NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Oct. 6, 2009
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Ann Dee Lee
Public Information Director
Oklahoma Arts Council
(405) 521-2931
anndee@arts.ok.gov
TOM LEE TO RECEIVE
GOVERNOR’S ARTS AWARD
Sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council, 16 individuals and five organizations will be honored for their contributions to the arts in their communities or throughout the state. The ceremony is scheduled for 4:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 20th in the 4th Floor Rotunda of the State Capitol and is open to the public. Presiding at the ceremony will be Council Chair Kym Koch Thompson and Oklahoma Arts Council Executive Director Suzanne Tate. A reception on the first floor of the Capitol will follow the 4 p.m. ceremony.
For more than 17 years, Tom Lee worked to develop the Paseo Arts District and the Paseo neighborhood. Lee was the president of the Paseo Artist Association for 12 years, handling the day to day business of the organization, helping artists find studio space and connecting artists to resources. He worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure the Paseo Arts Festival ran smoothly and always provided local high school art classes with free booth space.
While on the Board of Directors of Positively Paseo, an Oklahoma City sponsored neighborhood redevelopment corporation, Lee was instrumental in helping the organization acquire abandoned houses to redevelop. He renovated and restored eight properties, many of these on highly visible corner lots. His efforts helped send a message that the Paseo was undergoing a true renaissance.
Lee is a fine art photographer himself and the Paseo Arts District was his artistic home. For over 25 years, Lee has enjoyed working with a manual camera, available light and a simple darkroom. Tom’s art can be found in many public and private collections through out the United States and he has won numerous awards at regional and national competitions. In 2008 Lee published his first photography book “History Repeats” and he was recently inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame of Oklahoma City Community College. Lee and his wife Mary Katherine live in an old Catholic church that they share with their many cat and dogs. His current studio and darkroom is the rectory behind the old church.
He defines art as the ability to make the complex appear simple and the ordinary appear extraordinary.
A complete list of Governor’s Arts Awards recipients and their photos are available at www.arts.ok.gov. For more information about the Governor’s Arts Awards, please contact Ann Dee Lee at (405) 521-2931 or at anndee@arts.ok.gov.
ABOUT THE OKLAHOMA ARTS COUNCIL
The Oklahoma Arts Council is a state agency whose mission is to improve lives through the arts by promoting and sustaining the development of a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education and economic vitality for all Oklahomans.
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