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Hadieh Shafie, MFA '04, Receives Baker Artist Award

Photo Caption (above): "Overlap," by Hadieh Shafie, ink on paper on board, 2008

UMBC Visual Arts MFA alumna Hadieh Shafie is one of three recipients of an inaugural Mary Sawyers Baker Prize, the result of an innovative online competition entitled the Baker Artist Awards, made possible by the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund.

The Baker Artist Award provides $25,000 to support the work of the top winning artists, who were selected via a privately juried process. The winners were announced during Maryland Public Televison's ArtWorks program, and each received a "Baker B" statuette in addition to the prize money. The Baker fund also named seven winners of $1,000 “Baltimore’s Choice” awards, determined by public voting at the Baker website.

“Everyone at the department is extremely happy that one of our own was selected for a Baker Artist Award,” said Vin Grabill, interim chair of visual arts. “Hadieh exemplifies the level of accomplishment that we expect is possible for graduates of our programs.  Her art work, in its dedicated focus on issues both personal and universal, represents the value and power artmaking can have on our culture and view of the world.  We are gratified to have been able to play a part in the evolution of Hadieh's artmaking.”

Photo Caption: (right) UMBC alumna/artist Hadieh Shafie

Work by Shafie and other winners of the inaugural Baker Artist Awards will be featured in a free exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art from April 29 through June 28.

Shafie was born in Iran and immigrated to the United States in 1983. Her work explores the temporary nature of memory, history and personal experiences related to otherness and the Iranian diaspora. She plans to use her prize money to produce more art and travel to Iran to visit relatives.

After graduating from Pratt Institute in 1999 with an MFA in Painting, Shafie accepted a fellowship at UMBC, where she received a second MFA in Imaging and Digital Arts in 2004. Her work has been exhibited across the mid-Atlantic region, including Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring, Maryland, Abrons Art Center, New York City, the Saw Gallery in New Jersey, Maryland Art Place, School 33 and Goucher College in Baltimore. Shafie works as director of career services at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

The other top winners of the Baker Artist Awards were jazz musician Carl Grubbs and sculptor John Ruppert, chairman of the department of art at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Photo Caption (above): "Exodus: Iran>Austria>US," by Hadieh Shafie, digital print, 2008