BMA Today

BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART

Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum On View Now

FY24 Board of Trustees

OFFICERS

Cover

Meryl McMaster (nêhiyaw from Red Pheasant Cree Nation, a member of the Siksika Nation, British and Dutch). niwaniskān isi kiya | I Awake To You. 2023. Baltimore Museum of Art, Art Fund established with exchange funds from Gifts of Dr. and Mrs. Edgar F. Berman, Equitable Bank, N.A., Geoffrey Gates, Sandra O. Moose, National Endowment for the Arts, Lawrence Rubin, Philip M. Stern, and Alan J. Zakon, BMA 2023.230. © The Artist

James D. Thornton, Chair

Clair Zamoiski Segal, Immediate Past Chair

Darius Graham, Vice Chair

Elizabeth Hurwitz, Vice Chair

John Gilpin, Vice President & Treasurer

Fiona Ong, Secretary

David Wallace, Vice President

John Meyerhoff, Vice President

Ellen Dame, Vice President

Virginia Adams, Assistant Vice President

Amy Gould, Assistant Vice President

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

James D. Thornton, Chair

Clair Zamoiski Segal, Immediate Past Chair

Darius Graham, Vice Chair

Elizabeth Hurwitz, Vice Chair

John Gilpin, Vice President & Treasurer

Fiona Ong, Secretary

David Wallace, Vice President

John Meyerhoff, Vice President

Ellen Dame, Vice President

Virginia Adams, Assistant Vice President

Amy Gould, Assistant Vice President

Patricia Lasher

Kwame Webb

Sam Callard

Amy Elias

Katherine Schulze

TRUSTEES

Virginia K. Adams

Michael Brown

Adam Burch

Sharon Butler

Sam Callard

Beverly Bentley Carroll

Ellen R. Dame

Amy Elias

Nupur Parekh Flynn

John A. Gilpin

Joanne Gold

Amy Gould

Darius Graham

Kim Mumby Green

Nancy Hackerman

Pamela Hoehn-Saric

Elizabeth Hurwitz

Sherrilyn Ifill

Lori N. Johnson

Patricia Lasher

George McCulloch

John Meyerhoff

Sheela Murthy

Fiona Ong

Antoinette Peele

George Petrocheilos

Steven Pulimood

Paul Oostburg Sanz

Mark Saudek

Katherine Schulze

Clair Zamoiski Segal

Lynn Selby

Michael Sherman

Stuart O. Simms

Anne L. Stone

James D. Thornton

David W. Wallace

John Waters

Kwame Webb

HONORARY TRUSTEES

Alexander C. Baer

Rheda Becker

Constance R. Caplan

Kathryn (Lynn) Deering

Janet E. Dunn

Sandra Levi Gerstung

Katherine M. Hardiman

Margot W.M. Heller

Louise P. Hoblitzell

Freeman A. Hrabowski III

Mary B. Hyman

Patricia H. Joseph

Susan B. Katzenberg

Jeanette Kimmel

Frederick Singley Koontz

Jeffrey A. Legum

Amy Frenkil Meadows

James S. Riepe

Frederica K. Saxon

Jean Silber

Louis B. Thalheimer

David Warnock

Ellen W.P. Wasserman

NATIONAL TRUSTEES

Sylvia de Cuevas

Monroe Denton

Barbara Duthuit

Phillips Hathaway

Joseph Holtzman

Edward S. Pantzer

EX-OFFICIO TRUSTEES

The Honorable Bob Cassilly

The Honorable Edward Rothstein

The Honorable John Olszewski

The Honorable Steuart Pittman

The Honorable Wes Moore

The Honorable Bill Henry

The Honorable Calvin Ball

The Honorable Brandon M. Scott

The Honorable Nick Mosby

Dean Christopher Celenza, KSAS

Images of BMA Staff

Baltimore Museum of Art 10 Art Museum Drive Baltimore, MD 21218-3898

HOURS & ADMISSION

Wednesday, Friday through Sunday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday now open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays, New Year’s Day, Juneteenth, July 4, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day.

Free general admission—for everyone, every day!

There may be a charge for certain special exhibitions. BMA Members receive unlimited free admission to ticketed exhibitions.

Ongoing support for free admission at the BMA has been provided through generous endowment gifts from the Cohen Family Fund for Free Admission, Lord Baltimore Capital Partners, LLC, Mary J. and James D. Miller, the James S. Riepe Family Foundation, and the DLA Piper Fund.

The BMA would like to thank the following donors for their combined generosity: City of Baltimore, Citizens of Baltimore County, and Howard County Government and Howard County Arts Council. Major support is also provided in part by the Maryland State Arts Council.

ACCESSIBILITY

The Zamoiski East Entrance, the Museum, and the Sculpture Garden are wheelchair-accessible. A limited number of wheelchairs are available for use free of charge. Van-accessible parking spaces are available in the BMA East and West Lots. Please check in at the Welcome Desk in the Lobby upon arrival.

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General operating support is provided in part by the City of Baltimore, Maryland State Arts Council, citizens of Baltimore County, and the Howard County Government and the Howard County Arts Council.

The Citizens of Baltimore Count y

Sister Lu

Mark di Suvero

Standing almost 16 feet tall on a terrace in the Ryda and Robert H. Levi Sculpture Garden, Sister Lu is a kinetic sculpture that is an imposing study of industrial heft in contrast to graceful movement.

Constructed in the late 1970s from repurposed steel parts, the sculpture balances the weight of a suspended barrel that gently swings and rotates, displaying an unexpected pop of bright blue.

Born in Shanghai, China, to Italian parents of Sephardic Jewish descent, Mark di Suvero (1933–) made his home in the United States, first in California where he studied fine arts. In 1957, he moved to New

York City and began sculpting. Early in his career, he worked part-time in construction and began incorporating scrap materials from demolition sites into his works. This use of industrial materials is seen in Sister Lu—named after the artist’s sister Marie Louise di Suvero, nicknamed “Sister Lu,” who introduced di Suvero to creative expression.

Sister Lu, installed in the Levi Sculpture Garden in 1987, began showing the effects of iron corrosion after more than 30 years exposed to the elements. The work of abstract expressionism was temporarily removed for a year-long conservation treatment.

In 2018, the sculpture was returned to the Levi Sculpture Garden where its towering presence continues to overlook the 1.6 acres featuring 13 sculptures and manicured gardens below.

The BMA Sculpture Gardens are always free to visit and open during regular Museum hours (weather permitting).

Mark di Suvero. Sister Lu. 1978-1979. Baltimore Museum of Art, Gift of Ryda and Robert H. Levi, Baltimore, BMA 1987.219. © Mark di Suvero

Reexamining the Past and Preparing for the Future

Like many others, I am eager to experience the unprecedented transformation of the BMA during the ongoing launch of the Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum initiative this summer. Not only will the galleries showcase stop-in-your-tracks works by acclaimed and exciting Indigenous artists, Preoccupied also gives us an opportunity to consider anew non-Indigenous artworks in the collection interpreted by Native artists and community members who have generously shared their perspectives and experiences. This deepening engagement with Native communities in our Museum is just the beginning. Solo exhibitions of works by Nicholas Galanin, Laura Ortman, and Dana Claxton will open throughout the summer and we have several public programs related to this initiative that will take place in the fall.

As the BMA approaches its 110th anniversary, we have also begun examining our commitment to the environment. Under the title Turn Again to the Earth, we are taking a critical look at our carbon footprint and internal practices, while also encouraging our colleagues in Baltimore’s cultural community to join us in an eco-challenge that aims to affect lasting change and raise awareness about the need for environmental sustainability. Additionally, the Museum will present ten exhibitions from November 2024 through early 2026 that will demonstrate how artists across time and cultures have been inspired by the natural world. This astonishing variety of artworks celebrate the radical beauty of Earth, explore the causes and consequences of its neglect, and sometimes prompt new considerations of our relationship with the environment.

Our world is transforming at breakneck speed. Best practices, scholarship, and the contours of our culture are not static; they must adapt and change as new information emerges and understandings evolve. As someone who grew up in Baltimore, it is an honor to do this work, to bring people and art together to celebrate creativity across time and lands and to make a difference for the betterment of our community. Together, with the magnificent team here at the BMA, we are working to heal past wounds and to foster a more welcoming environment for the present and future. Thank you for joining us on this journey.

Asma Naeem

Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director

Dana Claxton (Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations). Headdress—Shadae and Her Girlz From the Headdress series. 2023. Commissioned by the Baltimore Museum of Art, support by Art Fund established with exchange funds from

gifts of Dr. and Mrs. Edgar F. Berman, Equitable Bank, N.A., Geoffrey Gates, Sandra O. Moose, National Endowment for the Arts, Lawrence Rubin, Philip M. Stern, and Alan J. Zakon, BMA 2023.113. © Dana Claxton. Courtesy of the artist

Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum

Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum advances a central goal—to center Native voices at the Baltimore Museum of Art. “Indigenizing the Museum” means rethinking what the institution says about Native-made artworks and yielding its voice to Indigenous perspectives as often as possible. This is the first time the BMA has embarked on such an initiative. Look for Preoccupied across the Museum, encompassing nine exhibitions, new labels for collection objects, public programs, a Native-designed catalog, and an audio guide voiced by Indigenous artists and community members living in the region.

4,7,28,& 29

Mark Tayac, Chief of the Piscataway Indian Nation, adorned Traditional Beaver Pouch Bag with 29 wampum beads reflecting Native philosophies. The four columns represent the four directions and four stages of life: birth, childhood, adulthood, and the spirit world. The seven horizontal rows represent the next seven generations yet to be born. Together, those 28 beads represent the 28-day moon cycle. As the 29th generation of hereditary chiefs, 28 chiefs came prior to Tayac, and the top wampum bead represents himself.

Mark Tayac (Chief of the Piscataway Indian Nation). Traditional Beaver Pouch Bag. From the series Water Is Life. 2024. Baltimore Museum of Art, Purchase with exchange funds from the Gift of John and Marisol Stokes, the Gift of Dena S. Katzenberg, the Gift of John C. Hobbes, and the Maurice and Florence A. Caplan Collection, BMA 2023.216. © Marck Tayac

Native artworks in the BMA’s collection making their debut in this series of exhibitions. The BMA’s collection includes over 1,000 artworks from Native North America. Highlights on view in Preoccupied include historic Plains beadwork and works on paper, as well as contemporary sculpture, basketry, time-based media, and photography.

New commissions by contemporary Indigenous artists including Dana Claxton (Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations), Nicholas Galanin (Lingít and Unangax̂̂ ), Caroline Monnet (Anishinaabe/French), Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota), and Mark Tayac (Chief of the Piscataway Indian Nation).

blankets in Marie

Blanket Stories: Beacon, Marker, Ohi-yo, which stands 16 feet tall. The artist, a member of the Seneca Nation, offers a beacon of hope by reflecting on the history of blankets to Native people from across the continent as symbols of resilience, familial bond, and warmth.

106

The years recorded in Long Soldier’s Winter Count

A Winter Count is a pictographic calendar used by people from Lakota and other Plains nations that records the most significant events for each year in an illustration. Long Soldier, a Húnkpapȟa Lakȟóta chief who signed the 1868 Fort Laramie treaty, was possibly the creator in addition to keeper and interpreter of this particular Winter Count.

Folded

Watt’s

Marie Watt (Seneca Nation and German-Scot ancestry). Blanket Stories: Beacon, Marker, Ohi-yo. 2015. Baltimore Museum of Art, Purchase with exchange funds from the Pearlstone Family Fund and partial gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., BMA 2021.227. © Marie Watt

Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum

All Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum exhibitions are co-curated by Dare Turner (Yurok Tribe), Curator of Indigenous Art at the Brooklyn Museum; Leila Grothe, BMA Associate Curator of Contemporary Art; and Elise Boulanger (Citizen of the Osage Nation), BMA Curatorial Research Assistant, in consultation with a 10-member Community Advisory Panel that includes artists, scholars, and community representatives.

This project is generously supported by the Ford Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Eileen Harris Norton Foundation, the Estate of Carolyn Lee Smith, The Dorman/Mazaroff Art Exhibition Fund, the Hardiman Family Endowment Fund, the Sigmund M. and Mary B. Hyman Fund for American Art, The Clair Zamoiski Segal and Thomas H. Segal Contemporary Art Endowment Fund, and the Robert Lehman Foundation.

Nicholas Galanin: Exist in the Width of a Knife’s Edge

July 14, 2024–February 16, 2025

Photographs of empty museum cases that previously displayed Indigenous cultural objects are accompanied by audio of chipper auctioneers selling Indigenous works to the highest bidders.

Fair Warning: A Sacred Place (2019) is one of eight powerful works by Nicholas Galanin (Lingít and Unangax̂̂ ), an Alaska Native artist known for his critical examination of cultural appropriation, colonization, and the complexities of Indigenous identity in the contemporary world. New and existing conceptual works address the turmoil caused by white settlers who colonized Indigenous homelands and stole belongings, land, resources, and cultural signifiers from Indigenous communities.

Artworks such as We Dreamt Deaf (2015) and Vision for Liberation (2024) confront these struggles as an act of Indigenous resistance against cultural erasure that persists today.

Below: Nicholas Galanin (Lingít and Unangax̂ ).

The Imaginary Indian (Totem) 2016. Courtesy the artist and Peter Blum Gallery, New York.

Photo by Jason Whyche.

© Nicholas Galanin. Courtesy Peter Blum Gallery, New York

This exhibition is a part of the Preoccupied initiative.

This exhibition is located on the third floor of the Contemporary Wing in the Edith Ferry Hooper Gallery, the Nancy M. Haragan Gallery, and the Vivian and Edward Benesch Gallery.

Above: Jeremy Frey (Passamaquoddy). Aura. 2023. Baltimore Museum of Art, Charlotte B. Filbert Bequest Fund, BMA 2023.239. © Jeremy Frey. Courtesy the artist and Karma

Laura Ortman: Wood that Sings

July 17, 2024–December 8, 2024

Apache oral traditions trace the origins of stringed musical instruments to the beginning of the earth and music has played a central role in cultural traditions ever since. My Soul Remainer (2017), by Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache), highlights the importance of music in sustaining Indigenous cultural ways and promoting community vitality. The work features the artist playing her violin in a forest clearing, on a mountainside, and within a rocky stream, while her collaborator Jock Soto (Diné) assumes reverential postures. Ortman’s original score samples a classical piece by German composer Felix Mendelssohn that bleeds into an atmospheric and ethereal composition. The video is paired with a historic Apache tsíí’ edo’a’tl (fiddle) by Amos Gustina (Western Apache) to emphasize the ingenuity and enduring traditions of Indigenous people from the American Southwest. Crafted from the hollow stalk of an agave plant and played with the wide end against the musician’s chest, the instrument’s Apache name translates to “the wood that sings.”

Dana Claxton: Spark

August 4, 2024–January 5, 2025

Large-scale, backlit, color transparency photographs by Dana Claxton (Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations) feature contemporary Native people with belongings from each of their own cultures. These belongings, along with historic artworks from the BMA’s collection by other Lakota and Cheyenne artists, leverage beauty as a tool to celebrate the varied cultures of each Indigenous person. The brilliant, blazing connections between these possessions emphasize the blessing and value that beauty brings to the world. While other artists call the backlit transparencies “lightboxes,” Claxton uses her own term—fireboxes, rooted in Indigenous worldviews—to indicate an elemental energy embedded in the form. Works featured include selections from Claxton’s Lasso and Headdress series, including a newly commissioned portrait, Shadae and Her Girlz (2024).

This exhibition is a part of the Preoccupied initiative.

This exhibition is located on the second floor of the Contemporary Wing in the M & T Bank Gallery.

Above: Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache).

My Soul Remainer (Still). 2017. Baltimore Museum of Art, Purchase with exchange funds from the Pearlstone Family Fund and partial gift of The Andy

Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., BMA 2020.17. © Laura Ortman

This exhibition is a part of the Preoccupied initiative.

This exhibition is sponsored by the Estate of Carolyn Lee Smith.

This exhibition is located in the Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs.

Below: Dana Claxton (Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations). Headdress—Jeneen From the Headdress series. 2018. Collection of Rosalind and Amir Adnani. © Dana Claxton. Courtesy of the artist

Turn Again to the Earth

With a title inspired by the writings of environmental activist Rachel Carson, Turn Again to the Earth will establish environmental friendly practices for the Museum and demonstrate the BMA’s role in inspiring organizations and communities to make positive changes.

In February 2023, Maryland Governor Wes Moore announced the goal of achieving 100% clean energy in the state by 2035.

The BMA is stepping up to the challenge by embarking on an ambitious environmental initiative that will kick off in November 2024 as part of the Museum’s 110th anniversary celebration. The multi-pronged initiative, Turn Again to the Earth, marks the start of the BMA assessing its environmental impact and developing a

sustainability plan, as well as inviting organizations across the state to join the BMA in its commitment to the environment.

Starting in fall of 2024 and continuing through 2025, a suite of ten exhibitions will focus on the relationships between art and the environment across time and geography.

Artists will reflect upon environmental changes in a myriad of compelling ways.

Black Earth Rising, a group exhibition guest curated by

British curator Ekow Eshun, will explore the complex ties between race, colonialism, and the climate crisis through works by African diasporic, Latin American, and Native American artists. Justen Leroy: Lay Me Down in Praise features a three-channel video of slow-moving footage of geological events like volcanic eruptions and turbulent seas melded with a transfixing soundtrack informed by blues, R&B, gospel, and jazz music. Another exhibition will show the influence of environmental pollution on the emergence of European modernism through works by Claude Monet and Henri Matisse. An exhibition on extraction will demonstrate that nearly all art is made through the transformation of natural resources, from paint pigments derived from plants and minerals to sculptures carved in stone and wood.

A selection of historic and contemporary artworks created in China, Korea, and Japan will depict a worldview that embraces a harmonious interdependence of nature and humanity.

“The realities and repercussions of climate change have become part of our daily discourse and experiences. Turn Again to the Earth is an opportunity for the BMA to engage visitors and our community with active dialogue and action on this urgent topic,” said Asma Naeem, Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. “I can think of no better way to set the museum up for another 110 years of success.”

Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum centers the artworks and perspectives of Native artists, curators, scholars, and community members.

The project encompasses community engagement, nine solo and thematic exhibitions, revised labels of works across the BMA’s collections, public programs, and an exhibition catalog that features commissioned creative works, artists’ voices, essays, and 50 full-color images of artworks on view in the Preoccupied exhibitions.

Curated by Dare Turner (Yurok Tribe), Curator of Indigenous Art at the Brooklyn Museum, and Leila Grothe, BMA Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum has been developed with the tremendous support of BMA Curatorial Research Assistant Elise Boulanger (Citizen of the Osage Nation).

What follows is an edited excerpt from the exhibition catalog’s leading essay “Controlled Burns” by the exhibition’s co-curators.

Left: Allan Houser (Chiricahua Apache). Summer 69, Mescalero 1969. Tia Collection, Santa Fe, NM. Photo by James Hart. © Chiinde LLC; Right: Unidentified Southern Cheyenne artist. Saddle Bag. Late 19th to early 20th century. Brooklyn Museum: Museum Expedition 1911, Museum Collection Fund, 11.694.9009

The Preoccupied initiative represents numerous novel approaches, both for us as curators and for the BMA. It incorporates feedback from an advisory panel consisting of Native community members and allies, an “unconference” retreat, and a series of artist discussions. It embodies an Indigenizing institutional initiative that includes a series of nine exhibitions occupying a total of over 10,600 square feet of gallery space, a 160-page book, and demands the attention of an extensive list of almost entirely non-Native staff. The final result is unlike anything else the Museum has ever done.

Our project title, Preoccupied, deliberately intends its ambiguity. The title speaks to the shared grip on our thoughts and work amongst the project’s participants while also acknowledging those who were on these lands first, before the occupation. But we could’ve easily titled this project Let’s Be Honest. Searching for a more truthful position as a cultural institution has become our ultimate purpose. Honesty means acknowledging we work within a predominantly white institution, whose model as an encyclopedic collecting museum builds on a foundation of extractive colonization. The legacy of colonialism can be found in a walk through some of our

galleries. We, like many other Western museums, are fundamentally shaped by white supremacy. White supremacy here means a reinforced structure of dominance, a place where strict hierarchies protect power within the hands of few and exclude the voices of many.

This context pushed us to ask how a museum like the BMA might reorient itself to support a new understanding of belonging. How might it embrace forms of expertise that have not been historically privileged by white institutions? How might Native voices, especially those of artists, become foundational to the work of the museum? What does it mean to truly Indigenize a museum?

Working with Native Communities

We started by talking to Native communities: Native folks in the Baltimore-region, Indigenous artists from across North America, and other colleagues committed to the work of shifting control in museums. We invited ten community members from the Baltimore area to join an advisory panel. This focus group provided a necessary variety of perspectives, including elders, those who engage with the visual arts world, and others who rarely enter

Top: Nicholas Galanin (LingÍt and Unangax̂ ). We Dreamt Deaf. 2015. Courtesy the artist and Peter Blum Gallery, New York. © Nicholas Galanin. Courtesy Peter Blum Gallery, New York; Above: Juane Quick-to-See Smith (Citizen of the Confederate Salish and Kootenai Nation). I See Red: Mischief War Shirt. 1992. Baltimore Museum of Art, Gift of Garth Greenan, BMA 2020.91. Courtesy the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York

the sphere of museums. Learning from the successes and failures of institutions who first innovated this way of working, we compensated the group to share their background and expertise. We made it clear that we were not asking them to solve our problems or rubberstamp fully formed ideas. No panel-washing here! Instead, we asked folks to speak to their experiences in museums and shared some early articulations of what the BMA might do differently.

We heard in our meetings that Natives in our community have often felt invisible in and to museums, including the BMA. They’re right to point this out. Before Dare’s first exhibition at the Museum in 2020, the BMA had not presented a focused Native North American show since 1993. The BMA’s exclusionary track record, along with so many institutions like it, means we have overlooked Native artists’ work. Instead, the Museum has reified existing, expected, and secure narratives within the art historical canon. The local Native community feels this omission very personally. Preoccupied steps tenderly towards rectifying that history.

“Unconference”

With the Preoccupied project, we sought to intentionally build community as we connected with artists, scholars, and creatives. We asked ourselves: How can we model a sincere exchange rather than construct an extractive scenario? The answer in this instance had something to do with sofas and a giant cast-iron skillet.

We invited all living participants in our exhibition and catalog project to a weekend-long retreat that we described as an “unconference.” The participants spent unprogrammed time together, talked, cooked, ate, and got to the heart of our collective concerns when considering the work of Native visibility in the face of colonial oppression. We rented a shared house (special thanks to The Last Resort Artist Retreat) that helped people feel welcomed and safe, which allowed us to devote our time to articulating our commitment to Indigenizing the Museum.

At the retreat, we (Leila and Dare) learned that we had been asking the wrong questions and using unsuitable terminology that we had hated all along (looking at you, “decolonize.”) Our collective conversations led to many other realizations and redirections. For each of us, the weekend created earnest trust that strengthened all our work, not just the work of the Preoccupied project. We feel endless gratitude for the open hearts that joined us for the weekend.

Why Baltimore?

As a centenarian collecting museum in Baltimore, we realize that confronting our presence within a Native narrative seems quite novel. We firmly hold that Preoccupied belongs in Baltimore, which has a very small Native population. In the 2020 U.S. Census, Baltimore recorded a population composed of 0.3% “Alaska Natives and American Indians.” The reason for this is no mystery: colonization’s roots on the East Coast are deep.

Some places in the United States commit to presenting large projects that tell Native stories—places like Alaska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Minnesota—because the communities there demand a presence with a voice weighted in numbers. But what about the places equally marked by traumas of forced removal and extermination, where the genocide occurred so effectively that non-Natives rarely confront their presence on Native land?

Non-Native folks in this region might have intuited an understanding of Native identity based purely upon the appropriative marketing campaigns of products like American Spirit cigarettes or the absurd fantasy of Natives embracing pilgrims at the shore. Imagine the impact any informed conversation about Native experience could have in this context. Because the Preoccupied project is novel and unexpected in a place like Baltimore, it belongs here urgently.

Available Now

Fifty vividly rendered images from Preoccupied exhibitions are presented alongside creative and scholarly contributions in the exhibition catalog.

Visit shop.artbma.org

Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum exhibitions are co-curated by Dare Turner (Yurok Tribe), Curator of Indigenous Art at the Brooklyn Museum, and Leila Grothe, BMA Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, with support from BMA Curatorial Research Assistant Elise Boulanger (Citizen of the Osage Nation), in consultation with a 10-member Community Advisory Panel that includes artists, scholars, and community representatives. Don’t wait for me, just tell me where you’re going is guest curated by Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation and a descendent of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño people.)

The exhibitions are located in the Contemporary Wing, the John Waters rotunda of the Jacobs Wing, and the Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs.

Above: Installation view of Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum. Work on view detail: Emergent by Cannupa Hanska Luger (enrolled Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold and Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and Lakota heritage).

Photo by Mitro Hood

The Future is Education

The BMA Expands its Connections with Local Colleges and Universities

“Art is a catalyst for empathy, socialization, cultural understanding, broader awareness, and appreciation of differences,” shares Dr. Asma Naeem, Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director, about the importance of arts education. “It opens understandings of different kinds of societies and cultures and creates a space of dignity and tolerance that is needed now more than ever.”

For Naeem, establishing a stronger connection to the region’s many colleges and universities is paramount for the BMA. Naeem’s vision for the Museum extends beyond the care, collection, and presentation of art objects to encompass how art museums can benefit the larger community by building meaningful relationships within Baltimore and expanding the scope of what arts education means. The aim is to develop more equitable and diverse collaborations, fresh approaches to exhibitions and events, and educational programs for and with learners throughout Baltimore and Maryland at all ages and levels.

A World-Class Museum Steps from Campus

The BMA and Johns Hopkins University have long been Charles Village neighbors, but a recent memorandum of understanding between the two institutions has solidified their shared interests and goals in a more official capacity.

“We got together and dreamed big,” shares Dr. Kevin Tervala, Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown Chief Curator, about the leadership and staff from both the Museum and Johns Hopkins University’s Krieger School of Arts and Sciences who met regularly during 2023 to develop the partnership. Together, they discussed curricular and course ideas, research collaborations, and institutional goals. At the core of this partnership is the belief in the transformative power of arts education. By integrating Museum resources into university curricula, students are exposed to a rich tapestry of artistic traditions and encouraged to engage critically with contemporary issues through the themes of current exhibitions.

“We got together and dreamed big.”

Similarly, JHU and BMA staff hope to deepen their shared research into artworks in the BMA’s collection through innovative collaborations between curators, educators, faculty, and students.

Since 2017, Dr. Jennifer Kingsley, Associate Teaching Professor and Director of Museums and Society at Johns Hopkins University, has taught one course per semester that gives students special

access to the Museum’s collections and the expertise of the BMA staff. In these courses, students rethink museum narratives, research visitors, and dive into the Museum’s archives, developing a nuanced insight into how and why museums operate. Through these experiences, students—most of whom are not majoring in the arts—become invested as museum

“Through these collaborations, students extend their academic studies into the public sphere.”

visitors, supporters, volunteers, and, for some, even future museum staff. “But, engaging with the BMA is way more impactful than just career readiness,” Kingsley states.

Last November, over 130 local students from campuses across the region spent an evening at the BMA, visiting the landmark exhibition Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400–1800 and taking part in art-making activities. The event was designed, promoted, and hosted by students in the course Museum Education for

Today’s Audiences. Kingsley’s students spent the semester researching college student behavior, interests, and arts participation—developing research, evaluation, and analytical skills. They also met with BMA staff to learn about successful events programming at the Museum, working especially closely with Tracey Beale, Director of Public Programs, and Anja Xheka, Education Program Coordinator, on the culminating event.

“Through these collaborations, students extend their academic studies into the public sphere,” Kingsley states. “The projects that result have real world impact with ethical stakes that motivate students to think more deeply and critically about what they are learning in the classroom.”

Similarly, the collaborative exhibition

A Perfect Power: Motherhood and African Art and the accompanying multi-university course was a testament to the dedication of students and curators working together. This dynamic project was co-curated by Tervala, Kingsley, and Dr. Oyèrónké Oyěwùmí, Professor of Sociology, Africana, and Women’s Studies at Stony Brook University with undergraduate students at JHU and Goucher College. Students asked questions that led to the exhibition’s overall interpretive design, one that offered a primer into issues of leadership, status, and power in 18thand 19th-century central Africa. Their perspectives told new, more accessible stories that could better connect with the BMA’s visitors.

Student contributions are also seen throughout the BMA’s permanent collections, from the Antioch Court to the reinstalled American Modernism galleries.

PHOTOS

BY SUZY WOLFFE, JENNIFER KINGSLEY, VIRGINIA ANDERSON

Class is in Session at the BMA

Faculty members and students at campuses across the region actively participate in curatorial projects and research endeavors at the BMA.

Since the Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs opened in March 2022, more than 1,200 students in over 90 undergraduate and graduate-level courses have visited for courses focused on topics as diverse as Picasso, Biblical art, and Mexican modernism. Faculty and graduate students also consult these rare materials for independent projects. During the 2023/24 academic year, the BMA hosted two Faculty Nights for almost 60 local higher education instructors, which included free admission to ticketed exhibitions and a mixer.

In addition, many of the Museum’s staff regularly teach courses at local higher education institutions.

For the last five years, Suzy Wolffe, Director of Gallery Learning, has co-taught two different courses at the BMA with Dr. Margaret S. Chisolm, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavior Sciences and of Medicine, and Director of the Paul McHugh Program for Human Flourishing at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Focused on the intersections of art, humanities, and wellbeing, these elective courses for medical students and pre-med students in JHU’s Krieger School of Arts and Sciences recognize the importance of the arts in both the wellbeing of patients and in the flourishing of medical professionals.

Last spring, the BMA also partnered with MICA and the Elizabeth Talford Scott Estate to celebrate the artist’s legacy. Students at Coppin State University, JHU, MICA, and Morgan State University worked

on presentations for gallery spaces throughout Baltimore and organized a free public program as part of the No Stone Left Unturned: The Elizabeth Talford Scott Initiative, coinciding with the BMA’s exhibition Eyewinkers, Tumbleturds, and Candlebugs: The Art of Elizabeth Talford Scott

Building Bridges

As the BMA continues to strengthen its ties with local colleges and universities, it reaffirms its commitment to nurturing the next generation of art lovers, museumgoers, artists, curators, scholars, and cultural leaders. Through innovative educational and research initiatives and collaborative partnerships, the Museum continues to inspire, educate, and empower individuals to engage meaningfully with art and culture. Likewise, by building bridges between academia and the Museum, these collaborations contribute to Baltimore’s vibrant cultural ecosystem. This creates opportunities for dialogue and exchange, enriching both the academic and artistic landscape of the city.

“Education is one my top priorities because I have seen firsthand how education has uplifted my own family,” concludes Naeem, who earned a dual BA in art history and political science from JHU, and a PhD in art history from the University of Maryland. “Baltimore needs more opportunities for those who don’t have the resources to climb a ladder. The BMA can play a greater role in helping to educate the students who become the next generation of leaders for our city.”

In Remembrance of Jay Fisher

One of the BMA’s longest serving and most beloved curators, Jay McKean Fisher, passed away on March 7 at the age of 74. We’re taking this moment to reflect on his extraordinary dedication to the Museum, his scholarship and leadership, and his kindness and compassion.

Jay’s long tenure at the BMA spanned from 1975—when he was hired as an Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs—to 2020, when he retired as the inaugural Director of the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies. As a scholar of 19th-century French prints and drawings, he played a major role in shaping the BMA’s comprehensive and highly regarded collection of works on paper that now totals more than 68,000 prints, drawings, and photographs. This growth was largely due to several distinguished and transformational collections that Jay helped shepherd, including the George A. Lucas Collection of 19th-century

French art, the Gallagher/ Dalsheimer collection of American photography, and hundreds of works on paper by Henri Matisse from the Marguerite Matisse Duthuit Collection and the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation.

Among the many acclaimed exhibitions Jay organized were Matisse as Printmaker, a major traveling exhibition organized by the American Federation of Art and the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation (2009); Matisse: Painter as Sculptor (2007); Photographs, Drawings, and Collages by Frederick Sommer and Surrealist Art from the BMA’s Collection (1999); and The Prints of Édouard Manet: A Centenary Celebration (1983).

He also curated several focus exhibitions on Matisse and Picasso in the Cone Wing, including Matisse’s Marguerite: Model Daughter, which showcased more than 40 of the artist’s tender depictions of his daughter spanning 45 years.

Jay served as Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs from 1998 to 2015 and as Interim Co-Director from 2015 to 2016 following the retirement of Doreen Bolger. In these roles, Jay championed the passions and the ideas of his fellow staff members and oversaw the renovation and reinstallation of the Cone Wing, the Mary Frick Jacobs Wing, the Dorothy McIlvain Scott American Wing, and the galleries for art from Africa and Asia. He also played a leadership role in the BMA 100-year anniversary celebrations in 2014 and the “In a New Light Campaign,” which added more than 4,000 gifts of art to the collection between 2007 and 2015.

What people remember most about Jay was his incredible empathy and humility. As former BMA Director Tom Freudenheim stated, “He never waved his knowledge at you. He was able and scholarly in a nonacademic way.” Jay cared about people above all else and consistently made sure those he was interacting with felt welcomed, supported, and heard.

“ He was a great teacher, mentor, boss, and friend. He was the best.”

Katy Rothkopf, The Anne and Ben Cone Memorial Director of the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies said, “He was a great teacher, mentor, boss, and friend. He was the best.” His passing is an enormous loss for the BMA, for Baltimore, and for the art world at large.

Left: Jay Fisher. The Baltimore Museum of Art, Archives and Manuscripts Collections: People Photograph Collection, BMA.3.5.; Above, top: Jay with former BMA Trustee J. Woodford “Woody” Howard Jr. and his wife Jane. Photo by Stephen Spartana; Above, center: Jay Fisher at Matisse’s Marguerite: Model Daughter exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art, September 18, 2013–January 19, 2014; Above, bottom: Photo by Maximilian Franz

Free Family Sundays

Every Sunday, 2–5 p.m.

Embrace your inner artist while exploring exhibitions and works from the collection through hands-on art-making workshops each and every Sunday in the Ellis A. Gimbel Children’s Studio in the Patricia and Mark Joseph Education Center. Designed for children and families, Free Family Sundays feature artist-led making sessions in a variety of formats focused on different themes.

Visit artbma.org for more details or to sign up to receive our email newsletter with event information.

Adult Tours

We offer interactive guided tours for adults that highlight works across the Museum. All tours include art from around the world made by artists who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, women, or from other historically underrepresented groups. Topics include BMA Collection Highlights, Contemporary Art, Black Artists, and the Cone Collection. For the best tour experience, we limit the tour size to 60 people.

To learn more about staff-guided tours and fees, visit our website at artbma.org/learn/adult-tours.

Joyce J. Scott Closing Performance

Sunday, July 14, 2:30–3:30 p.m.

Join us for a momentous musical performance by artist Joyce J. Scott to mark the closing of the artist’s 50-year retrospective, Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams. Sponsored in part by the Joshua Johnson Council, the program will include a live performance by Scott with special guest performers including pianist Derrick Thompson and opening remarks by Sharayna Christmas.

Visit artbma.org/scott for details.

Community Day:

Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum

Sunday, September 22, 1–5 p.m.

An event for the entire family inspired by Preoccupied ! Enjoy access to the exhibitions, hands-on art-making, performances, light bites, and activities for all ages.

All programs and events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

Left: Photo by Maximilian Franz; Above: Installation view of Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams. Photo by Maximilian Franz

BMA Lexington Market

Join us at the BMA’s branch location inside America’s oldest market and enjoy free art experiences Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Connecting Baltimore’s creative community with Lexington Market’s patrons, visitors are invited to make art, participate in public programming, read from our non-circulating library, or simply just be.

Twice monthly, every second and fourth Saturday, we offer workshops, artist talks, screenings, and performances with Baltimore-based creatives.

In addition, on Mondays through Wednesdays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays from 6 to 10 a.m, and Saturdays from 7 to 10 a.m., stop by BMA Lexington Market to view Mark Bradford’s Niagara (2005), a 3-minute color video that was displayed as part of the artist’s exhibition for the U.S. Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale.

Stay updated on upcoming programming by visiting artbma.org/bmalexingtonmarket.

Hours

Thursday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Location

BMA Lexington Market Stall 55, Upper Market-level 112 N. Eutaw Street Baltimore, MD 21201

BMA Lexington Market is generously sponsored by the Middendorf Foundation and the T. Rowe Price Foundation.

Prints, Drawings & Photographs Society (PDPS)

Membership Levels

$85 Single | $100 Dual | $150 Supporter | $250 Patron

For the past 50 years, the PDPS has played a major role at the BMA, educating its Members, helping to build the Museum’s collection, and supporting important exhibitions and programs. PDPS Members are art lovers, artists, collectors, scholars, docents, teachers, and students—all united by their shared enthusiasm for works on paper.

PDPS Membership offers invitations to special events, curatorial tours, and travel opportunities that are specially designed to explore the world of works on paper both in the BMA’s extensive collection and in regional museums.

Upcoming events

PDPS Tour and Reception: The Art of Pattern: Henri Matisse and Japanese Woodcut Artists

Wednesday, July 31, 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Katy Rothkopf, The Anne and Ben Cone Memorial Director of the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies, and Frances Klapthor, Registrar and Associate Curator for Asian Art, will offer PDPS members an in-depth discussion of the exhibition The Art of Pattern: Henri Matisse and Japanese Woodcut Artists. Following the tour, guests will enjoy a light reception in the Hess conference room.

Reservations required; invitations will be emailed. To join PDPS, please visit artbma.org/pdps or call 443–573–1800.

Council Day Tour: A Look into the Library and Archives: Conversation with Head Librarian & Archivist Sarah Dansberger

Wednesday, July 10, 4–6 p.m.

Sarah Dansberger, Head Librarian and Archivist, will offer BMA Council Members an exclusive look through the library and in-depth talk on the Museum’s current archival initiatives.

Reservations are required; invitations will be emailed. Space is limited.

Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum Council Celebration

Saturday, September 28, 6:30–8:30 p.m.

Council Members are invited to the BMA for exclusive evening access to Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum and a reception in Antioch Court.

Reservations are required. Invitations will be emailed.

Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum Member Celebration Tea

Sunday, September 29, 9–11 a.m.

Members are invited to drop by for morning access to Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum exhibitions and enjoy a light tea service at Gertrude’s Chesapeake Kitchen.

Reservations are required. Invitations will be emailed.

Left: Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs. Photo by Mitro Hood; Above: Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota). Carry II. 2019. Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Gift of Russell Cowles, 2020. © Dyani White Hawk

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2024

In honor of the BMA’s 110th anniversary, please save the date for the inaugural BMA Ball and After Party on Saturday, November 23, 2024. The Ball will feature live music, dinner in the galleries, and artist awards honorees, followed by the After Party, with dessert, DJ, and dancing.

Proceeds from the festivities will support the BMA’s commitment to artistic excellence and social equity through art presentation, interpretation, and collecting.

The BMA Ball brings the artistic community together to raise necessary funds to support the BMA’s mission while celebrating art and extraordinary artists.

For more information about sponsorship opportunities, email alwhitehurst@artbma.org or call 443-573-1806.

Member Benefits

Are you taking advantage of all your BMA Member benefits?

All Members Receive

Invitations to exclusive Member events

10% discount at the BMA Shop

Twice-yearly shopping days with 20% discount!

10% discount at Gertrude’s Chesapeake Kitchen

Special offers at area restaurants and cafes

Discounted parking during Museum hours at the BMA East and West lots

Opportunity to travel with the BMA on Travel Program day trips

Members pricing for innovative BMA programs and performances

Access to digital programming

Subscription to the Members’ magazine, BMA Today, and a monthly newsletter delivered to your inbox

For more information about the benefits offered at higher levels of Membership, visit artbma.org/join, call 443–573–1800, or email membership@artbma.org.

Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams Event Photos

Artist Celebration

March 20, 2024

Beloved Baltimore-based artist Joyce J. Scott celebrated the 50-year career retrospective Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams with special guests.

Council and Members

Opening Party

March 23, 2024

BMA Members at all levels took part in a special evening celebrating one of the most significant artists of our time. Guests enjoyed previewing the exhibition Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams, live entertainment, weaving workshops, and mingling.

Photos by Maximilian Franz

Community Day

March 24, 2024

Sponsored by Transamerica, this special day featured an unforgettable in-gallery performance by Joyce J. Scott, free admission to Walk a Mile in My Dreams, WombWork Production’s African drumming, and art-making with guest artists Espi Frazier, Pamela Li, and Randi Reiss McCormack. Local arts and community groups organized by the Gurlz of Baltimore joined us, and all enjoyed delicious bites by H3irloom Food Group.

Photos by Maximilian Franz

BMA Council

The BMA Council provides opportunities for the Museum’s most generous donors to enjoy a deeper exploration of the BMA’s collection and exhibitions through a carefully curated series of events offered throughout the year.

BMA Council Benefits Include

Invitations to exclusive Council events, including opening receptions for major exhibitions

Curator-led tours followed by a prix-fixe group lunch

Exclusive cocktail receptions and curator presentations

10% discount at Gertrude’s Chesapeake Kitchen

15% discount at the BMA Shop

Free parking at the BMA East and West lots

Special recognition at the Museum’s entrance and in the online Annual Report

Subscription to the Members magazine, BMA Today

Reciprocal Members privileges at hundreds of North American museums with the Museum Alliance

Reciprocal Program (MARP), North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM), and Reciprocal Organization of Associated Museums (ROAM)

Opportunity to travel with the Museum Travel Alliance

BMA Council enrollment begins at the $1,650 Patron’s Council level. To join or learn more, call 443–573–1800, or email council@artbma.org.

Gertrude’s Chesapeake Kitchen

Lauded by Food & Wine, Travel & Leisure, The Washington Post, Edible DC, The Baltimore Sun, and a multi-year winner of Baltimore magazine’s “Best of Baltimore,” Gertrude’s serves locally sourced farm-fresh food that preserves Chesapeake culinary traditions.

HOURS

Monday and Tuesday

Closed

Wednesday–Friday 11:30 a.m.–8 p.m.

Saturday

Brunch: 11:30 a.m–3 p.m. Dinner: 5–8 p.m.

Sunday

Brunch: 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Dinner: 5–7 p.m.

RESERVATIONS

gertrudesbaltimore.com or 410-889-3399

BMA MEMBERS SAVE 10%

Please note the 10% BMA Member discount is not valid during select events.

CRABARET

Wednesday, July 17, 2024 6–10 p.m.

Join us for one of Baltimore’s signature summer events, Crabaret, in the BMA’s Sculpture Garden, to benefit House of Ruth Maryland. Feast on Chef John Shields’ crabby concoctions complimented by a selection of fine wines and craft brews. Dance under the stars to live music and bid on fantastic auction items.

LOBSTERAMA

One of our most popular summer traditions is back! Lobsterama will occur every Thursday night in August, when you can enjoy a delicious, steamed Maine lobster served with clams and mussels, baked potato, coleslaw, and corn on the cob. Treat yourself and order the lobster stuffed with crab imperial! A limited number of lobsters are ordered for each Lobsterama event. Reservations are required.

CONE SISTERS GARDEN CAFÉ

Wednesday–Saturday 11:30 a.m.–5 p.m., Sunday: 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

Cone Sisters Garden Café provides seasonal bites, treats, and drinks perfect for alfresco dining in the Sculpture Garden. Visit the kiosk in the BMA’s East Lobby to place your order.

Our Picks

Members save 10% or more at the BMA Shop

Proceeds from the BMA Shop benefit the Museum’s educational programs.

2. It Never Did Belong To Me Sticker, Jeffery Gibson, $6

3. Strata Plant Vessel, Areaware, $68

4. Animambo Children’s Banjo, Djeco,

5. Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum Exhibition Catalog, $49.95

1. Wampum Ancestor Necklace, Mark Tayac, Chief of the Piscataway Indian Nation, $615

$48.95

6. Amuseables Monstera Plant, Jellycat, $74.95

7. Wendy Red Star Delegation, $65

8. The Bandits Bandanas, $31.98

Ongoing Exhibitions

Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams Through July 14, 2024

Dyani White Hawk: Bodies of Water Through December 1, 2024

Caroline Monnet: River Flows Through Bent Trees Through December 1, 2024

Don’t wait for me, just tell me where you’re going Curated by Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation and a descendant of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño people) Through December 1, 2024

Enduring Buffalo Through December 1, 2024

Illustrating Agency Through December 1, 2024

Finding Home Through December 1, 2024

The Art of Pattern: Henri Matisse and Japanese Woodcut Artists Through January 5, 2025

Raúl de Nieves: and imagine you are here Through May 4, 2025

New Exhibitions

Nicholas Galanin: Exist in the Width of a Knife’s Edge July 14, 2024–February 16, 2025

Laura Ortman: Wood

July 17, 2024–December 8, 2024

Dana Claxton: Spark August 4, 2024–January 5, 2025

Above, top: Installation view of Raúl de Nieves: and imagine you are here. Photo by Mitro Hood; Above: Dana Claxton (Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations) Lasso 2018. Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Audain BC Art Acquisition Fund. © Dana Claxton. Courtesy of the artist

that Sings

July

7 SUNDAY

Free Family Sunday, 2–5 p.m.

10 WEDNESDAY

Council Day Tour: A Look into the Library and Archive: Conversation with Head Librarian & Archivist Sarah Dansberger, 4–6 p.m.

14 SUNDAY

Free Family Sunday, 2–5 p.m.

Joyce J. Scott Closing Performance, 2:30-3:30 p.m.

21 SUNDAY

Free Family Sunday, 2–5 p.m.

28 SUNDAY

Free Family Sunday, 2–5 p.m.

31 WEDNESDAY

PDPS Tour and Reception: The Art of Pattern: Henri Matisse and Japanese Woodcut Artists, 5:30–7:30 p.m.

August

4 SUNDAY

Free Family Sunday, 2–5 p.m.

11 SUNDAY

Free Family Sunday, 2–5 p.m.

18 SUNDAY

Free Family Sunday, 2–5 p.m.

25 SUNDAY

Free Family Sunday, 2–5 p.m.

September

1 SUNDAY

Free Family Sunday, 2–5 p.m.

8 SUNDAY

Free Family Sunday, 2–5 p.m.

15 SUNDAY

Free Family Sunday, 2–5 p.m.

22 SUNDAY

Community Day

Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum, 1–5 p.m.

Free Family Sunday, 2–5 p.m.

28 SATURDAY

Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum Council Celebration, 6:30–8:30 p.m.

29 SUNDAY

Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum Member Celebration Tea, 9–11 a.m.

Free Family Sunday, 2–5 p.m.

Above: Installation view of Dyani White Hawk: Bodies of Water. Photo by Mitro Hood

Anna Lincoln Whitehurst

The BMA’s New Senior Director of Advancement Discusses the Museum’s 110th Anniversary and Exploring New Initiatives

With extensive experience working for prominent local and national museums and nonprofits, Baltimore-born Anna Lincoln Whitehurst joined the BMA as Senior Director of Advancement in February this year. Most recently, she worked for Irvine Nature Center, where she successfully grew their annual fundraising efforts, helped the Center reach their endowment campaign goals, and launched a new capital campaign. In her career, Whitehurst has served as the Manager of Corporate and Donor Relations for the Smithsonian Institution, the Director of Development for Enterprise Community Partners, and Assistant Director of Development at Port Discovery Children’s Museum. She discusses her experience and plans to contribute to the Museum’s mission.

How do you see your position as Senior Director of Advancement promoting and strengthening the Museum’s mission and goals?

I’m so inspired by Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director Asma Naeem’s vision for the Museum, the importance of bringing art to Baltimore and sharing the best of Baltimore with the world. We are taking the lead on exciting and bold efforts to change the discourse about what a museum is in the 21st century. This year marks the BMA’s 110th anniversary, and the world has changed so much during not only the last century, but even the last few years. Currently, we are exploring new ways of connecting with our constituents and engaging the community in new ways.

I’m excited to use my background to build relationships with members of our community to help support the vision and mission of the BMA. Because I grew up in Baltimore, the city is very near and dear to my heart, and I feel a particular passion about the future of the Museum and where we’re going.

How do you share the value in investing in the arts and the BMA?

The Museum is a hub for the community, and is perfectly poised to be the place to have discussions about everything that’s going on in our world right now. Through exhibitions, educational initiatives, and the interpretation of artworks from both national and international emerging and established artists, the Museum offers a great platform to have conversations with generations of people by both looking back at art history and also finding connections to today’s artists. Our curators and interpretation team do an amazing job at interweaving those stories and communicating that to our audiences for a richer, more meaningful experience.

What are some initiatives for community and donor engagement that you are exploring?

We’re incredibly grateful for every individual and institution who has supported the BMA over the last 110 years, and we’re also thinking about the next generation to carry the BMA’s bold vision into the future.

I am working with the Board of Trustees to develop a young patrons’ group, fostering the next generation of stewards who will take care of the Museum and support the artists who make our work possible. We’re looking to go even deeper on events and incentives like Art After Hours that resonate with younger Members. We’re also interested in developing an emerging artist collectors’ group, connecting savvy, passionate art collectors with rising local artists. This will help encourage artists to stay in Baltimore, where they are supported by the community and patrons. Looking ahead to a future Museum-wide initiative, we are also reflecting upon our relationship with the environment, a critical conversation we need to have right now.

What do you love most about the BMA?

Certainly, I love Matisse and the world-renowned Cone Collection, but my particular interest is the Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs. I have a deep fondness for the PDP Center in particular because of my background studying prints, drawings, and etchings. In college, I studied and wrote my senior thesis on Picasso’s Vollard Suite. I also have a fondness for Gertrude’s and what I remember from childhood as the BMA Café. It was a birthday treat to eat soft shell crabs when they were in season, and now I get to enjoy Getrude’s Chesapeake Kitchen favorites whenever I like.

Bashira

John Ahearn, 1992

For over four decades, artist John Ahearn has cast plaster sculptures of individuals during sidewalk workshops on Walton Avenue in his South Bronx, New York, neighborhood. This work depicts Bashira, a young boy who had just graduated from elementary school. Bashira chose his pose and his outfit, presenting himself with pride in his academic regalia.

Through portraits like this, Ahearn records the energy and beauty of community relationships and individuals he recognizes and admires while not turning away from painful realities of life in his disinvested neighborhood. Bashira is a potent reminder of how art derived from community engagement intertwines social realities and cultural contexts.

John Ahearn’s twin brother, the artist and filmmaker Charlie Ahearn, created Bashira Walton Avenue 1992 as a companion piece and in collaboration with his brother’s sculpture. The film captures the energy of the moment as John Ahearn snapped Polaroids of young Bashira striking his pose and the two completed the casting process while Bashira’s mother and other neighbors looked on.

The BMA was proud to acquire Charlie Ahearn’s important video artwork in tandem with Trustee Michael Sherman and Carrie Tivador’s historic gift of Bashira to the BMA collection. The sculpture and video are now on view in the Contemporary Wing in How Do We Know the World? Two out of 350+ works acquired by the Museum in the last year, they expand the stories we can tell of figurative art, community practice, and contemporary portraiture.

Please read BMA Stories for more information on the 11 new acquisitions on view this summer.

John Ahearn. Bashira 1992. Baltimore Museum of Art, Gift of Michael Sherman and Carrie Tivador, Los Angeles, BMA 2023.93. © John Ahearn