The Trawick Prize:
Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, a juried art competition produced by the
Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, announced the top four prize
winners on Friday evening during the exhibition’s opening. Gary Kachadourian from Baltimore, MD was awarded “Best in Show”
with $10,000; Adam Hager from Washington,
D.C. was named second place and given $2,000 and Mariah Anne Johnson from Washington, D.C. was bestowed third place
and received $1,000.
2013 Trawick Prize Finalists
Lauren
Adams - Baltimore, MD
Selin
Balci - Annapolis, MD
Travis
Childers - Fairfax, VA
Adam
Hager - Washington, D.C.
Mariah
Anne Johnson - Washington, D.C.
Gary
Kachadourian - Baltimore, MD
Kate
Kretz - Colesville, MD
Caitlin
Teal Price - Washington, D.C
The
work of the finalists will be on exhibit at Gallery B, 7700 Wisconsin Avenue,
Suite E, from Sept.
4-28, 2013. The public opening reception
was held Friday, Sept. 13 from 6-9pm in conjunction with the Bethesda Art
Walk. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit are Wednesday through
Saturday, 12 – 6pm.
Entries
were juried by Cynthia Connelly, Visual
Arts Curator at Artisphere in Arlington, VA; Alexander
Heilner, Associate Dean of Design and Media Studies at
Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore; and Vesela Sretenović,
Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Phillips Collection in
Washington, D.C.
The Trawick Prize was established in 2003 by Carol
Trawick, a longtime community
activist in downtown Bethesda.
She is the past Chair of both the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District
and Bethesda Urban Partnership, and also the Founder of the Bethesda Painting
Awards. In 2007, Ms. Trawick founded the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation to
assist heath and human services and arts non-profits in Montgomery County.
The Trawick Prize is one of the first regional competitions and largest prizes to annually honor
visual artists. To date, The Trawick Prize has awarded $126,000 in prize monies
and has exhibited the work of over 100 regional artists. Previous Best in Show recipients include Richard
Clever, 2003; David Page, 2004; Jiha Moon, 2005; James Rieck, 2006; Jo Smail,
2007; Maggie Michael, 2008; Rene Trevino, 2009; Sara Pomerance, 2010; Mia
Feuer, 2011 and Lillian Bayley Hoover in 2012.
6 comments:
I went to Gallery B today. While there were several cute or clever pieces there was a distinct lack of serious art. The photographs were derivative and insipid. The hair project goes no where and stacked pillow cases is absurd. When you wonder why Washington doesn't have a respectable reputation in the arts you need only go to Gallery B and see what the Trawick group thinks is the best in contemporary art. I'm sorry, it's a joke.
I know EXACTLY which juror pushed and got the winner through! I know that it is hard to keep nepotism out of these sort of competitions, but someone ought to try to make sure that they don't devolve into "friends" of the jurors winning most of the time... Hint: It was one of the two DC area jurors ====> NOT the Baltimore one! Whole trail of the event is on Facebook comments.
ADBC
Someone should follow up on this. How about it Lenny?
Not me... I tried some of this for the painting awards and no one seemed to care...
This is Cynthia, one of the three jurors. The process was professionally conducted. The winning artists were selected by vote by the jurors and based on merit. I have been following Gary's work since he went back to school and am familiar with his work, as I am with many DC area artists who submitted. None of the judges had personal relationships with any of the artists. I know Gary because he is an artist and I like and follow his work.
Thank you Cynthia...
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