Artscape

Three-year-old Elijah Thomas had just seen a face. And he couldn't have been more excited. "Look, look," Elijah implored, turning his head to his mother and pointing at a 15-foot metal face about 20 feet away, its mouth opening and closing as the youngster tugged on a metal joystick. "It closed! It closed!" Elijah's mom, Erika Taylor, laughed and smiled, delighted. "He's having a blast," she said, realizing that the toughest part of her family's visit to Artscape on Friday afternoon would be separating Elijah from the mechanical face that was fast becoming his new BFF. But that's what happens when you hand over control of a 15-foot stainless steel face to a steady stream of Artscapers.

  The Wisconsin-style fried cheese curds are back at Artscape . You can find them at Stella Jeanne's Festival Foods booth, which is near the Lyric theater on Mount Royal Avenue but facing the Mount Royal Station stage. Above is the Baltimore Sun cheese-curd finder. Curds are a by-product of the cheese-making process. They have a consistency most people describe as squeaky. And the perfect thing to do with them -- fry them. The folks that make them are based in Philadelphia but the wife, who is expecting a child any day now, is from the Midwest, where cheese curds are huge.

One of Baltimore's best-known artists has launched a campaign asking people to skip Artscape, the city's biggest arts festival. Robert McClintock wants people to "opt out" of the festival that starts tonight and runs through the weekend, a suggestion he's made repeatedly this week through email blasts and Twitter reminders. "Opt out of Artscape," he says in one email. "Instead visit Robert McClintock Gallery in Fells Point. " The artist, who's known for his colorful, digitally reimagined photographs of the city, isn't shy about admitting he's got something of a grudge against the festival that's turned him down several years running.

For the past seven years, Darnella Parks and her entire family - from toddler nieces to her 84-year-old grandmother - have attended Artscape. They come for the crafts, the food and, most of all, the live entertainment. But this year, the 33-year-old Towson resident and her family are skipping Friday's opening night - not because of the heat or the crowds, but because of the music. Brian McKnight, the 16-time Grammy nominee who for years built a reputation as a clean-cut, R&B ladies' man, is scheduled to take Artscape's main stage Friday night.

A juke joint, a national park and a health spa for cars - all located within about five blocks of one another. For three days beginning Friday, a stretch of North Charles Street will be transformed into what just might be the coolest stretch of roadway in the U.S. That's the idea behind the Roadside Attractions corridor at Artscape, a collection of art objects, road signs, live performances and interactive installations designed to capture the ambience,...

As cool as Artscape's Roadside Attractions corridor sounds, it's far from all Baltimore's free arts festival has to offer for 2012. Here are six more reasons not to stay home this weekend: Music, music, music R&B singer Brian McKnight headlines the main stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday night. Clutch, a rock band whose members hail from Germantown, perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. And the Rebirth Brass Band, which won a Grammy this year, closes out the festival at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. But these three acts barely scratch the surface of all the music at this year's festival.

When Robert Marbury was 19 years old, he necked with Ricki Lake on camera. At age 29, he spent a year sailing in Indonesia, where he says his ship was attacked by pirates. Four years later, he was one of the three co-founders of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists. At age 34, one of his photographs of stuffed animals tied to car grilles was featured in The New York Times - the first of several articles in that august publication in which Marbury has been quoted. And this coming weekend, the 41-year-old Marbury will preside over an installation at Artscape that includes a 7-foot tall Bigfoot swathed in fake fur, as well as a pond from which visitors can fish for canned soda and beer.

Twelve area bands, specializing in styles ranging from reggae to hip-hop, will be playing Artscape 2012, The Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts announced Monday. The winnings bands are 7IghQ and Bumpin Uglies (reggae), Brooks Long (blues), Cloud 9 (rock/hip-hop), Condor (rock), Drumfish (modern rock), Reality Band/BJR (neo-soul), Team Flex (hip-hop), This Is the Rescue (rock) and Lion Turf, Stars and The Sea and Turtle Tongue (alternative). The winning bands will perform on the Wells Fargo and Festival stages during the 31 s t Artscape, which runs July 20-22 on and around the intersection of Mount Royal and Charles streets.

Art is often more about questions than answers. That point is driven home by the Sondheim Artscape Prize: 2012 Finalists exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art , co-presented by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts. The six artists vying for the $30,000 Janet and Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize have in common an ability to provoke. Intriguing spins on familiar sights and common objects ask the viewer to ponder perspective and meaning; in one of the rooms is a hypnotic journey into the past that raises still more questions.

As a Baltimore City resident, I have enjoyed attending the Artscape Festival every year. Each year it's been a wonderful and fun family event where I can take my children and they can enjoy the food, craft booths, kids' activities and music. This year, however, something has come up that concerns me and threatens my ability to enjoy this event with my children. Recently it was announced that Brian McKnight, a popular R&B artist, would headline this year's festival, performing on the main stage July 20. I have to imagine that the event's organizers and those responsible for booking musical talent were aware of the recent controversy over Mr. McKnight's disgusting music, which makes me wonder all the more why anyone would think he is appropriate as a headliner for a family event.