Some Thoughts on the Sondheim Prize

The Sondheim prize is a relatively new award given yearly to an artist from the Baltimore/Washington region. For the past three years the finalists have displayed their work at the Baltimore Museum of Art prior to the announcement of the winner. This year there were six finalists, including two artists who were also finalists last year, Molly Springfield and Karen Yasinsky. For the first time a youngish artist's collective, Baltimore Development Cooperative, made it into the competition. Overall, the show contains some interesting ideas but the works themselves seem less than compelling. My initial thought was that Karen Yasinsky might win by virtue of her having been a finalist before and the fact that she offered something new this year while Molly Springfield (the other two time finalist) displayed work that looked very similar to last year's. When the winner was announced last Saturday evening I was surprised that the award went instead to the Baltimore Development Cooperative (who built a "participation" dome on the front steps of the museum). After some consideration, though, it all made sense. Compared with the somewhat dry artwork by the more "experienced" artists, the DIY kids may have seemed like a breath of fresh air to the three jurors entrusted with awarding the $25,000 prize.
http://www.artbma.org/exhibitions/special/2009_Sondheim/#Sondheim