A printmaker. A lawyer. A MICA student: Meet the artists and collectors behind Artscape 2026

Curious buyers dodged puddles and dripping rain to peek into the white tents lined up under the Jones Falls Expressway. Inside, painters, photographers and clothing designers waited to greet them.

Despite the 50-degree temperatures and the rain, collectors and artists made the most of this year’s Artscape, which is going on all weekend in downtown Baltimore. The arts festival, one of the largest in the country that is free and open to the public, has been a celebration of culture since 1982.

One of the dozens of artists braving the rain was Alyssa Curry, a 25-year-old who recently moved to Baltimore with her art partner, Sam Mullen, 26. The two sell an array of art, including ceramics and prints.

“The art scene in Baltimore is great,” she said, adding that the creative community “has opened their arms” to the duo.

Musical artists also performed all afternoon and evening, with The Roots headlining on Saturday. Local food vendors, selling barbecue, skewers and snacks, set up shop for the weekend.

The War Memorial Building and The Reginald F. Lewis Museum hosted curated exhibits for those looking for reprieve from the rain. Other interactive events were scattered around Baltimore’s downtown and Inner Harbor area, including an LGBTQIA+ Pride Kickoff at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday.

Here are some of the people who attended:

D.C. artist inspired by gardening grandmother from Calvert County

Vetiver Vonne Napper was raised in Washington, surrounded by the city landscape. But the 37-year-old artist’s work is all about nature.

Their exhibit showcased naturally dyed tapestries of plants and seedlings, partially inspired by their grandmother from Owings near the Chesapeake Bay. Vonne Napper said their grandmother’s backyard was filled with grapevines, squash and a cherry tree, among other plants.

Now, after their grandmother’s death, Vonne Napper connects with her through gardening and land stewardship.

“When I did start to get into the soil and start to plant, I felt her helping me to learn how to do these things,” they said.

Vonne Napper, a Maryland Institute College graduate, attended Artscape in the 2010s, but this was their first time showing off their own work.

“Growing up in D.C., I’ve heard different stories about Baltimore,” they said. “But Artscape showed me a lot of what is not highlighted and what should be highlighted, which is the people, the art, the culture.”

The food, Vonne Napper added, was also amazing.

Essex native finds beauty in the discarded remnants of vacant rowhomes

Both sides of Nicholas Wisniewski’s family were raised in Highlandtown and Greektown.

At his second exhibition at Artscape, jagged pieces he collected from vacant homes and dumpsters in two East Baltimore neighborhoods extended on wooden planks. The profiles of rowhomes were sketched into each.

“I see these as metaphors for how we can impact our built environment,” he said. “What we build ultimately changes who we are, so depending on what we build is a decision on who we want to be.”

While Wisniewski grew up in Essex, he visited Baltimore often to see family. The 43-year-old artist now lives in Waverly.

He said he sees his work as “sort of like hopeful gestures to rethink and rebuild the kind of city we want to live in.”

A lawyer and her friend drive in to buy big in Baltimore

Bisi Ugunmefun, a 27-year-old lawyer living in D.C., had one thing on her mind when she drove in for Artscape on Saturday: a piece created by Lauren Bessette.

Bessette creates textured pieces made of sand and painted in vibrant colors. Ugunmefun said she had been following her work since December.

“I love the beach. I love the sun. I love just being free,” she said. “That’s what her art reminded me of.”

Ugunmefun, accompanied by her friend Christine Smith, 29, who flew in from Houston, said she made a beeline for Bessette’s booth when she arrived. The two decided on a bright pink piece, called “Pinkies Up,” which cost over $3,000.

“This is for me,” she said. “It doesn’t have to become a Picasso or nothing. It’s something I like, and that’s OK with me.”

“It’s her personal Picasso,” Smith chimed in.

“My goal in life is just to fill my house up,” Ugunmefun said. “Money comes and goes.”

Life-size paintings put us in this MICA student’s family reunions

When Jada McAliley received the news that she was one of the artists who would be featured in this year’s fair, she emailed a professor who encouraged her to apply.

“I couldn’t believe it, I was so surprised,” she said.

The 20-year-old MICA student was raised in Randallstown, though her family, which inspires her work, is from Baltimore.

She forces onlookers to take a step into her family’s annual reunion, which take places in different cities around the country. This year’s will be in Indianapolis.

The pink-, yellow- and orange-hued scenes of her relatives playing cards and tending to each other are created using oil paints and spray paint, she said. She introduced spray paint into her work after completing an assignment about connecting her art to the city.

“The art scene in Baltimore, I love it,” she said. “And graffiti is one of the big things in Baltimore, so I picked up spray paint.”

You can view McAliley’s work among others at Artscape on Sunday from 11 a.m.-9 p.m.