Join Us for an Art Tour!
The Hotel at the University of Maryland is offering meeting planners a unique experience for their attendees with the new “Meetings in a Museum” program. With more than 100 pieces of artwork on display throughout the hotel, planners can provide participants with information for a self-guided tour.
Learn about our lobby artwork
Mermaid’s Purse by Rodney Carroll
Throughout The Hotel, guests find nods to the state of Maryland. Meeting rooms are named for famous Marylanders, including Harriet Tubman and Francis Scott Key; the very recognizable Maryland state flag is emblazoned on the glass canopy above the entrance; and the room service menu includes such state favorites as crab cakes and Eastern Shore fried chicken. It should be no surprise, then, that the two major pieces of artwork installed in The Hotel’s lobby also have ties to the state, though they’re a little more subtle and truly reveal the passions of their creator, Baltimore-based sculptor Rodney Carroll.
When The Hotel approached Carroll about this commission, the artist wanted to tie his artwork to the University of Maryland and its home state, but he didn’t want to do it in the usual or obvious ways. “I think this place deserves a little sophistication,” Carroll says. So he chose to focus on the Chesapeake Bay, which practically slices the state in half and which is an integral part of the history, culture, culinary attributes and ecology of Maryland.
A Statement from the curator
The inception of this collection began with a serendipitous conversation between myself and David Hillman, Founder and CEO of Southern Management Corporation, at a Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce event. The outcome that unfolded speaks to Mr. Hillman’s enormous goodwill and my pursuit to highlight the talent of our local artists and create platforms for those emerging in the public art realm. Converging both contemporary aesthetics and unbounded expectations, the collection reverberates a sense of enchantment. “Beyond Abstraction”, as I like to acknowledge the curatorial intent, offers viewers the opportunity to experience one hundred four innovative works by fourteen exceptional artists that daringly interplay imagery, colors, textures and materiality beyond traditional assumptions of abstraction art and modernist photography.
Rhonda Dallas is the Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council and Founder, LeDae Contemporary. She holds a Master’s in Fine Arts Degree from the Maryland Institute College of Arts (MICA) and received a BBA from Howard University.
