May 30, 2024
Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance
The Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance (GBCA) and the William G. Baker Jr. Memorial Fund are thrilled to announce the 2024 Baker Artist Awardees. Judah Adashi (Music), Kelley Bell (Interdisciplinary Arts), Albert Birney (Film/ Video), Nguyên Khôi Nguyễn (Literary Arts), Matt Reeves (Performance), and Stephen Towns (Visual Arts) were selected as this year’s awardees.
Each of these artists will receive a $10,000 Mary Sawyers Baker Prize. From these six artists, Stephen Towns was selected to receive the 2024 Mary Sawyers Imboden Prize, which includes an additional $30,000 for a total of $40,000. Established to be truly transformational to the life and career of one artist, this is the largest art prize in the region.
"Thrilled does not even come close to how I feel about this year’s winner of the Mary Sawyers Imboden Prize. Stephen Town’s paintings offer intimate and rich insights,” said Connie Imboden, President of the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund. Speaking about Town’s painting that was recently acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, she noted, “his portrait of Joyce captures her regal presence perfectly!"
Renowned Baltimore artist, Joyce J. Scott, who is the 2016 Mary Sawyers Imboden Awardee and the subject of this portrait, shared, “as a former Baker awardee myself, and true admirer of Stephen Town’s multimedia works of wonder, Town’s stellar acumen radiates the prowess of his textile/painted combos. Shine on.”
Download the official GBCA press release here