Maryland Institute College of Art

The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a private art and design college whose sprawling Mount Royal campus, beginning a few blocks to our north and west, comprises an eclectic mix of buildings from different periods of Baltimore’s development and reflects the diversity, richness, resiliency and legacy of art and artists in Baltimore; and of Baltimore, itself.

Founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, the school, one of the oldest art colleges in the U.S., has survived many crises and hard times. In its first decade, it operated out of a downtown Baltimore building which burned down in the midst of a riot following the collapse of several Baltimore banks. With the support of many of its original founders, the Institute reopened and in 1851, moved to its own building at a different downtown location. Shortly afterwards, the Institute added a School of Chemistry and a School of Music and in 1854, became one of the first in the U.S. to open an art program for women (which, 16 years later, became co-ed). The Institute remained at its second location for 79 years, serving briefly during the Civil War as an armory and a hospital for wounded soldiers, before burning down with 1,500 other downtown Baltimore buildings in the Great Baltimore Fire (1904).

The school reopened again in 1908, this time with its current, stately Main Building on Mount Royal Avenue, near the then-new Bolton Hill neighborhood, thanks to the generosity of the State of Maryland, the Carnegie Foundation and local benefactors. In 1959, the Institute legally changed its name to its current one; and in 1964, MICA acquired Mount Royal Station (a former B & O train station), in all of its majestic breadth and splendor. In subsequent years, MICA’s facilities expanded along Mount Royal Avenue and some other locations, adding the 15/15 Building; the Dolphin Design Center; the Bunting Center; the Firehouse; the Fox Building; the Bank Building; the Brown Center; the 81 Mosher Building; the Fred Lazarus IV Center; the Kramer House; the JHU-MICA Film Centre; different buildings for student housing (Founder’s Green, Meyerhoff House, and the Gateway); and other facilities. Like the school’s history, curriculum, student body and faculty, each building reflects its own unique personality and architectural style.

While the COVID crisis presents a new and daunting challenge for MICA, its students, faculty, and graduating artists, MICA’s proven ability to creatively survive, adapt, thrive, and begin anew, in the midst of so many crises and challenges, inspires hope and optimism for the future. Liz Kuntz, a soon-to-be MICA graduate (class of 2020) and fiber artist I spoke with, expressed a lot of those sentiments. Liz, who was preparing for her thesis critique at the time, while nurturing the silkworms she cultivates as part of her thesis and abiding by the governor’s stay-at-home order, expressed deep gratitude to her professors, for encouraging her excitement for things different and unique, and to MICA, for the opportunity to be part of such a progressive community. Liz also expressed her appreciation for MICA’s curriculum and professors, who helped her to move from her early interest in illustration, and find inspiration in the field of sustainable dying, weaving, and tapestry. Liz looks forward to a summer internship of learning to take care of sheep and alpaca in a socially sustainable way at the White Violet Center for Eco-Justice, and to a future of educating others, and herself, in sustainable and natural dying methods, and sustainable sourcing of products for fiber and textile art and design.

To learn about Liz’ methods of raising silkworms for her textiles and designs, see:https://www.instagram.com/silk.friends/.To visit MICA’s Grad Show 2020 online, see:https://2020.micagradshow.com/.More MICA art, and articles, including an article on how MICA staff and faculty are using their unique skill sets to bring change in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, can be found at:https://www.mica.edu/art-articles/ .

Written by Lois Tuttle