Bill Text: TX HR2402 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Enrolled

Texas House Resolution 2402

Bill Title: Congratulating the 2023 Texas Commission on the Arts honorees.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-05-30 - Reported enrolled [HR2402 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HR2402-Enrolled.html



	H.R. No. 2402



	R E S O L U T I O N
	WHEREAS, The Texas Commission on the Arts has announced the
	2023 appointments for State Poet Laureate, State Musician, State
	Two-Dimensional Artist, and State Three-Dimensional Artist; and
	WHEREAS, The state's highest accolade for excellence in the
	arts, designation as a Texas State Artist is conferred on those
	individuals who represent the best of our rich and diverse artistic
	community and who inspire others through their unique creative
	expression; and
	WHEREAS, The 2023 State Poet Laureate is ire'ne Lara Silva;
	she is the author of two full-length poetry collections, furia and
	Blood Sugar Canto, that were both finalists for the International
	Latino Book Award in Poetry; her most recent poetry collection,
	CUICACALLI/House of Song, was a finalist for the Texas Institute of
	Letters Poetry Prize, and she has also published three chapbooks
	and a short story collection, flesh to bone, that won the 2013
	Premio Aztlan and was named a runner-up for the 2014 NACCS Tejas
	Foco Award in Fiction; the recipient of a number of grants and
	literary awards, she had the distinction of being inducted as a
	member of the Texas Institute of Letters in 2020; her poetry, short
	stories, and essays have appeared in more than 70 journals and
	anthologies, and she currently serves as a writer at large for Texas
	Highways magazine; and
	WHEREAS, Gary Clark Jr., the 2023 State Musician, achieved
	critical acclaim with his debut album Blak and Blu, where he
	introduced his brand of blues rock that would gradually transform
	into a fusion of contemporary funk, rock, and hip hop; the
	Austin-born singer-songwriter won a Grammy Award for his top-10 hit
	"Please Come Home," and he later scored three more Grammy wins,
	including Best Contemporary Blues Album, for his politically
	charged fifth studio album This Land and its title track; he has
	earned a reputation as a soulful live performer, and in addition to
	touring with the Rolling Stones and the Foo Fighters and
	collaborating with recording artists like Alicia Keys and Childish
	Gambino, he has played alongside Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, and other
	well-known musicians for tributes to Stevie Wonder and the Beatles;
	and
	WHEREAS, Painter Gaspar Enriquez is the 2023 State
	Two-Dimensional Artist; after growing up in El Paso's Segundo
	Barrio, he made his living as an art educator while developing a
	body of work primarily composed of acrylic, air-brushed portraits
	of individuals who typify the Chicano community in which he was
	raised; his paintings have been featured at the El Paso Museum of
	Art, the Tucson Museum of Art, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library,
	the de Young Museum in San Francisco, and the San Antonio Convention
	Center, where he was commissioned to paint a 24-foot-tall piece
	titled cholos; he has had a profound impact on many students
	throughout his career as an educator, and he has been an inspiration
	for nationally recognized artists such as Vincent Valdez and Alex
	Rubio; and
	WHEREAS, James C. Watkins, who has been exhibiting his work
	as a ceramic artist for over four decades, has been named the 2023
	State Three-Dimensional Artist; best known for his large,
	double-walled stoneware vessels, he has experimented with
	alternative firing techniques to craft black pottery with varying
	tones and depth; his work is represented in a number of notable
	collections, including the White House Collection of American
	Crafts at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in
	Little Rock, Arkansas, the Shigaraki Institute of Ceramic Studies
	in Japan, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; he
	was named a Horn Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Texas Tech
	University, and he has received the Texas Tech President's
	Excellence in Teaching Award; and
	WHEREAS, The artists who have been selected to hold these
	prestigious posts have all greatly contributed to the vibrant
	cultural life of the Lone Star State, and Texas is indeed fortunate
	to be home to these talented individuals; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 88th Texas
	Legislature hereby congratulate the 2023 Texas Commission on the
	Arts honorees and extend to them sincere best wishes for continued
	fulfillment in their creative endeavors.

	Ashby

	______________________________
	Speaker of the House

	I certify that H.R. No. 2402 was adopted by the House on May
	29, 2023, by a non-record vote.

	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House