Mayor Brandon Scott has launched a competition to identity five artists to paint portraits of Baltimore mayors for permanent display in City Hall and is offering a prize of $20,000 per portrait.
The Mayor’s Office and the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore are holding a second competition to find artists to “wrap” electrical boxes along Pratt Street with vinyl artwork that honors the city’s “heroes and icons,” as part of Scott’s Downtown RISE Action Plan.
The city’s website, baltimorecity.gov, posted information about the two artist opportunities this month.
According to the website, the city has set Feb. 19 as the deadline for artists to respond to a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) if they’re interested in painting a mayoral portrait.
“The Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture is inviting experienced visual artists to submit qualifications for the creation of portraits of the last five mayors of Baltimore,” it states. “This project seeks to honor each mayor’s distinct personality and contributions to Baltimore through historically and artistically significant portraits.”
The Mayor’s Office is looking for artists to paint portraits of Brandon Scott; Bernard “Jack” Young; Catherine Pugh; Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Sheila Dixon. The portraits will be displayed alongside other mayoral portraits in the Hyman Aaron Pressman Board Room on the second floor of City Hall, where the Board of Estimates meets.
Tonya Miller Hall, Senior Advisor of Arts and Culture in the Mayor’s Office, said the competition is an effort to add portraits of mayors who aren’t currently represented by portraits in City Hall. She said the last mayor with a portrait is Martin O’Malley, who served as mayor from 1999 to 2007.
“This is a really big deal because there are five mayors not represented,” she said at a recent meeting of the mayor’s Arts and Culture Advisory Committee. At present, “there are no women in that Board of Estimates Room,” even though three of Baltimore’s last five mayors have been women, she added.
‘Rich in history’
According to the Request for Qualifications, selected artists will be asked to create portraits that capture “the essence, role and impact” of each mayor. Acceptable mediums include paint and mixed media but not photography. Artists have the liberty to choose the size and medium of each new portrait, but the Mayor’s Office recommends that they align with other portraits in City Hall, which are approximately 36 inches by 46 inches.
The Pressman room is “a space rich in history and adorned with portraits of mayors from James Calhoun (1794) to Martin O’Malley (1999),” the RFQ states. “These additions will complement the room’s historical significance and aesthetic.”
The competition is open to professional visual artists aged 18 or older and experienced in portraiture. Preference may be given to artists with ties to Baltimore City.
The selection committee consists of artist and curator Jeffrey Kent; Samuel “Sammy” Hoi, president of the Maryland Institute College of Art from 2014 to 2023; Cara Ober, founding editor and publisher of BmoreArt, Baltimore’s art and culture publication; a representative from the Mayor’s Office and the previous mayors.
As part of the selection process, “artists will be interviewed and evaluated based on artistic excellence, originality, experience in creating realistic portraits and alignment with Baltimore’s cultural and historic context,” according to the city’s announcement.
The artists won’t necessarily get a say in determining whose portrait they will paint. The city’s RFQ states that “artists must be open to being assigned a specific mayor by the selection committee.”
The city’s timeline calls for the portrait artists to be selected by March 1 and for them to complete their portraits within six to eight months. The total budget of $20,000 per portrait is intended to cover all artist fees, materials and associated costs.
Heroes and icons
In the second competition, the Mayor’s Office is looking for artists to decorate electrical boxes along Pratt Street by wrapping them with works of vinyl art.
Last summer, Miller Hall said, the city commissioned artists to wrap electrical boxes along North Charles Street in time for Artscape 2023, and now the Mayor’s Office wants to do the same thing along Pratt Street near the Inner Harbor. She said the theme is “Baltimore heroes and icons,” and artists will receive $500 per electrical box.
The Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture and Downtown Partnership are “transforming ordinary utility boxes into stunning works of art – and we want YOU to be a part of it,” the city’s website states.
“Your artwork should celebrate the spirit of Baltimore by featuring famous or notable Baltimoreans. Think of individuals who have shaped the history, culture and heart of the city. Let’s honor our heroes and icons through your creativity!”
The electrical box competition is open to all artists based in Baltimore, and the organizers will accept up to three images per artist. The deadline for submissions is January 29 at 5 p.m.
More information about both competitions is available on the ‘Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture’ page of the city website, baltimorecity.gov, under “Projects and Programs.” Artists can also send questions to TheArts@baltimorecity.gov.
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