At the final First Thursday Festival of our 2025 season, WTMD is excited to present “Specimens,” a curated art exhibition featuring artists from the esteemed Baker Artist Portfolios, showcasing a visionary blend of light, sculpture, and interactivity.
Curated by Terence Hannum and premiering at WTMD’s First Thursdays, “Specimens” invites viewers into a sci-fi-inspired realm of speculative forms and imagined futures. Each work acts as a “specimen” from an alternate world—whether alien, post-human, or mythic—crafted through light-based technologies, ceramics, and sculptural innovation.
Featured artists include Patrick Bell, Dan Conrad, Bonnie Crawford, Terence Hannum and John Ralston V.
This immersive experience blurs the line between the organic and the artificial, the known and the unknown. Rooted in Baltimore’s rich creative ecosystem, the exhibition highlights the experimental edge and conceptual depth of local artists pushing the boundaries of form and narrative.
Artist bios:
Patrick Bell was born in Reisterstown, Maryland and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received his BFA from Edinboro University and subsequently spent two years studying Ceramics at Wichita State University. After completing his MFA at Kent State University Patrick moved back to Maryland where he accepted the 2022-23 Lormina Salter Fellowship at Baltimore Clayworks. He currently teaches at the Community County of Baltimore County, Baltimore Clayworks, and MICA.
Daniel Conrad’s interest in color and color perception became focused when he studied Albers’ “Interaction of Colors” in college. He started to work on methods to change colors on a screen using dimmable colored light sources. His continuing goal has been to use color interactions and afterimages as an active component of visual art.
Baltimore-based artist and mom Bonnie Crawford does not sleep well. Her work explores how intimacy, risk, and harm inform habits of care. She began working this way when she became a divorced mother of two and in turn became dependent on queer family structures for support. She received an MFA from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and a BA in Studio Art from the University of Maryland College Park. Solo exhibitions include “Lying Next to a Hammer in Bed” at Montpelier Arts Center, Laurel, MD and “Versions” at Hillyer Art Space, Washington, DC. She was included in the two-person exhibition “Adapt/Adorn” with Amy Boone-McCreesh at Cody Gallery at Marymount University, Arlington, VA and the two-person show “Life Cycle – Mind/Body” wiht Se Jong Cho at Catlyst Contemporary in Baltimore.
Terence Hannum is a Baltimore, MD based artist, writer and musician. He received an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has exhibited at Mono Practice (Baltimore, MD), The Suburban (Milwaukee), TSA (Brooklyn), Guest Spot (Baltimore), Western Exhibitions (Chicago, IL), Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Gallery 400 at UIC (Chicago, IL), Allegra La Viola (NYC), & Jonathan Ferrara Gallery (New Orleans, LA). Terence is a founding member of the experimental metal band LOCRIAN. Terence teaches Digital Fabrication at Carroll Community College in Westminster, MD.
John Ralston is a multifaceted artist and carpenter based in Baltimore, Maryland. A Virginia native, Ralston honed his skills at Old Dominion University before pursuing advanced studies in fine art at the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Mount Royal program. Under the guidance of esteemed artists such as Frances Barth, Alice Aycock, and Luca Buvoli, he refined his artistic vision. Ralston’s work is influenced by a cadre of distinguished artists, including Tony Cragg, Ursula Von Rydingsvard, Ron Nagle, Carol Bove, and Bram Bogart. In his professional life, Ralston oversees renovation projects across Baltimore, drawing inspiration from the materials and methods he encounters to fuel his artistic endeavors. He takes pride in the tactile experience of creation, valuing the integrity of well-crafted objects in both art and design.
Support for this exhibit is made possible by BakerArtist.org. Special thanks to the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.
