Elizabeth Talford Scott Community Celebration

This event is now sold out. Seating in the BMA Auditorium is first come, first served.

 

Celebrate the art, life, and legacy of Elizabeth Talford Scott during an afternoon inspired by the Eyewinkers, Tumbleturds, and Candlebugs exhibition and No Stone Left Unturned: The Elizabeth Talford Scott Initiative.

Join us for a live rendition of Floating on a Thread, the exhibition’s music commission produced and performed by Bashi Rose and Adam Holofcener, with performers Michele Blu, Akilah Divine, Scott Patterson, and Cheyanne Zadia. Hear from MICA’s Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS) instructor Deyane Moses and former program participant and educator Mygenet T. Harris as they share the impact, process, and history of the EDS program, and meet artists, educators, students, community leaders, and innovators during a reception catered by Xquisite Catering.

This event will include ASL interpretation and live captioning by Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services. The auditorium is wheelchair accessible and assistive listening devices are available.

Schedule

2 p.m. – Auditorium doors open

2:30 p.m. – Program begins

3:30 p.m. – Reception in Fox Court

No Stone Left Unturned: The Elizabeth Talford Scott Initiative

This initiative brings together five museums and four university sites across Baltimore City for a reunion of artist Elizabeth Talford Scott’s work from February through May 2024. Students from the participating colleges—Coppin State University, Johns Hopkins University, MICA, and Morgan State University—worked on a presentation of Talford Scott’s work for their gallery spaces and organized a free public program. Under the guidance of 2023-24 EDS Instructor Deyane Moses, the students determined the curatorial direction of their presentation, drawing out connections to each organization’s collection, space, history, and/or audience.

EDS (Exhibition Development Seminar)

Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS) is the capstone course for MICA’s undergraduate Curatorial Studies Concentration. The course examines the curatorial process through the research, planning, and production of a major exhibition. Students serve as curators, designers, and educators as they develop and implement proposals for the exhibit’s graphic and exhibit designs, interpretive texts, public programs, community outreach, website, publications, and public relations strategy. Fall semester is devoted to the conceptualization and development of the artistic, design, and educational components for the exhibition in the spring semester.

Presenters

Deyane Moses

Deyane Moses is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and curator living in Baltimore, Maryland. In 2019, she exposed the hidden racist history of the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her innovative archive, “The Maryland Institute Black Archive,” along with a groundbreaking exhibition and compelling demonstration, effectively brought the issue of institutional racism to a broader audience. In 2020, Deyane established Blackives, LLC, a platform dedicated to serving Black communities with research, archival expertise, design services, and transformative programs. Currently, Deyane serves as the Curator of Archives at AFRO Charities Inc., a non-profit organization committed to preserving and making accessible the archives of the AFRO American Newspapers. She is a former participant in the EDS program and takes immense pride in her role as its instructor–nurturing the next generation of scholars and change-makers.

Mygenet Tesfaye Harris

Mygenet Tesfaye Harris is a versatile Ethiopian American artist-educator who explores mediums such as painting, printmaking, fiber, and sculpture works. Her artistic journey flourished with her undergraduate/graduate studies at MICA. One of the highlights of Mygenet’s time at MICA was her curatorial internship with Curator George Ciscle for the powerful exhibition of Mother Scott’s quilts and fiberworks. Mygenet has had the opportunity to showcase her work in the Smithsonian museums and galleries in the DMV area. These exhibitions have provided her a platform to share her artistic voice and collaborate with fellow artists. Most recently she had a chance to study and work with profound artist Oletha DeVane, which led to an exhibition of spirit sculptures here at the BMA. Mygenet has dedicated herself to teaching emerging artists for the last 25 years. As a co-coordinator and instructor for the MCPS Visual Art Center at Albert Einstein High School, she plays a crucial role in fostering aspiring young artists’ growth and artistic development.

Performers

Bashi Rose

Bashi Rose, founder of Konjur Collective is a theatre artist, musician, and filmmaker. He was raised in West Baltimore and was nurtured, inspired, and trained in his craft by the Baltimore Arts Community. He has performed and has had work produced in numerous venues including the High Zero Festival of Experimental Improvised Music, Baltimore Rhythm Festival, San Francisco Black Film Festival, Black Femme Supremacy Film Fest, Black Panther Party Film Festival, HipHop Theatre Festival, Creative Alliance, Arena Players, The Ottobar, Mind on Fire, Rhizome DC, New York International Fringe Festival, and the Schomburg Center. However, his work is often community-based. In 2007, he began facilitating a prison theatre program, Direct Responses Alleviate Misdirected Aggression (D.R.A.M.A.), at the Maryland Correctional Training Center in Hagerstown, MD. That same year, he co-founded New Generation Scholars (formerly Dancing Many Drums) a cultural youth program focused on resistance in the African Diaspora that allows Baltimore youth to travel nationally and internationally. In 2012, he was awarded an Open Society Institute fellowship to expand D.R.A.M.A. In early 2018, Bashi co-founded Konjur Collective, a multidisciplinary group using music, video, and spoken word to create radical, experimental, and spiritual Black art. In 2020, Konjur Collective were made artists-in-residence with Cllctivly Sound.

Adam Holofcener

Adam G Holofcener (he/they) is a composer and performer from Baltimore, MD, USA. Their work ebbs and flows between digital and analog efforts with an emphasis on a synergistic interplay between the two: one informing the other, literally and otherwise, ad infinitum. The theoretical underpinnings for their work come from a variety of sources but primarily congeal around the personal and communal ethical and existential morays formed by the body politic. They are a proud member of the collective known as MOWDER OYAL. In addition to his artistic practice, AGH also: 1) acts as the Executive Director of Maryland Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, a non-profit organization that provides pro bono legal services to local artists, 2) does legals and such for Mississippi Records, and 3) is a dad and husband. Learn more at adamgholofcener.com.

Akilah Divine

Akilah Divine is a multi-disciplinary artist; singer, spoken word artist, rapper, and actress who was born and raised in Baltimore, MD. She holds a master’s degree in social work and dual Bachelor of Science Degrees in social work and mass communications from Delaware State University. Notable for her hit single “TRIBE,” she has been acknowledged in 14 film festivals with four best music video awards. Akilah has graced many stages, including the Baltimore by Baltimore Festival, Ladybug Festival, the CIAA Tech Summit, and she has opened up for Grammy-nominated singer Mumu Fresh at the Baltimore Museum of Art. She has also been featured on Snapchats “Free Tuition” and won the HOT97 “Who’s Next” heat of the week competition. She is currently the director of OST Programming at Greenmount West Community Center, merging her artistry and profession to inspire others through writing, music, and community engagement.

Cheyanne Zadia

Cheyanne Zadia Givens (b.1991, Baltimore, MD) is an interdisciplinary creator, musician and director from West Baltimore, Maryland. Her works include visual and performance art, poetry, composing, filmmaking, conceptual design, and curatorial practice. The basis of her work speaks to perspective, memorials of Black culture, social relativity, spirituality, and the merging of sub-cultures. Her middle name, Zadia, doubles as her stage moniker. Her performances range from large festivals, museums, and sidewalks to singing the National Anthem at the Baltimore Orioles Opening Game. Following the release of her debut album, Vacants, her work has received widespread support as she has been featured in various publications including BmoreArt, CityPaper, The Afro, True Laurels, The New York Times, Baltimore Banner and i-D magazine. Zadia was named Best New Artist by Baltimore Magazine (2020) and was awarded Johns Hopkins University’s Saul Zaentz Fellowship in 2022. Cheyanne Zadia is committed to using her voice, her work, and curatorial artistry as a means to cultivate culture-shifting experiences and reconcile grief with creation.

Michele Blu

Michele Blu was born and raised in Baltimore and has served as a yoga practitioner for 25 years. In 2008, Michele opened the first Black owned and operated yoga studio in Baltimore City in the midst of a recession. She’s a Kemetic yoga master teacher and trainer and the owner of Michele Blu Kemetic Yoga & Art Studio. She’s also a sound healer, artist, stylist, designer, and the founder of Blu Treasures, a handcrafted line of one-of-a-kind art, fashion, clothing, jewelry, accessories, and crochet that feature creative textures, fabrics, color, and paint. Michele works with at-risk youth and is also a curator, musician, and co-founder of the experiential and energetic call and response band, Kemetic Lullaby. Michele continues to live out her passion of supporting and building a community with the ultimate goal of achieving liberation and love for us all.

Scott Patterson

Scott Patterson is an award-winning multi-disciplinary cosmic artist and the Artistic Director of Afro House, a Baltimore-based organization dedicated to creating art that disrupts and transforms the human imagination. In December 2023, Cloud Nebula, the Afrofuturistic sci-fantasy film he wrote and directed wrapped production. The film is currently in film post-production and he is having an incredible time composing the film’s score. Learn more about Cloud Nebula and Patterson on IG @afrohousebaltimore.

Major support for the BMA exhibition and community partners provided by the Bunting Family Foundation.

Music commission supported by Doreen Bolger, Retired BMA Director, and Amy Raehse, Goya Contemporary Gallery, in honor of George Ciscle, an extraordinary curator and creator of MICA’s transformative Curatorial Practice program and Exhibition Development Seminar.

Community Day supported by Lorraine Whittlesey & Markell Whittlesey.

Printed and digital materials supported by the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund.

Accessibility resources supported by Robbye Apperson & Kevin Apperson.

In-kind support provided by the Estate of Elizabeth Talford Scott at Goya Contemporary Gallery.