December 5, 3:30–5 PM, Followed by a Reception: Race Stories: Celebrating Maurice Berger
The gallery was open for a special viewing beginning at 2:30 PM.
This program celebrated the life and legacy of Maurice Berger (1956–2020), who was a research professor and chief curator at the Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture at UMBC (CADVC) until his death in 2020.
CADVC announced the launch of the Maurice Berger CADVC Program Fund, supporting the exploration of, and research into, histories of race, representation, and justice in visual culture, with the goal of creating accessible public programming.
On this occasion, the event also celebrated the publication of “RACE STORIES: Essays on the Power of Images,” a collection of award-winning essays by Maurice Berger, written during his tenure at CADVC. Co-published by Aperture and The New York Times, the book examines the influential role of photography in shaping ideas and attitudes about race.
Event participants included Marvin Heiferman, Berger’s husband and editor of the volume, as well as Aruna D’Souza, Maleke Glee, Sarah Lewis, Lowery Stokes Sims, and many others.
For more information, please visit this page.
December 5: Celebrated the Publication of “Cockeysville to Baltimore” Booklet
On December 5, the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture celebrated the release of “Cockeysville to Baltimore,” a special booklet accompanying the exhibition “Levester Williams: All Matters Aside,” which had been on view since September 20. The exhibition was curated by Lisa D. Freiman, professor of art history at Virginia Commonwealth University.
The booklet featured the essay “Scrubbed Clean: The Pursuit of Purity in Baltimore” by Michelle Diane Wright, examining the histories of racial inequity and the cultural imaginary of Cockeysville marble in Baltimore. The publication marked the inaugural project funded by the Maurice Berger CADVC Program Fund, supporting research into histories of race, representation, and justice in visual culture, with the goal of creating accessible public programming.
This celebration took place as part of a December 5 tribute to Maurice Berger.
November 5, 10 AM–5 PM: Election Day Creativity at the CADVC Gallery
On Tuesday, November 5, from 10 AM to 5 PM, the Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture (CADVC) hosted a collaborative drawing activity in the Fine Arts Building, Room 105. No additional materials were needed, as all art supplies were provided.
Held on Election Day in the US, the event aimed to offer a space for creative expression and respite for UMBC community members. While democratic participation is both a privilege and a responsibility, it can be stressful or difficult for some. The CADVC provided this event as an opportunity for the UMBC community to unwind with art supplies and calming music. For those not inclined to draw or color, the exhibition, Levester Williams: all matters aside, served as a quiet and contemplative space for reflection.
October 30, 12–1:30 PM: IMDA Welcome Event
On October 30, 2024, from 12–1:30 pm, the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture hosted an event to welcome the new Intermedia and Digital Arts (IMDA) Graduate Students. The event featured micro research talks by artists such as Mary Ryan Budnitz, a Baltimore-based animator who explores themes of body positivity through digital animation using the monstrous and fantasy, and Jaslyn Tabourne, a multimedia artist inspired by her faith to create narrative works. Filmmakers Brittney Barbour and María Sánchez shared insights into their video art, and Rokhsareh Alvandi presented aspects of her multidisciplinary practice influenced by her Iranian heritage. The talks were followed by a mixer, with refreshments provided.
September 19, 2024: Opening of Levester Williams: All Matters Aside
The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture presented the early-career survey Levester Williams: All Matters Aside, an exhibition curated by Lisa D. Freiman, professor of art history at Virginia Commonwealth University. The exhibition was on view at the CADVC gallery from September 20 through December 14, 2024.
The opening event took place on September 19 from 5 to 7 pm, featuring Levester Williams alongside Michelle Diane Wright, followed by a gallery tour with Lisa D. Freiman.
Public Programs for the 2024 Visual Arts Senior Exhibition:
May 21st, 5-7 pm: Join us for the Artists’ Reception and Awards Presentation!
Please visit this webpage to find out more about this exhibition.
VIdeo art projection gallery Demos
“dreaming of a beyond: Baltimore (2021-2024)”
4K color video/video installation still
On select evenings in late February and early March, 2024, UMBC visitors received a sneak peek of a new public video art gallery! Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture (CADVC), the research center and art gallery based at the College of Art, Humanities, and Social Sciences, ran “demos” for a new video art projection gallery in the Fine Arts Building amphitheater. The work featured in these demonstrations was Levester Williams’s “dreaming of a a beyond: Baltimore” (2021-2024)
Public Programs for the Not Grounded: the 2024 IMDA MFA Thesis Exhibition:
April 4, 5-7pm Opening reception of the Not-Grounded, the 2024 IMDA MFA Thesis Exhibition
The UMBC IMDA (Intermedia and Digital Arts) Masters Program presented “Not Grounded,” the 2024 IMDA MFA Thesis Exhibition. Opening with a public reception on April 4, 5-7pm, the thesis exhibition featured four artists with diverse artistic practices and approaches: Elly Kalantari, Andrew Liang, Kristin Putchinski and A. M. Zellhofer.
April 17, 11-1pm Elly Kalantari thesis defense
April 18, 12-1pm RKTL Lecture: Elly Kalantari
April 23, 3-5pm Andrew Liang thesis defense (online)
Was streamed live on the IMDA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UMBC.IMDA.
April 25, 11-1pm Ann Zellhofer thesis defense
All events were free and open to the public.
Please note: MFA Thesis defenses were required to be conducted in a closed-door room according to university protocols. After a defense began, audiences were not admitted, and were requested not to exit, for the duration of the first full hour.
Launch of Oletha DeVane: Spectrum of Light and Spirit!
February 1, 4pm Eastern Time: Webinar book launch, featuring Oletha DeVane, Lowery Stokes Sims, Christopher Kojzar, and Serubiri Moses.
Among the works presented here is a large-scale carved sculpture, N’Kisi Woman—Universal N’Kisi (2021–22); nkisi is a Kongo cultural figure invested with sacred energy. The work reflects DeVane’s fascination with how materials convey meaning and reemerge as myths and memories.
“Oletha DeVane is a wayfinder and a storyteller,” says the retrospective’s curator, Lowery Stokes Sims. “Over the last five decades as she has traveled in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, she has been inspired by the stories and characters she encounters, bringing the unexpected to light, while finding new nuances in the old and familiar, and unexpected correlations among those varied cultures.”
Oletha DeVane: Spectrum of Light and Spirit is available for pre-order now through D.A.P.!
Public Programs for the Spectrum of Process: 2024 UMBC Faculty Exhibition: February 9-March 2, 2024:
The Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture (CADVC) was pleased to present “Spectrum of Process,” an exhibition highlighting a range of UMBC faculty approaches to art and culture through rigorous, experimental processes. The exhibition was interdisciplinary, including works of fine art, design, pedagogy, and the visual culture of research.
February 8, 6pm: Opening reception!
The faculty, staff, and students involved in “Spectrum of Process” gathered for a celebratory reception.
February 14, noon: Research and Process, featuring faculty and students involved in the “Can You Catch a Deep Fake?” and “Artifacts” research projects
Researchers Lee Boot, Christine Mallinson, and their research teams held intimate discussions about two critical research activities at UMBC, focused on the topics of climate science and Deep Fake audio technologies. Both of these interdisciplinary research activities used visualization strategies to interpret and understand important changes in our environment and culture. The format of the conversation was a gallery tour followed by Q+A.
February 21, noon: Julie Sayo, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, presented Babayin Writing Workshop!
Julie Sayo, a Filipino-American graphic designer and educator, led an interactive workshop to learn Baybayin writing and her research.
Public Programs for the States of Becoming, September 22–December 9, 2023:
An opening reception was held on Thursday, September 21, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. A 6 p.m. panel discussion featured Chukwudumebi Gabriel Amadi-Emina, Elshafei Dafalla, and Helina Metaferia, moderated by Maleke Glee, director of Stable Gallery in Washington, D.C. Exhibition curator Fitsum Shebeshe provided an introduction.
Please visit here for additional information.
On Thursday, October 26 at 5 p.m., the CADVC presented a conversation with the curator, Fitsum Shebeshe, and Jessica Bell Brown, curator at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The discussion, moderated by Rhea Beckett, founding director at Black Artist Research Space, focused on curatorial approaches to African diasporic experience and migration.
Please visit here for additional information.
Public Programs for Sarah Kanouse: My Electric Genealogy
November 10 at 6pm.
My Electric Genealogy, written, produced and performed by Sarah Kanouse; sound design by Jacob Ross.
Part storytelling, part lecture, and part live documentary film, Sarah Kanouse’s solo performance My Electric Genealogy explores the shifting cultures and politics of energy in Los Angeles through the lens of her own family. For nearly forty years, her grandfather designed, planned, and supervised the spider-vein network of lines connecting the city to its distant sources of power: rivers that are now drying up and power plants that are finally coming down. This physical infrastructure subtended diffuse “infrastructures of feeling” that included assumptions of perpetual growth and closely held beliefs about nature, gender, race, and progress. The performance weaves together signal moments in the city’s history, episodes of her grandfather’s life, anxious fantasies about a climate-challenged future, and stories of resistance and reinvention in the face of extraction.
The presentation of My Electric Genealogy at CADVC is co-sponsored by the Center for Innovation, Research and Creativity in the Arts (CIRCA) and the Dresher Center for the Humanities.
Please visit here for more information.
Public Programs for Tahir Hemphill: Rap Research Lab
“Tahir Hemphill: Rap Research Lab” showcased an artist who proudly occupied a space that he described as the “hybrid area between art, technology, social engagement, and interdisciplinary research.” A technologist, researcher, facilitator, designer, and artist, Hemphill’s UMBC faculty fellowship in Visual Arts from 2021-2023 fostered experimentation and learning through visual and material explorations of geographies of Hiphop.
February 23, 2pm: Robot Arm Demonstration
Dr. Foad Hamidi, UMBC Human-Centered Computing, and Tahir Hemphill, UMBC Visual Arts, discussed their shared interests in participatory digital research of media and cultural systems. The session included a demo of choreography for a mechanized robotic arm based on Hiphop data analysis by Hemphill as part of his series “Maximum Distance, Minimum Displacement.”
March 16, 6pm: On Institutions (Dub Remix)
Artist Tahir Hemphill and CADVC Director and exhibition curator Dr. Rebecca Uchill discussed the exhibition “Rap Research Lab.” The discussion was followed by an open gallery visit accompanied by a DJ mix.
Public Programs for Exploration into Public Art Projection
During the spring semester of 2023, CADVC explored a possible public art event or video projection series in the amphitheater connected to the Center. With the support of the Maryland State Arts Council’s public art planning grant, CADVC organized public events related to this inquiry.
Saturday, February 25, 1pm: When Public Art is More than Sculpture
While artists across all mediums engage in making public art, the ways of engaging publics often differ. Audiences, strategies, methods can vary wildly. For artists developing works, the questions can compound: Are communities fully engaged? Is nature truly preserved? Is this work achieving its intended goal?
When Public Art is More than Sculpture convenes a vibrant discussion on these questions and more featuring four pillars of Baltimore’s cultural landscape — painter and environmental engineer Se Jong Cho; poet and educator Sylvia Jones; public artist Graham Coreil-Allen; and Teri Henderson, Arts and Culture Editor of Baltimore Beat — facilitated by Rahne Alexander (UMBC IMDA MFA ’21).
March 30, 6-7pm
Special spotlight on CADVC Community Outreach: Saturday, May 28th, 2022
On Saturday, May 28th, 2022, CADVC participated in a Community Outreach event that celebrated the beauty of Baltimore City’s Latino Community through the art of storytelling. The event provided an opportunity for attendees to remember their roots and history while engaging with the rich cultural traditions of the community.
To learn more about this past event, click here.