Eight painters will vie for $10,000 in prize money next month in the annual Bethesda Painting Awards competition from the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District.
A panel of three judges pared down the submissions of nearly 300 artists from Maryland, Virginia and the District in early May, and the work of the eight finalists will be displayed at Gallery B in Bethesda from June 5-29.
The judges will be able to see the artists’ work live on June 5, and there they’ll decide who brings home the $10,000 Best in Show prize. The second- and third-place finishers will receive $2,000 and $1,000.
Seven of the eight artists are from Maryland, though only one is from the county. Montgomery Village resident Erin Raedeke said she’s “honored and excited” to make it this far in the competition.
Raedeke’s work has been in galleries in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, and she just returned from a show at the art museum of Flagler College in Florida.
“All of my work is from observation,” Raedeke said. “They’re abstract, but they’re based in observation, of something in front of me.”
Raedeke grew up in Indiana but moved to the District for graduate school at American University, before settling in the county.
The upcoming exhibition will mark the 15th iteration of the competition, created and funded by philanthropist Carol Trawick in 2005.
The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards began in 2003 to recognize all mediums, but Trawick established the second competition to ensure painters were specifically highlighted, said Bethesda Urban Partnership spokesperson Stephanie Coppula.
Three different judges are chosen each year, typically from academia and often one each from Maryland, Virginia and the District, Coppula said. This year’s panel is made up of art professors hailing from American University in Washington, James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia and St. Mary’s College of Maryland in St. Mary’s City.
The competition typically draws around 300 entries, Coppula said. The judges narrow those to 30 to 35 semifinalists before choosing the eight finalists.
The exhibition will be open to the public from 6-8 p.m. in June 14 at the gallery, 7700 Wisconsin Ave.
The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is a nonprofit that creates and promotes projects in downtown Bethesda. The organization is managed by the Bethesda Urban Partnership, a group that markets and coordinates events in the downtown area.
Charlie Wright can be reached at charlie.wright@moco360.media
