Trawick Prize Finalists

Eleven artists have been selected as finalists for the eighth annual Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, easily the DMV's premier arts award.

The work of the finalists will be on display from September 1 – 25, 2010 in downtown Bethesda at 4728 Hampden Lane.

The prize winners will be announced on Wednesday, September 1st at a special press event at the space. The Best in Show 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 April 9, 1980 will also be awarded $1,000.

The artists selected as finalists are:

Barbara Bernstein, Amherst, VA
Milana Braslavsky, Reisterstown, MD
Ellen Burchenal, Baltimore, MD
Anne Chan, Silver Spring, MD
Kathryn Cornelius, Washington, D.C.
Adam Davies, Washington, D.C.
Bernhard Hildebrandt, Baltimore, MD
Magnolia Laurie, Baltimore, MD
Sara Pomerance, Washington, D.C.
Ding Ren, Washington, D.C.
Dan Steinhilber, Washington, D.C.

A public reception will be held on Friday, September 10, 2010 from 6-9pm in conjunction with the Bethesda Art Walk. The Gallery hours are Wednesday - Saturday from 12-6pm.

Entries were juried by Harry Cooper, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; Robert Haywood, Deputy Director, Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, MD and Emily Smith, Curatorial Fellow in Modern and Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Established by my good friend Carol Trawick in 2003, The Trawick Prize honors the work of local artists and establishes a foundation for a solid arts community in downtown Bethesda. Founder Carol Trawick has served as a community activist for more than 25 years in downtown Bethesda; including working on legislation to designate communities in Maryland as Arts & Entertainment Districts. She is past Chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, past Chair of the Bethesda Urban Partnership, current Chair of Strathmore, and Founder of The Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation and the Bethesda Painting Awards.

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 over $98,000 in prize monies and has exhibited the work of 83 regional artists. Best in Show recipients include: Richard Clever, Baltimore MD (2003); David Page, Baltimore, MD (2004); Jiha Moon, Annandale, VA (2005); James Rieck, Baltimore, MD (2006); Jo Smail, Baltimore, MD (2007); Maggie Michael, Washington, D.C. (2008); and Rene Trevino, Baltimore, MD (2009).

Who will win this year? It depends who is the real HMFIC out of the three judges. Five will get you ten that Steinhilber is being pushed by Cooper, Burchenal or Hildebrandt by Haywood, and Bernstein by Smith. Since Bernstein is the only VA artist in the mix, I suspect that Smith was the quiet one in the junta of jurors, and since 6 of the 11 artists are DMV, that Cooper was the lead general of the junta.

So, since Steinhilber has been a finalist before, and since I suspect that Cooper is the arm twister in the group, I bet that Dan will be the winner of the 2010 Trawick Prize. If he wins it will be well-deserved and bring the prize to one of the DMV's local art stars.