SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 413
WHEREAS, The Texas Commission on the Arts has announced the
2022 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 2022 State Poet Laureate is writer and
educator Lupe Mendez; his 2019 book, Why I Am Like Tequila, won
the John A. Robertson Award from the Texas Institute of Letters,
and his work can also be seen in a variety of publications,
including Aster(ix), the Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, and the
Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day series; holding a master's
degree in creative writing from The University of Texas at El
Paso, he has been awarded fellowships by CantoMundo, the Macondo
Foundation, and the Crescendo Literary/Poetry Foundation
Emerging Poet Incubator; moreover, he is an activist and the
founder of Tintero Projects, which works with Latinx writers and
other writers of color; and
WHEREAS, Known as the "Queen of the Accordion," Eva Ybarra
has been named the 2022 State Musician; the leader of Eva Ybarra y
Su Conjunto, she specializes in writing and composing original
conjunto music, and she is known for pushing the boundaries of
the genre by exploring nonstandard chord progressions; she began
playing the accordion at four years old and received her first
record deal, with Rosina Records, at just 14; in the 1990s, she
released a number of records that further raised her profile, and
she has taught at the University of Washington, Palo Alto
College, and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center; she is the
recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the South Texas
Conjunto Association and a National Heritage Fellowship from the
National Endowment for the Arts; and
WHEREAS, Celia Álvarez Muñoz is the 2022 State
Two-Dimensional Artist; a conceptual multimedia artist known for
her photography, installations, and public art, she is
represented in many public and private collections, and her work
has been included in the Whitney Biennial and, more recently, in
an internationally touring exhibition called "Radical Women:
Latin American Art, 1960-1985"; she is the recipient of two
National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a CAA Committee on
Women in the Arts Recognition Award, and a Lifetime Achievement
Award in the Visual Arts from Art League Houston; and
WHEREAS, African American sculptor Jesse Lott has been
chosen as the 2022 State Three-Dimensional Artist; inspired by
collecting and recycling discarded items, he works with a variety
of materials, including paper, metal, wood, and wire; his solo
exhibition, "Jesse Lott: Urban Frontier Artist," was presented
by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Washington, D.C., and the
Houston Art Car Museum, and his pieces have also been shown at the
Studio Museum and Alternative Museum in New York; he has held an
all-ages workshop in his studio for many years, and he helped
motivate the creation of the Project Row Houses in Houston; he
was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Visual
Arts by Art League Houston in 2016; 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, 87th
Legislature, hereby congratulate the 2022 Texas Commission on
the Arts honorees and extend to them sincere best wishes for
continued fulfillment in their creative endeavors.
Seliger
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President of the Senate
I hereby certify that the
above Resolution was adopted by
the Senate on May 18, 2021.
________________________________
Secretary of the Senate
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Member, Texas Senate