SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 456
WHEREAS, The Texas Commission on the Arts has announced the
2020 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, Emmy Pérez, author of the poetry collections With
the River on Our Face and Solstice, is the 2020 State Poet
Laureate; after growing up in Santa Ana, California, she has
spent the past 18 years of her life in Texas border communities;
she currently resides in McAllen and works as a professor of
creative writing at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,
where she also serves as associate director for the Center for
Mexican American Studies; a member of the Macondo Writers
Workshop for socially engaged writers, she additionally serves
on the organizing committee for the CantoMundo national workshop
for Latin American poets; her work has earned her several poetry
fellowships, and it has been featured on the Poetry Foundation
website, in Poem-a-Day by the Academy of American Poets, and in a
host of poetry anthologies; and
WHEREAS, Singer and pianist Emily Gimble has been selected
as the 2020 State Musician; a third-generation musician, she
began performing on stage when she was only seven years old, and
she went on to record an album, A Case of the Gimbles, with her
father and grandfather in 2005; after exploring western swing
with the Marshall Ford Swing Band, she branched out into jazz,
country, folk, and pop with Warren Hood and the Goods; in 2014,
she signed on with the Grammy Award-winning band Asleep at the
Wheel, performing with the group on Austin City Limits and
recording a duet with one of her idols, Merle Haggard; her debut
solo album, Certain Kinda, was released in 2017, and she
continues to tour on her own, with her family band, and with other
artists; she has received acclaim from the Austin Music Awards as
the "Best Keyboards" in the city in 2013, 2014, 2018, and 2019; and
WHEREAS, The 2020 State Two-Dimensional Artist is Earlie
Hudnall Jr., a photographer whose work has focused on documenting
the daily lives of African Americans in Houston's Third, Fourth,
and Fifth Wards; born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Mr. Hudnall
moved to Houston to study at Texas Southern University after
serving in the United States Marines during the Vietnam War; he
was subsequently hired to photograph communities that were
impacted by the federal Model Cities program, a component of
President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty, and the experience
greatly influenced his development as an artist; his photographs
have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the country,
as well as in such major collections as the Smithsonian American
Art Museum and the National Museum of African American History
and Culture; and
WHEREAS, Named the 2020 State Three-Dimensional Artist,
Gabriel Dawe is a native of Mexico City who, through his work with
textiles, attempts to examine the complex construction of gender
and identity in Mexico and to subvert modern-day notions of
masculinity and machismo; he creates immersive, site-specific
installations, and his works have been displayed at numerous
exhibitions and collections at the Contemporary Arts Museum
Houston, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art
Museum, and other institutions; Mr. Dawe moved to Dallas to
pursue his master of fine arts degree at The University of Texas
at Dallas in 2008, and he was recently honored with the school's
Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2018; 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 Senate of the State of Texas, 86th
Legislature, hereby congratulate the 2020 Texas Commission on
the Arts honorees and extend to them sincere best wishes for
continued fulfillment in their creative endeavors.
Menéndez
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President of the Senate
I hereby certify that the
above Resolution was adopted by
the Senate on March 25, 2019.
________________________________
Secretary of the Senate
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Member, Texas Senate