Bethesda Painting Awards prize winners announced!

Best in Show Winner Mary Anne Arntzen Awarded $10,000

The Bethesda Arts and Entertainment District announced the top three Bethesda Painting Awards prize winners on Wednesday evening during the exhibition’s opening at Gallery B. Mary Anne Arntzen of Baltimore, MD was awarded “Best in Show” with $10,000; W.C. Richardson of University Park, MD was named second place and was given $2,000 and Nicole Santiago of Williamsburg, VA received third place and was awarded $1,000. Additionally, McKinley Wallace III of Baltimore, MD was recognized with the Young Artist Award and received $1,000.

Pictured from L to R: Catriona Fraser, Painting Awards Chair; Nicole Santiago, Third Place Winner; Carol Trawick, Founder; Kyle Hackett, 2019 Painting Awards Judge

Mary Anne Arntzen earned a Masters of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art and her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boston University. Her work has been shown nationally, including recent exhibits at the Walters Art Museum, the Painting Center and St. Charles Projects in Baltimore, MD. She has completed residencies at the Wassaic Project, Vermont Studio Center and Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild. She was a 2018 nominee for the Joan Mitchell Painting and Sculpture Grant and a finalist for the Sondheim Prize in 2017. Arntzen has taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art, George Washington University, and the Community College of Baltimore County. She is also a member of ICA Baltimore.

Mary Anne Arntzen

The eight artists selected as finalists are:

Mary Anne Arntzen, Baltimore, MD

Taha Heydari, Baltimore, MD

Lillian Bayley Hoover, Baltimore, MD

Gina Gwen Palacios, Baltimore, MD

Erin Raedeke, Montgomery Village, MD

W.C. Richardson, University Park, MD

Nicole Santiago, Williamsburg, VA

McKinley Wallace III, Baltimore, MD

Personally, my favorite was Nicole Santiago, and she would have been my top prize winner (she was awarded 3rd place). However, art is very subjective, never objective and we all know where I stand on that issue when it comes to art!

By Nicole Santiago

A public opening will be held on Friday, June 14, from 6-8pm. Gallery B is located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E in downtown Bethesda. The work of the eight finalists will be on display from June 5-29, 2019. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 12-6pm.

The competition jurors were Kyle Hackett, Professor of Art, American University and the 2014 Bethesda Painting Awards; Sue Johnson, Professor of Art, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and Susan Zurbrigg, Painting and Drawing Area Head, Professor of Art, James Madison University.