Kalique Crosby ’07 (Animation BFA) uses spray paint to bring history to the streets of our nation’s capital. The artist — whose vibrant murals celebrate both Black trailblazers and everyday experiences of the local community — says his work will reach more people than history books.

Among Crosby’s murals are those honoring Washington DC’s go-go scene (go-go was recently named the official music of the District) and civil rights activist Dorothy Height, as well as Black abolitionist John M. Langston in nearby Arlington, VA. As part of his process, the artist researches his subjects not only to learn their stories, but to discover their relevance to the local community.

For more information, continue reading at The Washington Post or watch the video at NBC4 Washington. 

 

Deyane Moses ’19 ’21 (Photography BFA, Curatorial Practice MFA)’s first curatorial project — the Maryland Institute Black Archives (MIBA) — uncovered the erased history of MICA’s Black students. In putting the work together, Moses also began to document stories from the College’s current Black community, including students, faculty, staff, and alumni. As part of that effort, she also presented an on-campus exhibition, Blackives: A Celebration of Black History at MICA — the name incorporates Black lives and archives — and the impact of it reverberated across campus and prompted President Samuel Hoi to issue a letter apologizing for the College’s racist past.

Moses, who sees herself as curator and community builder, grew her work into Blackives, LLC, which provides historical research, archival service, and knowledge. Working with community partners in Baltimore, Blackives cultivates the untold narratives of the Black experience, with programming that brings people together to share their histories, strengthen their traditions, and connect present to past in ways that build stronger communities.

For more information, continue reading at BmoreArt. 

 

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the MICA Quilt Club became a social lifeline for the community both inside and outside of MICA.

Founded by Fiber Department faculty member Susie Brandt, the club stopped meeting during the College’s shift to online learning and work in Spring 2020. But by summer, the group was meeting online, and as the pandemic raged on members invited others — family and friends — so that the group grew to include 76 members, the youngest 10 and oldest 82.

With experts sewing alongside novices, the group learned together — about quilting and each other — and by 2022, created 15 works. Their results were used to support a number of organizations. The “Reginald F. Lewis Museum Story Quilt” not only chronicles stories related to the museum, it also raised funds for it — and became part of Quilting in the Age of the Pandemic, an on-campus exhibition where the group was able to meet in person for the first time.

For more information, continue reading at BmoreArt.