Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and resident of the Greater Washington DC area, Yvette Spears is a performing artist who has numerous recognitions through her collaborations with many renowned Jazz artists. Yvette was introduced to performance at an early age growing up in NOLA as a Jazz Vocalist, in theatre, and also an opportunity as an "on-air" talent for former BETonJazz.
Mark Lohr New Vaudevillian Extraordinaire has trained in art of the Traditional American Circus Clown. He performs without makeup and the large shoes of his trade but with all the zany antics of the roots of his profession. His trade of silliness consists of some serious disciplines! Acting, slapstick comedy, pratfalls, comedic movement, and acrobatics, juggling, hat manipulation, spinning plates, fire juggling and manipulation, stilt walking... a veritable smorgasbord of theatre and circus skills!
strikeWare members are Mollye Bendell, Christopher Kojzar and Jeffrey L. Gangwisch. Together, we work and play with virtual and augmented realities, time-based media, customized hardware, digital fabrication, and interactive media.
Saima Adil Sitwat is a writer and educator based in Baltimore City. Her work entails facilitating conversations on race, religion and identity politics.
Saima is the author of her memoir American Muslim: An Immigrant's Journey.
Bomani Armah is a Hip Hop artist, writer, educator, and family man. Born in Washington D.C. and raised in Prince George's County, Maryland, Bomani's goal is to "Honor the Ancestors, Prepare the Descendants and Love Right Now." Bomani has released four Hip Hop albums, including "Bomani Armah is the Watermelon Man." He is best known for his 2007 viral crunk hit "Read a Book," which aired on BET's 106th & Park.
Jay Coleman is a multidisciplinary artist whose primary focus is public art. He is an experienced muralist, bronze sculptor, portrait painter, tattoo artist and photographer/ filmmaker.
R.I.P. BALTIMORE/DEAD BY DEFAULT
Short Video using a small amount of the images that I have made photographically from 1999 to present documenting the murder rate in Baltimore City as manifested through graffiti. I started to see the graffiti, "R.I.P." everywhere I went in Baltimore. I went past one 2 blocks away from where I lived, it was on a wall on the corner of Whitelock St. and Druid Hill Avenue, "R.I.P. TROY." That is when I decided to start recording them photographically. I began asking people, showing them R.I.P. on a piece of paper, "Have you seen this anywhere?" Many said NO, right there in their own neighborhood on the walls, and people were not seeing them. I did not want to be alone viewing this madness.
Medium: Digital video from film and digital files
Year: 1999-2020
Details: Length 12:22
INSTALLATIONS, PRIVATE COMMISSIONS, and PUBLIC ART, selected
Nizette Brennan, Sculptor
410-903-5474
___ Commission awarded by the GSA Art-in-Architecture Program for a site-specific, carved-stone plaza environment at the Duncan Federal Building, Knoxville, TN
Desmond Beach is an artist and educator. He earned his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art's Rinehart School of Sculpture and his BFA from MICA. Desmond is an interdisciplinary artist, the middle son of three boys born in Baltimore, Maryland. He is a project artist, meaning that his work takes its point of departure from specific problems or tragedies. Desmond finds inspiration for his work from growing up in Baltimore during the 80s and 90s and his lived experience as a Black man.