Visionary Art Museum

Ten Tibetan Buddhist monks are busily assembling an intricate image in sand on Federal Hill for a weekend exhibit at the American Visionary Art Museum.The monks came to Baltimore Sunday to undertake the painstaking process of arranging millions of grains of sand -- almost grain by grain -- into a multicolored collage, as part of a 22-city U.S. tour to raise money for the Tibetan freedom movement and for their monastery.Dressed in maroon and yellow sleeveless garments, the men place colored sand in a 16-inch metal funnel.

Is this a perfect event for Baltimore or what? Quirky. A little weird. Creative and fun. And it's coming to the Inner Harbor. It's called a kinetic sculpture race. And this isn't just any old kinetic sculpture race. Welcome to the first "East Coast National Championship Human-Powered All-Terrain Kinetic Sculpture Race."We will forgive you for now scratching your head and perhaps muttering "say what?" You are not alone. Unless, of course, you are a transplant from the West Coast, where people seem to invent these sorts of things.

The planned sale of the art collection amassed by William and Frances Haussner, owners of Baltimore's landmark Haussner's restaurant, marks the loss of a small but unique chunk of Baltimore history, say local museum officials."

This year's season includes a number of major museum shows that promise to be as beautiful as they are thought-provoking.An important event locally will be the opening of The Contemporary Museum's new permanent exhibition space at 100 W. Centre St. The first show, starting Sept. 25, is "Impact: Revealing Sources for Contemporary Art," a major survey of the seminal artists of the last 30 years, including Andy Warhol, Louise Bourgeois, Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Robert Gober, Hans Haacke, Ann Hamilton and Bruce Nauman.

With the summer season upon us, it's time to catch up on things current and coming up around town and nearby:Starting June 11, the American Visionary Art Museum will present "Holy Fire: The Matchstick Artistry of Gerald Hawkes." This exhibition, curated by AVAM director and founder Rebecca Hoffberger, is a tribute to the late Hawkes' mathematical and spirit-based artistry and features 40 of the artist's intricate matchstick sculptures, furniture and utilitarian objects.In a departure from its usual practice of putting on just one show at a time, AVAM will also present two smaller exhibitions.

Sometimes, it pays to live -- and parade -- in Charles Village.Because of the generosity of Philadelphia photographer Neil Benson and his fellow "Dumpster Divers," the American Visionary Art Museum is offering free admission tomorrow through Sunday to Charles Villagers and others in North Baltimore's 21218 ZIP code.The relationship between the City of Brotherly Love, Charm City, and the museum was launched in the spring when Benson and his team of recyclers -- the Dumpster Divers -- came to Baltimore to enter the first East Coast kinetic sculpture race, which involves creative vehicles that can move on land and float on water.

Annapolis Jazz FestJazz up Father's Day from noon to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Annapolis JazzFest on the banks of College Creek at St. John's College. Presented by the Friends of Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, the outdoor celebration features saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, vocalist Vanessa Rubin (pictured), the Cecilia Smith Quartet, Rumba Club, Dave Burns and Hot Mustard, and the Guitar All Stars. A free workshop celebrating the 100th anniversary of Duke Ellington's birth is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sunday.

The "Kinetinaut" pilots came from as far as Pittsburgh for a 13-mile test of wills that blended home-grown art with human-powered engines.In craft made mainly from bicycles, gears and flotation devices, they rolled yesterday through the streets of Baltimore, negotiated the muck of the Mud Dump Gulch and rode the high seas of the Inner Harbor.After more than five hours, they helped prove the following point: Creative genius can be found just about anywhere, including in defeat.Six teams participated in the first East Coast National Championship Human-Powered All-Terrain Kinetic Sculpture Race, on land, at sea and through mud, sponsored by the American Visionary Art Museum.

The Westminster Common Council has awarded an $88,046 contract to a Howard County company to renovate a city maintenance shop on Old Manchester Road.Baltimore-Washington Restoration Co. Inc. will do exterior work on the 2 1/2 -story building, which was used for several years to store road salt. Construction is expected to begin next month and take about four months to complete."The company will be installing three roll-up doors, fixing some windows and closing others," said Thomas B. Beyard, city director of planning and public works.

If the thought of one more chain steakhouse opening up in Baltimore makes you want to take your bottle of balsamic vinegar and move to another state, run - don't walk - to the Joy America Cafe in the American Visionary Art Museum. Its strange but poetic menu is an antidote for every ordinary restaurant meal you've ever paid too much money for.After Joy America's original chef and owner, Peter Zimmer, left and went back to Santa Fe, N.M., the cafe made some changes for the better. At lunchtime there are now at least a couple ofitems that cost under $10. The staff will try to get you in and out in under an hour (unless you want to linger)

"It's going to be a challenge for a lot of people," says Roger Manley, gesturing to the invigoratingly eclectic collection of material he curated for the American Visionary Art Museum's new exhibit, "Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness." "It's a little tougher show than some of the previous ones." The museum is famed for its focus on artists who lack formal training but are loaded with motivation and imagination. This show celebrates that concept of rugged individualism in a big, involving way. "For the first time in history, a country was founded where the emphasis was put on individual people doing what they felt was right," Manley says.

Last Sunday, when legendary guitar man B.B. King was in town for a show at the Lyric, he ordered some take-out from The Prime Rib. General manager Dave Derewicz tells me King himself didn't place the order - or pick it up. "But you could hear him in the background, giving directions." That order? Wild salmon with extra-extra lemon and extra-extra tartar sauce, and a prime rib end cut, medium. Apparently, it takes a lot of protein to belt out the blues. What's the 2009 method to gathering goodies for a stellar silent auction?

Is it a contradiction in terms when something is both contemporary and retro? Not if it's the Contemporary Museum's "Mod Holiday Party." Guests pushed through a curtain of beads to enter the main gallery. There, they could sip a whiskey sour and nibble on pigs in blankets, as they gazed at '60s relics such as a portable electric typewriter, a hatbox suitcase and Plexiglas furniture. Perhaps, they might be persuaded by event chairs Susan Amiot and Jessica Dorsey to step inside the party's absinthe lounge to taste the licoricey drink and watch a bit of Goldfinger projected on one wall.

The "staycation" trend has been around since last summer and with the recent economic turmoil, it's probably here to stay. Even if the market rebounds quickly, there's still baggage fees, fewer flights and general travel weariness dragging down tourism. There are a couple of bright spots in the recent patch of dreary financial news. One is the rising strength of the dollar against some foreign currencies, which could help you save a few bucks on a hotel in London or Quebec. Another is falling gas prices that make the quick weekend getaway a bit more tempting.

10 Places to See Before You're 10 1 American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore 2 Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Va. 3 Disneyland, Anaheim, Calif. 4 Ellis Island, New York 5 Grand Canyon, Ariz. 6 Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles 7 Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, Calif. 8 Muir Woods, Marin County, Calif. 9 Niagara Falls, New York and Ontario 10 Sears Tower, Chicago Travel+Leisure online

What makes an artist assemble 193,000 toothpicks?" Pete Hilsee, spokesman for the American Visionary Art Museum, mused the other day. The Baltimore museum boasts a 16-foot scale model of the ocean liner Lusitania made with something the uninspired masses use to pry poppy seeds from teeth. Hilsee invoked that piece as he was pondering another, featuring child-like choo-choo crayon drawings with mathematical calculations on the bottom. Is it art? Is it mental illness? Either way, it's the latest exhibit at the museum of "self-taught and intuitive artistry.

THE TICKETS WEREN'T CHEAP. After all, this was the annual fundraising gala for the American Visionary Art Museum. But for party outfits, many guests only spent as much as the cost of a newspaper. In fact, their outfits were the newspaper, in accordance with invitation instructions to dress along the lines of the evening's theme. "Black and White and RED All Over" celebrated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution -- a tie-in to AVAM's current exhibition All Faiths Beautiful: From Atheism to Zoroastrianism, Respect for Diversity of Belief.

Twins from southern New Jersey marketed slightly deformed glass bottles recovered from a dump as "squottles." An Owings Mills candy maker offered chocolate chili pepper truffles. And a North Carolina sculptor found a buyer for her papier-mache pet made from old doll parts. Bazaart, the holiday shopping event at the American Visionary Art Museum yesterday, was intended to be the antithesis of 4 a.m. Black Friday sales on sweater vests and Thanksgiving weekend outlet sprees. "It's the anti-mall," said Andy Snair, a 41-year-old artist and designer from Baltimore and regular customer at the annual fair - part art exhibit, part flea market.

At a time when religious intolerance seems more than ever in the news, the yearlong exhibition that opens today at the American Visionary Art Museum sounds a small but poignant note of sanity amid the current cacophony of doctrinal zealotry, hatred and fear. All Faiths Beautiful: From Atheism to Zoroastrianism is a show of about 200 works by "outsider" or visionary artists inspired by the universal human impulse to seek meaning and hope through the act of faith. If you go All Faiths Beautiful: From Atheism to Zoroastrianism runs through Aug. 31 at the American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Highway.

Documentary See `Who Killed the Electric Car?' Go see a film tonight that is part of the Environmental Film Series at the American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key High way. Who Killed the Electric Car? will be shown at 6 p.m. Admission is free. Call 410-244- 1900 or go to avam.org. FYI Kevin Cowherd is on vacation. His column will resume this week.