BmoreArt’s Picks: March 29 - April 4

Cody Gallery Presents: Dave Eassa and Thomas James in Conversation
Thursday, March 31 • 6-7pm
@ Cody Gallery

On the event of his solo-exhibition at Cody Gallery, Dave Eassa speaks with Curator Thomas James about their respective cultural practices and intersections with neighborhood setting up and creative manufacturing. The conversation will investigate the evolution of Eassa’s artistic observe and the journey towards his present-day exhibition as very well as James’ job in facilitating artist generation and interactions.

About the Speakers:

Dave Eassa (b. 1991) is a visible artist and cultural employee residing and performing in Baltimore, MD. His paintings and sculpture make it possible for the viewer room for personal reflection and motivate a broader search outward at the shared human working experience. He has exhibited nationally in solo and team exhibitions at institutions and galleries like The Shed Area in Baltimore, MD and Place Gallery Portland, ME, Small Berlin, Philadelphia, PA, Very good Mom Gallery, Oakland, CA, Signal, Brooklyn, NY, LVL3 Chicago, IL, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY, and Reh Kunst, Berlin, Germany amid some others. His operate has been posted in New American Paintings and The Pinch Journal. He has been awarded grants from the Maryland Point out Arts Council and was Rubys Artist Grantee, Robert W. Deutsch Basis in 2021. His community sculpture is on look at in Johnson Town, Tennessee, as perfectly as the Coldstream Homestead Montebello Sculpture Park and the Harwood Group Yard, both of those in Baltimore, MD. He has been an artist in home at Room Gallery in Portland, ME and ACRE in Steuben, WI and most lately was an artist in residence at 7Hills in Amman, Jordan all through the summer season of 2021.

He was an Open Modern society Institute Baltimore Community Fellow from 2015 via 2017 in which he started Totally free Place, a method which brings the arts to the Maryland Prison technique, educating artwork to men and women’s correctional amenities. He has gained grants from the Baltimore Workplace of Marketing and the Arts, the Modern, the Gutierrez Memorial Fund, and the Maryland Condition Arts Council to assist Free of charge Area. He serves on the Board of Advisors for Baltimore Youth Arts, and the Packages Committee for the Baltimore Museum of Industry. He at present is the Director of Public Engagement at the Baltimore Museum of Art doing the job on a array of initiatives that obstacle and concern what it implies to be a museum in current working day Baltimore. Through this he established the BMA Lexington Market place, a branch of the Baltimore Museum of Artwork in Lexington Current market, the nation’s oldest continually working general public current market. In 2018, he was chosen as a person of 50 Youthful Cultural Innovators from across the globe for the YCI Fellowship at the Salzburg International Seminar in Salzburg, Austria. Above the very last 12 months, he has been serving as a Salzburg World Fellow as portion of the a short while ago launched World Improvements on Youth Violence, Protection, and Justice cross-national collaboration.

Thomas F. James (b. 1994) is a Washington, DC born, Prince George’s County, MD raised curator at present based mostly in Baltimore, MD. The focal component of his perform is to communicate strategies through exhibitions concentrating on storytelling. By approaching his curatorial apply as a narrator, he is able to emphasize the cultural backgrounds and nuances inside artists’ works. This is completed in the hopes to present viewers with extra context and a holistic scope of what artists are presenting. He finds storytelling essential to communicating grander ideas that build approachable, mental discussions.

From 2018-2022 Thomas ran 2 galleries in Baltimore, MD – Resourceful Alliance and Eubie Blake Cultural Middle. He is now the Executive Director of The Final Vacation resort Artist Retreat, as well as continuing his curatorial exercise and serving on several boards and assignments for distinctive sectors of the arts ecosystem.

James received his Bachelor’s diploma from Frostburg Point out College. He has guest curated various exhibitions at establishments which include The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC Band of Vice Gallery, Los Angeles, CA George Washington University’s ArtReach Gallery, Washington, DC Anne Arundel Local community College, Arnold, MD and Maryland Hall for the Resourceful Arts, Annapolis, MD. He has been a guide facilitator and/or panelist at institutions which includes Joshua Johnson Council, Baltimore Museum of Artwork, Reginald F. Lewis Museum, College of Maryland Baltimore County, and Bloomberg Arts. He has served as a visitor juror and/or critic at institutions which include B&O Railroad Museum, Maryland Institute Faculty of Art, University of Maryland Higher education Park, Maryland Federation of Artwork, Residency Endless, VisArts, Goucher School, and Towson College. James has spearheaded unique jobs with corporations these types of as Vans, Kaiser Permanente, and Munger, Tolles & Olsen LLP.