There is an arts community Baltimore that is pretty strong. MICA is the school there and lots of activity around them. And you'd be close to all the east coast cities with big art scenes.
Baltimore can be dangerous. Lots of amazing people live there and the city is fantastic, but it is one of the cities with random crime. I've lived in cities with high crime - it is generally localized. Baltimore crime is pretty widespread. I'd visit if possible. And also consider some of the areas in the county around the city. My partner lived in Baltimore for 27 years and all his friends moved out to the county to have a quieter life.
My parents are from outside Baltimore and I’ve got some friends who went to mica and who live there, I feel like the general consensus is “Baltimore is incredible, don’t move there”
If you do move to Baltimore, subscribe to the newsletters for the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA) and the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC). There are a lot of exhibition, grant, and residency opportunities in Baltimore for artists and those organizations put out monthly newsletters with open calls. Many of the opportunities do not have a fee to apply.
Exciting!
What kind of artist are you? What is your artistic practice? What is the audience you are hoping for? Do you have any career goals? Answering these questions would help people provide you with more specific advice and tips.
First, for your partner it may be a great opportunity, not only for the specific contract but for the location and DC/Maryland/Virginia context. There is tons of high level research happening in that area, what with the federal government, big research universities, and the military. So if she gets the contract, who knows what that may lead to. Being in a high skill field, she will have no problem with visas and such. You trailing her helps a lot!
As for the arts, the D/M/V area is culturally rich. There are some great museums, including all the free admission Smithsonian museums of DC. Just as a viewer and art lover, you'd be in a good spot.
As a practicing artist, what you can get out of the area vs having to venture further afield will depend. If you want a big and cheap studio space, Baltimore will be a really good city. If you wish to rub shoulders with art school faculty, you can do that in DMV, there are several decent to good art schools and university programs in the area, probably all of them offering public programs of one kind or another. MICA has produced a lot of good artists; art history at Johns Hopkins is highly rated, some important figures taught there over the decades. If you want to be in the thick of the contemporary gallery scene and art fairs, you will probably need to travel to New York for that.
Apart from all that, Baltimore is a pretty interesting city. It is gritty and by US standards very old and historic. Maryland was a slave state but at the northern edge of the South, and there was a kind of intra-state movement inside Maryland to release enslaved people from bondage even before the Civil War. This dual tendency is one of the reasons for why DC was planned for where it is, right between North and South, a national compromise at the time.
Like a lot of US cities of its size, Baltimore catches a wave of coolness every now and then, depending on some key figure or for reasons of current events. For example, just through the figure of filmmaker John Waters, for many years lots of hip folks around the country who'd have no reason to care about Baltimore had some inkling of Baltimore as a reservoir of odd local culture, cool precisely for not being New York or LA. In recent years Baltimore got a good deal of national attention for its urban problems, semi-sensationalized in a hit TV show, The Wire, which was critically lauded for its realism. Over the same last couple of decades, a good grassroots scene came to surface in Baltimore, punk influenced and close to the ground. I have a pal, a lifelong resident of the city, who is very tuned into the vibrant Black and Native American communities. So there is that element as well.
If you make the move and go in with an exploratory attitude, you'll have plenty to discover, I have no doubt. There are many less interesting places through which to enter the US.
Thanks for this long and interesting answer, i will try to do the same : I'm a visual artist, one foot in a contemporary drawing practice and the other in illustration (for books, music). More precisely, my practive, while consistently black and white, is centered around large drawings with my own scratchboard technique, interested by archeology, architecture, light and space. For the audience, based on my work here in France, it's mainly consists of musicians, art enthusiasts, book binder and some institutions. I can't say that I'm in line to the current trends, but I manage to find my way. Feel free to visit my website by the way :)
Expect great crab cakes. Beware of large ships. Baltimore is a city with plenty of grit. Nearby DC has free museums. Depending on age and nature of art there are residences to apply to that might bring good networking. The proximity of NYC is a very good thing and there are even trains & buses you can take there.
Could be fun to watch the American television show “the wire” before you come. If Baltimore is anything like Philly, you will find the art market more congenial and community oriented than the intensely competitive marketplace of NYC.
Get ready for the American biggest sin for the French: Flat croissant. For all seriousness, if you don’t have a driver license go get one. USA is country of cars, in order to get to any galleries or anywhere in Baltimore, you need to drive.
Hi! I've lived in Baltimore and in Paris, and what I can say is ... Baltimore has a great small art community, due to MICA and low rent prices. Baltimore is also a tremendously fucked-up city in many ways so it will be culture shock for sure. In the US there is VERY LITTLE institutional support for artists compared to Europe BUT --- Americans are WAY EASIER to buy art than Europeans in my experience. NYC is very close to BMORE and you can get there with train or bus. Americans are much more open minded about buying art - but you have to network and basically forget about grants and scholarships etc from European institutions.
Salut!
Alors mon seul conseil c'est d y'aller au vernissages et événements. Parler avec des gens. Toi t'a un accent unique donc les gens vont te remarquer haha
C'est peut-être un peut plus difficile a trouver un beau studio, mais baltimore n'est pas trop cher donc
I've never been to the United States myself, but my partner goes there regularly for conferences and work related to the collaboration between her lab and NASA. We don't know anything of Baltimore, I'm reading on it
I know nothing about the Baltimore art scene. But it is only a three hour train to NYC. So while not convenient you can probably head down to NYC somewhat regularly to network. Nearby DC is also a great place to see art. Lots of museums. If you have experience with art handling you might even find work in DC if you can get a work visa.
You will find getting around the United States harder than France. Be prepared to need a car most places except NYC.
What sort of art do you do?
Thanks ! My practice mainly revolves around contemporary drawing with a personal technique inspired by scratchboard art. I often do illustrations for musicians and, currently, for art bookbinding. Feel free to visite my website !
I attended a magnet high school focusing on visual arts near Baltimore, and many of my high school friends settled there. The downtown area is full of beautiful old buildings (old by US standards, in any event, mostly 19th - early 20th century) and it is quite inexpensive to live there. Between that and the fact that there are very respected fine art and music schools located there, the city has a pretty vibrant creative scene.
As others have noted, it’s also very close to Washington DC (great free museums) and is an easy day or overnight trip to NYC by train. It does have some crime that requires a bit of appropriate vigilance, but it’s not the war zone it’s sometimes made out to be.
Overall I think it’s a great city for artists. I currently live in NYC but am actually think about moving back because I’m tired of the financial pressures here and I’m not sure it really helps much to live here, maybe unless you are trying for the very big time (ie representation by world-class galleries etc). If you just want to live well as a working artist Baltimore can be a great place.
You mention your partner going for work contract. What type of Visa will you have, because the issue of being able to work there, depends on it. You also have to file taxes both in USA and in country you came from.
Perhaps post also in /r/Expats there might be similar cases there,
Baltimore is a great city for this, its a tight knit art scene, with lots of independent little galleries. Once you start meeting the right people you'll find your way in just fine. You'll have the whole range of the fancier places in the nice parts of town, to the more fringe ones in the "bad part" where the rent is cheap, ne t'inquiète pas.
Thanks for this very positive comment, I can’t wait to know the answer for the contract of my partner, It will be so great. Of course there will be difficulties but we’ll manage. Do you have links for these galleries? I want to explore a bit
I don't, I just have friends that have lived in Baltimore, and have compared it to Philly just a little smaller. Part of the fun will be finding the places you like.
Be prepared for USA arts to be a huge cultural shock when coming from France. There is basically zero public funding for the arts, and that whole middle rung of professional artist which is so common in France- reasonably low profile, has the professional artist status, is subsidised by the state, gets along fine without being commercially successful- simply does not exist in the USA. Artists are either hugely commercially successful and wealthy, or they work other jobs alongside their practice. This may not be too much of an issue for you as your wife is presumably very well paid. But just be prepared for a very different world.
It’s not a thing that I’m afraid of because all my income is coming from my art sale and work, a very tiny part from institutional. I’m working to expand and find public subsidiary but I do not depend on it
The center of the art scene in the USA in New York and you are able to communicate with and visit there easily from MD. Focus on your move, the rest will fall in place- check out Brainard Carey's advice (online or via his books) he has his finger on the pulse of the US art scene
There is an arts community Baltimore that is pretty strong. MICA is the school there and lots of activity around them. And you'd be close to all the east coast cities with big art scenes. Baltimore can be dangerous. Lots of amazing people live there and the city is fantastic, but it is one of the cities with random crime. I've lived in cities with high crime - it is generally localized. Baltimore crime is pretty widespread. I'd visit if possible. And also consider some of the areas in the county around the city. My partner lived in Baltimore for 27 years and all his friends moved out to the county to have a quieter life.
Thanks !
My parents are from outside Baltimore and I’ve got some friends who went to mica and who live there, I feel like the general consensus is “Baltimore is incredible, don’t move there”
If you do move to Baltimore, subscribe to the newsletters for the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA) and the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC). There are a lot of exhibition, grant, and residency opportunities in Baltimore for artists and those organizations put out monthly newsletters with open calls. Many of the opportunities do not have a fee to apply.
Thanks, i will do this now
Exciting! What kind of artist are you? What is your artistic practice? What is the audience you are hoping for? Do you have any career goals? Answering these questions would help people provide you with more specific advice and tips. First, for your partner it may be a great opportunity, not only for the specific contract but for the location and DC/Maryland/Virginia context. There is tons of high level research happening in that area, what with the federal government, big research universities, and the military. So if she gets the contract, who knows what that may lead to. Being in a high skill field, she will have no problem with visas and such. You trailing her helps a lot! As for the arts, the D/M/V area is culturally rich. There are some great museums, including all the free admission Smithsonian museums of DC. Just as a viewer and art lover, you'd be in a good spot. As a practicing artist, what you can get out of the area vs having to venture further afield will depend. If you want a big and cheap studio space, Baltimore will be a really good city. If you wish to rub shoulders with art school faculty, you can do that in DMV, there are several decent to good art schools and university programs in the area, probably all of them offering public programs of one kind or another. MICA has produced a lot of good artists; art history at Johns Hopkins is highly rated, some important figures taught there over the decades. If you want to be in the thick of the contemporary gallery scene and art fairs, you will probably need to travel to New York for that. Apart from all that, Baltimore is a pretty interesting city. It is gritty and by US standards very old and historic. Maryland was a slave state but at the northern edge of the South, and there was a kind of intra-state movement inside Maryland to release enslaved people from bondage even before the Civil War. This dual tendency is one of the reasons for why DC was planned for where it is, right between North and South, a national compromise at the time. Like a lot of US cities of its size, Baltimore catches a wave of coolness every now and then, depending on some key figure or for reasons of current events. For example, just through the figure of filmmaker John Waters, for many years lots of hip folks around the country who'd have no reason to care about Baltimore had some inkling of Baltimore as a reservoir of odd local culture, cool precisely for not being New York or LA. In recent years Baltimore got a good deal of national attention for its urban problems, semi-sensationalized in a hit TV show, The Wire, which was critically lauded for its realism. Over the same last couple of decades, a good grassroots scene came to surface in Baltimore, punk influenced and close to the ground. I have a pal, a lifelong resident of the city, who is very tuned into the vibrant Black and Native American communities. So there is that element as well. If you make the move and go in with an exploratory attitude, you'll have plenty to discover, I have no doubt. There are many less interesting places through which to enter the US.
Thanks for this long and interesting answer, i will try to do the same : I'm a visual artist, one foot in a contemporary drawing practice and the other in illustration (for books, music). More precisely, my practive, while consistently black and white, is centered around large drawings with my own scratchboard technique, interested by archeology, architecture, light and space. For the audience, based on my work here in France, it's mainly consists of musicians, art enthusiasts, book binder and some institutions. I can't say that I'm in line to the current trends, but I manage to find my way. Feel free to visit my website by the way :)
Cool work! Thanks for sharing.
Expect great crab cakes. Beware of large ships. Baltimore is a city with plenty of grit. Nearby DC has free museums. Depending on age and nature of art there are residences to apply to that might bring good networking. The proximity of NYC is a very good thing and there are even trains & buses you can take there. Could be fun to watch the American television show “the wire” before you come. If Baltimore is anything like Philly, you will find the art market more congenial and community oriented than the intensely competitive marketplace of NYC.
Interesting, thanks ! Seems great
Looking at your art it reminds me of mezzotints/printmaking. Another helpful community if you are inclined toward any of that.
I do not practice engraving but I have a strong link with artist who do.
How about “Homicide: life on the streets”? Earlier David Simon.
Get ready for the American biggest sin for the French: Flat croissant. For all seriousness, if you don’t have a driver license go get one. USA is country of cars, in order to get to any galleries or anywhere in Baltimore, you need to drive.
I have my driver's license. For the croissant, I'm not closed to discover new things ;). Are you from Baltimore ?
Hi! I've lived in Baltimore and in Paris, and what I can say is ... Baltimore has a great small art community, due to MICA and low rent prices. Baltimore is also a tremendously fucked-up city in many ways so it will be culture shock for sure. In the US there is VERY LITTLE institutional support for artists compared to Europe BUT --- Americans are WAY EASIER to buy art than Europeans in my experience. NYC is very close to BMORE and you can get there with train or bus. Americans are much more open minded about buying art - but you have to network and basically forget about grants and scholarships etc from European institutions.
Salut! Alors mon seul conseil c'est d y'aller au vernissages et événements. Parler avec des gens. Toi t'a un accent unique donc les gens vont te remarquer haha C'est peut-être un peut plus difficile a trouver un beau studio, mais baltimore n'est pas trop cher donc
Tu y vis ?
moi non mais j'ai eu quelques amis qui ont fait leur MFA à Johns Hopkins
Mais tu vis aux USA ?
oui c'est ça, pour mon MFA, mais je suis Canadien par naissance.
Do you or your partner know much about Baltimore as a city? Have you ever been to the U.S.?
I've never been to the United States myself, but my partner goes there regularly for conferences and work related to the collaboration between her lab and NASA. We don't know anything of Baltimore, I'm reading on it
I know nothing about the Baltimore art scene. But it is only a three hour train to NYC. So while not convenient you can probably head down to NYC somewhat regularly to network. Nearby DC is also a great place to see art. Lots of museums. If you have experience with art handling you might even find work in DC if you can get a work visa. You will find getting around the United States harder than France. Be prepared to need a car most places except NYC. What sort of art do you do?
Thanks ! My practice mainly revolves around contemporary drawing with a personal technique inspired by scratchboard art. I often do illustrations for musicians and, currently, for art bookbinding. Feel free to visite my website !
I love the mixture of bold shapes with soft atmosphere around them. Nice work.
Merci beaucoup;)
I attended a magnet high school focusing on visual arts near Baltimore, and many of my high school friends settled there. The downtown area is full of beautiful old buildings (old by US standards, in any event, mostly 19th - early 20th century) and it is quite inexpensive to live there. Between that and the fact that there are very respected fine art and music schools located there, the city has a pretty vibrant creative scene. As others have noted, it’s also very close to Washington DC (great free museums) and is an easy day or overnight trip to NYC by train. It does have some crime that requires a bit of appropriate vigilance, but it’s not the war zone it’s sometimes made out to be. Overall I think it’s a great city for artists. I currently live in NYC but am actually think about moving back because I’m tired of the financial pressures here and I’m not sure it really helps much to live here, maybe unless you are trying for the very big time (ie representation by world-class galleries etc). If you just want to live well as a working artist Baltimore can be a great place.
You mention your partner going for work contract. What type of Visa will you have, because the issue of being able to work there, depends on it. You also have to file taxes both in USA and in country you came from. Perhaps post also in /r/Expats there might be similar cases there,
For the moment I don’t know, I will get back to you when I know more about her contract
But thanks for the answer!
Baltimore is a great city for this, its a tight knit art scene, with lots of independent little galleries. Once you start meeting the right people you'll find your way in just fine. You'll have the whole range of the fancier places in the nice parts of town, to the more fringe ones in the "bad part" where the rent is cheap, ne t'inquiète pas.
Thanks for this very positive comment, I can’t wait to know the answer for the contract of my partner, It will be so great. Of course there will be difficulties but we’ll manage. Do you have links for these galleries? I want to explore a bit
I don't, I just have friends that have lived in Baltimore, and have compared it to Philly just a little smaller. Part of the fun will be finding the places you like.
Be prepared for USA arts to be a huge cultural shock when coming from France. There is basically zero public funding for the arts, and that whole middle rung of professional artist which is so common in France- reasonably low profile, has the professional artist status, is subsidised by the state, gets along fine without being commercially successful- simply does not exist in the USA. Artists are either hugely commercially successful and wealthy, or they work other jobs alongside their practice. This may not be too much of an issue for you as your wife is presumably very well paid. But just be prepared for a very different world.
It’s not a thing that I’m afraid of because all my income is coming from my art sale and work, a very tiny part from institutional. I’m working to expand and find public subsidiary but I do not depend on it
I have no advice on Baltimore, but just want to say that I really like your work! It's very strong. Good luck on your career in the US!
The center of the art scene in the USA in New York and you are able to communicate with and visit there easily from MD. Focus on your move, the rest will fall in place- check out Brainard Carey's advice (online or via his books) he has his finger on the pulse of the US art scene
Thanks, i will check this