The Arkansas Arts Council recognized David H. Clemons and Mia Hall, both UALR art professors, at its annual Governor’s Arts Awards ceremony Oct. 6 at the Hot Springs Convention Center. Clemons and Hall received Individual Artist Fellowships from the Arts Council for their work in contemporary and traditional crafts.

This year, the Arkansas Arts Council awarded nine artist fellowships worth $4,000 each. The fellowship awards are unconditional awards that recognize individual artistic ability. The three categories were contemporary and traditional crafts, short stories and film and video.

Clemons is an adjunct professor at UALR and has been a freelance illustrator for more than 20 years. Clemons classifies himself primarily as a metal smith with work entrenched in techniques and materials that are reminiscent of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Clemons earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in metalsmithing from San Diego State University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio arts from the University of Texas at Austin. In addition, he also studied biology, art, and illustration at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Hall is an assistant professor and coordinator of the furniture design program at UALR. A woodworking artist, Hall earned her bachelor’s degree and a Master of Fine Arts degree in furniture design and woodworking from San Diego State University. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at San Diego City College and San Diego State University. Hall’s work has recently been displayed in an invitational exhibition at the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock, a traveling exhibition in Pennsylvania and a White House Christmas Tree exhibition.

The Arkansas Arts Council was established in 1966 to enable the state of Arkansas to receive funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.