Friday, December 03, 2010

2010 Paseo Arts Awards

Fourth Annual
Paseo Arts Association Awards


This reports and gives photos of the Fourth Annual Paseo Arts Association Awards Ceremony & Banquet held at the Oklahoma History Center on November 11, 2010 — though I'm tardy with this, it was a great event and I'm pleased to have been a guest of one of the recipients. More about that shortly.

Click Here To Jump To The Awards

All of us know full well the Paseo Arts District and neighborhood bounded by NW 27th & NW 30th Streets and Lee and Walker Avenues — though its formal boundaries may extend a bit beyond that — and we certainly know about its Annual Art Festival held every Memorial Day weekend. For more about The Paseo, visit its own website or read more of what I wrote in 2007 in this article. Heck, great stuff goes on at The Paseo all year long.

The esteem given The Paseo isn't just local, either — it received the American Planning Association's "Great Places in America -- Neighborhoods" in 2010, one of only 10 neighborhoods so honored and the only Oklahoma neighborhood ever chosen for the APA award. See Steve Lackmeyer's October 20, 2010, article for more about that.

But, until this year, I was unaware that the Paseo Arts Association also gives annual awards, the event on November 11, 2010, being the fourth year for such awards to be given. Probably I would have continued in that ignorance but for the fact that my wife, Mary Jo Watson, received one of this year's awards. Of course, I attended and went camera in hand.

I apologize to all of you shown below for not naming you, especially those that I met that evening but have since forgotten your name. I'm not as good a reporter as Steve Lackmeyer is but Steve didn't make this particular event.

Click on any photo for a larger view.

Steve's article was prominently displayed'
John Belt, The Paseo's Contemporary Developer
Music By Pianist Joel Forlenza
Paseo's Theatre Upon a StarDanceSwan
Greeters Casey Tisdale & Patrick Wilson
The Reason I Am Here
Carol Beesley & Joy Reed Belt
Carol Beesley & Joy Reed Belt
Carol Beesley
Doris Bewley (right)
Mary Jo Watson & Doris Bewley
Milo Borges, Amber Sharples, Netha Cloeter
Netha Cloeter & Mary Jo Watson
Malia Bennett
Mary Jo, Malia & Steve Bennett
Meg Salyer & Gary Marrs
Julia Kirk & Mary Jo Watson
These three are for Dustbury's Chas. Hill, if he is watching


The 2010 Award Winners. After socializing, it was time for a sumptuous dinner and presentation of the awards. I'm using images from the event's booklet for these pictures.


Romy Owens
Emerging Artist
Steven Kovash
Volunteer Service
Gayle Curry
Michi Susan Award
Laura Warriner
Lifetime Achievement
Ken Busby
Lifetime Achievement
Mary Jo Watson
Lifetime Achievement
Katherine Liontas-Warren, Artist of the Year

I did, however, take one last photo,
this one of my very happy wife wearing her prize ...



Previous years' award winners are:
  1. 2007: Michi Susan, Artist of the Year; D.J. Lafon, Lifetime Achievement
  2. 2008: Sue Clancy, Artist of the Year; Mark Lewis, Artist of the Year; Sue Moss Sullivan, Michi Susan Award; Betty Price, Lifetime Achievement; Tom Lee, Special Recognition
  3. 2009: Sandy Martin, Volunteer Service; Carl Shortt, Volunteer Service; John Seward, Michi Susan Award; Bert Seabourn, Lifetime Achievement; Regina Murphy, Lifetime Achievement
The event was attended by Susan Shannon of KGOU-FM, the University of Oklahoma's National Public Radio station. Part of her November 22, 2010, "Indian Times," a regular production of the station, included her interview of Mary Jo's daughter, Malia Bennett. I have cropped that 2 minute 22 second program segment for your hearing, below.

It was a wonderful evening and, like Mary Jo's daughter, I'm very proud of my beautiful wife, as well.

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8 comments:

CGHill said...

He is, indeed, watching. :)

Doug Dawg said...

Amazing! I really did have you in mind when the ladies put their best feet forward, so to speak.

CGHill said...

I attended a Catholic school during a period of rising hemlines. I can only conclude that God Himself intended me to be a leg man.

Doug Dawg said...

That sounds right to me. You will perhaps enjoy, then, one of the videos I'll be including in my upcoming Christmas 2010 post. Here's a clue: shoes for Chaz.

Anonymous said...

I would literally pay for a ticket to sit down and listen to you two share stories with each other. - Steve

Doug Dawg said...

Sounds like a deal to me. What should we charge him, Chaz?

CGHill said...

If that's the Steve I think it is, he doesn't have much of an expense account, and I figure that there's something similar to the Laffer Curve at work here: at some point, the line turns sharply upward and that will be the limit to the amount we can soak him for.

Maybe we can get him to buy us dinner at Stella.

Doug Dawg said...

Yeah, that's him, and you're probably correct. I've not been to Stella yet ... Steve? Or is McDonald's more in line with the quality of conversation that you seek to observe?