Several win Excellence in Arts awards

Several Santa Fe-area artists, arts organizations and supporters have been chosen to receive New Mexico’s 2018 Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, the state Department of Cultural Affairs announced Wednesday.

Among them are composer and jazz guitarist Bruce Dunlap, who established the nonprofit GiG Performance Space in 2005; painter Jerry West; the Meow Wolf arts and entertainment collective; philanthropists Dan and Ashlyn Perry; and arts writer, curator and scholar Lucy Lippard.

Bronze and glass artist Jody Naranjo of Albuquerque, who comes from a long line of Santa Clara Pueblo potters, and bronze sculptor Curtis Fort of Tatum also will receive awards, along with famed glass installation artist Dale Chihuly of Seattle, who taught decades ago at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Chihuly will receive the Leadership in the Arts award for his impact on New Mexico, according to a news released issued from the Cultural Affairs Department.

This year is the 45th year for the Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts.

The awards ceremony will be held Sept. 14 in the St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe.

Nominations from the public for the awards are reviewed by a committee of the New Mexico Arts Commission, which sends recommendations to the governor and the full commission.