Rebecca Hoffberger is the co-founder, director, and principal curator of the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM), a unique national museum and education center devoted to championing creative intuition and invention.
An artistic twist on the traditional holiday market returns this Saturday to the American Visionary Art Museum in South Baltimore.
This summer, Lauren Eller is visiting some of Baltimore’s neighborhood-level museums. Like the communities they are located, these museums have a strong, colorful identity all their own. Each deserves a closer look, for though they may be off the beaten track, the history held within is both harrowing and fascinating in equal turns.
Before paying a visit to the American Visionary Art Museum this summer, I’d only been once before for a bat mitzvah that was held in the Jim Rouse Visionary Center. Even then, although the space was arranged to accommodate the celebration, I was struck by the works of art on display: their unusual, spontaneous forms and the ingenuity with which they’d been crafted.
Amid the praise, Thrillist might be adding a little misunderstanding of its own.
The much-beloved Kinetic Sculpture Race has been successfully rescheduled! It’s now on for Sunday, June 14th. And it takes a whole lot of help to make it go! Want to get in on the action (and have a blast) without having to help pedal a gigantic poodle on wheels? Of course you do. Dress funny, get muddy, and help one of the most fun events of the year go off without a hitch. Attend a volunteer meeting this week and see what it’s all about!
If you haven’t already seen Selma, perhaps that is the most appropriate way to spend (at least part of) this coming Monday. But if you have already seen it, or if you’re looking to fill the rest of your Martin Luther King Day, you may want to stop by AVAM for a day of free admission and educational programming, along with fabulous performances by Keur Khaleyi African Dance Company and Abu The Flute Maker. The museum will host special workshops throughout the day, and is even offering packets for educators to help inspire and guide the next generation of visionaries.
You know the gorgeous, super-shiny Universal Tree of Life. Its the enormously flashy sculpture in front of AVAM made from mirrors and bits of glass that’s one of Baltimore’s most beloved images. Well, on Saturday, January 17th, you can join its creator, Bob Benson for a fabulous one-day workshop to learn how to make your own “Flashies”; that is, those dynamic, sparkling decorations made from mirrors and marbles and everything that Benson has become known for. Participants will receive instruction on cutting and assemblage and will leave the workshop with at least two finished decorations to keep and dangle wherever they choose. It’s perfect for beginners, or for those who’ve done a bit of flashy-ifying before.
If Halloween is one of your top favorite holidays (and it certainly is one of ours), you know that to confine your Halloween reveling to just one night would be a waste of all that fall has to offer. So, many thanks to the Baltimore Sun for compiling a comprehensive list of their Top 20 picks for Halloween events in the coming week. And while so many of their picks are definite must-dos, our heart will always steer us to all things AVAM. The American Visionary Art Museum is simply one of the funnest, coolest, and most unpredictable places in town. And you know these folks have to be serious Halloween fans. Trust us. The proof is in the programming.
This is one of our favorite catches to share all year. Maybe because we can share it without fear of the event selling out, or our readers snatching up a great deal before we get the chance. Flicks on the Hill is AVAM’s perennial outdoor film series that brings hordes of Baltimoreans together each summer to watch some of the most beloved, fun, and just slightly off-beat films of years past. This year’s series kicks off with Back to the Future, which is being screened on Thursday, July 10th. A different film follows each week, including hits like Hugo, Time Bandits, and Jurassic Park.
