Author: The Peale

The Peale is based in the first museum to be purpose-built in the United States, designed by architect Robert Cary Long Sr. and opened by artist Rembrandt Peale in 1814. It is a building of many firsts, and today in the creative spirit of its founder is relaunching as an innovative Center to celebrate the unique history of Baltimore, its people and their buildings through the authentic stories of the City. Currently under renovation, the Peale is open for occasional hardhat tours, and all of its programs are available online with live captioning and ASL interpretation.

Blues/Lamentations for George Perry Floyd, Oct 14, 1973-May 25, 2020

From Mama Linda’s Chapbook, 29 June 2020

O MY LORD!
Did you see what
They did to George Floyd?

O MY LORD!
Did you see what
They did to George Floyd?
They put pressure on his neck
With their knee
Poor George went on to Calvary.

O MY LORD!
Did you see what
They did to George Floyd?

PAIN & TRAUMA!!!
George called for his
Angel Mama.

PAIN & TRAUMA!!!
George called for his
Angel Mama.
She opened up her arms
“No more hurt! No more harm.”

O MY LORD!
Did you see what
They did to George Floyd?

People came together & marched.
They shouted & they torched.

People came together & marched.
They shouted & they torched.

“NO JUSTICE! NO PEACE!
STOP THE SYSTEM OF
RACIST POLICE.”

O MY LORD!
Did you see what
They did to George Floyd?

They rallying cry was hurled
All over the world.

The rallying cry was hurled
All over this world.
Thousands gathered in
Cities & towns,
And some statues
Came tumbling down.

O MY LORD!
Did you see what
They did to George Floyd?

SOMEHOW! SOMEWAY!
WE SHALL OVERCOME SOMEDAY?

SOMEHOW! SOMEWAY!
WE SHALL OVERCOME SOMEDAY?
A change has got to come
From the heart,
Or this country will fall apart.

O MY LORD!
Did you see what
They did to George Floyd?

– Mama Linda
Copyright 2020 by Linda Goss

> Find a complete interview with Mama Linda about the creation of this poem

Introducing Mama Linda’s Chapbook

Mama Linda holds up a vintage photo.
Photo by Glenn Ricci, 2018.

“Ring A ling Ling! My bells are ringing.

“Well O Well Well,”  My Heart is singing.

Welcome To Mama Linda’s Chapbook.  Twice a month, I will share a poem with you.  May & June have been emotional, frightening, and heart-wrenching months for me. The Coronavirus is infecting people and claiming human lives from all walks of life. Human beings from all over the world are walking in protest exercising their right to proclaim that “BLACK LIVES MATTER.”  People are speaking out from behind their masks.  They have taken to the streets.  George Floyd was killed on May 25th, Memorial Day. June 17th was the 5th anniversary of the massacre of 9 Black people at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. Six Black men have been founding hanging from trees in different locations in 4 States.

Juneteenth on June 19th represents the day Black people in Texas were told about the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865.  Since then, 49 States including DC have declared Juneteenth a State Celebration. Every year the third Sunday in June is designated as FATHER’S DAY. I didn’t buy a Father’s Day for my husband, Clay or our son, Jamaal. Instead,  I wrote this poem for them and all Black Men of America.

ASANTE SANA!  Thank you.

Peace & Blessings, Mama Linda

Black Men of America
A Father’s Day Card

Oh Black Men of America!
I pray every day that the Creator continues to show you the way.
Show you the light as you continue to fight for equal rights.
Your Ancestral Mothers and Fathers were Stolen
Forced to work and toil
On stolen land
That was not your native soil.
You have fought in wars for the USA.
The American Revolutionary War—you were there.
The War of 1812—you were there
The Civil War—you were there.
The Spanish American War—you were there
World War I—you were there.
World War II—you were there.
The Korean War—you were there.
The Vietnam War—you were there.
The Persian Gulf War—you were there.
The War in Iraq—you were there.
The War in Afghanistan—you are still there, yet
You are whipped, bruised, beaten, burned, raped, lynched, shot, stabbed and wrongly incarcerated—bodies spreading across the American landscape EVERYWHERE!
Where are the statues that represent your bravery?
Where are the statues that represent your endurance?
Where are the statues that represent your protest?
You have tried to do your best, yet
Police brutality is a reality.
Many of you are police officers, many of you are fire fighters.
You have proven over, and over again your allegiance to the USA
And yet you cannot have a say.
You cannot kneel quietly and protest, yet
A white police officer can kneel on your neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
I have lost the rhyme to this poem.
I cannot unsee what I have seen.
I cannot protect the children from what they are seeing and hearing.
When my father died They placed the American flag in Momma’s lap at his gravesite
Yet over and over again this country takes away the right for Black men to give their insight.
The USA needs Black men to defend this country, but what about the fight against bigotry.
It doesn’t matter whether or not some Black men are scholars and have PhDs.
It doesn’t matter if they become the President of the USA.
They are still maligned and scorned.
They are still denied the right to be reborn.
Oh Black Men of America!
When will you feel that life, liberty and happiness apply to you?
When will you truly be a part of the red, the white and the blue?

Mama Linda Goss
Copyright © 2020 by Linda Goss

 

Jeffrey Kent’s Black Lives Matter paintings on the front of the Peale

On June 7, 2020, Baltimore-based artist Jeffrey Kent, along with friends and family, installed his latest work on the front of the Peale building: two large Black Lives Matter banners. Jeffrey’s artwork is conceptual, informed by the historical and the personal, inextricably linked. His passionate investigation of issues related to the political and economic foundations of freedom and the role of responsible citizenship is the thread connecting all of Kent’s collections. We now find this same thread connecting different communities and peoples in this nation, all with the same call, simply: Black. Lives. Matter.

The artists Chris Wilson (left) and Jeffrey Kent (right) with one of Kent’s “Black Lives Matters” paintings at the Peale.
A white man holds a ladder for a black man who is installing a large "Black Lives Matter" painting on a boarded up window.
Titus Bicknell holds the ladder for the artist Jeffrey Kent as he installs one of his “Black Lives Matters” paintings at the Peale.

Artist’s Statement

> Listen to Jeffrey talk about his work in an interview by Noreen Smith

These paintings are originally painted to simply express the message, “Black Lives Matters.” After beginning the paintings, it became much more. Initially important was that I used materials that would withstand external exposure. Exterior paint in tar black applied to a painter’s drop cloth heavily enough to drench the fabric so that the black bled through to the back of the fabric provides the foundation of the artworks. The metaphor of a black foundation, as the United States was founded on the backs of enslaved and freed black labor and intellect, continues through to the starkly white letters almost floated on top of the black canvas, applied from the tube. The white letters float above and are supported by the black foundation: a reminder that anti-racism work impacts us all, and whose souls are at stake.

–Jeffrey Kent

We are listening.

The Peale is a home for Baltimore stories and aims to be a safe space for the voices of the city’s diverse communities to be heard. As the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “a riot is the voices of the unheard.” It is the Peale’s mission to listen to and amplify the voices of the unheard, so that Baltimore’s soundtrack is inclusive and represents the city’s full diversity.

In this time of pandemic we are temporarily unable to serve as a physical platform for sharing Baltimore’s stories, but we continue to help the city’s storytellers be heard online and across the digital divide as well. Today – and every day – if you have an authentic Baltimore story to tell, we are here to help you share it. You can record your story and hear others’ via our iPhone app, website and Storytelling Hotline: 1-833-TEL-STRY (833-835-7879).

Our staff photographer and storytelling ambassador, Daisy Brown, is recording the voices and portraits of people she encounters around Baltimore during the pandemic; if you see her out and about in your community, she’d love to hear from you. You can also share your story, and we’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can help amplify Baltimore’s voices right now.

This #GivingTuesday, we’re helping Baltimore artists, storytellers, and creators do what they do best . . . keep on creating!

Daisy Brown, 2020.

One fine Sunday two years ago, Baltimore resident Daisy Brown happened upon the Peale after visiting the Farmers’ Market on Holliday Street. She fell in love with the place, and we fell in love with her! Today Daisy is the Peale’s staff photographer, and has recently started the “Stoop Shoots” program shooting portraits of her neighbors and East Baltimore residents from a safe social distance while taking her dog on daily walks. She’s also showing them how they can record their stories during the pandemic – even if they don’t have internet access at home – so we can share them with you and help people everywhere know Baltimore as the storied city it is!

Your gift to the Baltimore Stories Fund helps Daisy and the Peale ensure that all the voices of our communities are heard and preserved in this historic time. This community fund is designed to provide micro-grants, capacity-building, and production support to help creators like Daisy share authentic Baltimore stories.

  • $50 Sponsors one year of Peale promotional and capacity-building support for a Baltimore storyteller
  • $250 Provides a stipend to a storyteller for producing a Baltimore story
  • $500 Publishes one complete Baltimore story across 6 or more digital platforms

Got an idea for a new program at the Peale? We want to hear from you!

G300 t-shirts and photographs by Daisy Brown for sale!

Now you can get G300 t-shirts and Daisy Brown’s photos of the “G300 Squeegee Boys” from the filming of By Any Means Necessary: Stories of Survival online!

T-shirts

Logo of the "G300 Squeegee Boys": white text on a black background reads "Support your Baltimore Squeegee Squad" with a fist holding a squeegee in silhouette. The image resembles a fist holding a hammer from the tradition of Marxist and labor logos.

 

 

Unisex black t-shirts in a range of sizes, $20
(Link goes to direct purchase from the G300’s online sales page.)

Photos

Order large (20″x30″) or small (11″x14″) photographs by Daisy Brown below. Proceeds excluding shipping costs are shared 50/50 between the photographer and the G300.

N.B. delivery by mail is available only for the smaller size prints. Large prints can be picked up from the Peale at Carroll Mansion: 800 E. Lombard St., Baltimore, MD 21202 by appointment only. Email us to make arrangements: info@old.thepealecenter.org

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G300 photo small 11″x14″ (with shipping)

Select photo:


G300 photo small 11″x14″ (pick-up only)

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G300 photo large 20″x30″ (pick-up only)

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Night of Light Wednesday, April 24 5:30-8:30

Rembrandt Peale’s 1816 “Ring of Fire” reinterpreted for the 21st century by light artist Sean Michael Kenny at the Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture

Ceremonial lighting Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 5:30-8:30 p.m.

Kenny’s “Ring of Fire” will be inaugurated at a special open house

FREE, but RSVP encouraged: http://bit.ly/Peale24April2019

RSVP: http://bit.ly/Peale24April2019

Web: https://old.thepealecenter.org/events/night-of-light

Sean Kenny’s “Ring of Fire” under construction

The Night of Light will also include:

  • Demonstrations of Rembrandt Peale’s Magic Ring of Fire, invented in 1816
  • ILLUMINATED Exhibition on the history and safety of gas & light in Baltimore and beyond…
  • Time Travel Tours to Rembrandt Peale’s study in 1819
  • Performances & Presentations from local artists and experts
  • ‘historically hysterical’ exhibition by Maryland Institute College of Art’s (MICA) Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS)

Light artist Sean Michael Kenny (SMKLight) is collaborating with the Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture to help people “see Baltimore in a new light” by illuminating Baltimore’s 19th origins as “Light City” and bringing greater visibility to the city’s diverse cultural stories and voices today. Kenny’s latest work for the front porch of the historic Peale Museum building on Holliday Street in downtown Baltimore reimagines the “Magic Ring of Fire” gaslights that Rembrandt Peale first demonstrated in his museum in 1816. The new technology so enthralled audiences of the day that Peale and his partners won the contract to supply gas streetlights throughout the city of Baltimore, making it the first city in America to be lit by gas and earning it the nickname, “Light City.” The Baltimore Gas Light Company that Peale founded is now known as Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), an Exelon company and, at 202 years old, one of the oldest continually-operating companies in the world.

A metal ring rests on a table in a workshop.  Inspired by Peale’s gaslight innovations, the “Ring of Fire” artwork by Sean Michael Kenny aims to capture the curiosity and wonder that was first experienced by viewers marveling at the original chandeliers that illuminated the Peale Museum more than 200 years ago. Using contemporary green and bird-friendly LED technology, Kenny’s modern chandelier also plays authentic Baltimore stories from the Peale Center’s Be Here: Baltimore program, turning the historic museum into a “talking building” that helps new narratives of the city be heard. Kenny’s interpretation of “Ring of Fire” begins with a metal rim, illuminated by individual LED lights flanking both the inside and outside to echo the openings in the original hoop where Peale’s “pearls” of gas light burned. Finally, the work features a speaker that plays stories of the city told by the people who know it best, as well as stories from the history of the Peale and its many innovations as the first purpose-built museum in the U.S., as the birthplace of BGE, as Baltimore’s first City Hall, and as the first public school to offer a secondary school education to African Americans in the state of Maryland.

About Sean Michael Kenny

As a light artist, Sean Michael Kenny utilizes various optics to create multi-dimensional work which is described as “The Modality,” referring to a particular mode in which something is expressed or experienced. This expression creates a new universe as light dances throughout the space, seemingly out of nowhere, extracting what is unseen and making it visible. Kenny’s work was featured in Light City’s 2018 Neighborhood Lights for the Bromo Arts District at the iconic Bromo Seltzer Tower. He will also display his “Trinity – Light Chimes” project at Burning Man 2019 at the Whiskey and Dust camp. Learn more at http://www.smklight.com/

About the Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture

In 1816, Rembrandt Peale began illuminating his Baltimore museum’s galleries with gaslight chandeliers. Up to 100 “gems of light” burned in a metal circle suspended overhead and fueled by gas made from burning pitch. The new technology both enabled Peale to keep his doors open at night, attracting more visitors and revenue after dark, and also served as an attraction itself. People had never seen such bright interior lights before. Those who could not afford the price of admission gathered outside to gawk at the brilliance of the light spilling out of the windows. Excitement about Peale’s “Magic Ring of Fire” led to his founding the Baltimore Gas Company, which by 1817 had begun installing gas street lights throughout the city. Thanks to Peale’s pioneering efforts, Baltimore was the first city in the U.S., and among the first in the world, to be lit by gas, earning it the nickname, “Light City.” The company Peale founded is now known as BGE, one of the oldest continuously-operating companies in the world.

Currently renovating the historic Peale museum building, the mission of the Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture is to help people see Baltimore in a new light by working with the city’s culture keepers and storytellers to create a more inclusive cultural record of the city. To date, more than 1400 authentic stories of the city have been recorded and shared on a range of free and open platforms, including the “Be Here Stories” app and live storytelling programs at the Peale Center and other partner sites around the city. With these efforts, the Peale aims to help change the narrative about Baltimore and enable it to become known and appreciated worldwide for its rich history and the full range of its diverse people and places today.

Donate your skills & gently-used items to the Peale

Your skills and gently-used items can make a big difference at the Peale!

Here is our wishlist:

Your skills and time:

  • BY 28 SEPT: Simple painting of walls in two galleries Done!
  • Ongoing: Volunteer time to help out during the Peale’s opening hours, greeting the public and giving tours.

New and gently-used items:

  • A microwave oven – generously donated by SM+P Architects!
  • A printer and printer cartridges
  • A computer capable of running browser-based programs
  • iPads and/or old iPhones
  • 2 overhead projectors
  • Wooden school desks and chairs
  • A small safe
  • Rugs, 9×11′ and smaller, to help with sound dampening
  • Chairs, benches, and sofas for gallery seating and other areas

Can you help? Let us know – and thank you!

This weekend only: Buy One, Get One Free tickets to the Institute of Visionary History!

Episode 5: 
She Who Sees and Hears the Cries of the World
and
Episode 6: A Horse by the Tail in the Night

Nov 29–Dec 2 & Dec 8 TIMED TICKETS code BOGO

 

Discovered in the basement beneath The Peale Center, the Archives of the Deep Now are the records of a centuries-old secret society calling themselves The Institute of Visionary History. The Institute believed the building to be a kind of “thin place” where one can more easily transcend our present reality and contact other planes, places, and times. Their experiments combined scientific inquiry and visionary sight to uncover histories heretofore untold.

Episode Five: This experiment was originally conducted in 1836, but was so disastrous the results were suppressed for almost 200 years…until an anonymous informant gave us new information in an effort to answer the question: “How can one escape a curse?” (Actualized by Elizabeth Ung.)

Episode Six: Two obscure aristocrats are fated to dine together indefinitely over the course of an evening that will not cease. Cursed with abundance, they chew away the hours, their food and drink complemented with the bitter fruits of their recollections; spiced with regret and desire, mellowed with well-worn stories. Any attempt to exhaust the inexhaustible is doomed to fail. But like a finely cured meat there is pleasure to be had in consuming the decay and even more in sharing it with whom you may. Extended by popular demand to Dec 8 only!

More info…