RADICAL BEAUTY, PART TWO: COMMUNITY COMES FIRST by Jennifer Hand Foreword: In the midst of this global time of upheaval, cultural shifts engendered both by COVID and the latest wave of the Black Lives Matter movement have the potential to reshape the current gallery structure, leaving in its stead a more equitable system of representation. This series examines ways that visionary gallerists are shifting the paradigm towards allyship and relevance, and how socially conscious galleries with a history of representing controversial artists have found success. In part one of this series, we focused on the incomparable Joyce Scott and her long history of working with galleries which champion challenging work. Scott’s hometown of Baltimore has a thriving community of artists and curators who are working to break barriers and expand audiences. Myrtis Bedolla of Baltimore’s Galerie Myrtis is one such leader who has been advocating for artists and the arts for over thirty years. Bedolla specializes in representing African American artists, and believes that the strength of any gallery lies chiefly with the artists represented, along with the relationships of trust built between the artist and curator. Bedolla promotes her artists beyond the gallery walls at art fairs worldwide and on a robust social media platform. Myrtis differentiates itself from the gallery status quo by understanding that even the most ravishing exhibition fails if it doesn’t find an audience. Bedolla’s experience working in and visiting galleries in major metropolitan cities made her hyperaware of their barriers to entry and imparted a sense of responsibility to remove those obstacles in her own space. “New York was the most egregious,” she notes – describing having staff actively avoid eye contact as she perused the walls. Speaking to a former intern now working in New York, Bedolla realized that this is due to staff being trained not to acknowledge or look at visitors.
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“The importance of art and its ability to touch and to heal is something that belongs to us all.” – Myrtis Belloda. Belloda has been building relationships with artists for over 30 years. Photo Credit: Mitro Hood.
At Galerie Myrtis, Bedolla rejects that blatant gatekeeping and explicitly trains her staff to welcome every guest with equal warmth and enthusiasm, from their collectors to an unhoused visitor coming in for a moment of artistic communion. All of the programming Bedolla offers is open to the public, and includes gallery talks, artist lectures and panels. Nearly all programs are free, with the few paid programs intentionally accessibly priced. “Everyone is welcome here, and we go out of our way to make sure that people know that. Whether they’re looking to buy or just coming in out of curiosity, or would never be able to buy – we see the gallery as part of the art ecosystem in the city, and part of its cultural capital.” Oletha DeVane, a Maryland-based multidisciplinary artist whose works feature sumptuous encrustations of glass beadwork, echoes Bedolla’s sense of often having felt unwelcome in gallery spaces, GASNEWS
even ones in which her work was being shown. DeVane has been a visiting artist at Galerie Myrtis several times, most recently in 2020’s “Women Heal Through Rite and Ritual,” where her work glistened in the light of Renee Stout’s stunning neon installation. DeVane characterizes Bedolla as both “down-to-earth homegirl” and sophisticated advocate, and notes that there few other galleries with whom she entrusts her work. “There are so few black-owned galleries,” DeVane points out, “We have to do the work to support them like they’ve supported us.” DeVane’s background is as a painter, coming to glass via a fascination with a Voodoo glass bottle brought back by a friend from Haiti. Since falling in love with the medium, she’s made many trips to drink deep of Haiti’s aesthetic and symbolismrich mythology. She uses glass’s sparkle and translucence to reference ideas of transcendence and imbue a “quality of awe” that other materials lack.
SUMMER 2021
VOLUME 35, ISSUE 1
