Shopping around: antique villages, outdoor markets and retail stores - Maryland's African American Culture: A Guide to Maryland's African American Attractions and Events - Directory

American Visions, April-May, 1994 by Henry Chase

As Smokey sings, "My mama told me, |You better shop around.'" American Visions takes Mama at her word and sends back this dispatch from Maryland's commercial front, where passion is married to purchasing with grace-particularly for those with an interest in products that reflect and endorse both our African heritage and the African-American accent we've added to the United States.

Original paintings, artists' proofs and limited-edition prints by Frank Frazier, Kathleen Atkins-Wilson, Joseph Holston, Ernie Barnes, Annie Lee, Varnette Honeywood and others can be found at the African-American Art Gallery in Columbia. The gallery has two floors of artwork, an open catalog from which to order the latest published releases of prominent black artists, and a special collection of military art depicting the Buffalo Soldiers and the Tuskegee Airmen.

In addition to fine art, the gallery has a collection of woodcarvings, sculpture, masks and jewelry from Africa. The creations of artists and craftsmen from Tanzania, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt and other African countries, as well as from the diaspora in the Caribbean and Latin America, grace the shop. Prices at the African-American Art Gallery range from $10 for a miniprint to $3,000 for a rare Buffalo Soldier print or an original work of art.

Customers will also find Afrocentric videos, audiotaped speeches of outstanding members of the diaspora, and greeting cards, dolls, floral arrangements and other gift items made by Africans and African Americans. The African-American Art Gallery has one final contribution to offer to the retail shopper: a bridal shop featuring Afrocentric wedding and reception accouterments.

The Ruby Blakeney Gallery in Annapolis is set in a waterfront shop overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. Here, pieces by renowned African-American artists such as Sam Gilliam; Eddie Dixon, the creator of the Buffalo Soldier statue dedicated at Fort Leavenworth by General Colin Powell; Joyce Wellman, the abstract artist and printmaker; and Angela Franklin, one of the leading American artists working in enamel, are featured next to those of international artists of color, such as James Brown (Haiti), Nasser Ovissi (Iran), Kayado (Zaire) and Monique Rolle (the Bahanias). Also well-represented at the gallery are works of local artists from across the ethnic spectrum of the city. Prices for original works of art range from $75 to $28,000.

Baltimore has several shops at which to find what you want, including Out of Africa Boutique, Everyone's Place Bookstore & Afrikan Cultural Center, and Shades of Beauty. Out of Africa Boutique offers authentic African clothing for adults and children. Ashoke and sududua fabrics from Nigerian weavers, kente fabric from the Ewe and Ashanti weavers of Ghana, mud cloth from Mali, and cotton print fabrics from Benin, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Senegal are available, as are Nigerian baskets and dolls; masks from Benin, Gambia, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast; and carvings from Kenya. African art and prints, greeting cards, kente print wrapping paper, bags, comforters and pillowcases round out the goods to be found at Out of Africa.

Everyone's Place Bookstore & Afrikan Cultural Center is a three-story Afrocentric department store. A health food center offers health and beauty aids, groceries, herbs and vitamins; a cafe provides a selection of vegetarian dishes for those who can't wait to get home before trying out the edibles. The store's African boutique sells jewelry, incense and oils, and fabric and clothing from Ethiopia, Gambia, Nigeria, Senegal, Zimbabwe and Haiti, while its bookstore has a selection of thousands of titles, videos and cassettes for adults and children. There are also toys, calendars, maps, greeting cards and gift items for sale. Everyone's art gallery boasts an African village scene complete with huts, masks, baskets and musical instruments, which will occupy the kids while you browse through works of art from across the Mother Continent.

Shades of Beauty offers a wide selection of African-American prints by artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Leroy Campbell and Ernie Barnes. Black books and Christian works (including the African Heritage Bible), as well as gospel music and gift items, are also available.

While in Baltimore, seize the chance to stroll through Lexington Market, where you'll follow in the footsteps of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Daniel Webster. Simply walking into Lexington, the oldest continuously operated market in the United States, warms the senses. Fruit and vegetables arranged in colorful rows, Maryland's best fish lying artfully displayed on ice, cheeses hanging before your eyes, the sound of music drifting through the air, and the inviting aromas of salads and sushi, crab cakes and fresh coconut, corned beef and candy conspire to bring on smiles--and pangs of hunger. it's the best bargain in town.

Not too far outside the city, in Howard County, are two historic towns that offer enchanting reminders of the early 1800s--and hundreds of specialty stores. Ellicott City was founded in 1772 and two years later boasted that it was Colonial America's greatest milltown, producing animal feed, flour, iron nails, oil, lumber, paper, wagons and wool with the aid of eight mills. The mills no longer exist, but the 1830 B&O Railroad depot (the first passenger terminus built in America) still stands, serving as the Ellicott City B&O Railroad Museum, where historic photos, memorabilia, artifacts and scale model trains are on display. Brick sidewalks, stone and granite buildings, a dozen restaurants and more than 150 retail stores (antiques, jewelry, boutiques, handicrafts, art galleries) make the town a great place for exploration.