Charles Village : Buzz

On the heels of its reopening of an expanded contemporary wing, the Baltimore Museum of Art is plotting a series of new renovations to finish in the fall of 2014, when the museum celebrates its 100th birthday.

The BMA's upcoming renovations include a re-opening of the museum's original entrance, the Dorothy McIlvain Scott American Wing and the East Wing entrance and lobby, Art Daily writes. Additional renovations that will wrap up spring 2015 include a new Asian and African art collections and  a creative learning center that will help children better relate to the art around them.

Read more about the BMA renovations here.

A four-year degree at Johns Hopkins University costs $222,000, but the hefty price tag may be worth it.

That's according to the 2013 College Education ROI Rankings, produced by PayScale. Going to the school offers students – and their parents — a 6.2 percent return on their investment. Johns Hopkins ranked No. 53 on the list. The salary and career website compared the median pay of a college's graduates versus  students who only possessed a high school degree. 

Also on the list were several other Maryland schools: Loyola University, Maryland; University of Maryland, College Park; University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Notre Dame of Maryland University; Towson University; and, the Maryland Institute College of Art. 

Cubist painter was taught by Henri Matisse and friends with Pablo Picasso and Henri Rousseau.

And he is now the focus of a new exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art, which is featuring drawings, prints and paintings from the 20th century artist.

The Wall Street Journal highlights the exhibit, along with two others in Seattle and Miami.  

" 'Max Weber: Bringing Paris to New York,' chronicles in 40 works from 1908 through 1928 how he moved from a classical to a cubist style," the Journal writes. 

The exhibit started March 1 and runs through June 23. It features several Weber paintings from 1909 to 1915 that are part of the  BMA's collection along with many pieces on loan from the Estate of Max Weber. 

Baltimore's Video Americain, one of the few remaining video rental shops in a dying industry, has gotten a shout-out in the New York Times' small business blog.  

Miguel Gomez recently opened — you guessed it, a video store! — in suburban Philadelphia and told the New York Times that streaming and online video rentals can't beat the personal experience of browsing through titles and getting recommendations at a store.

"There aren’t too many video stores left in the country, but the ones that are left are all pretty great," Gomez tells the New York Times. "Baltimore has Video Americain, Seattle has Scarecrow Video, Austin has both I Luv Video and Vulcan Video, San Francisco has both Lost Weekend Video and Le Video … so there are communities still supporting video stores, as long as the video stores have stellar inventories."

Johns Hopkins University generally does well on U.S. rankings of the top colleges. 

But how does it stack up against institutions of higher learning from around the world?  Not bad. It ranks No. 19 in the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings of the top 100 universities from around the globe. The University of Maryland, College Park also comes up on the list, at 95.

The British publication put Harvard, MIT and England's University of Cambridge in the top three. 

The Times Higher Education says it determined its ranking through an "invitation-only survey of academic opinion." 

Johns Hopkins University has won accolades for its world renowned academic studies in medicine, public policy and engineering.

The Baltimore school's writing program is also among the best, according to CollegeDegree.com. The site, in conjunction with USA Today College, placed Johns Hopkins No. 3 in its ranking of the ten best writing programs for college students. 

"Their English department boasts a long history of producing well-received and distinguished writers," CollegeDegree.com writes about the Charles Village school. "While they do offer courses in creative writing, Johns Hopkins focuses much more on literary writing, critical analysis, and literature education to improve writing skills."

Hopkins came behind Emory University in Atlanta and Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y.

You can see the entire list here. 

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is known for his largesse to his alma mater Johns Hopkins University. There is, after all, a public health school named after him.

But the New York Times has tallied up Bloomberg's contribution over the past four decades and says it totals $1.1 billion. 

"That figure, kept quiet even as it transformed every corner of the university, makes Mr. Bloomberg the most generous living donor to any education institution in the United States, according to university officials and philanthropic tallies," the Times writes. 

Though Bloomberg started out as an average student, he rose to prominence by the time he graduated, the article states. 

The rivalry between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens is pretty intense  — to put it mildly.

But the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Steelers' hometown newspaper, tells its readers to spend some of their time and money in a "city that abounds with great food and art."

The travel story tells readers to check out the Baltimore Museum of Art, Fort McHenry, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Little Italy restaurants and other venues. "Today, its most famous site is the landmark Inner Harbor, a historic seaport that was redeveloped from the late 1960s through the '80s," the Post-Gazette writes about Baltimore.

We'll ignore the little tidbit on picking a good Steelers bar. 

Arrive Magazine, the publication that Northeast travelers receive on Amtrak, has crafted a feature highlighting the Baltimore Museum of Art's recent expansion.

"The highlight of the new pieces is a site-specific reimagining of the museum's modern and contemporary collections in sculptural forms placed in the ceiling, walls and floors," Arrive writes.

The magazine also mentions the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, Everyman Theatre and the Hippodrome.

You can read the entire story here. 

Getting a four-year degree at Johns Hopkins University will set you back $231,280. That makes it one of the top 10 most expensive colleges, according to CNNMoney.com. Room and board for the 2012-2013 school year is $57,820, a 3.7 percent increase over the previous year. 

Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y., New York University and Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif., rounded out the top 3.

It's the second time this year that the Baltimore school got on the most expensive college list. Business Insider ranked it No. 7 on its list of 20 most expensive colleges. 

Johns Hopkins University says it received $6 million from the National Science Foundation to improve wind farm design, writes the Associated Press in a story carried in BloombergBusinessweek. 

"The researchers will study how to match the varying output of wind farms with power grids that provide a constant flow of electricity to customers," BloombergBusinessweek writes. "Johns Hopkins says researchers from Texas Tech, Smith College and the University of Puerto Rico along with European researchers from Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and Spain will also participate in the studies."

You can read the rest of the story here. 

The Washington Post features the Baltimore Museum of Art's much anticipated $24.5 million renovation of its contemporary wing, set to reopen Nov. 18. 

"Planning for the entire renovation — which will also include changes to the American and African Art spaces, as well as a new lobby and other visitor amenities — began a decade ago and is expected to be completed in 2014, when the museum celebrates its 100th anniversary," the Post writes. 

The renovated BMA wing will also feature two murals by Baltimore street artist Gaia, best known for organization Station North outdoor art project Open Walls Baltimore. 

Talk about flea market finds.

A Virginia woman bought a Renoir painting at a flea market for $7 that was set to go to auction and expected to fetch as much as $100,000.  

But then the Washington Post found that "Paysage Bords de Seine" may have been been stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art. A copy of the 1951 police report provided by the Baltimore police shows the painting was indeed stolen, the paper writes. 

"The new details could trigger a legal showdown over the painting’s ownership among several players: the historic Baltimore museum; the company that insured the painting and paid a $2,500 claim for the stolen artwork; the six-year-old auction house; and the Virginia woman who unwittingly purchased the Renoir at the Harpers Ferry Flea Market," the Post writes. You can read the entire article here. 

Sending your kid to Johns Hopkins University will set you back $55,742 a year in room, board, fees and tuition.

That makes the Charles Village school the 7th most expensive university in the country, according to Business Insider. Sarah Lawrence College, New York University and Columbia University are the three most expensive colleges. You can see the complete ranking here.

Open Table has selected 100 best brunch spots in the country. And on that list is Gertrude's, John Shields restaurant at the Baltimore Museum of Art. 

It's one of two Maryland restaurants on the list. The other is Mrs. K's Toll House in Silver Spring. 

You can see the entire list here.