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The painting, Michelle LaVaughn Obama, is on display at the BMA. Photo by Leon Laing.

I first admired Amy Sherald’s work at Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys. The exhibit, featuring various artists, took place at the Brooklyn Museum last year. Giants included Sherald’s Deliverance, two colossal paintings of men on motorcycles.

Fast forward to this fall, and American Sublime, Sherald’s solo exhibit, appears at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA). I had the pleasure of attending the exhibit’s press tour led by Director Asma Naeem on Oct. 29.

Sherald, 52, originally planned to hold the exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. But she selected BMA instead to avoid censorship from the current presidential administration. Her ties to Baltimore include graduating from the Maryland Institute College of Art. About half of the paintings in American Sublime feature faces of Baltimore-based sitters. Continue reading ‘Amy Sherald: American Sublime’

Tayyib Smith, pictured in the middle, curated the exhibit. Photo by Leon Laing.

My third and final art stop in Philly on Oct. 9 was The Source of Self Regard at InLiquid Gallery. The exhibit, curated by Tayyib Smith, is named after writings from Toni Morrison, one of my favorite writers. The exhibit runs from until Nov. 29.

Works by Mavis Pusey. Photo by Leon Laing.

My second stop in Philly on Oct. 9 was Mavis Pusey: Mobil Images. The work done by the Jamaican-born Pusey is on display through Dec. 7 at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Calder Gardens. Photo by Leon Laing

Last month, I visited three art venues in Philadelphia.

To take advantage of the mild and sunny afternoon, I stopped at Calder Gardens first. The facility, which opened on Sept. 21, isn’t a museum. It’s an art institution dedicated to Alexander Calder (1898-1976). Herzog & de Meuron designed the 18,000-square foot building.

The cultural space blurs the line between art, architecture, nature and programming. In other words, visitors can marvel at the attractions outside as well as inside. Continue reading ‘Calder Gardens’