Visiting Praise Houses in the Third Ward

In this issue

"Third Ward Unity in Faith: Backbone of Our Souls" opens March 23 Familial Landscapes (Re)imagined opens March 16

2nd Thursday Workshop: Square in a Square

Witness Series: Part 2

Sketch Pad: News & Notes Calendar

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COVID-19 Update

The Collective's Gift Shop

Jubilee Quilt Circle

Lord Jesus, Photo by Earlie Hudnall

"Third Ward Unity in Faith: Backbone of Our Souls" opens Saturday, March 23,

at The Collective

Early African American settlers in Houston’s Third Ward area established small worship places, reminiscent of the praise houses attended during slavery in the Jim Crow era. The intimate and personal size of the congregations created bonds in the community that would last for more than 90 years.

Images of the still-standing small houses of worship, captured by art photographers Earlie Hudnall, Ray Carrington and Tamirah Collins, will be shared at the exhibition “Third Ward Unity in Faith: Backbone of Our Souls."

Kathleen Coleman, a fourth generation Third Ward resident, curated the exhibition.

These small churches resembled rural structures like those in many sharecropping communities near Houston. A few of these small congregations linger and tell the story of the Third Ward’s ever-changing landscape. Because of its proximity to downtown Houston, the churches are often sold and inhabited by a younger demographic.

Hudnall and Carrington, who attended Texas Southern University, have been cataloging the Third Ward area for more than 30 years, telling a story with their photos of the community block by block, from past to present. Hudnall’s mentor, Dr. John Biggers, saw the shotgun houses as urban pyramids. Carrington’s mentor, veteran photographer and teacher Herbert Provost, instilled a love of photography and of the community in him as a student at Jack Yates High School.

Collins, a mentee of Carrington and the exhibition coordinator at The Collective, will continue documenting the area from a new generational perspective.

The exhibition, which continues through May 18, is part of the FotoFest Biennial and is free to attend. An opening reception will be held Saturday, March 23, at 2 p.m. and an artists’ talk Saturday, April 27, at 3 p.m.

Earlie Hudnall

Ray Carrington

Tamirah Collins

"Familial Landscapes (Re)imagined" opens March 16 at JourneyHTX

The exhibition brings together the past, present, and future, within April M. Frazier’s ancestrally connected landscapes of Fayette and Wharton counties, Texas. Archived photographs of her grand, great grand and second great grandparents are juxtaposed against portraits of herself, as she acknowledges her past while looking toward the future. Familial Landscapes is an introspective journey of remembrance of what came before on those lands, while (re)imagining the meaning of being present now, in place and time.

April, the assistant director of The Collective, is a photographic based artist and native Houstonian. She creatively combines ancestral photographs and decades of research tracing her roots in Texas to create environmental portraits on lands with familial connection from the time of enslavement to the present. Pairing artifacts left behind like

jewelry, bricks and inherent knowledge, with visions of the current landscape, April weaves together her story of becoming the black woman she is. Her art practice converges at the four-way intersection of inherent memory, tethered connection to the landscape, ancestral and historical investigation and lived experience.

Jubilee Quilt Circle

Witness Series: Part 2--

"Bear witness"African American History and Connection to the Land

“Bear Witness” is held each year during the week of Ann Taylor’s birthday. Ann Taylor was born March 20, 1845, and would have been 179 years old this year. This participatory public art experience is designed to introduce the public to Ann Taylor’s life and journey. An artist led Ancestor Altar will be created that will allow for visitors to Ann Taylor’s gravesite to leave messages of love and good will. Drea the Artist will conduct sound baths along the park trail each hour. Along the path of the park there will be stakes with QR codes that will allow for visitors to listen to oral histories documenting the lives of African American women and their impact on their descendants. These narratives were collected in partnership with the Houston Public Library’s (HLP) Gregory School. Artist Sheila Savannah will conduct a community workshop in partnership with Houston Public Library (HPL) that will help attendees to make art that archives photos of their ancestors. Visitors will bear witness to the power of Ann Taylor's legacy through the beauty of nature, art and stories shared.

The Houston Audubon will showcase African American connection to birds (e.g. Kerry James Marshall, Toni Morrison, Sankofa, Jacob Lawrence Migration Series, etc.) The Houston Audubon will provide binoculars and nature interpretation along the trail if that is an opportunity.

Saturday, March 23, 2024
9:00 AM 12:00 PM
E.R. and Ann Taylor Park
Reed Road Houston, TX, 77051United States (map)

Sketch Pad: News and Notes

Above: February Jubilee Quilt Circle

Above: Art Education classes at Julia C. Hester House

The Collective’s Connections: Delita Pinchback Martin, a familiar exhibitor at The Collective, will spend a residency at William & Mary University in Williamsburg, Va., March 18-22. Her activities there will include creating a limited edition print and giving an artist’s lecture…Congratulations to CAC Board Member Dr. Mary Holt Ashley, who was recognized and honored as one of the Texas Nurse Leaders and Legends at that group’s conference during Black History Month.

Calendar

16 Familial Landscapes (Re)imagined: Opening Reception, 2-

5 p.m., JourneyHTX

23 Third Ward Unity in Faith: Backbone of Our Souls: Opening Reception, 2 p.m., Community Artists' Collective

23 Witness Series: Part 2: Bear Witness: 9 a.m.-12 noon; E.R. and

Ann Taylor Park

28 Familial Landscapes Artist Talk & Workshop: 6 p.m.-9 p.m., JourneyHTX

April 27 Third Ward Unity in Faith: Backbone of Our Souls Artist Talk, 3 p.m., Community Artists' Collective

Dear Community Artists' Collective visitors and supporters,

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