More News Columnists

• Bill Slakey: As Trib closes, many questions remain unasked
• Phill Casaus: Don't cry for us, Albuquerque; it was worth it
• Joline Gutierrez Krueger: My Wall of Fame holds memories of people, stories that have mattered

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

This weekend, the 34th Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts celebration will include Fred Wilson, easily Albuquerque's most prominent and prolific black artist.

Awarded the Individual Award for Major Contributor to the Arts, Wilson will join previous honorees like Rudolfo Anaya, Denise Chavez, Georgia O'Keeffe, Ramon Jose Lopez, N. Scott Momaday, Luis Jimenez, Max Evans, Eliseo and Paula Rodriguez, Maria Benitez, Dan Namingha and John Crosby.

For 22 years, Wilson ran the Muddy Wheel Gallery, an Albuquerque landmark on Fourth Street Nothwest. It's now on Candelaria Road just west of Valley High. Over that period of time, Wilson's work - pottery and sculpture of every size - has found its way to more display areas in Albuquerque homes than can be counted.

Many of those owners will be in attendance Saturday in Santa Fe.

Born in Chicago, Wilson spent his early years in Indiana before his mother married a military man and moved the family to Victorville, Calif. The pull for art came early, but there were limited opportunities for black people who wanted to be artists.

Wilson's dream was to attend the University of Southern California, which had a stellar pottery program. Fate had another calling. A much bigger one.

An excellent student and high school athlete, he was recruited by LaVerne College in Pomona, Calif. where officials wanted to integrate the college but needed their own Jackie Robinson to do so.

Wilson was the first black person to attend.

"It's something like 60 percent black now," he says. "I'm very proud to be a part of that."

Art studies at Cal State and graduate work at Fresno State followed, where he learned to mix clay with his bare feet and his own distinctive glazes, a signature style that carries on to this day.

A stint in the Air Force followed, and then things started to get more interesting. Entrepreneurial and ambitious, Wilson opened his own gallery in Los Angeles, a massive space where he taught upward of 300 students a month with the help of more than 20 apprentices. Two of the apprentices from those years are coming to the ceremony as well.

His Los Angeles years were good, including stints on the old Steve Allen and Dinah Shore TV shows. He became something of a staple on the Shore program, doing 17 segments over time, with two of her producers becoming students.

If that's not enough to hum your jealousy bone, his third stint on the program was with Ginger Rogers.

Soon enough, the pull of New Mexico was too compelling to ignore, and in 1975 Albuquerque became his home.

"When I moved here in '75, I was the only black artist that had a gallery in the entire Southwest," Wilson said. "People would say, `What do you mean you have a gallery?' It means I work for me."

And work he did, creating upward of 500 individual pieces a year, each of them sketched out in advance.

It is our good fortune those sketches remain to this day. They will be on display at the gallery this weekend during an open house celebrating his award. A retrospective of Wilson's work, dating back to the early '60s, will be on display as well.

I couldn't be happier for Fred. When I first moved here, the Muddy Wheel was one of the first places that truly got me excited about Albuquerque as an art city. Meeting Fred and his wife, Kristen, that day was magical. The two have carved out an honorable and rich life together as artists, parents and contributors.

When Fred Wilson is handed that award Saturday night, no matter your racial background, you can be proud that one of our own has truly reached the pantheon.

"Sixty years. That's a lot of work," Wilson said. "I've earned it."

Yes, you have.