BmoreArt’s Picks: September 29 – October 5
This Week: Miguel Braceli at m/ Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Museum; Doors Open Baltimore ‘Love Letters’ Kick off at the Streetcar Museum; “Saving Etting Street” screening at SNF Parkway; New/Next Film Festival at The Charles, artist talk with Billy Friebele, Fanni Somogyi, Mollye Bendell at Towson U; Submersive Productions’ The Pansy Hour, ‘The Lines We Cross’ film event at The Lewis, Ronald Jackson in conversation with Myrtis Bedolla at Galerie Myrtis, opening reception for Jim Condron and Dean Kessmann at MONO Practice, Queering the Collection at The Walters with V Walton, Flashback photography exhibition opens at the BMA, and Ed Berlin and D. Watkins at The Ivy — PLUS nominations open for MSAC’s Heritage Awards 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!
Ongoing through December 6
@ /m Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Museum, St. John’s College
Unburial treats absence as a site for learning and reflection. The void left by the Liberty Tree becomes more than metaphor: an art intervention transforms it into a place to be repurposed and reclaimed through rituals and celebrations that probe what freedom means today.
On the front lawn, where the Liberty Tree once stood, the artist Miguel Braceli has installed a 40′-diameter circle of cemetery vases filled with common wildflowers. It calls attention to the tree’s absence and reclaims it as a tree for all people, not just the privileged and elite (e.g., the Sons of Liberty and the four Annapolis signers of the Declaration of Independence).
In the museum, Braceli, with the help of a team of fabricators, created three enormous murals and two other works. The murals perform an autopsy of the tree. The largest multiplies the tulip poplar’s distinctive leaf shape across a 33′-long wall in a wind-swept swirl of energy (the leaves were made from stencils of the Liberty Tree scion’s actual leaves). A second mural abstracts the tree’s tangled root system into a water-bearing drawing (using PVC tubing) that sprouts purple carnations. The third mural’s subject is the tree’s massive trunk, which was cut to pieces in 1999, with much of the wood later finding commemorative as Liberty Tree guitars, conference tables, and bible boxes. Onto nine chalkboards, Braceli has mounted nine pieces of raw wood, each supporting live orchids. What can we learn anew from this tree?, it seems to ask.
The two other works urge us to turn away from nation-state identities and to look and listen more closely to nature. A sculptural ear is mounted onto the red silhouette of a rose petal, borrowed from the work of Columbia-born, Venezuela-based artist Roberto Obregoń. Nearby, a flag of yellow roses hangs from a flagpole that has been fabricated from a branch.
Doors Open Baltimore | “Love Letters Live” Kickoff Event
Wednesday, September 30 :: 5:30-7:30pm
@ Baltimore Streetcar Museum
Opening Doors to America’s Foundation : Doors Open Baltimore is your opportunity to explore the City’s Historic and Cultural Landmarks, and experience how Baltimore’s buildings tell a larger American story. Join us for the Kickoff Event, taking place on Wednesday, September 30, from 5:30 p.m.- 7:30 p.m. at The Baltimore Streetcar Museum. This casual evening of storytelling allows locals to enjoy light refreshments, beer, and wine as guest speakers share their “love letters” to special buildings and places in Baltimore. This evening kicks off a month-long event of free open houses at 50+ buildings that invite visitors to discover how Baltimore’s architecture and institutions reflect 250 years of liberty, equality, religious freedom, and civic participation. Additionally, guided tours will take place throughout the month of October.
“Saving Etting Street” Screening & Discussion
Wednesday, September 30 :: 7pm
@ SNF Parkway Theatre
Saving Etting Street is an award-winning documentary film that follows master carpenter Shelley Halstead as she transforms a block of abandoned houses in West Baltimore into a community of Black women homeowners. She calls her project Black Women Build – Baltimore. When tensions arise in the group and a suspicious fire breaks out, Shelley questions if the neighborhood is ready for her vision.
Hosted by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Africana Studies, this free screening will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Lawrence Jackson, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of English and History, and featuring co-directors Dena Fisher and Amy Scott, Tonika Garibaldi of Black Women Build – Baltimore, and Mike Bader of the 21st Century Cities Initiative.
Read more of this week’s picks at BmoreArt.
