The Academy Art Museum’s new entrance, designed by Top 50 US Architect Ziger|Snead, and paved courtyard, is an ideal setting for lectures, community gatherings and events.
Children enjoy Waterwall, an installation by artist Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann, located on the front lawn of the Museum. This cube will be transformed for Academy Art Museum's Juneteenth celebration which will feature children's artwork based on the theme of freedom.
The Academy Art Museum enriches the lives of Mid-Shore residents by making arts and culture accessible to all. As the premier art museum on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Museum presents high-quality exhibitions and a full range of art classes for visitors of all ages. The Museum’s ArtReach program, the heart and soul of the Museum’s youth programs, provides arts education at no charge to public and private school children from the region. For many children, this program represents their only chance to engage in activities through an art museum.
The Academy Art Museum’s mission to engage youth on the Eastern Shore in innovative children’s art programming has been especially important during the pandemic – a time of uncertainty when the arts have filled a void. Whether it was free art kits for elementary students who depend on free lunches or free summer camp kits for children of essential workers, the Museum has continued to look for new ways to provide arts access and engagement for children and their families.
This spring, the Museum is teaming up with Easton Elementary School to celebrate the inauguration of its stunning new school building and to give each child and family a chance to contribute to the building’s new artwork. The Museum commissioned 18 large wooden puzzles, enough for every child to paint their own piece. Puzzles take the form of a pawprint, which is the school’s logo, or a hexagon, which is a design motif in the new school building. Upon completion, the puzzles will be on permanent display in the school, along with a commemorative plaque.
One of the Museum’s largest community projects is its vibrant Juneteenth celebration, which it hosts each June on the Museum’s grounds. This year’s Juneteenth celebration will include an art display featuring the artwork of students in Talbot County Public Schools. Students will be asked to create works based on the theme of freedom, using acrylic paint pens on vinyl that can be used to line the giant cube sculpture on the Museum’s front lawn. Visitors can stop by at any time through the summer to admire the works and share in the students’ visions for what they think freedom represents.
On May 15, the Museum participated in Talbot County’s CommUNITY Day with its program, Flowers, Flowers Everywhere! Families celebrated spring in a safe and socially-distanced way by picking up free paper flower kits to make at home. These take-home art kits have remained popular during the pandemic and provide families projects they can all do together.
Although the Museum receives funding from the Maryland State Arts Council, the Talbot County Arts Council, the Artistic Insights Fund of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation, and the HUT Foundation, it relies heavily on support from individual donors to fund its programming. For further information about the Museum or to donate to the Museum, visit academyartmuseum.org, call 410-822-2787 or visit the following link: https://academyartmuseum.org/join-give/annual-fund/.
Academy Art Museum 106 South St, Easton, MD 21601 (410) 822-2787 www.academyartmuseum.org
