Have you ever wanted to see how an artist plies their craft? This weekend you will have your chance.
The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) is gearing up for Baltimore Open Studio Tour (OST) Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, May 6–7, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
During OST Weekend the public can visit working artist studios across Baltimore City. More than 100 artists and galleries spread out over 24 neighborhoods will open their studios to visitors and guests. Community members will be able to peek behind the curtains and see how some of Baltimore’s favorite creatives move through their processes to get their art out into the world.
One participant is Alisa L Brock, the proprietor of Drama Mama Bookshop, which she dubs “a journal lover’s paradise.” On the shop’s website, Brock outlines the path that took her from childhood scribbles to bookstore mama, guiding others in using pen and paper to help find their voices.
“My safe place, my haven, has always involved paper and ink. As time progressed, I fell in love with black women who authored books and plays that spoke to the nature of my existence,” Brock writes. A lifetime of journaling combined with book binding skills led to her unique mission helping others be inspired by their own aspirations. She writes, “I want users of my journals to actualize their goals and dreams and I want them to feel motivated, and healed in some way.”
Paul Moscatt is a Brooklyn-born painter who served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. He will also be opening up his studio to visitors. He attended Cooper Union beginning at age 25, and then entered the painting program at Yale University, where he earned a bachelor’s of fine arts and master’s of fine arts.
Moscatt been in Baltimore since 1966, teaching at MICA until his retirement in 2000. He is Professor Emeritus and continues to teach portrait and figure painting. Moscatt is the subject of a film by Khalid Ali that “catches up with the 86-year-old artist as he paints and teaches, taking audiences inside the mind of one of Baltimore’s living art icons.”
Participating organizations include Baltimore Clayworks in Mount Washington, Hamilton Arts Collective at Hamilton Gallery, and The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture in the Historic Jonestown neighborhood, according to BOPA’s news release.
You can also visit multiple artists at once at the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower and School 33 Art Center as well as The Mill Centre. Visit BOPA’s website for the entire list of participating artists and organizations.
BOPA has produced an interactive map with directions, parking information, and contact information for each studio. Click here to see the OST Weekend Map.
