The Mayor’s Back to School Event will be held on Saturday, August 20,
2022. Free backpacks and school supplies will be provided on a first come,
first serve basis. The event will also offer arts and crafts, food, and fun
activities.
Application Deadline: December 2, 2018
The body that is too fat, too sick, too Black, too foreign, too female, too queer, too old…
The unruly body is the subject of Roxane Gay’s month-long magazine for Medium, published in April 2018. Stevenson University will present an art exhibition inspired by this anthology in the Greenspring Art Gallery in Stevenson, MD during the summer of 2019.
Applications are open to visual artists working in any medium who wish to have their most recent work considered. Through this open call, Stevenson University aims to present new work by emerging and mid-career artists from the United States and abroad that aligns with the themes of the Unruly Bodies anthology. Interested artists should apply via email by Sunday, December 2, 2018 at 11:59 PM. Send an artist’s statement, biography, CV/résumé, an image list, and up to 10 images of recent work to Aden Weisel, Exhibitions Director & Gallery Curator for Stevenson University, who will be jurying this exhibition. There is no fee to apply. Artists will be notified of their status by Friday, January 25, 2019. Unruly Bodies will be on display Saturday, April 27 through Saturday, September 21, 2019.
Artists will need to arrange transportation or shipping and travel insurance (recommended) for their artwork to and from the exhibition space. Artwork should arrive ready for installation between Monday, April 15 and Thursday, April 18, 2019, and be picked up or shipped out between Monday, September 23 and Friday, October 4, 2019.
Stevenson University will insure all work on its premises, install and deinstall the exhibition, produce marketing and press materials, host an opening reception, and coordinate exhibition-related programming.
Stevenson University, known for its distinctive career focus, is the third-largest independent university in Maryland with more than 4,100 students pursuing bachelor’s, master’s, and adult bachelor’s programs at locations in Stevenson and Owings Mills.
The Stevenson University Exhibitions Program is supported by the “Friends of the Gallery,” an operating grant from the Maryland State Arts Council—an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive—and a project grant from the Baltimore County Arts & Sciences Commission.
For more information, contact Aden Weisel at aweisel2@stevenson.edu or 443-394-9699.
If you’ve driven down East Fayette Street in the last month, you may have noticed a new mural going up. Shawn James and Charles Lawrance of Mural Masters Inc have been working on their Patterson Park Chesapeake Mural along with Kyle Miller and Tim Scofield who are fabricating a matching sculptural bus bench to be installed at the intersection of N. Milton and E. Fayette. The project is a recipient of the 2016 PNC Transformative Art Prize and was created through a partnership between the artists and the Patterson Park Neighbors Association.
How did you get involved with the Patterson Park Neighbors Association and how did this project come about?
The Patterson Park Neighbors Assc. approached Mural Masters, Inc to be the lead artist on their PNC Transformative grant application. We discussed the clean water, community, and environmental cleanup and revitalization efforts that the association is undertaking and designed an aesthetic motif around it.
What was the inspiration behind your design?
The inspiration is the clean water and Chesapeake Bay revitalization efforts by the community, city, and state.
Could you describe your process for creating the work?
The process involves discussing the motive, goals, and intended audience and how they serve each other. Through discussion we narrow down a theme and then begin selecting styles to convey imagery. Then Mural Masters, via the superb wildlife painter Charles Lawrance, created a mock up for approval.
Now that painting is underway, how has the response been from the community and passersby?
The response has been tremendous. Not only do we receive constant praise and admiration from the pedestrian public, but also receive yells and honks of approval from passing auto traffic.
How has the project influenced your practice?
This project has influenced my practice by connecting me with Tim and Kyle. I’m learning a lot from them about fabrication and want to continue to add sculptural elements to my work where applicable.
What’s next for you?
Our clients vary and there are a few client driven pieces coming up as well as a couple of expressive and contemporary murals.
Do you have any advice for aspiring artists who are interested in entering the field of public and community arts?
My advice to any aspiring public artist is to keep honing their illustration and arts craftsmanship. Also volunteer with other public artists to learn the ropes, the hoops you have to jump through, and the logistics of working in a large scale public space.
Shawn James is the owner operator of Mural Masters, Inc. a public arts contracting company. He is a trained artist who loves public art with an extensive background in public art creation and administration. For more information on Shawn, you can follow Mural Masters on Instagram, Facebook, or on his website at www.muralmastersinc.com.
Below are a few images from the Emerge Art Fair- held at the Capital Skyline Hotel this last weekend. From the Emerge website:
The fourth edition of (e)merge takes place October 2-5, 2014 at the Rubell Family’s Capitol Skyline Hotel, in Washington, DC.
The (e)merge art fair connects emerging-art professionals from around the globe with collectors, curators and cultural decision makers in Washington, DC.
The GALLERY PLATFORM features participating galleries in hotel rooms and other spaces on designated floors. The ARTIST PLATFORM features a vetted selection of works by independent artists throughout the hotel’s public areas and grounds. (e)merge’s two exhibition platforms inspire a new echelon of art collectors and provide curatorial access to the latest movements in emerging art.
Silent! Disco: A series of nine dance parties scheduled throughout the festival weekend. Imagine a crowd of hundreds of people, everyone dancing, but no music can be heard. Upon entry, what at first appeared to be a crowd dancing wildly to silence just became a full sensory audio experience.
Silent! Disco DJ’s:
Brendan Chris Brooks Adam Rush Napspace Mikie Love J Fell Matt Pierce DJ Charisse Billy Mode Balagan Neal Conway
SoundNest: Dancing Fire “SoundNest” returns wilder and larger as a lavish interactive outdoor installation centered upon the Red Stage. Promoting an inclusive sense of community, courage and confidence, it is a three-day celebration of life, love and diversity!
Guests are encouraged to follow the joyful sounds into a vibrant environment that blurs the lines between audience and performers. Inside, Artscape visitors can play upon a feast of handmade musical instruments led by a series of experimental sound and performance artists.
“SoundNest” is the creation of Dialog+, a social practice comprised of the artists Alzaruba, Liz Swanson and Ryan Smith, in collaboration with Justin Miller.
Local landscape architecture design firm P.E.L.A. Design, Inc. transformed a surface lot into an urban garden oasis for ballroom dancing. Visitors meandered through the multi-textural ornamental grasses and colorful perennials before making their way to the dance floor. The garden featured live performances by professional ballroom dancers. Festival-goers were also invited to take part in free dance lessons from a variety of experienced instructors. During Artscape After Hours, the dance floor was open to the public.
Nut and Bolt by J. Arthur Benson, 1982
Illustration by Precious Blake
Art Benson lives in Baltimore where he was on the faculty of the Maryland Institute College of Art for three decades, from 1972 to 2002, serving as the head of the undergraduate sculpture department. He recieved this commission in 1981 from James Pettit, the project architect for Ayers Saint (today Ayers Saint Gross), who designed the new addition to the Mount Royal Elementary/Middle School.
The artwork was to be developed as part of an elevated two story pedestrian bridge connecting the new building to the older one. The walkway is clad in metal panels that were painted yellow, white, and red arranged to emphasize the mechanical nature of the bridge. The bridge functions as a visual anchor but also hides structural colomns that turned out to be needed to support the bridge above the plaza area. Two large L brackets, one designed for each side of the elevated passagway, appear to have been fixed in place by four nuts and bolts.
The architect and artist collaborated to produce a work of art that would be fun, colorful, and visually related to a tinker toy. After all, this was a school for young children and Nut and Bolt would be installed near where these students would play every day.
See more of Art Benson’s work at www.arthurbenson.com
Want to know more about Baltimore Public Art? Pick up the book Outdoor Sculpture in Baltimore: A Historical Guide to Public Art in the Monumental City by Cindy Kelly.