MICA Campus Closed Starting at 6 pm Saturday, January 24 through Monday, January 26.
Read the full announcement here.
MICA’s Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS) Presents Its 2026 Exhibition Celebrating and Reflecting on 200 Years of MICA and the Intertwined History with Baltimore.
January 29, 2026 – March 8, 2026
Decker Gallery, Fox Building
1303 W Mount Royal Ave
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 29, 5:00 - 8:00 pm.
The evening will include an opening performance at 6:30 pm in the Brown Center Atrium. This live musical performance and sculptural work will explore time, breath, and desire, created in collaboration between MICA and Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute.
Exhibition Hours: Monday–Sunday, 10:00 AM–5:00 PM. Admission is free and open to the public.
Please note that on weekends, visitors must be accompanied by a MICA community member with a valid MICA ID to gain access to the buildings.
From January 29 through March 8, 2026, the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)’s Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS) presents its 2026 exhibition, Rooted/Growing, at MICA’s Decker Gallery in the Fox Building, located at 1303 W. Mount Royal Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland. Celebrating two centuries of creativity, the exhibition honors the intertwined histories of MICA and the city of Baltimore, a relationship shaped by resilience and mutual transformation. The exhibition features works across a diverse range of media—painting, photography, print, collage, graphics, mixed media installation, video, and performance—by Devin Allen, REED Bmore, Phaan Howng, Joyce J. Scott, Ernest Shaw, Bria Sterling-Wilson, Jordan Tierney, René Treviño, Wickerham & Lomax, and Jen White-Johnson.
Curated by thirteen EDS students, Rooted/Growing brings together artists, creatives, and community leaders in a vivid dialogue of the past, present, and future of MICA and the greater Baltimore community. The exhibition reflects on how MICA has long acted as a launchpad for creatives, providing students the support and opportunity to plant their practice, where the seeds of their work take root and thrive. At the same time, it recognizes Baltimore as a hub for makers and movers of all kinds, from sculpture to street art and everything in between—a beacon for students looking to develop their practice. Through the exhibition and its public programs, viewers are invited to reflect on MICA’s legacy and continue conversations about what it means to learn, create, and sustain art in Baltimore today. Each aspect of the exhibition connects viewers to these histories not as static memories, but as cross-pollinations and active collaborations that span generations and communities. In doing so, EDS illuminates the memories, stories, and histories of all people who have contributed to the shared experience of the college and all of those to come.
Devin Allen is a Baltimore-based photographer, photojournalist, and activist. He is most notably known for capturing scenes and portraits at protests as well as highlighting Baltimore locals’ daily life and culture. Allen gained national recognition when his photograph of the Baltimore Uprising was published on the cover of TIME magazine in 2015, making him the third amateur photographer to achieve this milestone.
Graduated from MICA with a BFA in Environmental Design, REED Bmore is a contemporary wire sculpture artist based in Baltimore. His public wire sculptures, which can be seen around the city of Baltimore, hanging from street lamps or traffic lights, turns the city into a playground for installation. REED Bmore often uses pop culture references or fun designs to comment on current events or just bring positivity to the city of Baltimore.
Phaan Howng is a Taiwanese American artist whose paintings and installations explore the uneasy intimacy between humans and the plant world. Her work traces histories of cultivation, control, and extraction, weaving together ethnobotany, ecological research, and speculative storytelling. Howng received her MFA from the Mt. Royal School of Art at MICA in 2015 and lives and works in Baltimore.
Joyce J. Scott is a prolific multi-media artist, sculptor, jeweler, printmaker, performance artist, and educator based in Baltimore, who earned a BFA from MICA in 1970 and an MFA from the Instituto Allende in Mexico. Scott is most well known for her glass blown sculptures and hand beaded tapestries. In her practice she often highlights current societal issues such as racism, sexism, violence and injustice, while intertwining ideas of beauty, nature, and healing.
Ernest Shaw Jr. is a painter and muralist. Through his work, he emphasizes the humanity of both subject and viewer by capturing the everyday experiences of African Americans living in a society that diminishes their worth. As a native of West Baltimore, Shaw has worked as an educator in the Baltimore City Public School System for over 20 years. He has also taught at Baltimore City Community College, Coppin State University, MICA, Towson State University, and Johns Hopkins University.
Bria Sterling-Wilson is a Baltimore-based collagist and photographer whose work explores the Black experience through found imagery across various mediums and family archives. Her work not only tells a story but highlights the histories of black women and their day-to-day lives in Baltimore. Other themes found in her work include gender roles, racism, representation, cultural appropriation, stereotypes, and intersectional identities.
Jordan Tierney is a Baltimore-based multidisciplinary artist, educator, and received BFA from MICA in 1985. Self-described Symbiocene Epoch Shaman, her work turns the discarded and the organic into poetic assemblages. Through her practice of “urban beachcombing”—collecting debris from Baltimore’s waterways and forests—Tierney transforms overlooked materials into altars of reverence and renewal. These acts of recovery model a spiritual and material practice of repair and reconnection with oneself and the natural world.
René Treviño is a Baltimore-based Mexican-American artist who earned an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from MICA in 2005. His Multidisciplinary work focuses on the connection between his queer identity and Mexican heritage, creating visuals that intersect past and present histories. Treviño often draws on the imagery of Ancient Aztec and Mayan culture, combining it coupled with a vibrant bold display that is attributed to the pride of his sexuality and identity.
Wickerham & Lomax are collaborative Baltimore-based artists. Both graduated from MICA in ‘09 as painting BFA. The two painting majors turned to digital and 3D installations shortly after graduating and have worked together since. Their collaborative interests are subcultures, marginality, and connectivity as a way to complicate mainstream tropes and to show how the individual functions among the group.
Jen White-Johnson is an artist, designer, educator, and activist, whose work serves as a call to action for creators and educators to recognize and eliminate ableism from creative spaces. Her work is a rejection of silence, serving to empower change and encourage conversations about acceptance. As a Disabled, Afro-Latina artist, and as the mother of an Autistic child, Jen White-Johnson’s art is rooted in how Black Neurodivergent children are seen.
EDS Cohort 2025–2026: Izekiel Awen, Theo Addotta, Youngsoo Bae, Kalen Chowdhury, Khedvah Edwards, Deesha Lapasia, Vi Ngo, Citlali Patino, Anthony Plessl, Hannah Roberts, Archer Senft, Zitang Xu, YooRa Yoo
EDS Instructor: Joo Yun Lee, History of Art, Design, and Visual Culture
MICA’s EDS is the capstone course for the undergraduate Curatorial Studies Minor, offered by the Department of History of Art, Design, and Visual Culture, and created in 1997 by then-MICA Curator-in-Residence and founder of the Curatorial Practice MFA, George Ciscle. Through this year-long, hands-on, real-world curatorial project, students learn and experience the curatorial process by engaging in the research, planning, and production of a major exhibition. Students serve as curators, designers, and educators as they develop and implement the exhibition.
Rooted/Growing and its related programs are made possible by the generous support of Friends of EDS.
Founded in 1826, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), which celebrates its bicentennial in 2026, is the nation’s oldest, independent, continuous degree-granting college of art and design. Located in Baltimore City, MICA is deeply connected to the local and regional community. It is a leading contributor to the creative economy and a top producer of nationally and internationally recognized professional artists and designers.
with Yoonjung Lee & Michelle Shengyu Li
with Unique Robinson
with Jen White Johnson
Join the festivities as MICA honors its 200-year history, recognizes its present success, and looks forward to a bright future. Throughout 2026, the College will be sharing community stories and announcing one-of-a-kind events on campus, in Baltimore, and beyond.
