April 2009
The Baltimore Museum of Art celebrates the 10 inaugural winners of the Baker Artist Awards with an exhibition of sculpture, photography, drawings, and multimedia presentations displayed in three galleries of the Museum’s West Wing of Contemporary Art.
Baker Artist Awards 2009 features 28 works of art from six visual artists and video footage of four music or dance performance artists.
The artists were selected from among 656 nominees on the BakerArtistAwards.org web site in the first competition of its kind to incorporate public voting through an online forum.
More than 35,000 visitors from 50 states and 118 countries viewed the work and had an opportunity to vote for their favorite artists.
“The Baker Artist Awards were an overwhelming success—from the number of artists who entered, to the public response, to the formal exhibition of award winners,” said Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance Executive Director Nancy Haragan.
“It illustrates the importance of art to the people of Baltimore, and the success that artists can achieve by being part of this rich community.”
Artists John Ruppert and Hadieh Shafie and jazz musician Carl Grubbs each received a $25,000 Mary Sawyers Baker Prize determined by a multidiscipline jury.
Highlights of their work on view at the BMA include a dramatic display of five sculptures by Ruppert, six paintings and 12 works on paper by Shafie, and a DVD of Grubbs in performance.
These works are presented along with visual art and performance examples by Baltimore’s Choice award winners Becky Alprin, Milana Braslavsky, Sarah House, Adam Hopkins, Rob Levit, Jim Lucio, and Vincent E. Thomas, each of whom was selected by popular vote to receive $1,000.
“It was thrilling to see artists in this community achieve worldwide recognition through this innovative online competition,” said BMA Director Doreen Bolger.
“The BMA is delighted to offer everyone the opportunity to experience firsthand the work of these talented artists.”
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