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Governor’s Arts Awards

A Celebration of the Arts

Commissioned Artwork from the Governor’s Arts Awards Program 1989-2011
March 11, 2019—January 31, 2020 (no longer active)

 

The Nevada Arts Council presents artwork commissioned to be part of the Governor’s Arts Awards Program and part of the agency’s permanent collection. Inaugurated in 1979 as the Decade Awards, the Governor’s Arts Awards (GAA) became an annual event for the agency. Through this program, the Nevada Arts Council (NAC) and the Office of the Governor recognized outstanding contributions to Nevada through artistic achievement and service to the arts by artists, educators, arts organizations, corporate and individual patrons, public figures, and dedicated volunteers.

To spotlight the work of the visual artists, in 1989 the NAC board decided to commission a Nevada artist to create original artwork for each GAA recipient, as well as one for the NAC’s permanent collection. A selection committee comprising NAC board members, and starting in 1990 a past GAA Visual Arts Commission artist, reviewed proposals and selected artists based on the following criteria: artistic merit; specificity and clarity of the artist’s proposal; cohesiveness of stated intention and the actual work; and level of professional commitment. Each GAA recipient received a work of art during a public ceremony. Due to agency budget cuts, the Governor’s Arts Awards Program ended in 2012.

Since the program’s inception, GAA Visual Arts Commission artists have created awards that exemplify the diversity of Nevada’s artists and the media in which they work – including sculpture, jewelry, assemblages, paintings, ceramics, and prints. GAA artists’ studios are located in both Nevada’s urban centers and some of the state’s smallest rural communities.

2011Anthony Alston, Renobronze sculptures with music boxes
2010Scott Hinton, Renodigital pigment photographs
2009Lynda Yuroff, Renomixed media paintings
2008Barbara & Larry Domsky, Las Vegasglass sculptures
2007Paul Ford, Mindenmixed media landscapes
2006Elaine Parks, Tuscaroraceramics
2005Maria Arango, Las Vegaswoodcut prints with original woodblocks
2004Sidne Teske, Battle Mountainpaintings
2003Lynda Yuroff, Renopaintings on incised wood
2002Elaine Parks, Tuscaroraceramic birdhouses
2001Joe Zuccarini, Renobronze sculptures
2000Gail Rappa, Tuscarorajewelry/gold-silver-copper books
1999Michael Greenspan, Renopainting/plaster tablets
1998Robert Beckmann, Hendersonarchival prints
1997Joanne Vuillemot, Las Vegassterling silver bowls
1996Ben Parks, Tuscaroraceramic cowboy boots
1995Elaine Jason, Renosculptures with neon
1994Tom Gilbertson, Las Vegaspaintings with lead framing
1993JoAnn Martinez, Gardnervillewinnowing baskets
1992Tom Coleman, Hendersonceramic teapots, platters
1991Mary Warner, Las Vegaspaintings
1990Erik Lauritzen, Renophotographs
1989Dennis Parks, Tuscaroraceramic platters