On Tuesday, December 17, The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will host The Necessity of Tomorrow(s): Future Histories, a free conversation with award-winning journalist Nikole Hannah- Jones who created The 1619 Project for The New York Times; activist/art collector Pamela J. Joyner; and Baltimore-based artist and art professor Zoë Charlton. The event is part of the BMA’s The Necessity of Tomorrow(s) series, which brings together artists, writers, and thought leaders to examine and discuss issues and ideas at the intersections of art, race, and social justice. The Necessity of Tomorrow(s): Future Histories is free and open to the public from 6 to 10 p.m. Seating is first come, first seated in the BMA Auditorium and in live-streamed locations throughout the museum. The event includes free admission to the BMA’s Generations: A History of Black Abstract Art exhibition and cocktail reception with music, cash bar, and light bites. For more information, please click here.
The Necessity of Tomorrow(s): Future Histories is being organized in conjunction with Generations: A History of Black Abstract Art, which offers a sweeping new perspective on the contributions black artists have made to the evolution of visual art from the 1940s to the present moment. Artists featured include pioneers of postwar abstraction once overlooked by history, such as Norman Lewis, Alma W. Thomas, and Jack Whitten, as well as artists from a younger generation such as Kevin Beasley, Mark Bradford, Martin Puryear, Lorna Simpson, and many others.
The event begins at 6 p.m. with free admission for the Generations exhibition, followed by a 7 p.m. moderated discussion and Q&A with the audience. The evening continues with a reception featuring a live musical performance by Jamal Moore-Organix Trio and a hip-hop and electronica dance music set by DJ Harvey Dent. Visitors are also invited to participate in an interactive mural painting project lead by multi-disciplinary illustrator and muralist Megan Lewis and a culinary exploration of traditional and modern soul food dishes by Chef David Thomas of Ida B’s Table. The Generations galleries will remain open until 10 p.m.
Launched in 2017, The Necessity of Tomorrow(s) borrows its title from an essay by science fiction author Samuel Delany that argues for the role for creative speculation in making a more just future. The series has previously hosted talks with artists Mark Bradford, Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas and filmmaker Boots Riley, and author Ta-Nehisi Coates.
The Necessity of Tomorrow(s) is generously sponsored by Suzanne F. Cohen and the Cohen Opportunity Fund. Nikole Hannah-Jones appears courtesy of The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Nikole Hannah-Jones is an award-winning investigative journalist who covers racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine, and is the lead writer for The New York Times’ major multimedia initiative, The 1619 Project. Named for the year the first enslaved Africans arrived in America, the project features an ongoing series of essays and art on the relationship between slavery and everything from social infrastructure and segregation to music and sugar. She was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in 2017 for reshaping national conversations around education reform. Hannah-Jones has also received a Peabody, a Polk, and a National Magazine award for her story on choosing a school for her daughter in a segregated city. Hannah-Jones co-founded the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting with the goal of increasing the number of reporters and editors of color. She holds an MA in Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina and a BA in History and African American studies from the University of Notre Dame. She is currently writing a book on school segregation called The Problem We All Live With, to be published on the One World imprint of Penguin/Random House.
Pamela J. Joyner is the Founder of Avid Partners, LLC, and has nearly 30 years of experience in the investment industry. Currently, Joyner is focused on her philanthropic interests in the arts and education. She is a trustee of The Art Institute of Chicago and the J. Paul Getty Trust, chair of the Tate Americas Foundation, and a member of the Director’s Circle of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and a member of the Modern and Contemporary Art Visiting Committee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the education arena, she serves on the board of the Art & Practice Foundation. She previously served as a member of President Obama’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She and her husband Alfred Giuffrida started The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection in 1999. They originally focused on abstract work by post-war and contemporary African American artists. The collection is comprised of hundreds of works ranging from pieces dated 1945 to the present day. The collection’s focus has now expanded to incorporate a more global perspective with artists from Africa and the global African diaspora.
Zoë Charlton (Baltimore, MD) creates drawings, collages, and animations that explore her subject’s relationship to culturally loaded objects and landscapes. She received her MFA degree from the University of Texas at Austin and has participated in residencies at Artpace (TX), McColl Center for Art + Innovation (NC), the Skowhegan School of Painting (ME), and the Patterson Residency at the Creative Alliance (MD). Her work has been included in national and international exhibitions including The Delaware Contemporary (DE), the Harvey B. Gantt Center (NC), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (AR), Studio Museum of Harlem (NY), Contemporary Art Museum (TX), Zacheta National Gallery of Art (Poland), and Haas & Fischer Gallery (Switzerland). She is a recipient of a Pollock-Krasner grant (2012) and a Rubys grant (2014). Public collections include Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (AR), Birmingham Museum of Art (AL), Studio Museum in Harlem (NY), and the Phillips Collection (DC). She holds a seat on the Maryland State Arts Council and is a co-founder of ‘sindikit, a collaborative art initiative, with her colleague Tim Doud. Charlton is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art at American University in Washington, DC.
THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART
Founded in 1914, The Baltimore Museum of Art is a major cultural destination recognized for engaging diverse audiences through dynamic exhibitions and innovative educational and community outreach programs. The BMA’s internationally renowned collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the famed Cone Collection of modern art, as well as one of the nation’s finest holdings of prints, drawings, and photographs. The galleries showcase an exceptional collection of art from Africa; important works by established and emerging contemporary artists; outstanding European and American paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts; significant artworks from China; ancient Antioch mosaics; and exquisite textiles from around the world. The 210,000- square-foot museum is also distinguished by a grand historic building designed in the 1920s by renowned American architect John Russell Pope and two beautifully landscaped gardens featuring an array of 20thcentury sculpture. The BMA is located in Charles Village, three miles north of the Inner Harbor, and is adjacent to the main campus of Johns Hopkins University. General admission to the BMA is free so that everyone can enjoy the power of art.
General admission to the BMA is free. Special exhibitions may be ticketed. The BMA is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. The museum is closed Monday, Tuesday, New Year’s Day, July 4, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The BMA is located at 10 Art Museum Drive, three miles north of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. For general museum information, call 443-573-1700 or visit artbma.org.
