By Teri Henderson | Photography by Justin Tsucalas
Baltimore has been my home, where I have worked, and where I have lived since 2016. The reason I have stayed, when other creatives were leaving for New York, D.C., or wherever the next thing was supposed to be, is the art and the artists who are firmly planted here. Initially, I couldn’t quite articulate what made the scene so compelling. I just knew it was something real: a creativity that felt palpable, almost atmospheric, and completely contagious. Having spent time working in a Seattle gallery, I knew it was rare.
Cara Ober, founder of BmoreArt, a publication and gallery that has been chronicling Baltimore’s creative scene for over a decade, calls this a city of artists. I call it a city of innovators and hustlers. Both are true. What I know for certain is that Baltimore is the kind of place that, if you’re receptive, will remind you that creativity is innately within all of us.
Baltimore’s Creative Community
Start with Derrick Adams, the celebrated Baltimore-raised artist who recently became co-owner of Mount Royal Tavern, a storied dive bar that has served as the nucleus of Baltimore’s creative community for generations. His partners include artist Marlon Ziello, musician Dan Deacon, and builder Nicholas Wisniewski. On any given night there, you might find your old law school professor, a local legend, Maryland Institute College of Art students, or folks who have driven from Delaware just to see the bar’s famed “Sistine Chapel” ceiling.
Adams refers to the tavern as a social sculpture. “Legendary things have happened here,” he says. “Important Baltimore people have left their mark—on the walls, on the ceiling, on the counter. We’ve been entrusted as stewards of this space.” Regular exhibitions are featured on the walls too, rotating shows that give the place another layer. Adams used to come here as a young artist; the arc from participant to steward is so very Baltimore. “My only desire is to continue to shine a light on the things I think are valuable in my hometown,” he says.
The roster of artists working out of Bliftd Art Studios reads like a who’s who of Baltimore’s most innovative and compelling: Jeffery Kent (left), Jerrell Gibbs (right), Alexis Tyson, Nicole Clark, Allison Parker, and Kelvin Bullock, among others. Through a partnership with Pendry Baltimore, guests can be chauffeured directly to the campus for a studio tour.
Mount Royal Tavern is co-owned by celebrated Baltimore artist Derrick Adams, artist Marlon Ziello, musician Dan Deacon, and artist and builder Nicholas Wisniewski—grab an apple pie shot from head bartender Chloe (pictured) and look up to find a gorgeous reproduction of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
At Crown Studios, there are no frills, no pretense—just beautiful work by dedicated artists such as Tony Shore, Emma Childs (pictured), and Katie Pumphrey. They open up the space for tours, which is also a great way to chat directly with artists and see work in progress.
Cara Ober is the founder of BmoreArt, the print journal now 21 issues deep and still the most reliable guide to what’s happening in the city. Ober has grown the brand into a gallery, a book imprint, and a calendar of events.
Good Neighbor owner Shawn Chopra is often also barista-ing. In addition to a menu of chaat and incredible coffee, the shop is filled with an artful array of wares, works on display, and a bookshelf stacked with curated books and magazines you won’t find anywhere else. Good Neighbor invites you to exhale and stay a while.
The Royal Blue Bar is nearly uncategorizable and completely unexpected, which is exactly why it fits Baltimore so well. Created by Jimmy Crawford, it is a place to meet creative people, flirt, dance, and congregate.
Creative Spaces & Art Galleries in Baltimore
A few miles east, in the American Can Company complex in Canton, Bliftd Art Studios is making the case that Baltimore’s art scene deserves a global audience—and the collectors to match. Founded by artist Jeffrey Kent, Bliftd is unlike anything else in the city. Inside a nondescript warehouse building with a banner in the window reading “WE BUY ART 4 U” is a sprawling creative campus with floor-to-ceiling windows, natural light pouring through 12-foot glass, a parquet dance floor, a listening lounge stocked with nearly 2,000 records (“Bach to rock,” Kent calls its range), private studios, shared artist workspace, and a visiting artist residency program.
The roster of artists working out of Bliftd reads like a who’s who of Baltimore’s most innovative and compelling figures: Jerrell Gibbs (whose upcoming show at the Baltimore Museum of Art is not to be missed), Alexis Tyson, Nicole Clark, Allison Parker, and Kelvin Bullock, among others. Through a partnership with Pendry Baltimore, hotel guests can be chauffeured directly to the campus for a studio tour, a rare chance to see working artists in their actual element—not a white cube approximation of it.
“I’ve been targeting people who visit Baltimore,” Kent says, “and I want them to see something that’s not The Wire. These establishments bring in the kind of people that need to know we’re more than what the media sets us up to be.” His pitch to collectors is direct: “Baltimore has museum-quality art and artists that they could tap into.”
Critical Path Method, in Bolton Hill, is a home gallery run by Vlad Smolkin (pictured) that punches well above its weight—exhibitions here have featured the likes of Leonardo Drew, Devin N. Morris, and Irina Rozovsky.
The newest addition to Station North’s nightlife landscape is owned by a creative collective led by Catherine Carmen Borg, Megan Kathryn Elcrat, Amrita “Ami” Kaur Dang (pictured), and Christopher Franz. The soft opening is this summer—another place to dance.
Step inside historic Hooper Mill and you’ll feel transported into an editorial dream. E. Brady Robinson and her camera have a gift for turning her subjects into superstars. Her work is on the walls and available for the public to see and buy.
A Global Stage for Baltimore Artists
Similarly, Good Neighbor has spent six years becoming a cultural living room, shining a light on up-and-coming Baltimore. Owners Shawn Chopra and Anne Morgan launched it with a deceptively simple question: What was Baltimore missing? The answer was a place that held clothing, home goods, food, and genuine communities under one roof, curated with real intention. “It was a combination of all the things I was into,” Chopra says.
Good Neighbor’s annual Design Camp brings designers and creatives from around the world to Baltimore each fall for an immersive gathering. Chopra is deliberate about accessibility. “I want people to feel like you don’t have to be in the art world to come to an art event,” he says. On what makes Baltimore’s creative scene different from anywhere else: “I think it’s authentic. People aren’t making stuff here to be seen. You can afford to live here for the most part; you could make art truly because you want to make it.”
A hub for contemporary art in Baltimore, School 33 Art Center features rotating exhibits, a members’ gallery, and special events throughout the year. Currently Taha Heydari’s (pictured) works are on view.
Raunjiba is Scott Tucker’s original creative headquarters in Locust Point, where Tucker and his wife, Melody, work side by side. His studio is devoted to furniture, design, and painting; hers to jewelry, clothing, and various mixed works. Together, they are a living portrait of what draws creative people to Baltimore—and keeps them here.
Current Space, owned by Julianne Hamilton and Michael Benevento (pictured), is an artist-run studio with a verdant garden bar that hosts movie screenings, fashion shows, DJ nights, and concerts. Inside is a gallery space and artist studios.
Baltimore’s Art Scene
Which brings us back to Cara Ober and BmoreArt, the print journal, now 21 issues deep and still the most reliable guide to what’s happening in the city. Ober has grown the brand into a gallery, a book imprint, and a calendar of events.
She has seen enough cycles to be clear-eyed about what sustains a creative scene versus what just looks like one. “Part of the writing we do is around how to avoid organizations having to shut down,” she says, “how to actually nurture and support the people putting their time and energy into galleries, third spaces, and cool projects.”
The artists and culture-keepers who make Baltimore what it is do it themselves, and they make a way—even when it appears there is no way. The creative economy here is held together by a community of care: It’s authentic, it’s real, and it’s growing through passionate local efforts.