Merriweather District Artist-In-Residence Exhibition Unveiled

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Beginning Thursday, the public can view this year’s Merriweather District Artist-in-Residence exhibition, which takes the immersive art concept to a new level by inviting people to become part of the installations. The interactive exhibition spans more than 27,000 square feet of undeveloped office space on the fourth floor of 6100 Merriweather Drive in the Merriweather District in Downtown Columbia.

The Merriweather District AIR program, established and funded by The Howard Hughes Corporation in collaboration with the Howard County Arts Council, brings together artists to work, live and create in Downtown Columbia. The four artists, selected through an international selection process, are provided with a stipend, studio space and housing. The exhibition can be viewed by the public on the following dates:

• Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m.
• Friday from 6 to 10 p.m.
• Saturday from 1 to 8 p.m.
• Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.

Below is information about each of the four artists:

Andrew Burke: Vanishing Point
Vanishing Point allows visitors to experience two pieces of music that explore proximity and distance as a metaphor for the moments in which we cease to recognize a stranger as a unique individual and instead see them as part of a faceless mass and vice versa. The work will include immersive film and live musical performances. instruments.

• About Andrew Burke (Baltimore, MD): Andrew creates music that explores political and social subjects, opening up fraught discourse to a higher level of emotional sensitivity. After working in political communications for four years, he was interested in how to further progress in the structure of our political system and realized that there was an opportunity to allow music to be a catalyst and change agent in nuanced discussion. In this residency, Andrew is bringing to life a composition and curating an immersive sound installation named Vanishing Point. The orchestral piece will be performed with a chamber ensemble on an immersive and engaging stage and performed for a live audience with the intention of creating a moment of connection. The audience will get the chance to not only observe live performers, but to mingle among them and be enveloped in their music for a deeply cathartic and welcoming experience. Andrew is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Composition at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University.

Chrystal Seawood: Feeling Our Way Through: Exploring Masculinity in Black Youth
Feeling Our Way Through explores the complexity of masculinity in Black youth. Three interactive installations address the spaces in which it is safe for Black masculine youth to embody a range of emotions without losing their “status” as masculine.The work simultaneously aims to delimit and interrogate the precariousness of traditional masculine culture.

• About Chrystal Seawood (Glen Burnie, MD): Chrystal Seawood is a primarily self-taught artist from the rural town of Forrest City, Arkansas. At the heart of her work, she explores ideas of equity and infrastructure of gender expression, specifically masculinity. In theory, she seeks to humanize her subjects in the same ways they’ve been objectified. During the program, Chrystal will be exploring masculinity with the community and building a series of installations that explore the spectrum of masculinity, while also addressing the way that gender identity can continue to be expressed in a more inclusive and safer environment. In 2008, Seawood earned a BA in Digital Art and Design and worked as a graphic designer in corporate America. In 2015, she decided to become a high school English teacher and has since been operating much like an activist with a classroom and a canvas. Starting this year, Chrystal will be pursuing her MFA at Maryland Institute College of Arts (MICA).

Morgan Bobrow-Williams: emergent
emergent is an interactive, transdisciplinary art installation involving live performance, video, sound, and sculptural elements. It looks at the relationship amongst self determination, dreaming, technology, time, and space. Morgan will perform simultaneously throughout the exhibition period. The performance will be a combination of movement and vocal expression.

• About Morgan Bobrow-Williams (Brooklyn, NY): Morgan is a transdisciplinary artist who expresses themselves by blending traditional mediums, such as dance and movement, film, sound and installation art using improvisation as a tool for discovery and creation. Driven by emotions, philosophical thinking and sensual experience, Morgan creates work that is intuitive and asks questions. Morgan received a BFA from Marymount Manhattan College in Dance Performance with a concentration in choreography. Recently, Morgan returned from Germany after working as a full-time dance company member at Staatstheater Kassel under the direction of Johannes Wieland. While in residency, Morgan is creating an immersive and experiential environment that invites the viewer to widen their perspective,engage in their agency,and reflect on the interconnectivity of our experience.

Bobby Zokaites: Magrathea
Magrathea is a kinetic sculpture consisting of two caned wheels revolving past opposing light sources. The intricate caning pattern casts dramatic shadows across the exhibition space, aligning and diverging as the wheels make their revolutions. While the piece is welcoming in its familiar colors and forms, its sophistication lies in the juxtaposition of the ancient and the modern.

• About Bobby Zokaites (Tempe, AZ): Bobby is a sculptor who engages in imagination through the creation of large-scale, colorful, interactive objects and spaces. His work is intended to stimulate audience interaction and inspire enthusiasm about the idea of ‘play.’ While investigating themes of adventure and childhood, Bobby fabricates and assembles sculpture in an industrious process. The audience is invited to see, hear and play with installations which blur the lines between artists, performer and viewer. The magic really happens when children start to show their parents how to interact with the space. During the residency, Bobby is exploring the long and shared tradition of weaving, and how to experiment with interplay and illumination. He will be weaving 9 miles of paracord with a loom designed and developed by Bobby himself. At the exhibition, the audience will be able to explore a dynamic sculpture garden from his imagination.