PASEO ARTS AWARDS

Each year the Paseo Arts Association honors artists and art supporters who have made a strong contribution to the arts in our state at the Paseo Arts Awards Dinner & Silent Auction. The PAA’s Annual Arts Awards were created to recognize and honor those individuals who have contributed to the artistic creativity and well-being of our state. By recognizing artists through these awards we hope to strengthen the Oklahoma art community. We wish to thank all the artists, patrons, supporters, teachers, authors, collectors, and overall appreciators of the arts.

The awards dinner, ceremony and silent auction also serves as a fundraiser for the Paseo Arts Association, helping to support arts events and programs year-round, such as First Friday events, kickstarters for artists such as Paseo FEAST, the Paseo Arts Festival in May and so much more.

The Paseo Arts Awards Dinner and auction helps support the Paseo Arts Association mission and programming year-round. Come out for a night of festivities and celebrate the arts!

2024 AWARD RECIPIENTS

SKIP HILL
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

This award honors a person, living or dead, who has spent his/her life contributing to the enhancement of the arts in Oklahoma either as an artist, supporter, arts educator or arts administrator. 

  • Skip Hill was born in 1961 in Padre Island, Texas but grew up primarily in Oklahoma City. After attending Oklahoma City University, he worked in Advertising before moving in 1987 to Southern California. A trip to Thailand in 1989 turned into a year of traveling throughout Southeast Asia while writing for a business magazine based in Bangkok. In 1990, Hill relocated to the Netherlands. His visits to the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum and The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam inspired him to create art informed by his own vision, apart from the commercial art produced in his advertising career.  

    He returned to Oklahoma in 1993 and studied at the University of Oklahoma with conceptual artist Edgar Heap of Birds, and painter George Bogart. Hill established his studio in Oklahoma City with the goal of creating an audience for his artwork within his home state and beyond. Hill acquired many collectors while exhibiting his work in Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas. In 2014, Skip Hill’s painting ‘The Dream Sower’ was inducted into the Oklahoma State Art Collection.  

    In the years since, Skip Hill’s art has been exhibited throughout the state in cultural institutions and galleries that include Oklahoma Contemporary, Fred Jones Museum of Art, The Betty Price Gallery at the Oklahoma State Capitol, Gaylord-Pickens Museum, Goddard Art Center, Artspace at Untitled, Living Arts Tulsa, 108 Contemporary, JRB Art at the Elms Gallery and Mainsite Gallery. In 2022, the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa acquired two of Skip Hill’s artworks for their permanent collection.

NICOLE MOAN
ARTIST OF THE YEAR AWARD

This award recognizes an emerging or established artist who has distinguished themselves and their profession during the past year.

  • Nicole Moan, a trailblazing artist known for her innovative approach to wearable art, has broken new ground with her signature ceramic corsets. Over the past two decades, Nicole has masterfully combined her engineering background with her artistic vision to create wearable sculptures that challenge the boundaries of fashion and art. Nicole's ceramic corsets are more than just garments—they are pieces of art that can be worn or displayed. Each corset is hand-sculpted and uniquely designed to be both aesthetically stunning and surprisingly comfortable. This innovative fusion of art and fashion has garnered attention from collectors, galleries and fashion enthusiasts alike. 

     In addition to her wearable art, Nicole is also renowned for her custom tile work, which has been featured in private homes, public spaces, and commercial projects. Her current projects include collaborations with her daughter on tile murals in Paseo Arts District and a groundbreaking project for NewView, an organization supporting individuals with low vision. 

SUZANNE C. THOMAS
MICHI SUSAN AWARD

Michi Susan was an admired and accomplished mixed media Oklahoma artist who was recognized nationally and internationally.  She mentored and encouraged other artists and provided financial support to arts organizations.  The Michi Susan Award recognizes artists who live in her same spirit and work to mentor and encourage Oklahoma visual artists.

  • Suzanne C. Thomas is a dedicated mixed media artist and painter whose journey into the art world is marked by passion, persistence, and a deep commitment to creativity. With a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Oklahoma State University and a Master of Fine Arts from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Thomas initially ventured into the “9 to 5” world, working in fields like retail and bankruptcy. However, her lifelong love for drawing, painting, and daydreaming ultimately led her back to her true calling—art and teaching. Thomas's decision to leave her traditional job to pursue art full-time was a bold leap of faith, but one she has never regretted. She fully immersed herself in creating, exhibiting, and teaching art, finding profound contentment in doing what she loves. As she puts it, “When you are doing what you love, it is amazing how easily you find contentment.”Her artwork has been showcased in various notable venues, including Myriad Gardens, Oklahoma Contemporary, AHHA, Living Arts, Gaylord-Pickens Heritage Center, and the African American Museum in Wichita, Kansas. Additionally, her work has been featured in local publications, further establishing her presence in the art community. Beyond her artistic endeavors, Thomas is a tenured professor of art at Rose State College, where she also serves as the Director of the Raiders Horizon Honors Program. Actively involved in the local art community, she dedicates her time as a volunteer and advocate, nurturing both her students and the broader artistic landscape. Raised in eastern Oklahoma County as the youngest of five children, she was encouraged from a young age to explore and develop her creative voice—a gift she now shares with others through her art and teaching.

MELISSA SCARAMUCCI
CREATIVE PLACEMAKING AWARD

This award honors a person who has made substantial contributions to strengthening creative communities, making the role of art essential in enhancing local character for positive economic development and community outcomes. 

  • Melissa Scaramucci is a screenwriter, producer and a new grad student at the University of Central Oklahoma with a history of service to the arts in Norman and Oklahoma City.

    Scaramucci currently serves as the Vice President of Oklahoma Contemporary and serves on the board for Oklahoma Repertory Theater and is a new trustee with Allied Arts. She also serves on the board for the deadCENTER Film Festival where she was Program Director through 2010 playing a significant role in shaping the film culture in Oklahoma. In 2015, she created their annual fundraiser, GlitterBall. She was recently appointed chair of the newly formed Public Art Commission for Nichols Hills where she is working with city leaders to create a walking app connecting all the public art in the city. Scaramucci graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature. She currently lives in Nichols Hills with her husband Todd where they send packages to their daughters Stella and Sofia who are away at their school.

LEA MORGAN
VOLUNTEER SERVICE AWARD

This award honors a person who has given their invaluable time and experience to benefit an Oklahoma non-profit arts organization over several years. 

  • An active community volunteer for over 30 years, Lea Morgan first became involved as a board member for the Crown Heights Neighborhood Association and served as co-editor of the neighborhood newsletter, CH-EH Chronicle, for eight years. Her involvement with the Paseo Arts Association Board began in 2018 and has featured work on a number of committees, including the Annual Arts Awards Dinner, Governance, Executive, and Finance. As president in 2020-2021, she helped plan, campaign for and move into the Paseo Arts and Creativity Center.

    A few of the many other organizations, committees, boards and programs she has given her time and organizational talents to through the years include the Oklahoma City Ballet Board of Trustees, Oklahoma City Midtown Rotary, Oklahoma City Midtown Rotary Foundation, Midtown Association Board of Directors, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, Oklahoma Museum of Art, Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, Oklahoma National History Day Competition, deadCENTER Film Festival, and the Freedom of Information (FOI) Oklahoma Inc. Board of Directors. Outside of her wide-ranging roster of community service, Morgan loves to travel, read and enjoy good food and company. She can often be found chatting away with people at nearby watering holes, where she says you meet some of the best people and can gather great intel on just about every topic of interest. She and her husband, Michael, along with their dog Archie, live in Midtown Oklahoma City in their American Institute of Architects award-winning home, designed by Fitzsimmons Architects 

CARLOS BARBOZA
EMERGING ARTIST AWARD

This award recognizes an artist that has emerged onto the Oklahoma art scene within the past few years and has contributed to the diversity and growth of art and culture in Oklahoma.

  • Born and raised in San Jose, Costa Rica, Carlos Barboza grew up in a family of artists—designers, architects, painters, and cartoonists—all of whom nurtured his passion for creativity from a young age. At just seven years old, he began formal training in a cartooning class, where he learned the foundations of anatomy and composition, sparking a lifelong love of drawing. 

    When Barboza was 10, his family made the life-altering decision to migrate to the United States, seeking new opportunities for him and his two sisters. While the transition brought new possibilities, it also presented challenges. As an undocumented immigrant, Barboza was unable to pursue a formal education in the arts and had to forge his own path forward. This led to a lot of painting and self-taught practices, ultimately developing into a strong technical proficiency in many mediums. It wasn’t until the spring of 2019, when he painted his first mural, that he found his true calling—public art. This discovery sparked a love for creating art that speaks to and represents communities often overlooked. Public murals became a way for him to democratize art, making it accessible and relevant to the wider public. 

    Since then, Barboza has painted over 50 murals across the country, earning recognition for his work with multiple awards and features in Oklahoma Magazine and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame Magazine. Today, he lives in Yukon, Oklahoma, with his wife Leslie and their daughter Maxine, and he continues to push the boundaries of public art while staying rooted in the values that have shaped his journey. 

Programs

 First Friday ● Paseo Arts Festival ● SPACE Artist in Residence ● FEAST ● Paseo Arts Awards ● Art Education