The Galleries at CCBC Catonsville and Dundalk showcase ArtScape 2012 through Aug. 4

The Galleries at the Community College of Baltimore County are exhibiting two shows this summer sponsored in part by the Baltimore Office of Promotion in the Arts and M&T Bank as an ArtScape 2012 Showcase Gallery. 

Summer Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday; Closed Sunday.

The Gallery at CCBC Catonsville in the Q Building (800 S. Rolling Road) presents “Re: purpose.” Curated by CCBC Arts student Emilyann Craighead, the show features the works of artists Susan Brandt, Jim Doran, Anna Fine Foer, Skye Gilkerson, Diana Marta, Alex Queral and Nikki Rosato.

According to Craighead, "People say that the book is dead. Kindle is just far more convenient. Newspaper ink gets all over your fingers. Who needs a map when you can have SAT NAV? Perhaps you've seen one too many Hoarders episodes, and your clutter is beginning to look ominous. For whatever reason, society is starting to throw away its tangible objects and is calling for the demise of paper. The good news for rejected paper is that there seems to be a trend of artists who are collecting the detritus. Now that these objects are starting to lose hold on their original purpose, artists are beginning to rescue these paper-based products and breathe new life into them."

The Gallery at CCBC Dundalk in the K Building (7200 Sollers Point Road) mounts “America Idle” featuring artists Sebastian Martorona, Christina Marsh, Susana Raab, and Sofia Silva and curated by Jermaine Bell, a former CCBC student now at MICA.

A free pancake reception with the artists will be held Friday, July 13 from 6 to 8 pm in the Gallery.

As curator Bell describes this exhibit, “There is not much that Americans do that is not involuntarily sponsored by a major corporation. Children have themed parties that revolve around their favorite characters from a cartoon on television. On Christmas morning, children wait on a mythical figure to bring them all the products they've seen on Saturday morning television. Adult men gather weekly to drink beverages that are sponsored by their favorite sports team. Grown women congregate to celebrate the coming of some celebrity's new baby, or gossip about this singer's divorce, or a politician's scandal...all brought to you by a magazine tabloid. With America Idle, the curator hopes to help begin the questioning of how much each viewer's identity has been formed by marketing. It is a major challenge.”

Both exhibits run through Aug. 4 and are free and open to the public.