The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts announces the finalists for the eighth annual Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize.
The finalists are Gabriela Bulisova, Larry Cook, Caitlin Cunningham, Nate Larson, Louie Palu, and Dan Steinhilber (image above).
Of this crew, two have been former finalists: photographers Nate Larson and Louie Palu. Interestingly, Palu and Gabriela Bulisova are both documentary photographers. Larry Cook is a 2012 MFA graduate of The George Washington University and a photographer and video artist. Dan Steinhilber is DC-based installation artist and sculptor. You may remember his unusual Front Room exhibit at the BMA which included tens of thousands of packing peanuts and leaf blowers. And, Caitlin Cunningham is a Baltimore-based sculptor and installation artist who blends biological with industrial materials. You can see her new work this Saturday in a solo show opening at sophiajacob.
With a jury leaning so much towards photography, betting folks might put their money on Larson, Palu, Bulisova, or Cook. However, Steinhilber has already exhibited solo shows at the Hirshhorn Museum, The Mattress Factory, and the BMA so the breadth of museum exhibit experience lies within his court. Caitlin Cunningham is the dark horse in the running and everyone loves dark horses. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with. – CO
Official Artscape Info: For the first time since the inception of the competition, the finalists’ works of art will be exhibited in the special exhibition galleries at the Walters Art Museum on Saturday, June 29 through Sunday, August 11, 2013. The winner of the competition is selected from the exhibition at the Walters Art Museum, after a review of the installed art and an interview with each finalist by the jurors. The 2013 competition jurors are Caroline Busta, Jenny Schlenzka and Beverly Semmes.