Community Artists Collective Founder Michelle Barnes; Project Row Houses Curator & Art Director Danielle Burns-Wilson; and local artists Jesse Lott and Marsha Dorsey-Outlaw will discuss the role art plays in a community and how we can use art to keep the historical and cultural identity of a community while facing gentrification!

The Collective’s notable photography program has been reimaged in the form of onsite photographic instruction in Houston area schools. The first classes were led by April M. Frazier, with 41 kindergarten students from Blackshear Elementary School in the center of Houston’s historic Third Ward.

Students were guided through a series of lessons to introduce them to the principles of photography and the concept of building a frame of reference based on their interests and experience. They were provided matte frames to decorate with shapes and color and cameras to create photographs of themselves, their peers and the environment around them at school. Most had not seen a real camera besides the ones on a phone, so the tangibility of photographic equipment to create something unlocked surprising results. Five-year-old students made pictures that were then applied to frames crafted in a previous lesson. Six lessons culminated into self-portraits reflective of their distinct personalities.

Funding for the photography program was made possible through the Arts Action Fund facilitated by Arts Connect. Their support also solidified the partnership with Blackshear to bring the program to their campus.

Frazier collaborated with Shamatha Jackson, art teacher, to align her art lessons and HISD TEKS with the photography lessons. One class occurred on Earth Day, and students took the cameras outside to photograph their school vegetable garden and surrounding environment. At the kindergarten level, focus centered on the importance of sharing, working with a partner and photographic etiquette. Students were able to build on what they learned in the classroom and apply it to the photography lessons.

Both The Collective and Blackshear agree that this is the beginning of more engagement to come.

Quilting and sewing take center stage at the Houston Center of Contemporary Craft’s summer exhibition opening May 28 in their gallery at 4848 Main St.

“Made to Last: The Legacy of the Jubilee Quilt Circle” is held in conjunction with The Collective’s 35th anniversary and features a selection of quilts made by current participants and founding members to celebrate the history of The Collective’s Jubilee Quilt Circle and to honor the quilting traditions and narratives of the African American Community.

The exhibition, which runs through September 10, celebrates the transformative process of quilting and the powerful connections this art form creates across generations. Serving as loving and creative embodiments of the members who made them, the quilts on view incorporate materials, narratives, and techniques from the past to build a lasting legacy for future generations.

Many reference symbolism, such as the coded patterns of the Underground Railroad quilts that guided travelers many years ago. Current members of The Collective often reflect on their ancestors’ preference for hand sewing over machine stitching, a contrast to the combination of techniques and free improvisation they currently use to add their own creative signatures to their works.

The quilts on view express a variety of stories and artistic styles. Established quilter Leslie Abrams relocated to Houston (continue)

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