Sponsors:

MISSION

The mission of the Santa Fe Rotary Foundation is to inspire the youth of our community, providing support and funding for the arts education, scholarships and personal development.

For the last 24 years, the Foundation has recognized a living visual artist from the Santa Fe community who has achieved national distinction. A dinner honoring the artist funds grants to organizations dedicated to youth and the arts.

In 2004, over $20,000 in total grants were made to

Hands Across Cultures, Hands On Community Art, Las Vegas Community Arts Center, New Mexico Culture Net, Outside In, Rape Crisis Center, Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe New Music, Santa Fe Performing Arts, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Santa Fe School for the Arts, Theaterwork, W21 Productions, Youth Shelters & Family Services.

Over the years, the Foundation has raised over $500,000 and granted more than $250,000 to non-profit organizations across Northern New Mexico. The Foundation also produces a video each year celebrating the life and work of the selected Artist of the Year. In conjuction with the Education Department of the State of New Mexico, we distribute these videos to schools with art programs around the State.

The Foundation Board is in the process of developing a scholarship program for a local high-school graduate looking to continue their art education. One idea was to award a Student Artist of the Year based on a juried review of their portfolio and academic achievement as well as the recommendation of their art teacher.

2005 ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Elias Rivera is a painter whose work both creates timeless images and displays virtuosity of technique. His paintings bring to modern times the unparalleled integrity of the Old Masters. The current art world with all of its diversity does not cause him to waver. Rather, he sustains his interpretation of Classicism and integrates it with a sense of modernity.

Rivera preserves moments in time with dynamic compositions of people; his work embraces a spectrum of color that resonates and magnifies the brilliance of the scenes he depicts. Rivera creates a dialogue between subject and paint, portraying life with tenderness, intelligence and compassion.

Born in New York in 1937, Rivera spent his childhood there and living with an uncle’s family in Puerto Rico. As a young painter he studied at the Art Students League with Frank Mason and privately with Steve Raffo. At the age of 28, Rivera had his first gallery exhibit at Lincoln Institute in New York and five years later his first one-man exhibition.

Throughout the 1970’s, Rivera received numerous national awards for his large mural work. Moving to Santa Fe in 1982, Rivera began to paint the native population of the southwest and Mexico. The 1990’s found Rivera venturing further south for his subjects, into the cultures of Guatemala and Peru.

PRIOR HONOREES

1981 Fremont Ellis

1982 Bettina Steinke

1983 Eliot Porter

1984 Tom Lovell

1985 Allan Houser

1986 Paul Strisik

1987 Wilson Hurley

1988 No Award Given

1989 Gary Niblett

1990 Glenna Goodacre

1991 Beaumont Newhall

1992 Ramona Sakiestewa

1993 Rick Dillingham

1994 Luis Tapia

1995 Dan Namingha

1996 Doug Hyde

1997 Nancy Youngblood Lugo

1998 William Lumpkins

1999 Agnes Martin

2000 Barbara Van Cleve

2001 Ramon Jose Lopez

2002 Eugene Newmann

2003 Eliseo Rodriguez

2004 Michael A. Naranjo

OFFICERS

President, G. Alan Myers

Vice-President, Barry Gerst

Secretary, Karen Aubrey

Treasurer, Annette Hayden

Board Members

Rick Bernardinelli

Herb Cohen

Cece Derringer

Charlie Flynn

Lucia Freeman

Barry Kaye

Grady Utley

Mary Walta

Water Zierman

Ex-Officio

Stuart Ashman

Bill Field

Gene O’Donnell