Municipal Art Society of Baltimore Artist Travel Prize

MICA Professor Wins 2025 MASB Artist Travel Prize

Tony Shore is a Baltimore-based artist recognized for his paintings on black velvet that often depict the blue-collar life of his hometown. According to Shore, “Issues of class have always been a part of what drives my work, my goal to elevate and recognize both the medium and the subjects. Velvet as a surface has extraordinary, almost magical powers to depict light and a deep, rich black that cannot be attained with traditional paints.” He plans to use the $7,000 prize to travel to Rome, Italy, and Madrid, Spain, to study the works of Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio, Jusepe de Ribera, Diego Velazquez, and Francisco de Zubaran — all artists who are known for their powerful and emotional use of light and dark.

Shore attended Baltimore School for the Arts, and received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) followed by his MFA from Yale University School of Art. He also studied at the prestigious Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Previous awards include the 2007 Janet and Walter Sondheim Art Prize, Bethesda Painting Prize, a Rubys Artist Grant, several Individual Artist Awards from the Maryland State Arts Council, and most recently, a Franz and Virginia Bader Grant.

His work has been exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Delaware Art Museum, Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Noyes Museum, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, Kunstalle Beacon, George Adams Gallery, C. Grimaldis Gallery, Gavlak Gallery, and Carlye Packer Gallery as well as many other galleries throughout the U.S. He has also shown internationally in France and numerous museums in China. He is currently represented by Anna Zorina Gallery in New York City. Shore is also a faculty member at MICA.

About The Municipal Art Society of Baltimore (MASB)

The Municipal Art Society of Baltimore was founded in 1899 as part of the City Beautiful movement. It is one of only two remaining societies to be operating under its original charter “to provide sculptural and pictorial decoration and ornaments for the public buildings, streets and open spaces in the City of Baltimore, and to help generally beautify the City.” Artistic contributions to the City span more than one hundred years. In 2016 the MASB embarked on a path to provide new opportunities to Baltimore artists and art places within the City, including this Artist Travel Prize and an annual Public Art Prize.