On Saturday night, Tom Hall attended the announcement of the winner of the 9th annual Janet & Walter SondheimArtscape Prize. It was held at the Walters Art Museum, where an exhibition of the work of the seven Sondheim finalists is on display. 458 artists applied for the award. A panel of artists and curators from NY chose seven finalists. Baltimore was heavily represented in that group. Six of the seven finalists call Charm City home.
The finalists
Lauren Adams, who works with painting, drawing, printmaking, digital manipulation and sometimes video and performance in her installations, which are associated with socio-political issues. She’s on the faculty of the MD Institute College of Art.
Kyle Bauer is a sculptor who is currently an artist in residence at Baltimore Clayworks.
Shannon Collis is originally from Canada. She’s a digital artist who teaches at the University of Maryland.
The photographer Kyle Tata teaches at the Baltimore School for the Arts.
Stewart Watson, who is the founder and director of Area 405 in Baltimore’s Station North Arts and Entertainment District. She uses artifacts from her family in site-specific sculptural installations.
Marley Dawson from Washington, D.C. His installations combine sculpture and performance.
The winner
On Saturday night, before a packed house at the Walters, Kaliope Parthemus, the Chief of Staff for Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake, pinch-hit for the Mayor and made the announcement of this year’s winner of the Janet and Walter Sondheim Prize.
It’s Neil Feather, an experimental musician who invents musical instruments and sound producing sculptures. He is a founding member of the Red Room Collective and the High Zero Festival, where he has performed frequently. He took home the $25,000 fellowship. The other finalists each received a $2,500 honorarium.
The exhibition of all of the Sondheim finalists will be at the Walters Art Museum until August 17. Artscape starts Friday morning. In addition to the three day festival, 21 art galleries in Baltimore are displaying the work of local artists as part of the Artscape Gallery Network. You can learn more here.
