CLINTON AWARDS: FOLK ARTISTS TAPPED FOR PRIZE DESIGNS.

Byline: ANNE CONSTABLE

Former President Bill Clinton, a folk art fan, has commissioned three Santa Fe International Folk Art Market artists to make the prizes that will be presented in September to the winners of the Clinton Global Citizen Awards. The award honors individuals and organizations for their contributions to solving global challenges.

All three artists -- Serge Jolimeau and Michae Ramil Remy of Haiti and Toyin Folorunso of Nigeria -- work with recycled metals.

The Clinton Global Initiative staff was intrigued with using folk art for the award and asked the market to offer some suggestions.

In March, market director Charlene Cerny and Judy Espinar, its co-founder and artistic director, went to New York to present their proposals to CGI staff. "People are so much wanting to know more about other cultures. Folk art of other cultures is the voice of their history," Espinar said. "They loved that and were impressed with the high artistic level."

At that meeting, they got the go-ahead to send letters to several artists informing them that the former president was inviting them to submit a prototype for the award -- in the shape of a globe.

This week, the market learned that its artists had been accepted. The sculptures will be on display in the Museum of International Folk Art this year during the market.

Serge Jolimeau was inspired to begin working in metal by the blacksmiths in his neighborhood who used scrap materials to make utensils and tools. He uses a hammer and chisel to create Voodoo symbols and deities as well as birds, fishes, fantastic creatures and the Tree of Life out of oil drums. Jolimeau has his own workshop where he is training 10 artists.

Michae Ramil Remy began sculpting recycled steel drum at age 14 and is known for flowing dreadlocks of female figures, small birds perched on human heads and tall birds walking at the base of trees.

In 1994, he represented his country at the Smithsonian Institution's American Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C.

Folorunso has a gallery in Oshogbo, Nigeria, and learned to sculpt metal from his father, who learned from his father. Folorunso creates intricate images on aluminum panels using the repoussa method of ornamenting metal surfaces in relief by hammering out from the back.

Previous winners of the Global Citizen Award include Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, and Andre Agassi, founder of the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation.