In 2021, Alden Schofield of Derwood, Maryland, took first place in the Kensington category at the Paint the Town Labor Day Show, winning the show’s only named prize, the Bertha Clum Award. Traditionally, this award has been highlighted and celebrated as MAA’s unofficial “best in show” painting. 

Alden said over the past year the honor has made him more recognized when attending art events throughout the region, but more so has served to reemphasize to him what’s important in composing a painting. 

“It did re-enforce my thinking about my abilities to construct, design and paint an award-winning painting,” he told us in a recent chat.

Health challenges and the ups and downs of the Covid-19 pandemic have prevented Alden from painting as much as he would have liked to this past year, but he has recently been working on three landscape paintings of different angles of Great Falls and a piece depicting the canal and barge as seen from the old tavern/visitors center on the Maryland side.

Alden will have three pieces in this year’s Paint the Town show, plus bin works for sale.

What's his advice for new members who are entering a show as big as Paint the Town for the first time? 

"This one is easy: Just place your art in this show," he says. "It is the best show around. It provides an outstanding opportunity to meet so many great, established artists, along with other new artists, and have ability to talk with them. You also can see the various types of art displayed and compare your art to those around you. It’s a great way to learn more about your passion for art."

The Bertha Clum Award is named for a lifelong Kensington resident passionate about art and gardening. She passed away in 1986. She was an original founder of the Paint the Town art show. 

-Elissa Poma