The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture presents States of Becoming, an exhibition curated by Fitsum Shebeshe and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI). States of Becoming examines the dynamic forces of relocation, resettling, and assimilation that shape the artistic practices of a group of 17 contemporary African artists who have lived and worked in the United States within the last three decades, and informs the discourse on identity construction within the African Diaspora.

Spark 6: Refractions features the work of UMBC and Towson faculty, recent graduates, and current students in the historic galleries of The Peale in Baltimore City, sponsored by PNC. Refraction is the change in direction of a wave as it passes from one transparent substance into another — a phenomenon most commonly observed when light waves pass through lenses, magnifying glasses, and prisms. Each of the artists in this exhibition serves as an apparatus of refraction: focusing, magnifying, or redirecting our attention and experience of our world.