Archive | Arts & Culture

JUlian Schnabel

50 Years of Blaffer Art Museum

In the early 1970s, Houston was shaking off its mid-century identity as a provincial backwater. The Johnson Space Center directed regular flights to the moon. The city’s major league ball club played in a futuristic, air-conditioned dome. The legalization of selling liquor by the glass in 1971 enlivened nightclub and restaurant culture. The rise of […]

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Blaffer’s Education Programs

The Blaffer has a particular energy, sparked by intellectual freedom and curiosity that motivates the best programs. Programs often begin with a simple query, “What if?” Their subsequent development is driven by a combination of perceived community needs, availability of funding, strong leadership, collaboration, and teamwork. Directors and curators continually bring challenging new ideas to […]

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Christine Ha Four Senses head shot (Varner Productions Ltd)

“The Blind Cook,” Christine Hà

Imagine cooking without seeing the ingredients, the measuring utensils, knives, pans, or burners on the stove. Add to that, the kitchen is considered one of the most dangerous rooms in the home with house fires, burns, spills, and cuts all being possibilities that may arise. Although cooking can be enjoyable and rewarding, some people find […]

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A Pioneer of Local Diversity: University of Houston’s Muslim Student Association 

If you visit the University of Houston’s Student Center South on a Monday, you might run into a group of students running the “Dawah Dollar Mondays” table event. The young men ask passing students one question about Islam, and if the participant answers correctly, they win cash. The University of Houston Muslim Student Association (UHMSA) […]

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Public Art of the University of Houston

By Mercedes Del RiegoBenches by Scott Burton, pink granite (1985). Best known for blurring the boundary between utilitarian objects and art, Burton was a minimalist sculptor inspired by the Bauhaus and abstract movements. This set of two benches sit nondescriptly in front of the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design. All photos courtesy […]

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A Surprise Discovery: Making Art History Public Art

By Mercedes Del Riego22 February 1916 “Sunday Evening in a Village in the Ardennes.” Says “Dear Irma, many heartfelt thanks and greetings, your Otto. Have had no mail from you for days.” All photos courtesy of Irene Guenther.Peter Guenther and his wife, Andrea, died a few short months apart. “I should not have been surprised […]

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Making Memories at Miller Outdoor Theatre: A Centennial of the Arts

By Samantha de LeónMiller Outdoor Theatre during a summer symphony night. All photos courtesy of Miller Outdoor Theatre.In February 1969, forty-six years after Miller Outdoor Theatre opened and a year after moving into its new facility, Houston Chronicle fine arts editor Ann Holmes questioned what was next for the outdoor amphitheater. Nestled in the heart […]

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A Place of Reinvention

By Marie-Theresa HernándezPierced Heart by Daniel Galvez-Zuniga. The stained glass at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church carries intense symbolism with a heart pierced by a sword, bringing to mind church members and visitors who lived through enslavement, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow.In 2022, when University of Houston photography students from my World Cultures and Anthropology class excitedly […]

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Nicolás Kanellos_at podium_1

Arte Público Press

By Aileen Mendoza  Arte Público Press has become the largest publisher of U.S. Hispanic contemporary and recovered literature in the United States. All photo courtesy of Arte Público Press unless otherwise noted.  “As a child, Nicolás Kanellos couldn’t find books that accurately portrayed his Hispanic heritage. As an adult, he sought out and published the […]

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