Water Water Everywhere

The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore opened its tenth exhibition, Holy H2O: Fluid Universe. Think of all the ways in which water has an effect on your life, from the practical to the sacred: that's what the 150 works by 40 artists in this show dive into (sorry!).

A standout for me is Dedicated to Coney Island by Tom Duncan, a kinetic sculpture of Coney Island, which is complete with flashing lights, moving trains and carnival rides, and frolicking beachgoers.

Nancy Jacobson's fantasy room filled with glitter beading and sequins, dedicated to the mermaid goddess La Siren, a Haitian deity, truly will give you the feeling of the underworld. Another mermaid of note, an acrylic on paper, is by Christopher Moses.

Jonah's Sister, by Paul Edlin, is a good example of this artist's signature obsessive use of postage stamps on board. Haitian artist Frantz Zephirin has three pieces in this show, including The Last Limit Of Love.

Not to be missed on the third floor are the incredible embroidered and fabric images of Esther Nisenthal Krintz. Esther and her sister Mania were among the few Jews in their Polish village to survive the Holocaust. The 36 images present a moving story of survival. An illustrated book from Scholastic Press in in the works.

On November 13, a welcome addition to the American Visionary Art Museum, the James Rouse Center For Visionary Thought, will open. The center will house permanent installations and teaching facilities, with an outdoor amphitheater. I'll post photos after the event.

Holy H2O: Fluid Universe, at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, runs through September 4, 2005.