The Baltimore Arts Realty Corporation, which headed up Motor House’s $6.5 million refurbishment, “kept many of the historic details of the building,” Mitchell says—from original wood floors to incredible original windows that brighten the space and are the showpiece for every artist studio. Architects incorporated them with new details that give homage to its auto past. For example, on the first floor, an art piece that incorporates license plates encases the elevators.
Mitchell, who is also the founder of the Urban Arts Leadership Program at the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, plans to use the first-floor performance space to showcase art forms such as dance and jazz. (Check out these upcoming performances.) “Both never really had a permanent home, or formal home in Baltimore,” he says. But he hopes this space—which can seat 120 patrons in a cabaret-like setting or 230 with standing room—can change that, and his mind is percolating with ideas. “I want to make it a place for important community conversations or information sessions,” he says. “The idea is that the space is flexible.”
On the second floor, art studios are the focus. Towards the back of the floor are single studios—whose inhabitants include renowned resident artist Joyce Scott—that overlook Baltimore’s legendary Graffiti Alley. But in the front of the building are eight microstudios, 150- to 250-square-foot spaces that surround a communal hallway. They came about after requests from artists that Motor House include more affordable spaces, Mitchell says, and cost between $175 to $200 to rent each month. Here is the opening to painter Ernest Shaw’s studio, with his portrait of writer James Baldwin.
The third floor is home to the administrative offices of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, the Station North Arts & Entertainment District, and others. Art is still being added to the walls, but one acquisition is this work by mosaic artist Loring Cornish that Mitchell stands in front of. You can probably guess what object Cornish transformed here.