Your trip to the world?s tallest pentagonal building will be more inspiring than usual, if you go during Black History Month.
All 25 artworks ? paintings, sculptures, digital photography and mixed media ? on display at the World Trade Center?s Top of the World Observation Level reflect or were inspired by black culture.
“What this exhibit really does is show that art is accessible and anyone can appreciate, see and make art,” said Curator Desmond Beach. “Art is not just something we go to a museum to look at or the works of the Great Masters of Renaissance. The guy next door who works 9 to 5 is also an artist and has something to contribute.”
All of the 14 classical or innovative artists Beach selected “bring to life the experience of our ancestors? struggle and things we face today.”
“Art has the ability to speak what wecan?t say. It starts conversations that can be rich and meaningful,” said Beach.
Exhibiting artist Belle Massey depicts a strong and sensual woman in “I am dark but comely.”
In the oil on canvas, Massey purposefully hides her subject?s eyes.
“I didn?t want to depict anyone in particular on purpose so all viewers could identify with it,” said Massey, who works at Johns Hopkins Medicine Fund during the day and paints during the evening.
“A lot of people associate being dark with not being beautiful,” she explained. “This piece leads the viewer to see being dark is beautiful.”
As a born-again Christian, Massey finds artistic inspiration in the word of God, she said. “I paint Bible stories, but often, I paint a moment in the Bible or studying the Word like in “Study to Show Thyself.? ”
Black History Month is “a time to reflect on all the things we?ve overcome in history and what?s in front of us now that we need to accomplish,” said Shawn James of Baltimore Promotions and the Arts, who helped arrange the show. “Baltimore is rich in culture and black history. Those two things are really synonymous.”
IF YOU GO
Black History Month Art Exhibition
» Where: World Trade Center, Top of the World Observation Level, 401 E. Pratt St., Baltimore
» When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday until Feb. 29
» Cost: $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $3 for children
» Info: 410-837-8439
