MICHAEL SWAN: ARTS - THE MARGARET K. WAY >>>

Pierce County Arts Commission sent us this reminder:

The 22nd annual presentation of the Margaret K. Williams Arts Awards, sponsored by the Pierce County Arts Commission and the Pierce County Arts & Cultural Services Division, will take place Thursday, Nov.5 at the Tacoma Art Museum. The reception will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by the awards ceremony at 6:30 p.m.
 
Awards will be presented in four categories - Arts Education, Excellence in the Arts, Career, and the Jim Smith Award for Support of the Arts.  This year's recipients are David Craig for Excellence, Linda Danforth for the Jim Smith Award, Candi Hall for Arts Education, Barbara Lee Smith for Career and Lynn Di Nino for Excellence.
 

David W. Craig is a visual artist working out of his Four Winds Studio and Gallery in Eatonville.  Although he is best known for his watercolors, David also works in mixed media, sculpting, acrylics, charcoals, leatherwork and drum making.  He began private art lessons at the age of 9 and continued his passion for painting earning a degree from the Seattle Art Institute.  He recently designed the commemorative coin for the Eatonville Centennial.  His artwork can be seen in shows and galleries in the Western United States and Hawaii.  He also travels with his family throughout the Western states enjoying tribal gatherings, powwows, art shows, horseback riding, camping and fishing.
 
Linda Danforth is a jewelry artist who, in 2007, started the Jet Artist Cooperative and the Broadway Artist Cooperative, providing much needed affordable workspace and support for artists in Pierce County.  The same year she also founded Tacoma Art Place (TAP), a non-profit volunteer-run art facility which provides the community with affordable art instruction and access to art equipment including easels, sewing machines, kilns, dark room and more for creative pleasure and entrepreneurial endeavors.  In 2009, Linda founded the 253 Collective, a co-op retail gallery that allows artists to sell their works without paying a commission.
 
Candi Hall is the creator and Director of the D.A.S.H. Center for the Arts, a non-profit center dedicated to broadening the horizons on inner-city youth through the arts.  Candi, a formally trained singer and dancer, has been deeply involved in providing artistic opportunities to underprivileged youth since she was in college. The DASH Center offers young people the opportunity to take classes in many areas, including ballet, jazz and hip-hop, singing, poetry, computer design, graffiti art, yoga and emceeing.  The students also make trips to area theatres, dance companies, musicians and museums.  They also perform plays, enter dance competitions and write and perform songs.  Candi teaches them that they can achieve anything they put their mind, body and sweat into.
 
Barbara Lee Smith is an internationally recognized contemporary textile artist, teacher and author.  Her richly layered landscapes and seascapes are created using a variety of media and processes.  Works are painted, printed, collaged, fused, stitched and sometimes even melted.  She has combined techniques from the field of crafts, machine embroidery on fabric, with those of fine arts, collage and painting, to create a her own form.  Over the past 40 years, Barbara has participated in solo and group exhibitions around the United States and all over the world.  She has written books and articles for numerous publications, taught workshops and given lectures internationally.  Her works are held in museums, corporate and private collections in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and around the world.
 

Lynn Di Nino has been a freelance artist, teacher and entrepreneur for over thirty years.  In recent years, she has specialized in concrete sculpture and in collaborative performance art.  Her stylized animal sculptures feature a welded steel skeleton finished with concrete veneer, and may include household objects as body parts. She says "My goal is to capture the essence of the animal through its recognizable silhouette and thereby convey its beauty and global significance with a humor that honors its spirit." She has also become well-known for her spirited performance pieces for such occasions as New Year's Eve, the Glass Roots Festival, and the Fremont Solstice Parade among many others, which engage large groups of people to become part of the art experience.

Reserve your spot at the ceremony here.