BmoreArt’s Picks: January 20-26
This Week: Savannah Wood + Teri Henderson in conversation with Siân Evans at Peabody Library, MICA’s Bicentenial Opening Celebration, closing event for A Lake in a Desert at MICA Brown Center, ARTificial opening reception at MAP, abdu mongo ali performance at the BMA, Jennifer Blades + Diane Kinsley “In the Stacks” at Peabody Library, Vibes in Mt. Vernon at Center Stage, Pangelica’s album release at Ottobar, NMWA Art Chat for Tawny Chatmon, Living Lumbee Legacies opening + panel at Kent Cultural Alliance, Rich in What They Can’t Measure opening reception at Gormley Gallery, and an artist talk with Nate GSki at Quid Nunc Gallery — PLUS call for performers for Asia North 2026 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!
Archives, Memory, and the Power of Data with Savannah Wood and Teri Henderson
Tuesday, January 20 :: 6pm
@ George Peabody Library
What Stories Do Archives Hold and Which Ones Are Missing?
Join Savannah Wood, Executive Director of Afro Charities, and Teri Henderson, curator, writer, and Art+Feminism Board member, for a hybrid conversation exploring the role of archives in shaping community history and digital storytelling.
This program will examine how overlooked or misrepresented histories influence the digital systems that document our world and how intentional, feminist approaches to documentation can help create more accurate and inclusive narratives. Drawing from their work in preservation, interpretation, and cultural memory, the speakers will discuss how community archives deepen our understanding of the past and inform the stories that guide our future.
The conversation will be facilitated by Siân Evans, Librarian for History and Area Studies at Johns Hopkins University and Art+Feminism co-founder, and co-hosted by Sheridan Libraries and Museums at Johns Hopkins University.
This event connects to Art+Feminism’s campaign centering Wikidata and highlights how open, structured data can support more inclusive storytelling practices.
MICA’s Bicentennial Opening Celebration
Wednesday, January 21 :: 2-3:30pm
@ MICA Brown Center
President Cecilia M. McCormick, J.D., and the Board of Trustees cordially invite you to kick off MICA’s Bicentennial celebration.
Since 1826, the Maryland Institute College of Art has been the epicenter of art and design education in Baltimore. Please join us at the public launch day for our bicentennial. This special event will recognize our past, celebrate how we have changed in 200 years, and offer a glimpse into exciting future initiatives.
A Lake in A Desert | Closing Event and Reception
Thursday, January 22 :: 1-6:45pm
@ MICA Brown Center
A Lake in A Desert exhibition and closing event are grounded in a shared objective: to foster collaborations between scientists, artists, and designers, that elevate research, reimagine genuine and responsible community engagement, and expand the ways knowledge is synthesized and communicated. Because of this, the exhibition is focused on process. Rather than presenting finished products alone, it shows how maps are made, how paleo-reconstructions are built, and how scientific ideas are translated into compelling visual narratives such as children’s books. This emphasis on making and translation is key to demonstrating what becomes possible when creative and scientific disciplines work together.
The exhibition body of work spans all four floors of the Brown Center and brings together hand drawings by Kenyan high school students, decades of field maps by Robert Raynolds that illustrate the evolution of map making, paleo-reconstructions of extinct species by Spanish artist Mauricio Antón, children’s book illustrations by Dino Martins, analytical cartography of extractive mining by Cave Bureau (formerly on display at the British Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Biennale), research from an upcoming publication on the Arabian Peninsula by architecture and planning firm Civil Architecture, as well as films, sculpture, paintings, photographs, and collaborative works developed by MICA students, faculty, and researchers working in the Turkana Basin.
The closing event agenda will begin with a private (and free) screening of NAWI: Dear Future Me, Kenya’s 2025 submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature. The movie tells the true story of a 13-year-old girl from Turkana who is forced into child marriage and escapes to pursue her education in Nairobi. The film explores themes of tradition and resilience, courage and empowerment. We are especially excited to be able to share this film with you, as this screening offers an exclusive opportunity to see it ahead of its theatrical release! While the film is not the subject of the exhibition itself, it provides important cultural and environmental grounding for the audience ahead of the discussions to follow.
Read more of this week’s picks at BmoreArt.
