Curators

The American Visionary Art Museum , which opened 15 years ago Thanksgiving, will unwrap a glittering crystal-anniversary gift with the Saturday opening of "What Makes Us Smile?" It's the museum's biggest show since its inaugural "Tree of Life" exhibit back in 1995. For the first time, AVAM founder and curator Rebecca Hoffberger has collaborated with two guest co-curators, Matt Groening, creator of "The Simpsons," and Gary Panter, the alt-comics wizard who designed the sets for "Pee-wee's Playhouse.

William Voss Elder III, a retired Baltimore Museum of Art curator who helped first lady Jacqueline Kennedy during the 1960s bring antique furnishing to the White House, died of heart failure Thursday at Northwest Hospital. The Upperco resident was 82. In more than three decades at the Baltimore Museum of Art , he enlarged its collections of furniture, glass, porcelain, textiles and silver, and rescued architectural treasures by salvaging doomed interiors for reinstatement as period rooms.

The idea of an emerging artist is a familiar but still rather amorphous concept. It can mean young artists fresh out of bachelor's or master's degree programs who are embarking on professional careers. Or it can refer to artists who are well-experienced but whose works have only recently crossed some major threshold of visibility in the art world - a major museum exhibition, for example, or the proverbial solo show in a prestigious New York gallery. And it can mean everything in between as well.

The man in the red turban is a mystery, and not only because his expression is grave, alert and slightly anxious. He is richly dressed, which clearly makes him a person of some importance. There weren't a lot of black people living in Europe in the 1600s, and even fewer displayed, as this man does, signs of princely favor. It's even more unusual that he was singled out for a painting of his own instead of being included as part of a larger group. Joaneath Spicer, the curator of Renaissance and Baroque art at the Walters Art Museum , thinks she might have uncovered subtle clues in the painting itself that might explain, if not the man's name, then his role, social status and even where he was born.

THIS WEEK in Glenelg, some 6-year-olds have become scientists, some 10-year-olds have become curators and others have become surveyors, excavators, geologists and explorers.If you think some digging is going on, you're right. Glenelg United Methodist Church is holding its vacation Bible school, and the theme is "The Great Bibleland Dig."Donna Brackins is the coordinator of the program, which offers 110 children age 3 through fifth grade the chance to learn more about the life of Jesus Christ.

If the Baltimore Museum of Art were to post a want ad for the next open curatorial position, it might read as follows:"Wanted: Expert in 20th-century art, preferably one with particular interest in Matisse. Team spirit a must."The last line of that job description is a telling one. Doreen Bolger, who became the museum's director nearly two years ago, is a champion of using curatorial teams to create exhibitions. Bit by bit she is fashioning a museum staff with that in mind.Her goal is to create a steady stream of original exhibitions that will draw on the BMA's permanent collections -- including a reinstalled Cone Collection -- as well as works borrowed from other institutions.

Inside the U.S. Supreme Court last Friday, lawyers debated a historic challenge to a presidential election too close to call. Outside the court, curators from the Smithsonian Institution scanned the crowd of protesters, looking for the memorabilia that will recall this moment in history. Toting a camera and a large artist's portfolio, curator Larry Bird walked among the Bush-Cheney and Gore-Lieberman supporters. He trolled for handmade signs, hats, banners and T-shirts that one day may appear in an exhibit at the museum.

From the vantage point of the end of the 20th-century, it is tempting to see the rise of modern art as an inexorable advance of clearly defined styles whose progress steadily evolved from more or less realistic representation toward increasingly abstract forms. Starting with Impressionism and proceeding through post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Futurism, Surrealism and Cubism, the idea that modern art's origins can be accounted for by a chronological succession of stylistic "isms" is by now so ingrained in many people's minds that the results seem to have been almost preordained.

Velvet Elvis lives a lowdown life, stuck in cheesy motel rooms, smoky barrooms, swap-meet sales. Velvet Jesus gets hawked by the highway, sold from the backs of pickups with Velvet Sinatra and Velvet John Wayne.For sheer kitsch value, black velvet paintings have always had fans. But respect for the highbrow variety -- yes, there is such a thing -- has been hard to come by until recently.But in places such as chic, white-walled Huntington Beach Arts Center in Southern California, an art form generally scorned and reviled in museum circles is now being celebrated.

About four years ago, Samuel Hoi, dean of Washington's Corcoran School of Art, and the heads of five Washington-area arts centers decided to inaugurate a regional juried show, held at all six sites in 1994. This year, ArtSites expanded to 11 sites, including Baltimore's Maryland Art Place and School 33.There are organizational advantages. One call for entry was sent out to 10,000 addresses in Maryland, Washington and Virginia, resulting in 850 responses. Curators from the sites viewed the slides together over a three-day period and chose a total of 86 artists for their separate shows.

Henry Stansbury is pure Maryland. His family has been here since the 1650s. He grew up in Mount Washington, played lacrosse for the Terps in the early 1960s and now splits his time between his houses in Catonsville and on the Eastern Shore. And his love for the state and its history also led him to one of his greatest passions - decoy collecting. Hand-carved decoys, once used for waterfowl hunting and now appreciated as art, have a rich history in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Every spring, the Maryland Film Festival takes over Station North, drawing thousands to the Charles Theatre and nearby blocks. Since 2008, a smaller, more experimental video exhibit has run the same weekend inside the Metro Gallery - across the street from the Charles. Called Videopolis, it showcases features which don't meet traditional formats, according to 35-year-old curator Guy Werner. We caught up with Werner, who is married to Metro Gallery founder Sarah M. Werner, and talked about RVs and old TVs. Worst pet peeve?

In naming Julia Marciari-Alexander as executive director on Wednesday, the Walters Art Museum board of directors entrusted one of Baltimore's most important arts institutions to a rising star — and signaled an emphasis on community engagement even more than on a long history of leading an organization. The Yale-trained Marciari-Alexander, 45, serves as the San Diego Museum of Art's head curator and starts her new post April 1. She will succeed Gary Vikan, who is retiring in June after 27 years at the Walters and who helped the museum become a national leader in rethinking the traditional role of arts institutions.

Sykesville's Gate House Museum of History has always highlighted the community past, but these days visitors entering the small museum can almost feel a sense of renewal and vitality as well. The atmosphere is almost as if someone came along and — at least figuratively — cleared away the dust, clutter and cobwebs. Visitors are greeted by a new display called "Making Tracks: A Chronological History of Sykesville," which includes pictures and spiffy graphics and takes up an entire wall.

Even in a city defiantly proud of its quirks, the Poe Toaster stood out. Every year for more than half a century, in the early-morning hours of Jan. 19, a mysterious figure would quietly leave three roses and a half-emptied bottle of cognac on the grave of Edgar Allan Poe — a birthday tribute to a towering literary figure. But early Thursday morning, for the third year on a row, the Poe Toaster was a no-show, signaling an end to one of the city's most enduring — and most mysterious — traditions.

Don't call the Ivy Bookshop's new owners New Yorkers. Sure, Ed Berlin and his wife Ann have lived in the orbit of Manhattan for more than three decades, working in corporate careers. But they insist they love Baltimore — Ed was raised in Forest Park and the couple often visit friends and family here — and they started making plans to move here this year. Along the way, opportunity knocked. The Ivy in north Baltimore, a haven for literature lovers, was put up for sale in the summer by owner Darielle Linehan, who was ready to retire to spend more time with family.

Prices for some of the events associated with the Maryland Historical Society's antiques show were incorrect in Sunday's paper. The luncheon and talk with designer Charlotte Moss at 10: 30 a.m. Friday costs $45 per person. The curators' walks at 9: 30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday cost $25. For information and reservations, call (410) 685-3750, Ext. 372.The Sun regrets the errors.Pub Date: 11/05/96

The Walters Art Museum plans to nearly double the number of curators on its staff, from seven to 12, as a result of grants received from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the museum said yesterday. The grants, worth about $2.6 million, include a $1.75 million challenge grant to endow two new mid-level curatorial positions and a $372,000 spendable grant to support three post-doctoral curatorial fellowships. In addition, the museum received a $465,000 spendable grant to support the mid-level curators while it raises the $750,000 needed to match the Mellon challenge grant.

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When painting student Jennifer Tam studied a series of Marcel Duchamp prints of boldly colored, spinning discs, she became convinced that the enigmatic works had to be included in the big new show opening Sundayat the Baltimore Museum of Art . "Twelve Rotoreliefs," the 1935 series by the French Surrealist master, is deceptively simple. Duchamp originally conceived of the record-shaped platters as children's toys and tried unsuccessfully to sell them at Macy's. But a professor later used the reliefs to restore the illusion of three-dimensional sight to a World War I veteran who had been blinded in one eye. "Art can have value in the most unexpected ways," the 22-year-old Tam told her classmates in the Johns Hopkins University's museums and society program.