New Mexico’s highest artistic honor

Governor Bill Richardson and First Lady Barbara Richardson, along with the New Mexico Arts Commission, have announced the ten artists and arts supporters who will be recipients of the 2010 Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts.

"I am honored to pay tribute to some of New Mexico's finest artists and art supporters through the Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts; these men and women have made major contributions to our economy, tourism industry, education and quality of life," said Governor Richardson.

"The Governor and I join all New Mexicans in applauding the 2010 Arts Awards winners," said the First Lady. "This honor is a tribute to their extraordinary talent, creativity and community spirit, through which they enrich the lives of all New Mexicans."

The 2010 Governor's Arts Awards recipients are: Woody Gwyn of Galisteo for Painting; Tom Noble of Taos for Painting; David Scheinbaum of Santa Fe for Photography/Arts Education; Arlene Cisneros Sena of Santa Fe for Traditional Arts/Santera; Paul Shapiro of Santa Fe for Painting; Wes Studi of Santa Fe for Film/Actor; Marian and Abe Silver Jr. of Santa Fe - Major Contributor to the Arts; Whited Foundation of Raton - Major Contributor to the Arts; Working Classroom of Albuquerque - Major Contributor to the Arts; and Robert Redford of Santa Fe for Leadership in the Arts.
The 2010 Governor's Arts Awards ceremonies will be held on Friday evening, September 24, 5:15 to 7:00 pm at the St. Francis Auditorium, New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe. The ceremony is preceded by an afternoon reception and exhibition opening, 3:30 - 4:30 pm, in the Governor's Gallery, 4th Floor, State Capitol. Both the awards ceremony and gallery reception are free and open to the public.

The Governor's Arts Awards were established in 1974 by Governor Bruce King and First Lady Alice King to celebrate the extensive roles - both economic and cultural - that artists, craftspeople and arts supporters play in the life of New Mexico. During its 37-year existence, a diverse and prestigious list of painters, weavers, sculptors, dancers, musicians, storytellers, poets, actors, playwrights and potters have been honored. Past awardees include Tony Hillerman, Glenna Goodacre, John Nichols, Georgia O'Keeffe, N. Scott Momaday, Tammy Garcia, Luis Jimenez, Pop Chalee, Richard Farnsworth, Bill Mauldin, Maria Martinez and Patrick Oliphant.

Nominations for the awards are invited each year from arts groups and interested New Mexicans. All nominations are reviewed by a committee of the New Mexico Arts Commission, which sends its recommendations to the full Commission and to the Governor and First Lady. The 2010 Awards Selection Committee consisted of Terri Salazar of Los Ranchos as Chairperson, and Arts Commissioners Charmay Allred of Santa Fe, JoAnn Balzar of Santa Fe, Glenn Cutter of Mesilla, John Rohovec of Silver City, as well as Chuck Zimmer, manager of the state public art program for New Mexico Arts. Loie Fecteau, executive director of New Mexico Arts, served on the committee in a nonvoting capacity, and Virginia Castellano, a program manager for New Mexico Arts, provided technical support.

The following are brief profiles of the 2010 Governor's Arts Awardees:

Born in San Antonio, Texas, landscape painter Woody Gwyn grew up on the stripped-down landscapes around Midland before attending the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and moving to the village of Galisteo, New Mexico in 1976. Since his first exhibition in Canyon, Texas in 1965, he has been painting for the greater part of five decades.
About his work, fellow Galisteo resident Lucy Lippard has said, "Woody Gwyn communicates the exhilaration so many of us feel when we come around the corner, drive past a familiar view or look down Lamy Hill into the Galisteo Basin."
Gwyn's paintings, which are all about precision, clarity, light and space, reflect the wide horizons of West Texas and New Mexico. His meticulously crafted work has been exhibited and collected throughout the United States and is represented in numerous museum collections, including the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, Albuquerque Museum, the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis and the Phoenix Art Museum.

"Woody's paintings open to us, in the way the best music, literature and painting always do, a larger vision of the West and of humanity's place in it," said Sharyn Udall in her letter supporting Gwyn's nomination. "He invites us to expand our imagination . . . reminding us that our state is at once as ancient as its rock-forms and as contemporary as the sleekest new stretch of highway."

Taos artist Tom Noble is a lifelong New Mexican celebrated for his watercolor scenes of his beloved region's cultural icons and landscape.

"No one paints watercolors like Taos artist Tom Noble - no one can, and no one will," said his nominator, Anne Uhring of Albuquerque. "For more the four decades, the man has proven himself as an exceptional artist who captures the best New Mexico has to offer, based upon a lifelong love of his native Taos and the generational influence of his family roots."

At the University of New Mexico's College of Fine Arts in the mid-1960s, the influential artist and professor Sam Smith encouraged Noble to develop his art career, particularly in the watercolor medium with the ink overlay that brings precise definition to one of the most difficult mediums to control and harmonize.

"Watercolors are subtle, but Tom is not, and he exploded the watercolor venue with color, and lots of it," Uhring said.
Although he is known primarily for his watercolors, Noble also works in acrylics and other mediums. The third generation Taoseño is also recognized for sharing his gift, teaching others his art and generously supporting community organizations such as the Taos Birthing Center. Noble makes his best work affordable by creating a series of high quality giclee prints for anyone to enjoy.

In an artist's statement, Noble said, "My paintings are of an imaginary world, a pre-industrial Arcadia, a time when northern New Mexico was nothing but rural villages, usually with a church in the center. Life was based on agriculture, and living in harmony with the changing seasons."

Photographer and teacher David Scheinbaum of Santa Fe has been making photographs since 1974 and teaching his art form since 1979 at the College of Santa Fe and with numerous photographic workshops. He is currently professor emeritus and director of the Marion Center for Photographic Arts at the college.

Scheinbaum is also respected as an authority on the art and history of photography. He worked with the preeminent photo historian Beaumont Newhall from 1978 until Newhall's death in 1993 and continues as co-executor of his estate. In 1980, he and his wife Janet established their Santa Fe photo gallery, Scheinbaum & Russek Gallery, Ltd. Today, the gallery, which represents the estates of both Newhall and Eliot Porter, continues to show the work of photographers such as Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Minor White, Sebastiao Salgado, Laura Gilpin, Willard Van Dyke, Walter Chappell and - of course - Scheinbaum and Russek.

His own photographs are represented in public collections throughout the world, including the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas; Norton Museum in West Palm Beach, Florida; Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; J. Paul Getty Museum in Santa Monica, California; the Bibliotech Nationale in Paris, France; and the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe. His books include Stone: A Substantial Witness and Images in the Heavens, Patterns in the Earth: The I Ching, both published by the Museum of New Mexico Press.

Scheinbaum's current photographic work concentrates on documenting Hip-Hop music and culture. An exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in February 2008 was titled, Recognize: Hip-Hop and Contemporary Portraiture.

In her letter supporting his nomination for the Governor's Award, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum educator Jackie M wrote, "David finds time for ideas and for people and seems to derive great energy from making photography and its rich history available to the general public."

Award-winning santera Arlene Cisneros Sena of Santa Fe is considered a consummate artist who commands a depth of knowledge that she enthusiastically shares with anyone willing to learn.

"Arlene's contribution to the Spanish colonial saint-making tradition of New Mexico is frankly unfathomable," said Bud Redding, director of Spanish Market in Santa Fe, who nominated Sena both personally and on behalf of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society.

Among Sena's numerous awards at Spanish Market are first-place prizes in the highly competitive retablo category, as well as the coveted Archbishop's Award. In 1994, Sena's artwork was chosen for the official Spanish Market poster. She has also received the Santa Fe Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1998. In 2003 Sena was commissioned to paint the altar screen (reredos) of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe.

"Her depiction of the different scenes of St. Joseph's life on that screen can certainly be called a lifetime achievement," said the Rev. Msgr. Jerome J. Martinez y Alire in his letter of support. "Not only is it beautiful, but spiritually uplifting to our faithful."

Charles Carrillo, a past recipient of the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, said of Sena, "Arlene is to New Mexico what color is to art."

Seventy-year-old Paul Shapiro of Santa Fe is a celebrated international artist whose work is collected by museums, galleries and private individuals throughout the world.

Shapiro's paintings have been shown in venues as diverse as the Roswitha Gallery in Zurich, Switzerland; the Art in the Embassies Program in Copenhagen, Denmark; and at the Los Angeles and Fort Worth Art Expos. His work is also represented in private collections, including those of actor Jack Nicholson, art collectors Anne and John Marion, the Neutrogena Corporation, AT&T, The Swope Museum and the New Mexico Museum of Art.

"Paul's interest in art and his commitment to painting is unassailable and extends to the depths of his being," said Jon Carver in his letter supporting Shapiro's nomination.

"His knowledge of art history and art making is unsurpassed, and his voice has been vital to the artistic dialogue of our region for many decades."

Shapiro came to Santa Fe in the early 1980s and immediately established a name for himself as a strong representational, regional painter. In the early 1990s, he shifted his focus and began to produce abstract work, a style for which he known today.

In his artist's statement for "Quantumscapes," Shapiro said that after 20 years of representational painting, he returned to abstract painting in 1990. "Even though my work was fairly loose and abstract, I felt very confined by the envelope around recognizable forms and gravity based relationships. In my abstract paintings, I have tried to create a concrete reality that brings an invisible world to the surface: evocative implications of a suggested parallel reality similar to what happens in poetry."

Santa Fe-based actor Wes Studi has broken new ground in motion pictures and television by bringing to life on the screen fully developed Native American characters.

"Wes Studi has forever shattered the biased, stereotypical description of American Indians that was propagated by Hollywood moviemakers for many decades," said nominator Michael McGarrity, a former recipient of the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. "He has brought a vital, dynamic and enduring presence to the Native American characters he has portrayed on the screen, and as a result has become a major force in ending the marginalization of indigenous people in motion pictures as well as in our society at large."

Studi's body of work includes more than 60 films and TV shows and has established him as a premier Native American actor of his generation. Studi received the 2009 Santa Fe Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award and, as Anne Hillerman noted in her letter of support, he won a First Americans in the Arts Award for his role as Tony Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn in PBS Mystery Theater's Thief of Time.

Artist Elias Rivera, who won a Governor's Arts Award in 2004, said in his letter of support that Studi is "not only an accomplished actor and director, receiving 18 awards and honors in the film industry, but also a musician, sculptor, teacher and author of two children's books in his original language, Cherokee."

A native of Oklahoma, Studi has lived in New Mexico for more than 20 years and has used his star power to encourage the development of film production in New Mexico, including supporting the growth of filmmaker training and apprenticeship programs. He also has taken a national leadership role in the promotion and preservation of indigenous languages.

Marian and Abe Silver Jr. have long served as tag-team ambassadors for the arts in Santa Fe and throughout New Mexico. As a result, this dynamic duo has been recognized as key players in making their community among the greatest arts and cultural destinations in the world.

"Marian and Abe are the perfect pair, kindred spirits, art lovers, fun lovers, community lovers alike," said nominator Eileen Wells, herself a recipient of a Governor's Arts Award.

The Silvers were recently named Santa Fe Living Treasures for their contributions to their home city, and according to Wells, "It is now time we recognize them as the New Mexico treasures that they are in so many of our hearts. I have never met two people who are so ready and willing to give of themselves to help wherever they can." The Silvers have for decades served as volunteers, donors and board and committee members for numerous organizations, from the New Mexico History Museum to Spanish Market to the Santa Fe Opera.

Abe Silver joined the Board of Directors of the Santa Fe Opera in 1960 and has continued his association with the company for the past 50 years, including three three-year terms as treasurer, explained Charles MacKay, the Opera's General Director. Abe Silver also served on the board of the Santa Fe Opera Foundation and was active as a solicitor for the Opera's Business Fund Drive.

Marian Silver joined the Santa Fe Opera Guild in its early years and served as an officer from 1970 through 1979, chairing many special fundraising events.

"Over the years, Marian and Abe have proven themselves capable, hard-working community leaders, earning a reputation as a ‘power couple' for whom the Opera could always count for getting the job done," MacKay said in his letter of support.

Abe Silver is a former member of the New Mexico Arts Commission, and Marian Silver has devoted years of commitment to the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and the state museums.

Tom Aageson, director of the museum foundation, noted in his letter of support that when funding fell short for education programs at the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Silvers jumped in to fund school busses to bring children from throughout northern New Mexico to the museum.

"The Silvers' commitment to the arts and our cultural institutions in New Mexico is unparalleled," said Aageson.

The Whited Foundation in Raton has been supporting community and student programs in music and theater since its creation in 1997.

The foundation was created in memory of James and Leila Whited, who for many years owned a music and jewelry story in Raton. Jim Whited was leader of the Raton City Band, and Leila was a pianist. Both were graduates of Colorado College, located in Colorado Springs, in the early 1900s. The Whiteds, who had no children, died in their mid-90's within months of each other in 1996.

The Whited Foundation's impact has been broad and deep within the Raton community says nominator Bill Fegan, who has also received a Governor's Arts Award.

"The foundation supports scholarships in the arts and have given funding to about 20 different local organizations including major grants to the Raton Arts and Humanities Council, the Raton MainStreet program and Raton Public Schools," said Fegan.

Superintendent of Raton Schools David Willden said in his letter of support, "Our community is blessed to have the Whited Foundation, and we are a much more artistically rich community and school system because of their generosity and artistic vision."

For more than 20 years, Working Classroom has brought recognition and distinction to New Mexico by creating a multi-faceted arts organization devoted to theater, visual arts, literature and public art, with and for young people from historically ignored communities.

"Through sheer tenacity plus commitment to personal and organizational quality, its founder and executive director, Nan Elsasser, has convinced some of the country's - and the world's - finest professional teachers and mentors to work with the young Working Classroom students," said nominators Pamela and Don Michaelis, who are founders of The Collector's Guide in Albuquerque. "What has been created is transformational - students stay in school and graduate."

Guided by mentoring artists and other professionals, the students at Working Classroom learn self-discipline as they create visual arts, such as painting, mixed media and sculpture. Students also learn to curate and create art exhibitions; produce, direct and act in theater productions; and write and publish books for elementary school children.

Working Classroom's young actors have performed Off-Broadway, as well as at the Latino Chicago Theater and the World Congress on the Family in Columbus, Ohio. The students have represented the United States at the VII International Festival of Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro. The city of Toronto invited Working Classroom student artists to Canada in order to teach professional artists how to replicate its community mural program.

Owen Lopez of the McCune Charitable Foundation said Working Classroom "is a remarkable artistic venue that serves the youth of Albuquerque in the downtown area, exhibiting excellence in both the visual and the performing arts arenas, while combining a deep sense of social justice with artistic excellence."

Micha Espinosa of the School of Theatre and Film of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University stated in her letter of support that she is writing a best practices article about Working Classroom as a model of excellence.

"Working Classroom is a model because of the excellent quality of their work; the devotion to multiculturalism with members, teachers and content; the rigorous academic tutoring; the college scholarship program; and the counseling services," said Espinosa.

"I believe that Nan Elsasser is truly an American hero," Espinosa added. "Her model for developing voices within a community is unique and if we had more heroes like Nan in every community, then the face of the American theatre and the arts would reflect the reality of America."

Actor and filmmaker, environmental and arts advocate, Robert Redford has had an impact on the film business that goes well beyond the box office. For more than four decades he has followed his passion in making films of social and cultural relevance, and has encouraged others, in important ways, to express themselves through the arts.

Since he founded it in 1981, a large part of Redford's life is his Sundance Institute, which is dedicated to the support and development of emerging artists, and to the national and international exhibition of new independent cinema. The Sundance Institute's highly acclaimed Screenwriting, Directing, Playwrighting, Producing, Composing and Editing Labs take place at the Sundance Resort in Utah, and have fostered more than a generation of innovative voices in independent film.

Redford's long history of visiting and working in New Mexico led to the recently announced collaboration between Redford Enterprises and the State of New Mexico called "Milagro at Los Luceros," with Gov. Richardson a driving force with Redford in the creation of the endeavor. The Milagro initiative, based at the state-owned historic Los Luceros ranch property located along the Rio Grande north of Española, features a series of labs and workshops focused on expanding training programs and increasing job opportunities for Native American and Hispanic filmmakers.

In 1998, he produced and directed the film version of the John Nichols novel, The Milagro Beanfield War, which was shot on location in Truchas. Redford was also executive producer of a Tony Hillerman series for PBS MYSTERY! The first episode based on Hillerman's novel, Skinwalkers, premiered in November 2002 and was written by Jamie Redford, directed by Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals) and starred Adam Beach (Smoke Signals) and Wes Studi (Dances With Wolves) as Native American detectives Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police.

"Mr. Redford feels strongly that, as storytellers, Native American and Hispanic voices are currently underrepresented in filmmaking," said Gov. Richardson. "As an economic driver, the Milagro initiative promises to be a great gift to the people of New Mexico."