Cocktails & Conversation with Artist Ed Istwan and Curator Kristen Hileman

Please join us on Sunday, June 30, for an afternoon of cocktails and casual conversation with artist Ed Istwan and Curator Kristen Hileman.  We will begin at 2pm with a Peale Garden party and convene in Istwan’s FLOWERS exhibition at 3pm for an artist talk. Ed and Kristen will discuss the show from an intimate inside perspective, providing an informative glimpse into Ed’s particularly driven creative process. This is a free event. All are welcome (non-alcoholic beverages will be available for those under 21).

Ed Istwan received his MFA from the Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1996. Since then, he has worked at various Baltimore institutions, including the American Visionary Art Museum – where he has been a judge for the Kinetic Sculpture Race since it began in 1999. Over two decades of his professional life has been spent as a visual merchandiser for the Swedish home furnishings giant IKEA- designing and outfitting new stores across the United States. Much of the work whilst there informs his artistic output today both in terms of process and aesthetic result. While Istwan’s work has been included in various exhibitions over the years, this is his first large museum exhibition.

Kristen Hileman is a Baltimore-based independent curator and educator who spent nearly two decades working in museums, first as a curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and more recently as the Head of the Contemporary Department at The Baltimore Museum of Art. She is a Core Critic at the Yale School of Art and Critic-in-Residence at the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She also teaches regularly for the Intermedia and Digital Arts program at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Since 2019, she has operated Kristen Hileman Art Advisory. This June, Washington DC’s Kreeger Museum opened a 30th-anniversary exhibition organized by Hileman, featuring 14 Maryland, Virginia, and Washington artists. A retrospective of Baltimore-based photographer Connie Imboden’s work for the American University Museum organized by Hileman will open in September 2024.

Hileman’s curatorial practice combines a strong interest in finding relevant platforms for celebrating under-recognized and regional artists and a desire to innovate within the museum and exhibition field. John Baldessari; Cai Guo-Qiang; Njideka Akunyili Crosby; Maren Hassinger; Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley, Meleko Mokgosi; Sarah Oppenheimer; Dario Robleto; Tomas Saraceno; Jo Smail; Anne Truitt; and John Waters are among the artists who have been the focus of Hileman’s exhibitions.