Amy Sherald, American Sublime
Baltimore offers many things—a home, a pretty good baseball team, a thriving coffee scene, Woodside Home (of course), a rich history—but among these offerings one of the most special is an incredible access to art. Baltimore is nothing if not an artist’s town. Across every possible discipline—and I mean music, performance, dance, visual arts—you can find a hotbed of new and classical work alive and well in our fair city.
The Baltimore museums are some of my personal favorite ways to spend a free day. For more classical works, consider the Walters Art Museum—for bizarre, bold, and contemporary, there’s American Visionary. But right around the corner from our neighborhood, on the edge of the Hopkins campus, is one of the best: the Baltimore Museum of Art, or BMA. And for the next few months, they’ll be hosting an exhibit by an incredible, incredible artist. Today, I thought I’d offer you all a little artist feature to encourage you to go check out some of this work!
The BMA is very lucky to be hosting an exhibit, American Sublime, consisting of a catalog of beautiful works by painter Amy Sherald. You might be familiar with Amy Sherald already—she’s well-known for her iconic portrait of Michelle Obama which hangs now in the National Portrait Gallery. American Sublime (which shares a title with a book of Sherald’s paintings) features 38 paintings, created from 2007 to the present, including both her early works and some of her most recognizable.
Sherald’s exhibit is not only special for her sheer artistic force—it’s also a celebratory moment for Baltimore, a homecoming for a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. Many of Sherald’s works were painted in Baltimore, and feature Baltimorean models. Her work features moments in the everyday lives of Black Americans—it speaks to humanity, to the richness of Baltimore, to the beauty of lived reality. It’s hard to express how moving her work is—which is why I encourage you to snag a reservation and go check it out! Tickets are available now through the duration of the exhibit, which runs until April 5th.
Appreciation of art is one of the finest things we can do with our time. It’s an activity that doesn’t demand an end, like so many of the routines of our life—work, maintaining the house, errands, the functional mechanics—do. Taking time to sit with and enjoy the experience of a painting can be really centering. It can ground you in the moment, which is a precious thing. And it helps us all connect to not only our own humanity, but the humanity of others. Right now, I think that’s especially vital.
The art we surround ourselves with shapes the kind of lives we live day to day. Want to curate your own artistic space in your home? It would be my joy to help—drop me a line, anytime, and let’s talk gallery walls.
But all that aside: if you can, set aside a few hours of a day and check out American Sublime at the BMA. We have our reservations on the books, and I can’t wait!