5 receive Mayor's Artists Award for service to the arts

SALT LAKE CITY — In the midst of paintings, sculptures, live music and thousands of people, four individuals and one organization were honored Friday as the 2010 Mayor's Artists Award winners at the 34th annual Utah Arts Festival.

"What would summer be without the Utah Arts Festival?" said Karen Hale, communications director for the Salt Lake City mayor's office. "And what would Salt Lake City be without wonderful artisans? And tonight we're here to honor several artisans, several artists, several contributors to the arts."

Since 1992, more than 65 people have been honored by the mayor's office and the festival for their contributions to the cultural life of the community. Friday night, Dan Miller, Jeff Lambson, Teresa Flowers, Richard Scott and Saltgrass Printmakers became the newest additions to this prestigious group.

Two individuals were honored for their service to the arts — Miller and Lambson. Miller owns Mills Publishing, which has worked with many of Salt Lake's nonprofit arts organizations. He also works as board president for Salt Lake Acting Company and Ballet West. He has served the arts community for more than 30 years.

"Mills Publishing does great work for the entertainment and performing arts here throughout Utah," Hale said. "So I'm sure all of you have held his great work in your hands."

Lambson is curator of contemporary art at the BYU Museum of Art in Provo.

"I just wanted to thank everybody tonight for supporting the arts in Utah," he said. "Be sure to invite your friends tomorrow and take it one step further and buy a painting from an artist tonight to make yourself feel good."

Lambson has worked at the Smithsonian Institution's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. Projects he has worked on have opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and will travel to the Guggenheim Bilbao. He has curated "Dan Steinhilber," "Mirror Mirror: Contemporary Portraits and the Fugitive Self" and "The Matter of Words."

Salt Lake resident Flowers won the award for visual arts.

"She is a wonderful photographer widely published throughout the country," Hale said.