Sunday, September 16th was a beautiful sunny afternoon in Austin, Texas as a group of artists and Art Spark Texas supporters gathered to celebrate artists from around Texas who have empowered themselves and their community through their artistic practice. It was our inaugural Haven Allen Artist of the Year awards where we honored three artists for their achievements.

The Haven Allen awards are named in memory of former Art Spark Texas Board Member Forrest Haven Street-Allen. Haven was an insightful and caring person who had a history of helping others. When she passed away we wanted to honor her dedication, vision, and respect for all through this award. Our first award ceremony this year was a success and I think Haven would be proud to have her name attached to it.

We solicited nomination forms all year long in 2017. The award is open to any artist with a disability over the age of 16 years old in any discipline. Self-nominations are allowed. We received 10 nominations.

Interestingly, all were for visual artists and none were self-nominations. Our panel of judges reviewed all of the applications and they chose San Antonio artist Joan Fabian as the very first Haven Allen Artist of the Year. She was notified this past Spring and then awarded this Fall.

Joan has been a long time artist with Art Spark Texas. She has been in several group shows and was our final solo show at Access Gallery before it closed in 2012. I think she was a natural choice for this award because of her notable achievements through the arts nationwide and worldwide, her shining spirit and giving nature toward helping other artists succeed, and of course, her beautifully constructed and painted images.

As the 2018 Artist of the Year, we are dedicated to promoting Joan in the community, so this blog is my introduction of her to you. Meet Joan Fabian! If you don’t know her, you should! Below is a video of why she was nominated for and given this award: