Susan Isaacs

April 15, 2022 by Susan Isaacs

Nanette Carter’s journey as artist, educator, and Anonymous was a Woman award winner

Susan Isaacs interviews artist Nanette Carter, whose journey includes years as an art educator, as well as 17 years as a full time professional artist sustaining herself through sales of her work. An amazing story. Nanette Carter is featured in a 2-person exhibit at Towson University now through April 23. Be sure to catch it is you’re in the Baltimore area.

January 6, 2022 by Susan Isaacs

‘Afro-American Images 1971’ exhibit is restaged by Delaware Art Museum in a museum mea culpa

“To write about the Black presence at the Delaware Art Museum is to recall the absence of curators, exhibitions, and artists,” says art historian and artist Simone Austin in the catalog for the re-staging of the exhibition ‘Afro-American Images 1971,’ now at the Delaware Museum. Our contributor Susan Isaacs gives the story of the current exhibition and its historical predecessor, and says, “The show is very important.”

December 15, 2021 by Susan Isaacs

Powerful show of art by women and non-binary artists working in the region today, at the Delaware Contemporary

Regional women artists of all ages ply various media, from plaster and paint to fibers and installation, in a show that is a demonstration of women and non-binary artists’ power to create. Our reviewer Susan Isaacs says: ‘Given the particularly fraught moment we are facing now regarding… voting rights and control of women’s bodies and those with a uterus, “Fields and Formations” is an especially important statement about the creativity and commitment of women and non-binary artists. “ We encourage you to see this exhibit, up now to January 7, 2022.

November 23, 2021 by Susan Isaacs

‘Seeing Climate Change’ with artist-activist Diane Burko at American University Museum

In her review, Susan Isaacs calls Diane Burko’s art an activist response to the call to arms to save the planet. “Diane Burko: Seeing Climate Change,” on view until Dec. 12, 2021, at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, is a wide-ranging overview of Burko’s beautiful abstract, photography- and map-linked paintings of eco-catastrophes today (melting glaciers, dying coral reefs).

October 7, 2021 by Susan Isaacs

Recollections of Peter Williams (1952-2021), prolific painter and activist

Susan Isaacs, who had the pleasure of curating Peter Williams twice, writes a thoughtful post on the painter’s work and fondly reflects on their shared moments together. Susan misses Williams, and says his death is a loss to us all- both personally and politically.

July 21, 2021 by Susan Isaacs

Smithsonian American Art Museum’s laudatory shows of Chicanx art and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt’s legacy

Susan Isaacs visits the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) and is impressed by two socially concerned exhibitions: “”¡Printing the Revolution!”(on view through August 8, 2021) and “Alexander von Humboldt and the United States” (now closed; online materials available).

July 16, 2021 by Susan Isaacs

Outstanding exhibitions at Taubman Museum, and more, in Roanoke, Virginia

Artblog contributor Susan Isaacs recently took a trip to Roanoke, Virginia, where she visited four exciting exhibitions at the Taubman Museum– most on view thru September or December, 2021– and more. If you’re thinking of visiting Roanoke, look no farther than this post!

June 2, 2021 by Susan Isaacs

Sonya Clark disentangles America’s racist history at the National Museum of Women in the Arts

Artblog contributor Susan Isaacs visits ‘Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend,’ the first survey of Sonya’a 25-year career. The exhibition (which Susan calls “life changing”) examines America’s history of racial violence and oppression. It is currently on view at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. through June 27, 2021.

April 28, 2021 by Susan Isaacs

Baltimore artist Jackie Milad on work-life balance, cultural symbolism, and making art unapologetically

Artblog contributor Susan Isaacs interviews Egyptian-Honduran American artist Jackie Milad about balancing life, work, and art; her artistic process; and identity-based art. Jackie’s work can be viewed at multiple current and upcoming exhibitions!

March 12, 2021 by Susan Isaacs

Diane Burko talks about flying with James Turrell, becoming a climate activist, and current work

Artblog contributor Susan Isaacs connects with climate art activist Diane Burko in a Q&A conversation about climate activism, art historical influences, and Diane’s current artwork and upcoming exhibitions.

January 12, 2021 by Susan Isaacs

Contemporary art mingles with vintage party dresses at Towson University’s ‘All Night Party’

Co-curators J. Susan Isaacs and Erin Lehman write an essay about their exhibition “All Night Party,” which places contemporary works in conversation with 20th century party dresses, drawing similarities between America’s political climate then and now.

September 30, 2020 by Susan Isaacs

Dan Keplinger talks about art, his life-long activism and ‘King Gimp’ his Oscar-winning movie

Susan Isaacs interviews Dan Keplinger, her former student and the subject and co-creator of the film “King Gimp,” which observes Dan’s life as an artist with Cerebral Palsy.

March 16, 2020 by Susan Isaacs

Wading into water quality, Stacy Levy’s Collected Watershed at Towson University

Susan Isaacs reviews Stavy Levy’s exhibition Collected Watershed, which is currently installed at the Center for the Arts Gallery at Towson University. Though the gallery is currently closed due to COVID-19, the show’s end date has been extended to April 25, 2020, and the show is presumed to re-open before then.

January 4, 2020 by Susan Isaacs

A review in two cities, Betye Saar at MoMA and Melvin Edwards at BMA

Artblog contributor Susan Isaacs reviews two exhibitions: “The Legends of Black Girl’s Window” at Museum of Modern Art in New York City, closing January 4, 2020, and “Crossroads” at Baltimore Museum of Art, closing January 12, 2020.