Pagoda, painted screen by Ted Richardson (Photo courtesy of Elaine Eff)
Photo by: Pagoda, painted screen by Ted Richardson (Photo courtesy of Elaine Eff)
Thank an intelligent and economical Czechoslovakian grocer for that definitive Baltimore folk art, the painted screen. In the summer of 1913, concerned about the welfare of his lettuce and tomatoes in the humid Maryland heat, William Oktavec decided to move his produce display inside, but needed a way to advertise his wares.
His solution: paint images of vegetables on his window screens.
Baltimoreans will be able to learn about the past — and present — world of painted screens on Saturday, when Maryland folklorist Elaine Eff and Creative Alliance are offering a guided tour of the city’s window-screen works of folk art.
The marketing-savvy grocer’s idea caught on. Locals began commissioning Oktavec, who was trained as a butcher and draftsman, to paint screens for their homes. In addition to being beautiful, the screens allowed people to see out, but not in, granting homes a measure of privacy from passersby on the street.
Though Oktavec’s original dream to open an art supply store in Baltimore didn’t come true right away, the painted screens eventually helped him make enough money to open his store, which became a hub for community art in East Baltimore.
Fast forward to 2010. Elaine Eff, a Maryland folklorist, is a present-day maven of painted screens in Baltimore (and a variety of other Maryland traditions). This Saturday, Eff will be offering Baltimore an opportunity to learn more about Oktavec and tour painted screens still being displayed in homes in southeast Baltimore.
Eff’s “Painted Screens Pilgrimage,” will include a screening of a documentary about the history of painted screens and a tour, with stops in historic neighborhoods including Little Bohemia (Northeast Baltimore), Fells Point, Canton and Highlandtown.
“We will go to the original Oktavec corner grocery, where the first screen was painted,” Eff said. The group will also visit the Oktavec Art Shop, “the home of screens and other art forms for six decades,” Eff said.
Participants will also get to see how the tradition is alive and well, she said: new screens they’ll see have “more recent images, reflecting new dreams and aspirations, such as chairs by the ocean alongside a bottle of white wine.”
Saturday May 15, 9:30am-12:30pm.
Creative Alliance at the Patterson (3134 Eastern Avenue)
Price: $35; $30 members of Creative Alliance and Painted Screen Society.
Tour, Painted Screen Pilgrimage booklet , film screening & continental breakfast.
For tickets and information 410-276-1651
