Makers Among Us
On exhibit June 11 – August 31, 2020
Makers Among Us is a group exhibit featuring young, emerging visual artists living within the Sandy Spring community. The show highlights the freedom, imperfections, creativity, and unique perspectives of artists who may not have experience and/or formal training. This exhibition provides a platform for contemporary artists who have had limited opportunity to share their work with the public, and a space for the community to discover new talent and perspectives.
Those interested in participating in this exhibit should fill out the online application.
About the Curator: Gabi Mendick is a self-taught artist who finds that her lack of formal training gives her greater freedom to explore and express her ideas and to experiment with a wide variety of media. She believes art and humor are accessible vehicles to connect with each other; ways to express opinions and emotions that are honest but thoughtful and that can open considerate debate and discussion. Ultimately, Gabi sees art as the best way to begin to understand the most insignificant and the most significant similarities and differences between us. As a self-taught artist, Gabi wanted to give other artists that may have a lack of formal training a platform to express themselves. This is how Makers Among Us was born.
Inspired by Malcolm: A Passion for Shino
June 10, 2021 – September 5, 2021
Inspired by Malcolm: A Passion for Shino remembers and honors the memory of Malcolm Davis, a man who influenced and inspired so many to listen and believe their inner hearts. After serving as a minister for twenty years, Davis’s life changed when he took his first ceramics class in 1973. But the spirit of ministering never left him. After perfecting a carbon-trapping Shino glaze, he took the unusual step of publishing the formula for public use. Recognized for his artistry and passion, Davis traveled widely teaching others about pottery. This became his new ministry.
This exhibit brings together Malcolm’s friends, family, and artists to focus on the inner question of why someone devotes themselves to something – in this case, clay.
Inspired by Malcolm: A Passion for Shino is supported in part by Judith Davis, Baltimore Clayworks, District Clay and Montgomery Potters.
Uncovering Bethesda’s River Road African Community: Moses Cemetery and Macedonia Baptist Church
On Exhibit: September 4 – November 22, 2020
Opening Reception: Sunday, September 20, 2020
Closing Reception: Sunday, November 15, 2020
Organized by the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition (BACC) and the Macedonia Baptist Church, this exhibition explores the history and destruction of a once thriving African and African American community adjoining River Road in Bethesda, Maryland. By the late 1700s, the establishment of plantations brought forced migration of Africans to Montgomery County. Some Africans intermarried with the original residents – members of the Piscataway Nation. Post-Civil War the area evolved into a thriving neighborhood of free African men and women until displacement in the 1960s. The Macedonia Baptist Church was a center of this community. The Moses Cemetery contains burials from Bethesda’s first generation of freed Africans, continuing through the late 1930s, and it was also likely to have been used for burials of people locally enslaved before the Civil War. In the 1960s the cemetery was desecrated and became a parking lot and high-rise building. Controversial redevelopment is planned for the site. Today, the Macedonia Baptist Church, which is celebrating its 100-year anniversary, is the lone survivor of this community.
The exhibition includes historic documents, artifacts, video, and artworks that examine and celebrate the history of this area. As James Baldwin said, “American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.”
The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition’s mission is to:
- Seek justice and reparations for past injustices, and sanctification of a final resting place for kidnapped Africans and their descendants.
- To uncover their lost history and to celebrate these individuals, their accomplishments and the once-thriving African community they established in Bethesda within 5 years of Emancipation.
Bio of Macedonia Baptist Church by Reverend Segun Adedayo
For a century, the Macedonia Baptist Church has stood as a testament to God’s preserving power. The building is a monument ordained by God in remembrance to the vibrant community of African Americans who lived in the River Road area of Bethesda, Maryland. The Church under the leadership of Pastor Adebayo has engaged in a long struggle to restore dignity and honor to our deceased ancestors buried in the now desecrated Moses Cemetery. In addition to our founding families and their descendants, faithful Christians from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Barbados, Jamaica, Nigeria, St. Vincent, Swaziland, and Trinidad and Tobago have cast their lot with Macedonia over the years. We have come this far by faith, leaning on the everlasting arm. Prayers have sustained us this far and prayers will keep us!
Image: Detail of Moses Cemetery (54 x 60) by Gail Rebhan