LOCAL Houston | The City Guide August 2017 | Page 44

FOOD | ARTS | COMMUNITY | STYLE+LEISURE
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
MEET THE ARTISTS TAKING UP RESIDENCE AT PROJECT ROW HOUSES
By Tim Moloney | Photography Courtesy of Project Row Houses
MAUREEN LAX is a Senior at the University of Houston with
a major in Liberal Studies focused on Studio Art, English and Arab
Studies. Combining video, light, sound and sculpture, among other
media, her work explores her experience as a Houston transplant
from a small town in Minnesota. For her Summer Studios instal-
lation, she has proposed to collect footage, sounds, images and
objects from the surrounding area to reflect the environment of
Project Row Houses and the Third Ward neighborhood.
The string of white shotgun houses along Holman Street
in Third Ward buzzes with activity. It’s a real neighbor-
hood, where people greet each other by name, visit on
each other’s porches and work together to strengthen
the surrounding community. It’s also one of Houston’s
preeminent art incubators – Project Row Houses.
Founded in 1993 as a result of the vision of local
African-American artists wanting a positive creative
presence in their own community, PRH shifts the view of
art from traditional studio practice to a more conceptual
base of transforming the social environment.
Maureen Lax on the porch of her Art House
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You can come check out what the eclectic group of studio
artists has been working on beginning August 12 (there
is also an artist talk on August 10), but in the meantime,
take a moment to meet them.
For more information, visit www.projectrowhouses.org.
LEAIRRE MORRIS is a Senior at Texas Southern University
majoring in Art. He works towards a simple yet unique art style
influenced by Kara Walker and based in textured 3D silhouette
paintings and sculptures. The silhouettes highlight influential fig-
ures and moments in his generation. His proposed installation
revolves around scaling his work into a larger installation that
engulfs the audience in golden silhouettes.
COLBY DEAL is a Senior at the University of Houston majoring in
Photography and Digital Media. By combining portraiture and street photog-
raphy, he hopes to showcase the dynamic range of individual, family and
community. For Summer Studios, he has proposed to create a concentrated
illustration of Third Ward and neighboring areas as well as the African-Amer-
ican community as a whole. The proposed installation showcases these
communities’ resilient beauty and sense of pride and empowerment as a
response to them often being portrayed as unfavorable.
Colby Deal on the porch of his Art House
And during this time of year, that takes the form of the
annual Summer Studios Program – which was developed
to provide an opportunity for emerging artists to create
and exhibit work that responds to, engages and/or is
reflective of community. This program selects seven local
college/university art students, nominated by their pro-
fessors and selected by a panel of professional artists.
LeAirre Morris on the porch of his Art House
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