Good evening, and welcome to the Baltimore Museum of Art. My name is Dereck Mangus, and I’m one of the guest curators for Guarding the Art. Tonight, I’m going to speak to you about my selection, House of Frederick Crey (1830–35), attributed to Thomas Coke Ruckle, Sr., an Irish immigrant, War of 1812 veteran, and self-taught painter. But first, let me begin by telling you a little bit about myself…

Museum guards are too often an afterthought, all but ignored by other museum staff and visitors alike. But many of us are artists and writers too. Though we may be overlooked, we are also looking, quietly contemplating the institutions within which we work. I’ve been an “art guard” for the better part of my adult life…

On Memorial Day 2021, a week after the latest cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, and as U.S. troops begin to withdraw from Afghanistan – marking the end of America’s longest military engagement – I reflect on the many wars that have plagued humanity since the beginning of time…

When I was growing up, my older sister was like a third parent to me. If not for Jenni, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. My sister is several years older than I and the product of my mother’s first marriage so is actually my half sister. But seeing as both my parents had full-time jobs…

This past year, I decided to read the work of women authors exclusively. After recognizing a glaring oversight on my part – the unconscious tendency to read mostly male authors – I elected to correct it. The year 2020 marks a century since the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted women the right to vote…

Earlier this year, before Covid-19 caused public building closures around the world, my partner and I found ourselves in two different churches for reasons other than worship. First, for my birthday in early February, some of our friends invited us out for drinks at a church building that was converted into a brewery last year…

Since the quarantine began, I’ve been thinking a lot about movie theaters – not just the movies screened within, but the actual buildings in which they are projected. Where I live in Baltimore might seem like an unlikely place to explore the architecture of picture houses. But in 1950, at the height of the city’s population…

Today was the last day of summer, and I spent it cleaning the works in The Baltimore Museum of Art’s sculpture garden. We met early in the morning and washed a few bronze statues in the upper garden, first with water only then with water mixed with Orvus, a synthetic biodegradable detergent. Before rinsing…

In the parlance of the media theorist Marshall McLuhan, buildings are extensions of our bodies. That is, they act as a secondary, artificial membrane, protecting those within from the harsh conditions without. In the most primary sense, buildings shield our bodies from the natural elements. They keep out the wind and the rain…

Like others of my generation, I loved playing with Legos as a kid. And the bright plastic building blocks are still popular with children today. My 10-year-old nephew is a huge fan. But with their various cross-promotional marketing campaigns – Batman, Star Wars, not to mention The Lego Movie franchise itself…

I have visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) twice: once over twenty years ago, and again this past summer. Each time I made a point of swinging by Gallery 182, a room dedicated to Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp is one of the two most important twentieth-century artists…

The following list catalogs what I read over the course of the past year. Broken down into four sections–fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and significant articles and essays–this list outlines the range of texts I read during 2019. It is not comprehensive; there were many other titles I read. But these are the ones that stick out.

At The Baltimore Museum of Art, in the Saidie A. May galleries, one can find Révérence (1915) by the Dada artist Francis Picabia. It's not an especially beautiful painting. The palette is rather drab, the execution somewhat crude. Yet it stands out just the same, perhaps because it is so odd. It's not exactly abstract, but it's also not clear what its subject might be.

The following list catalogs what I read over the course of the past year. Broken down into four sections–fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and significant articles and essays–this list outlines the range of texts I read during 2018. It is not comprehensive; there were many other titles I read. But these are the ones that stick out.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the 1968 presidential election, in which Richard Milhous Nixon defeated the Democratic nominee, incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and became the 37th President of the United States. The Watergate break-in was still four years away, the ensuing scandal of which ultimately forced Nixon to resign the presidency on August 9th, 1974, preventing the House from impeaching him. But long before his resignation…

This year, the 2017 and 2018 winners of the Baker Artist Awards were publicly honored during a well-attended event at The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) on Wednesday, September 12th. In The BMA’s auditorium, there was a live performance by pianist Lafayette Gilchrist (Music); a poetry reading by Dora Malech (Literary); a screening of Margaret Rorison’s short film (Film/Video); and, in The BMA’s East Wing Lobby, live performances by Lisi Steossel (Performance).