ArtsQuest 2018 Linny Award Recipients

Philip Horn
Lifetime Achievement Award

This award celebrates and honors those who have given 25 or more years of service to the arts. It is because of their commitment, dedication, and/or support of the arts that the Greater Lehigh Valley’s art community thrives. This award is open to artists and philanthropists whose work symbolizes the highest level of excellence, commitment, and achievement. Horn has served as the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) for 25 years and advocated for and promoted the arts in Pennsylvania. Horn’s hard work, dedication, and passion for the arts have led to a significant difference for the organization and our community. During his tenure, the PCA established innovative cultural tourism strategies, and fostered the development of the Pennsylvania Cultural Data Project. Horn had served on several boards and has received numerous honors for his work and that of the agency, including the National Accessibility Leadership Award from the National Endowment for the Arts

Daniel Roebuck, formerly of Bethlehem
Pinnacle of the Arts Award

Each year the Linny Awards Committee may, at its discretion, offer this prestigious award to an individual who has lived or currently resides in the Lehigh Valley and has achieved national or international distinction in the visual, literary or performing arts. While the honoree may or may not be a resident of the Lehigh Valley, the individual will embody and recognize the importance that the Lehigh Valley has in nurturing the creative spirit. Actor, writer and director Daniel Roebuck, a Bethlehem Catholic High School graduate, recently made his feature film directing debut with Getting Grace, which was filmed in and around Bethlehem, and he also co-wrote, produced, and starred in. In his 35-year career, Roebuck has starred in many films including The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals, as well as had roles in the TV series such as Nash Bridges and Amazon Prime’s Man in the High Castle. Roebuck also guest-starred on TV shows including CSI, Criminal Minds, and Law and Order. Roebuck has produced and directed other documentaries and films, including “Christmas is Here Again,” “A Timeless Love” and “Give Till It Hurts.”

Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell, Allentown
Committee’s Choice

In 2018, the Committee’s Choice Award was created by the Linny Awards selection committee to honor deserving nominees that do not necessarily fall into one of the traditional Linny Award categories. Boris Vallejo is America’s premier fantasy artist and is famous for his illustrations of Tarzan, Conan the Barbarian, Doc Savage and many other fantasy characters, as well as movie poster illustration, advertisement illustration and artwork for collectibles, trading cards and sculpture. Julie Bell is a world-renowned, award-winning fantasy artist and wildlife painter. Bell has won two Chelsea Awards and was the designer of the popular and award-winning Dragons of Destiny series. Vallejo and Bell are married and often collaborate on projects. They have worked on many paintings together for advertising campaigns such as Nike, Inc., Coca-Cola and Toyota.

Christine Isabelle Oaklander, Ph.D., Allentown
Philanthropy in the Arts Award

This award recognizes an individual, family or foundation that has made a major commitment to supporting multiple arts and cultural organizations or programs, and through their work has truly enhanced access to the arts and the quality of life in our region. Oaklander is an expert in American art and has a keen eye for remarkable talent in our region. She has procured an impressive art collection from local artists for Lehigh Valley Health Network, and she was an interim director of Collections and Exhibitions of the Allentown Art Museum. During her time with the museum, Oaklander showcased some of the region’s prominent local artists.

Sands Casino, Bethlehem
Large Business Supporter of the Arts

This award honors a Lehigh Valley-based business that has made a profound impact on the community through their support in the arts. Sands Bethlehem participates in Las Vegas Sands Corp’s global giving program, Sands Cares. Through this program, Sands Bethlehem focuses its charitable efforts on our people, planet and community. The business is a proud supporter of ArtsQuest and other organizations who foster arts and arts education in the community. It also donated the 10 acres that were developed into the SteelStacks arts campus, having a positive impact on more than one million people who enjoy arts and cultural programming on the site each year.

Lutron Electronics, Inc., Coopersburg
Excellence in Product Design

This award honors a Lehigh Valley-based business or corporation for the quality, innovativeness and creativity of its goods and products. Through more than 50 years of innovation, Lutron has invented hundreds of lighting control devices and systems and expanded its product offering from two products to 15,000. Its light control products range from individual dimmers to total light management systems that control entire building complexes. Taken as a whole, Lutron light controls have reduced electrical use by 9.2 billion kWh, reducing customers’ electric bills by $1 billion annually.

Jessica Bastidas, Bethlehem
Emerging Artist of the Year

This award celebrates an artist from 18 to 30 years of age who demonstrates excellence in his/her field. This award is designed to honor an up-and-coming artist or an artist who has had a breakthrough year, and through his or her work has contributed to the region’s culture and community in a very positive way. Bastidas recently earned a combined B.F.A. and M.A. in illustration, humanistic literature, and art education at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), on a complete five-year scholarship. For two summers, she spent several weeks in Africa, as part of her MICA program, teaching art to the community and drawing and painting the indigenous people. Bastidas has taught on multiple occasions at the Baum School of Art, and her work has been featured at two galleries in the Lehigh Valley.

Olivia Lunger, Bethlehem
Student Artist Scholarship Award

This $2,500 award goes to a high school junior or senior in the region who demonstrates significant talent and promise in the visual, literary or performing arts and is looking to pursue a degree in arts, art therapy, arts education or arts administration. Lunger uses artwork as a mode of expression to bring awareness to contemporary issues. In one of her works, she used a drawing of hands to make a statement about Tourette’s syndrome. In a more recent piece, she questioned gender binarism. Her artwork has been displayed in the school art gallery during the annual art shows at Liberty High School and was the scholastic winner of the 2017 ArtPop competition, as well as featured in Teen Ink Magazine. Lunger recently graduated from Liberty High School and will attend Rhode Island School of Design in Fall 2018.

Jennifer Wescoe, Bethlehem
Arts Educator of the Year

This award is dedicated to a Lehigh Valley-based educator, teaching artist or arts administrator who has made a profound impact on students and/or the community through his or her work in the arts. This award is open to any individual working with students in preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle or high school. Wescoe has spent 19 years in arts education as the drama teacher and director at Freedom High School. In addition to her full-time teaching job, she constantly holds rehearsals, crew days and fundraisers for the arts at Freedom High School. Wescoe also launched the Freedom High School Playwright Showcase at SteelStacks.

Curlee Raven Holton, Easton
Visual Artist of the Year

This award honors a Lehigh Valley visual artist whose work embodies excellence in its field. This category includes but is not limited to two- and three-dimensional visual arts such as painting, sculpture, digital, fiber, glass, ceramics, jewelry, metal and photography, as well as designers of fashion, musical instruments, furniture and other handcrafted works. Recently retired from Lafayette College, printmaker Holton now serves as the interim executive director of the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland. In addition to receiving international recognition for his work, he is the founding director of the Experimental Printmaking Institute (EPI) at Lafayette which brought world-renowned artists to the Lehigh Valley. Holton was also the David M. and Linda Roth Professor of Art at Lafayette, where he taught printmaking and African American art history.

Kate Micucci, Nazareth
Performing Artist of the Year

This award recognizes a Lehigh Valley performing artist whose work symbolizes excellence in its field. This category includes but is not limited to theater, film, dance and other forms of performance art, animation, comedy, music, as well as the literary art, playwrights and screenwriters. Actress and comedian Micucci was raised in Nazareth, where she learned to play classical piano, taught by her mother. Best known for the critically acclaimed film “Don’t Think Twice,” as well as her work with partner Riki Lindhome in the comedy duo Garfunkel and Oates, Micucci started her career at Upright Citizens Brigade theater in Los Angeles and has since appeared on TV in “Raising Hope,” “Scrubs,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “Steven Universe.”