Geraldine “Gerry” Robinson Crossland still carries the voice of an educator at the age of 85.
She is firm, direct and generous with her words, just as she was with the thousands of students she taught in Houston’s Third Ward.
Now, as one of the featured artists in Texas Southern University’s 12th Biannual TSU Art Alumni Exhibition, her story bridges two legacies: The artists who built TSU’s reputation as a center of Black creativity and the generations of students she inspired as a teacher.
Born in New York City in 1940 and raised in Trenton, New Jersey, Crossland discovered her love of art early. She remembers sewing dolls, drawing and painting as a child. Her middle school art teacher, Constance Berry, became a defining influence, showing her how care, encouragement and preparation could change a student’s life.
“She made you feel that every piece of work was the most beautiful she had ever seen,” Crossland recalls. “There was never any doubt in my mind that I would become a teacher.”
Before she pursued that dream, Crossland trained in dressmaking and design at the Maison Sapho School in New York. She moved to Houston in the 1960s and, in 1973, enrolled at Texas Southern University to study art education.
There, she studied with two towering figures, Dr. John Biggers and Carroll Simms. She discovered a tradition of art rooted in African American experience and community history under their mentorship.
“I never saw Black art until I came to Houston, to Third Ward, to this campus. It made me feel good as a person, as a woman. It made me feel like I was supposed to be here.”
Geraldine Crossland
“I never saw Black art until I came to Houston, to Third Ward, to this campus,” she says. “It made me feel good as a person, as a woman. It made me feel like I was supposed to be here.”
She graduated in 1976 and began teaching art at Jack Yates High School, where she remained for the next 29 years. During her time at Yates, she taught everything from beginning drawing to Pre-AP and AP Studio Art, even supervising student teachers from TSU, the University of Houston and St. Thomas University. She became known for her high standards and for instilling confidence in students who often doubted themselves.
“Nobody was to laugh at anybody’s project,” she explains. “It was about teaching them how to express themselves, be comfortable and sell their ideas.”
Her students thrived under that approach. Some won awards at city and state contests, while others went on to careers in art and education. She still keeps scrapbooks of their achievements.
“For the most part, these were students who came with little self-confidence and low self-esteem,” she says. “I was determined to help them make a change and become winners.”
Crossland’s teaching was never separate from the community. She often connected lessons to her students’ real issues, such as family struggles, poverty and systemic inequities. She used art to process those realities and that commitment carried over into her own artwork.
The pieces she contributes to this year’s TSU Art Alumni Exhibition show how deeply she ties her practice to social concerns. One painting, Some Mothers Don’t Get to Hold Babies, confronts the crisis of maternal mortality among Black women.
Another unfinished work, When the Knee Became the Noose, reflects on George Floyd’s murder and the long history of racial violence. She also paints quieter subjects, such as children daydreaming at a window or two ducks swimming peacefully, as a meditation on love and harmony.
Dr. Alvia Wardlaw, curator and director of the University Museum at TSU, says the alumni exhibition is powerful because it combines artistry and storytelling.
“When we started the exhibition, we wanted our alumni to have opportunities to exhibit their work. Most of the younger artists have grown up in a gallery environment. The older artists did not have the same opportunities,” Wardlaw says. “This show brings them together classic artists who studied with Dr. Biggers and a younger generation and lets them learn from one another. There’s a real camaraderie, a beautiful brotherhood and sisterhood community.”
Wardlaw calls Crossland “an amazing storyteller,” someone who can bring her life and art to vivid detail. She has known Crossland for decades and sees her as embodying the TSU tradition of blending artistry with everyday life, balancing her roles as teacher, mother, grandmother and now, elder stateswoman of the arts.
“It’s wonderful to see her continuing to do more of her art,” Wardlaw says. “This is really one of the strongest biennials we’ve had.”
Crossland’s life has also been shaped by caregiving. After retiring in 2003, she devoted 16 years to raising and caring for her grandson, who underwent a kidney transplant at a young age. She has only returned fully to her art in recent years, finding time and space again for her own expression.
“Art is our story,” Crossland says. “Visually, we can show how we feel, what we’ve experienced, and what our ancestors have endured. I’m just grateful to still be part of that.”
