Fall-owing Art in Baltimore

It looks like a an interesting fall art season is under way this week. In addition to the Chelsea galleries, which I’ll see and report on in two weeks, there’s plenty to see right here in the Baltimore area. The Baltimore Museum of Art has a show entitled "A Collector's Palette: 19th-Century French Art from the Lucas Collection," an exhibit of some 200 paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and artist palettes from its Lucas Collection of French art.

One gripe of mine and many artists for that matter in the Baltimore area, has been the museum's inability to include artists from the region in exhibits of any kind. It wouldn’t be a charitable event either; we’ve got some very good art being produced here by quite a large and varied community of artists. This year an attempt is being made in the right direction with a show in the West Wing for Contemporary Art, by D.C.-based (getting closer) artist Dan Steinhilber. He’s preparing a site-specific kinetic sculpture made of styrofoam packing peanuts set into motion by industrial fans and leaf blowers. Also, "Site Maryland: Governor’s Art Initiative 2006" is another step. This is a month-long juried exhibition in which Maryland artists are invited to rethink and reinvent the exterior spaces of the museum. I hope in the near future they are allowed space in the building too.


The Grimaldis Gallery will have a memorial exhibition of the late and great landscape painter Eugene Leake, opening October 4th. I miss seeing him around town, at art events and even at the bagel shop. He was an inspiration to many and a fine painter.


The American Visionary Art Museum opens its 12th show, Home and Beast, on October 7th. It will be an exploration of the environments we create and call home and the animals we choose to share the space with.

The Walters Art Museum will be showing one of my favorite painters with their next exhibit, Courbet and the Modern Landscape. Organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum, the exhibition will focus exclusively on the landscape paintings of 1819-77.


Also keep in mind: The Exhibitionists at Gallery Imperato, featuring recent Trawick Prize winner, James Rieck, the Station North area galleries, including The Maryland Institute for upcoming events, and the Baltimore Book Festival, September 29th to October 1st.

I was at this Saturday night's opening at the Katzen Center. A total of five shows opening on one day! I’m most interested in "Life after Death: New Leipzig Paintings from the Rubell Family Collection." Katzen Director Jack Rassmusen promised free bratwurst and German beer if I bring my I.D. For free beer, I can do that, but I needed a designated driver to get home.