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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