Artscape

Artscape beat expectations, city officials boast

Surveying the throngs of people who swarmed Charles Street last weekend for Artscape - the first time the festival expanded onto Baltimore's premier street and into the Station North Arts and Entertainment District - the city's promotions director said, "We've probably brought five years' worth of new people to the district in one weekend."

Roomier Artscape peeks into the future

If necessity is the mother of invention, then Baltimore was a major beneficiary last weekend, as organizers of the annual Artscape festival took a pressing need for more space and turned it into a creative way to promote an emerging arts district.

Dru Hill homecoming has little harmony

A decade has passed since Dru Hill was relevant on the pop charts. Despite the time away and recent, somewhat contentious personnel changes, the '90s Baltimore R&B group, which headlined Artscape on Saturday night, has maintained the crisp dance moves and churchy harmonies.

Artscape a fun escape for many

As they meandered among paintings, sculpture and crafts, patrons of Artscape could also take in a street performance.

Artscape food goes 'green'

The idea of organic food at Artscape seems so right - those artistic, hippie types eat a lot of sprouts and tofu, don't they? But it also seems so wrong. Festival food is about grease and calories: funnel cakes, gyros, pizza, fries, hamburgers, Jamaican wings and jumbo hot dogs.

Music

Dru Hill has a different outlook and member

Dru Hill is free. Now an independent act, the Baltimore R&B quartet, whose biggest commercial success came in the late '90s, makes its own decisions about image, touring and, most importantly, the music. Six years have passed since Dru Hill's last album, the platinum-selling Dru World Order.

Scene

Among the new attractions at the 27th Artscape is a DIY craft section

One man's trash is another woman's earrings.

Sam Sessa on Nightlife: After Artscape celebration, Windup at this bar for music, art and drinks

This weekend's Artscape celebrations stop just south of North Avenue.

Schedule highlights

Note: Events free. Other events take place on and off site. Go to artscape.org for more information.

Fake forest hides in plain sight

Braking at the intersection of North Avenue and St. Paul Street, drivers breathe cigarette smoke out their windows, slosh takeout sodas, stare at their nails.

Artscape prize winner finds his sea legs in the art world

Geoff Grace has been a marine scientist on the Pacific Ocean, a museum educator in Florida, a high school teacher in Overlea and a guitarist in his own band, the Tall Grass.

A bigger canvas

Artscape pushes a different kind of urban sprawl, as its action spreads to the Station North Arts and Entertainment District

Street closures are planned for Artscape

Numerous streets near the Maryland Institute College of Art will be closed as workers prepare for the Artscape celebration that begins Friday, according to the city's Department of Transportation.

Teacher wins annual Artscape Prize

Amid warm applause in a packed auditorium, a Baltimore County teacher and multimedia artist accepted the $25,000 Janet and Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize yesterday at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Arts

Natural works of art at BMA's Artscape exhibit

Green seems to be the new "it" color in contemporary art.

Artscape returns, bigger and greener

Artscape expands and becomes a little "greener" this year. But the 27-year-old arts festival, the largest, free public event of its kind in the country, maintains a flavorful and eclectic musical lineup. In a news conference at Penn Station yesterday, Mayor Sheila Dixon announced the new additions and musical lineup for this year's Artscape, set for July 18-20.

Festival grows along Charles

Artscape will expand onto Charles Street this year in an effort to boost the Station North Arts and Entertainment District and bring more people to the galleries, restaurants and shops in Midtown Baltimore's designated arts area.