Margaret K. Williams Arts Award recipients to be honored Nov. 2

The 19th annual Margaret K. Williams Arts Awards will take place
Thursday, Nov. 2 at the Tacoma Art Museum. A reception at 5:30 p.m.
will be followed at 6:30 by the awards ceremony.

This year's recipients:
- Jim Smith Award: UP for Art;
- Arts Education, Joelle K. Hanton; Jim and Diana Craig;
- Excellence in the Arts: Barefoot Studios.

UP for Art is a non-profit grassroots volunteer organization founded in 2000 to bring public art to the City of University Place. For the past six years, UP for Art has sponsored student art exhibits, conducted fund raising auctions, partnered with the City to commission a sculpture at City Hall, worked with the City to acquire artwork for public spaces, and created a plan for public art for University Place. The public art plan required more than 500 volunteer hours and is designed to enhance the lives of residents and make University Place an appealing place to live, work and visit.

Hanton , a June graduate of the Tacoma School of the Arts, has received the Korean Women Artist Association of Washington Gold Award and won four awards in this year's Puget Sound Educational Service District Regional High School Art Show. For her senior project, she exhibited at the Tacoma Public Library. As a volunteer, she was part of a team of students that created a mural for the Point Defiance Zoo; she painted an
Arctic scene for the Children's Art Museum; and taught at a children's art camp.

The Craigs are instrumental music educators in the Bethel School District and perform for a variety of venues and events. Diana Craig teaches at three elementary schools and has attracted three quarters of the fifth and sixth graders into her program. Jim Craig is the director of bands at Cougar Mountain Junior High School and has more than 300 students in the program. They have given back to the community by presenting concerts and assemblies and encouraging young people to follow their dreams through music.

Barefoot Studios has made a significant impact on the Pierce County arts scene with original choreography and dance events presented at the Museum of Glass. Directors Paul and Josephine A. Zmolek have extensive training and experience in professional choreography and performance and arts education. In addition to dance and theatre performances, Barefoot Studios offers a dance curriculum featuring a rotating series of installations by visual artists and hosts an on-going Friday night series of performances, improvisation jams, works-in-progress nights and special workshops.

The awards program is sponsored by the Pierce County Arts Commission
and the Pierce County Arts & Cultural Services Division. The reception
is sponsored by Columbia Bank.

CONTACT: Marlette Buchanan, Arts Manager, 253-798-6900253-798-3979