College Of Art

A local photographer and professor of fine art at Coppin State University will be the first artist to occupy a studio in Baltimore's newly renovated Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower. And she won't have to pay rent for the privilege. Linda Day Clark, a 44-year-old Reservoir Hill resident and 1994 graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, has been named the first winner of the C. Sylvia and Eddie C. Brown Studio Competition. Clark will receive a lease for a 360-square-foot studio on the second floor of the historic Bromo-Seltzer tower, rent-free for two years.

Artscape, Baltimore's annual outdoor festival of the arts, returns this weekend to draw crowds from across the Mid-Atlantic region for a giddy three days of live music, theater, dance and visual art exhibitions. This will be the festival's 26th year, and organizers are hoping that it will be the biggest and best yet. More than a million people are expected to attend the weekend's events. There are several new additions to the festival this year, including a new vocal competition for men named after Baltimore entertainment legend Cab Calloway, a new dance troupe and workshops in the Lyric Opera House and a theater troupe that plans to write, rehearse and produce an original play -- all in 24 hours.

A meticulously rendered pencil drawing of a 25-foot-tall Baltimore street lamp blown up lifesize and pinned to the gallery wall. A charcoal image of a batting cage whose chain link fencing resembles a sticky spider's web. A graphite drawing of an empty tin pail and a fluid splash of startling blue that flies through the air. These are among the magical images of Artworkers, a terrific exhibition at Villa Julie College that presents four dedicated artist-professionals...

Ona B. O'Connell, an artist who enjoyed painting seascapes, landscapes and portraits in watercolors and oils, died Oct. 25 of cancer at her Towson home. She was 93.Her works were shown at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and Peale Museum and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington. She taught at the Metropolitan School of Art, University of Baltimore, Forest Park High School and Villa Julie College.Mrs. O'Connell, who started painting in the 1930s, was a graduate of Maryland Institute, College of Art. During the 1950s, she had a studio in the 900 block of Cathedral St., in a rowhouse that was known as Studio House.

David Fred Yocum, a Baltimore sculptor whose work critics called "outrageous" and "idiosyncratic," died Friday of an infection at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was 54 and lived in Otterbein.Mr. Yocum, who took prizes for his abstract clay and neon works, was among the first to restore a $1 house in the southern Baltimore neighborhood in the 1970s."His work evolved from little clay pots to incredible sculptures," said the Rev. Dale W. Dusman, pastor of St. Mark's Lutheran Church, where a memorial service was held yesterday.

Sue Lowe is an artist, actor and teacher who has been active on the local scene for decades.She has taught at the Maryland Institute, College of Art and the Baltimore School for the Arts, among other places.She has curated art shows, including one at School 33 as part of last summer's Artscape. And she has shown her art in solo and group shows in many venues, from Theatre Project to the University of Maryland.Of the art in her current show at Galerie Francoise, she has written: "My work expresses certain psycho-vignettes meant to disturb the viewer.

FROM THE outside, the four-story building at 1401 Mount Royal Ave. in Baltimore doesn't look much different from when it housed offices of the American Automobile Association.But its interior has been altered dramatically to provide educational spaces for the Maryland Institute, College of Art, including a new library, classrooms and faculty offices.That transformation, designed by Ziger/Snead Inc., was selected to receive the Grand Design Award in the 1998 design competition sponsored by the Baltimore chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Every year several faculty members at the Maryland Institute, College of Art take a sabbatical, and when they come back, they show what they've done. This year's "Sabbatical Exhibition" in the Decker Gallery includes seven artists and neatly divides itself into three groups of two, plus one.James Hennessey and Mark Karnes are the traditional painters in the group, and when the painting's this good, there's no condescension intended in the word traditional.Of...

Julian Allen, an internationally renowned illustrator whose work appeared regularly in major publications, died Monday of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at Stella Maris Hospice.Mr. Allen, who was 55 and lived in Bolton Hill, had been chairman of the illustration department at Maryland Institute, College of Art since 1996. Earlier, he had taught editorial illustration for more than 20 years at Parson's School of Design in New York.Mr. Allen brought to a high art his graphic reconstruction of such events as the Watergate burglars at work and the Israeli commando attack on the Entebbe Airport in Uganda, through the medium of oils, watercolors and ink.His work appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, the New Yorker, Time, Newsweek and Esquire.

Fred Lazarus became president of the Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1978, and to mark his 20th anniversary, there will be a number of celebratory events this academic year. None could be more appropriate than the current "20/XX," an exhibit of works by 20 alumni who have graduated since 1978 (actually 19, as one artist's proposal couldn't be accommodated for space and financial reasons).Of all the components of an educational institution, from buildings to faculty to students, none indicates its worth so well as its alumni.

The Baltimore Choral Arts Society's 2009-2010 season will sample various musical styles, from a classically proportioned Schubert Mass to the premiere of a gospel-influenced work by African-American composer Rosephanye Dunn Powell. Popular American songs will be showcased in the season-opener Nov. 1 at Goucher College's Kraushaar Auditorium, when New York-based cabaret singer Eric Comstock joins the chorus and its music director, Tom Hall. Choral Arts commissioned the new work by Powell, a prolific choral composer who teaches at Alabama's Auburn University.

When it comes to singing the praises of someone, there was a full symphony in honor of Fred Lazarus, courtesy of some 200 friends and supporters. They had gathered at the Tide Point offices of Ayers/Saint/Gross to surprise Lazarus and celebrate his 30 years as president of Maryland Institute College of Art. "First of all, he's a genius. And second of all, he re-invents himself every five years. He's brought all these great innovative ideas into how art is taught," explained MICA board chair Fredye Gross, who was co-host for the party with husband Adam Gross.

Hazel T. Barrett, a retired educator and collector of African-American art who also had owned and operated a Baltimore art gallery for a decade, died Mondayof complications from Parkinson's disease at Keswick Multi-Care Center. She was 90. Hazel Thompson, the daughter of scrap yard owner, was born and raised in Somerset, Pa. After graduating from Somerset High School in 1936, she enrolled at what is now Morgan State University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1940.

Grace Hartigan, the renowned artist and educator who died over the weekend at the age of 86, was a painter's painter. "The thing that's been incredible is that one way or another, I've been able to arrange my life so that I could paint every day," she told The Sun in a 2001 interview. "I have great plans to live as long as Georgia O'Keeffe," she added. Ms. O'Keeffe lived to 98, and Ms. Hartigan said she needed the time because "there's a lot of work I still want to do." Ms. Hartigan was not granted that wish, but what she accomplished over a career spanning more than six decades was little short of astonishing.

Her bold canvases made her a bright star in the 1950s New York art world, but she "sank from view faster than the Titanic" when she moved to Baltimore, The New York Times said. Grace Hartigan, who ultimately found a second career offering her wisdom and advice to generations of young painters at the Maryland Institute College of Art, died of liver failure yesterday at the Lorien Mays Chapel nursing home. She was 86. "I feel that I am an aristocrat as far as painting is concerned; I believe in beautiful drawing, in elegance, in luminous color and light," she said in a 1990 biography.

The Maryland Institute College of Art will hold the world premiere of a 36-minute documentary about Maryland artist and educator Grace Hartigan at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Brown Center, 1301 Mount Royal Ave. Grace Hartigan - Shattering Boundaries, features studio interviews with Hartigan, the director of MICA's Hoffberger School of Painting since 1965, and artists she has influenced over the years. The reservations-only event includes a question-and-answer session with co-producers Janice Stanton and Alice Shure of Amici Films, as well as a reception.

ANNEKE JANS SAUNDERS DAVIS, 77, of Baltimore, Maryland died on Thursday, September 11, 2008. A graduate of the University of Chicago, she earned a Masters' degrees from Goucher College and the Maryland Institute College of Art. Anneke was a nature photographer, teacher and leader of many local and statewide environmental organizations. She is survived by her sons Benjamin of Mexico City, Mexico and Adam, of San Rafael, California and four grandchildren. A Memorial Service will be organized at a later date.

This weekend's Artscape celebrations stop just south of North Avenue. But that doesn't mean you should. There's a new spot right where Charles Street meets North Avenue called the Windup Space. It's a bar, art gallery and performance venue all under one roof, which isn't easy to pull off. But owner Russell de Ocampo, who opened the space in May, makes it all work. He has a lot of room to play with, too - the main room is about 3,000 square feet, all told. Since the Windup Space hosts rotating art shows on a regular basis, de Ocampo didn't want to clutter the walls with big wooden booths.

Two Baltimore-area high school seniors have been recognized for accomplishments in the arts and are among 139 students nationwide selected as 2008 Presidential Scholars, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced yesterday. Jennifer S. Liu, who attends River Hill High School in Clarksville, Howard County, and Alex R. Levy, who attends the Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Towson, were named Presidential Scholars in the Arts. Montgomery County students Julie J. Zhu, Benjamin B. Lu, and Christina Zou also were recognized as scholars.

George J. Strakes, age 84 died in Naples, FL on April 12, 2008. He was born in Chester, PA on December 4, 1923. George's family moved to Baltimore, MD when George was a teenager. George was a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art and later used the skills developed there along with a series of progressive experiences in sales and marketing to found an a