This is an election year, and here, in addition to selecting a new president in November, we’re being asked to select a mayor, a city council president, city council members, and other elected officials.

Now is as good a time as any to be extremely thoughtful about who we are voting for, what we are voting for, if we are even voting, and, if we are, why we are voting. 

I think it’s boring and unhelpful to cover the election only by reporting who is winning and losing in public opinion. If the people we elect aren’t serving our needs, we all lose. It’s my intent to use the upcoming issues of Baltimore Beat to explore these themes.

In this issue, you’ll hear from Shannon Sneed. A former member of city council, Sneed is running for city council president. Here, in an opinion piece, she gives her thoughts about the best way to move this city forward.

Andy Ellis, a former co-chair of the Baltimore and Maryland Green Party and an appointed member of the Baltimore City Charter Review Commission, is also in this issue with an op-ed. Here, he argues that the Ballot Petition Modernization Act, a piece of legislation sponsored by Delegate Sheila Ruth and Senator Jill Carter, helps regular people have a say in how this city operates. 

Also in this issue, arts writer Angela N. Carroll writes about a retrospective happening in various parts of the city examining the work of late artist Elizabeth Talford Scott. 

“Talford Scott did not consider herself to be an artist until late in her life. Even then, after years of pushing the bounds of quilting, some still considered her work more craft than fine art,” Carroll writes. “How absurd that anyone could view her conceptually and compositionally intricate genre-defying creations as anything but genius works of art.”

You’ll find a piece of Talford Scott’s work on the cover of this issue. 

Also in this issue, check out film critic Dominic Griffin’s review of Tyler Perry’s “Mea Culpa” and writer S. Ireti’s sit-down with the people behind Katie Hileman’s play “I Will Eat You Alive.”

As always, we end with a poem. In this issue, it’s Writers in Baltimore Schools participant Amaris Medina-Pinto with a piece titled “The Anorexic Menu.”

The post Letter from the editor – Issue 36 appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

Content warning: This poem contains language that describes disordered eating.

Welcome to Bridget’s Brittle Bones

Where the art of seeing food is more than enough to turn you obese

For this morning’s drink, we have a glass of water with the rim decorated from leftover dry skin coming from your lips

You can keep on drinking, but just so you know, no matter how much water you drink, your lips will stay cracked

As you can see on our menu, we have no appetizers

Instead, we have a very exclusive mirror to look at yourself and keep you from eating

We will give you a magnifying glass to see how close your buttons are to popping out from your pants.

If they aren’t, then just fasten your belt tighter and then you’ll see it

Welcome to Hazey’s Hellish Health

Where ice cubes are the most popular and only snack here.

This afternoon we have an H20 Hydration bar to choose your favorite type of water: Dasani, Aquafina, or Deer Park.

And if you want a little spice, we also have Perrier, San Pellegrino, and La Croix.

The lunch today is an apple

But only eat half!

The less of the apple the better. 

This should be more than enough to keep 

you energized for the rest of your day, but if it’s not, then take a mini granola bar

with you and eat a quarter way through. 

Welcome to Derrick’s Declining Diet

Where at this point you shouldn’t be eating anything at all, yet you are still here

For tonight’s happy hour, we have a 50% off deal for all of our Aqua Reservoir, Cocktails garnished with all the words you have said to yourself while passing a mirror

Including: Unattractive, Unloved

And the most popular of them all:

Fat

For tonight’s dinner, we have the leftovers 

from lunch

And if you ate them all then, sorry, we don’t have anything else, you fatass.

Tomorrow, Tommy’s Triggering Tummie will be closed

You had way more than enough to eat today, so come back next time if you still want to be heavy.

Or if you’re even still alive.

We have special catering personalized for your funeral if you die. 

The post The Anorexic Menu appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

What if I told you this program has been around in a few different forms for more than 30 years, and its mission is to ensure young children have strong families and high-quality early learning environments? What if I told you that the program is part of our Blueprint for Maryland’s Future? 

Finally, what if I told you that every dollar spent on this program leads to a cost reduction of $5 on the school-to-prison pipeline? 

If you like what I just wrote, then let me introduce you to high-quality early childhood programs. 

There are many different players who help start, support, and advocate for high-quality child care and learning for all kids. One advocacy group among many in the field is the Maryland Family Network.

As the parent of a Baltimore City Public Schools student, I want my precious jewel and all of Baltimore’s precious jewels to get the best possible education possible. I believe the way to break the school-to-prison pipeline is through the collective action of our village. We need our parents to be involved in their children’s education and development, and if they are lacking in some aspects of parenting then let’s work to get them the help they need. We need to supply our teachers and paraprofessionals with the resources they need.  

With crime at the top of the list of concerns for Baltimore City residents, we need to break this cycle. I support the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future (aka the Kirwan Commission). Spending money on early childhood development and improving the parenting skills of moms and dads will go a long way to making Baltimore a better city. 

Public safety is an issue that impacts everyone in Baltimore City and permeates into every aspect of our quality of life, from improving our neighborhoods to population growth. We hear about crime on the radio and watch violence on the news. We have apps on our phones that alert us when a registered sex offender moves into our neighborhood. Unfortunately, across the country, Baltimore has become almost synonymous with murder and violent crime. We cannot have an overall conversation about public safety without addressing the underlying factors that help determine the trajectory of a child’s life and likelihood of success. We cannot continue to put on Band-Aids when we have a broken leg. As leaders and residents, we must assess the root causes, and I firmly believe we can save so many of our young people by getting parents more involved and improving our city’s overall education system. 

Around eight percent of a child’s brain development happens between the ages of 0 to 5. It’s a period of unparalleled opportunity. Children need role models and strong, positive influences in their lives. We can lower crime by having more parents present in their children’s lives and involved in their education. We can offer parents classes and develop special spaces where they can complete their high school education or find jobs that allow them to move to a better neighborhood. It takes some families multiple generations to break the vicious cycle of poverty, creating both mental and physical strain.

Many parents want to do better. They want to thrive and succeed, but they do not have the tools or resources to do so. My goal as the next city council president is to continue to decrease crime by increasing parental involvement in schools by 20 percent. We can do this by creating education hubs that provide a number of services in one setting with resources to help the entire family. We need job centers that also include child care and classrooms where parents can earn their GEDs and increase the likelihood of employment. Again, it takes a lot of work to break the cycle of poverty, but we can absolutely do it if we make a commitment and work together to lift up families and ultimately keep our young people from falling victim to a life of drugs, crime, and violence.

Maryland Family Network isn’t the only organization in this space. We have a shining example of success in our city with a proven track record of making a difference. In East Baltimore, we have a wonderful nonprofit, the Men and Families Center. Founded by Leon Purnell, the center was one of the first organizations to recognize that you help the child by providing support and opportunities to the entire family. Purnell tried to offer up as many services and resources as he could fit in his small, cramped space.

As the next city council president, helping parents succeed and increasing their engagement in their children’s lives is one of my top priorities. I want to lower absenteeism, but I also want to ensure that we offer opportunities and locations for people to improve their lives in every corner of our city. I have been speaking to parents, educators, and advocates about how we can improve education, and the conversation almost always comes back to parents.

I send my precious jewel to Baltimore public schools. I want every child in every corner of the city to deserve support and an opportunity to succeed. Throughout my time in Baltimore City government, I have heard many politicians spout off statistics. It’s past time to tackle the root cause of the problem. The road might be difficult, but solving complex problems can be challenging. I’m no stranger to taking on the tough fights, and I will continue to keep fighting as your next city council president.

Shannon Sneed is a longtime advocate for the citizens of Baltimore. Shannon has served as a neighborhood advocate, city councilwoman representing District 13, and as a candidate for lieutenant governor of the State of Maryland. She is currently a candidate for city council president.

The post Op-Ed: When Parents Thrive, Our Children Thrive appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

A recent example of a petition that this legislation would have helped is the 2022 Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition petition to authorize a Regional Transit Authority. This petition was deemed insufficient because 5,265 of the 14,943 signatures submitted were invalidated. When BTEC took this to court, the judge upheld the Board of Elections’ ruling that the petition was insufficient but noted serious misgivings about the process the Board of Elections used to validate signatures. Thirty-five percent of the signatures BTEC submitted were invalidated, and they missed getting on the ballot by 322 signatures.

Often when I have shared this legislation and my concerns around the outdated process with  Baltimore City elected Democrats and political insiders, they have expressed one overwhelming concern: Sinclair/Fox 45/David Smith’s use of the petition process. From there, they usually go on to talk about how voters vote yes on all charter amendments, and the process is broken, even recommending that we should make it harder to get people, parties and policies on the ballot.

The charter amendments Smith has personally financed — term limits, recall, and a smaller city council — are bad policy. I take Smith at his word when he says that the term limits amendment was a “test.” I expect him to fund additional charter amendments here in the city, in Baltimore County, and across the region to reshape local government in line with his right-wing, anti-Black, anti-immigrant, regressive vision. I also expect him to use his television network, his newspapers, and his other media assets to advocate for these charter amendments.

The reason Smith can do this can be found in campaign finance law dictated by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections Summary Guide: “A ballot issue committee can receive unlimited contributions from an individual, business entity, or any other organization. In addition, there is no restriction on the amount that a political committee may transfer to a ballot issue committee.”  

Indeed, Smith has made good on this, donating $1 million between the term limits and other city council charter initiatives, and has used his media networks to advocate directly and indirectly for these amendments. As long as campaign finance laws are structured as they are, it will never be difficult for Smith and other wealthy interests to get issues on the ballot. They can simply pay petitioners to collect signatures, and they can give six-figure contracts to law firms to ensure that the validation process goes smoothly for them.

Currently, the petition forms are a handwritten pen-and-paper process. Names on the form have to match the name on file in the voter database nearly exactly, and signatures have to match names. The form is poorly designed and has remained the same as laws, regulations, and digital communications have evolved.

To determine whether a petition is sufficient and makes the ballot, it must contain enough valid signatures to cross the threshold required by law. That threshold is 10,000 for a party or charter amendment and different amounts for candidates, depending on the office. The process that the local boards use to do this validation is tedious, complex, arbitrary, and opaque. Each of the handwritten signatures has to be read, checked against the voter database, evaluated using a 12-page guide, hand-coded, and then tallied. If the petition is deemed insufficient, petition sponsors need to go to court and challenge invalidated signatures within 10 days. Voters whose signature is invalidated are never informed, nor do they have an opportunity to correct technical errors.

The Ballot Petition Modernization Act attempts to modernize that process by allowing voters to utilize electronic web-based forms and signatures, replacing the exact name match with a reasonability standard, and allowing voters whose signature is invalidated to correct technical errors. These improvements have precedent. During the 2020 COVID state of emergency, Maryland allowed electronic petition signatures, and since then, New Mexico and Arizona have both made their emergency petition measures permanent. Massachusetts and other states have reasonability standards for name match, and it is common practice to allow voters to correct technical errors on forms.  

The Ballot Petition Modernization Act levels the playing field for grassroots and community-based groups trying to compete against Smith, Sinclair, and other well-funded interests, by making it easier for the voices of voters to be heard. The people and groups hurt by the current standards and any future efforts to make it harder to get on the ballot are grassroots and community-led organizations. Often these groups use volunteers to collect their signatures and do not have the money to hire big law firms to watch the local board of elections and advocate for them in court. 

Baltimore and Maryland residents need grassroots democracy to work, to be fair, and to represent all voices, and the Ballot Petition Modernization Act is the way to do that. Urge the General Assembly to pass this legislation this year.

Andy Ellis is a former co-chair of the Baltimore and Maryland Green Party. He is an appointed member of the Baltimore City Charter Review Commission. Ellis Lives in Northeast Baltimore.

The post Op-Ed: Leaders must pass the Ballot Petition Modernization Act appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

In modern Hollywood, there are only a few filmmakers whose names alone are enough to sell a picture. Martin Scorsese. Christopher Nolan. Quentin Tarantino. Jordan Peele. But there are even fewer whose involvement will have the opposite effect. “Mea Culpa,” a new Netflix drama, stars Kelly Rowland as Mea, a lawyer who becomes romantically entangled with her client Zyair (Trevante Rhodes), an artist accused of murdering his girlfriend. An erotic crime thriller featuring two talented and attractive Black performers sounds interesting, right? Now picture the same title with Tyler Perry’s name in front of it. 

On the surface, “Mea Culpa” seems like any other entry into this subgenre. Legal dramas with sensual undercurrents have been a winning formula for some time. But as each scene unfolds, the audience is reminded that there are “movies” and there are “Tyler Perry movies.” In the 20 years since his stage plays first made their way to the multiplex with “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” Perry has dabbled in all kinds of films, but his unique approach to storytelling has consistently permeated all of them. Whether it’s a “Madea” flick or one of his more serious outings, Perry is liable to employ the same storytelling tropes, the same budgetary shortcuts, and the same inability to shift between different tones without severe whiplash.

In this, his 24th feature film as a director, Perry has so thoroughly exhausted his usual coterie of tired racial stereotypes that he has to expand into new territory: the dangers of marrying a white-mom-biracial man. Mea is married to Kal (Sean Sagar), a man she is convinced might be cheating on her with a former flame. But because Perry prefers his melodrama to be as layered and compounded as possible, Mea’s plight is more overwrought than simple suspicion. Kal lost his job a year ago due to being drunk and on drugs on the clock, so she has been financially supporting them this whole time. 

This includes sending money to Kal’s brother Ray (Sean’s real-life brother Nick Sagar) to cover medical bills for their terminally ill mother Azalia (Kerry O’Malley.) Kal insists Mea keep his rehab and unemployment a secret, so on top of taking care of this man, his family treats her like dirt and, despite her being a high-powered attorney, acts as though she is an ungrateful, kept woman. Her only ally is her best friend Charlise (Shannon Thornton), who is also married to Ray, a prosecutor in the district attorney’s office. Ray is set to try Zyair for murder, so Mea ends up choosing to defend him in court purely out of spite for her husband and his family who have forbidden her from doing so. 

Perry stacks the deck, making Mea’s in-laws an important staple of his work: villains who are so unlikeable as to cease reading like actual human beings. O’Malley, in particular, is so overt and cartoonish in her attitude as to exist on a different plane of reality. Nothing about her characterization resembles any interactions a person might have on Earth with another bipedal, carbon-based organism. Perry has a habit of writing characters that resemble the imaginary strawmen that populate one-sided stories your co-worker might tell on a lunch break, where they seem like saints, but everyone else in the tale is a monster out to get them. 

So, even though the audience is supposed to be leery of Zyair, a man who may have killed his girlfriend, it becomes difficult to root against his palpable chemistry with Mea. Sure, he might be a murderer, but he’s a hunk who paints pretty portraits and looks like Trevante Rhodes. Who doesn’t want to see them give into their basest desires and have extravagant on-screen coitus? But if “Mea Culpa” is nothing else, it is indisputable proof that nailing the basics of a sexy legal thriller is beyond Perry’s admittedly limited powers.

It’s difficult to engage with the film’s second half, as it would require spoiling some of the worst twists in recent movie history. And if you make it to the end of this review and still genuinely want to watch the film, you deserve to experience the final act’s laughably bad paradigm shift for yourself. But the lead-up to those dramatic reveals is populated by some of the laziest, sub-Lifetime Original Movie storytelling. This is a movie where Zyair tries to seduce Mea by telling her how art is subjective, and the duo spends the second act just having the same tired conversations over and over with no dramatic escalation. 

Even if his failings as a writer weren’t so evident, the way Perry stages his actors, blocks out scenes, and frames the camera all feels like the work of a first-year film student and not one of the industry’s richest, most prolific storytellers. Strangely, this is the lone aspect where Perry can be considered an aspirational figure.

Growing up, many Black people are constantly told by their parents that they have to be twice as good and work twice as hard to get what their white counterparts have. But Tyler Perry has found a way to cut that game plan in half. Whether or not a billionaire’s endeavors can be classified as “hard work” is a topic for another discussion, but it feels hard to argue that he’s ever had to be as good as any of his white peers, much less doubly so. 

“Mea Culpa” is proof that being reliably mediocre at best and comically offensive at worst can be a brand all its own. No matter what new low he sinks to, an audience will always be willing to give it a shot for exactly the same reason we crane our necks when driving past car wrecks. It’s just so hard to look away.

“Mea Culpa” is currently streaming exclusively on Netflix.

The post ‘Mea Culpa’ is Tyler Perry at his worst appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

With “I Will Eat You Alive,” Katie Hileman, the director, playwright, and intimacy director, presents the story of three fat women’s journey to lose weight, the social pressure they have felt since they were children, and the horrible things people believe to have agency to say to fat people online simply for existing. 

I saw “I Will Eat You Alive” at the Voxel in Charles Village on the opening night of January 26. I am always interested in shows and media that center on fat individuals because they rarely exist without making fat people the subject of ridicule or shame. This play takes those tropes and plays with them in an off-kilter way. On opening night, I watched people around me be moved to tears as they related to what was happening in the play. 

The unique set design added a level of intimacy and audience interaction, allowing myself and the rest of the audience to be folded into the story. The set was two rows of tiered seating to the left and right of a long white table. The three main characters and 11 willing audience members were seated as “dinner guests.” A feeling of heaviness and discomfort hung over the set as ‘dining’ with the main characters made the characters’ shame, pain, and discomfort, shown through tight smiles and overly preppy voices, palpable. 

Written in what could be described as a love letter to herself, Hileman’s “I Will Eat You Alive” is more than fiction; it is a stylized reality that many fat people may find painfully resonant.

Hileman’s role as an intimacy director is particularly significant in this instance because she skillfully facilitates a space in which actors understand what is expected of them in hyper-exposed scenes and ensures there is informed consent. 

“It’s always my intention to make my actors feel like they have a lot of power, even though they’re putting themselves in these really vulnerable spots and saying some horrible things at times in the play,” Hileman told me. 

The day after the opening, I spoke with Hileman and the cast, Vicky Graham, Betse Lyons, and Meghan Taylor, who respectively played Fat Woman 1, 2, and 3. We spoke about our favorite fat characters growing up and how there were not too many of them, our least favorite style options as fat kids in the ’90s and early 2000s, and what it means to be a fat person in this day and age.

Although IWEYA’s run at the Voxel has ended, you can stream it. 

______

Individually, what does it mean to be a fat person to each of you? 

Vicky Graham: It just means that I’m fat. I have weight on me, and I got curves with no speed limits. I think when I was younger, it was just strictly derogatory, something that I would avoid saying at all costs or try to defend myself by using, like, chubby or thick. But I think just the word itself is so short, it’s so simple, and it can just be used for what it is and not have any negative connotations behind it. And that’s something that this show has really helped me learn and embrace so that I have less stress and shame. I just can exist. And this is the adjective that best describes my body.

Betse Lyon: I guess it’s still pretty complicated for me. It’s a lot better than it used to be. I dealt with the terrible ’90s stuff as a teenager. And so I do use fat, simply and sometimes proudly. But there are still little knives in the back of my brain, stabbing me every time I do it. 

It’s just a cycle sometimes. It is still hard for me to use the word. But now, at least, it’s more likely that I’ll get frustrated, annoyed, or angry when people are saying bad things about fat folks instead of just retreating into myself, which I feel like getting frustrated and angry is a lot healthier.

Meghan Taylor: I feel like that question’s answer depends on the day. And some days, I don’t know. Being fat means literally nothing to me. It doesn’t define me. It’s just my body. It’s just this vessel that I have to move around in on this planet. But it’s not really indicative of who I am or what I can do or how much I’m worth. But if I’m having a shitty day, then I might be more aware of it. And then it means that being a fat person is like a burden you’re carrying around, and just extra weight, for lack of better terms. 

Lately, I’ve been more in a space where I’m like, it really doesn’t mean shit. My body is not me. I mean, my body is me, but my body is not indicative of my worth, what I have to contribute or what I can do, or anything else.

The show does a great job layering general attitudes and acceptances of fatphobia throughout the show through pop culture references, from Kate Moss’ infamous “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” line to the cultural phenomena that was Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way. What stood out to me was the litany of increasingly violent tweets and messages to fat people that were projected onto the table. Did those come up during the interview that led to this show, or were those aimed at any of you?

Hileman: When I see something really fatphobic on social media, I will take a screenshot of it. It’s shocking to me that people feel such permission to say such horrible things. People don’t think twice about what is said to fat people online. People don’t think that this stuff is actually said about fat people, but it is, and all the time and very casually, and it’s everywhere. So when I had an opportunity to present it back and show people, I took it. I like the dichotomy of them [the characters] saying this stuff and laughing and sort of eating it.” 

Lyons: I think about the people, like fat women probably, who are on the receiving end of those actual comments. I have a small amount of popularity on TikTok, and so I have trolls. The shit that people think they can say to you is stunning. As a fat woman in today’s world, I learn to let most of it slide off my back. 

It’s awful to include them [the projected messages] because they’re terrible, but it’s also nice because it’s cathartic. Everyone in that room is recognizing how awful they are. And some of the people in that room have never thought about that before. 

There is a deeply intimate and personal scene towards the end of the show where the characters strip and essentially lay it bare to the audience. What did that scene mean to you, and how was it having an audience so close during that moment?

Hileman: The audience did exactly what I always intended for that moment to be. 

That moment felt so perfect because I don’t think it is a moment about them [the actresses] sexualizing themselves. Although if they want to and they go for it, I love that. I think that’s great. 

[It’s about] fat people sexualizing themselves on their own terms. It’s about that freedom. They’ve been so restrained the whole time. By the time they take their clothes off, there’s nothing but them. And we finally get to see them exactly as they are. And so that’s why I love the clothes off moment. 

I think that is so visceral, and everyone, by the end of the play, is just so hungry for it. And the fact that they are right there in your face, fully presenting themselves as they are and telling them that they are going to eat you alive.

It’s always my intention to make my actors feel like they have a lot of power, even though they’re putting themselves in these really vulnerable spots and saying some horrible things at times in the play. 

Honestly, there’s a lot of trauma in the play, and that’s an understatement that speaks to fat folks’ relationships with their bodies. But I always want my actors to feel like they’re throwing it back in the people’s faces. They are not there to be laughed at or to be ridiculed. They’re there to tell them exactly who they are, which we don’t get to see fat people do.

This is one 75-minute play on this topic, but what do you hope that people take away from the show? 

Hileman: I want people to think about how this happens to fat people in their lives, right? This isn’t just a story about these three fat women. I don’t want to assume that it happens to everybody, but I think there are some pretty universal experiences in the play, and I want people to think about how they treat fat people. 

It’s not necessarily your fault that you are complicit in it. All the bad things, white supremacy, and patriarchy. This is just like another arm of that — anti-fatness.

The post I Will Eat You Alive: An Ode To Being Fat appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

In Grandfather’s Cabin/Noah’s Ark (1993-1996), a masterful and densely tactile tapestry designed by the late visionary Elizabeth Talford Scott (1916-2011), stars float in the stratosphere above a familial scene that honors her childhood home in South Carolina. Upcycled objects, mixed repurposed fabrics, buttons, knickknacks, and intuitively placed clusters of rocks, are sewn into ornate, ethereally abstract bursts. Bold wall text from a historic interview between the artist and curator George Ciscle describes the quilt: 

“This is a family. The man, the woman, the baby. That’s a family of sea creatures. Tadpoles and lizards. You see the snake? He’s to protect it, anyone from coming in.”

Grandfather’s Cabin/Noah’s Ark (1993-1996) has not been exhibited since 1998, when Ciscle organized the retrospective exhibition, Eyewinkers, Tumbleturds, and Candlebugs. This year marks the iconic show’s 25th anniversary. This milestone will be celebrated with a reimagined exhibit featuring rare works that span Talford Scott’s celebrated career. Then and now, Ciscle worked collaboratively with the MICA Exhibition Development Seminar to realize the show for the Baltimore Museum of Art. The entire exhibition is staged in the BMA’s contemporary wing. 

Ciscle and EDS brainstormed ways to make BMA’s exhibition more accessible. Benches are now available in every gallery, and artworks are installed at a slightly lower level so they are viewable for wheelchair-dependent guests. A glowing braille portrait of Talford Scott is featured, as well. All accessibility offerings are noted in a handy guide positioned at gallery entrances. 

Additionally, under educator and archivist Deyane Moses’ direction, EDS organized the project No Stone Left Unturned: The Elizabeth Talford Scott Initiative, which selected five museums and four universities as satellite exhibition sites. The initiative sought to place the artist’s work in conversation with audiences at Coppin State University, MICA, Maryland Center for History and Culture, Walters Art Museum, The Peale, Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Johns Hopkins University, and Morgan State University. Free public programming is planned for varying sites through April 2024.  

Talford Scott did not consider herself to be an artist until late in her life. Even then, after years of pushing the bounds of quilting, some still considered her work more craft than fine art. How absurd that anyone could view her conceptually and compositionally intricate genre-defying creations as anything but genius works of art.

“It was at a time, of course, when people weren’t talking about this kind of work in the context of art,” Ciscle explained.  

“Back then, it was all framed as either women’s work, quilting, craft, textiles, African American, local… The list goes on and on. I really wanted people back then to look at that question in terms of what was going on in art history and the art canon. Keep in mind, that was four years before Gee’s Bend at the Whitney, [chuckle] which, of course, helped those conversations come forward.” The Quilts of Gee’s Bend is the most famous ongoing series by Black quilters who descend from Gee’s Bend, Alabama. This is an important context for Talford Scott’s late rise as an artist, as Gee’s Bend legitimized quilting as “art.”

Talford Scott grew up on the Blackstock Plantation in South Carolina. Her father was a sharecropper. She learned how to “piece quilts” by watching and assisting the matriarchs in her family while they worked. Over the years, she developed a talent for the tradition. Stitching beautiful and durable quilts was a source of great pride and a necessity; the skill ensured her family of little means had blankets in the winter and wares to barter for other staples with members of their community. Education was more praxis-based than formal — she learned by doing.

“So, mom, did you used to make the things that you needed when you were on the plantation?” Talford Scott’s daughter, artist and MacArthur Fellowship recipient Joyce J. Scott, asks her in the 1990 documentary The Silver Needle: The Legacy of Elizabeth and Joyce Scott. The film is screened in tandem with other remarkable interviews as part of the exhibition.  

“We made everything that could be made by hand, like food, shoes, and clothes,” Talford Scott responds. 

Floatin’ On A Thread, a commissioned composition from musicians Bashi Rose and Adam Holofcener, offers another conceptual layer to the revamped exhibition. Inspired by Talford Scott’s iconic quilt My Dreams (1987-1998) and her childhood home, Rose and Holofcener spent a week traveling through Chester, South Carolina, gathering field recordings to better assess the ways that environment shaped Talford Scott’s vision. In collaboration with performers Michelle Blu, Bobbi Rush, Cheyanne Zadia, Scott Patterson, Rose, and Holofcener, completed a lush 10-minute, two-channel soundscape. Visitors can sit at an intimate station near My Dreams to listen to the composition. 

“Spirit appears in the thread of the night,” Rush whispers. “Imagination, imagination, imagination,” Talford testifies. “Cover me with memories. Cover me,” Zadia coos. “My ancestors, stay on the run,” Patterson intones.  

“When I was a child, we had a rock at every door,” Talford affirms. “Understand? It was for luck. And we had a horseshoe over the door and had a shotgun under the horseshoe.” 

Rocks, as referenced in biblical verse, are often allegories of God’s transformative and protective power. 

Isaiah 33:16, NIV

He will dwell on the heights,

his refuge will be the impregnable rock,

his bread will be given him,

his water will be sure.

If God is omnipresent and can activate anything in service to his will, even inanimate objects can function as miraculous mediums. This perspective informs the recurring philosophical premises and aesthetic gestures in Talford Scott’s quilts that elevate her tapestries beyond only their utility.  

Encoding textiles with intergenerational archival information is a way of both marking time and transcending it. The sale and trade of enslaved Africans in America separated families from each other. Despite geographic displacement, anyone who maintained any scraps of inherited fabric from their loved ones could retain and share the history of their bloodline by piecing quilts. Quilts are not just accumulations of cloth; they are “family albums for preliterate people,” notes Joyce. Quilts act as an apparatus for remembrance every time their owner or creator shares a story about the origin of its material matrices. Remembering encourages psychic, spiritual, and corporeal restoration by intentionally honoring what came before. 

Talford Scott, lovingly called Mother Scott by her friends and family, imparted knowledge to all willing to receive it. Every quilt she made was customized with a unique design suited to the specific needs of those for whom the quilt was being made. Some were crafted to be draped across the back to alleviate aches and pains. Others were made to ease worry and assist with affirming dreams. She intuitively arranged objects, including stones, pebbles, colored thread, bric-a-brac, beads, and the like, into rhythmic patterns that dance across textiles, like jazz singers gliding through the scales. 

Quilts featured in this retrospective come from the family’s private collection and on loan from friends who knew and loved Mother Scott. Each lender was asked to contribute a personal narrative about their cherished artworks, which informed all descriptive wall text. For Robin Thompson’s contribution, Another Time (1992), a textile made from fabric, thread, and mixed media, she ruminated on her 20-year friendship working with the artist in the Green Card Crew quilting community. 

“Mother Scott presided over us and allowed our creativity, love, and unique outlook. Her engagement and encouragement guided us to become the best of ourselves and to share this gift with others. This is a part of her incredible legacy.” 

The power of collective remembrance is evident in Mother Scott’s prolific practice. She gifted members of her community with tokens of her love. Through the exhibition of those offerings, a broader community can now witness the monumentality of Mother Scott’s career.  

For Talford Scott, piecing quilts was both a modality for fine art and a curative. 

“This design is usually for people who have faith. You’ve got to have something to have faith in.” Talford Scott shares with Dr. Leslie King Hammond in another excerpt from The Silver Needle. The two sit across from each other, separated by a vast quilt that drapes Mother Scott’s thighs. She describes her intuitive way of working as “wild” because the features in her quilts did not conform to the schemas of traditional designs. 

“If you were going to do quilts or designs or something, you couldn’t make it wild. If you wanted to use strips, see how those strips are together there?” She pauses and leans forward to point out a particular feature on the quilt. 

“One, two, three.” She points to strips that form a love knot, a standard, symmetrical design used in traditional quilt patterns. Instead of adhering to this structure, Mother Scott’s quilts break the taut geometry of the ornamental design. Dense strips blend, blurring the static square, and bloom as amorphous warps of cotton, wool, and stones. The textile transcends its bounds and becomes a galaxy map. 

Eyewinkers, Tumbleturds, and Candlebugs: The Art of Elizabeth Talford Scott is now on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art, November 12, 2023 – April 28, 2024

The post Something To Have Faith In: Remembering Elizabeth Talford Scott appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

It started with an Instagram post by intersectional art collaborative exhibition space NoMüNoMü on January 4, 2024: “CALLING ALL ARTISTS! Help us fill up the gallery with Posters for Palestine.” Organizers asked artists nationwide to spread the word and mail in artwork. 

The exhibition was co-organized with Red Emma’s, a radical bookstore and worker’s cooperative, the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Baltimore Artists Against Apartheid, and Rebel Lens. Proceeds from the exhibition, along with a series of events, went towards aid for Gaza.

The exhibit opened on Saturday, February 3, and the line for purchasing artwork was almost at the door. Those who purchased artwork could pick up their paintings February 27–28, as the gallery wanted to ensure the work stayed up for the entirety of the show. 

The sheer amount of artwork, the vibrant colors, and the messages painted on them was a powerful and emotional experience. Messages in protest, hope, and solidarity wallpapered the space. 

One poster featured a detailed painting of Bisan Owda, a Palestinian journalist; she wears a blue vest that reads “PRESS” and the words “Hey everyone, this is Bisan from Gaza. We’re still alive.” are painted, representing the journalists’ social media videos that document the 2023 war in the Gaza Strip. “Free Palestine” and “Honor The Truth Tellers” frame Bisan against a cornflower blue background. Bisan’s daily check-ins have been a somber reminder of the ongoing genocide and the lack of intervention by the world. 

Another poster features a black Care Bear carrying a Palestinian flag with a single tear falling from his face. In the background is a pattern of sliced watermelon, a symbol of Palestinian liberation, and the words “FREE PALESTINE.” 

Various colors, materials, styles, and sentiments were displayed, echoing the same desire for a free and liberated Palestine. (Teri Henderson)

The post Posters for Palestine appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

Wednesday, March 13

Tree Time: Buds & Blooms: Parent/child nature classes. Learn about nature through stories, crafts, and exploration. For children ages 2–5. 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Cylburn Arboretum, 4915 Greenspring Avenue. For more information, email Erika.Castillo@Cylburn.org.

By Hands Now Known: How the Criminal Justice System Sustained Jim Crow: Join Erica J. Suter, professor of the practice and director of the Innocence Project Clinic at UBalt School of Law, and Joshua Davis, associate professor of history in the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, for a discussion with Margaret Burnham, university distinguished professor of law at Northeastern University, on her book “By Hands Now Known,” an exploration of how police and the court system sustained racial violence in the Jim Crow South. 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Angelos Law Center, Moot Courtroom at the University of Baltimore, 1401 North Charles Street. For those who are unable to attend in person, the discussion will be live-streamed via Zoom at ubalt.zoom.us/j/95782804708. For more information, email lexzander.ernst@ubalt.edu or call 410-837-5417.

Thursday, March 14

Baby Basics—Prepare for Your Prenatal Visits Class: An informative and supportive exploration of prenatal care. Discover the crucial roles of health-care professionals, understand common prenatal tests and screenings, and familiarize yourself with essential vocabulary. 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at CareFirst Engagement Center, 1501 South Clinton Street, Suite 100. For more information, go to carefirst.com/cec. 

NAMI Family Support Group: A free, peer-led support group for adults 18+ who have a loved one living with a mental health condition. This event is held on the second and fourth Thursday of every month. 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Sheppard Pratt Gibson Building, 1 Friendship Lane, Room 200, Towson. For more information, call 410-435-2600 or email info@namibaltimore.org. 

Saturday, March 16

Baltimore City Youth Data Hub C-RAC Engagement Session: Baltimore’s Promise is recruiting community members aged 15 and older to help guide how the Baltimore City Youth Data Hub uses its data to improve Baltimore and make things more fair for our youth. 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Amazing Grace Lutheran Church, 2424 McElderry Street. For more information, go to baltimorespromise.org or email info@baltimorespromise.org.

Car Care for Women with AAA Mid-Atlantic: Join AAA Mid-Atlantic and the Enoch Pratt Free Library in welcoming Shana Jordan, senior technician for AAA Roadside Assistance, to talk about car maintenance and upkeep. This program is meant to provide a safe space for women, but all patrons are welcome to attend. 11 a.m. to noon at Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral Street. For more information, go to prattlibrary.org or call 410-396‑5430.

Black Family Wellness Expo: A day of support, connection, and free health and wellness resources. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Roberta’s House, 928 East North Avenue. For more information, go to harborcitylinksinc.org.

Black Alliance for Peace—Baltimore x Maryland Council of Elders Town Hall 2024 Session 2: African Women and Resistance: Delve into the structural location of African (Black) women in history and modern-day society, highlighting their pivotal role in resistance against imperial control and their profound impact on shaping societies and challenging imperialism. Masks encouraged. Masks provided. Food and refreshments available. Childcare provided. 1 p.m. at Douglas Memorial Community Church, 1325 Madison Avenue. For more information, go to blackallianceforpeace.com or call 201-292-4591.

Monday, March 18

Baltimore City Council Meeting: Meeting of the Baltimore City Council. 5 p.m. at Baltimore City Hall, 100 North Holliday Street. For more information, go to baltimorecitycouncil.com or call 410-396-4804.

Wednesday, March 20

Baltimore City Commission on Sustainability Monthly Meeting: Join the Commission on Sustainability each month to learn about initiatives, projects and programs intended to make the city more sustainable, more equitable and more climate-resilient. 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Virtual. For more information, go to baltimoresustainability.org/about/commision-on-sustainability or call 410-396-7526.

Mayoral Education Town Hall 2024: Moderated by WJZ-TV news anchor Denise Koch. 6 p.m. at Baltimore City Community College Fine Arts Building, 2901 Liberty Heights Avenue. For more information, go to baltimoreteachernetwork.org/m or call 410-469-9902.

Thursday, March 21

Community Iftar with Mera Kitchen Collective: Join Mera Kitchen Collective for a sundown meal, breaking the day’s fast and celebrating Ramadan. 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral Street. For more information, go to prattlibrary.org or call 410-396‑5430.

Schools 101: Demystifying the Pre-K Enrollment Process: Join Live Baltimore for a one-hour virtual session that examines the pre-K enrollment process. This will feature a Q&A session at the end of the presentation with a Baltimore City Public Schools’ Early Learning Programs representative. Virtual. 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, go to livebaltimore.com.

Saturday, March 23

Civic Saturday Sessions: Learn important details about the upcoming elections and how you can be involved in changing your community directly. Noon to 2 p.m. at Baltimore Unity Hall, 1506 Eutaw Place. For more information, call 443-722-8114 or email javey.adams@noboundariescoalition.com.

Saturday, March 23

B-360 Weekend 2024: Dirt bike lessons, STEM fun, giveaways, live DJ, vendors, and more. March 23-24. For more information, go to: b360baltimore.org.

Sunday, March 24

Black & Indigenous HerStories of Healing: A powerful gathering celebrating the healing and spiritual practices of Black and Indigenous women. ($15) 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Baltimore Unity Hall, 1506 Eutaw Place. For more information, go to livewellbemore.com.

Tuesday, March 26

Growth Beyond Me: An opportunity to network, learn, and access resources with other like-minded women. There will be a pitch competition for you to win money for your business. 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at The Cube Cowork, 4709 Harford Road. For more information, go to thecubecowork.com,email info@thecubecowork.com or call 410-616-9290.

Wednesday, March 27

2024 Council President Transportation Forum: Join sponsor Bikemore in Action at the Real News Network with co-hosts the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance and Transit Choices to hear from candidates. Ticket and proof of up-to-date vaccination required for attendance. 6 p.m. at the Real News Network, 231 North Holliday Street. For more information, go to bikemore.net.

Black to the Future: A networking and social event for Black creatives, activists, businesses and community members with a unique format that facilitates connections. 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. at BeMore Green, 2036 West North Avenue. For more information, go to thebaltimorescene.eventbrite.com.

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