Artist to get lifetime achievement award

Tree documenter, several others to receive honors at March ceremony

Hot Springs artist Linda Williams Palmer, whose most notable project is the documentation with colored pencil on paper of Arkansas’ Champion Trees, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award among the 2022 Governor’s Arts Awards in March.

The Arkansas Arts Council announced the 2022 recipients on Monday.

Other honorees are:

■ Arts Community Development Award: Ed Clifford, president and CEO of the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce from 2001-12 and currently president and CEO of The Jones Trust and The Jones Center for Families in Springdale, a visionary for using the arts as a source of economic development and community building in Northwest Arkansas.

■ Arts in Education Award: Timothy Crist, professor of music theory and composition at Arkansas State University. His work in establishing guitar programs in Arkansas public schools has been recognized by the Guitar Foundation of America as one of the only of its kind in Arkansas.

■ Corporate Sponsorship of the Arts Award: Little Rockbased advertising, marketing, digital and social communications firm Cranford Co. has been providing financial and in-kind support to nonprofit arts organizations in central Arkansas since it opened in 2014, including pro bono design and video production services to Ballet Arkansas, the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival.

■ Individual Artist Award: Perrion Hurd, Little Rock master printmaker, muralist and teaching artist.

■ Judges Recognition Award: Scottish Heritage Program at Lyon College in Batesville.

■ Patron Award: Sharon Heflin of Little Rock, who has served on the boards of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Argenta Community Theater and the Thea Foundation and is a founding board member of the Acansa Arts Festival.

The annual awards program has since 1991 recognized individuals and businesses for outstanding contributions to the arts in Arkansas. Nominations come from the public. An independent panel of arts professionals selects the winners. The recipients will be honored at a ceremony in March 2022.