A group exhibition

Opening Reception: Friday, July 19th 6-9pm

Closing Reception: Friday, August 16th 6-9pm

Featuring the following artists: Erin Barry Dutro*, Robin Cook, Lolo Gem*, Alexis Irby*, Susan Isaacs, Kari Miller, Nguyên Khôi Nguyễn*^

Gallery Hours: M-F: 12-4pm

* indicates Baker Artist

*^ indicates Baker Artist Awardee

MARYLAND VEGAN RESTAURANT MONTHFRI. 8/2/24 - SAT. 8/31/24A CELEBRATION OF PLANT-BASED EATING!
WHAT’S MARYLAND VEGAN RESTAURANT MONTH?

Young Blood Exhibition: Thursday, July 18 - Saturday, September 7, 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 18 | 6 pm to 9 pm

The history of Black Resistance is not monolithic. From the Civil War to the Black Power movement, rising against injustice has taken many forms. But what about the stories of resistance we haven't heard? What about stories that aren't palatable to the mainstream - the stories of Black political prisoners who sought to resist anti-Black state violence inside American prisons? Join BRJA as we uplift, reflect, and honor the stories of Black political prisoners and resistance from those behind the walls.

“Blood is a gift and the land is a gift and our past is a gift. In the questions they ask and in the wandering they do, the short films in this program uncover and explore generational memory. They give thanks to those who are gone and those who are yet to be born, and to those who are here living right now. They drift through time, movement, memorial, and landscape towards some unknown and neverknown place and serve as a much-needed reminder that we’ll all get there together, just not at the same time.” —Sky Hopinka, Guest Curator

This exhibition pairs Henri Matisse’s compositions with those of 19th-century Japanese woodcut artists to explore the global appeal of color and pattern across space and time. The Art of Pattern: Henri Matisse and Japanese Woodcut Artists features several paintings and prints by Matisse from the 1920s, with posed models and heavily patterned interior backgrounds, reflecting the artist’s interest in layering his works from this period with decorative items from around the world.

This presentation speaks to Native people’s dynamic and powerful relationship with land, home, and sanctuary. While they have beliefs and practices as wide and vast as this continent, Native communities share a recognition that humans exist as part of a larger ecosystem that must stay in balance. As the pressures of colonization and contemporary life have assaulted traditional lifeways, the works in this exhibition demonstrate the resilience and versatility with which Native artists maintain their cultures, community connections, and sense of home.

This exhibition puts Laura Ortman’s (White Mountain Apache) My Soul Remainer into conversation with a historic Apache violin by Amos Gustina. Ortman’s video work features the artist playing the violin against the dramatic backdrop of the Southwestern landscape, while her collaborator Jock Soto (Diné) assumes reverential postures. Ortman’s original score builds upon then radically departs from the overwhelmingly white, male canon of classical music—her score samples a classical Mendelssohn piece, which bleeds into an atmospheric and ethereal composition.

Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota) presents one new and two existing sculptural works from her Carry series. Each Carry piece, composed of a large copper bucket and ladle adorned with glass beads, bears extravagantly long fringe whose draping emulates arboreal root structures. Alongside the artist’s works, White Hawk selected historic Lakota belongings from the BMA’s collection. Through these works, White Hawk insists upon an interdependence between art and function—and by extension art and life—effectively calling into question art history’s tendency to devalue craft.

This exhibition reflects upon the buffalo as essential to Indigenous lifeways on the Plains since time immemorial. Euro-American colonizers and the United States government attempted to eradicate the species in a calculated strategy to subdue Native people and force them onto reservations in the late 19th century. This effort fundamentally transformed Native artmaking, both historically and presently. The critical importance of the buffalo within Plains Indigenous cultures can be felt across artworks that pre- and post-date the attempted eradication of the species.

Dana Claxton (Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations) presents a solo exhibition of her large-scale, backlit, color transparency photography, which she terms “fireboxes.” Works from her Lasso and Headdress series, including a newly commissioned Headdress portrait, draw together contemporary Native subjects with regalia and items from the subject’s own cultures. The exhibition situates many of the objects depicted in the firebox images alongside objects from the BMA’s historic Native art collection.

For this new solo site-specific installation, Caroline Monnet (Anishinaabe/French) interweaves inspiration from eel trap pots made by Indigenous people of the Chesapeake Bay watershed along with traditional Anishinaabe longhouses. The artist responds to the Museum’s architecture as a departure point for her distinct aesthetic vocabulary, which inscribes traditional Anishinaabe motifs and cultural practices within contemporary forms and materials. Optically vibrating and resonating outwards, the forms forcefully claim space while also reflecting both a sense of reception and transmission.

This installation highlights the ways in which Native artists have increasingly asserted agency—the exertion of one’s own power—over representations of their communities and identities over time. In the early 20th century, white arts educators encouraged Native artists to create “authentic” art—as defined by settlers—that embraced traditional subject matter while often neglecting present realities. In the decades that followed, generations of artists have shrugged off settler expectations by depicting their community on their own terms.

View watercolor paintings by over 75 artists. Opening exhibit August 3 from 4-7 includes awards presentation and light reception. Closing reception and artist meet-and-greet on September 15, 5-6 p.m.

This and every Wednesday The Art of Comedy Comedy Open Mic happens in our West Bay Gallery! Join Comedian Ivan Martin Dark Mark Rules and Alejandro Labroda along with some of Baltimore’s funniest comedians for an evening of laughs! If you’re feeling up to the task, sign up and tell a few jokes yourself! It’s free to attend and always a good time. Sign up starts at 8, show starts at 9.

Pratt Street Market Presented by PNC Bank is back to shake up your lunch break and bring you outside! Returning to the corner of Pratt & Light Streets every Thursday, May-September, 2024. Enjoy vendors and food trucks offering delicious bites, unique gifts from local artisans, and more!