VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

Project Row Houses (PRH) is excited to present the exhibition Round 31: Life Path 5: Action/Restlessness.  Celebrating 15 Years of Artistic Community Service.  Curated by Vicki Meek.

Project Row Houses has invited Dallas artist/activist Vicki Meek to curate this round in celebration of its 15th Anniversary. She has selected six Houston and Dallas artists to engage with the Third Ward Community in the creation of new installations in the Artist Project Houses. All of the participating artists, including Vicki, will work collaboratively to create installations that speak to the notion of freedom in the context of action/restlessness and community engagement.

 FEATURING NEW INSTALLATIONS BY:

Elia Arce, Barsamian, Dave Herman, Jesse Lott, Vicki Meek, Freddie McCoo, Patrick Washington.  Also presenting an installation by Travis Whitfield and temporary sound works by Margarita Cabrera's University of Houston Intermediate Sculpture class.

About the theme Life Path 5: Action/Restlessness: According to Vicki Meek, Project Row Houses’ numerological designation is 5. It’s 5 whether you calculate from the birth of its first offering to the community in 1994 or if you do it from the number of letters in its name. 5 is the number that signifies Action/Restlessness in numerology. The Life Path 5 suggests that PRH entered this plane with a highly progressive mindset, with the attitude and skills to make the world a better place. The key word for Life Path 5 is freedom. In the pursuit of freedom, PRH is naturally versatile, adventurous, and advanced in its group thinking. It is one of those organizations that always strives to find answers to the many questions that life poses. The byword for the positive Life Path 5 is constant change and improvement. PRH wants to be totally unrestrained, as 5 is the number most often associated with the productive use of freedom.

In conjunction with the Round 31 installations, Project Row Houses is also pleased to present the following projects:

 In 2519 Holman Street, Travis Whitfield, a landscape/portrait painter and photographer, presents his project “Further on Down the Road,” a multi-media installation that serves as a historic reflection and celebration of the lives of rural African American residents in northwest Louisiana in the early 1970’s.

Located throughout Project Row Houses’ campus, Margarita Cabrera’s University of Houston Intermediate Sculpture class will present a series of temporary sound works that engage, reflect and/or respond to the Third Ward community.

During the Round 31 Opening Reception, held on Saturday, October 10th, the following activities will take place:

 Diva Dutch:

New York artist Aisha Cousins will present Diva Dutch, part of a series of site-specific participatory public performances where local black women, from varying parts of the African Diaspora, acquire exaggeratedly long braids in styles created by local black hair braiders. Viewers are invited to physically engage with the body of a particular black woman by jumping rope with the braids. This series is part of a larger body of work that examines the various aspects of the psycho-social-cultural fabric that connects contemporary black Americans.

Family Fun:

In the back courtyard, behind the Art Houses, the Arts/Education Program at Project Row Houses will offer a variety of ongoing hands-on activities and performances available for the entire family.

o Face Painting

o Photography

o Seed Planting

o A Crafts Table offered by Community Artists’ Collective & Ryan Middle School

o Display Tables by Friends of Emancipation Park and Houston Public Library

o Spoken Word performed by Empress Winter-Wren I

o A dance performance by King David

o Music provided by Kenya Shabazz

Lisa E. Harris, Soprano, will present a multi-media performance at 2521 Holman Street.

Round 31 will be on view October 10, 2009 - February 28, 2010.