BALTIMORE, MD – The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced the June 27 opening of a branch location at Lexington Market, the world’s oldest continually operating public market. BMA Lexington Market is a 250-square-foot space that will host a variety of art programs and collaborative activities. The branch will host an opening reception on Wednesday, June 26, from 3 to 5 p.m., to showcase photography created by youth at the Greenmount West Community Center who worked with New Orleans-based artists Keith Calhoun and Chandra McCormick. BMA Lexington Market is located near the arcade in the East Market. It will have regular hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Admission is free.
BMA Lexington Market will encourage all visitors to explore ideas and questions on a wide range of subjects of local, regional, and national interest through art. The flexible space will feature reproductions from the BMA’s collection and offer opportunities for visitors to create and show their artistic responses, tell personal stories in video or audio that will be part of an ongoing archive, and read from and/or contribute to a non-circulating library. Every season, BMA Lexington Market will focus on a broad theme that acts as an umbrella for programs, activities, and events presented in partnership with other organizations and individuals. In honor of the historic market, the first theme will be a focus on food, including nutrition, issues of access, local foodways, and more throughout the summer. Themes will be explored from multiple viewpoints as programs and activities are designed to spur critical and timely conversations and give importance to everyone’s voice.
“For the BMA to achieve its vision to be truly of and for the community, we have to tackle issues of accessibility and audience engagement through a spectrum of approaches, both in and outside the museum walls. The opening of the BMA Lexington Market is another opportunity to connect with people and to provide programs, art presentations, and public convenings in a different environment and context, offering our community more flexibility to participate,” said Christopher Bedford, BMA Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. “This opening also builds on the BMA’s long history of operating branches to better serve the public, while creating a new opportunity for the museum to better understand how best to reach and engage with the city’s many constituents.”
Artists Keith Calhoun and Chandra McCormick have worked together for more than 30 years photographing Louisiana and its people. In conjunction with their exhibition at the BMA, the artists led a workshop for youth at the Greenmount West Community Center and will be attending the Wednesday reception to celebrate the youth’s achievements. Slavery, The Prison Industrial Complex: Photographs by Keith Calhoun & Chandra McCormick features approximately three dozen poignant, mostly black-and-white photographs and videos that document the exploitation of the men incarcerated at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, a prison that was founded on the land of several plantations. It is on view at the BMA through September 29, 2019.
Website: artbma.org
