Tony Shore captures the Sondheim Artscape prize

posted by Ted Gross

July 17, 2007

Congratulations to Tony Shore (2003 Weinberg Fellow), who was named the winner of this year's $25,000 Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize.

For Shore, 35, winning the award named after Baltimore's longtime civic leader and his wife meant more than just public recognition for his years of hard work and dedication to the craft.

It was also a validation of a uniquely personal vision whose roots sprang from the tough, working-class Baltimore neighborhood where Shore grew up, and of the tight-knit bonds of family and community that nurtured him from childhood.

Shore's luminous portraits on black velvet of his family and friends, most of whom still live in Southwest Baltimore's Morrell Park, are a reflection of the only kind of art he knew as a child: black velvet paintings of Elvis and other heroes of the common man.

Here are two news stories about this award:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/galleriesmuseums/bal-
md.to.sondheim14jul14,0,3834764.story

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/galleriesmuseums/bal-to.sondheim16jul16,0,3233574.story

Learn more about this story: http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/galleriesmuseums/bal-to.sondheim16jul16,0,3233574.story