2008 Governor's Awards Recipients

Governor’s Awards: 2010 Recipients

Arts in Community

Lenagene Waldrup

Cleveland, Mississippi

Lenagene Waldrup’s roles in life seem almost endless! It is, however, the role that she has assumed in recent years that has endeared Dr. Waldurp to countless teachers and students in her area. She has been on a mission to provide arts opportunities for low-income children in the rural counties of the Mississippi Delta. Using the research from her doctoral dissertation, “Effects of Art Education Programs on Readiness Skills of Rural Mississippi Children,” Dr. Waldrup developed an arts program for five Delta school districts – a program which she coordinated herself. After being a principal in Alaska, she returned home to Mississippi in 2001 with the desire to expand the model arts program she started before leaving the state. This program has now expanded to 11 school districts in four Delta counties and serves 2,200 students and 193 teachers and assistant teacher in 20 different elementary schools.

Nominated by Karen Mayers, Delta Arts Alliance

Excellence in Broadcasting

Grassroots Radio Show

Serving all of Mississippi

Lovers of music, especially bluegrass, acoustic and folk music, have a standing appointment every Saturday night when radio airwaves broadcast Grassroots. Ever since Mississippi Public Broadcasting began its statewide radio network in 1984, Grassroots has been a fixture in the Saturday night line up. In its 25 year history, there have been only two hosts—Mike Morgan was the original host and Bill Ellison has hosted for the past 17 years. Ellison compares his work on Grassroots to that of a museum curator as he unearths and shares treasures from America’s and Mississippi’s musical past. Whether it is a spotlight on a Leake County string band recording from the 1930’s, or announcing the next show date for a band of “outlaw” college bluegrass musicians from Oxford, listeners know that Grassroots is the source. Grassroots is showing no signs of letting up in making a lasting and significant contribution to Mississippi’s rich artistic legacy.

Nominated by Mari Irby, Mississippi Public Broadcasting

Mississippi Heritage

Bessie Johnson

West Point, Mississippi

Bessie Johnson has had a passion for basket weaving for over 40 years. Both of her parents were active in traditional crafts and her father taught her the basics of basket weaving. She taught herself how to blend a rich cultural heritage and a contemporary artistic vision to create her own unique art form of basket weaving using pine needles, gourds, corn shucks and other natural materials. Johnson has served as a master artist in the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Folk Art Apprenticeship Program and was a Folk Art Fellowship recipient in 1999. She is a charter member of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi and displays her work at festivals throughout the region. Mrs. Johnson has been featured on Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s Mississippi Roads and she has won numerous awards in major art shows and festivals. She is also committed to teaching and sharing her work, eager to inspire others. To date, she has had four apprentices to work under her tutelage and has taught countless basket weaving classes and workshops.

Nominated by Jessica Addison

Artistic Excellence

Wyatt Waters

Clinton, Mississippi

Wyatt Waters has always drawn and had an interest in art. Art was his solace and refuge, but he never considered it a profession until Dr. Sam Gore at Mississippi College gave him the encouragement to study art. His original approach to painting was a typical still-life studio or photographic approach, but that was soon to change as he adopted a strict on-location colorist approach. Driving through the Jackson area, Waters’ Volkswagen bus could be spotted and he would be busily painting vignettes of everyday life in Mississippi. Waters is known as a colorist for his bold use of color. He paints the life he knows and the places he lives, carefully recording not only the image, but also the experience. He captures history and images that are, sadly, fading from our landscape. A true believer in community, Wyatt gives back through education and support. He has worked with children to help them to discover that art resides within them. Over the years he has supplied valuable artwork to area non-profits for their fund-raising efforts. Throughout his career he has published books of his own work, collaborated with writers to illustrate the work of others, and distinguished himself and the state of Mississippi with the overwhelming popularity and accessibility of his art.

Photo by Robby Followell

Nominated by George Ewing of the Clinton Arts Council and Melody Maxey

Lifetime Achievement

David "Honeyboy" Edwards

of Shaw, Mississippi

David “Honeyboy” Edwards was born in Shaw, Mississippi in 1915. He is widely sought as a preeminent oral historian of the blues, and as an outstanding Mississippi Delta blues guitarist and singer. He has been a professional musician since 1932 and has been recording since 1942, when folklorist Alan Lomax recorded him in Clarksdale for the Library of Congress. He has 11 CDs, as well as many compilations in print, spanning his recordings from 1942 through 2008. He is a 2002 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship Award, a 2008 Grammy Award winner in the category of Traditional Blues Recording, and winner of two Blues Music Awards from the Blues Foundation. He has been featured in many blues books, magazines, newspapers and feature films and has performed in 24 foreign countries. At all of his performances he takes time to talk with many audience members after the show, sharing his personal stories about his travels and life experiences throughout Mississippi and the Deep South.

Nominated by Michael Robert Frank, Earwig Music

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