Story Tag: BMA Stories
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Q&A with Guest Curator of Matisse in Vence
On view from March 29 through June 28, 2026, Matisse in Vence: The Stations of the Cross explores the drawings for a stunning mural in Matisse’s only large-scale architectural project. Here, distinguished Matisse scholar and guest curator Yve-Alain Bois discusses this momentous achievement.
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Louis Fratino in Conversation with Virginia Anderson and Katy Rothkopf
The following text is excerpted from two interviews held on August 25 and 26, 2025, between the artist Louis Fratino and BMA curators Katy Rothkopf and Virginia Anderson. The exhibition Fratino and Matisse: To See This Light Again is on view at the BMA through September 6, 2026.
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A Cautionary Tale, as Told by Emmanuel Massillon
can recall many instances when museumgoers looked at Emmanuel Massillon’s “Mud Libation” (RIP Fredo Santana) with curiosity, admiration, and awe. This hip-hop-inspired sculpture commands attention: viewers are dwarfed by it. I overheard a visitor ask, “Is it coffee?” referring to the doubled Styrofoam cups perched on the dirt that Massillon had meticulously arranged.
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Amy Sherald’s American Sublime
On November 2, 2025, the Baltimore Museum of Art opened Amy Sherald: American Sublime. The acclaimed exhibition is the most comprehensive presentation of Sherald’s work to date, illuminating the arc of her career from 2007 to 2024 through approximately 40 paintings.
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Nylon Nature: Grenfell Rugs and Arctic Production
With carefully tufted white fur outlined in black, this woolen polar bear on an ice floe occupies center stage in a woven Arctic seascape.
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What Is Legacy Made Of? Found Objects and Material Culture in the Sculptures of Valerie Maynard
Multidisciplinary artist, archivist, and culture worker MacKenzie River Foy served as Valerie J. Maynard Legacy Intern in 2023–24, in the inaugural cohort of the collaborative internship program created by the Valerie J. Maynard Foundation and the Baltimore Museum of Art.
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Black Earth Rising
The splendor of the natural world is explored by some of today’s most celebrated artists of color and Native identity in Black Earth Rising, named by The New York Times and ESSENCE magazine as a must-see exhibition.
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Challenge Accepted!
In 2023, Governor Wes Moore announced the goal of achieving 100% clean energy in Maryland by 2035. To support this critical and ambitious target, the BMA established a citywide eco-challenge, inviting civic and cultural leaders throughout the Baltimore region to commit to making one sustainably driven operational change and developing one program to raise environmental awareness in 2025.
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In Conversation with Ekow Eshun, Guest Curator of Black Earth Rising
Black Earth Rising revels in nature’s beauty and reveals new ways of understanding social justice and climate change.
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Shinah Solomon Etting: Jewish Matriarch of Early Baltimore
Polk’s portrait of Shinah Etting, which is currently on view in Jacob and Hilda K. Blaustein Gallery of the Dorothy McIlvain Scott American Wing at the BMA, illuminates the complexities and contradictions of Jewish identity in America during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.