TRACKA publication for Baltimore’s Station North Arts & Entertainment District About Design Advisors TRACK A publication for Baltimore’s Station North Arts & Entertainment District Track is a publication for Baltimore’s Station Ellen Lupton North Arts & Entertainment District. It was Jennifer Cole Phillips conceived and developed by Amanda Buck as Andrew Losowsky her thesis project in the Graphic Design MFA Abbott Miller program at Maryland Institute College of Art. Copy Editor Designer, Writer, Editor David Barringer Amanda Buck Illustration Contributors Contact Nan Cao [email protected] Aimee Chang Melissa Crowton Content Seo Kim All content copyright individual authors. Unat- Jia Liu SETTING tributed content is authored by Amanda Buck. Vivian Loh ’ / / © 2015 Qieer Wang Jackie Zhu Thank you This project was made possible by the people Poetry Contributor of Station North Arts & Entertainment District. Sheila Gaskins Sincere thanks goes to all of the interviewees and contributors. Your stories inspired this Other Contributors publication. Special thanks to Ben Stone for Renee Libby Beck providing direction when this project was just Silvia Mata-Marin a glimmer of a possibility. Thank you to Seo Kim for developing an editorial assignment Cover in the Advanced Digital Illustration class. It Photo by Amanda Buck allowed me to include a breadth of incredible illustration in this publication. Thank you to Printing my writing teachers and thesis advisors for Printed by Newspaper Club. CULTURE providing instrumental feedback. My deepest www.newspaperclub.com gratitude goes to Will for his support and faith / / / in me. Typefaces Balto by Type Supply Works Cited Chaparral Pro by Adobe Cullen, Pete. “Gentrification, Recycling, or Eubie Script by Dai Foldes Something Else? An Interview with Antero Ohm by Type Supply Pietila.” Baltimore Fishbowl. Posted on June 26, 2013. Maryland State Arts Council Press Release. “Station North Receives Arts & Entertainment District Outstanding Achievement Award.” March 30, 2011. Open Walls video, openwallsbaltimore.com, accessed February 2015. Jensen, Brennen. “Johns Hopkins, MICA put down roots in Station North Arts and STORIES Entertainment District.” JHU Gazette, 2014. / / ¡Woods, Baynard. “Can Station North Save the City?” City Paper, July 2013. ’ / / ¢Zaleski, Andrew. “Can a Baltimore Neighbor- : / hood Avoid the Pitfalls of Gentrification?” Next City Online Magazine, August 2014. : ¤Gross, Rebecca. “Signs of Life.” NEA Arts Magazine, 2012. ¦Judkis, Maura. “Open Walls Tags Baltimore’s Station North District as an ‘it’ Neighborhood” Washington Post, May 18, 2012. ©Serpick, Evan. Iglehart, Ken. “Hot ’Hoods!” Baltimore Magazine, April 2010. «Sherman, Natalie. “Station North looks for apartments.” Baltimore Sun, 2014. Sherman, Natalie. “Centre Theatre nears CHANGE reopening.” Baltimore Sun, March 2015. / / : - ’ /
TRACK CONTENTS GENTRIFICATION IS A LOADED TERM. THIS IS JUST RECYCLING. NEIGHBORHOODS COME AND GO. – ’
his whole thing began short-lived existence is, in itself, evidence of the out of sheer curiosity. volatility and vulnerability inherent in this kind of I have been a resident arts-based economic development. Ben provided of Baltimore for al- a list of names of artists and business owners for most two years, and I me to reach out to. I connected with Tara Megos, pay attention to the the force behind Hidden Harvest Farm (page ). chatter about the state- I met Lena Leone (page ), the President of the EDITOR’S anointed Station North New Greenmount West Community Association. Arts & Entertainment Each interview led to another. I saw the inside District. My school, of the Copycat during my interview with Brooks Maryland Institute College of Art (), has a Kossover (page ). I became acquainted with Trole in the Station North revitalization strategy, Stephen Towns (page ) in City Arts Apartments, and my husband works for a non-prot develop- and Hannah Brancato of (page ) in a mas- ment company that directly invests in the district. sive warehouse at Greenmount Avenue and Oliver e contrasts in this area in central Baltimore are Street—the future home of a makerspace. After striking. Like the city as a whole, Station North months of interviews, I only wish I had more time has its beauty—majestic historic theaters, public to keep questioning. ANTERO PIETILA, AUTHOR OF “ art projects, hip bars and restaurants—as well as As it turns out, nding the answers to many of its ugly—societal ills, rampant vacancy, civic disin- my initial questions about Station North was a lot vestment on public display. more complicated than I thought. I asked the ques- The state of Maryland created the Arts & tions but discovered they were too simplistic: the Entertainment District Program almost fteen answers are nuanced, fraught with contradictions. years ago to provide tax incentives that encour- Now in its thirteenth year as an Arts & Entertain- age arts-related investment in cities. e program ment District, Station North is still young; the is roughly premised on Richard Florida’s Creative experiment is a work in progress. Large develop- NOT IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD Class theory, which posits that creative residents ment projects, backed by investors like Johns can spur economic development. Station North Hopkins University, are slated to open within the is a case study in this kind of creative placemak- next two years. is growth raises more questions: ing—described by the National Endowment for Does this make the Arts & Entertainment District the Arts as a strategy to “shape the physical and a success? Could the progress spiral and gentrify social character of a neighborhood around arts and the neighborhoods? Is this development the tip- cultural activities.” But is it working? I wondered ping point for ongoing investment? ” what could be discovered about Station North if I My goal for this publication is to create a NOTE started asking questions. portrait of the district at this moment in time—a I wanted to measure the “cultural vitality” pivotal juncture in the Station North story. e of the ad-hoc creative placemaking occurring in people I interviewed are truly invested in this Station North. I wanted to know what kind of place, and this publication is a platform for them. Illustration by Nan Cao. impact the designation has had on the neighbor- I add context to the content throughout the pub- hoods in the district, with data to back it up. I lication by integrating a range of voices along the wanted to uncover whether residents thought the edges of the pages. My intent is not to judge, but Arts & Entertainment designation was positive to document. I hope the publication adds a deeper or negative. I wanted to use design to tell stories understanding and a more sustained engagement about people and their relationship to place. to the conversation about Station North. T First, I met with Ben Stone, the Executive Director of Station North Arts & Entertainment, Inc. (page ). We chatted in small café called Can- teen (page ), which has since closed. Canteen’s Designer, Writer, and Editor, Track
TRACK SETTING STATION NORTH DEMONSTRATES THE POWER OF MARYLAND
C Barclay Ale House BALTIMORE SCHOOL BARCLAY THE E WAREHOUSE ALLEY M O T E L Y BOARD CROWN & RED EMMA’S NOT N FORMER LOT BALTI KAGROKAGROKAGROKAGRO T Designated A&E District LO A D OF FU N MORE DD CENTER CENTER by state of Maryland in FUTURE MOTOR HOUSE PRINT R STUDIOS W Nancy Pearson’s STATION NORTH Florist SERGIO JOE SQUARED E Dallas F. 20022002 AND Historic MARTINEZ ARTS Nicholas Sr. PARKWAY STRAND NORTH AVE ENTERTAINMENT Elementary NORTH THEATRE STUDIO DISTRICT, INC. School MANTA RAY RECORDS THEATER CO. CORRIDOR ’ S GREATEST ASSET: THE TALENTS, SKILLS, INGENUITY, EDUCATION, AND CREATIVITY OF OUR PEOPLE. – AVENUE A CONTEMPORARY People’s STRUCTURE The JERRY SOLID ROCK MARKET The Chicken Box FOR FREE WILL Homesteading × CARRYOUT Group THIS × BAPTIST CHURCH Caribbean RedParrot creative institute LOST CIT Y SNAC CANTEEN PARADISE asian bistro of DINER PLACE- contemporary × WINE St. Paul Compro-Tax- art Churches Rite Pharmacy MAKING baltimore Balto the Aid THE × LIQUORS ART Depot P × BEER YOUR STOP FOR THE ECLECTIC SPACE WALBERT & E TAPAS N TEATRO Q IS THE PROJECT U I Schuler HIDDEN CLUB L PLASE L SCHOOL OF CHARLES CREPES FINE ARTS GREENMOUNT ROW BY ROW WEST Bo ega metro gallery C H HARVEST A BALTIMORE NEW GREENMOUNT WEST STATION NORTH STATION PLACE GB R IMP ROV CENTRAL TOWNHOMES ca L GROUP BALTIMORE NGWCA CHARLES E COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
THEATRE 2012 & 2014 BALTIMORE & ENTER- NORTH S at Mercury FARM TAINMENT Theater FUTURE ’ CITY ARTS MURALS AND INSTALLATIONS is located Baltimore TWO! in the heart of the city. e district spans g Montessori YOUR1 OF 22 STOP A&E FOR DISTRICTS THE ECLECTIC IN MARYLAND three neighborhoods: Barclay, Charles PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL North, and Greenmount West. CORK D BALTIMORE DESIGN GREENMOUNT NEW DOOR B B CEMETERY R FACTORY SCHOOL creative O S Maryland’s Arts & Entertainment (A&E) Districts help SERVICES S develop and promote community involvement, tourism, and baltimore STATION NORTH TOOL revitalization through tax-related incentives that attract THE BELL LIBRARY artists, arts organizations, and other creative enterprises. PENN FOUNDRY STATION ARTS CITY ARTS CIT CITY ARTS CITY ARTS GOVERNOR MARTIN O’MALLEY RAILWAY EXPRESS
CopyCat Building GALLERY In , the state of Maryland designated this LOFTS area in central Baltimore as an official “art and FORCE entertainment district,” the rst of three in the AKIMBO COPY Upsetting Rape Culture city. ere are twenty-two Arts & Entertainment case[werks] CAT districts across the state. ese districts en- annex FUTURE courage arts-related activities to spur economic Station North development in cities. T Tool Library Open Works
TRACK SOURCE msac.org/programs/arts-entertainment-districts, accessed February 2015. SETTING STATION NORTH IS THE MOST EXCITING PLACE IN BALTIMORE. THE PLACE IT’S WHERE YOU CAN MAKE THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE, THE QUICKEST. – CHARLES DUFF, PRESIDENT OF JUBILEE BALTIMORE
Maryland’s Arts & Entertainment (A&E) designation provides three tax breaks in the districts
Artists that live in the state of Maryland can apply for an income-tax credit for state taxes if they TRACKING 1 Eligible artistic work is restricted to traditional derive income from the sale or performance of mediums and does not include a piece or performance created or executed for indus- their art within an A&E District. Artists have to try-oriented production. retain invoices, receipts, certicates, photos, and other documentation to substantiate the sale and nature of the work sold. Artists must submit specic tax forms with their Maryland State tax return in order to receive this credit.
Enterprises must register with the Baltimore City Department of Finance and can then receive Non-profit arts organizations in an A&E district 2 do not collect the tax and thus do not benefit. a waiver on the admissions and amusement tax Likewise, informal galleries in restaurants and charged by the city. cafés rarely benefit from this incentive.
A property-tax credit will be granted for qualifying This incentive is available only for the percent- age of the building devoted to arts-related renovations of approved buildings—a manufac- purposes. Also, improvements to the building 3 must be substantial to receive the tax credit. turing, commercial or industrial building located Modest improvements like painting fail to raise in the A&E district that is renovated for use by a real property values and as a result, there is qualifying residing artist or an arts and entertain- no tax benefit. ment enterprise.
Available data suggests that these tax incentives are rarely used. CULTURE
, . ( ) is a non-prot organization that SNAE receives no funding from the state to oversees and promotes Station North’s develop- manage and promote Station North’s devel- opment. The organization must raise their ment through “an arts-based revitalization and Jessie Unterhalter and Katey entire operating budget each year. Truhn in front of their mural for placemaking strategy.” ey manage public art Open Walls Baltimore 2. Photo projects and programming, and forge supportive by Matthew Holden Warren. relationships with local artists, designers, resi- dents, businesses, and institutions. T
TRACK SOURCES stationnorth.org/resources/taxincentives, accessed February 2015; msac.org/programs/arts-entertainment-districts, accessed February 2015. WALL TO WALL A LOT HAD TO HAPPEN BEFORE STATION NORTH BECAME A GOOD PLACE FOR HOPKINS AND MICA, AND FORTUNATELY IT DID. – ×
– North Avenue was known as Bound- The Whitehurst organization acquired Johns Hopkins University and the Maryland ary Avenue; the street separated the the theatre. Institute College of Art (MICA) are partnering county from the city. The district was with the Maryland Film Festival, a Baltimore prosperous around this time. non-profit that presents independent and historical films, to renovate the Parkway Loew’s Theatres Incorporated bought the Theatre. The venue, renamed the Stavros business—one of many theaters across Niarchos Foundation Film Center (the in- Parkway Theatre was built at 5 West North the Midwest and East Coast purchased by ternational philanthropic organization Avenue. The theater was designed by entrepreneur Marcus Loew as he grew his donated $5 million), will feature a three- Oliver Birkhead Wight—a Baltimore County Cincinnati-based chain across the country. screen, 600-seat theater and live perfor- native who designed a number of theaters The new owners extensively remodeled mance complex. The redevelopment will around the city. It was constructed by the the theater with help from architect John also include facilities for use by the faculty Henry J. Miller Co. for owner Henry Webb’s Eberson. The boxes were removed and Morris Mechanic leased the Parkway to and students of the two schools’ film pro- Northern Amusement Company. The Park- they replaced the original Moller Organ Hilltop Players, a theatrical group that grams. Beginning fall 2015, MICA will also way Theatre cost about $120,000 to build. with a Wurlitzer theatre organ. Many say performed live. offer an MFA in Filmmaking. The theater is Its design was closely modeled on London’s that the redecoration took away from the also envisaged as the future site for the West End Theatre, with features like rich elegance of the Parkway. Loew’s staged a Maryland Film Festival. The estimated total interior ornamental plasterwork in a Louis grand re-opening along with the downtown – cost of the renovation is $17 million. XIV style. The Parkway contained Italian Century Theater which they acquired and Parkway Theatre sat vacant. Renaissance and Beaux-Arts architectural reopened at the same time as the Parkway. Illustrations by Melissa Crowton elements and the exterior was terra cotta and beige brick. The theater auditorium had “royal boxes” and was originally envi- The Schwaber Organization bought the sioned as a 1100-seat vaudeville house. 24 sound units were installed, bringing the building, remodeled it for art and foreign The theater had a marble lobby, a tearoom, theatre up to date with new technology. films, and reopened under the name 5 and chandeliers modeled on those at Ver- West Theater. The theater was decorated sailles and Fontainebleau. with black lights and included a coffee bar – instead of the original tearoom. PARKWAY A group produced a nightly live radio , program at the Parkway entitle “Nocturne” Parkway Theatre’s opening night featured featuring poetry readings interspersed a screening of the silent romantic drama with musical selections on the organ. The race riots and desegregation of THEATRE “Zaza” starring Pauline Frederick. school districts in Baltimore during the 1960s significantly impacted Bal-
CHARLES DUFF, PRESIDENT OF JUBILEE BALTIMORE timore—particularly North Avenue. Anticipated opening of Stavros Niarchos Additionally, new traffic patterns killed Foundation Film Center. T the pedestrian character of the street. e Parkway eatre is a former movie theater in Station North Arts & Entertainment District that – is currently being renovated as the Stavros Niarchos The 5 West Theater showed an eclectic Foundation Film Center, scheduled to open in . mix of old movies, foreign films, and live performances, and continued operating until the mid-1970s. Read through this timeline to gain a sense of the rich history and signicance of this Baltimore landmark. The theater officially closed.
Morris Mechanic, a local theater operator The theater could not withstand the urban who had opened the nearby Center The- decline around North Avenue. After closing, atre in 1939, purchased the Parkway from the Parkway switched hands to the Korean Loew’s. Morris Mechanic suggested that Business Owner Association which used the the building might be turned into offices. theatre as an office suite until the early ’80s.
– A handful of attempts to reuse the building were unsuccessful. The Parkway Theatre Films with sound, called “singing pictures,” sat vacant for years. began showing in Parkway Theatre.
SOURCES Woolever, Lydia. “The Parkway Theatre to Reopen in 2016.” Baltimore Magazine. Posted on October 20, 2014. TRACK Elise Hoffman. “Parkway Theatre,” Explore Baltimore Heritage, accessed January 15, 2015. TRACKING CULTURE THE VIBRANCY WE SEE IN STATION NORTH IS WHAT WE NEED IN ORDER TO GROW BALTIMORE BY TEN THOUSAND FAMILIES OVER THE NEXT DECADE. – ×
SCHULER SCHOOL BALTIMORE DESIGN OF FINE ARTS SCHOOL
– e Schuler School of Fine Arts is located in the studio built by Hans Schuler, Sr. in and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Attached to the school is the Schuler family home, built in .
The Baltimore Design School (BDS) is a middle Since 1959, the Schuler School of Fine Arts has been school and high school that serves students in fash- training students in the methods and techniques of ion, architecture, and graphic design programs. the Old Masters. The goal of the Schuler School is to assure that future generations of artists receive the The 120,000 square-foot BDS building dates back wisdom of the past while acquiring the creative free- to 1915, when it was built as a warehouse for the dom that the mastery of traditional skills can provide. Crown Cork and Seal Company, which invented the bottle cap. In the 1970s, the building became a Schuler is a four-year non-accredited atelier school factory for the men’s suit designers Lebow Bros. that provides students with a high degree of personal The building was shuttered in 1985. attention. Drawing is stressed as the foundation for the study of painting and sculpture, and emphasis Ziger/Snead Architects headed the $25 million is placed on the mastery of the technical aspects of historic adaptive reuse project, which transformed each discipline, such as: grinding powdered pigments the nearly 100-year-old factory into an innovative with black oil that the student prepares; making Mar- design school. In May 2012, construction began oger medium; preparing painting surfaces; making with Southway Builders, Inc. serving as the project’s molds and casting sculpture, and more. The classes
MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS BLAKE ¤ contractor. The Baltimore Design School opened taught at the Schuler School train the artist in the in late August 2013. For the 2014–2015 school year, perfection of their craft while teaching them the inter- BDS housed grades 6–10 with a total of 450 stu- relationships of the various disciplines. dents from Baltimore. By 2016, the school will serve through grade 12 and educate a total student body Classes offered at Schuler School of Fine Arts between 600 and 700 students. Cast Drawings Portrait Painting Sculpture Life Drawing Still-Life Painting Anatomy Watercolor T
TRACK SOURCE baltimoredesignschool.com, accessed February 2015. SOURCE schulerschool.com, accessed February 2015. TRACKING CULTURE ×
ALLOVERSTREET
When did Alloverstreet begin? Alloverstreet started about a year ago, December 2013, when some friends and I coordinated art openings at the Copycat Building in Sta- tion North. It was a blast. So we started working together more and coordinating the event on a monthly basis.
What is the goal of the monthly event? Well, it was never anyone’s intention to start an art walk. I think it sort of came about as a response to a lack of a collective or communal experience many people going into it felt; and as a response to the amazing potential that exists in this pocket of town. There Alloverstreet is an evening of simultaneous art have been awesome things openings and events in the Station North Arts & going on in these spots for Entertainment District that occurs on the rst Friday a long time and Alloverstreet doesn’t have anything to do of every month. It is coordinated by Kimi Hanauer with that—we just help or- and Lee Heinemann. Baltimore’s “City Paper” calls it ganize and get the word out. an “art walk that doesn’t suck.” December was Alloverstreet’s one-year anniversary. How many galleries are involved in the event? “Track” chatted with Alloverstreet’s Kimi Hanauer There’s a whole range of to nd out a bit more about the event. different spaces involved— from DIY venues, to houses, to commercial galleries and hallways. Some of the spaces include: Lil’ Gallery, Penthouse Gallery, Gal- lery CA, The Bahamas, Lil’ Porch, La Bodega, Labbodies, Terrault Contemporary, FORCE and The Monument Quilt Project, Area 405, and others.
What motivates you to bring art to a broader com- munity through the monthly event Alloverstreet? It’s not necessarily just the art. For me, Alloverstreet is really about groups of people gathering together and maybe momentarily suspending judgment. When you go to an “art” opening you are not always sure what to expect; this is the frame of mind that people have when they go to this event. This mindset is important because it impacts how we engage with one another. I feel like Alloverstreet, at least for me, has made art openings a lot more casual and a lot more fun.
What do you hope Alloverstreet will be like in five years? I hope it still exists in five years! By that I mean, I hope to find a way to make this project more sustainable than it is currently.
The Situation Room by Get Your Life! Productions at Gallery CA, seen during Alloverstreet’s TRACK December 2014 event. TRACKING CULTURE PEOPLE TRY TO REVITALIZE THE NEIGHBORHOOD BY BRINGING IN NIGHT CLUBS, WHICH IS THE ARCH OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU’ × RE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING. –
Artwork seen during Alloverstreet’s December event. ABOVE:
Work by Chris Zickefoose at La Bodega Gallery, The Copycat Building.
OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP TO BOTTOM: LIAM FLYNN, BUSINESS OWNER IN STATION NORTH Butt-Hurt by Nicole Dyer, The Copycat Annex.
Guttersnipe: A Frontier Survival Guide by Cameron Klavsen, The Copycat Building.
The Situation Room by Get Your Life! Productions at Gallery CA. T
TRACK TRACKING CULTURE WE WANT TO HELP WITH THE PROCESS OF REVITALIZATION BUT TRY AS HARD AS WE ARE ABLE TO NOT CREATE GENTRIFICATION. – ×
STATION NORTH CAFÉS
Station North is your stop for eclectic coee shops. Each of these businesses oers a unique atmosphere while serving up coee, tea, and delicious food— with a side of Baltimore hospitality. Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse 30 West North Avenue Red Emma’s is a worker cooperative, radical bookstore, coffee roaster, vegetarian restaurant, and space for public events. The cooperative has been in Baltimore since 2004, but moved to their Station North location in late 2013.
OutTakes Cafe 1800 North Charles Street OutTakes Cafe opened in 2012 by local resident Keith Gilchriest. The coffee shop offers affordable food, coffee, and desserts in a fresh space.
Station North Arts Cafe Gallery (SNAC) 1816 North Charles Street Station North Arts Cafe Gallery is an owner-operated restaurant and cafe owned by William Maughlin and Kevin Brown. SNAC offers a unique and casual atmo- KATE KHATIB, A FOUNDER OF RED EMMA sphere with an eclectic menu of inexpensive and delicious food, tea, and coffee.
Nancy Cafe by SNAC 131 West North Avenue Nancy Cafe by SNAC is on the first floor of MICA’s Fred Lazarus IV Center. The cafe is bright and airy, with large windows and sleek, modern decor. They serve affordable breakfast, lunch, and coffee. The restaurant is named after Nancy Haragan (1951–2011), a founder of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance and a passionate, vocal advocate for Baltimore and ’S
¤ the arts.
Canteen 1821 North Charles Street Canteen was a hip coffee shop and restaurant that offered a menu featuring local, seasonal ingredients and artisan-roasted coffee. It was allegedly the musi- cian Dan Deacon’s favorite coffee shop in Baltimore. Unfortunately, days before this publication was sent to print, Canteen announced that it would close its doors for good on March 1, 2015. T
Illustration by Seo Kim.
TRACK TRACKING CULTURE WE THINK GENTRIFICATION IS GOOD, BUT GENTRIFICATION THAT DISPLACES PEOPLE IS BAD FOR BUSINESS AND COMMUNITIES. – ×
PEN & QUILL Truffle Buratta Marinated black trumpet mushrooms, Maryland lump crab, brown butter vinaigrette. $16. A review of a new Station North restaurant. × In the s and ’ s, TRACKING bartenders at Pen and Quill served up cocktails inside e Chesapeake, one of Baltimore’s most renowned restaurants. e Chesapeake, frequented by celebrities, recently attempted a revival, and after its second iteration and demise, Pen & Quill, named in homage of the old lounge, opened in late summer . e restaurant only occupies part of the former Chesapeake’s space but is still large and open. Its style is dicult to identify with a little ’ s mod, lounge space that throws back to the Victorian era, and a mix of modern and rustic. While it sounds like it wouldn’t, it works. e bar, reminiscent of the mid-century lounge, is the kind where you spend a few hours over cocktails, learning the ins and outs of each craft drink. I started with a Pamona, which was Borderline full, we splurged on two more dishes, $ during happy hour. e house spice rum mixed the beer-steamed clams and the house tempeh ERNST VALERY, PART OF TEAM THAT REOPENED THE FORMER CHESAPEAKE ¦ with lemon and apple cider was tting for a late- sandwich, also highly recommended by our server. fall drink. e Blue Mountain Kolsch gave the clams deep Our waiter, who seemed a bit unnerved that avor, but they were too salty to really enjoy. e we weren’t immediately ready to order, entertained sandwich was paired with pickled carrots, Brussels our various questions. e steamed buns with the slaw, roasted jalapeños, and avocado mayo. Sensi- beef brisket were hot and uy and the tender tive palates, be warned: it was very spicy. beef fell apart in chunks. A creamy horseradish Without room for dessert, we tried two more STORIES spread gave it more avor without overwhelming drinks, the Silver Lining, which was a little tequi- the beef. la-heavy for casual sipping, and the Autumn Cock- Our server recommended both the miso-glazed tail, which smelled strongly of ginger. e latter pork cheek—described to us as “a cheek you’d like warmed the throat and had a sweet avor with a to kiss” —and the true burrata, so we ordered a kick at the nish. Like the Pamona, it was tting Painting of musician Dan Deacon by Brooks Kossover. plate of each. e pork cheek was incredibly tender for fall. but nothing revolutionary. It was in a popcorn A recommendation? Linger a little longer in purée, which added depth, but isn’t something I’d Station North. It’s hard to go wrong with a restau- rush to order again. rant owned by the Karzai family of e Helmand, e burrata, a soft, spreadable mozzarella, Tapas Teatro, and B, a Bolton Hill Bistro fame. came deconstructed with giant pieces of lump crab While it’s dicult to forget that the space sat meat and marinated black true mushrooms. e empty, a ghost for decades, once inside, you won’t bread that accompanied it was a little too crunchy, be disappointed. T so I paired it with the bread that came with our butter and salivated over each bite. Entrées $13–$48.
TRACK WALL TO WALL merging their work with activism to rad- ically shape the public dialogue around FORCINGpolitical and social justice issues. Hannah Brancato and Rebecca Nagle are masters of this art of social engagement. They are the artist duo who started : Upsetting THE Rape Culture. Their activist collaboration creates projects that agitate against the cul- ture of rape, promote a culture of consent, : and get millions of people to discuss the uncomfortable subject. According to their website, they believe that “a more dicult and honest conversation needs to happen in America to face the reali- ties of sexual violence.” ey envision a world where “sex is empowering and pleasurable rather than coercive and violent.” To promote this needed conversation, they create “art actions to generate media attention and get millions of people talking.” e tactics uses for those art actions include multimedia art, public interventions, social media, and website projects. CONVERSATION
TOP RIGHT: Detail from a workshop led by Shameeka Dream. Photo by David Sloan.
OTHERS: FORCE volunteers in action. Photos by Theresa Keil.
TRACK FORCING THE CONVERSATION CITIES ARE COMPLICATED PLACES. WHAT MAKES YOU A “
: n a cold December afternoon, I met social-media campaign to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion “blanket the National Mall with these stories to spell twenty-nine-year-old Hannah Bran- Show. It went viral and forced millions of people to the phrase ‘ ,’” Brancato said. Inserting a cato, a resident of Station North, in talk about rape culture and consent. e project even temporary memorial on the National Mall would be Artists Within, NEA Our Town Grant the space is currently using drove to move their web servers to Iceland in an important testament to the stories of survivors Kickstarter and individual donations for workshops and studio activity. the face of legal challenges. of sexual violence. Afterward, the quilts will Sparkplug Foundation Grant Oe room is about half of one oor of a massive Following that success, released an anti- be dispersed back to all of the participants across Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Grant ,-square-foot warehouse at N. Green- rape party-school guide, seemingly by Playboy, in the country. In kind material donations (including mount Avenue. e sectioned-o space is bare-bones . Top Ten Party Commandments: e Ultimate To increase the local participation in projects like backing for quilts—about $16,000 worth and lled with shelves that hold boxes, which are Guide to a Consensual Good Time featured “student e Monument Quilt, is working hard to forge of house wrap material) labeled: oce supplies, tote bags, bubble wrap, undies, visionaries ringing in an era of better sex,” ’s partnerships with organizations in the surrounding rope/twine, scrap paper, and more. ere are work website states. ey hosted the guide through May neighborhood. They are starting to work with stu- tables, sewing machines, irons, ironing boards, and First/People Link, a member-run, politically progres- dents at the Baltimore Design School and residents FORCE is trying to plenty of space for volunteers to come in and get to sive internet provider that collaboratively works with in Lillian Jones Apartments, an affordable living secure a corporate, in-kind sponsorship. work. Even with the free rent through property owner organizations to keep their sites online. After this establishment across the street from ’s head-
LEGACY Under Armour: you Baltimore Arts Realty Corporation ( ), heat- foray into blitz-like, web-based projects, Brancato and quarters on N. Greenmount Avenue. Brancato thinks could make this t-shirt a reality! ing the vast space has proven too expensive. While Nagle initiated a massive new undertaking, e Mon- their proximity to the Baltimore Design School will
” we chatted, with just the two of us plus one volun- ument Quilt. e time-intensive project demonstrates be a key factor in making the collaboration a success. RESIDENT? IF YOU’VE BEEN THERE FOR ¨5 YEARS, ARE YOU A GENTRIFIER? – teer across the room, a space heater under the table their commitment to building more of a movement. ey have already teamed up with the President of Photo by blasted at our feet. A Transportation freight moved into the warehouse space in Station the Residence Association at Lillian Jones Apartments, Theresa Keil. train periodically rumbled by ’ “ ¡.” North in May , and the project grew from there. on the track tangent to the rough e Monument Quilt, they aim to dis- There is an average of building’s property. rupt the silence around sexual violence and support, By stitching“ our stories at train track continues rather than shame, survivors. Brancato explained, together, we are creating on and passes by the Mount “Monument Quilt is a crowdsourced collection of 293,000 and demanding public Royal Station Building at Mary- thousands of stories of survivors of rape and abuse victims (age 12 or older) of space to heal. sexual assault each year land Institute College of Art from all across the country. By stitching our sto- , ()—the institution where ries together, we are creating and demanding public - Brancato and Nagle met as stu- space to heal.” Brancato went on, “e reason that it Approximately dents in the ber department in is crowdsourced is that the way that people experi- 1 in 3 1 in 6 . After earning her , Brancato stayed at ence sexual violence is very intertwined with their women & men to earn an in Community Art and now teaches identities. So, me as a white person, how I experience Ramona Russell, whom Brancato describes as “an for that department part-time. In between their stud- access to justice and resources is very dierent than amazing leader” and “the ambassador that is getting ies, Brancato worked as an artist-in-residence at a the way that a black person or a transgender person other folks in Lillian involved in the project.” domestic-violence shelter, and Nagle wrote a satiri- or a Native American person can access the criminal Up until the moment the phrase “ ” is
report being sexually abused as children cal play about sexual assault called Darb TV. Nagle is justice system, or not be served by it at all— which is covering the National Mall, Brancato, Nagle, and their also the founding director of the No Boundaries usually what we see.” volunteers will continue to build momentum for e Coalition, a resident-led organization that brings People across the country make '×' quilt squares Monument Quilt. In , they plan to participate in
BEN STONE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SNAE © neighborhoods together across race and class lines in individually or in community workshops, and then quilt displays timed with signicant trials in Florida 68% Central-West Baltimore. e pair were both interested mail those quilts to ’s headquarters in Station and events on college campuses around the country. of sexual assaults are not in having a public dialogue about women’s bodies and North. Volunteers for sew four of those quilts ey are applying for additional grants to help estab- reported to the police sexual violence and gured that, together, they could together and add backing material to make eight-foot lish their organization and gain credibility. And they
SOURCES Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network; Generation 5. create it on a larger scale with bigger impact. In , blocks. e quilts are then cataloged and stored for will continue to host community quilt-making work- they began their collaboration and was born. later use. Brancato and Nagle also host quilt-making shops in their studio space. : Brancato is thoughtful and articulate. She openly workshops in Baltimore for local survivors to share When I asked Brancato what motivates her to shared her views on controversial topics and explained their stories. ose community workshops are usually work on community art and social justice projects, the work that she and Nagle engage in through . co-hosted with organizations like TurnAround, Inc., a she didn’t falter. She said, “I can be eective in creat- FORCE is a member of ARTISTS WITHIN, a coalition of arts and activist organizations e group is probably best known for their domestic violence and sexual assault center, and ing an alternative culture through art. When Rebecca that work with Station North Arts & Entertain- website intervention, loves . ey Hollaback! Baltimore, a movement to end street and I started collaborating, we both realized what ment, Inc., the Central Baltimore Partnership, and MICA’s Baltimore Art + Justice Project, set up a mock Victoria’s Secret website to promote harassment. ey also collaborate with faith-based an impact art can have. I think that sometimes it’s to increase local participation in the arts and an ostensibly new line of panties from the groups that host workshops in their own locations thought of as separate from the rest of life, but we community development efforts in Station North. It is funded by the National Endowment brand, which featured sex-positive messages of con- throughout the city. really think of it as part of a larger movement towards for the Arts Our Town Grant. Other members sent. ey co-opted ’s aesthetic—playful, casual, In summer , went on tour to thirteen social justice. I am sure we all know more than one of the coalition include Single Carrot Theatre, Dance & Bmore, and Youth Learning Lab of bright—and simply replaced unnerving messages cities and towns across the country to share the f- person that has either been in an abusive relationship Education and Applied Design. like “No Peeking” and “Sure ing” with empowering ty-some Monument quilts and -plus stories they or has been sexually assaulted. So we’re all aected by messages like “No Means No” and “Ask First.” ey had collected thus far. e culmination of the project, this. Either I feel paralyzed, or else I am doing some- perfectly timed the project and its corresponding planned for , will show everything together and thing about it. Being active is the only choice.” T
TRACK FORCING THE CONVERSATION THE
Kossover’s paint- ings in Terrault Contemporary.
ART OF
he colorful Station North Arts his rst solo exhibition in Baltimore, “Reptile Dys- & Entertainment billboard function: Reality Engineering II: e Lizard of Oz.” perched atop the roof of the e room also contained a black box, shelves of PLEASANT Copycat building is a bold con- cassettes and zines, and a reception desk. trast to the gray Baltimore sky. Kossover led me to another room adjacent to the On a late November afternoon, gallery. is darker space is his studio, classroom, this landmark guided me to the and lounge area. e room is suitable for events, former bottle-cap factory on Guilford Avenue. e complete with a stage, a retractable screen, and T building was constructed in the ¢£¤¥s as a manufac- enough open space for multiple rows of chairs. e turing warehouse and bought by Charles Lankford walls are lined with Kossover’s personal collec- in ¢¤£¦ for §¨¨©,¥¥¥. Lankford turned the Copycat tion of work created by friends, along with his own into industrial artist studios, and artists turned gigantic portrait paintings, which are spectacular. their studios into live-work spaces and galleries. He has already shown in solo and group exhibi- LIVING Today, the Copycat and its diverse tenants are an tions in Baltimore, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New anchor to the creative community of Station North. York City, Miami, Washington, D.C., Raleigh, and One of those Copycat tenants, twenty-two- Greensboro, North Carolina. Despite still being a year-old Brooks Kossover, recently opened an student himself—he is a senior painting major at impressive gallery there called the Terrault Con- Maryland Institute College of Art (), expect- temporary. I easily spotted the street entrance, ing to graduate in spring ¨¥¢©—he recently began a heavy gray door with the address ¢©¢© clearly leading painting workshops at Terrault Contem- marked, one step up from the sidewalk of Guilford porary. Kossover is planning a crowdfunding Avenue. Upon entering the gallery, I met Brooks campaign to raise funds for easels, storage shelves, and Matisse, his adorable, tiny dog that he car- tables, drying racks, and materials to x up the ried throughout our meeting. e white-walled, bathroom and turn the kitchen area into a proper expertly lit, hardwood-oored gallery displayed art clean-up space.
Brooks holds a photograph showing bright, hallucinatory paintings by Travis Egedy in one of the large parties that were once a regular occurrence in the space.
TRACK THE ART OF PLEASANT LIVING THE COPY CAT IS THE REASON WHY STATION NORTH IS STATION NORTH. We sat down on a gray couch in the back of the having New York artists come here to see Baltimore room under a larger-than-life painting of Baltimore- artists. at’s sort of my goal, eventually. And it’s based Dan Deacon, a musician, former Copycat resi- already starting to happen. In New York, Baltimore dent, and friend of Kossover’s. Brooks is youthful and has this reputation—it didn’t used to—but now it “ ere are always turning points in people’s lives when they talkative; once we began discussing his work, he kept has this strange allure,” Kossover said. Travis Egedy’s realize they want to do something bigger than themselves.” on talking for the duration of my time there. Prior to With that goal, Terrault has shifted its focus and work in Terrault starting Terrault Contemporary, when Kossover was plans to work with and support only Baltimore-based Contemporary. between his freshman and sophomore years at , he actually lived in the then-heatless space. (He now lives in the Waverly neighborhood.) He said that at that time, it was “a crazy party house” with a “layer of grime” over everything. After rescuing and then wit- nessing the decline and eventual death of an elderly dog, Mabel, he went through “a total change” and decided that it was time to make his dream of open- ing a gallery a reality. “There are always turning points in people’s lives when they realize they want to do something bigger than themselves, and I feel
– like that’s sort of what this was,” he said. Shortly after GAIA, ARTIST AND CURATOR FOR OPEN WALLS BALTIMORE ª Mabel’s death, the gallery opened, in August ¨¢ª. Kossover had saved up the money to develop the gallery and had friends with building experience artists and curators. Kossover thinks this strategy ’ : “ .” to help him to rehabilitate the space. One of those will set the gallery apart from others in the scene friends, Josh Dean, was hired as the full-time Copy- in Baltimore. He recently hired Carlyn omas, who cat maintenance man after the building owner saw his has a degree in Museum Studies from the University work on Terrault Contemporary. Due to the gallery’s of Maryland, Baltimore County, to be the Director of location in the Copycat, however, Kossover cannot the gallery. Kossover said, “She is going to be a key own the space. He told me, “People have posed the player in helping this become something really suc- question, ‘Why are you investing all this money into cessful.” ey are currently working to secure a scal a place you don’t own?’ It is a risk, and if I fail, then sponsorship. e gallery’s long-term goal is to apply I fail, and that will be a life experience for me. But at for a ©¥¢()¦ status and continue to build a strong the same time, I am far more concerned with adding customer-clientèle base “to the point where we can on to or becoming a part of something far greater really help support artists nancially by helping sell than myself than to try to start something totally their work,” Kossover says. ey currently represent from scratch.” twelve artists, who are selected by a three-person The original name for the gallery was AmEx panel. Each of the twelve artists will be showing
Contemporary, inspired by a conversation with a throughout ¨¥¢©, one artist every month. Terrault has Brooks Kossover with his dog, Matisse. group of Kossover’s friends who call themselves twelve other slots for shows, which are lled through the Visa Art Collective. But after registering the the proposal section of their website. , Kossover received a cease and desist letter from Terrault Contemporary is quickly becoming a American Express. He immediately renamed AmEx prominent player in the Baltimore gallery scene. Contemporary to Terrault Contemporary. is name Kossover plans to stay put and continue to invest in has “no aliations,” other than a personal connection the gallery and surrounding art community. He says, for Kossover—Terrault is the name of the street he “I sold my soul to Baltimore a couple years ago. Baltimore grew up on, in Greensboro, North Carolina. is literally the land of pleasant living. I feel so safe Kossover’s hometown and family are clearly a and comfortable here, and I want other people to know strong source of inspiration for him. “I have always that this is a really great place.” He doesn’t want sort of wanted to be like my grandfather,” he said. His people to come here just because “there is a great art grandfather is an artist in New York City. He also told school,” he says. “Come here because there is a great me that his permanent art collection goes to his dad’s art scene and a great community.” T house in North Carolina, which “looks like a gallery.” Still, Baltimore has made quite an impression on this Terrault Contemporary is open Tuesdays young artist, and he is determined to make the city a through Saturdays 12 p.m.–5 p.m. destination for art lovers. “What I am interested in is
TRACK WALL TO WALL STATION NORTH’S , urban agriculture is ourishing as a solution to provide equitable access to healthy food and revitalize the social health of communities. e United States has a long history of urban agriculture, from the Liberty and Victory Gardens of the rst and second World Wars to Michelle Obama’s White House Garden today. The surge of interest in recent years can be attributed to the growth of the environmental, , and local food movements. is trend encouraged the Baltimore City Planning Commission to adopt an urban agricul- ture plan, Homegrown Baltimore: Grow Local, to “increase the production, distribution, sales, and consumption of locally grown food within URBANBaltimore,” in November . According to the report, there are an estimated thirteen commer- cial and community farms, seventy-two community gardens, seventy youth gardens and farms, two aquaponics and aquaculture projects, and an unknown number of home and rooftop gardens throughout Baltimore City, although these numbers are constantly in ux. Two years before Baltimore City’s plan took shape, e Farm Alliance of Baltimore City began. e Farm Alliance is “a network of producers working to increase the viability of urban farming and improve access to urban grown foods,” their website states. It launched through the eorts of FARMMaya Kosak while she was an Open Society Insti- tute Community Fellow, along with support from
a « Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant. e Baltimore-based non-prot Civic Works serves as both the host organization and scal sponsor for the Farm Alliance.
TRACK STATION NORTH’S URBAN FARM WE ARE IN A FOOD SWAMP, NOT A FOOD DESERT. THERE IS ACCESS TO FOOD, JUST NOT VERY GOOD FOOD. – ne of the eleven members of authority to sell it and any of the lots in the Adopt-A- the Farm Alliance of Balti- Lot program, at any time (with a 30-day notice). e more City is Station North’s Adopt-A-Lot contract is a license agreement and does Hidden Harvest Farm. not prevent a lot’s sale for development. Founded by Tara Megos in Despite the risks inherent in not owning the land , Hidden Harvest Farm she cultivates, Megos presses on. She considers her is a double-plot, nearly ¾ work in urban farming a form of activism that can acre farm. e farm lives transform a symbol of urban decline—a vacant lot— up to the “hidden” in its name but can be found at into something useful. When I received a tour in early Othe corner of North Calvert and McAllister Streets in November, I saw the farm’s chicken coop, bee apiary, the Greenmount West section of Station North. e mushroom logs, fruit trees, a shed with a sign painted main, ½ acre lot faces the row houses of North Calvert by a student, and the last of the season's Swiss and is serendipitously across the street from Miracle chard. Both lots were mostly covered in rows of just- Temple Church of the Harvest. An alley between the planted cover crops, like legumes and rye-grasses. ese farm’s two lots is lined with a row of cement bollards, will be tilled back into the soil for extra nutrients come recently brightened up with primary-colored paint. spring. Around that time, the farm will begin to host Looking north, the Baltimore School Board is clearly in their regular rotation of young and old volunteers from view above the buildings between the farm and North the community, along with volunteer spring-break Avenue. With Penn Station a mere quarter-mile away, trips. ey will hold classes in the gardens to inspire the nearby streets are busy and full of pedestrians. But children from nearby schools—Dallas F. Nicholas Sr. on this oasis in the concrete-riddled city, you can easily Elementary and the Baltimore Montessori School—by forget you’re in an urban environment. showing them how they grow their food. and Megos is from Norwich, Connecticut, but moved Johns Hopkins will also hold workshops and classes at to Baltimore in to earn her degree in sculpture the farm. from Maryland Institute College of Art (). After During the summer months, Hidden Harvest growing vegetables on her Greenmount West apartment Farm sells produce at a farm stand on the North balcony in , she decided to pursue the practice Calvert side of their lot. ey deliver, on foot, crates of full-time. rough the city’s Adopt-A-Lot program, she vegetables to Station North restaurants Bottega and LIAM FLYNN, BUSINESS OWNER IN STATION NORTH was permitted to utilize the lot—which was a com- Canteen. ey also sell with the Farm Alliance table munity garden at the time—for farming. Baltimore’s at the Waverly nd Street farmers market. rough Adopt-A-Lot program was created in the s as a the Farm Alliance’s collective approach, they are able way to lighten the burden of thousands of vacant lots to share equipment they otherwise could not aord, throughout the city. ey enhanced Adopt-A-Lot in such as an /debit/credit machine, which accepts through the Power in Dirt program, which makes food stamps. is allows them to occasionally oer a it easier for community members to adopt and revital- double-dollars incentive program for their customers. ize vacant parcels of land. e program even makes it Double dollars increases the purchasing power by
W 20th St E 20th St simple for community members to access water. is matching purchases made with , ¡ Fruit and Veg- is extremely valuable to Hidden Harvest Farm, since etable Checks, and Farmers Market Nutrition Program
N Howard N St they started by hauling buckets of water from Megos’s coupons, up to the rst ¬. For example, if a customer apartment a few blocks away! spends ¬ worth of their benets, they receive ¬ ere are two overlapping categories of lots in the worth of produce. North Avenue North Avenue
N Calvert St city’s Adopt-A-Lot program: adopted lots and commu- is double-dollars program is one way urban
Guilford Ave nity-managed open spaces ( ). Adopted lots are farms in Baltimore, like Hidden Harvest Farm, are Maryland Avenue Maryland parcels of land considered by the city to be in interim playing a signicant role in providing access to healthy §/¨ 2 18 use and, therefore, may be placed on a list of prop- food and reducing the impacts of poverty. Green space erties for sale. To be deemed a , the lot adopter also beauties neighborhoods and can boost the W Lafayette Ave E Lafayette Ave N Charles St Falls Rd St Paul St must prove they have strong community involvement quality of life in the city. Hidden Harvest Farm is cultivat-
Guilford Ave
e city owns the lot and has the authorityBarclay St to sell it and any of the lots in the Adopt-A-Lot program, at any time. E Lanvale St
Greenmount Ave and investment, and then the land is removed from ing that green space within Station North’s urban land- the city’s active list of properties for sale. Hidden Har- scape: a place where people of dierent backgrounds T Federal St vest Farm is considered a property. Regardless can come together over a universal interest—food. of that designation, the city owns the lot and has the
TRACK STATION NORTH’S URBAN FARM
E Oliver St ← ECB (Hendrik Beikirch), OWB 4 E North Avenue ECB’s enormous mural, painted on a vacant building next to the K&J Auto Service, portrays an astonishing black and white portrait of the late father of the owner of Seoul Rice Cake, Jae Won Kim. Photo by David Muse. 23 murals and temporary installations () has turned the streets of Station North into an exhibit. In ¨, the project was initiated by Station North Arts & Entertainment, Inc., along with Gaia, the acclaimed street artist from the Upper East Side of New York City that paints under the nom de guerre of the Greek earth goddess. Gaia, who curated the project, is a graduate of Maryland Institute College of Art () and resident of Baltimore, although he frequently travels to paint murals across the world. WALL e rst installment of ¡ took place in and produced twenty-three murals and installations by locally and internationally renowned street art- ists over the course of two months. e curator and TO project managers intended the project to enliven 20 5 male female public space, initiate dialogue, spark community artists artists revitalization and civic pride, and increase invest- ment in the district. ey also hoped that producing concentrated murals in the area would lead to it becoming a prominent street-art destination. Building on the success of the inaugural ¡ eort, Station North Arts & Entertainment, Inc. presented Open Walls Baltimore 2 ( ¡) in spring . Artists from Baltimore, New York, Europe, 16 and South America were selected by curator Gaia. murals and temporary Between March and June , they created six- installations teen large-scale, site-specic murals throughout the district. While several of the artists for ¡ created wheat-paste or temporary installations, the artists for ¡ all created permanent, painted murals. ¡ also included a healthy dose of pro- gramming, performances, lectures, tours, and block parties. Subject matter for the murals ranged from representational portraits to completely abstract swashes of color. Some artists attempted to honor residents, nod to Baltimore’s industrial history, or depict a scene that could resonate with locals. 14 3 Others simply wanted to create something beautiful male female and universal. During Baltimore’s annual Artscape artists artists festival in , Station North Arts & Entertain- ment, Inc. led tours to the Open Walls murals. e project has now ocially wrapped up, but the art At the OWB¦ launch party, art and activist collective remains on view throughout Station North. Luminous Intervention called Open Walls Baltimore a WALL “SAUSAGE PARTY.”
WALL TO WALL « PUBLIC ART ¬ IS SOMETHING THAT CAN BE POLITICALLY CHARGED, BRINGING BEAUTY BUT IT’S AND QUALITY AND AN ATTRACTIVE FORCE TO THIS NEIGHBORHOOD. – e mural functions“ exactly how I feel art should function; PRINCIPAL SPONSORS within and amongst the mess of routine and the mess of the National Endowment city and the environment and for the Arts the neighborhood. PNC Foundation , European Union National Institutes for Culture
ArtPlace America
SUPPORTING SPONSORS
PNC Bank
Visit Baltimore
Timothy 618
Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts
Common Ground Cafe
Home Depot
DAP
Sherwin Williams
Sunbelt Rentals
Brookshire Suites
Ironlak
Montana Colors
PEDX Baltimore
Southway Builders
Artist and Craftsman Supply
Station North Arts Cafe
Two Boots
Frontiers The Crown of Bees Baltimore’s Exonym & Endonym or Mi Corazón en África Gaia, OWB Nanook, OWB LNY, OWB 2016 N Charles Street 2021 St Paul Street 326 Federal Street GAIA, CURATOR OF OWB® Gaia’s mural is painted on the south-facing wall of the Seoul Rice Nanook’s mural, painted on an abandoned row LNY’s mural, painted on a row house, is a magical-realist portrait Cake building. Frontiers depicts the following disparate elements: house, depicts large flowers in the forefront; a that the artist describes as follows: “[This is] a mural that looks 3 the head of a Giambologna Mercury (Hermes) sculpture; the dramatic sky, a floating row house, and a bicycle at the vernacular of the city and at its periodical changes brought landscape painting Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California by wheel in the background; and a serious picture about by demographic migrations. Starting with the name of the Number of OWB¦ artists (Gaia, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Albert Bierstadt; the John and Frances Angelos Law Center at of a boy with a crown of bees at the center. city as being an Anglicization of the Irish name Baile an Tí Mhóir, and Vhils) that made the the University of Baltimore; a majestic tiger; an Arabber wearing Photo by Matthew Holden Warren. meaning ‘town of the big house’ and ending in its more contem- 2015 list for an Orioles hat; and much smaller, a taxi and a few pedestrians porary nicknames of Balmer or B’more, the imagery of the mural FORBES’ spread across the wall. Photo by Martha Cooper. connects these histories and anchors them on the street photo- UNDER : graphy of Rodolfo Diaz, which was used as source material for the ART AND STYLE! project.” Photo by Martha Cooper.
TRACK WALL TO WALL 30 35
34 ↓ 27
E 20th St
W 20th St 37 14
N Howard St 3 8 26 29
North Avenue
North Avenue 21 5 38 6 20 32 12 Maryland Avenue 13 11
N Calvert St 19 36 E Lafayette Ave 28 4 W Lafayette Ave 31
N Charles St St Paul St 10 24 Falls Rd
Guilford Ave 15 7 16 39 1 Barclay St
E Lanvale St 18
Greenmount Ave 22
, ,
1 Chris Stain New York 24 Betsy Casañas Pennsylvania 33 2 Doodles Washington 25 D’metrius Rice Baltimore 25 3 Ever* Buenos Aires 26 ECB Germany 2 23 Federal St 4 Freddy Sam South Africa 27 El Decertor Peru 5 Gaia Baltimore 28 Ernest Shaw Baltimore 6 & 7 Gary Kachadourian Baltimore 29 Escif Spain 8 Interesni Kazki Ukraine 30 Gaia Baltimore 9 Jaz Buenos Aires 31 Jessie Unterhalter and 10 Jessie Unterhalter and Katey Truhn Baltimore Katey Truhn Baltimore 32 Lesser Gonzalez Baltimore 17 † 11 & 12 Jetsonorama Arizona 33 LNY New Jersey 9 13 John Ahearn New York 34 Logan Hicks New York 14 Josh Van Horn Baltimore 35 Nanook Baltimore E Oliver St 15 Mata Ruda Baltimore 36 Ozmo Italy 16 Maya Hayuk New York 37 Santtu Mustonen Finland 17 Momo Louisiana 38 Tatyana Fazlalizadeh† Oklahoma 18 Nanook Baltimore 39 Zbiok Poland T 19 Overunder Nevada 20 Specter Montreal 21 Sten and Lex Italy
22 Swoon New York * Mural no longer exists due to development 23 Vhils Portugal † Wheat paste has faded from weather
TRACK WALL TO WALL Describe your paths to where you are now, as What kind of work are you doing now (in and co-owners, designers, and printers at Baltimore outside the Studio)? There’s work OUTSIDE of the Print Studios. Both of us have backgrounds in fine studio? We are always thinking of new work to make, art, although neither of our degrees is specifically in but we’re currently exploring more image-based work, printmaking. Kim has a BFA in Illustration from the incorporating hand-carved wood blocks with wood University of Delaware and an MFA in Graphic Design and metal type. Off the paper, we keep experiment- from MICA. Kyle has a BFA in Painting, also from MICA. ing with t-shirt ideas (we don’t want to be an apparel Kim spent most of her time in grad school exploring printing company, but we like trying out different design through letterpress, screenprinting, and book applications for our designs). We really enjoy collab- arts. Kyle, who also took a lot of printmaking classes orating with other businesses in our neighborhood, in undergrad, accepted a job working as the Studio designing and printing for coffee shops, restaurants, Technician for the Printmaking Department at MICA. arts centers, and non-profit organizations. This is where we met! Why did you choose to set Kyle Van Horn (33) and Kim Bentley (40) are a husband and wife team up shop in Station North who together own and run Baltimore Print Studios (), a public-access Arts & Enter- BALTIMORE letterpress and screenprinting studio located in the Station North Arts tainment & Entertainment District. Holding combined degrees in illustration, District? painting, and design, both have adopted their love for printmaking over We looked all many years of occasional classes, personal projects, and commercial work. around the city Together they manage studio hours, oer letterpress and screenprinting and when we workshops, and tackle commercial work as Baltimore Print Studios. saw this space in this neigh- In addition to running , Kim and Kyle both currently have day jobs. borhood, we Kyle works full-time for the Maryland Institute College of Art (), knew it would overseeing a rapidly growing printmaking department. Kim is a full-time be a great fit. graphic designer and works as part-time faculty at in the graphic We also lucked design department. into having some very supportive “Track” recently met the couple at to ask them a few questions about landlords who owning a print shop in Station North Arts & Entertainment District. PRINT were excited by our proposals. We feel fortunate As the idea for a community print shop started to gel, that our shop is so centrally located in the city, and we began to visit other studios around the country, that it is convenient to all of the city’s public transit: looking at how they were set up, how they managed bus, Light Rail, and even the MARC Train. workshops and studio rentals, and how they interacted How long has the studio been here? We opened with the community. Kyle had already begun collect- our doors in October 2010. It will be five years this ing quite a bit of type and printing equipment, storing coming fall. it in his basement and friends’ studios all over the city. We began looking around Baltimore for a space to How does working here influence your work? rent, and in the spring of 2010 we found a good fit for We’ve been fortunate to work with other businesses STUDIOS our shop in Station North. in Station North, usually in such a way that we get to push our design and printing ideas. It’s times like Was there an aha moment in your lives when you this that challenge us in new ways and opens up new knew you wanted to pursue this path? The first directions for our own work. plans were laid out in the fall of 2009 by Kyle, who knew he wanted to stay in Baltimore and build a Do you feel a responsibility to contribute to the shop somewhere in the city. In his day job at MICA, community in Station North and the greater Balti- students were graduating every spring with no studio more community at-large? We love it when we’re or equipment where they could continue to pro- able to support the local community, and the city in duce work. The idea of a community print studio for general, and we wish we could do it more. We give these students and others like them—loosely based tours and workshops to local schools and organiza- on other studios that existed around the country— tions throughout the year, and we’ve done several became the plan for BPS. Coincidentally, Kim had workshops for kids in elementary and middle school. thoughts of opening her own letterpress studio. The We even occasionally take one of our smaller presses TOP LEFT, THEN CLOCKWISE: Detail of a stars aligned, and we joined forces in the planning. on the road for a school visit or public event. Our big- BPS print and a letterpress wood arrow; ’ ’ . ’ Together we visited more studios and public-access gest problem with engaging the community more is Kyle Van Horn and Kim Bentley in their office at BPS; screenprint drawdowns; drawers of shops, learning from their strengths, and figuring out simply time. wood type for letterpress printing. what would work best for BPS.
TRACK BUSINESS OWNER INTERVIEW WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT IN OUR LIFETIME, NORTH AVENUE WOULD HAVE DECENT ANYTHING ON IT? –
Do you think the Station North arts designation has been positive or negative? Why? We think it’s been largely positive. It’s created a destination and recognition for the arts that might get lost other- wise. It has allowed for businesses like ours to afford a space and to create a business that is dependent on the support of the community. We hope that we are providing a service that is beneficial to the city’s resi- dents, not just teaching a craft, but also creating connections between artists and designers of all ages.
What do you hope BPS will be like in five years? We hope it’s going gangbusters! We want to keep offering workshops that people are excited to take and to see our renter base continue to grow, staying open to new ways of engaging the community. We know that we’ll keep making our own work and con- tinue to print for others, but to have our workshops and renters both going strong five years from now would be excellent. Right now, the shop is just the two of us, plus an intern or two. We don’t mind stay- ing small, but we’d love to see this business support us completely. We’re currently wearing many hats. Kim teaches part-time at MICA and does freelance MARTY AZOLA, MANAGING PARTNER OF RAILWAY EXPRESS design for a number of clients. Kyle works thirty hours a week at MICA as the Printmaking Studio Manager. Our studio is open four days a week for rentals, and every other Sunday for workshops. We also usually have a commercial printing job or two each week to get out the door. We’d love for BPS to one day be our full-time job.
Lastly, what do you hope Station North will look Baltimore Print Studios is available for like in five years? Reborn! Or at least on its way... printing rentals Wednesday through this neighborhood has seen some serious change Saturday at $15 per hour. School tours through the decades. Old photos show majestic and private workshops are also available. U.S. flags hanging off of the front of the North BPS sells printed goods and their original Avenue Market (where our shop is now located). coffee blend, The Printer’s Devil, in their The theaters were deluxe, and the architecture studio and online shop. The Printer’s Devil was stunning. A lot of those old bones are still in came about after BPS teamed up with this neighborhood, and it is exciting to see people Thread Coffee, a co-op that is part of Red working hard to pull away the neglected and Emma’s, their next-door coffee shop and boarded up facades and start to find what made bookstore. this neighborhood a destination in the first place. More information can be found on their website at baltimoreprintstudios.com.
The print shop displaying work by BPS.
TRACK BUSINESS OWNER INTERVIEW ARTIST
- , three distinct authors wrote about their experi- ences and perspectives on one brutal subject: slavery. Harriet Beecher Stowe, a white, Connecticut-born teacher and active abolitionist, wrote the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (). e book was a response to the passage, AS in , of the Fugitive Slave Act that required the return of runaway slaves. In Twelve Years a Slave (), Solomon Northup shared his autobiographical account of life as a African American man born free in New York, kidnapped in Washington, D.C., and subsequently sold into slavery in Louisiana. He was kept in bondage for twelve years before managing to secure his release. Harriet Ann Jacobs wrote the slave narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl ( ). Jacobs was born into slavery, endured harassment and sexual abuse at the hands of her master, and eventually escaped to freedom. More than years later, these books continue to influence readers. They informed the recent work of Baltimore-based Stephen Towns, a mixed-media artist and muralist orig- inally from Charleston, South Carolina. His rst solo show in Baltimore, “co|patriot,” took place in fall at Station North’s Gallery CA. It showcased works of art that examine the rela- tionship African Americans have with the history of slavery, and that history’s connection to the systemic oppression that affects African Americans today. My Master had power and law Towns said, “Learning this “ on his side; I had a determined stu [in the books] was PATRIOT will. ere is might in each. very eye-opening. e more I learned, the less I under- , stood. I feel like a lot of that history was overlooked in school, and I felt betrayed.” e experience of reading the books and then creating art inspired by that new understand- ing helped him to articulate his thoughts and feelings about being an American.
Stephen Towns in front of his painting, The Juice Ain't So Sweet.
TRACK ARTIST AS PATRIOT YOU COME TO STATION NORTH FOR WHAT YOU CAN'T FIND ANYWHERE ELSE. IT TAKES A LOT TO ENSURE THAT IT REMAINS A UNIQUE PLACE IN BALTIMORE. –
he name of the show, “co|patriot,” the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really refers to Towns’ desire for a level proud of my country.” He says that the portraits he playing field for all Americans. creates are “not only glimpses of the sitters; they Many of the paintings intertwine are also a reection of myself and mirror my strug- ideas from African American his- gle to attain a sense of self-knowledge, self-worth tory with religious symbolism, and spirituality beyond the Christian values that Ttextile motifs, urban landscapes, and patriotic are often idealized in African American culture. I iconography. The result is a set of cohesive com- want to create beauty from the hardships in life.” positions that feature breathtaking oil, acrylic, and Towns is thirty-ve and holds a in Studio foil-leaf portraits of contemporary models—most Art from the University of South Carolina. He of whom Towns knows personally. Towns says moved to Baltimore about seven years ago and, he pulls visual inspiration from “the stillness shortly afterward, began working at Maryland of medieval altarpieces, the gestural qualities of Institute College of Art () as a Program Coor- impressionist paintings, and the color and move- dinator in the Oce of Community Engagement. CAROLYN FRENKIL, OWNER OF NORTH AVENUE MARKET ¤ ment of Dutch wax cloth.” Most of the people His job at allows him to work with people The Prophet of Pennsylvania Avenue Is what you hear at church Acrylic, Metal Leaf on Panel | 2014 | 24" x 30" “ in the paintings have wistful expressions and are and organizations that administer after-school From the artist “A consistent theme that appeared religion?…When I look for religion, adorned with precious gold-leaf halos, elevating programs and community projects around the in all of the literature that I read for this exhibition I must look for something above was the influence of Christianity on American cul- me, and not something beneath. the models to a saintly level. Butteries appear in city. Towns has an interesting perspective on the ture, both positive and negative. I painted a triptych many of the artworks, which Towns describes as happenings in the Station North Arts & Enter- exploring the concept of a savior and salvation. , Are saviors portrayed in one's own image? Has symbols of spirituality. Some of the models are tainment District because he lives in the City Arts one been served their salvation? What would that surrounded by butteries; others stare intensely Building—a residence that includes sixty-nine look like?”
at the insects. units of subsidized housing and studios for Are you Being Served? To tie contemporary politics into the show, low-income artists. e building, located at East Acrylic, Copper Leaf on Panel | 2014 | 24" x 36"
Towns included a portrait of Michelle Obama Oliver Street and Greenmount Avenue, is feder- The Shepherd of Sandtown appearing handcued yet dignied. Towns hoped ally funded and classied as low-income housing Acrylic, Metal Leaf on Panel | 2014 | 24" x 30" to represent Obama as being “enslaved by her own with legal requirements that prohibit the build- thoughts and feelings” after he recalled a quote ing owner from raising its rent for fty years. is from her that had profoundly impacted him: “For enables residents to stay without having to worry
TRACK ARTIST AS PATRIOT WE NEED MORE RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT. WE NEED MORE CUSTOMERS, WE NEED MORE FEET ON THE STREET. – about possible rent increases. Towns describes the culture in City Arts as communal and creative and says, “I was able to see the evolution of how it became this very interesting artist hub.” Towns For the first time I has also been able to participate in one of the tax Co-Patriots am really proud of Acrylic, Metal Leaf my country incentives of the Maryland State Arts & Entertain- on Panel | 2014 | Acrylic, Silver Leaf ment Districts, the Income Tax Subtraction 24" x 36" on Panel From the artist “We 2014 | 24" x 30" Modication—a small perk for qualifying artists need an equitable From the artist living in Baltimore City who have produced and and level playing “Black Americans field to reach the must reconcile with sold work in the area. Towns said, “I realized that ‘American Dream.’ a troubled historical I was put in this place for a reason and that I am Our country did not past to maintain a begin on an equita- level of patriotism. here at the right time. It is a place with a lot of ble foundation.” A past where their artists, there is a lot of creativity in this area, there ancestors were neither considered are art openings all the time. It’s just like this bur- citizens nor human geoning utopia of art.” beings. This work was inspired by the I met with Towns at his home in City Arts statement Michelle in mid-December. He was welcoming and cheery Obama said in 2008 for which she was and lled me in on his newest artworks. Along heavily criticized.” with the “co|patriot” show, he recently wrapped up his contribution to the Station North Arts (Community Supported Art) project. e Station So we passed,“ hand-cuffed and North provides participating shareholders in silence, through the streets of with works of art created by select Baltimore art- During our meeting, Towns earnestly Washington through the Capital of a ists like Stephen Towns. Towns is also planning described his paintings and the city’s role in shap- nation, whose theory of government, and applying for grants to complete his next work ing his work’s progression over the last few years. we are told, rests on the foundation of of art, an audio and visual project about the late “Baltimore has inuenced my work because there man’s inalienable right to life, liberty, Baltimore resident, Dr. Bea Gaddy. Gaddy used to are a lot of challenges that people of color deal and the pursuit of happiness! collect and distribute food, clothing, furniture, and with in this city. It’s more visible here than it is other donations to impoverished people in the city. , in other places. [ere is] the close proximity of She is considered the “Mother Teresa of Baltimore,” really nice areas and then really bad areas. I saw JOE MCNEELY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL BALTIMORE PARTNERSHIP, INC. ¦ Towns said. The grant money would help him my rst person high on drugs in Baltimore. It took purchase a professional camera and recorder for me a while to process that, and then, after what I interviewing those touched by Gaddy’s life. had learned by reading all of those books, every- thing just made sense—like, this is why things are the way they are.” Towns thinks one of the big- gest issues is the negative perception that African Americans may have of themselves, and that other races may have of African Americans—which the media just perpetuates. “I have been able to use my art to work through those things in myself,” Towns says. “Hopefully people viewing and seeing my artwork will come to the understanding that I have come to.” His art allows him to address these issues with the hope that he can help to move the conversation forward. “My work is about repre- sentation and creating positive, beautiful images …but he's so black of people of color. I don’t see much work like the Acrylic, Oil, Copper Leaf on Panel | 2014 | 20" x 20" From the artist “A consistent theme in my work is colorism. This work I make in the community, so I feel like I have was my take on a “white painting.” In the center is this very dark- to do what I am doing.” T skinned man.”
Unauthorized Acrylic, Silver Leaf on Panel | 2014 | 18" x 24" Towns’ work is in the permanent collection of the From the artist “Unauthorized was created in response to the ’ ® ¯ . ® ’ City of Charleston, South Carolina. His murals have been 2014 release of Army Regulation 670-1. The document banned commissioned for youth organizations, schools, and a number of hairstyles that negatively impacted black women.” churches along the Eastern Seaboard.
TRACK ARTIST AS PATRIOT ×
COMMUNITY
What is your favorite place to go in Station North? Ha ha! That is a complicated question because there are so many places! Well, Joe Squared. I worked there at one time. They have fabulous risotto and an amazing selection of beers and awesome pizza, of course. And Liam Flynn’s. I feel like Station North made it when we got an Irish Bar. Sofi’s Crepes has been an institution for my husband, Jeff, and I. We have been here for ten years and we did not have a functioning kitchen when we first moved in. At the beginning of the renovations, that was our staple. We have gotten to know Anne [Costlow, owner of Sofi’s Crepes] pretty well.
Oh so tell me about that! You are not from Green- mount West, then? No. So we have been here for a little over ten years. I grew up south of Annapolis. As soon as I could drive, Greenmount West is one of three I was coming up here, neighborhoods (along with Charles North mostly for concerts and Barclay) within the Station North and shows at institu- Arts & Entertainment District. “Track” tions like Memory Lane recently sat down with Lena Leone, and Louie’s. President of the New Greenmount West Why did you and your Community Association (NGWCA), to husband choose to talk with her about her work in the move to Greenmount community. e mission of NGWCA is to West/Station North? improve the standard of living, quality Station North has char- STEWARD of life and economic status, regardless acter, which is what we of gender, creed, culture, or class for ALL were looking for when Greenmount West residents. we moved—not cook- ie-cutter. It is a great location; it is in the center of the city, it is close to trans- portation—the train, buses. There are theaters and galleries. The neighborhood was 60% unoccupied when we moved here, but it was affordable. The proximity to the train station is essential because Jeff works at the National Gallery of Art in D.C. and walks on both ends of his commute.
Illustration by Jackie Zhu.
TRACK RESIDENT INTERVIEW ALL MY LIFE I'VE BEEN TRYING TO DO THINGS WHERE PEOPLE WOULD SAY, Where do you work? I work in Remington at Con- tion—the school board. We didn’t receive the waiver. What kind of work are you doing now within the the Dallas F. Nicholas, Sr., Elementary, which is the servation Technology. It is off of 23rd and Howard. They’re still pending a decision. Both of my kids do Association? I work approximately twenty-five Elementary school that most of the kids from the I have worked there for ten years as a technical go to the Montessori School. We were really lucky hours a week at Conservation Technology on Mon- neighborhood go to. There are some issues with that illustrator. I do illustration, graphic design, and photog- to have that happen. I have friends that are thinking days, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. I am off on school: it is across the street from a parole facility and raphy. It is a small business, ten people tops, so a lot about moving out of the neighborhood because their Wednesdays because the kids have a half-day and it is also across North Avenue. It is not going to be of times I get tasked to do other things outside of that kids did not get in. This caused contentious relation- I try to schedule community-related meetings on renovated until year nine of the plan. realm. I have come to think of [my co-workers] like ships and a lot of hard feelings. Wednesday mornings. For the Association, we are What is your favorite thing about your home neigh- trying to focus our work into the five functioning borhood? The people. We would not be here without committees: Development, Clean and Green, our neighbors! Since we moved here, they have been Education, Membership and Community Engage- extremely supportive and we try to further that to “We ask the developers really specic questions on what ment, and Public Safety. the new people that move in. This is what I love about their plans are and how it is going to not just exist within There is a lot of development going on in Greenmount Baltimore! I don’t know if you have noticed this, but in West and trying to let the community have a voice Baltimore, you walk down the street and people say the community, but improve the community.” in that process is what we try to represent. We ask “hi” to you and they look you in the eye. We are just the developers really specific questions on what trying to just be in a place with a close-knit commu- their plans are, if they plan on hiring locally, and how nity. It is a lot of trust building, too, but let me tell you, family. We have all stuck together through it all. It is Wow, that’s really difficult. It is. It is absolutely crazy it is going to not just exist within the community, but the long-term residents—people that have been here exciting because we are in lower Remington and that there are people who work so hard for this com- improve the community. since the ’50s —have been so supportive. We actually Remington is an up-and-coming neighborhood, and munity and their kids cannot go to the school that is in just ran into a guy on our street, and his grandparents we live in Greenmount West and this is also turning the community. The greening initiative is a big part of that. We have owned the house that we now own—in the ’50s! He around quite quickly. had members of the association come in and out of How long are the terms for President of the “ lives in Towson and we just ran into him, randomly! I WANT TO LIVE IN THE CENTER OF BALTIMORE. different active levels of participation. We had a really Can you describe your path to where you are now, Community Association? Terms are two years, active Clean and Green committee in the past couple Do you a feel a responsibility to contribute to the as President of the New Greenmount West Com- maximum two terms. I just started in July, 2014. It is of years. The person that headed that committee had greater Station North community? Absolutely. It is munity Association? Our involvement with the Com- really difficult! Lots of meetings. to step down and focus on other things, but he is still really exciting to see the transition from being such munity Association started pretty quickly. We used to What made you want to take on this role of very involved. We are getting 180 new trees; they are an unoccupied place to now—it is so activated. You hold Association meetings over in the Cork Factory, President of the Community Association? I feel expanding the tree boxes. We have also had a lot of had just a couple of anchors move into the Station in Dennis Livingston’s and Carol Higgs’s Gallery. They like I was volunteered to do it! It was really surpris- success with the Vacants to Value Program. Most of North district, and some instrumental projects hap- were instrumental in producing this arts district. ing for me because I had never been asked to perform the city-owned properties are gone and have been pened, and it is absolutely amazing to see how vibrant The neighborhood put up fliers about community in a leadership role. I think with the safety commit- sold. We really try to push homeownership because a district it has become. When you think about it, it meetings and we went every month. We did commu- tee, I finally decided that I was not going to keep my it’s so low in Greenmount West. has been in existence twelve years and it is crazy the nity cleanups and we were involved in certain com- mouth shut anymore. For the first couple of years that amount of activity and transition it has had. mittees, but my specific involvement came after we There is so much development going on. There is the we lived here, we did not really speak up. We took it had kids. I have two daughters, four-year-old and six- City Arts 2 development, the entire 300-block and What are your thoughts on the state-designated all in, we learned a lot, and I think that is what made year-old Anya and Ava. After they were born, I started 400-block of Lanvale are going to be renovated by Arts & Entertainment District? Do you think it us successful in being okay and dealing with a lot of
” to think about the safety aspects of things. It started different developers. In terms of what has happened has been positive or negative? I have an arts back- AND IT'S HAPPENING. – the issues in the community. I think there were people with the Department of Transportation walk-through in the past, the Baltimore Design School coming into ground. I went to school at MCAD, Maryland College on the board that saw that I put a lot of work into the that we requested. At the intersection where we live, the neighborhood was huge. That was a lot of work. of Art and Design, which has since been taken over by safety committee, in terms of trying to bridge a Jeep was hit, spun out, and landed three feet from Stewart Watson from Area 405 was instrumental in Montgomery College. So I might be biased, but I think relationships between the Police Department and our house. So that spurred the transportation walk- that—going to court and pursuing the code enforce- it is really positive. A lot of people are afraid of gentri- other departments in the city—the Department of through and the requests that we made, which were ment violations, and trying to get it occupied. We are fication. I believe there are institutions in place that Transportation, the Department of Housing, Code almost all denied. Other than that, Jeff and I have ecstatic that that is what is there! fight against that. If it gets gentrified and they put a Enforcement—trying to bridge that with long-term been involved in the safety aspect of the Associa- bunch of high-end condos here, I will not be able to CHARLES DUFF, PRESIDENT OF JUBILEE BALTIMORE ª residents and new residents. I was trying to talk to As far as the Safety committee, we are trying to tion and trying to negotiate with Barclay-Greenmount afford to live here; artists will not be able to afford to everybody and get everyone to communicate. That bridge the relationship with the Baltimore Police apartments about the drug dealing and trash. That live here! So that is definitely one of the Association’s is the biggest issue in this community. We have a lot Department and the residents, which can sometimes has been going on for a good nine years. initiatives: to keep it affordable for everyone. of commuter people that either work in standalone be a little contentious. We have an Engagement Do your kids go to school in the neighborhood? institutions in the neighborhood or that commute committee to try to get more people involved. We What do you hope Greenmount West and Station We started an initiative with Stewart Watson and to other parts of the city—but to actually live here are also trying to redo the website and market- North looks like in five years? Occupied! I would Abu Moulta Ali, who was the former President of the and to be invested, it is my goal to get all of them to ing for the neighborhood because we have so much love to see more housing occupied and people on the Greenmount West Community Association. We got communicate. There is also a lack of communication new development. Another important committee is streets, walking around and having conversations. together because our kids are all around the same between institutions. We have the Department of the Education Committee, which is focusing on get- age. We started an initiative to change the charter to Social Services building here; we have the Baltimore ting the two schools to communicate, in addition to allow 30% of kids from the neighborhood into the Design School (BDS), and the Baltimore Montessori Baltimore Montessori Public Charter School. Their School. The schools are starting to communicate. Well, charter was renewed last year, so we worked with BDS is very young and I think they are just trying to get Allison Schechter from Montessori School to include comfortable in what they do. But there are several that request in their charter. This initiative came institutions and businesses in Greenmount West that about because one-third of the charter schools in just go into the building and come back out and then Baltimore are given neighborhood preference, either leave. And we want to try and cure that. through a grandfather clause or through a waiver given by the Baltimore City Public School Administra-
TRACK
NORTH & MARYLAND
TRACKING A personal essay from the signicant intersection in Station North. - × It was the second time Darius Bell had ever set foot inside Red Emma’s, the trendy coee shop located on the corner of North Avenue and Maryland Avenue—right in the core of Station North Art District. The large framed, black, -something year old man was born just a couple of streets north from this spot and claims that he has always lived on the same block. “I’ve bounced from one stoop to the next my entire life. It’s made moving real easy,” he says. Even though he has been a life-long neigh- bor of Barclay—one of the neighborhoods that got mashed up to form the praised art district— he knows and cares very little about the redevel- opment going on North Avenue. “See, I used to be an activist in my own right. During the ’s this place was real bleak, drugs everywhere, prostitutes on every corner. Hell! Even one of my nieces was one of them,” Bell says. Bell would hand out sandwiches and cookies his wife made to the junkies that spent most of the day siting on other people’s stoops. He never did mind that people used his stoop. Some of them At my request, he had entered Red Emma’s for Coffee from Red Emma’s. would even ask to use the bathroom. “They’ve the second time, even though the coee shop had CHANGE cleaned up the streets real nice, though. Now there been there for about two years now. e rst time are days where you don’t see a soul wandering the it was pouring rain and he was at his usual spot streets around here,” he said and he sighed in a waiting for his granddaughter to get dropped o most nostalgic manner. He has also noticed how from the school bus. He does this almost every- the boarded up and abandoned buildings that used day, and after ten years of retirement he is thankful to deck the streets have been replaced with bars, for some sort of routine. Today, the coee shop Illustration by Jia Liu. theaters, restaurants and coee shops. He walks was packed with a much younger and whiter crowd past them almost everyday, but never feels com- than the one that gathered outside. e ckle tick- pelled to go in. ing of laptop keys everywhere seemed to mue Nowadays, Bell is one of many people who whatever chatter was going on. I bought him a cup congregate on the cornered sidewalk outside of of coee and joined him at a corner of one of the Red Emma’s. Some of them use it as a gathering communal bars. He seemed restless and uncom- point to meet old friends, neighbors, relatives; fortable. When I asked him what he thought of others are waiting for the bus; and some are just the coee, he just said that the one his wife makes waiting for time to pass by. tastes a “helluva lot better.” T
TRACK TRACKING CHANGE WE WOULD LOVE ALL THIS DEVELOPMENT AND NOT HAVE THE PROPERTY TAX RISE, BUT UNFORTUNATELY THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS. –
Is Station North Safe? How has the A&E designation changed Station North?
Among students at , Track discovered anecdotal Station North has been an ocial state-designated evidence of a negative perception of safety in Station Arts & Entertainment District for almost thirteen A note on vacant buildings Station North’s boundaries include two police North. Perhaps this is because of the high rate of While it is true that the district has a lot of vacancy, years. Track collected data to determine whether the districts, two zip codes, and three neighborhoods. vacant buildings, low rate of foot trac during the it is slowly improving. The percentage of all demographics and home values of the neighborhoods This makes it challenging to dig up data specific to addresses that were vacant in Station North in 2013 Station North. The statistics on this page are aver- day, presence of nearby drug treatment clinics, and was 29%; that number was down to 25% just one that comprise Station North (Barclay, Charles North, aged from census block groups that fall within the Station North being in a transportation hub. To year later. Greenmount West) have signicantly changed since boundaries of Station North. understand more about this notion of safety, a survey the designation in . T of students was conducted in fall . T
ÍÎÏÍ Victimsperresidents 18–33 2,249 2,633 $43,140 $156,500 $357 $770 ageÉrange 55% 64% 95.8 61.8 ÆÇÇÇ ÆÇÈÆ ÆÇÇÇ ÆÇÈÆ ÆÇÇÇ ÆÇÈÆ Midtown* BaltimoreµCity
feelÉ“moderatelyÉ feelÉ“slightlyÉsafe”É safe”ÉwalkingÉinÉ toÉ“notÉatÉallÉsafe”É ÍÎÏÍ 70% 64% StationÉNorthÉ walkingÉatÉnightÉ under- 88% women grads duringÉtheÉday inÉStationÉNorth AFRICAN AMERICAN 14.4 14.7 70.3% ÊÇËÉmen ÊÌËÉgraduateÉ Midtown* BaltimoreµCity 45% 74% 16% 26% SERGIO MARTINEZ, ARTIST LIVING IN STATION NORTH © students
ÍÎÏÍ ÆÇÇÇ ÆÇÈÆ ÆÇÇÇ ÆÇÈÆ 20.7% 81.4 47 WHITE - Midtown* BaltimoreµCity forallofMidtown*population 1.3 ÆÇÇÇ 6% visitsÉtoÉbars ASIAN 4.5% 18% 19% 20% 42% 3.2% 2% *Midtownincludesthese 1.6% HISPANIC 469 760 neighborhoodsCharlesNorthand ÆÇÇÇ ÆÇÈÆ 2.5 GreenmountWestofStationNorth ÆÇÇÇ ÆÇÈÆ visitsÉtoÉrestaurants alongwithBoltonHillMid-Town
BelvedereandMountVernon ®®¯ ²³–°± ’ 1.4 °®–®± visitsÉtoÉartÉeventsÉorÉ otherÉpublicÉevents
LESS THAN ²³ Baltimore City 5% 20% Average: . ¶ 54% 30% 11% 25% 28% 36% ÆÇÈÆ ÆÇÇÇ ÆÇÈÆ ÆÇÇÇ ÆÇÈÆ
- $114,900,000 FigurederivedfromdeveloperwebsitesAggregatescostofrenovationsforarts-related educationalcommercialandresidentialprojectsinStationNorthsince
TRACK SOURCES policymap.com; Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance. TRACKING CHANGE THE TWO GREAT ENEMIES OF STATION NORTH ARE DIVESTMENT AND INVESTMENT.–
“I believe opportunities to increase foot traffic and “Overall, I think [the designation] is a good thing. investments in Baltimore neighborhoods is a positive Arts are really critical to revitalizing aging cities. But I LOCAL OPINIONS gesture. This city has suffered from decades of disin- think the fear of gentrification is real. What has to vestment from city officials and whites and blacks happen is that we have to hold developers account- who fled the city for the suburbs throughout the ’ÐÇs able. People tell us nice stories about how this is and ’ÑÇs. It has been great to watch people actually going to engage the community, but we need to be Station North is in the midst of a drastic transfor- attending events and shows in what is considered the very specific. How is this going to translate into actual mation. Large development projects with investors Station North Arts & Entertainment (SNAE) corridor. jobs for community members?” –Mary Washington, like Johns Hopkins University and Maryland However, I do have problems with the way in which Member of Maryland’s House of Delegates, repre- Institute College of Art are underway through- the designation has gentrified the space. I do not see senting the 43rd Legislative District, part of which out the district. While the conversation around much art, businesses, or investments concerned is in Station North the fears of gentrication in Station North is about honoring the black and brown artistic historical extremely charged, many of the locals that shared contributions in these neighborhoods. People like “I think that, in general, people are happy to see the to say that art districts are not gentrifying spaces their thoughts were ambivalent about their posi- neighborhood improving but the question always CHARLE S DUFF, PRESIDENT OF JUBILEE BALTIMORE ¡ because so many of the properties themselves are tion on the impact of the state-designation of Arts is, ‘Who is it for?’ Is it for me, a white artist that just vacated. First of all, that is not the case—people live & Entertainment District. Track asked artists, moved into the neighborhood? Is it for my older, in houses and blocks that seem abandoned. Second, residents, business owners, and people that work black neighbors that might not be artists, even though there is something to be said for psychically gen- in Station North this question: “Do you think the this is an arts district? That is, historically, who has trifying spaces—replacing one group’s ethnic/class lived here. I think those questions are really import- Station North Arts & Entertainment designation related aesthetic for another’s. This issue cannot be ant. I, on an individual level, have benefited from it. I has been positive or negative?” eir answers are broken down into a binary of positive or negative. It is question how much of that has to do with my white collected on the following page. T nuanced, it is complicated, and it is steeped in legacies privilege and the fact that I went to MICA and I teach of white supremacy and colonization tactics—even by at MICA. I question whether it is positively impacting the best-intentioned practitioners.” –Kalima Young, black residents of Baltimore and people of different Project Coordinator, Baltimore Art + Justice Project classes. That is the main question and I don’t think and MICA, Office of Community Engagement I have a resolution about that. I think that it can be positive if people like me, that are benefiting from it, “I am one of those people that have benefited from are also making sure that longtime residents are not it. I live in a nice building, I am surrounded by other being displaced. So, working beyond an interpersonal artists. I am a transplant in this neighborhood. I do not level of knowing your neighbors and actually working really know how people feel that have lived here on institutional levels to make sure that those systems, before. Some people have a negative perception of which I am benefiting from, are not oppressing other it, others have a positive perception of it. It goes both people. For me, living in this neighborhood, I feel a ways and I see how it is both negative and positive. I very direct sense of responsibility for those policies. think it is definitely creating a space where lots of art- I am not going to pretend like I have all the answers, ists can be creative. I noticed I have gotten tax incen- but I feel like we, as artists, should be engaged in not tives when I’ve sold art in the area, because it is in an just the good, but also the bad implications of devel- arts district. So financially, even if it is a tiny bit, it is opment on this level.” –Hannah Brancato, Artist helpful.” –Stephen Towns, Artist living in living in Station North Co-founder of FORCE: Station North’s City Arts Apartments Upsetting Rape Culture
“I think the Arts & Entertainment designation has been I think it is really positive. A lot of people are afraid of essential. It has been mostly positive but I think that in gentrification. I believe there are institutions in place some ways, a lot of the arts funding has hampered that fight against that. If it gets gentrified and they put the growth of the neighborhood. Arts funding should a bunch of high-end condos here, I will not be able to have something for the residents. You cannot just afford to live here; artists will not be able to afford to come in, paint all their walls, get your picture in front live here! That is one of the [New Greenmount West of it, and leave.” –Liam Flynn, Owner of Liam Flynn’s Community] Association’s initiatives: to keep it afford- Ale House on North Avenue in Station North able for everyone. –Lena Leone, President of New Greenmount West Community Association
Illustration by Qieer Wang.
TRACK TRACKING CHANGE ARTISTS GENTRIFY NEIGHBORHOODS. DON’T HAVE THEY DON’T THE CAPACITY AND°OR MONEY AND°OR BUT WE’RE USED AS ANYTHING. A TOOL. –
- ’ by Sheila Gaskins Art-Part’heid: noun. e separation of artists/arts organizations due to skin color, resources, content, class and belief systems. When Art-Part’heid is in existence the entire city/community/world suers for generations to come. How did we get here? A call to arms!
Art- Part’ heid. Shame on you. Shame on me. You call yourself an Artist, but where are your varied hues? I don’t see Yellow, Red, Black or Brown, yet those hues are the majority in this town. Where do you live? If all you see is a sea of White from sea to sea.
Art- Part’heid. Shame on me. Shame on you. I call myself an Artist, too. I can’t forget about my truth. If all my hues are just like me. Blacks, Purples, Browns, Blues and Greens from here to wayyy over there! No Lights, No Brights, No damn near Whites—in sight—anywhere! How could this be if I don’t see that White in you is part of me? If I don’t see that light in you is in me, too. ’Cause when you teach Black to hate White, don’t you teach dark to hate light?
Art- Part’heid. Art part tied. How did we get here? Nobody ’posed to be here. Separate but equal—according to whom?! e haves/have nots —that’s how we do... ey writing the checks. We do what they do. APART! GAIA, ARTIST AND CURATOR OF OPEN WALLS BALTIMORE ® Tie a yellow ribbon ’round the ole oak tree. Competition is steep and everybody here. We standing in line prepared all year. Who will win? Who deserves to be here? e work is hard. e laborers are few. Competition is over. Who won? If not me, did you?
Art- Part’heid!
Illustration by Aimee Chang.
TRACK TRACKING CHANGE STATION NORTH HAS THIS GREAT POTENTIAL TO MAKE BALTIMORE A HUB OF EMERGING ARTISTS AND DESIGNERS. –
“I hope SNAE continues to expand and attract busi- “I hope that more affordable spaces open up that ness and artists. However, I would like those busi- are comprised of artists and people who can have HOPEFUL FUTURE nesses and artists to be conscious of the ethnic the opportunity to live in a nicer place.” –Stephen historical legacies they wish to build over. I would Towns, Artist living in Station North’s City Arts also love to see the foot traffic continue to increase, Apartments but have that foot traffic reflective of not just white One of the most signicant things to note about MICA art students and hipsters. I would like to see “[I hope it is] occupied! I would love to see more housing Station North is that people are invested in this residents who live in the SNAE designation to be occupied and people on the streets, walking around place. Despite the challenges, there are many actively encouraged to make art and attend art events and having conversations.” –Lena Leone, President committed to improving this area, and doing it in in these spaces, as well as small grants programs for of New Greenmount West Community Association a way that will not displace longtime residents. these residents to create their own art and/or archi- Track asked artists, residents, business owners, val history project about the neighborhood and its and people that work in Station North this ques- changes over the years.” –Kalima Young, Project “I hope that there continues to be affordable housing tion: “What are your hopes for the future of Station Coordinator, Baltimore Art + Justice Project, for lower-income residents and that artists continue North?” eir answers follow. MICA, Office of Community Engagement to consider the way that their projects not only serve themselves but also the broader community of Station North. And I say ‘continue to’ because I think “[I hope it is] reborn! Or at least on its way... This some artists are doing that. I hope that the neighbor- neighborhood has seen some serious change through hood continues to have a strong presence of longtime the decades. Old photos show majestic U.S. flags residents.” –Hannah Brancato, Artist living in hanging off of the front of the North Avenue Market Station North and Co-founder of FORCE: Upsetting (where our shop is now located). The theaters were Rape Culture deluxe, and the architecture was stunning. A lot of those old bones are still in this neighborhood, and it MICHAEL MOLLA, VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS FOR MICA is exciting to see people working hard to pull away “I hope that Station North provides an alternative to the neglected and boarded up facades and start to the SoHo narrative; I hope that the district attracts find what made this neighborhood a destination in new businesses and investors and continues to grow, the first place.” –Kim Bentley and Kyle Van Horn building wealth and comfort for business owners, of Baltimore Print Studios, Business Owners property owners, home owners, and renters, with- in Station North out displacing residents who want to stay in Station North. –Ben Stone, Executive Director of Station North Arts & Entertainment, Inc. “I hope that we re-street-scape the area because in the ’70s they really messed up the pedestrian traffic. I hope we build a better physical connection, Neighborhoods are never “done.” Station North, just like not just monetary, with MICA. I would really like to any other place, has experienced a lot of change over time. see North Avenue developed because it is one of Decades ago, people fled to the suburbs. Businesses the best avenues in Baltimore.” –Liam Flynn, Owner closed. Buildings sat vacant for years. of Liam Flynn’s Ale House on North Avenue in Then, vacants turned to value. People moved in. Large Station North development projects brought much-needed investment to an area that was long underserved.
Track does not judge whether this change is good or bad. We hope Station North has a prosperous future—one that is inclusive of all of its residents and visitors.
Illustration by Vivian Loh.
TRACK TRACKING CHANGE