Déjà View

I have always recalled small memories with a hefty amount of nostalgia.  I cannot for the life of me tell you where I left my keys or what I ate for breakfast.  To be honest, I don’t even remember most of my wedding.  But I do vividly remember the tie-dyed t-shirt my best friend was wearing when I met her, the feeling of gliding around the roller rink to Miss Jackson at a classmate’s birthday party, and the sound of a storm hitting my cabana roof while on vacation.  It truly is the little things, the fragments of memories, that are the best things.  We gravitate to authors who give us the small details that make a story feel real.  We use #tbt on old photos of regrettable haircuts to make people smile for just one tiny second.  We search for easter eggs in movies because knowing something small can feel so big.  

All of the work in this collection is hand cut from a single sheet of paper using a knife.  These papercuts are based on photos I’ve taken all over the world.  They are reminders of life’s daily serendipities.  So stop to smell the restaurants.  Listen to the music blasting from a hoopty.  And feel the sun on a man’s back as he waits at a crosswalk.   By carving away at a sheet of paper, I reveal the wonderful humdrum we failed to acknowledge yesterday in the hopes that we’ll remember to appreciate today’s delightfully uneventful trip to the grocery store.  Let these moments get stuck in your head like a bad song.  Belt them out alone in your car.

Between painting alongside her grandmother and watching her father build reproduction antique furniture, Rosa Leff grew up seeing no distinction between fine art and craft.  What mattered was that things were made by hand and done well.  It is with that in mind that she creates her hand cut paper pieces.  Each of Leff’s papercuts is cut by hand from a single sheet of paper using a knife.  Her cityscapes are based on photos she’s taken in her neighborhood and all over the world.  While Leff is best known for her ability to capture thin tangles of powerlines and intricate brickwork, she also enjoys experimenting with novel media such as paper plates and paper towels.  Leff delights in bringing a modern, urban perspective to a traditional folk medium. 

Leff has served on the board of The Guild of American Papercutters (GAP). In addition to being a GAP member she is a member of The Paper Artist Collective.  Leff has exhibited her work throughout the United States, in China, and in Mexico.  Her work has been acquired by The Canton Museum of Art (Canton, OH), The Colored Girls Museum (Philadelphia, PA) and The Museum of International Folk Art (Santa Fe, NM).  She is the recipient of a 2021 Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artist Award, the 2021 Municipal Art Society of Baltimore City Artist Travel Prize, and the 2023 360 Xochi Quetzal BIPOC Residency.  Leff resides in Puerto Rico with her husband and chihuahuas, Chalupa and Refrito.

The group exhibition "Illuminating the Unseen" is an exploration of the multifaceted nature of shadows, both literal and metaphorical. Shadows are not merely the absence of light but rather an entity in and of themselves; imbued with their own meaning and significance. They reveal the hidden, the obscured, and the mysterious, inviting us to contemplate the relationship between light and darkness in form and space. 

Through a variety of mediums including painting, photography, and mixed media installation, participating artists will offer a range of interpretations and explorations of the theme of shadows. Some may choose to capture the ethereal and ephemeral qualities of shadows, while others may choose to delve into the psychological and emotional dimensions of shadows, exploring how they shape our fears, desires, and memories. Artists are encouraged to examine the cultural and historical significance of shadows, reflecting on their use in storytelling, mythology, and art throughout the ages.

Artists featured: Josh Slowe, Maurice Scarlett, B’nai Manderson, Anna Divinagracia, Destiny Lewis, VILLAGER, Adewale Alli, Nacir The Younger, Natalie Anthony

Curator: Anna Divinagracia

From Morgan DePeña’s earliest days, creativity has always been a part of who she is. As a self-taught artist, DePeña’s journey is a perpetual exploration of style and techniques, leading to continuous evolution. Working out of a Baltimore studio she draws inspiration from the pockets of nature and gardens that sprinkle the city

Drawn to the grace of florals and the charm of organic forms, this work is centered around tablescapes. This collection captures moments of shared joy, portraying vases, plates of nourishing food and the warmth of gathering with family and friends around your table. Some of this work focuses on what adorns your table, while others concentrate on what you bring to the table. Imagine savoring this artwork in the company of friends and family, as you would gather around a table for conversation, food, and libations. 

Instagram

@smorgies

The work in this show contains physical elements of my art I have cut up, painted over and repurposed going back to 1994. Since 1994 I have practiced a daily ritual of collecting knowledge and detritus from my own life and making pieces of art from what I collect. This ritual sustains my curiosity and wonder and through this simple act of ritual I hope to become worthy of the life I have.

My process involves finding materials in my environment and using those to build images and non-objective fields of color and line. I work from photos I take, and direct observation and I invite the detritus of life into the work; I mix these with whatever thoughts, feelings, or happy accidents occur to me during the construction of each piece. I let the outcome develop as the piece ages, coming back to each piece periodically as new materials or thoughts come my way (pilgrimage). Each piece develops in the same way that a living organism develops during its lifetime. My art is alive (journey).

WE’RE SO EXCITED TO CELEBRATE 10 YEARS!!!!!!

Come celebrate with us.

Featuring Jacob Henry, Fanni Somogyi and Elena Volkova. A perminant courtyard installation by Boof Saloon. There will be live music, drinks, bits and gifts!

Jacob Henry

As a life long artist born and raised in the suburbs of Baltimore, I have had local exhibitions since my early teenage years. I continue to leverage my life experiences to fuel the creative process through acrylics.  Scratching and clawing, this collection of work is a reflection of my battles to overcome anxiety. 

Fanni Somogyi is a multi-disciplinary artist and writer, living and working between Baltimore, MD and Budapest, Hungary. She completed her BFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Interdisciplinary Sculpture and Creative Writing, and a Master in Curation from the Node Center for Curatorial Studies in Berlin, Germany.

Somogyi has shown work both nationally and internationally including at the Maryland Art Place in Baltimore, MD, Vox Populi in Philadelphia, PA, Transformer in DC, New Collectors Gallery in New York City, NY, and the Target Gallery in Alexandria, VA among others. She has had temporary public sculptures at the Franconia Sculpture Park in Minnesota, the Olala Street Festival in Lienz, Austria, and at Art Market Budapest in Hungary. When she is not metal fabricating she can be found researching or avidly composing short stories and reviews.

As an interdisciplinary sculptor, themes that I explore in my work are cross pollinations, hybrid creatures and speculative scenarios. Through biomorphic metal and plant assemblages, primarily I investigate interspecies connections to understand how I affect non-human beings and the ecosystem, and my embedded connection within the lived environment. I’m fascinated by entities such as slime mold or cyborgs and how these collaged bodies act as speculative thought exercises. Ideas of aliens and otherness also stem from my experience as a first-generation immigrant. On

government documents I used to be a non-immigrant legal alien and today I’m a resident alien. A feeling of foreignness haunts me both here and in Hungary. I’m interested in deconstructing these labels and categorizations and probing personal narratives in relation to speculative ecologies.

Sculpture has been the format of my choice because I enjoy building in three dimensions and incorporating multiple materials and textures. I have increasingly become obsessed with a high level of finish that is possible through patience,

technique and care. To build these objects I predominantly use steel and aluminum, and I combine these vessels with cast polyurethane elements and cacti, mosses, and micro greens. I enjoy the contrasting interaction of these materials, and after the work is finished it becomes an object that I continue to care for. I’m drawn to metals due to

their relation to industry, and their oxymoronic ability to be simultaneously durable and malleable. Be it singular objects like “euphoric glitch” or installations like “Day-dreaming for Another World”, my uncanny assemblages are vessels for stories and metaphors of connections. I imagine a world where the connection of bodies to land becomes more tangible. My eerie and unearthly sculptures provide paths for the viewer to travel beyond the work into hypothetical and imagined landscapes. 

www.fannisomogyi.com

Instagram: @fanni_somogyi

Elena Volkova. Meanwhile

Several concepts come to mind when thinking about liminality: uncertainty, as well as openness, potential, and the state of becoming, between-ness, transition, neutrality. The Liminal surrounds us; it is the periphery of every moment of our existence, the behind-the-scenes of our reality; it makes no judgments and no assertions; it constitutes our everyday mundane poetry. It is simply there. In the liminal state, the boundaries and factors dissolve, bringing to the attention the low-key overlooked moments.

Meanwhile is a series of photographs that explores the concept of becoming. Created in the immediate everyday environments, the images are observations of moments in constant flux,
which poetically document what it means to be living in this time, and to be compelled to get to know one’s place in a deep introspective way. Experienced through the lens of subjectivity, glimpses of domestic environments are juxtaposed with natural forms, leading into an escapist journey.

Elena Volkova is a Ukrainian-born interdisciplinary artist, educator, and curator, whose creative practice uses historic and contemporary photographic techniques to explore complex themes of domesticity, liminality, and subjective experience. Volkova has been a fellow at Hamiltonian Artists, and exhibited her work nationally and internationally. Elena received several recognitions and awards in support of her creative practice, including Janis Meyer Traveling Fellowship, Corcoran Women’s Committee Grant, MD State Arts Council Creativity Grant, Baltimore Municipal Art Society Travel Prize, and Rubys Grant. Volkova has been a social practice resident artist at Maryland Center for History and Culture, Anacostia Arts Center, and Maker General among others. Volkova resides in Baltimore, MD and teaches Photography at Stevenson University.

Dara Lorenzo Solo Art Exhibition : DE.TOUR

Dara Lorenzo is a multi-media artist who uses printmaking, painting techniques,

collage, carving and drawing in her most recent work. This emerging body of art

begins with the use of found objects and scrap wood to make more abstract

structures for the compositions. There are a lot of puzzle pieces in this body of

work. A composition gets shifted around and recomposed/ deconstructed and

reconstructed again.

The artist feels that every day archetypes (trashcans, signs, mailboxes) are

important components to the artwork. We live with these objects every day in all

places. It feels natural to want them present in the artwork like a reflection of what

we see day to day. They are usually presented with screen print, image transfer or

collage from the artist’s own printed photo collection.

There is reference to the human connection through our rituals, lyrics and the

sharing of spaces. The work talks about living in the city, taking walks: juxtaposing

silence with laughter, fear with bravery and calm with stress.

The work is in a state of flux as are we the people who live here in the city. It grows

and changes, gets torn down and erased and then recomposed another way again…..

Ronnie Larrimore 

The idea behind this series of paintings should provoke a sense of calm and silence. Even on the cold nights there is a warmth that the glow of a lamp through a window can provide. The chaos of your own life can be lulled to sleep by the quietness of an empty city street. To walk around alone at night shows a sense of confidence but also recklessness. The world is a little more dangerous at night. Your senses are a little more sharp. I love that feeling. These paintings are the visual cd booklet to my little world’s soundtrack. These places are somber on the surface but danger could be right out of frame. 

Brain Eaters 

Brain Eaters is the idea of letting go. It’s breaking free from the stress of art and creating. It’s fueled by alcohol and loud music. It’s a little sloppy and a little blurry. Never truly clear but bold in what it wants to say. All dangers and things we are meant to fear are welcomed. There’s no definitive medium used because it’s a spur of the moment and is meant to be diverse. There is no concept, just skulls, neon colors, years of broken hearts and a lot of self medicating. There’s no glory. There’s only a coolness with the idea of death, awkwardness with conversations, and the misery of someone navigating their life. 

Caitlin Gill is a mixed media artist living in Baltimore, Maryland. She has a B. A in Drawing and Painting from Towson University and an MFA in Curatorial Practice and Art Criticism from the Ontario College of Art and Design. Gill uses printmaking, sculpting, drawing, painting, collage, and fiber to create artwork that explores ideas of identity, femininity, and domesticity.

Gill’s work examines the patriarchy, the male gaze and gender through animal and insect portraits. The juxtaposition between lace, pressed flowers, and other materials with the foreground imagery of birds and bugs acts as a dialogue surrounding how the female identifying artist feels she must be perceived by society versus her experience performing gender. Using traditional craft materials and skills such as sewing, felting, crocheting, ceramics, scrapbook paper, doilies, stencils, and stamps, Gill also explores the divergence between craft and fine art and the implicit misogyny within the distinction between the two. Her work is labor intensive and acknowledges the invisibility of female labor in the home and in marriage and the lack of value inferred in “women’s work.” By Evoking ideas of discomfort and

repulsion, she encourages viewers to engage in the inherent violence exercised in the construct of the feminine.

 Jude Asher was born and raised outside of Washington DC, graduate of Walt Whitman High School.  Attended Hofstra University, University of South Carolina and Maryland Institute College of Art as painting major.  Self taught fibre artist.  Founding member of The Hamilton Gallery, active member of The Baltimore Creative Alliance.  Former juror, participant and installation aide, Nature Art in the Park, Baltimore.

 From the first time I visited the Alchemy of Art, I was entranced by this small room. I thought what an adventure it would be to fill this room with my portals. And now here they are.

 I offer you views into the past and future, worlds both real and imagined or reality reimagined. The viewer can invent their own stories or believe the stories I am telling them.

Even as a child, much to my mother's dismay, I would pick up interesting detritus. In grade school I would rather build a diorama than write a book report. Here are my adult dioramas, with a small dash of childishness.

“Orchid Serenade”

June 1, 2023

This series, “Orchid Serenade” showcases the intricate patterns and unique form of these flowers. Through these pieces I aim to capture the essence of orchids and convey their whimsical charm to the viewer. The rich textures and vibrant colors come to life on the canvas painted with acrylics.

I have always been drawn to the beauty and intricacies of nature. In my latest series of paintings, I have chosen to focus on orchids and the delicate allure of these stunning flowers. Beyond their aesthetic appeal, orchids symbolize beauty and charm. In this series I hope to convey not only their physical beauty but also the emotions they evoke.

Through this series, I invite the viewer to travel through the ethereal world of the striking blooms of the orchid flowers.

Jenna Dutton is a Baltimore-based digital illustrator and graphic designer who finds solace in traditional painting. Her paintings feature bold, bright colors with abstract backgrounds, on which she paints realistic hands in various poses. Through her art, Dutton seeks to inspire others to explore the creative possibilities of both traditional and digital media.

The hands are the focal point of each piece, representing the diverse range of emotions and experiences that connect us all. By embracing the imperfections of traditional painting techniques, Dutton creates something unique and meaningful. Her work is a celebration of the beauty and complexity of the human experience and a testament to the power of art to connect us all.

Overall, Dutton's paintings represent a commitment to both innovation and tradition, as well as a desire to create art that challenges and inspires.

Shawn Adomanis  (b. 1976) is a mostly self-taught artist. His passion for artwork began about 8 years old,  drawing battleships and skateboarders with his brother and neighbor. In high school, he began drawing as much as possible and carried a sketchbook with him everywhere. From there, he spent several years in the Maryland/DC graffiti scene.

For more than 25 years, Shawn has been a professional digital designer, medical illustrator, 3D artist, programmer, and animator. Currently, he works as a Creative Director with 20 years in the life sciences industry.

In his personal works, he focuses mainly on traditional media. Moving from graffiti to canvases, Shawn has experimented with many styles and mediums. Over the years, that has ranged from original painted skateboards to watercolor illustrations to oil paintings. He is currently working on a 20 part series titled “Cultured Figures”.

Shawn currently resides in Red Lion, PA with his wife, Meredith. They have 3 children and one grandchild.

As an artist who is colorblind, I have always had to find ways to express myself with as much color as possible. I tend to think of color complements with higher saturations. With my background in graffiti and design, I like to use complex compositions to achieve an abnormal sense of balance. I tend to work in a variety of styles and mediums on every personal project. In 2021, I completed a series of 12 watercolor/ink pin-ups. I am currently more than halfway done working on my series “Cultured Figures”, which consists of 20 oil painted portraits and figures based on mold and bacteria cultures.shawnadomanis@gmail.com shawnadomanis.com

Kevin Herdeman (b.1981) makes mixed media art in the form of “sculptures” which he calls MeltMonsters and “paintings” on glass in between working his day job as a pipe fitter, making and releasing music (currently -Ancient Radiations, HUVR, Murder and an “internet band” called UGLYHUMAN) and being a husband and father of 2. Herdeman has made art in one way or another for as long as he can remember. In the early 2000’s he painted on glass using mostly other materials than paint. He has what he called a “system” and it works. For years this was his primary media but in 2010 with the arrival of his first daughter and moving to a new house that no longer had a large studio space, he switched to making his “MeltMonsters” which stayed out as his version of Japanese kaiju especially with Hedorah in mind. They started as strategically melted soft plastic but over time started to have fur added to resemble “big foot”. Being a fan of old Sci-Fi, aliens, cryptids, pop art, graffiti, heavy metal, low-brow art and so on has clearly made its “inspiration” known when seeing his art. Over the years, Herdeman  has made his “melt” version of characters from cartoons/shows and real life people like himself, friends, The Elephant Man, DEVO, The AquaBats and many others. He has shown his work across the US in bars, tattoo shops, coffee shops, galleries and conventions and has collectors all over the globe. Although as of late he has slowed down on the amount of art he makes, he’s still steady making something to see and or hear.

Statement:

For this exhibition and any other I’ve done for that matter, I’ve tried to create as many different pieces I could that would in some way, make whoever sees them laugh or just feel a little joy about it. I make art because I enjoy it but ultimately I want it in the hands of others. Usually there’s no “deep meaning” as I feel it can put limitations on a piece. I’ve found some collectors do not like my approach in that aspect, but I want the viewer to feeI whatever the piece makes them feel. I keep it simple and fun and make what I’d like to see on a wall or shelf. In doing that, I hope the viewer digs it as much as I do. I feel making art that you think “everyone wants to see” is counterproductive.

www.kevinherdeman.com @staticfromspace on Instagram

Born and raised in Baltimore, Zoë Lintzeris is a visual artist working in painting and  photography. Astrologia marks her first solo show in her hometown.  

Founded on her previous work in journalism, her artwork explores the human condition and  the emotional psyche through a minimalist lens. Her pieces reside in private collections  throughout North America and Europe, and have been exhibited in installations at galleries  and creative spaces including 222 Bowery, Clover’s Fine Art Gallery, Greenpoint Gallery,  Maryland Art Place, and Point Green Studios. From 2017-2019 in New York City, she held  three solo shows highlighting her conceptual-documentary photo work. 

Since 2018, Zoë teaches Arts in Health practices in personal sessions and workshops, and  regularly speaks on the intersection of the arts and well-being. She holds a graduate  certificate in Arts in Health, and works with the International Arts + Mind Lab: Center for  Applied Neuroaesthetics at Johns Hopkins University School for Medicine.  

She is developing the world's first Arts in Health residency and retreat space in Greece, and  looks forward to helping artists and creatives from all over the world. 

Astrologia is a reaction to the events and aftermath of 2020, using astrological signs and  signifiers to process the unknown. Anglicized from the Greek word “άστρολογία”, the  paintings represent the signs of the zodiac in bold, abstract forms. My interest in astrology  significantly increased during the pandemic and afterward, focusing on how people have  used it for millennia to process and navigate through their

life’s journey. Referencing  Taschen’s Astrology for inspiration, these paintings are a nod to my former style of minimalist  drip painting; reverting to that style allowed me to find comfort and peace through my work  when the world seemed to be upended in chaos. 

Each piece was created during the “season” (or time period) of each astrological sign, as I  wanted to transfer my emotions in that time period to every canvas. Some of the imagery  adheres to the traditional zodiac but others are open to interpretation, allowing for the viewer  to take in the energy of each piece for what it is, and see what they want to see. 

www.zoelintzeris.com

Jennipur Jane grew up in South Baltimore during the 90s, regularly spending her time in Fells Point with the local spooky kids, and haunted the goth club scene at night. By the time she turned 18, she hightailed it to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she started her photography studio, Ephemeral Studios. Due to an issue with her landlord, (he forgot to tell her the building was being condemned), she lost her studio, along with all of her equipment, overnight. Devastated, she took to the road and embarked on what became a 4 year adventure full of hitching rides and hopping trains all over the U.S. During that time she experienced the despair of post Katrina New Orleans, the wild mountains of Northern California and Oregon where she worked on marijuana farms, and the magical lakes, and forests of New England. After a while of traveling, she eventually found herself back in Baltimore, and slowly settled down into a comfortable and ordinary life.  Now living with her partner and their two dogs, she has found the encouragement to explore her passion for photography again. 

These two exhibits, “Ephemerally Yours”, and “Rituals”, explores the duality of human nature, and how we react to the stigmas that various cultures and societies place on us. Humanity expands from the light to the dark, both needing the other to create balance. “Ephemerally Yours” explores the light, sensual, whimsical, and vibrant side, while “Rituals” explores the darker infestations we experience in life. 

I am a 47 year old white man. I have been married for nearly 20 years and I have two adult children. I grew up in Georgia and I have been making art seriously since I was 16. Growing up as a white man in the rural south, I grew up surrounded by overt racism, homophobia, and sexism. In addition to this, I spent my early adult life in blue collar employment. This position and awareness drove me to question power, privilege and societal norms. My identical twin brother and I are the first generation of college educated men in our family and my father died of ALS when I was a teenager. This gave me a sense of the value of: being able to move my body, a human life, and of working with my hands. After that, I earned a BFA from the University of Georgia in 1997. I walked the 2,200 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in 1998, then I spent three years as a bike messenger in Atlanta. I completed 2 cross continent bicycle tours in the United States and I continued to work blue collar jobs until I went back to school to support my new family in 2006 at the University of Oregon where I earned a bachelors in biology, a master’s in education and then became a high school science teacher for the next 12 years (my induction into the middle class). I am currently a scientist, a feminist, and an anti-racist educator.

My background, interests, and the importance of justice and neuroscience in education have influenced my artwork, and drive much of my academic research practice. In my artwork however, I tend towards the personal before the political. My research is, like my art, a journey towards understanding not a pronouncement of it. In my research, my life, my teaching, and my art, I am interested in the journey not the destination. I ask questions and learn to ask better questions through the asking. The truth is, as a teacher I discovered that I learn from my students; as a parent I found that I learn from my children. Each person I interact with gives me another opportunity to learn. Every day I hope to understand more. I hope to become better at teaching, parenting, learning, and making art by continuing to live and staying open to experience. Most of my work as an artist is connected to continuing this process of personal growth. For this purpose, I recently started the MFA studio art program at American University.

My work is intimate, whether it explores the innermost workings of the human mind, makes fun of itself, is a celebration of life, or simply portrays an intimate view of a person that is so personal you might want to look away. I work in sketchbooks every day, and the notes I take, journal entries and poems I write, as well as the sketches and visual experiments I create (lines of inquiry) form the center of my artistic practice. I work in all mediums. Though drawing and painting are my faithful allies and most of my work starts with these mediums, I am a found object collector and a naturalist at heart, and the detritus of life often finds its way into my 2-D and sculptural work.

The way will become clear (4 lines of inquiry) by Jarrett Arnold

This body of work represents 4 lines of inquiry I am currently pursuing. The primary goal for each of these bodies of work is to explore myself and the world around me in order to better understand each and to convey to others in an authentic way my experiences and growing understandings. By working with my hands directly in the mediums of drawing, painting, collage, and sculpture, I imbue each work with something of myself and I learn more about myself and the world as I work. My hope is that those that view the work can find something in the show that moves or inspires them. These lines of inquiry are not distinct from each other, much of the work belies easy categorization even within my own groupings. This work is a journey- an exploration- it is not a destination and it leads to more questions than answers.

Inquiry 1: The non-representational work (including The Digging For Fire series)

During the past month I have had the opportunity to watch the sunrise on four separate occasions. While watching this daily miraculous event I was stricken by its beauty. I took some photos, and short videos. The thing is, a video or a photo can not convey the experience and the experience is unique for every viewer. Likewise, a drawing or a painting can not actually accomplish this. In addition, because my experience of the sunrise is different from someone else’s, we can also say that one person’s experience of a work of art is not the same as someone else’s. 

This all brought back to me something that Wassily Kandinsky wrote about that I first read in the 90s when I was an undergraduate. He wanted to give the experience of the Moscow sunset to a viewer, so he started his artistic career as a landscape painter. Early in the twentieth century however, he went to see a symphony by Wagner and realized that Wagner’s symphony did what his landscapes could not. The symphony smote his heart in the same way as the sunset, yet the symphony was in no way an attempt to portray a sunset figuratively. This then drove Kandinsky towards abstract expression and a new form of art was invented. The pieces in this body of work are driven by a desire to express the emotional mood conveyed by a song or album without direct reference to imagery of any kind. Some of these pieces started as pictures with reference that I obliterated during the process, others never contained identifiable images. This work is made to music and driven by it, and in this work, I let process and chance dictate many of the elements in the finished pieces. Joe, a puppet I made this spring, started many of the most recent pieces in this body of work.

Inquiry 2: Self in the world

If anything has become clear in the world of art today, then it is an awareness of the artist's position in the world. We (educated humans) understand that society (all societies) are inequitable and we understand that privilege and lack of privilege influence what we portray, how we see the world, how we make and see our work within the world, and whether or not we have opportunities to exhibit or sell our work. At the core of this is the understanding that experience is subjective. No one person can convey to everyone else a specific feeling or emotion and have it universally understood. There are no universals, because there is no person who has experiential knowledge of every person’s position within a given culture or society. As identities and cultures shift, so too do these positions. That being said, the work in this line of inquiry attempts to express difficult to describe emotions and feelings from my perspective and the feelings and emotions of people who are close to me within the context of the modern world. In these works, I combine figurative and abstract elements in order to establish a more poetic sense of meaning and feeling. These pieces, however, are open to the viewer’s subjective viewpoint, and though titles allude to the feelings and ideas that became relevant during their creation, I am more interested in what the viewer perceives or feels when looking at the work than I am in the ideas and feelings that the work brought up while I created it. In these works the process plays an important role. I let process direct the outcome of each piece in combination with choices I make that are not process based. I am not exactly sure what these works are about. These pieces are a journey of self-discovery. These pieces are hopefully left ambiguous and unresolved enough to let the viewer decide what they mean for themselves. I created these pieces by combining loose abstract strokes and more precise resource driven imagery. 

Inquiry 3: Portraits and copies of Master Works (Realism*)

I still believe that my artwork is important and that the work that artists do has more than just decorative value. In graduate school, I realized the value of other people’s subjective understandings of art . I think that each person can define art differently from every other person and that no person can decide for any other which definition has more value. At the core of this belief for me, is a belief in the importance of every person, and the importance of people. Given that there is a subjective component to art, if we value a person, then we must accept that each person’s ideas around art have some intrinsic value. Drawing and painting my friends, family, and artists at work is a practice I have continued throughout my life that inspires me to keep creating and helps me celebrate and understand the people in my life and the artists I most admire. This practice runs concurrently with my practice of drawing and painting master works in museums. By drawing and painting the works of artists that most move and influence me, I am learning from others and growing as an artist while sharing the work that is most important to me.

*I am intentionally referring here to a set of proposed beliefs that loosely define the Realist artists of the mid to late 1800s as described by Linda Nochlin

Inquiry 4: The figure (what lies within)

An interest in the physical human body lies at the core of my art work. I initially focused on the human figure during my undergraduate years at the University of Georgia from 1992-1997. For several of these years I was a dance minor and I was a figure model for art classes while I made figure drawings myself. The human body- to me- is so completely awe inspiring and miraculous. Later in life, (2006-2008 BS in biology from the University of Oregon) I explored the human body as a biologist and a science teacher (MEd 2008-2009). I see connections at both the observational and internal level and am deeply interested in the intersection between the inner and outer anatomy, our lives at the cellular level- and neurological level, or our lives from an evolutionary and cultural perspective. To me these understandings are not separate from the physical manifestations of our external bodies. Is my brain not a physical entity rife with predispositions that have evolved in populations over time? Am I not, at core, an individual organism within the large group Animalia? Within these distinctions lie the mysteries of the societies we create along with their mythologies that allow humans to perpetrate the most horrible and most noble acts. For me a drawing of a naked or nude person carries the entire 4.5 billion year history of probiotic and biotic life, and though its complexity defies easy interpretation, the beauty of the human figure can not be denied. Before covid, I was attending life model drawing sessions at Montgomery College and the Yellow Barn, and during covid I started using models from social media to continue my figure practice.

Why I created this work 

I am proud to share this body of work with the world as a formal introduction to who I am as”TheGroovyVandal”, a moniker that I had no choice but to accept after my peers and supporters of the brand regularly refer to me as such. 

Within this body of work, I’ve experimented with various styles including pop art, graffiti, abstract, calligraphy, and my take on a fusion of cubism and neo-traditional tattoo style. The merging of the styles is explored though a diverse collection of subjects I experienced first hand: mental health, fatherhood and family, fat phobia, racism, Bawduhmore, intimacy and the nuances of the Black male identity.

Jerome Chester (he/him), who also is known by his artistic moniker “TheGroovyVandal” is a visual artist and multidisciplinary creative from Baltimore, Maryland. 

A proud West Baltimore native, Jerome makes a point to remind the world of his origin through his work. He says “I always love for Bawduhmore (Baltimore) to show up in my work—it’s a character, a culture, a lifestyle that I take a lot of pride and joy in. This plays an integral part in my upbringing and inspiration in my work.” 

From discovering his artistic self at a young age until now, Jerome has found himself to be a creative of many trades. Quilting and textiles, graphic design, street art and more, art has no limits when it’s in the hands of this artist. 

When it comes to finding his way as an artist, Chester attributes it to his experience in Baltimore City’s public school system. “I went to a very underfunded liberal arts high school where I had 2 teachers who believed in me and tried to hone my artistry to the best of their ability. Introducing to me a world that I didn’t know existed, it felt as if I fell into a rabbit hole and I’ve been tumbling 

deeper and deeper ever since. That was the introduction of my art life and it’s been a very colorful one.” 

Since then, Jerome has made his mark on Baltimore’s art scene through solo and group exhibitions, as a mentor to the city’s next generation of artists, as a muralist beautifying Baltimore’s neighborhoods, and so much more.

Environmental artist Stephanie Garon uses century-old rock cores extracted from a mine in northeastern Maine to explore the interruption of nature by humanity. Since Baltimore houses over 100 mines, the two cities share concerns over indigenous land access, impact on local economy, and environmental stability. Themes of claim, labor, and permanence in each artwork reflect humanity's need to protect precious natural resources.

Biography

Stephanie Garon received dual science degrees from Cornell University, then attended Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Her environmental art has been exhibited internationally in London, Colombia, South Korea, as well as across the United States. Her writing, a critical aspect of her artistic process, has been published in international literary journals and her chapbook, ACREAGE, was published by Akinoga Press in December 2021 and is available at Politics & Prose Bookstore. She is a Hamiltonian Gallery Fellow, a National Park Service Artist-in-Residence in the Everglades, and recipient of a Puffin Foundation Environmental Art grant.


Artist Statement
​
​As a five year old, I tagged along with my father to "hamfests,” radio operator gatherings held in county fair parking lots. Cars would pop open their trunks like overflowing treasure chests filled with electronic wares: old radio boxes, computer boards, cables, monitors, soldering irons. It was an oasis in the heart of wooded valleys.

Years later, when I’m welding and smelling the rusty steel odor of the studio, I am driving down those dusty roads again. My artwork investigates the vulnerability of nature to humanity. The juxtaposition of natural objects against industrial materials exposes dichotomies of formality/fragility and permanence/impermanence. The natural materials, sourced by hand locally, convey themes of claim, women’s labor, and time.

As ecologically motivated interventions, the physical process of decomposition becomes evident as the artworks change over time and emphasizes the fragility of nature. These abstracted expressions visualize an uneasy truce. A contemporary twist on the Arte Povera movement, my work addresses climate crisis politics, and mediates attention to the materials themselves.

Whether the viewer witnesses the changing installation or navigates their movement around these sculptures, the contemplative space created explores how we, as people, interrupt the natural world around us.

http://www.garonstudio.com/

Sign-up here

Patrick Kluga graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2001, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts  in Painting, Cum Laude. He works full time as a decorative contractor since 2004, involved in restoration  of historic buildings and creating custom decorative finishes, murals, and hand painted signs for  commercial and residential clients. He lives and works from his studio in Towson, Maryland. 

In my paintings, I am interested in more contemporary representational approaches to rendering the  subjects which I paint. I alternate between working from life and photography, whichever method suits  the aim, in the end, of capturing what I see into the medium of oil on canvas. 

In working from life, I set up still life arrangements in the studio based off of food subjects and modern  objects and arrangements, and thinking about the compositions of such still life painters as Jean Baptiste  Simeon Chardin, as well as more contemporary influences. 

I also began painting desserts and cakes several years ago from photography, and I then began painting  ice cream cones from photographs I had taken. I find these paintings to be euphoric and visceral, while  activating a carefree visual experience. I enjoy painting the light as it moves across the forms, the  glistening, frosty, dripping caverns created by the cones. I consider these subjects halfway between the  landscape and the portrait. 

My other works explore contemporary imagery filtered into a painterly language. I use gathered photo  references such as polaroid photos, with their deeply expressive contrasts of black and white. I also  have been fascinated by the painterly pinups of Gil Elvgren, in which I transpose the crisp edged figures  upon a graffiti like surface to create arresting contrasts between imagery of different generations. 

In my mind, painting remains elevated beyond other forms of imagery that bombard our attention on a  daily basis. The handmade quality of the painted surface, the sense of timelessness in a painted scene,  and the relationship created between the creator, subject and the viewer of the artwork are qualities  which continue to inspire.

Sign-up here

Growing up Morgan DePena always been a creative person. After recently purchasing a home with it’s own artist studio she embraced this part of herself whole heartily. The studio is full of light and inspiration. It’s given Morgan a chance to devote this space to her creativity allowing her to focus and explore.

During the last two years many people have picked up new hobbies, went back to school or started a new career. DePena turned to her art where she was able to be playful while finding relaxation and joy. 

She set out to paint things that played with texture and shapes with a realistic subject. Morgan wanted to show something that was joyful and cohesive in style. She painted with acrylic on canvas while exploring different textural mediums.