “I feel that the inventive range, combination and transformation of materials are particularly sophisticated in this show … I am already a new fan of many of these artists, and I look forward to meeting them and seeing their work in person!”

Join Janet Maher and meet the artists at the opening reception on Sunday, November 6, from 3 to 6 pm. Cash awards totaling $1,000 will be presented at 4:30 p.m.

Maxwell Cemento, “Tutsi Pops”, Machetes, wood, and paint

Maryland Federation of Art

Voted Best Art Gallery in Annapolis 2011 

Representing Regional and National Artists and Showcasing Local Talent

Open Tuesday - Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Closing Reception for Cowboys and Engines at Gallery Four November 5

2011-11-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

DUSTIN CARLSON

COWBOYS & ENGINES

Closing Reception: Saturday November 5, 2011 7-10 PM

Named "Best Solo Art Show" - City Paper 2011. Gallery Four invites you to the closing reception of Dustin Carlson's 'Cowboys and Engines'. With this new body of work Carlson questions our notions of 'The American Dream' where individual freedoms are purchased as accessories and worn in our cup-holders.

Riches & Ruin: New Works by Benjamin Kelley at Open Space November 5

2011-11-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

I’m looking at a photograph. A man in a crisp 1950’s business suit stands pensively in some type of barn or warehouse space, its difficult to tell which. A strong silhouette is cast from the window behind him, its full daylight outside but the space of the photograph is intensely dark. Some daylight is spilling down over the mans right hand and one can see some type of mechanical wreckage at his feet, metal and rivets mangled into a strangely organic form. The man’s gaze however is not down at the ruins immediately in front of him; it’s straight ahead as if he’s looking out onto the horizon. He’s gazing at something outside of the frame, out into the darkness.

Black coal formed to the shape of a model T fender, a shadow of a bygone era.

A clean black rectangle of glass, reminiscent of the border of every MacBook Pro screen.

A reminder that the past lies as much in the realm of the imagination as the future.

Open Space is pleased to present Riches & Ruin new works by Benjamin Kelley.

November 5 – December 17, 2011

Opening reception November 5, 2011, 7-11pm

Open Space

2720 Sisson St.

Baltimore MD 21211

STILL <|> ACTION at Current Saturday, November 5

2011-11-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

STILL <|> ACTION
A NIGHT OF PERFORMANCE, A NIGHT TO TRANSFORM

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 8:30 - 11:30, $5
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Performances by:

Chiara Giovando (LA, Baltimore, Everywhere. Member of Harrius)
Performance with Video, Tones, Voice
http://vimeo.com/30517837

Math Bass (LA)
Enter This All, performance
http://animalsfeelinganimalfeelings.blogspot.com

Johnston, Harper & Ptak (B-town members of Nautical Almanac)
Hearts, Light, Determination
Testing boundaries, melting walls, warmly greeting the other side.

Jenny Graf (B'more. of Metalux and Harrius)
Catalyst in Fall, a Participatory Score
http://www.jennygrafsheppard.com/projects.html

Paper Chasers at Nudashank Saturday, November 5

2011-10-31T18:39:00.000-07:00

Leif Low-beer

PAPER CHASERS

November 5 - November 26

A group show of works on paper, including work by:

Andrew Guenther

Benjamin Edmiston

Matthew Craven

Brion Nuda Rosch

Sofia Leiby

Samuel T. Adams

Alex Lukas

Lesser Gonzalez

Ted Gahl

Jordan Bernier

Bettina Yung

Annie Grey

Matt Lienes

Mary Helena Clark

Elena Johnston

Russell Hite

Leif Low-Beer

Christian Herr

D'Metrius Rice

Edward Max Fendley

Adam Dwight

Cara Ober

Felipe Goncalves

Chris Mucci

Kaitlin Murphy

Jessie Unterhalter

Josh Van Horne

Max Guy

Steven Riddle

Beth Hoeckel

Sidney Pink

David Armacost

Molly O'Connell

Nikholis Plank

Caitlin Cunningham

Sal Farina

Adam Tullie

Tim Karpinski

Jess Soulen

Amy Boone-McCreesh

Sarah Mosk

Erick Jackson

Conor Backman

Unreliable Narrators at Creative Alliance November 10

2011-10-31T15:33:00.000-07:00

Unreliable Narrators

On view Nov 10-Dec 23, 2011

Reception: Thu Nov 10 6-8pm

Former CA Resident Artists Megan Hildebrandt and Christine Sajecki join with Sara Holwerda, Sarah Kelly, and Ellen Mueller to play in the new landscape of storytelling, adding a few nails to the coffin of the “official” voice, jumping off the diving board of satire, and perhaps – just perhaps – suggesting that art offers the best way through.

At its most basic, art has always been about storytelling, from cave painters describing a hunt for food to church frescoes narrating the lives of saints. As technology has quickened the pace, the nature of storytelling has changed. Lives are broadcast to the world through blogs, vlogs, tweets, and posts; even the news is packaged and sold as “stories,” with editorial agendas often barely disguised. In this cacophony of subjectivity, it’s now assumed that there are two sides (at least) to every story. Who knows what to believe anymore?

Megan Hildebrandt drew attention in 2009 for dressing as a vintage housewife and scrubbing the marble steps of East Baltimore, and is now producing a comic-book narrative detailing her bout with cancer at age 25. Christine Sajecki’s luminous encaustic paintings float dreamlike through the cities she inhabits, like a latter-day Flannery O’Connor. Sarah Kelly riffs on technology and confessional culture with scripted, split-screen video chats and ironic music videos. “Official” safety videos by Ellen Mueller give instructions to threats that don’t exist, and Sara Holwerda’s satiric animations and props take on sexual mores, meat eaters and consumer culture.

MICA Juried Undergraduate Exhibition October 26 - November 20

2011-10-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

Great BIG Halloween Parade of Light and Luminaria CHANGED to Sunday, October 30

2011-10-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

Great BIG Halloween Parade of Light and Luminaria

!Wildlights Wildlife!

6:30pm Line-Up. 7pm Kick off! Sunday, Oct 30

Halloween parade in Patterson Park returns with new Parade artist/director Laure Drogoul, bringing her sublimely wacky humor and scrappy visionary aesthetic to our community! The Park`s critters are illuminate as spirit-lanterns made of re-purposed plastic bottles. Owls, cats, rats and fish shimmer amidst marching bands, floats and surprise performances.

Meet at Patterson Park at The Pulaski Monument on Eastern and Linwood Ave. Parade FALL FEST begins @ 3pm with hayrides & free lantern making! Parking available on Eden & Fleet for $3. Take the free shuttle every 15 min to/from the park 6-10pm. The 10 bus drops you off right on Eastern Ave!

Parade Website: Great Big Halloween Parade of Light & Luminaria Friend Parade on facebook!

Collaborations opens at Gormley Gallery at Notre Dame on Saturday, October 29

2011-10-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

Collaborations: Katie Lynn Gutridge, Megan Ferrin, Alix Novak, Julia Taylor

in conjunction with the participants of Penn-Mar Human Services Day Program

October 24 - December 2, 2011

Reception: Saturday, October 29 from 4-6 pm

Gallery Talk: Wednesday, November 30 from noon to one