Project Row Houses (PRH) is excited to announce the selected residents and mentor artists of Summer Studios 2017. Summer Studios is a 6-week residency program that introduces seven emerging artists from local colleges and universities to the concepts and lessons of Project Row Houses. Through this program, we hope to share our knowledge and continue PRH’s tradition of fostering a positive, creative environment within the neighborhood that enriches lives and honors culture and history. Under the mentorship of CotA-PRH Fellows Carrie Schneider and Carol Zou, the 2017 residents will create and exhibit work that responds to, engages and/or reflects the Third Ward community.
“It’s so inspiring to see the creative practices of students from the Houston area,” said Schneider. “I look forward to working with all the students, and I’m really excited to work with Carol and Ryan [N. Dennis] on the mentorship and curriculum program as they develop their work further in Summer Studios.”
Through critiques with local artists and curators, discussions with the mentors and visits to other local art spaces, the residents will learn to blend their practices into a social context that extends outside of the studio to ignite dialogues and help us see ourselves and others differently.
“I am excited to work with our Summer Studios artists, whose work exhibits a range of responding to the architectural and social context of Project Row Houses,” Zou added. “Throughout its history, Project Row Houses has been a vital platform for mentoring and showcasing the work of emerging artists and artists of color. I am confident that Summer Studios will be a pivotal experience for the selected artists, who have demonstrated a commitment to challenging and growing their practice.”
Our 2017 Summer Studios residents are Colby Deal (University of Houston), Barbara Gamiz (University of St. Thomas), Maureen Lax (University of Houston), LeAirre Morris (Texas Southern University), Luis Parra (Houston Community College), Faith Schwartz (Texas Southern University), and Heather Wright (Rice University).
The residency will culminate in the exhibition of installations the residents develop. In conjunction with the opening, we will host a community market featuring food and other goods from our community of artists and entrepreneurs. Join us Saturday, August 12 from 4-7pm as we unveil the installations of the seven residents!
Portraits of the 2017 Residents are available here (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/56ah1usjrvpx5sh/AADnjW5tcOhfuLU38LsVYG6aa?dl=0&mc_cid=c3927d7b8f&mc_eid=[UNIQID]).
About the Mentors
Carol Zou is a Texas-based artist who will use the fellowship period to investigate the displacement of artists from metropolitan art centers like New York and Los Angeles to up-and-coming art cities like Houston, and how this regional displacement has the potential to affect local gentrification trends. She will engage with artist-led initiatives such as the Emancipation Economic Development Council, an initiative of Project Row Houses, to research strategies of resisting displacement.
Carrie Schneider is a Houston-based artist interested in people’s ability to reimagine their space. She uses art to invent ceremony and reconfigure memory. For the CotA-PRH Fellowship, Schneider will examine the idea of Survival Creativity – amending the adage that “the greatest creativity comes from the most dire circumstances” to consider what support that allows silence to break. She is looking to the broad Houston community for creative processes in which personal coping strategies are successfully translated into public catharsis and stories of trauma transformed into speech acts.
About Summer Studios
Summer Studios was developed to provide an opportunity for emerging artists to create and exhibit work that responds to, engages with and/or is reflective of the community. This program is open to seven art students and emerging artists, nominated by professors and selected by a panel. Summer Studios is open to artists who are interested in making art in an urban community setting, engaging with the PRH/Third Ward Community and interacting with established Houston-based artists.
About Project Row Houses
Project Row Houses (PRH) is a community-based arts and culture non-profit organization in Houston’s northern Third Ward, one of the city’s oldest African American neighborhoods. The mission of PRH is to be the catalyst for transforming community through the celebration of art and African-American history and culture. Learn more at ProjectRowHouses.org