TEXAS ARTIST OF THE YEAR & TEXAS PATRON OF THE YEAR
2010

Joseph Havel and Leslie & Brad Bucher

Art League Houston proudly announces the selections of Joseph Havel as the 2010 Texas Artist of the Year and Leslie and Brad Bucher, as Texas Patrons of the Year. Each year, Art League Houston honors those whose work or patronage has had a significant and positive impact on contemporary visual art in Texas.

"I can't tell you how excited we are at the Art League to honor Joseph Havel and the Buchers as our 2010 Texas Artist and Patrons of the Year," said Michael Rudelson, Art League Houston President. "These three outstanding individuals personify the very best of Texas, in their commitment to their communities, their exemplary dedication to the arts, and the merit of their work."

In 1983, Art League Houston created the Texas Artist of the Year award as a dynamic annual project documenting Texas art history. ALH was the first organization in the state to develop the award. To date, twenty-seven artists have been honored. Past recipients include Keith Carter (2009), Melissa Miller (2008), The Art Guys (2005), Luis Jimenez (1998), Lucas Johnson (1996), Karin Broker (1994), Bert L. Long, Jr. (1990), Jesús Moroles (1989), Dr. John Biggers (1988), and Dorothy Hood (1984), among others.

In 1989 Art League Houston expanded the award to include patrons with its Texas Patron of the Year Award for extraordinary individuals whose efforts have helped advance the work of Texas artists. Past patron honorees include Karol Kreymer and Robert Card, M.D. (2009), Anne and James Harithas (2008), Gus Kopriva (2007), Clint Willour (2006), and Sue Rowan Pittman (1989). ALH 2010 honorees are Leslie and Brad Bucher.

Joseph Havel has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Europe, including solo museum exhibitions at the Baltic Center for Contemporary Art in Gateshead U.K., the Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Palais de Tokyo, the Center for Contemporary Art in Kiev, the Huntington Beach Art Center, California, the Bard Center for Contemporary Arts, New York, and the Dallas Contemporary. Havel has also had recent solo exhibitions at Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery in Houston, Galerie Gabrielle Maubrie in Paris, Dunn and Brown Contemporary in Dallas, and William Shearburn Gallery in St. Louis. In 2000, he was included in the prestigious Whitney Biennial of American Art. His work is also in numerous public collections including the Whitney Museum, the Modern Museum of Fort Worth, the Contemporary Arts Museum in Honolulu, the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst in Belgium, the Ministry of Culture in Paris and Houston's Menil Collection and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In addition to his profession as a sculptor, Joseph Havel is the Director of the Glassell School of Art, where he has directed the Core Program since 1991.

Lauded by critics and audience alike, Los Angeles Times art critic David Pagel says, "The beauty of Havel's art resides in the effectiveness with which it disentangles wonder from transcendence, simultaneously reuniting mystery and the ordinary world as it rescues fascination from other worldly transport." Referring to Havel's 2006 ten year retrospective, A Decade of Sculpture: at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Michael Odom of ArtForum declared in his review, "the combination of style and subject were almost perfect."

Leslie and Brad Bucher have been avid art collectors for over 20 years. Leslie is an active docent at Bayou Bend and is a past chairman. She serves on the education, decorative arts and Bayou Bend committees at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH). Brad is a past board member of the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (CAMH) and ex-treasurer of the International Sculpture Center in Washington DC. Currently he is a trustee of the MFAH where he serves on its finance, development, and Latin American committees, and is president of its Latin Maecenas support group as well. He is also chairman of the Glassell School of Art at the MFAH. Additionally both Leslie and Brad are founding patrons of the Rice University Art Gallery and members of the CAMH and Menil.

"I am looking forward to the year-long celebration which acknowledges our honorees for their accomplishments -- Joe for his astounding body of work, and the Buchers for their dedication to and sincere passion for the visual arts community." says Art League Houston Executive Director Vanessa Perez McCalla.

As Texas Artist of the Year, Joseph Havel's work will be featured in an exhibition at Art League Houston, to open on September 2 and run through October 15, 2010. All three awardees will be celebrated at the annual gala to be held in their honor on November 5, 2010 at the Omni Houston Hotel.