The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) announces new members of the Baltimore Public Art Commission. The commission is mayoral appointed and oversees the city of Baltimore Percent-for-Public Art program and permanent gifts of public art to the city. Administered and staffed by BOPA, the commission is set to meet Friday, January 11, 2019 from 11:30am–1pm at BOPA, located at 10 E. Baltimore St., 10th floor, Baltimore, MD 21202.
Appointees are Jaquelin F. Bershad, vice president of planning and design, National Aquarium; Danielle Brock, senior project engineer, site development, RK&K; Aaron Bryant, curator of photography and visual culture, National Museum of African American History and Culture; Sam Christian Holmes, artist; Mary Demory, executive assistant to the City Council President; Brian Oster, architect and managing principal, Cho Ben Holback a Quinn Evans Company; Kuo Pao Lian, architect and co-founder, PiKl; Alma Roberts, senior manager of community health benefits, Kaiser Permanente; and Kirk Shannon-Butts, curator for City Hall, City of Baltimore. Commissioners serve for a mayoral term of four years and may be reappointed to serve up to two consecutive terms.
The new commissioners will be welcomed to their first meeting, followed by an overview of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, the Baltimore Percent-for-Public Art program and the Baltimore Public Art Commission. The commission is scheduled to vote on the spring 2019 maintenance and conservation funding allocation, in addition to a discussion on proposals to create a committee to review and update public art guidelines, and plan a commission retreat in April 2019. Commission meetings are open to the public.
Baltimore Public Art Commission Appointees:
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Jaqueline F. Bershad is vice president of planning & design at the National Aquarium. She and her team are responsible for all capital improvement projects, exhibition design and fabrication, and building facilities. Bershad has been with the Aquarium since January of 2015. She is a licensed and LEED certified architect with more than 20 years of experience in the design of museums, exhibit experiences, zoos and aquaria. |
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Danielle Brock is a licensed professional engineer and currently works as a senior project engineer in the Site Development Department for Rummel, Klepper & Kahl, where she has been for more than 10 years. Brock provided civil engineering services for various private and public projects throughout Maryland and Washington D.C. She is an active member of the National Society of Black Engineers, Baltimore Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter, and the Baltimore Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.
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Aaron Bryant is curator of photography and visual culture at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C. Prior to the Smithsonian, Bryant was curator for the James E. Lewis Museum of Art at Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD. In addition, he has curated and developed content for exhibitions at the National Electronics Museum, Linthicum, MD, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.
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Baltimore-based sculptor, printmaker, and multimedia artist Sam Christian Holmes, who earned a bachelor of fine arts and master of fine arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and taught in the general fine arts and graphic design departments for several years, creates artwork that responds to particular localities. His ability to relate his ideas to a community and create a sense of identity around that community’s issues is noteworthy.
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Mary Demory is a licensed certified social worker who has worked as an administrator in healthcare and government relations for most of her career. Demory was the founding executive director of Associated Black Charities, who also invested four years with a task force developing the foundation for the viable and impactful agency in the Baltimore metropolitan community.
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Brian Oster brings a curious, process-oriented and diligent approach to design, exploring options and carefully considering a building’s relationship to the past, present and future. His diverse portfolio includes challenging adaptive use projects, museums, community buildings and higher education facilities. He is a founding member of Design Center Baltimore and has long been active in the arts community, advocating for the arts and technology as important urban catalysts.
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Kuo Pao Lian is an architect and licensed contractor whose experience includes architecture, design build and development. He is also a part-time instructor at Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, and Maryland Institute College of Art. Lian is chair of the Fells Point Design Review Committee in Baltimore and a unionized set designer with experience in award-winning HBO television shows. He is also a committee member of the newly founded Major Capital Projects Committee for the Friends of Patterson Park. Kuo Pao co-founded PI.KL in 2015.
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Alma Roberts is a second generation abstract painter whose works give insight into her viewpoints on life and the issues and forces that impact it. The artist and health executive has exhibited regionally, including Studio of the Arts, Washington, D.C., and the James E. Lewis Museum of Art, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD. Roberts is the founding director of New Breezes Arts Forum (1983–1994), and previously served on the Mayor’s Council on Art and Culture and the board of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture.
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Filmmaker, curator and video essayist Kirk Shannon-Butts holds a bachelor of arts in marketing from the American College, Atlanta, and a master of fine arts in film/TV production from Chapman University, Orange, CA. His works have received critical acclaim and have been screened at the Cannes International Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, and The Kennedy Center. Shannon-Butts has been in special features in L’Uomo Vogue, Out magazine and Uptown magazine. |
