VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

In celebration of the 175th birthday of the City of Houston, space125gallery at the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) will be holding an exhibition, hosted by DiverseWorks ArtSpace and organized with Mark Cervenka and Susan Baker from the University of Houston Downtown, of historical and contemporary art work by Houston painters and photographers. Entitled Portrait of Houston: 1900–2011, the exhibition seeks to give an overview of the artists who have engaged the city of Houston as their subject matter. The dates of the exhibition are October 20 through November 4, 2011 with an opening reception on Thursday, October 20th from 5 to 7pm. Space125gallery is located at 3201 Allen Parkway on the first floor of the Houston Arts Alliance building. The reception and exhibition are free and open to the public.

Artists featured in Portrait of Houston: 1900-2011 are David Adickes, John Biggers, Jack Boynton, David Brown, Frederic Browne, Emma Richardson Cherry, Frank Dolejska, Henri Gadbois, Dixie Friend Gay, Dorothy Hood, Frank Martin, Leila McConnell, Hattie Palmer, Robert Preusser, Richard Stout, Stella Sullivan, and Lillian Warren. 

DiverseWorks is excited to be working with Mayor Annise Parker and her staff and a group of Houston non-profit organization to celebrate Houston's 175th birthday. Ancillary to Portrait of Houston: 1900-2011, DiverseWorks is working with artist Carrie Schneider to produce recorded tours called Hear Our Houston. These tours share insights and experiences of some of Houston’s hidden gems such as The Art Guys’ tour of Greens Bayou Street, Michael Guidry’s tour of the University of Houston Art Collection and Barbara Hinton’s tour of The Orange Show. Houston is a city of great but hidden richness, only truly discovered by experience and word of mouth. Hear Our Houston is excavating some of those hidden gems, preserving our oral history and celebrating our common sense of space. For more information on Hear Our Houston, please visit http://www.hearourhouston.com/.

The third component of DiverseWorks' ambitious “celebration” is a film program presented in the DiverseWorks flickerlounge. The program is curated by Aurora Picture Show and will be on view October 29 from 12-6pm. Flickerlounge will feature short films from the Texas Archive of the Moving Image of historical and home movie footage from Houston and Texas with everything from a zookeeper that rides a zebra, a knife throwing family and informational videos about Houston. Flickerlounge Houston 175 is co-sponsored by the Texas Archive of the Moving Image.

About DiverseWorks ArtSpace
DiverseWorks is a non-profit art center in Houston, Texas dedicated to presenting new visual, performing, and literary art. DiverseWorks is a place where the process of creating art is valued and where artists can test new ideas in the public arena. By encouraging the investigation of current artistic, cultural and social issues, DiverseWorks builds, educates, and sustains audiences for contemporary art.

Visit www.houston175.org  for information on all the projects and events.

Pictured:
David Brown,  attempt 12212009 11:07:59
Emma Richardson Cherry, Construction on Buffalo Bayou, oil/canvas-Collection of John and Bobbie Nau (detail above, full image below).