From a distance, a quilt by Baltimore artist Joan Gaither may look like a baby blanket, with its lace and soft blues, pinks and lavenders.
However, the large spread tells the story of 24 racial injustices.
“I like to juxtapose materials and ideas to make the meaning,” Gaither said. “We come in innocent little babies and somewhere pick up these nasty characteristics.”
Gaither, 62, has three narrative quilts in At Freedom?s Door: Challenging Slavery in Maryland. The exhibit opens Saturday at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum and Feb. 11 at the Maryland Historical Society.
The two museums, along with the Maryland Institute College of Art and 36 local art students, spent two years creating the show, which will include new and existing works by more than 20 established artists in a variety of media, including prints, sculptures, videos and installations.
These modern works will appear alongside historical paintings and artifacts to illustrate the contemporary struggles that are the legacy of slavery in Maryland.
“Every time I work on exhibitions about African American history I hope people will recognize this is not a separate history,” said Kym Rice, guest curator of At Freedom?s Door. “This is American history, period. It?s not the history of one group.”
While researching work for At Freedom?s Door, Arvie Smith drove around Baltimore, looking for the vestiges of slavery.
One of his paintings, called “Baltimore My Baltimore,” depicts a black man and woman on an auction block, surrounded by images of the slave trade, factories and plantations, Civil War battles, famous abolitionists and the devil.
“It?s a long paper trail of man?s inhumanity to man,” said Smith, the 67-year-old artist in residence at the Lewis Museum.
Smith is “someone who can take their personal history and the general history of Baltimore and Maryland and turn it into something we can all reflect on,” said Jennifer Copeland, a fine art student at MICA who helped Smith with his research.
“At Freedom?s Door,” which runs until late October, will also include occasional workshops, film screenings and talks with Gaither, Smith and other artists and scholars.
IF YOU GO
At Freedom?s Door
Where: Reginald F. Lewis Museum
830 E. Pratt St., Baltimore
Opening Saturday, 7:30 -10 p.m.
443-263-1800
More Information:
www.mica.edu/atfreedomsdoor
Maryland Historical Society
201 W. Monument St., Baltimore
MdHS Opening Sunday, Feb. 11, noon – 4 p.m.
410-685-3750, ext. 321
