Current Exhibition:

6th Annual Curators’ Incubator

through October 25, 2008

James Phillips,
Flowers for Jeff (detail) >

Images, above from top: Artist William Nathaniel Thomas IV discusses his work; Curator Zoma Wallace speaks about AFRIKATALYST; curator Rebecca Weber presents Invisible Omniscience: Seeing and the Seen

The 6th Annual Curators’ Incubator is an invaluable program designed to assist curators with limited experience through the process of presenting an exhibition at MAP. From providing guidance on how to further develop their exhibition proposals, to helping to strengthen their curatorial writing in preparation for publication in a program catalogue, curators are mentored by MAP staff and members of its Program Advisory Committee (PAC) throughout this intensive year-long process.

Co-curators Zoma Wallace and T. Shareen Dash presented AFRIKATALYST, an exhibition of art and performance based on an art movement that is “heavily informed by scientific, historical, and sociological scholarship and is infused with cultural nuances of the Afrikan Diaspora.” Participating artists include: Johnnie Bess, Christian Braneon, Jonathan Edwards, Akil E. Kennedy, Nate Mathews, James Phillips, William Nathaniel Thomas IV, and Jeffrey Vinson.

Curator Rebecca Weber presented Invisible Omniscience: Seeing and the Seen, an exhibition that addresses the ubiquitous use of surveillance in contemporary society and the issues that are raised regarding security and a person's civil liberties. Participating artists include: William Betts, Christa Erickson, Leslie Furlong, Brendan Howell, Frank Klein, and Eric Parnes.

Learn more about Curators’ Incubator

Upcoming:
The 7 Deadly Sins

MAP’s Annual Fall Benefit, Silent Auction, and Gala

Friday, November 7 @ 7pm

Exhibition dates: November 7-15, 2008

MAP’s fall benefit, The Seven Deadly Sins, is scheduled for Friday, November 7th.  Inspired by guilt-free decadence, the evening will feature an unforgettable sit-down dinner, live performances, and an exhibition of incredible art created by the area’s most important artists and chosen specifically for the event. Artwork will be made available through a silent auction, and guests will be invited to bid on highly original, one-of-a-kind packages and specially-selected artwork in a live auction. Proceeds will directly support MAP’s ongoing programming and the thousands of artists the organization serves annually. MAP values the contributions of participating artists, and returns 40% of the proceeds of artwork sales to them.

Upcoming:
Framed Reality

December 2 - January 31, 2009

Friday, December 12, 2008:
Gallery Talk 6 pm /
Reception 7pm

work by Daniel Finch >

A painting exhibition featuring the work of four figurative painters who draw inspiration from various sources, including childhood memories, folklore, and narrative. Although distinctly different in their approach and painting styles, each artist’s work will evoke a unique and highly personal response from viewers.

Q&A

with artist Lillian Bayley Hoover

Interview by Emily Hunter

Lillian Bayley Hoover is an artist and educator based in Baltimore. Lillian's saturated large-scale paintings feature seemingly innocent scenerios, colored with political undertones. Her works have been featured locally and nationally, most recently in a solo exhibition at Randolph Macon College's Flippo Gallery. Lillian's work will be included in Maryland Art Place's upcoming benefit The Seven Deadly Sins. You do not want to miss your chance to bid on the work of this up-and-coming artist.

Your paintings have this slick super-smooth surface and shallow depth of field, and in many ways remind me of photography. Can you talk about this aspect, and your process for creating the works?

This began with an interest in how we perceive and understand photographs in the news, which basically function as visual “sound bites.” In an effort to slow down the process of absorbing these images, I turned to painting to impart that “slow speed” of absorption. But it is also important to me to emphasize the transformation that occurs when an image is run through a cycle of mediums, its message altered each time by translation and by the translator’s agenda.

An image begins as a real event, which is photographed by an AP news reporter, and published in a newspaper. I then shrink this image and install it in the miniature stage set I have assembled, photograph the scene, and render this photograph as a painting.

It is impossible for a viewer to gain a “true” understanding of the original event from the resulting image, given the extensive processing it has undergone. This serves as a metaphor for the filtering process through which we consent to derive our knowledge of the world on a daily basis.

Not all of my paintings include images taken from the news, but the process of transformation remains important. With each translation from one medium to the next, the distance grows larger between the viewer and the subject, suggesting the difficulty of truly understanding his or her experience.

How is the current political climate shaping your newest work?

This body of paintings is really a direct response to the ongoing tragedy that is the war in Iraq, and the various ways in which we have experienced that tragedy. Toy dolls represent American citizens, living in the uneasy utopia of a model world. External signifiers suggesting a greater embattled reality interrupt this world, imposing themselves on the viewer. Ultimately, the subject of these paintings is how we come to understand our place in the world and how we experience our country’s actions, particularly its foreign policy.

What do you feel is the role of the artist in society?

I don’t know that I have a comprehensive answer to that question. But to answer in part, I have to quote Hans Haacke, who exhorts us to “never leave politics to the politicians. Aside from the trouble this can get us into, such abdication would also be in conflict with generally held notions of democracy.”

Artists can play a significant political role in times such as these. As a nation, we are in a frightened, vulnerable, and morally ambiguous position. The urge to critically consider our individual roles and responses in this climate is somewhat undermined by the pacifying effects of consumer and entertainment culture, or suppressed outright by an overreaching government.

I feel that one important function of the artist is to foster dialogue about such conflict, not in an effort to provide tidy answers, but rather to ask awkward, potentially uncomfortable questions.

What do you hope that people take away from your work?

I hope people will reflect on the many different experiences that collectively tell the story of the Iraq War, realize that the effects of this war are going to be long-lasting on many different levels, and understand that as individuals we cannot simply close the newspaper or turn off the news to make it all go away. I hope people will choose to be engaged and pay attention to what the government is doing in their name.

Political art is often criticized for being overly simplistic or didactic. Have you noticed this in contemporary works? Do you feel this is something you have to negotiate in your work?

Yes, absolutely. I agree with the critique that much political art is overly simplistic and didactic, to its detriment. But I also believe there is a place for work that is really overt in its message.

My goal is to make work that is aesthetically pleasing, multivalent, and has an ability to reach out to individuals who disagree with the work.

One strategy I often favor is to visually “seduce” the viewer prior to revealing my hand. A viewer that is not predisposed to agree with the work might be more inclined to consider its message after having already committed a few moments looking at the painting—it becomes just a little bit harder to reject. The slick, super-smooth surface you mentioned earlier, in combination with the bright plastic colors, and the sometimes “sweet” first impression that comes with the dolls, is something of an attempt to win the viewer over in this way.

images (from top to bottom):

left column: Newspaper Blush, Barracks

right column: Waiting, Untitled (Tanker), War TV

To see more of Lillian Bayley Hoover's work, please visit her website: www.lillianhoover.com

MAP Welcomes Fall Interns!

Sheena Callage recently graduated from Towson University with a degree in Graphic Design. Undecided about her future after graduation, Sheena has elected to participate in various internships to expand her professional skills. While at MAP, she would like to gain an understanding of how to run an art gallery and put together successful exhibitions. When not interning, she enjoys taking photos and keeping her hands busy with assorted crafts. Sheena caught the traveling bug after studying abroad in Florence last summer. She would like to continue to travel, learning more languages in the process.

Nicole Oidick, born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, is a recent graduate of Towson University’s photography department. Having had a taste of the “real world” through various internships and jobs she has decided to attend graduate school next fall for Art Administration. Through the internship at MAP she looks forward to learning the inner-workings of a successful not-for-profit art gallery with a goal to grant local artists the opportunity to exhibit work. Nicole is eager to acquire skills that will benefit her chosen career path while becoming more involved in the Baltimore art scene.

MSAC Visual Artists' Registry

Are you an artist?  The Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) Visual Artists’ Registry is an important resource, available free of charge to artists in the Mid-Atlantic region. The Registry, which is housed and maintained by Maryland Art Place, includes profiles for over 2,900 artists in a searchable online database.
 
As a part of the MSAC Online Registry, your profile will be accessible to curators, galleries, patrons of the arts, artists, and the general public.

The Registry works to showcase and promote area artists, leading many artists to make important professional contacts in order to sell and/or exhibit their work.

Visit the MSAC Visual Artists' Online Registry