In 2019 I was a part of a show entitled B_19, Best of 2019. All of the work was phenomenal. Except for one person all of the artist in the show Were current or former students at Maryland Institute College of Art, including me. All of us MICA folk were people who came to Baltimore from elsewhere. The one exception was J. Alpha Massaquoi Jr (@art_nerd19). Alpha was a student in the Towson University art department. His family lives in Maryland. He has roots around here. He’s incredibly talented and put in the studio time to make that talent shine. He is committed to creating more opportunities for artists in and around Baltimore. He’s committed to making sure that our communities have access to our work and that artists have access to spaces to show work.. By our communities I mean people that we interact with in our everyday lives who mostly don’t go to or exist in art spaces. Alpha, Kayla J. Fryer (@kfryerart), Italo Duarte de Deá (@italo.dedea), and Alexandre Edoh Yao Amegah (@yaoaart) started Hot Sauce Artist Collective (@hot_sauceart) as a way for him to follow through on his commitments. Hot Sauce Artist Collective shows art in non-traditional gallery space. They bring the gallery environment to parking lots, city parks, trails, etc so that artists and communities can be together in a positive inspiring environment.During Covid they have installed a free outdoor gallery show, they hosted a month full of free outdoor art events during August of last year.

I am inviting you to celebrate my 31st birthday with me by giving some money or time receiving social media posts by Hot Sauce Art Collective.

*For my birthday this year I’m asking you to celebrate with me by supporting my joy, my work and my communities. Each day I’ll be sharing one simple thing that you can do to support me in each of these areas. Visit my blog at the link in my bio to read past posts.

https://hotsauceartistscollective.com/