Short Bio: Gerald Ross is the Director of Exhibitions at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. He was born in Laramie, Wyoming in 1965. He received a degree in Painting from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1989, where he was also a Yale scholar. In the 1990s he collaborated on six public mural projects, receiving numerous awards. Ross continues to peruse his studio art and shows regularly in the region. He has also served as a juror for many fine art awards, including the Trawick Prize and the National Sculpture Residency Prize at Evergreen House. As Director of the Exhibitions Department at MICA, Gerald manages a diverse, energetic and vital program – installing over 100 exhibitions per year, campus-wide. Since 2003, he has curated exhibitions, established public programming and has worked with the community to bring a large variety of local, national, and international groups and artists to MICA.
Name: Gerald Ross
Age: 47
Occupation: Exhibitions director, Adjunct Professor of Curatorial Practice MFA, and Curator at MICA; Muralist, Artist, and Painter
Baltimore Neighborhood: Reservoir Hill
Obsessive Collections: I collect lots of things; a lot of bric-a-brac. I walk a lot and I tend to pick up little, tiny discarded objects that I find visually interesting and put them in cigar boxes and on shelves. Been doing this for years. I also collect records and have tons of US presidential “material” around.
Currently Reading: 2666 by Roberto Bolaño and Who I Am by Pete Townshend.
Coolest Place You’ve Ever Lived or Travelled To: I grew up in the Rocky Mountains, which I am incredibly grateful for. The most incredible place I have ever travelled to would have to be Israel, 2 summers ago.
Hobbies or Leisure Activities: I used to be an avid bridge player. Now I garden and like to grow things. I’d like to be an urban farmer for a living, in a different lifetime. I also love to fish but hardly ever get to do it.
Favorite Food to Eat at Home: I’ve been told that I make incredible gumbo… and a kick-ass turkey chili. A couple of huge pots of each spaced throughout the winter are incredibly comforting.
Favorite Food to Eat Out: The lunchtime buffet at Kumari on Fridays. Hopefully it’s a lunch date with my wife.
Favorite Beverage of Choice: I totally love a very, very cold can of National Bohemian beer. Love it.
Political Leanings: Left of Left with a large measure of Absurdo-Miserablism.
Favorite Baltimore spot to hang out: My tiny backyard.
Pets: 2 hilarious cats: ‘Puzzle’ and ‘Montgomery McButters,’ brothers.
Favorite Artist, Living or Dead: Really hard to say but, when it’s all said and done, Phillip Guston consistently remains at or near the top.
Movie that Sums Up the Current State of Your Life: I don’t know… ”Close Encounters of the Third Kind” pretty much nails it, I think.
Favorite Bad Habit: Thinking about smoking a cigarette.
Mantra or Favorite Quote: Uh…. no. Don’t do that.
Image Credit: Gerald Ross. “Talon,” 2007. Oil on panel. Owned by the great Baltimore painter Jordan Kasey.
