Community Calendar

This focus exhibition of 10 works explores the relationship between burning fossil fuels—namely, coal—and the emergence of European modernism. Drawing on research conducted by climate scientists and art historians, the exhibition presents a range of paintings and works on paper by Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, James McNeill Whistler, and others to explore the ways that their artistic practices and style emerged, in part, in response to widespread pollution in London and Paris.
Presented as part of the Turn Again to the Earth environmental initiative.

In this focus exhibition of approximately 20 photographs, prints, drawings, and textiles, the natural environment is a source of creative inspiration worth celebrating and protecting.

Works by artists such as Winslow Homer, Richard Misrach, Charles Sheeler, and Kiki Smith, among many others, depict the elements of air, water, earth, and fire and address broader themes of ecological awareness and preservation. These themes range from how artists have used visual language to convey the act of locating oneself in nature; works that depict natural forms through the physical integration of environmental components; and artists’ commentary on sites of environmental disaster, the sociopolitical ramifications of human impact, and the potential of symbiotic healing for this planet and its occupants.

More than 50 works on paper investigate how artists working in Europe and French-occupied northern Africa watched and participated as nature became a resource for people to hoard or share.

Drawn from the BMA’s George A. Lucas Collection, this exhibition of 19th-century art foregrounds the many ways that human relationships, including imperialism and capitalism, affect the environment. Deconstructing Nature is organized thematically, focusing on five environments and the ways artists explored them in their work: The Desert, The Forest, The Field, The City, and The Studio.

Born and raised in Baltimore, George A. Lucas (1824–1909) spent most of his adult life immersed in the Parisian art world and amassed a personal collection of nearly 20,000 works of art. In 1996, the BMA, with funds from the State of Maryland and the generosity of numerous individuals in the community, purchased the George A. Lucas Collection, which had been on extended loan to the Museum for more than 60 years.

For thousands of years, East Asia’s cultures have viewed human life as part of a much larger system that encompasses the natural world. Drawn from the BMA’s collection, this exhibition boasts more than 40 objects—from magnificent ink drawings to beautifully crafted stoneware and poignant contemporary photographs and prints. They bring into the galleries the mountains and seas, wild and supernatural animals, and plant life that are extensive across East Asian imagery and often carry symbolic meaning.

Works on view include robust 13th-century ceramic vessels, delicate porcelain, carved jade, intricately sewn textiles, and large-scale photography; collectively, these artworks represent the impulse to fully understand the natural world as foundational to our existence, as shaped by human life, and as an enduring metaphor of survival.

September 10 - December 6 (closed October 17 & November 26 -29)
Gallery Hours: Monday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Opening reception Wednesday, September 10, 7:30 p.m.

How have recent upheavals—from the pandemic to global conflicts, amplified by media—reshaped our private lives? How do personal memories become collective history? In a world forever changed, how do we find our way forward? Elaine Qiu’s awe-inspiring installation of painting, video, and sound invites visitors into a multi-sensory exploration of communal consciousness, connection, and healing in a fragmented, post-pandemic world.
For parking information visit towson.edu/parking/visitors

On View: September 12 - December 6 (closed Oct. 17 & Nov. 25 - 29)
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.

The work in this exhibition compresses and expands expectations of depth as moderated by a post-image visual culture. The artists adhere to neither medium nor dimensional restrictions, but manipulate the viewer’s relationship to the image as a temporal document, compressed and fractured, through the singular eye of the lens. This expectation, no longer warranted in the age of computer generated images, becomes a fallacy of both the eye and of the language used to comprehend it. The image is untethered from representation and logical spatial association. Spatial continuity and discontinuity run amok in playful fracture--the work pushes and prods the amorphous opening left in the wake of this rupture; what was flat is unmoored of grounding, what was solid is now compressed.

Reception September 11 following the 6:30 p.m. lecture.
For parking information visit towson.edu/parking/visitors

On View: October 24 - December 6 (closed November 25 - 29)
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Reception October 23 following 6:30 p.m. lecture.
Artist talk October 29 at 12 noon in the Holtzman MFA Gallery

Enjoy the works of Alexis Ibry and Zachary Diaz.
Alexis Irby collects physical evidence of places and moments, bringing them together into a constellation of disparate memories. Her sculptures encourage a sense of absurdity by documenting aspects of reality in ambiguous combinations. She highlights the interconnectedness of the physical world and the encompassing layers we cannot fully perceive in her exhibit Manifesting the Unheard Layers of Reality.
Zachary Diaz presents MOTUS an interplay of color, movement, and texture through large-scale oil paintings, drawings, and monotypes by blending intuition and intention. The artworks emerge as intuitive puzzles, balancing spontaneous marks with deliberate layering to evoke emotional responses. With a classical training foundation and heavy influence of abstract expressionist techniques, Diaz’s work uncovers hidden narratives with seemingly simple marks.

THE THANKSGIVING PLAY

BY LARISSA FASTHORSE
DIRECTED BY SUZANNE BEAL

NOVEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 7

Preview November 6
ASL Interpreted Performance November 14

Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions in this biting satire, as a troupe of performatively “woke” thespians scrambles to create a pageant that somehow manages to celebrate both Turkey Day and Native American Heritage Month without any cultural stumbles.

Experience the pinnacle of Baroque sacred music with Bach’s monumental Mass in B Minor. Majestic, deeply spiritual, and musically breathtaking, this masterwork weaves together intricate choral writing, powerful solos, and transcendent orchestration. Performed in the stunning acoustics of St. Joseph Parish, this special concert is a soul-stirring journey through one of the greatest achievements in Western music.

For five decades, 9-time GRAMMY®-nominated saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist/composer/bandleader Gerald Albright has put his serpentine-fired, solo signature on many of the greatest hits of the latter half of the twentieth century; from Patrice Rushen’s “Forget Me Nots,” to Quincy Jones’ “Setembro.” And, he’s been one of the most accomplished contemporary jazz and R&B artists on the scene, as evidenced by his 20 albums as a leader. Playing both sax and bass, he became the consummate session and touring musician, working with everyone from Anita Baker, Ray Parker, Jr., Atlantic Starr, The Temptations and Maurice White to Les McCann, Phil Collins, Teena Marie, the Winans and Whitney Houston. The inimitable combination of soul, groove, funk, smooth melodic dexterity, and jaw-dropping jazz virtuosity are what defines Albright as a “musician’s musician.”

For more showtimes, please see our ticket listing.