This Week: Levester Williams in conversation with Sheila Gaskins and Savannah Knoop at UMBC CADVC, Creatives in the Garden at Stem&Vine, Misty Copeland at UMBC, Bill Schmidt, Annette Sauermann, and Madeleine Dietz opening receptions at C. Grimaldis Gallery, Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company at the BMA, FS x Greedy Reads present HIDDEN PALACE, Merkin Dream II at MAP, Station North Art Walk, Social Contracts opening reception at Current, and Ornamenta at Baltimore Jewelry Center — PLUS The Art of Racing call for entry and more featured opportunities!
BmoreArt’s Picks presents the best weekly art openings, events, and performances happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas. For a more comprehensive perspective, check the BmoreArt Calendar page, which includes ongoing exhibits and performances, and is updated on a daily basis.
To submit your calendar event, email us at events@bmoreart.com!
Art Research Residency: Levester Williams
Tuesday, March 5 :: 6-7pm
@ UMBC CADVC
Join Levester Williams (artist in residence at the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture) for a conversation with collaborators Sheila Gaskins and Savannah Knoop on his current work in progress, “dreaming of a beyond: Baltimore” (2021–2024).
Levester Williams is a multimedia artist whose artistic production is rooted in explorations of the relationships between the material and social worlds. His sculptural work and multichannel video projects have been exhibited in museums and art spaces nationally and internationally. In the 2023–2024 academic year, Williams is making a series of visits to UMBC and Baltimore to complete a new filmic work under the project title “dreaming of a beyond: Baltimore.” Williams is researching the histories of Cockeysville (Maryland) marble, a material used in many salient objects in the local built environment, including the Washington Monument and iconic exterior steps of Baltimore rowhomes. The movement art documented in Williams’s film is an embodied consideration of the labor histories, and mythologies, surrounding this complex material. In Williams’s words, the project underscores the “intertwined history of African-Americans’ plight to self-determined agency and full citizenship, and a rather benign stone.”
The Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture hosts an exploratory research residency that allows artists and interdisciplinary collaborators to take advantage of scholarly resources and to build partnerships at UMBC and in the Baltimore region. Artists In Residence (AIRs) are invited to pursue open-ended outcomes, and their engagements may develop into workshops, artworks, or other future projects. Among the artists the CADVC welcomes this season is Tomashi Jackson.
For additional information, please visit the CADVC’s page on Artist Research Residencies.
Admission is free, but space is limited. Please rsvp here to reserve a space.
Creatives in the Garden: Biweekly Happy Hour
Wednesday, March 6 :: 5-7pm
@ Stem&Vine
A biweekly creatives Happy Hour for creatives in Baltimore’s newest plant & wine shop in Downtown Baltimore. Located at 326 N. Charles St, Baltimore, MD, our biweekly Happy Hour is free and open to all creatives in the DMV from 5–7 PM. Share your offers, sip some wine, and connect with photographers, designers, musicians, artists, and makers in a lush, plant-filled oasis. Bring a business card and get ready to connect with creatives in Baltimore and beyond! Hosted by Denae Creative and Stem&Vine.
Artful Conversations: An Evening with Misty Copeland
Wednesday, March 6 :: 6-7:30pm
@ UMBC
Join us for a special evening with Misty Copeland, the first African American female Principal Dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre and New York Times best selling author. In conversation with Kimberly R. Moffitt, Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at UMBC, Copeland will explore a variety of topics related to dance and her career.
The evening will open with three works performed by UMBC dance students.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in San Pedro, California, Misty Copeland began her ballet studies at the late age of thirteen. At fifteen, she won first place in the Music Center Spotlight Awards. She studied at the San Francisco Ballet School and American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive on full scholarship and was declared ABT’s National Coca-Cola Scholar in 2000. Misty joined ABT’s Studio Company in September 2000, joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in April 2001, and in August 2007 became the company’s second African American female Soloist and the first in two decades. In June 2015, Copeland was promoted to principal dancer, making her the first African American woman to ever be promoted to the position in the company’s 75-year history.
Copeland has been featured in numerous publications and television programs, including CBS Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes, The Today Show, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, MSNBC’s Melissa Harris Perry, Vogue, Essence, Ebony, and People Magazine. She was honored with an induction into the Boys & Girls Club National Hall of Fame in May 2012 and received the “Breakthrough Award” from the Council of Urban Professionals in April 2012. She was named National Youth of the Year Ambassador for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in June 2013. She received the Young, Gifted & Black honor at the 2013 Black Girls Rock! Awards.
Copeland is the author of the New York Times Bestselling memoir, Life in Motion, co-written with award-winning journalist and author Charisse Jones, published March 2014. She has a picture book titled Firebird in collaboration with award-winning illustrator and author Christopher Myers, published September 2014. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hartford in November 2014 for her contributions to classical ballet and helping to diversify the art form.
Read more of this week’s picks at BmoreArt.
