An exhibition of work by five finalists competing for the prestigious 2025 Janet & Walter Sondheim Art Prize will open at the Walters Art Museum on Saturday, April 19, and remain on view through July 20.
The museum and the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA), which collaborate to hold the competition, had a preview of the exhibit on Tuesday.
The top prize is $30,000, and the winner will be announced at the museum on June 26.
The 2025 finalists are: Aliana Grace Bailey; Amanda Leigh Burnham; Lillian Jacobson; Jacob Mayberry and Wonchul Ryu.
According to BOPA and the museum, here are their biographies:
Aliana Grace Bailey (she/her), is an interdisciplinary fiber artist, designer, care worker, and founder of vibrant grace studio. She was born and raised in Washington, D.C., and lives and works in Baltimore. Bailey weaves layers of interconnection, comfort, healing, and storytelling through fiber. Her work embraces the vulnerability of artmaking to build intimacy, preserve memories, heal wounds, and create inner peace. It is large in scale, emotional, and vibrant in color, encompassing the body and providing viewers with a comforting hug while exploring familial connections, materials, and experiences that tug at the heart.
Amanda Leigh Burnham (she/her), is an artist who makes drawings of all kinds: artist books, comics, intimate observational drawings, dimensional collages, and large, site-specific installations which feel somewhere between a comic book and a stage set. A six-time Sondheim semifinalist, four-time MSAC Independent Artist Award winner, and Rubys Grantee, Burnhamโs work has been shown internationally; selected venues include the Berman Museum, American University Art Museum; the Delaware Contemporary, and the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. Since graduating from the Yale School of Art (MFA โ07), she has been a professor of art at Towson University.
Lillian Jacobson (she/her) is a Baltimore-based Latinรฉ artist from Bogotรก, Colombia, who defines โbelongingโ through figurative painting. Adopted into a white American family, Jacobson has always been attuned to how she is seen by others, which informs her empathetic approach to portraiture. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her work has been exhibited in group shows across the region, including exhibits at Maryland Art Place; Chesapeake Arts Center; Bowie City Hall; Maryland Federation of Art, and the Delaplaine Arts Center, where she won the Peopleโs Choice Award for the 2024 exhibition, Emerging Perspectives.
Jacob Mayberry (he/him) aka Black Chakra, is a world-traveled spoken word artist and poetry champion. In Baltimore he has cultivated his legacy by teaching youth how to find the power in their voices through poetry. He has coached eight statewide youth poetry champions and three international youth poetry finalist teams. He hopes to one day be remembered as an artist who changed the climate of Baltimore through his work.
Wonchul Ryu (he/him) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Seoul, Korea, and Baltimore. He is currently pursuing his BFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore and expects to graduate this spring. Ryu participated in the Yale Norfolk School of Art residency program in 2024, and has exhibited in group shows at Maryland Art Place and The Bridge Arts Foundation. In 2021 he had a solo show, ์ฐ๋ฆฐ ๋์ ๊ฟ ์์ ์์์ง (We Were in The Bad Dreams.) at Yangcheonri Gallery in Seoul, Korea.
This is the 20th year for the competition, which is named after two longtime arts advocates in Baltimore and supported by the Maryland State Arts Council. Ani Proser, the museum’s Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Quincy Scott Curator of Asian Art and Chief Curator, curated the Sondheim exhibit. Lou Joseph, director of the Baltimore City Arts Council, is the program manager. Jaqueline Cedar, Mike Cloud, and Jennie Goldstein are the jurors. A 90-minute โArtist Talkโ with the finalists will be held on Thursday, May 8, starting at 6 p.m.
Located at 600 N. Charles St., the Walters Art Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays. Admission is free.
For more information about the Sondheim prize and the finalists, visit promotionandarts.org or BOPAโs social media (@promoandarts).
