Emerge Baltimore, Vol. 3: Fall Edition

Exhibiting Artists

• Sheila Crider: “Charm City: A Monument to Resilience”

  Sheila Crider moved to Baltimore from Washington D.C. in November 2022 with a goal of transforming and completing pieces that lingered into a new body of work.
   
  Charm City: A Monument to Resilience is the result. This installation is about the capacity for rebounding after adversity, personally as individuals and collectively as a city. The works are a response to the anxiety prompted by relocating, compounded by leaving a home and studio where she had lived and worked for 30 years.
   
  The exhibition unfolds across three sections. The first is came; Baltimore, a series of eight hand embellished oil-based monotype woven collages containing the poem came; written for Crider to interpret by Samuel L. Johnson (Kwame) in 2000. The second section is A Monument to Resilience, five paintings that explore the stages of emotional and psychological resilience. The pieces focus on texture, line, and color to provoke feelings of stress, anxiety, depression, and rebounding.The third section is Charm City, which features black and white drawings of the Bromo Arts District. It was an exercise to emulate movement as if one were walking through downtown using linear rhythm and shape relationships across the field of perception.
   
  “Sheila Crider is an Artist with a capital A,” says curator, Kirk Shannon-Butts. “She creates from experience, from need, from travel, from history, and most importantly from herself. She has the great ability to adapt and move just as her artwork does when it is installed in a space, without losing the original or intended message. It is a rare gift to be so self-actualized.”
   
  Crider started her artistic practice selling The Original Response — envelopes and writing paper — at art fairs and craft markets. Her work is included in many public and private collections including Art in Public Places (D.C.), African American Museum (Dallas, Texas), James E Lewis Museum (Baltimore, Maryland), Library of Congress Print Collection, U.S. Department of State Print Collection, D.C. Public Library Collection, Ranger Italia (Serengo, Italy), and The Mino Washi Museum (Mino, Japan).

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• VILLAGER: “ÀṢẸ: Embodying the Divine”

  VILLAGER is a Nigerian-born Baltimore-based transdisciplinary artist. ÀṢẸ: Embodying the Divine developed as a series of paintings and site-specific installations inspired by the Yorùbá philosophy of ÀṢẸ. The Yoruba word àṣẹ has multiple meanings, including power, authority, command, and life. Àṣẹ also represents power that can cause change.
   
  Primarily working in acrylic on canvas, VILLAGER was also influenced by a quote from Flash of the Spirit by Robert Farris Thompson: “A thing or a work of art that has ÀṢẸ transcends ordinary questions about its makeup and confinement; it is divine force incarnate.” Themes explored include Yoruba cosmology, divinity, ancestral communion, purpose and belonging, and Yoruba practices and beliefs. This body of work allowed VILLAGER to find grounding in their painting style called AFROABSTRACTURE.
   
  The philosophy of AFROABSTRACTURE is a spiritual and energetic reconnection to the divine within and around us. By mirroring the visual and contextual embodiments of African traditional carved wood figurines and masks, materials, objects and totems of cultural significance, and various elements of Yoruba and African spirituality practices and rituals, VILLAGER has created work that embodies both abstraction and figuration. Their work naturally evolved away from the representation of the masks and figurines and moved into the energetic likeness of family members, loved ones, and acquaintances which transports the artist, subject, and viewer into a dynamic and holistic space full of color and texture.
   
  VILLAGER’s creative and artistic language continues to evolve as they memorialize and honor ancestors and loved ones through painting. “Every day is an opportunity to honor my ancestors and keep them alive in my existence and that brings me purpose,” says VILLAGER. “The exhibition is a divine opportunity to present my exploration, scrutinization, deconstruction, and redefinition of the existential and paradoxical question of what it means to be a ‘Contemporary African.’”
   
  “VILLAGER is truly a bright light on the spectrum of the Baltimore Art Movement,” says curator Kirk Shannon-Butts. “Their practice is evolving in such a meaningful way, gently rendering art from African philosophies, Yoruba culture, and their own creative manifestos. The result is work that is original, engaging, smart, and quite contemporary.”

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• Shae McCoy: “YOU REMIND ME OF HOME”

  “This body of work, like others of mine, helps me release my grip on traumas of the past so I can move forward. The work celebrates family traditions and shows Baltimore City pride.” –Shae McCoy.

   
  Born and raised in West Baltimore, Shae McCoy has been building her brand and leaving her mark all over the DMV one photo at a time. As you view her photography, you will begin to see a recurring theme embedded in the images that continuously circle back to her profound connection with her hometown and birth city.
   
  In YOU REMIND ME OF HOME, McCoy explores themes of safety, nostalgia, and home. The works are influenced by family, friends, and the love of a familiar city she knows. Her photography captures, documents, and expresses McCoy’s feeling of being homesick in her own home city because the landscape, culture, people, and foundation of her birthplace is rapidly changing.
   
  McCoy is also the author of the popular photo book West Baltimore Ruins (2021). This exhibition unintentionally ties to her book as they both evoke a similar sense of nostalgia. Using digital photography, reprinted film images, and physical memorabilia, McCoy offers the viewer a personal glimpse of how she views her home.
   
  “While photography may seem like the most accessible form to create art, it really does require a discerning and caring eye capable of turning the subject into a final image that can be called art. Shae possesses that gift,” says curator Kirk-Shannon-Butts. “This exhibition tells a beautiful story. As Baltimore continues to change, Shae’s photography acts as a reminder of the evolution of the inner city. Shae is presenting another version of the great American story captured through her photographs.”
   
  McCoy’s work has been featured in Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Essence, Baltimore magazine, and BmoreArt. She has also been named one of The Baltimore Sun’s 25 Women to Watch.

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