Recognizing the 2025 Texas Commission on the Arts honorees.

89(R) SR 643 - Enrolled version - Bill Text

SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 643

WHEREAS, The Texas Commission on the Arts has announced the

2025 appointments for State Poet Laureate, State Classical

Musician, State Nonclassical Musician, State Two-Dimensional

Artist, and State Three-Dimensional Artist; and

WHEREAS, The state's highest accolade for excellence in the

arts, the Texas State Artist designation is conferred on

individuals who represent the best of our rich and diverse

artistic community and who inspire others through their unique

creative expression; and

WHEREAS, Octavio Quintanilla, the 2025 State Poet

Laureate, has authored three poetry collections, including
The

Book of Wounded Sparrows
, which was on the longlist for the

National Book Award, and
Las Horas Imposibles / The Impossible

Hours
, the winner of the 2024 Ambroggio Prize of the Academy of

American Poets; he is also known for his
Frontextos
visual poem

series; a former poet laureate of San Antonio, he is the founder

and director of the VersoFrontera Literature and Arts Festival

and publisher of Alabrava Press; he serves as a professor at Our

Lady of the Lake University and was recently inducted into the

Texas Institute of Letters; and

WHEREAS, The 2025 State Classical Musician is Alecia

Lawyer, the founder, artistic director, and principal oboist of

ROCO, the trailblazing music ensemble in Houston; named by

Musical America Worldwide
as one of classical music's top 30

influencers for 2015, she has recorded for John Cage, soloed with

Mstislav Rostropovich, given a recital at Carnegie Hall,

recorded with the Sorbonne Orchestra, and performed with various

orchestras and chamber groups in France and Germany; over the

years, she has also been recognized as the Outstanding Chamber

Orchestra Founder by the
Houston Chronicle
and as the Sigma Alpha

Iota Musician of the Year; and

WHEREAS, Texas native Miranda Lambert was named the State

Nonclassical Musician for 2025; this acclaimed artist received

Grammy Awards for Best Country Album for her releases
Platinum

and
Wildcard
, and she has earned numerous honors from the Academy

of Country Music and the Country Music Association; she was

listed as one of the 100 Most Influential People by
Time
magazine

in 2022, and in 2024, she received the Country Icon Award at the

People's Choice Country Awards; and

WHEREAS, Angelbert Metoyer, the State Two-Dimensional

Artist, explores memory and social history through the lenses of

science, philosophy, and religion, incorporating nontraditional

materials that include coal, glass, debris, oil, tar, mirrors,

and gold dust; since 1994, he has exhibited his art at the Venice

Biennale and Art Basel in Miami Beach and in many solo

exhibitions and group shows; in addition, he has works in the

permanent collections at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as

well as the U.S. Department of State, Charles H. Wright Museum of

African American History, and Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig,

Germany; and

WHEREAS, The 2025 State Three-Dimensional Artist, Steve

Parker, is an Austin-based artist and musician who creates

sculptural ecosystems that transform spaces into large-scale

collaborative performances; he is the recipient of a Creative

Capital Award and Rome Prize, as well as grants from the

Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Fulbright Scholar Program, and

National Endowment for the Arts; an associate professor at

The University of Texas at San Antonio, he is the artistic

director of Collide Arts and has showcased his work at the

American Academy in Rome, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art,

the Fusebox Festival, the Lincoln Center Festival, and South by

Southwest; 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 Senate of the State of Texas, 89th

Legislature, hereby congratulate the 2025 Texas Commission on

the Arts honorees and extend to them sincere best wishes for

continued fulfillment in their creative endeavors.

Menéndez

________________________________

President of the Senate

I hereby certify that the

above Resolution was adopted by

the Senate on May 31, 2025.

________________________________

Secretary of the Senate

________________________________

Member, Texas Senate