Join us for an evening featuring Idra Novey and her latest novel, TAKE WHAT YOU NEED! Baltimore's own American Visionary Art Museum features in the novel, and to bring the novel to life, we are thrilled to have Jenenne Whitfield, Director of the American Visionary Art Museum, and Jordan Tierney, 2023 Baker Artist Awardee, to join Novey in conversation.

After our conversation about TAKE WHAT YOU NEED, stay and celebrate the spirit of creating beauty from the overlooked. In the bookstore garden, we'll build a collaborative sculpture out of discards, in the manner of Jean, the artist in Idra’s novel. We’ll supply the found materials from Baltimore’s urban streams.

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Click here to order TAKE WHAT YOU NEED!

Idra Novey's novel Take What You Need is about an off-the grid artist whose work eventually finds a home at the American Visionary Art Museum. The novel was named one of the New Yorker's Best Books of 2023 so far, and was a spring fiction pick with The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Take What You Need was a 2023 selection for NPR's Nerdette Book Club. Novey teaches fiction writing at Princeton University.

Jordan Tierney’s artwork speaks for the urban streams of Baltimore and the beings struggling to survive there. The found wood and trash gathered on foot are her raw materials for sculpture. She won the Baker Artist Award for Visual Art in 2023. Her work is in many public and private collections. https://jordantierney.com/

Jenenne Whitfield, D.D. serves as the Director of the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM), Baltimore. Prior to her new appointment, she was President of the critically acclaimed Heidelberg Project, founded by Tyree Guyton in Detroit. Under Ms. Whitfield’s direction, The Heidelberg Project has risen to international status and is currently recognized as one of the most influential art environments in the world. Her leadership, knowledge and experience have prepared her to take the helm after AVAM’s founder and only director, Rebecca Hoffberger retirement. She defines her path as: Developing and cultivating key educational and civic relationships within the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area; Creating national alliances with other visionary art institutions; Enhancing internal operations and infrastructure; Expanding AVAM’s already outstanding local, national, and international status. Whitfield says, “it’s not about replacing, it’s about passing the baton, growing and expanding.” She welcomes the new challenge with open arms.

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