H.R. No. 1221

R E S O L U T I O N

WHEREAS, The Texas Commission on the Arts has announced the 2022 appointments for State Poet Laureate, State Musician, State Two-Dimensional Artist, and State Three-Dimensional Artist; and

WHEREAS, The state's highest accolade for excellence in the arts, designation as a Texas State Artist is conferred on those individuals who represent the best of our rich and diverse artistic community and who inspire others through their unique creative expression; and

WHEREAS, The 2022 State Poet Laureate is writer and educator Lupe Mendez; his 2019 book, Why I Am Like Tequila, won the John A. Robertson Award from the Texas Institute of Letters, and his work can also be seen in a variety of publications, including Aster(ix), the Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, and the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day series; holding a master's degree in creative writing from The University of Texas at El Paso, he has been awarded fellowships by CantoMundo, the Macondo Foundation, and the Crescendo Literary/Poetry Foundation Emerging Poet Incubator; moreover, he is an activist and the founder of Tintero Projects, which works with Latinx writers and other writers of color; and

WHEREAS, Known as the "Queen of the Accordion," Eva Ybarra has been named the 2022 Texas State Musician; the leader of Eva Ybarra y Su Conjunto, she specializes in writing and composing original conjunto music, and she is known for pushing the boundaries of the genre by exploring nonstandard chord progressions; she began playing the accordion at four years old and received her first record deal, with Rosina Records, at just 14; in the 1990s, she released a number of records that further raised her profile, and she has taught at the University of Washington, Palo Alto College, and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center; she is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the South Texas Conjunto Association and a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts; and

WHEREAS, Celia Álvarez Muñoz is the 2022 State Two-Dimensional Artist; a conceptual multimedia artist known for her photography, installations, and public art, she is represented in many public and private collections, and her work has been included in the Whitney Biennial and, more recently, in an internationally touring exhibition called "Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985"; she is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a CAA Committee on Women in the Arts Recognition Award, and a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Visual Arts from Art League Houston; and

WHEREAS, African American sculptor Jesse Lott has been chosen as the 2022 State Three-Dimensional Artist; inspired by collecting and recycling discarded items, he works with a variety of materials, including paper, metal, wood, and wire; his solo exhibition, "Jesse Lott: Urban Frontier Artist," was presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Washington, D.C., and the Houston Art Car Museum, and his pieces have also been shown at the Studio Museum and Alternative Museum in New York; he has held an all-ages workshop in his studio for many years, and he helped motivate the creation of the Project Row Houses in Houston; he was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Visual Arts by Art League Houston in 2016; and

WHEREAS, The artists who have been selected to hold these prestigious posts have all greatly contributed to the vibrant cultural life of the Lone Star State, and Texas is indeed fortunate to be home to these talented individuals; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 87th Texas Legislature hereby congratulate the 2022 Texas Commission on the Arts honorees and extend to them sincere best wishes for continued fulfillment in their creative endeavors.

King of Hemphill

______________________________ Speaker of the House

I certify that H.R. No. 1221 was adopted by the House on May 23, 2021, by a non-record vote.

______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House