Maryland Official Visitors Guide - 2017
Arts & Culture
Mary K. Zajac 2016-12-08 03:59:58
Maryland: State of the Art
Immerse yourself in world-class museums, historic theaters and vibrant festivals.
DelFest, Cumberland
From Decoys to Degas
An urban windmill? An oversized Tinker Toy? No, it’s Vollis Simpson’s Giant Whirligig, one of many eye-popping creations by outsider artists at Baltimore’s American Visionary Arts Museum. Contemplate all 6’6” of Rodin’s Thinker, Degas’ Little Dancer, and the grand collection of impressionist art at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Sarcophagi, armor (look for an equine version), and a 17th-century chamber of wonders all reside at the Walters Art Museum; its vast collection spans the third millennium B.C. to the early 20th century. The African-American experience is rendered through oral histories, military artifacts, photographs, textiles and fine art at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture.
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
While Baltimore is home to some of Maryland’s larger museums, you’ll find dynamic collections all over the state. Be taken in by local brothers Stephen and Lemuel T. Ward, Jr.’s extraordinarily lifelike decoys at the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art. The Academy Art Museum hosts rotating exhibitions in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery and displays works on paper from its rich collection of American and European art. See works by portraitist Charles Wilson Peale at the lovely lakeside Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown. Further west, meet artisans at Spruce Forest Artisan Village as they ply their crafts from sculpting to weaving to pottery. Art and nature mix at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center. Wander a quarter-mile walking path through gardens and wonder at exhibits of permanent and loaned sculpture.
Artscape, Baltimore
Local Color
Marshmallows are the star at the Carroll Arts Center’s annual PEEPshow, where artists create life-size sculptures and mosaics out of the famous neon-colored candy. Located in a renovated 19th-century mill, the Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center features works from regional and national artists. Experience the beauty and texture of historic and recent works of regional artists at the Fiber Arts Center of the Eastern Shore in Denton. And you never know what treasures you’ll find browsing through the Ocean City Arts Center’s gallery or at its annual Boardwalk Art Show.
Light City Baltimore
Festive Arts
Light City, the first large-scale international light show in the United States, turns Baltimore into a twinkling wonderland of floating light projections and illuminated sculpture bolstered by concerts and other live performances. A host of native Maryland traditions—painted screens, Smith Island Cake, Baltimore Album Quilts—are on display at the annual Maryland Traditions Folklife Festival. Bird lovers flock to the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, dedicated to avian-centered art, including decoy carving. For fine arts and crafts, top-rated musical entertainment, and a few see-itto- believe-it exhibits (yarn-encrusted cars, anyone?), head to Artscape in Baltimore, the country’s largest free art festival. The family-oriented African American Festival in Baltimore offers a mix of music, art, historical exhibits and educational activities. A festival dedicated to the music of bluegrass legend Del McCoury? Del yes, that’s DelFest. The annual celebration takes place in Cumberland in late May. National, regional and local blues musicians jam in Hagerstown at the Western Maryland Blues Fest, while classic artists and up-and-comers rub elbows at the Capital Jazz Fest, an annual celebration of jazz, soul, and rhythm and blues. And this year, Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia marks its 50th anniversary season.
Art Takes Center Stage
You’ll find plenty of drama (all of it staged) in Maryland’s historic theaters and contemporary music halls. Experience the work of the Bard at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, housed in the newly renovated, 19th-century former Mercantile Deposit and Trust Company bank building. Bring a picnic to the company’s atmospheric summer home, where the stage is built within the remnants of a 19th-century girls’ school in the wooded Patapsco Female Institute Historic Park. Ian McKellen, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, and Gloria Swanson all once trod the boards at the nearly 80-year-old Olney Theatre. Toby’s Dinner Theatre has been bringing entertainment to Columbia for 38 sensational seasons. Celebrating 40 years, the Round House Theatre produces musicals, classic plays, and new and cutting-edge drama. In La Plata, the Port Tobacco Players perform musicals and familiar favorites in a renovated 1940s movie theater. Hear the Annapolis Symphony perform at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. Visit the Weinberg Center for the Arts, dubbed “The Jewel of Frederick,” for concerts (some featuring the center’s historic 1920s Wurlitzer organ), dance performances and classic film screenings.
You can find the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in two places in Maryland. Its Baltimore residence, the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, also showcases other musical concerts, from Broadway to indie to rock. In North Bethesda, the Music Center at Strathmore hosts the BSO, as well as several arts partnerships including the National Philharmonic and CityDance.
Don’t forget to check out Maryland’s 24 Arts & Entertainment Districts throughout the state for community arts-related events. For more information, see VisitMaryland.org/ article/marylands-arts-entertainment-districts.
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