The Bethesda Urban Partnership’s annual contemporary art show is set for Sept. 1 to Sept. 29 at its Wisconsin Avenue gallery (7700 Wisconsin Ave, Suite E) and will include the work of eight Trawick Prize finalists announced this week.
The competition, set up in 2003 by Bethesda businesswoman and celebrated philanthropist Carol Trawick, awards $14,000 in prize money to the artists. The winners will be announced Sept. 5.
David D’Orio created the work to the left, a wheelbarrow-like sculpture he said “has the sense of a forgotten or undiscovered manufacturer/inventor whose sole purpose is to create objects that defy classification,” in his official contest bio.
Trawick co-founded information technology company Trawick & Associates with her husband. The couple sold the company in 2006 and created the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation in 2007. She has been involved in various Bethesda arts and health charities and nonprofits, and helped privatize the Bethesda Urban District, which became the Bethesda Urban Partnership (BUP) in 1994. Today BUP is a county-funded nonprofit that oversees the promotion and maintenance of Downtown Bethesda.
Other finalists this year include Diane Szczepaniak, a Potomac resident who entered an orange painting she said was inspired by “mysterious” imagery in poetry and music.
Hannah Walsh, of Richmond, Va., submitted the photograph to the right of a cheerleading squad during a competition.
The full list of artists and more information on the show is available at the BUP website. Many of the artists will discuss their work at the Sept. 14 opening reception. The gallery will be open Wednesday through Saturday, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. next month.
