Dixie Friend Gay with her work Birds of a Feather, 2017.
Earlier today, at its annual convention in Denver, the organization Americans for the Arts announced that this year it honors Houston artist Dixie Friend Gay for her 2017 public artwork Books of a Feather, which is installed outside at the Alice McKean Young Neighborhood Library in Houston. It was commissioned by the City of Houston.
For the past 17 years, Americans for the Arts, through the Public Art Network, has given annual awards for the recognition of artist’s public artwork. Via Americans for the Arts: “Americans for the Arts today honored 49 outstanding public arts projects created in 2017 through the Public Art Network Year in Review program, the only national program that specifically recognizes the most compelling public art.” (Go here to see all of the honorees’ work.)
“Three independent public art experts—Bryan Lee, Jr., director of design at Colloqate Design in New Orleans; Karen Mack, executive director of LA Commons in Los Angeles; and Denver artist Patrick Marold—discussed the trends they uncovered while examining hundreds of submissions in selecting this year’s choices for the most exemplary, innovative permanent or temporary public art works created or debuted in 2017.”
The Texas Commission for the Arts recognized Friend Gay as Texas Artist of the Year in 2003.
For more on this, please go here and here.To watch a video and/or listen to a Glasstire podcast featuring Dixie Friend Gay, please go here.
Congrats, Dixie Friend Gay!
