Welcome to our new web site!

To give our readers a chance to experience all that our new website has to offer, we have made all content freely avaiable, through October 1, 2018.

During this time, print and digital subscribers will not need to log in to view our stories or e-editions.

DOÑA ANA ARTS COUNCIL

Arts Council presents Community Arts Awards virtually on Sunday

Posted

The Doña Ana Arts Council (DAAC) will present its 33rd annual Community Arts Awards with an online program, 7-7:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20.

The award winners for 2020 are

  • Arts in Education Award: Kathleen Key, for her love and passion for teaching art history and for adapting her courses to online for DAAC presentations this summer. 

“She made the summer happen, and in a fun way, with her warmth, quick wit and obvious love of great art,” said DAAC Executive Director Greg Smith.

Key teaches art history to undergraduates and retirees at UTEP. The lectures Key began for DAAC in early 2018 proved so popular that they continue, covering topics like French Impressionism, Women in Art, American Art and the History of Fashion.

“We see a lot of enthusiasm for her classes because Kathleen exudes enthusiasm for her subject and presents everything with great knowledge and humor,” Smith said. “In talking about a place to view art, she shares where to eat, where to stay and how to get there. It is a full-spectrum class. She is also willing to delve into any subject, do the research and present the results.”

  • Community Arts Award: Dennis Milligan-Lujan, honoring his many years of promoting art in the Las Cruces area as well as, most recently, his community involvement during this pandemic by creating "Art Magnet,” a weekly drawing challenge to inspire artists and keep them active and engaged during the shutdown.

Milligan-Lujan has shown his work in four states, is the winner of regional arts awards and is known across the globe for his art. He has supported countless causes through fundraising and donation of his art and services.

Milligan-Lujan grew up in Colorado Springs, where he pursued an education in commercial and fine art and theater. Dennis and his husband, Jeff, have lived in Las Cruces for the past 17 years, where they have been active in the Mesilla Valley arts community.

  • Art in Public Places Award: Las Cruces artist SABA, is being honored for enriching the visual and spiritual fabric of the community with his art shows, specifically “Pictograaff,” resulting in long-lasting murals throughout the area.

SABA has worked with the Tigua Indian youth of Pueblo Del Sur, offering screen-printing workshops and murals throughout the reservation. He also has worked with collegiate students at Humboldt State and Purdue universities, allowing the students to express their voices through Arrowsoul (aerosol) murals.

In New Mexico, SABA has presented youth summer workshops for the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque. He has given freely of his time in many different community and educational settings, with student groups and organizations and frequently offers free screen printing to help fundraise or bring awareness to important local and national causes.

He also hosts two annual events in Las Cruces: The Illegal? Art Show and Pictograff with the Branigan Cultural Center, DAAC said. SABA opened Barricade Culture Hop art studio at 1175 W. Picacho Ave. in August and hopes to create an arts district on West Picacho.

  • John Glowacki Lifetime Achievement Award: The award is being presented for only the fifth time, posthumously honoring Nancy Ritchey, who joins J. Paul Taylor, Glenn Cutter, Mary Kay Papen and Dr. Tom Gale as the only recipients.

“Nancy Ritchey lived music, and she graced us here in Las Cruces with her knowledge and leadership in choral music for the past 18 years by establishing and growing the Mesilla Valley Chorale (MVC),” Smith said.

Ritchey was a graduate in piano and voice performance from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. She began contributing to the musical arts in Las Cruces after arriving from Denver with her husband, Sam, in 1996.

Ritchey’s earliest local musical involvement in Las Cruces included teaching privately and directing church choirs. She served for many years as director of music ministry at Wellspring Church and was MVC director for 18 years. In 2009, the chorale was invited to perform at Sevigne Leveque and Le Mans, France, during their national music festival.

In 2012, Ritchey received DAAC’s Papen Family Award. Ritchey, who died last June, would have turned 77 just four days before the Community Arts Awards presentation.

“The most beautiful aspect of her giving nature was that she lived and gave with grace,” said her husband, Sam, who nominated Ritchey for the award. “Nancy devoted countless hours tending to details and perfecting each outcome. With elegance, even under pressure, she maintained her utmost respect for others and her belief that each person is important and worthy of honor and respect. Always, she expanded the possibilities to allow individual expression, and to present opportunities for each person to shine. She navigated by her sincere belief and personal mantra that ‘It's all about people.’ Today, she's likely leading a choir of angels in heaven.”

Doña Ana Arts Council

X