Baltimore Museum of Art
By Ally Basile, Liz Creed, Meagan Mallen, Rose, Margaret George
Looking for something fun and cheap to do in Baltimore? The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) is an exciting, educational and free way to spend your day. Located just a few short blocks from Loyola University's campus, this cultural center is open to all who wish to learn about different areas of art.
The BMA was
founded in 1914 with a single painting, and is now home to over 90,000 works of 19thcentury, modern and contemporary art from all over the world. In addition, the BMA hosts numerous events and programs throughout the year and presents a large array of vibrant exhibitions.
A new exhibition at the museum is called "Print by Print: Series from Durer to Lichtenstein." This large-scale feature contains nearly 30 series of prints and more than 350 images. Artists highlighted in the exhibit include Picasso, Canaletto, Lichtenstein, and many more. Print by Print will be running until March 15, 2012.
The newest exhibition to open in the museum is titled "Embroidered Treasures: Textiles from Central Asia." This exhibition includes colorful textiles from Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Some of these elaborate textiles in this exhibit include prayer mats, wedding canopies, and tapestries. It will be displayed until May 13, 2012. 
An ongoing exhibition that is popular among museum staff and patrons is the famous Cone Collection. The two Cone sisters, Claribel and Etta, donated the items displayed in this exhibit in 1949, upon Etta's death. It is a collection of Matisse, Picasso, Pissarro, Courbet, and Degas works. "I didn't know nothing about the Cone sisters until I started working here," says a security guard from the museum. "[They have] a big collection of Matisse." Like the guard, many people are probably unfamiliar with the Cone sisters prior to visiting the BMA.
The museum is open Wednesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The BMA offers various free guided tours, group tours, audio tours, and cell phone tours. For more information about how you can spend your day at the BMA, visit www.artbma.org.
