The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC) is located on the first floor of the Fine Arts Building.
The CADVC organizes comprehensive exhibitions, publishes catalogs, media, and books on the arts, and produces educational and community outreach projects. It offers extensive educational outreach initiatives and publication programs, often in partnership with other educational and cultural institutions. Disciplines represented through its exhibitions, public programming, and publications include painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, photography, graphic design, imaging and digital art, video, film, installation and performance art, as well as advertising, television, industrial design, architecture, critical theory, art education theory, and the study of art history and criticism. The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture is ADA accessible.
Admission
All exhibitions and events produced by the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture are free.
Travel and Parking
UMBC is located along I-95 near the Baltimore Beltway, I-695, about 15 minutes from downtown Baltimore, and about 25 minutes from I-495. Traveling to the campus is easy and straightforward.
For the CADVC, when you plan to visit has an impact on where you should park. For additional information, including mass transit options and maps, please visit the campus visit site. If you need more information, please email us at artsatumbc@umbc.edu.
Evening (after 5 p.m.) and weekend visits — free parking
• From I-95 between Baltimore and Washington, take Exit 47B and follow signs to Route 166 and then signs to the campus, which is just off the highway. At the traffic circle, proceed 3/4 the way around to join the inner loop of Hilltop Circle. At the traffic light, turn right onto Hilltop Road, and then take an immediate left into Parking Lot 8. You are welcome to park here. The nearest large brick building is the Fine Arts Building. Head down the left side stairs, and the entrance to the CADVC will be on your right. (A ramp is also available.)
• From I-695, take Exit 12C — Wilkens Avenue West — and proceed to the roundabout. Go 3/4 the way around to turn left onto Hilltop Road. At the traffic light, proceed straight, and then take and immediate left into Parking Lot 8. You are welcome to park here. The nearest large brick building is the Fine Arts Building. Head down the left side stairs, and the entrance to the CADVC will be on your right. (A ramp is also available.)
• If you’re using Google Maps, search for UMBC Lot 8. If you use Apple Maps, search for UMBC Parking Lot 8A. (Update — Apple Maps has forgotten our location! You can search for Lot 9, which is on the other side of the Performing Arts and Humanities Building, and travel across to Lot 8.)
Monday through Friday daytime visits (arrival before 5 p.m.) — paid parking
• From I-95 between Baltimore and Washington, take Exit 47B and follow signs to Route 166 and then signs to the campus, which is just off the highway. At the second traffic circle, proceed halfway around, and then look for signs to visitor parking in the Administration Drive Garage.
• From I-695, take Exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue West), and then continue to the roundabout. Go 3/4 the way around to turn left onto Hilltop Road. Then turn right at the next traffic light onto the outer loop of Hilltop Circle. At the next roundabout, go 3/4 the way around, and look for signs to visitor parking in the Administration Drive Garage.
• Paid visitor parking at the Administration Drive Garage is $2.00 per hour, payable by MasterCard, Visa or exact currency (no change provided). Visitor parking is enforced Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. Pay stations are ADA compliant.
• You will then walk about 10 minutes to the CADVC. From the garage, walk down the main campus corridor. When you reach the pond, which will be on your left, immediately turn left and go up the steps to the second building. The entrance to the CADVC is along the side of the Fine Arts Building, midway up. (There are ADA accessible routes available as well.)
Dining Options
Limited on campus dining options may be found here. The nearby communities of Arbutus and Catonsville provide many other options, listed here, and we also encourage visitors to explore the Catonsville Arts District (a five minute drive with many dining options).
Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.
The Intermedia and Digital Arts Master's Program presents the Opening Reception for Not Grounded, the 2024 IMDA MFA Thesis Exhibition, featuring four artists with diverse artistic practices and approaches: Elly Kalantari, Andrew Liang, Kristin Putchinski, and A. M. Zellhofer.
The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture inaugurates the “demo” of a new public video art projection gallery with work by artist Levester Williams, featuring his work dreaming of a beyond: Baltimore (2021–2024). The event will include a conversation between Williams and curator Lisa Freiman. Showings of the work will continue on select evenings in late February and early March.
In conjunction with the exhibition Spectrum of Process, on display from February 9 through March 2, the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture presents assistant professor of graphic design Julie Sayo, who will offer a Babayin Writing Workshop.
In conjunction with the exhibition Spectrum of Process, on display from February 9 through March 2, the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture presents a discussion, Research and Process, featuring faculty and students involved in the “Can You Catch a Deep Fake?” and “Artifacts” research projects.
The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture presents Spectrum of Process: 2024 UMBC Faculty Exhibition, on display from February 9 through March 2. Spectrum of Process presents a range of UMBC faculty approaches to art and culture through rigorous, experimental processes. The exhibition is interdisciplinary, including works of fine art, design, pedagogy, and the visual culture of research.
The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture presents the Opening Reception for Spectrum of Process: 2024 UMBC Faculty Exhibition. Spectrum of Process presents a range of UMBC faculty approaches to art and culture through rigorous, experimental processes.
Part storytelling, part lecture, and part live documentary film, Sarah Kanouse’s solo performance My Electric Genealogy explores the shifting cultures and politics of energy in Los Angeles through the lens of her own family.
In conjunction with the exhibition States of Becoming, curated by Fitsum Shebeshe and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI), the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture presents a conversation with the curator and Jessica Bell Brown, curator at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The discussion, moderated by Rhea Beckett, founding director at Black Artist Research Space, will focus on curatorial approaches to African diasporic experience and migration.
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.
The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture presents the Opening Reception for States of Becoming, an exhibition curated by Fitsum Shebeshe and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI). A 6 p.m. panel discussion will feature Chukwudumebi Gabriel Amadi-Emina, Elshafei Dafalla, and Helina Metaferia, moderated by Maleke Glee, director of Stable Gallery in Washington, D.C. Exhibition curator Fitsum Shebeshe will provide an introduction.
The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture and the Department of Visual Arts present the Visual Arts Senior Exhibition, featuring work of graduating B.A. and B.F.A. seniors in photography, graphic design, cinematic arts, animation and interactive media, and print media, reflecting the interdisciplinary orientation and the technological focus of the department.
The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture and the Department of Visual Arts present the Opening Reception for the Visual Arts Senior Exhibition, featuring work of graduating B.A. and B.F.A. seniors in photography, graphic design, cinematic arts, animation and interactive media, and print media.
The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC) presents Mind Over Matter, the 2023 Intermedia and Digital Arts MFA Thesis Exhibition, featuring works by Liza Aleinikova, Fahmida Hossain, and Anna Kroll.
