bma announces marian glebes to produce interactive environment

Media Contacts:
Anne Brown, [email protected]
Sarah Pedroni, [email protected]
Jessica Novak, [email protected]
443-573-1870
BMA ANNOUNCES MARIAN GLEBES TO PRODUCE
INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENT FOR NEW CENTER
BALTIMORE, MD (May 7, 2015)—The Baltimore Museum of Art announced today Baltimore-based
mixed-media artist Marian Glebes, in partnership with the non-profit The Loading Dock, has been
selected for a year-long project to be produced for the museum’s new center for learning and creativity,
opening October 25, 2015.
The new center will offer a variety of imaginative art experiences, including a community commons,
where Glebes and The Loading Dock will produce artworks on the theme of ‘home.’ Marian Glebes was
selected from a shortlist of artists, including Dominic Moulden; the artist team of Joshua DeMonte,
Kimberly Hopkins, Jon Lundak & Rachel Lundak; and the team of Lauren Adams and Stewart Watson. An
RFQ was issued in January 2015. The artist/project team was selected by BMA staff and a community
advisory panel.
Seeing the BMA as a metaphoric house to Baltimore’s greatest cultural assets, Glebes anticipates
creating an interactive environment in which audiences can consider their personal relationships to the
materials of home and to the objects of the museum. The project will explore how audiences’
relationships with those materials, and their individual habitats, connect them to the larger notion of
place and environment.
Marian Glebes’ work addresses issues of urban and suburban environments, the character and power of
the artist, and the use of specific sites and art as a tool for social change. Glebes received her Bachelors
of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art and her Masters of Fine Art from the University of
Maryland Baltimore County. She has exhibited in Baltimore, Washington DC, New York City, and
Chicago. Glebes currently facilitates development in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District
and curates for several Baltimore venues and events including Artscape, Transmodern Festival, the
Metro Gallery, and The Design Conversations.
The Loading Dock (TLD) is the nation’s first successful, self-sufficient, nonprofit building materials reuse
center, packed with new and used items and architectural salvage. Motivated by the prevalence of poor
housing conditions coupled with waste in the building industry, the founders of TLD established the
nonprofit reuse clearinghouse in 1984. Donated materials, sorted and stored in the TLD’s warehouse,
are used in renovation and homeowner and rental property upkeep. They increase the supply and use of
affordable building materials for housing and community improvement by redirecting landfill-bound,
reusable materials into productive use.
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BMA Artist Announcement/news release
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The BMA’s new center will encompass five interconnected spaces, adjacent to the museum’s newly
renovated Zamoiski East Entrance and East Wing Lobby:
Interactive Exhibition Gallery: Artworks from nearly every area of the collection will be presented in an
exhibition inspired by a theme relevant to life in Baltimore. The Interactive Exhibition Gallery will debut
with 37 artworks that explore similarities and differences among diverse expressions of home.
Community Commons: This space will feature a series of free public programs and artworks, created
through collaborations with local artists and non-profit organizations.
Studio: This vibrant space for hands-on experiences will evoke the environment of a contemporary
artist’s studio and encourage invention and artistic expression among visitors of all ages.
School Group Entrance: The entrance will provide school children with a warm welcome and orientation
as they begin their museum visit.
Docent Room: The Docent Room will have art resources, materials for tours, and dedicated space for
research, study, and collaboration.
If you would like to learn more about the center for learning and creativity, please contact Ellen
Gottfried at 443-573-1816. To make a donation to support this groundbreaking project, please contact
Judy Gibbs at 443-573-1796.
THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART
The Baltimore Museum of Art is home to an internationally renowned collection of 19th-century, modern,
and contemporary art. Founded in 1914 with a single painting, the BMA today has 95,000 works of art—
including the largest holding of works by Henri Matisse in the world. Throughout the museum, visitors will
find an outstanding selection of American and European painting, sculpture, and decorative arts; prints
and drawings from the 15th century to the present; works by established and emerging contemporary
artists; and exceptional objects from Africa and Asia. Two beautifully landscaped gardens display an array
of 20th-century sculpture that is an oasis in the city. The 210,000-square-foot museum is distinguished by
a grand historic building designed in the 1920s by renowned American architect John Russell Pope. A $28
million multi-year renovation that began in 2010 has transformed galleries for contemporary, American,
African, and Asian art, and improved visitor amenities and essential infrastructure. The renovation will
conclude with a new center for art, creativity, and community opening in fall 2015 that will offer
innovative ways of engaging and interacting with art. Since 2006, the BMA has provided free general
admission so that everyone can enjoy the power of art.
Visitor Information
The Baltimore Museum of Art is open Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. –
6 p.m. The museum is closed Mondays, Tuesdays, New Year’s Day, July 4, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
The BMA is located at 10 Art Museum Drive at North Charles and 31st Streets, three miles north of Baltimore’s
Inner Harbor. For general museum information, call 443-573-1800 or visit artbma.org.
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