The Howard County
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VOL.13, NO.1
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Funky art museum’s new leader
JANUARY 2023
I N S I D E …
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Jenenne Whitfield, the new director of Baltimore’s American Visionary Art Museum, comes to the area from Detroit, where she and her husband converted a run-down street into an outdoor art project. Baltimore’s museum, located in Federal Hill, showcases the creative works of self-taught artists and emphasizes intuition and creativity.
AVAM receives more than 100,000 visitors a year, from art school students to nursery school students to politicians.
Director comes with experience Whitfield comes to Baltimore from her hometown of Detroit, where for 28 years she worked with and became president of what is known as the Heidelberg Project — an outdoors art environment on a rundown city street.
Founded by artist Tyree Guyton (whom Whitfield married in 2001), the project has drawn hundreds of thousands of yearly visitors, as well as high critical praise. “An artist had taken over an entire street of mostly abandoned buildings and transformed it into a giant work of art,” Whitfield said of the project. “Even the street was painted.”
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By Robert Friedman If you have ever asked, “What is the meaning of art and why should I care?” then Jenenne Whitfield, the new executive director of Baltimore’s popular American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM), has the answers for you. Whitfield believes that the creation and appreciation of art can lead to a fuller life. “The key for me,” Whitfield told the Beacon in a recent interview, “is the variety of ways that artistic expression can ignite the senses. Art for art’s sake, and art for the sake of humanity — both are important.” Whitfield took over as AVAM director in September, after a 27-year run by founding director Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, who has said of her successor: “Her personal passion for visionary art mirrors my own.” The museum displays art by untrained artists of varied backgrounds: ordinary people from all walks of life, from farmers and mechanics to the imprisoned and homeless. Located at the foot of Federal Hill, the AVAM complex consists of a striking museum building, plus sculpture gardens and an outdoor movie theater, as well as a former whisky warehouse converted to classroom space. AVAM is congressionally designated (thanks to Sen. Barbara Mikulski) as a national museum “dedicated to intuitive, selftaught artistry.” Since its founding 30 years ago, the museum has gained national attention from the likes of Oprah and John Oliver. CNN dubbed it “one of the most fantastic museums anywhere in America,” National Geographic praised it as “an exuberant haven for self-taught artists,” and USA Today deemed it “a temple of outsider art.”
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