Eight regional artists have been selected as finalists for The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, a juried competition and exhibition produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District. More than 250 artists from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. submitted work to the 20th annual competition.

2022 Trawick Prize Finalists

MK Bailey, Washington, D.C.
WonJung Choi, Richmond, VA
Marcia Haffmans, Richmond, VA
Ali Kaeini, Richmond, VA
Caryn Martin, Baltimore, MD
Robert Mertens, Staunton, MD
Evie Metz, Henrico, VA
Judith Pratt, Orange, VA

The award winners will be announced at a private reception on Wednesday, September 7, 2022. The Best in Show, first place winner will be awarded $10,000; second place will be honored with $2,000; third place will be awarded $1,000 and a Young Artist, a finalist who is younger than 30, could win $1,000.

The exhibit will be on display Sept. 8 – October 2, 2022 at Gallery B, located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit will be Thursday-Sunday, 12 – 5pm.

The 2022 jurors are Alexis Assam, Regenia A. Perry, Assistant Curator of Global Contemporary Art at The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VFMA); Thomas James, Visual Arts Curator at Creative Alliance in Baltimore, MD; and Maria del Carmen Montoya, Assistant Professor of Sculpture and Spatial Practices, Director of Graduate Studies, M.F.A. in Fine Arts and Social Practice, Studio Arts Program.

Founded by Carol Trawick in 2003, the regional competition is one of the largest prizes to annually honor visual artists. Ms. Trawick, a longtime community activist in downtown Bethesda, also established the Bethesda Painting Awards in 2005. She has served as the Chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, Bethesda Urban Partnership, Strathmore and the Maryland State Arts Council. She founded the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation in 2007 to assist health and human services and arts non-profits in Montgomery County, MD. The Foundation has awarded grants to more than 90 nonprofits in Montgomery County and funds the annual Trawick Prize and the Bethesda Painting Awards.

To date, The Trawick Prize has awarded more than $260,000 in prize monies and has exhibited the work of more than 160 regional artists.

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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), Lauren Adams (2016, Larry Cook (2017), Caroline Hatfield (2018), Oletha DeVane (2019), Daniel Wickerham & Malcolm Lomax (2020) and Cecilia Kim (2021).

For more information, please visit www.bethesda.org or call 301-215-6660.

From award-winning theatre to independent films, downtown Bethesda’s Arts & Entertainment District is filled with inspiring artists and art venues. The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is managed by the Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc., and is the producer of The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, Bethesda Painting Awards, Bethesda Fine Arts Festival, Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Awards, BethesdaFilm Fest and Play In A Day.

Established by Montgomery County in 1994, Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc. (BUP) is a downtown management organization that markets and maintains downtown Bethesda. The BUP team works in marketing, maintenance, transportation and administration to produce cultural events and community festivals and attend to landscaping and maintenance needs. BUP also manages Bethesda Transportation Solutions (BTS), the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, and the Bethesda Circulator as well as the non-profit art spaces, Gallery B, Studio B and Triangle Art Studios. For a closer look, please visit www.bethesda.org.