After Hours
Art After Hours: Preoccupied
Art After Hours is back with an evening celebrating the perspectives and histories of Native artists through a series of activities, performances, and exhibitions.
Inspired by the Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum initiative, experience a live amplified violin performance by exhibiting artist, composer, and musician Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache). Dance the night away to a soulful mix of classics and contemporary sounds by DJ Justice The Light Skinned Luke Cage (Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina).
Explore the making process of Wampum, a historical practice of shaping shells, during a hands-on demonstration lead by artist Zach Cole (Nause Waiwash band of Indians). Enjoy a pop-up, in-gallery flute performance by 6th generation flute player Patrick Brooks (Tuscarora Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy in upstate New York). Art After Hours fan favorite H3irloom Food Group will serve a variety of specialty cocktails and delicious heavy hors d’oeuvres.
Tickets
Members: $25 | General Admission: $35
Tickets to Art After Hours include late-night access to the galleries and one free food or cocktail item. Become a BMA Member today and save on admission.
This event is for adults ages 21 and older. Parking is limited; ridesharing is encouraged.
Schedule
8 p.m. – Doors open
8–11 p.m. – Wampum artmaking demonstration led by Zach Cole
Joseph Education Center Studio
9 p.m. – Flute performance by Patrick Brooks
Contemporary Gallery, 2nd floor
9:45 p.m. – Laura Ortman live amplified violin performance
Fox Court
11 p.m. – Program ends
Participants
Laura Ortman
Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache) (born 1973, Whiteriver, Arizona) is a soloist musician, composer, and vibrant collaborator who creates across multiple platforms, including recorded albums, live performances, and filmic and artistic soundtracks. She has collaborated with artists such as Tony Conrad, Jock Soto, Raven Chacon, Nanobah Becker, Okkyung Lee, Martin Bisi, Jeffrey Gibson, Caroline Monnet, Tanya Lukin Linklater, Martha Colburn, and New Red Order, as well as part of the trio In Defense of Memory. As a musician, Ortman is versed in Apache violin, piano, electric guitar, keyboards, and amplified violin, and often sings through a megaphone. She is also a producer of capacious field recordings. Ortman has performed at The Guggenheim Museum, the Venice Biennale, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The New Museum, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, and The Stone in New York; the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal; The Toronto Biennial; and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, among others, and was a participating artist in the 2019 Whitney Biennial. In 2008, She founded the Coast Orchestra, an all-Native American orchestral ensemble that performed a live soundtrack to Edward Curtis’s film In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914), the first silent feature film to star an all-Native cast. Ortman has received numerous fellowships, including the 2023 Institute of American Indian Arts Fellowship, 2022 Forge Project Fellowship, 2022 United States Artists Fellowship, 2022 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists, and 2020 Jerome@Camargo Residency in Cassis, France. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Zach Cole
Zach Cole is a citizen of the Nause Waiwash band of Indians. He is a reservist in the United States Navy and holds the position of First Class Petty Officer, MASTER AT ARMS. He attended Cambridge South Dorchester High School and Dorchester School of Technology where he studied metal fabrication and held several certifications. He attended college at Advanced Technology Institute in Virginia Beach, VA where he received an associates degree in Automotive Technology. Zach is heavily involved in the restoration and revitalization of Eastern Woodland spirituality and culture, particularly that of his community and the Eastern Shore broadly. Zach works diligently to revive and relearn traditional crafts and language of his ancestors. He is known in the community as a producer of dance sticks, war clubs, and wampum. Zach currently resides in Seaford, DE with his wife and two dogs.
Patrick Brooks
Five Feathers Productions co-producer Patrick ‘Littlewolf’ Brooks is a proud member of the Tuscarora nation of the Iroquois Confederacy in upstate New York. Patrick is a decorated 12-year Army veteran having served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. His passion for educating the public about Native culture has taken him to numerous venues to conduct presentations and dance programs to audiences of all ages sharing the history and culture of Indigenous Americans and First Nations People. He is an accomplished dancer and has served as a member of the head staff at several Native gatherings. Patrick is also a 6th generation flute player following in his family’s footsteps.
Patrick also designs and builds regalia items for Native dancers. The work he puts into his jewelry, cedar boxes, and dance fans reflects his belief that these skills must be passed on to our younger generations for the Native culture to survive. As a 3rd generation storyteller, Patrick continues his great-great-grandfather’s teachings through the stories he was told as a child. Patrick lives his life as a traditionalist and as such he strives to honor his people and his ancestors by bringing awareness and understanding to those who want to learn more about the indigenous people of this land. He often refers to himself as an ‘Indigenous American’ not Native American, saying that, “Saying you’re Native American just means you were born in America and therefore Native to this country. Being an Indigenous American, means your ancestors were here.”
DJ Justice The Light Skinned Luke Cage
Derek Jones, a.k.a DJ Justice The Light Skinned Luke Cage, hails from Detroit, Michigan and is a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. He is a professional DJ with a keen ear for music and possesses superior mixing abilities across a variety of genres including soul, R&B, house, and many others. Jones is a proud husband and a grandfather with over 24 years of civil service. He is a current U.S. government employee and a retired Federal Police Officer.
H3irloom Food Group
Based in Baltimore, MD, H3irloom Food Group cultivates meaningful culinary experiences that celebrate the region’s authentic foodways, culture, and community, led by Chefs David & Tonya Thomas, Linda Taliaferro (CEO), and Floyd Taliaferro IV (CFO). In addition to operating The Sinclair private event space, the company’s portfolio includes ticketed dinner experiences, catering, pop-ups, sustainable farming initiatives, and the award-winning H3 product line. H3irloom is a 100% Black-owned company with a mission to uplift the Black food narrative and provide a deeply personal approach to the Black food experience that’s rooted in history and culture. Built on a foundation of friendship and a passion for true hospitality, the three in H3irloom represents the familial bond between the founding partners as a nod to their past, present, and future together.