Photograph Courtesy of Phaan Howng
Architecture is a manifestation of culture. On the occasion of AIA Baltimore’s 150th anniversary, the AIA Baltimore and Baltimore Architecture Foundation 2021 Lecture Series will explore how the built environment simultaneously reflects and influences culture, in Baltimore and beyond. Each lecture will expose how cultural values shape design. The three lectures are focused around themes with specific local resonance in Baltimore, a city in which the arts and culture are key to community identity, history, and future vitality: Architecture and Identity, Art and Architecture, Architecture and Social Justice. Visiting and local speakers will examine and highlight the built environment and its relationship with the arts, community initiatives, sustainability goals, preservation, equity, the vernacular, and more, as we reflect on how these have been shaped by design practice throughout AIA Baltimore’s 150 year history.
Phaan Howng is a Baltimore-based multidisciplinary artist focused on exploring the production of landscape through large-scale landscape painting, sculptures, installations, and performance. Guided by philosophical, anthropological, and socio-political thinking, Howng’s immersive environments are a response to the toxic extractive practices of global capitalism that hinder environmentally and socially just landscapes. Her work attempts to deconstruct man’s presumed power over nature by focusing on the geopolitics of displaced plant-life and questioning the labor and management that result from processing nature as product. Howng will provide an overview of her work and present on her latest exhibition, A Bag Of Rocks For A Bag Of Rice, urging us to rethink how gardening and landscaping practices can mobilize the development of more environmentally thoughtful and sustainable futures.
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About The Presenter
Phaan Howng is a Baltimore-based multidisciplinary artist focused on exploring the production of landscape through large-scale landscape painting, sculptures, installations, and performance. Guided by philosophical, anthropological, and socio-political thinking, Howng’s immersive environments are a response to the toxic extractive practices of global capitalism that hinder environmentally and socially just landscapes. Her work attempts to deconstruct man’s presumed power over nature by focusing on the geopolitics of displaced plant-life and questioning the labor and management that result from processing nature as product. Howng received her BFA in Painting from Boston University (2004) and her MFA from the Mt. Royal School of Art at the Maryland Institute of College of Art (2015), where she is currently an adjunct professor. Howng’s work has been exhibited across the United States at major venues and cultural-institutions such as the Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, MD 2017-2018), the Smithsonian Arts and Industry Museum (Washington D.C. 2018), Spring Break Art Show (New York, NY 2019) Art Kiosk (Redwood City, CA 2019), Facebook (Washington D.C. 2019), and The Asian Arts and Culture Center at Towson University (Towson, MD 2020).
Thank You To Our Generous Sponsors!
Major Sponsor
Supporting Sponsor
Capitol Sponsor
Corinthian Sponsor
Ionic Sponsor
Craig Gaulden Davis Architects
Suzane Frasier, FAIA
This project was made possible by a grant from Maryland Humanities, with funding received from the Maryland Historical Trust in the Maryland Department of Planning. Maryland Humanities’ Grants Program is also supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and private funders. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the Spring Lecture Series do not necessarily represent those of Maryland Humanities, Maryland Historical Trust, Maryland Department of Planning, or National Endowment for the Humanities.
