Earlier this month — in partnership with the Baltimore Office of Promotion and The Arts (BOPA), the Maryland State Arts Council and M&T Bank — Mount Vernon’s Walters Art Museum unveiled the works of this year’s Janet and Walter Sondheim Prize finalists with a new exhibit.
Now on view in the museum’s Centre Street building through September 8, the exhibition features the creations of ceramist Sam Mack, weaver Hellen Ascoli, and local mixed-media artist Amy Boone-McCreesh, each of whom currently live and work in Baltimore.
The exhibit marks the 19th iteration of BOPA’s annual Janet and Walter Sondheim Art Prize.
The exhibit marks the 19th iteration of BOPA’s annual Janet and Walter Sondheim Art Prize, named in honor of the celebrated late Baltimore couple (a trailblazing dancer and civil rights leader, respectively) and their lasting impact on the city’s arts landscape.
This year, the distinguished competition, which was created to provide artists in Baltimore with resources to flourish, will conclude on August 22 with a ceremony and reception at the WaltersArt Museum. Each artist will receive the M&T Bank Finalist Award of $2,500 to assist with exhibit costs. One artist will win a coveted studio residency at the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, and after a series of final reviews, a jury of historians and curators will choose one lucky winner to receive the top prize: a $30,000 fellowship to help them further their career.
This year, the distinguished competition, which was created to provide artists in Baltimore with resources to flourish, will conclude on August 22 with a ceremony and reception at the Walters Art Museum.
During a preview event for the exhibit on July 16, Boone-McCreesh said it was “incredible” to be named a finalist and showcase her pieces at the Walters. Her color-rich portfolio includes sculpted and paper-based creations.
“Baltimore is such an incredible art city, [but] it flies under the radar a little bit. Of course, every city has its issues, but I’m just so excited to be recognized as a part of the art community here.”
-Amy Boone-McCreesh
“Baltimore is such an incredible art city, [but] it flies under the radar a little bit. Of course, every city has its issues, but I’m just so excited to be recognized as a part of the art community here,” she said.
Complex and effervescent just like Baltimore, Boone-McCreesh’s maximalist works — often including paper, fabric, and found objects — encourage dialogue surrounding beauty, taste, and class disparities.
“I think something we don’t think about a lot is having access to beautiful spaces,” Boone-McCreesh said.
“That really is a luxury — like having a view out your window. Or think about how if you rent an apartment or book a hotel room, you’re paying the premium for the view.”
The same applies to indoor creature comforts: being able (or unable) to afford the latest, trendiest, interior decor, and what that says about one’s finances. Perhaps the concept of access to beauty is most evident through Boone-McCreesh’s “Hostile Seating (Ottomans),” in which two lavish ottomans are caged off using steel fencing — designed to mimic window bars seen often here in Baltimore and throughout Boone-McCreesh’s works — to prevent access to seating. The artist also customized the ottomans with handbag-style charms, much like those sold by high-end brands like Louis Vuitton to illustrate the idea that wealth shows itself in many different ways.
With only three months to prepare for the exhibit, Boone-McCreesh said she enjoyed the challenge of choosing which works made the final cut.
“It was interesting to think about what artwork I had available, and what I could do in the time remaining. It forced me to kind of step back from my work and think about the bigger picture,” she said.
Like Boone-McCreesh, Mack, who was also in attendance on July 16, enjoyed collaborating with the Walters’s team to bring some of their most impactful works to one iconic space. Mack, who is transgender and uses they/he pronouns, is known for art that centers evolution. Their sculptures utilize ceramic, metal, clay, and myriad found objects to explore issues related to transgender life, particularly in the South and Midwest.
Mack’s portfolio is meant to be a work in progress, they said. Flaws serve a purpose in pieces such as “Historical Present” and “A Practice in Immediacy,” both of which feature the use of ceramic and carpet tile.
“The individual vessels are constructed to crack and break. I’ll build a form of clay and then we’ll fire it, take fresh clay and build it onto that,” said Mack, explaining that creations in their final formats illustrate the journey of a body in transition in a way they hope makes sense to viewers.
While Mack’s pieces — not unlike those of Boone-McCreesh and Ascoli, whose woven creations encompass themes including oral history and poetry — revolve around serious, personal matters, they hope viewers take note of light-hearted details, like puns, as they take in the works on display.
“There’s so much that’s gone into the exhibit — so much care and attention,” Mack said,
adding that they’re grateful to have been part of the process. “It’s been very, very, exciting.”
Learn more about the works of this year’s finalists by visiting thewalters.org.
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