Blog By Doreen Bolger Director Baltimore Museum of Art "So Much More than a Haircut"

Troy Stanton explains his mission with humility and charm, beginning with “I am a barber” and quickly expanding to “I build bridges and fill gaps.” His goal is to bring the arts to his community, especially the young men and women who may never find their way to a museum or library on their own.

Art fills the walls of Troy’s barbershop/art centerin Southwest Baltimore, co-owned by Ciara Daniels and Rick P. Sunlight streams into the shop, New Beginnings Unisex Barbershop, through its wide, old fashioned windows and streaks across pale orange walls. A plush yellow sofa beckons. For customers or the curious, there’s a library. The subjects? Art, history, and music. A computer and Wi-Fi are available for anyone who wants or needs to explore online.

If you looked around the shop, you’d see the wonderful collection of African-American art that Troy has amassed and shares.What a range of subjects and styles! Some recall the suffering of slavery or the struggles of civil rights, among them are paintings by Baltimore’s Ulysses Marshall who combines bright colors and abstracted shapes with collaged images, often faces.

Others express more personal experiences. Lover’s Hearts, a mixed media piece by Washington-based Renee Stout, represents a jar of what looks like shallots. Her inscription, penciled in the upper corner, reads: “… Even now I feel his presence in this house … he said I feel good here. I could love him. But I won’t.”

Our Family by Maya Freelon Ashante, a tissue paper monoprint, was created using a vintage family photograph of an elderly African-American woman in an elaborate hat, seated and surrounded by four smiling children. This is the sort of moment we all remember, never quite sure if it is the memory of the event or the frozen moment captured by the camera that we recall. Coincidentally, I ran into Maya this week and she told me that the photograph was taken in a train station. I feel certain it was taken the moment before a departure.

Second Sundays at the shop give those interested in contemporary African-American art a place to gather. The incredible jazz music there will draw you up a circular cast-iron staircase to the mezzanine above, where you’ll find—not a high tech sound system, but Kevin Henderson, playing the saxophone just for you if you’re early.

At the most recent Second Sunday, two speakers addressed the crowd: Curlee Raven Holt, a master printer and the Director of The Experimental Printmaking Institute at Lafayette College, and James Larry Frazier, a Washington-area estate lawyer.

James offered advice to collectors: document your art purchases and give some thought to their distribution after your death, whether the recipients are family or friends, museums, libraries, or others who will share it.

Curlee described his adventures in higher education and printmaking, calling prints “democratic”—as their prices make them accessible to a wider spectrum of collectors. His goal, he said, is to bring his art “to the people who love it.”

Stop by 1047 Hollins Avenue—to get a haircut or to experience this special place. New Beginnings Unisex Barbershop is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays, 6 a.m. to noon. The next Second Sundays are 3 to 6 p.m. October 10 and November 14.