The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, a juried art competition produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, celebrated its 15th anniversary and announced the 2017 prize winners last night during the exhibition’s opening. Larry Cook from Landover Hills, MD was awarded “Best in Show” and received the $10,000 top prize; Cindy Cheng from Baltimore, MD was named second place and given $2,000; Renée Rendine from Towson, MD was bestowed third place and received $1,000; and Giulia Livi from Baltimore, MD received the $1,000 young artist award.
Larry Cook has shown his work in various group and solo exhibitions throughout the region. His work was included in group shows including It Takes A Nation at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, D.C.,To Be Black in White America at Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore, MD and How We Lost DC at Honfleur Gallery in Washington, D.C. Cook’s solo exhibits have been shown at Hamiltonian Gallery, (e)merge art fair, and Pleasant Plains Workshop in Washington, D.C. He received his Master of Fine Arts from George Washington University. He is a visual art teacher at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, MD. Cook was the 2014 Trawick Prize Young Artist Award Winner, a Hamiltonian Fellow from 2013-2015 and a finalist for the Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize in 2013 and 2016.
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| Winner Larry Cook_with Catherine Leggett, Carol Trawick and Catriona Fraser |
2017 Trawick Prize Finalists
Cindy Cheng, Baltimore, MD
Larry Cook, Landover Hills, MD
Amy Finkelstein, Takoma Park, MD
Helen Glazer, Owings Mills, MD
Giulia Livi, Baltimore, MD
Michele Montalbano, Burke, VA
Ben Piwowar, Baltimore, MD
Renée Rendine, Towson, MD
The exhibit opening celebrated the talented finalists as well as recognized Carol Trawick for her generous and gracious support of the competition for the past 15 years. Established by Ms. Trawick in 2003, The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards is one of the first regional competitions and largest prizes to annually honor visual artists.
A longtime community activist in downtown Bethesda, Ms. Trawick has served as the Chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, Bethesda Urban Partnership, Strathmore and the Maryland State Arts Council. The Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation was established in 2007 after the Trawicks sold their successful information technology company. A former teacher and entrepreneur, Ms. Trawick remains engaged in a range of philanthropic causes through the Foundation, which was established to assist health and human services and arts non-profits in Montgomery County. The Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation has awarded grants to more than 90 nonprofits.
The work of the finalists will be on exhibit at Gallery B, 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, until September 30. The public opening reception will be Friday, September 8 from 6-8pm. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit are Wednesday through Saturday, 12 – 6pm.
Entries were juried by Zoë Charlton, Art Department Chair and Associate Professor at American University; Neil Feather, Maryland-based artist and former winner of the Sondheim Art Prize and The Trawick Prize and Elizabeth Mead, Art Department Chair and Associate Professor of Art and Art History at William & Mary.
To date, The Trawick Prize has awarded $205,000 in prize monies and has exhibited the work of more than 130 regional artists. Previous Best in Show recipients include Richard Cleaver, 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; Lillian Bayley Hoover, 2012; Gary Kachadourian, 2013; Neil Feather, 2014; Jonathan Monaghan, 2015 and Lauren Adams, 2016.