BALTIMORE, MD.- The Baltimore Museum of Art concludes its multi-year renovation with the opening of the Center for People & Art (CP&A) on October 25, 2015. This new area of the museum offers visitors an interactive experience that includes an innovative thematic exhibition, Imagining Home, and a variety of programs and partnerships with Baltimore artists and neighborhoods.

“The Center for People & Art continues the BMA’s legacy of excellence and innovation in the presentation and interpretation of art,” said BMA Deputy Director for Education & Interpretation Anne Manning. “We are excited to share many new experiences and invite visitors to participate in the imaginative programs offered in conjunction with the opening and throughout the year.”

The $4.5 million, 5,500-square-foot Center for People & Art (CP&A) includes a gallery that draws together works from across the collection around a theme, a commons that highlights the voices and creativity of the Baltimore community, and a studio for hands-on art making for all ages. The CP&A also encompasses a new docent room for the museum’s dedicated gallery teachers and a renovated school group entrance and orientation foyer, where docents welcome thousands of schoolchildren who visit the museum each year.

GALLERY
The CP&A Gallery opens with Imagining Home—an extraordinary exhibition that presents 37 artworks across the collection in a lively space that incorporates video, audio, and other interactive elements. The artworks represent different ideas and aspects about home—whether decorative or functional, real or ideal, celebratory or critical. Nearly every area of the BMA’s collection is included: paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, textiles, prints, and photographs with works from the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia, as well as four of the museum’s popular miniature rooms. Each object reveals something about the social and cultural values, history, economics, and religious beliefs of their makers, owners, and users.

Visitors will discover three thematic areas in the exhibition:

 Façades & Thresholds: Transitional spaces such as doors, windows, and porches convey the history of a dwelling as well as the identity and values of its makers and occupants. Emile-Antoine Bourdelle’s sinister bronze Medusa Door Knocker (1925), a colorful early 20th-century Suzani prayer rug from Central Asia, and Ben Marcin’s Last One Standing photograph of a row home show how we mediate the public and private through objects.

 Domestic Interiors: Works made for or featuring domestic settings invite visitors to consider how we “make home.” Paintings like Marguerite Gerard’s Motherhood (c. 1795) and a selection of chairs, vessels, and other objects from an ancient Greek krater to a modern toaster reflect the identities and activities of their owners.

 Arrivals & Departures: Contemporary and historic objects show a world of constant transformation and movement. Examples include Alfred Stieglitz’s Steerage (1907) photograph of passengers boarding a ship and Susan Harbage Page’s Hiding Place No. 3, Laredo, Texas (2011), a large-scale photograph of a temporary shelter for someone crossing the U.S./Mexican border.

A variety of interactive elements are woven throughout the exhibition. As you enter the gallery, floor projections show visitors’ responses to the prompt “Home is...” These statements change as new visitor responses are received. Four artworks have Home Stories videos that reveal an individual or family’s experience living with a reproduction of the object for a month. The interviews explore what they discovered about the work of art and how it impacted their thinking about home. Another group of artworks has Soundscapes that immerse visitors in the place where the object was made through authentic audio recordings. The BMA’s Go Mobile smartphone guide has been expanded with insightful details about many of the artworks in the exhibition. Friendly Gallery Hosts will be standing by during weekends and special events to provide information about the objects and experiences upon request. There is also a nook with seating, books, and magazines for visitors to relax and peruse.

COMMONS
This space will reflect the voices and creativity of Baltimore. Baltimore-based mixed-media artist Marian Glebes, in partnership with the non-profit The Loading Dock, was selected for a year-long project inspired by the theme of home that will be presented in the Commons. Seeing the BMA as a metaphoric house for Baltimore’s greatest cultural assets, Glebes anticipates creating an interactive environment where visitors can explore relationships with the materials of home and connect them to the larger notion of place. The Commons will also host Open Hours on the third Saturday of the month beginning in November. These events are organized by anyone who wants to propose an activity connected to the theme of home that promotes a sense of sharing and exchange. Additionally, visitors are invited to write on a postcard to be sent to another visitor and submit their mailing address to receive a postcard from someone else.

STUDIO
This vibrant space for hands-on experiences evokes a contemporary artist’s studio and encourages invention and artistic expression for visitors of all ages. The BMA’s popular Free Family Sundays program will continue here with a month of workshops on the theme of home. Workshop topics may include constructing a dream home, miniature furniture building, welcome mat braiding, fort building, and album making.