Bethesda's Trawick Prize Awards $10K To 'Best In Show' Winner

BETHESDA, MD — An artist from Richmond, Virginia, won the “Best in Show” award in the 2022 “The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards” competition.

WonJung Choi, who was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, won the top prize and $10,000. Her sculptures, paintings, drawings, and installation explore “the power of her every changing identity in the making,” according to the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, which produced the competition and exhibition.

Choi received her Master of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York and her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Hong-Ik University in Seoul. She has been awarded residencies at the Museum of Arts and Design and Artists Alliance Inc. in New York as well as a fellowship at Vermont Studio Center.

Caryn Martin, who lives in Baltimore, was named the second place winner and awarded $2,000. Robert Mertens from Staunton, Virginia, was awarded third place and received $1,000.

Evie Metz from Henrico County, Virginia, was awarded the Young Artist Award and received $1,000.

The winners were announced at an awards reception last Wednesday. Entries were juried by Alexis Assam of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Thomas James of the Creative Alliance in Baltimore; and Maria del Carmen Montoya of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at the George Washington University.

The work of the finalists will be on exhibit at Gallery B at 7700 Wisconsin Ave. in Bethesda until Oct. 2. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit will be Thursday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

Founded by Carol Trawick in 2003, the regional competition is one of the largest prizes to annually honor visual artists. Trawick, a community activist in Bethesda, also established the Bethesda Painting Awards in 2005.

She has served as the chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, Bethesda Urban Partnership, Strathmore and the Maryland State Arts Council.

The Trawick Prize has awarded more than $260,000 in prize money and has exhibited the work of more than 160 regional artists.

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