88R33017 BK-D
 
  By: Ashby H.R. No. 2402
 
 
 
R E S O L U T I O N
         WHEREAS, The Texas Commission on the Arts has announced the
  2023 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 2023 State Poet Laureate is ire'ne Lara Silva;
  she is the author of two full-length poetry collections, furia and
  Blood Sugar Canto, that were both finalists for the International
  Latino Book Award in Poetry; her most recent poetry collection,
  CUICACALLI/House of Song, was a finalist for the Texas Institute of
  Letters Poetry Prize, and she has also published three chapbooks
  and a short story collection, flesh to bone, that won the 2013
  Premio Aztlan and was named a runner-up for the 2014 NACCS Tejas
  Foco Award in Fiction; the recipient of a number of grants and
  literary awards, she had the distinction of being inducted as a
  member of the Texas Institute of Letters in 2020; her poetry, short
  stories, and essays have appeared in more than 70 journals and
  anthologies, and she currently serves as a writer at large for Texas
  Highways magazine; and
         WHEREAS, Gary Clark Jr., the 2023 State Musician, achieved
  critical acclaim with his debut album Blak and Blu, where he
  introduced his brand of blues rock that would gradually transform
  into a fusion of contemporary funk, rock, and hip hop; the
  Austin-born singer-songwriter won a Grammy Award for his top-10 hit
  "Please Come Home," and he later scored three more Grammy wins,
  including Best Contemporary Blues Album, for his politically
  charged fifth studio album This Land and its title track; he has
  earned a reputation as a soulful live performer, and in addition to
  touring with the Rolling Stones and the Foo Fighters and
  collaborating with recording artists like Alicia Keys and Childish
  Gambino, he has played alongside Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, and other
  well-known musicians for tributes to Stevie Wonder and the Beatles;
  and
         WHEREAS, Painter Gaspar Enriquez is the 2023 State
  Two-Dimensional Artist; after growing up in El Paso's Segundo
  Barrio, he made his living as an art educator while developing a
  body of work primarily composed of acrylic, air-brushed portraits
  of individuals who typify the Chicano community in which he was
  raised; his paintings have been featured at the El Paso Museum of
  Art, the Tucson Museum of Art, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library,
  the de Young Museum in San Francisco, and the San Antonio Convention
  Center, where he was commissioned to paint a 24-foot-tall piece
  titled cholos; he has had a profound impact on many students
  throughout his career as an educator, and he has been an inspiration
  for nationally recognized artists such as Vincent Valdez and Alex
  Rubio; and
         WHEREAS, James C. Watkins, who has been exhibiting his work
  as a ceramic artist for over four decades, has been named the 2023
  State Three-Dimensional Artist; best known for his large,
  double-walled stoneware vessels, he has experimented with
  alternative firing techniques to craft black pottery with varying
  tones and depth; his work is represented in a number of notable
  collections, including the White House Collection of American
  Crafts at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in
  Little Rock, Arkansas, the Shigaraki Institute of Ceramic Studies
  in Japan, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; he
  was named a Horn Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Texas Tech
  University, and he has received the Texas Tech President's
  Excellence in Teaching Award; 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 88th Texas
  Legislature hereby congratulate the 2023 Texas Commission on the
  Arts honorees and extend to them sincere best wishes for continued
  fulfillment in their creative endeavors.