Sixth Annual Bethesda Painting Awards

Deadline: Friday, February 26, 2010

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently accepting applications for the sixth annual Bethesda Painting Awards, a juried competition honoring four selected painters with $14,000 in prize monies. Deadline for slide submission is Friday, February 26, 2010. Up to eight finalists will be invited to display their work from June 1 – 26, 2010 in downtown Bethesda at the Fraser Gallery.

The competition will be juried by Dr. Carolyn Carr, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; Mark Karnes, drawing and painting teacher at Maryland Institute College of Art and Erling Sjovold, painting professor at the University of Richmond.

The first place winner will be awarded $10,000; second place will be honored with $2,000 and third place will be awarded $1,000. A “young” artist whose birth date is after February 26, 1980 may also be awarded $1,000.

Artists must be 18 years of age or older and residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. All original 2-D painting including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic and mixed media will be accepted. The maximum dimension should not exceed 60 inches in width or 84 inches in height. No reproductions. Artwork must have been completed within the last two years and must be available for the duration of the exhibition. Digital entries on CD will be accepted.

Each artist must submit five slides, application and a non-refundable entry fee of $25.

Applications are available online at www.bethesda.org or please call 301/215-6660. You may also send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the Bethesda Painting Awards, c/o Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District 7700 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, MD 20814.