Artist Senga Nengudi among four celebrated at Bonfils-stanton Foundation awards
What do pantyhose, masking tape, gravel, sand, dirt and seed pods have in common? They’re elements often found in the art of Senga Nengudi, one of the four people honored at the Bonfils-stanton Foundation’s 34th Annual Awards Celebration.
Nengudi, one of the nation’s most celebrated artists, has resided in Colorado Springs since 1989. She was born in Chicago, raised and educated in California, and did postgraduate work in Japan before becoming part of the avant-garde black artists’ scene, Studio Z, in New York during the 1970s and ’80s.
Her work has been exhibited in Paris, New York, London, Chicago and Denver.
“Art heals, art transforms and art keeps us human,” she said as she accepted the 2019 Artist Award during the luncheon event held at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Tony Garcia, the executive artistic director of Su Teatro, was given the Community Service in the Arts Award, and Damon Mcleese, executive director of Access Gallery, accepted the Arts and Society Award. Each prize came with a $35,000 check and a sculpture from Blake Street Glass. A special nod went to former Gov. John Hickenlooper, who took time off from his bid to become the 2020 Democratic nominee for president, to receive the Public Leadership in the Arts Award.
The award, said foundation president/ceo Gary Steuer, was a gesture of appreciation for the work Hickenlooper has done to “make Denver an arts leader.”
Steuer cited Hickenlooper’s efforts on behalf of the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art and the Clyfford Still Museum — and acknowledged Hickenlooper for using “creativity and culture” in building his first business, the Wynkoop Brewery in Lodo.
“I could not be more honored or pleased,” Hickenlooper said to the crowd, which gave him a standing ovation. “The Bonfils-stanton Foundation embraces the arts and embodies the collaborative spirit. You cannot create a great community — a community we all want to live in — without great art. Art isn’t one of those things that it’s nice to have; you need to have it, and it must be available to all.”
Garcia, a Denver native who in 2011 was awarded one of the Bonfils-stanton Foundation’s Livingston Fellowships, joined the student-organized theater group Su Teatro in 1972 as a guitar player. By 1989, he became its executive artistic director, running the theater, spearheading its development and overseeing its eventual move to its present location on Santa Fe Drive.
Actor-producer donnie l. betts described Garcia, who has a bachelors degree in theater from the University of Colorado Denver, as “the keeper of the cultural flame,” praise Garcia deflected by recalling, “My parents worked in the fields (while) I sat on my butt and wrote things down, then got people to perform them.”
His commitment to cultural equality in the theater and beyond includes 40 new plays and original works that “inspired a new generation of Latino artists and leaders” and better enabled the Chicano and Latino communities to share their stories, history and experience.
Still, Garcia said, “I always felt like I was the recipient, not the donor.”
For almost three decades, Mcleese has been a storyteller, activist, mentor and advocate, especially for people with developmental and cognitive disabilities. Prior to becoming executive director of Access Gallery 23 years ago, he worked for Colorado Special Olympics, Easterseals Colorado and the City of Aurora Volunteer Center.
Access Gallery, Mcleese said, “is much more than a gallery; we’re an incubator” where artists create commissioned pieces for corporate clients, learn how to use art for social change and receive realworld guidance on how Colorado arts organizations can make accessibility integral to their work. In addition, Access Gallery serves some 500 young adults with disabilities who might not otherwise have traditional jobs.
Access Gallery artists created both the table favors and the containers for the centerpieces filled with flowers from Bouquets.
The luncheon, emceed by Hal Logan, chair of the Bonfils-stanton Foundation board, also featured a scene from Su Teatro’s “Chicano Power 1969!,” and an arts-driven spoken word message from Bobby Lefebre.
Several of those who have received Bonfilsstanton Foundation awards in the past were on hand to applaud their successors: Ellie Caulkins, Dan Ritchie, Elaine GantzBerman, Curt Fentress, Carlos Fresquez, Arlene and Barry Hirschfeld, Pat Pearce, Hugh Grant, Dr. John Repine, Anna Jo Haynes and Susan Jenson.
Other guests included Dorothy Horrell, who had helmed the foundation before going on to become chancellor at Cu-denver; Tina Walls; Jesse Ogas; Adam Lerner; Garrett Ammon; Renny Fagan; Erin Pulling; Katie Maltais; Tanya Mote; Gil Boggs; and historian Tom Noel, author of “The Bonfilsstanton Foundation Story: The Legacy Continues.”