Move over, Elvis: Tony Shore now No. 1

The Baltimore Sun

A Baltimore artist whose portraits of family and friends painted on black velvet capture the poignant and gritty flavor of working class life in the city was named the winner yesterday of this year's Janet and Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize.

Tony Shore, 35, accepted the $25,000 award from Mayor Sheila Dixon amid tears of joy and gratitude before a crowd of several hundred assembled at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where the work of the finalists is on display. The award is named after the longtime Baltimore civic leader and his wife.

"Thank you so much," Shore told the crowd, his voice frequently breaking into sobs. "This award is an amazing thing for Baltimore. It not only helps attract artists to the city but also helps keep artists who want to stay here. This prize will ensure that I am a part of Baltimore's cultural community for a long time. It shows how important artists are to this city."

The competition was organized last year by the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts to honor Sondheim, who died in February at the age of 98, and his late wife, Janet, both of whom were enthusiastic supporters of the arts.

Its purpose is to recognize regional artists with a cash award comparable to those given by organizations in Washington and Philadelphia. The first Sondheim Award winner was Baltimore sculptor Laure Drogoul. Organizers said last year that they were seeking funding to make the award an annual event. Last year's prize was paid out of Artscape's $1 million budget.

This year's award was underwritten by the France-Merrick Foundation, a local philanthropy, and by gifts from local business people, said promotion office director Bill Gilmore.

"We're certainly a lot closer to being an annual prize than we were a year ago," Gilmore said. "We kicked this off on a leap of faith last year, and we have received some real support from people who have stepped up and said we want to help ensure the future of the prize."

Gilmore said this year's contributors included Walter D. Pinkard, a founder of the France-Merrick Foundation, and Amy Newhall.

Pinkard, Sandy Hillman and Nancy Roberts have also pledged to help raise an initial endowment of $500,000 to fund future prizes, Gilmore said. The annual cost of the competition, including the award and paying for jurors, mounting exhibitions and printing publications totals between $50,000 and $60,000, he said.

The other finalists in this year's competition, selected from an initial field of more than 300 applicants, were Richard Cleaver, Frank Hallam Day, Eric Dyer, Geoff Grace, Baby Martinez and Karen Yasinsky. Each received a $500 stipend to cover the expense of preparing for the show.

The competition judges were New York-based artist Derrick Adams, Becky Smith, owner of Bellwether Gallery in New York, and Robert Storr, a critic, artist, curator and commissioner of the 2007 Venice Biennale.

The competition is open to artists from Maryland, Washington, Delaware and parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Also during the ceremonies, Dixon announced the city will designate $1 million this year to support the operations of city cultural organizations.

The money will come out of the Creative Baltimore Fund, which former Mayor Martin O'Malley set up three years ago to help nonprofit arts group with funds drawn from the city's annual budget surplus.

Last year, the fund distributed $750,000 to support free arts programming during October and November. In its first year of operation, it spent a similar amount to fund cultural programming for children and youth.

glenn.mcnatt@baltsun.com

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