BMA Announces 2023 JJC Summer Artists in Residence at MICA: Nicoletta Darita de la Brown and Charles Mason III

BMA affiliate Joshua Johnson Council initiative embeds artists at MICA for six weeks

BALTIMORE, MD (May 10, 2023)—The Baltimore Museum of Art, (BMA), Joshua Johnson Council (JJC), and the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) today announced Nicoletta Daríta de la Brown and Charles Mason III have been selected for the 2023 Summer Artist-in-Residence program at MICA jointly sponsored by the three organizations. Launched in 2022, the residency program provides selected artists the opportunity to work in MICA’s Fred Lazarus IV Studio Center Studio over the course of six weeks in June and July, allowing the artist to expand his work and scale, as well as embedding himself within the college community. Brown and Mason are both Baltimore-based artists who were selected by a four-panel jury comprised of artists Maia Chao and Jerrell Gibbs and curator Cynthia Hodge-Thorne, representing each organization, as well as James Phillips, the previous JJC artist-in-residence.

“The JJC Artist in Residence at MICA is designed to provide access and opportunity for artists at any stage in their career, to explore, expand, and even resurrect parts of their creative practice in an environment where collaboration is encouraged and opportunities are limitless,” said Antoinette Peele, JJC immediate past chair and executive committee member. “The JJC intends for this initiative to provide long-lasting intergenerational connections among artists in our community, by leveraging connections between organizations to support artists with what they actually need.”

Nicoletta Daríta de la Brown (Panamanian-American, b. 1981, Baltimore, MD) is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist and curandero chamána (shamanic practitioner). Her artworks re-conceive the life of an artist as thriving, nourishing others during and through her art practice, while healing herself in public space as a Black-Latine woman. She is a 2022-23 Public Humanities Fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s Winston Tabb Special Collections Research Center and 2023 Artist-In-Residence at the National Aquarium; as well as a “Mindfulness in Art Practice” instructor at Baltimore School for the Arts. She has performed at The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC; The Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; The Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building, Washington, DC; Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD; and Eubie Blake Cultural Center, Baltimore, MD. Exhibitions of Brown’s video artworks and installations have been presented at the Tribeca Film Festival, New York, NY; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; and numerous regional galleries. Her work is in the collections of The Sheridan Libraries at Johns Hopkins University and GLB Memorial Foundation Collection, among others.

Charles Mason III (b. 1990, Baltimore, MD) is an artist and curator who creates abstractions around identity politics and the “performative act of blackness” experienced and manifested through physical materials. Solo exhibitions of his work include Screaming in Silence, My Salvation is Love (The End) at Anna Zorina Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2022); Goya Contemporary Gallery, Baltimore, MD (2021); and Spillway Collective, Philadelphia, PA, (2019). He has participated in group exhibitions at The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY; Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI; and Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL; among others. He has work in the permanent collections of the James E. Lewis Museum of Art in Baltimore, Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. He is also a recipient of the Maurice Freed Memorial Prize from the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia. Mason received his BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and his Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

“This key initiative exemplifies how the JJC has built a dynamic, collaborative, and responsive portfolio that supports art and artists since its founding over 38 years ago,” said Dave Eassa, BMA Director of Public Engagement and JJC Liaison. “We are grateful to our partners at the Maryland Institute College of Art for building this residency with us, placing care and sustainability for artists at the forefront of all decision making and creating a platform for years to come.”

Jurors

Joshua Johnson Council

Maryland Institute College of Art

About the Baltimore Museum of Art

Founded in 1914, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) inspires people of all ages and backgrounds through exhibitions, programs, and collections that tell an expansive story of art—challenging long-held narratives and embracing new voices. Our outstanding collection of more than 97,000 objects spans many eras and cultures and includes the world’s largest public holding of works by Henri Matisse; one of the nation’s finest collections of prints, drawings, and photographs; and a rapidly growing number of works by contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds. The museum is also distinguished by a neoclassical building designed by American architect John Russell Pope and two beautifully landscaped gardens featuring an array of modern and contemporary sculpture. The BMA is located three miles north of the Inner Harbor, adjacent to the main campus of Johns Hopkins University, and has a community branch at Lexington Market. General admission is free so that everyone can enjoy the power of art.