Some she has known for years, others she discovered recently. All the eight artists Mickalene Thomas chose to include in her new exhibition, “A Moment’s Pleasure,” at the Baltimore Museum of Art, emphasize her broad network of like-minded creators.

One commonality is that they are “playing between figuration and abstraction,” in the words of Carlyn Thomas, a curatorial assistant who worked on the show — a balance similar to Ms. Thomas’s own art.

Derrick Adams, 49 , based in Brooklyn, creates layered, collagelike works depicting African-American lives in many media. He hopes to create a residency in Baltimore, saying, “The highest point of success is to help other artists.”

Zoë Charlton, 46, who has five works on vellum in the show depicting African-American figures, recently had one of her pieces acquired by the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.