BMA features Maryland artists in new exhibit

In a celebration of local art and artists, the Baltimore Museum of Art will be displaying a new exhibit on Maryland artists from Feb. 7 to May 8 of this year. The exhibit, curated by Senior Curator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs Rena Hoisington, will be displayed in the museum’s Sadie A. May Gallery. It will feature more than 20 newly acquired Maryland-related pieces of art, many of which are being placed on view for the first time.

Moreover, there will an incredible variety among the different pieces shown including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and books. Each piece was created by an artist who lived and worked in Maryland in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Many artists including Keith M. Martin and John Waters were based in Baltimore. Martin, a native of Lincoln, Neb., was most active as a painter during his time in Baltimore until his death in 1983 Cockeysville, Md.

Meanwhile, Waters’ work is intrinsically tied to Baltimore, with many of his films, including the well-known Hairspray, set in the city.

Another one of the Baltimore-based artists featured in the exhibit is Gary Kachadourian, who makes scale pencil and pen drawings of everyday objects and scenarios that are then used for Xeroxed and laser printed books and posters. His work was previously shown in the BMA in the form of a large-scale installation in September 2011 after he won a Baker Artists Award earlier that year.

Others featured in the exhibit are Francesca Danieli, who taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and Eleanor Cahn, who was inspired by the city of Baltimore in her art.

The new exhibit is not the only gallery that includes work from Maryland-based artists. There are also pieces in exhibitions like “Gifts of Art for a New Century” and “Imagining Home” as well as the Dorothy McIlvain Scott American Wing of the museum.

In addition to opening this new exhibit in February, the BMA will also be hosting a number of events for African-American History Month including a Wiki-edit-a-thon on Feb. 13 in the Joseph Education Center Studio. This free event will allow participants to edit Wikipedia articles in order to increase the visibility of African-American visual artists online.