Learning at the Walters

Douriean Fletcher is a self-taught jewelry artist whose work spans television, film, and independent design. She made history by becoming the first jeweler ever included in the Motion Picture Costumers Union. And from April 18 to August 9, 2026, visitors to the Walters Art Museum will have the opportunity to see her jewelry up close in Douriean Fletcher: Jewelry of the Afrofuture.

One of the most dynamic galleries at the Walters might also be one of its smallest. Tucked just inside the entrance to the Medieval galleries on the third floor of the Centre Street building, there sits a snug, windowless room. This space is the Manuscript and Rare Book Gallery, and every six months, it boasts a new exhibition that shows off treasures from the Walters’ renowned collection of medieval manuscripts, rare books, and more.

While many artists seek to root themselves in a single form of expression, Stephanie Mercedes describes herself as an “anti-disciplinary artist.” She works in nearly every medium, from opera and soundscape to sculpture and dance, but it’s metalwork sculpture that she returns to most often. Learn more about how she created her work We Were Treated Like Numbers Rather Than Stars (2025), now on view in the museum’s Centre Street Atrium.

An unusual cacophony of sound recently filled the Walters Art Museum’s Palazzo Building. Hammering, sawing, and drilling could be heard as hard-at-work contractors de-installed and renovated the museum’s North Court galleries. These spaces saw their first major changes in 40 years to make way for Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano, the first long-term installation dedicated to this area of the museum’s permanent collection.

Jackie Milad’s light-filled studio in Baltimore’s Woodberry neighborhood is a cacophony of color. Her current work-in-progress covers much of its south-facing wall. Standing atop sturdy orange scaffolding with a long-handled brush in hand, she applies another layer of paint to a small swath of the fuchsia canvas on which she’s already made many marks. Go behind the scenes with Milad as she creates two large-scale tapestry collages for installation in the Walters’ Ancient World galleries.

The Walters Art Museum is among America’s most distinctive museums, forging connections between people and art that spans seven millennia from cultures around the world. This fall, the Walters will reach a celebratory milestone: 90 years of operation as a public cultural institution in Baltimore. Take a trip back through time to see where the Walters has been, where it is now, and where the institution is headed in the next 90 years.

The Walters Art Museum presents a major exhibition of Ethiopian art and history in Ethiopia at the Crossroads. Examining Ethiopian art as representative of the nation’s history, the exhibition demonstrates the enormous cultural significance of this often-overlooked African nation through the themes of cross-cultural exchange and the human role in the creation and movement of art objects across the Mediterranean region and within the African continent.

Following a multi-year reinstallation project, which included a complete renovation of the Level 4 galleries in the Centre Street building, the Walters Art Museum is proud to present a landmark installation of its core Asian and Islamic collections, brought together for the first time in Across Asia: Arts of Asia and the Islamic World.