HPL News

July 15, 2023 – September 27, 2023

Join us for the opening reception on July 15, 3-5 PM! Register here!

The Julia Ideson Gallery
550 McKinney St., 77002 | 832-393-1313

In this powerful new collection of oil paintings and stories, President George W. Bush spotlights the inspiring journeys of America’s immigrants and the contributions they make to the life and prosperity of our nation.

The issue of immigration stirs intense emotions today, as it has throughout much of American history. But what gets lost in the debates about policy are the stories of immigrants themselves, the people who are drawn to America by its promise of economic opportunity and political and religious freedom—and who strengthen our nation in countless ways.

Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants is a collection of portraits by President George W. Bush on loan from the Ambassador and Mrs. George L. Argyros Collection of Presidential Art at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, a non-profit organization. The Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative, part of the broader George W. Bush Institute, has an extensive portfolio of work on immigration.

This exhibit is free and open to the public. Exhibit dates are subject to change.

Preserve the Past and Remember the Glory: The History of the Prairie View Interscholastic League (PVIL)
The African American History Research Center at the Gregory School

1300 Victor Street, 77019 | 832-393-1440
July 1, 2023 – December 30, 2023

The University Interscholastic League (UIL) was established by the University of Texas in 1910 to make rules and settle disputes for academic and athletic competitions at white high schools in Texas. Recognizing a need for a separate organization for Black high school students, the Texas Interscholastic League of Colored Schools (TILCS) was created in 1920 by the Colored Teachers State Association of Texas and the Negro School Division of the State Department of Education. The TILCS changed its name in 1923 to the Prairie View Interscholastic League (PVIL) when it came under the control of Prairie View A&M College. 

Modeling itself after the UIL, the PVIL held its own competitions for Black high school students in athletics, typing, declamation, music, and extemporaneous speaking. Starting with 40 schools, the PVIL quickly grew to include 300 schools by 1927 and enrolled 500 schools at its peak. PVIL participants include Houston’s Barbara Jordan (Phillis Wheatley High School), the first African American U.S. Congresswoman from the Southern United States. In 1965, the UIL opened membership to all public schools and the PVIL was disbanded at the end of the 1969-70 school year.

This exhibition features documents, photographs, and vintage uniforms and trophies from the Special Collections & Archives Department (SCAD) of the John B. Coleman Library at Prairie View A&M University and the Prairie View Interscholastic League Coaches Association.

This exhibit is free and open to the public. Exhibit dates are subject to change.

Central Library | 1st Floor Gallery
500 McKinney St., 77002 | 832-393-1300

The Houston Public Library presents an exhibition of needlepoint works inspired by paintings, created by local art historian, collector and writer Randy Tibbits. Tibbits describes his craft: 

“For me, paintings and drawings are food for the eye and the spirit. But I’m not an artist, making paintings and drawings of my own. I’m a craftsman translating the artistic creations of others—'appropriating' them in the Warholian sense—and making them into something a little bit mine, in wool yarn and canvas. I don’t know why I do this, except that stitching and the need to make are in my genes. I’ve been doing it for 50 years, off and on, but more recently I’ve worked many pieces as tributes to Houston art and artists of the past—another personal passion. Some of those pieces are exhibited here (and also a few that don’t have anything to do with Houston at all!).”

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Exhibit dates are subject to change.

February 11, 2023 – May 4, 2023

The African American Library at the Gregory School
1300 Victor Street, 77019 | 832-393-1440

AND Central Library | 1st Floor Gallery
500 McKinney St., 77002 | 832-393-1300

Cover image: “Texas Queens” by Laura Casemore.

L-R: "When It's Time" by John Gilchrist; "Let Freedom Reign" by La'Toya Smith.

The biennial Citywide African American Artists Exhibition is a collaboration between the University Museum at Texas Southern University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The exhibition offers all artists of the African Diaspora in the Greater Houston area the opportunity to show their work to a broader public and art-collecting community. 

The exhibition celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2022 and was curated by Michelle Barnes, CEO of the Community Artists’ Collective. The artist prizes were juried by artists Earlie Hudnall, Jr. and Vicki Meek; and Anna Walker, executive director of Lawndale Art Center.

The exhibition is spread over two HPL locations. On view at the African American History Research Center at the Gregory School are works by 47 different artists, including Curator's Choice Award winner La'Toya Smith, First Place winner James E! Walker, and Honorable Mention winners Janice McCloud Warren and AFI ESE. The Central Library's First Floor Gallery will display works by 25 different artists, including Second Place winner Eddie Filer, Jr., Third Place winner Shawn Artis, Honorable Mention winner Emmanuel Olaiyan, and 5A Choice Award winner Maria Modjo. 

In partnership with:
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The University Museum at Texas Southern University

Exhibits are free and open to the public. Exhibit dates are subject to change.

November 5, 2022 – February 2, 2023
Central Library | 1st Floor Gallery 
500 McKinney St., 77002 | 393-1313

Heart Gallery Houston is a powerful, traveling photographic exhibit. This community education and awareness initiative was created to help find forever homes for children in foster care awaiting adoption. With the help of professional photographers who volunteer their time and the support of local businesses, churches, and community partners, these heartfelt canvas photos show the faces of children that long to find a forever family and a life with stability and love.

Growing up in the Texas foster care system is a reality for thousands of children. More than 6,000 children in Texas wait for a family and a place to call home. Sadly, a disproportionate number are children of color; Hispanic children are two times more likely to be removed. The foster care system cares for children of all ethnicities and of every age, ranging from newborn to 17 years. Most of the children featured in the gallery are older children, sibling groups, and children with special needs – often referred to as "forgotten children." While statistics of this special population are astounding, Heart Galleries is working nationwide to change these grim numbers.

Heart Gallery Houston is a program of Be A Resource (BEAR) Houston, a 501(c)(3) organization working with Harris County CPS and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to offer unique programs and supportive services that provide comfort, dignity, and celebration of successes for abused and neglected children. 

To learn more about BEAR and their Heart Gallery Houston program, visit bearesourcehouston.org.

This exhibition is free and open to the public.

November 12, 2022 - January 28, 2023

The African American History Research Center at the Gregory School

1300 Victor St., 77019 | 832-393-1440

Founded in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) emerged when the country was transforming from an agrarian society of farmers to an industrialized nation of factory and office workers. The BSA’s goal was to teach boys “patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues,” as well as outdoor skills, values that critics thought were lost as families moved to cities.

The first Black Boy Scouts in Houston were organized in 1935 by Reverend J. H. M. Boyce. The following year, about a dozen men completed a training course for leaders and formed seven or eight troops in the city. Although interest in Scouting started small, with only about a dozen Black Boy Scouts per troop, by 1947, their numbers grew to almost 3,000 throughout Houston.

This exhibition features photographs, ephemera, and newspaper clippings from the Harrison Family Collection. Edwin Stafford Harrison (1912-1979) was a civic leader, Methodist minister, and the first Black Precinct judge and poll tax writer in Harris County. Harrison was a Scout Executive from 1944 until his retirement in 1975.

This exhibition is free and open to the public. Dates are subject to change.

August 6, 2022 – November 2, 2022
Central Library | 1st Floor Gallery 
500 McKinney St., 77002 | 832-393-1313

This exhibition features garments from Fashion Fusion, an annual competition presented by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the award-winning Fashion Design program at Houston Community College. For this year’s competition, HCC students and alumni designed original outfits inspired by items and artworks in the Museum’s permanent collection. The students and alumni entered their designs into one of four representative categories: Antiquities, Renaissance, Baroque, and Modernism.

Designers who drew inspiration from the antiquities collection were able to choose from the styles and subjects found in the art of the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East, a period of cultural history generally spanning from 4,500 BCE (the beginnings of Western Civilization) to about 450 CE (the beginning of the Middle Ages). The origins of the Renaissance (meaning “rebirth”) can be traced back to Italy in the late 13th century and continued to around 1650. Renaissance artists were influenced by nature, the effects of light, realistic depiction of the human form previously captured by the Greeks and Romans of classical antiquity, and pagan and religious iconography.

The Baroque period, which lasted roughly from 1600 – 1750, overlapped with the Renaissance, leading to some similarities in style and subject matter. However, Baroque art and architecture are characterized by drama, lavishness, and excessive ornamentation, designed to appeal to human emotion. In stark contrast to preceding art movements, Modernism (c. 1890 - c. 1950) rejected hyperrealism. This period encompassed various styles and art movements, ranging from the loose brushstrokes of Impressionism to the harsh lines of Cubism. It also includes the exploration of the subconscious worlds of Surrealism, finally culminating in non-objective abstract art.

In a departure from previous years, the sixth annual competition required the creation of an additional component: a coordinating face mask to demonstrate that fashion and health safety can exist hand in hand.

This exhibition is free and open to the public. Dates are subject to change.

This exhibition is in partnership with

Houston Community College, Fashion and Costume Design Department
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

And generously supported by

Houston Public Library
City of Houston

August 27, 2022 – November 5, 2022 

The Julia Ideson Gallery
550 McKinney St., 77002 | 832-393-1313

Charles T. Bowling, After the Storm, n.d., The John L. Nau III Collection of Texas Art

Opening to the public on August 27, 2022, at the historic Julia Ideson Building, is Texas Modernism(s): Houston/ Dallas in the 1930s. In Houston and Dallas, Modernism became the central focus for two small groups of local artists from 1926 – 1942. Made up of mostly youngsters, along with their forward-looking mentors, the Cherry-McNeill Group in Houston was influenced by European movements, while the Dallas Nine (and adjacent artists) up north took inspiration from their immediate surroundings and promoted Regionalism.

By showing the work of the two groups side by side, this exhibition intends to explore the looks and philosophical underpinnings of two seminal aspects of Texas art history. The Cherry-McNeill Group and the Dallas Nine strongly influenced later developments in their two respective cities, as well as the state in general. At the same time, the exhibition will demonstrate that Modernism, when it came to America, was not limited exclusively to the art centers of the East Coast.

This exhibit is free and open to the public.
Dates are subject to change.

July 30, 2022 – October 22, 2022 

The African American Library at the Gregory School

1300 Victor Street, 77019 | 832-393-1440

Fourth Ward, Motherward, an exhibit of photographs by Elbert Howze, is on view at the African American Library at the Gregory School from July 30 to October 8, 2022.

Elbert Howze (1951 – 2015) was born in Detroit, Michigan. He moved to Houston in 1973 and continued his education at the University of Houston, receiving a B.F.A. in fine art, a B.S. in technology and business technology, and an M.F.A. in photography.

Freedmen’s Town, Fourth Ward was founded by newly freed African Americans in 1865 and quickly grew into a successful, bustling, and self-sufficient community. By the middle of the 20th century, the landlocked neighborhood saw its population decline as residents moved to other Black communities around the city. Neglect, government redevelopment programs, private developers, and the relentless march toward gentrification led to the demolition of historic homes.

When Howze took an interest in the community in the 1980s, he described Fourth Ward as “a place of neglect and decay which appears to be deliberate by plan.” Although he acknowledged the physical decline of the area, Howze decided to focus his lens on its residents, preserving the enduring spirit of the neighborhood.

This exhibit is free and open to the public. Exhibit dates are subject to change.

July 5, 2022 - August 13, 2022

Julia Ideson Building | Exhibit Hall 

550 McKinney St., 77002 | 832-393-1313

Opening to the public on July 5, 2022, at the historic Julia Ideson Building, is Young at Art: A Selection of Caldecott Book Illustrations. This exhibition includes original artwork from Caldecott Medal recipients and “runner-up” Honor books, as well as other illustrations by award-winning artists.

Since 1938, the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, has recognized the significant impact of art on early reading experiences, awarding the Caldecott Medal to artists for excellence in this area.

The first Caldecott Award recipient Dorothy P. Lathrop (1938), two-time winner Chris Van Allsburg (1982, 1986), and Maurice Sendak (1964), whose work Where the Wild Things Are, like Van Allsburg’s Jumanji and The Polar Express, was adapted for the big screen, are part of the exhibit. Their illustrations are widely recognized not only as artistic classics in children’s literature but also as the source of countless beloved memories for the young and young at heart.

HPL curator, Christina Grubitz was pleased to showcase items from the Houston Metropolitan Research Center collection, including copies of rare illustrations by Salvador Dali of Alice in Wonderland, unrelated to the exhibit, but nonetheless a remarkable example of children’s literature housed by the HMRC. “The Caldecott exhibit complements the Norma Meldrum Juvenile Collection for the study of children’s literature from the 1800s to the 1970s that can be explored in the room of the same name and speaks to the significance of HPL hosting this exhibit.”

The Caldecott Collection of Children’s Book Illustrations is part of the permanent collection of the Wichita Falls Museum of Art at Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, Texas. The museum has collected children’s book illustrations for more than fifty years.

The exhibit will be on view from July 5, 2022, through August 13, 2022 at the Julia Ideson Building Exhibit Hall, located at 550 McKinney St., 77002.

The exhibit is in partnership with ExhibitsUSA, a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance with the Texas Commission on the Arts and The National Endowment for the Arts.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Exhibit dates are subject to change.

September 9, 2021 - March 12, 2022

On view at the African American Library at the Gregory School 

1300 Victor Street, 77019 | 832-393-1440

Spanning over six decades of cultural production, this exhibition presents paintings, drawings and prints of works by African Americans in Texas with a combination of portraiture, landscape and abstraction on display. In collaboration with the John L. Nau III Collection of Texas Art, this exhibition features works from Texan artists including John Willard Banks, John Biggers, Sedrick Huckaby, and Kermit Oliver, supplemented with special collection materials from the African American Library at the Gregory School.

This exhibition is generously supported by:

City of Houston
Houston Public Library
The African American Library at the Gregory School
The John L. Nau III Collection of Texas Art

This exhibit was also made possible through the generosity of the Houston Public Library Foundation.

The African American Artists in Texas: Selections from the John L. Nau III Collection of Texas Art will be on view at the following HPL location(s):

May 7, 2022 - July 28, 2022

The Changes of Taiwan's Landscape- Chen Zong Ho’s Watercolor Depictions of Taiwan Scenery         
Central Library | 1st Floor Art Gallery 

500 McKinney St., 77002 | 832-393-1313

The Houston Public Library celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month and the 61st anniversary of the Houston-Taipei Sister Cities relationship with an exhibition of Chen Zong Ho’s watercolor paintings of Taiwan. Chen Zong Ho’s watercolor works depict the beautiful scenery, valuable history, and changing landscape of Taiwan from the 1970s to the 2000s.

Chen Zong Ho traveled around Taiwan, capturing the beauty of his country in multiple styles and tones of colors in his paintings. In addition to painting famous scenic spots and historical sites, Chen was passionate about painting people’s daily lives as well as the process of urbanization in the countryside during Taiwan’s economic take-off period. He was good at finding the beauty in chaos: muddy rural areas, dirty small alleys, messy but vibrant docks and ships, traditional food markets and night markets, and more.

By experiencing the constant changes of the era and cultural conflicts, Chen’s paintings reflect a unique personal style that integrated multiple arts and cultures of Taiwan, Japan, and the United States. With the influence of his predecessors and the creation of his own style, Chen Zong Ho left a stunning chapter in the developing lineage of Taiwanese watercolor paintings.

Exhibit is free and open to the public.

Exhibit dates are subject to change.

About the Artist

Chen Zong Ho (1928-2005) was one of the first generations in Taiwan to complete a domestic university art education. In 1950 he was the valedictorian of the first graduating class of the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). Chen was known for his traditional Western-style watercolor techniques, influenced by Impressionism and Fauvism.

His work is in many notable collections, including the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Fine Arts, and Marubeni Japanese Corporation Taipei Branch.

For more information about Chen Zong Ho and his art, please visit czhgallery.com.

This exhibition is generously supported by:

City of Houston
Houston Public Library
The African American Library at the Gregory School
The John L. Nau III Collection of Texas Art

This exhibit was also made possible through the generosity of the Houston Public Library Foundation.

Black Art Library
On view at the African American Library at the Gregory School
April 16, 2022 - June 25, 2022

Independent curator and arts educator Asmaa Walton founded Black Art Library in February 2020 as a digital project to mark Black History Month.  During her studies and time working in museums, Walton noticed a lack of Black visual artists in both her art history curriculum and on the walls of museums. Black Art Library aims to help people learn more about Black art and artists outside of formal art institutions, which can feel restrictive and intimidating.

The project has turned into an interactive exhibition and resource. The ever-expanding collection includes over 500 anthologies, art books, children’s books, exhibition catalogues, artist memoirs, artist biographies, and other art-related ephemera. Although Black art and artists have historically been excluded in mainstream art history, museum collections, and galleries, Black Art Library is accessible for everyone: art lovers, art novices, children, and historians are all welcome.

Follow the Black Art Library on Instagram @blackartlibrary

Exhibit is free and open to the public.

Exhibits dates are subject to change.

About the Curator 

Asmaa Walton is a Detroit native, arts educator, and ardent developer of the Black cultural archive. Walton received a BFA in art education from Michigan State University in 2017 and an MA in Art Politics from New York University Tisch School of the Arts in 2018. In 2019, Walton was appointed Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Her current mission is to have a permanent space for Black Art Library in Detroit. 

This exhibition is generously supported by:

City of Houston

The Houston Public Library

The Houston Public Library Foundation

The African American Library at the Gregory School

Calyxes and Polyps
Central Library
March 4, 2022 - May 5, 2022

The Houston Public Library Central Gallery presents an exhibition of graphite and mixed media drawings by Colleen Maynard. Between 2019 and 2021, Colleen Maynard studied and documented coral reefs and their biodiversity from the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, located approximately 100 miles off the Galveston, Texas coast. Completed drawings will be exhibited alongside scientist and librarian-selected reading materials. 

Works in the exhibition highlight and celebrate site-specific coral reefs and their biodiversity from the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.  

The Flower Garden Banks is the only one of fifteen nationally-protected marine sanctuaries located in the Gulf of Mexico. Boasting 56 square miles, it contains 23 species of hard (or “stony”) coral that provide a framework for soft corals, algae, fish, shrimps, crabs, urchins, sea stars, snails, manta ray and sharks, sea turtles and other marine animals. 

Traditionally trained in paleontological and dry-botanical illustration, Colleen Maynard shifted her focus from terra firma to the living ocean for this project. The coral reef loomed as an abstract part-plant, part-animal, part-mineral, and she went to work visually dissecting the coral polyp anatomy and learning how coral grows, photosynthesizes, feeds, reproduces, and protects itself. She feels corals deserve to be studied as resourceful, complex living things that are invaluable natural resources. 

This exhibition is funded in part by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.

Welcome to the Big Top! 
The Circus Comes to Town, 1910s-1980s
Julia Ideson Building- Exhibit Hall
January 15, 2022 - June 18, 2022

Circuses have entertained and enthralled American audiences since 1793. By the turn of the 20th century, large circuses like Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus traveled the country by rail, boasting mile-long trains that carried death-defying performers, exotic animals, vibrantly painted wagons, and acres of tent canvas. In Houston, like many other towns and cities, circus day was one of the most important days of the year. 

Businesses and schools would close so everyone could watch dozens of elephants parade down Main Street, see the spectacle, and be transported to another world.

This exhibition features posters, costumes, photos, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia from the Heiser-Alban Collection of Circus Historical Materials, all collected by Houstonian Joseph M. Heiser for almost eighty years.

Exhibit is free and open to the public.

Exhibit dates are subject to change.

UPDATE

We take an average of 23,000 breaths a day to get the oxygen that our bodies need to function. But what else is in the air that we breathe?

Air pollutants are substances in the air that can have a negative effect on our health. We invite you to learn about types and sources of air pollution in Houston and the effect they have on our bodies and our communities in The Health Museum’s new exhibit Your Body Your Air. Created in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund, Your Body Your Air can be seen at various Houston Public Library locations through the year beginning with the Robinson-Westchase Neighborhood Library.

For additional information about this topic, you can visit the bilingual Your Body Your Air website at thehealthmuseum.org/yourbodyyourair. While on the site, you can check out the exhibit’s current location, look up the air quality in your area, learn more about community efforts to improve air quality, and share your thoughts.

Key Messages:

• Though we cannot see air pollutants, they can enter the body and have real impacts on our health.

• Many air pollutants are created by manufacturing and transportation.

• Though air pollution impacts the whole community, it disproportionately affects predominantly minority neighborhoods and those with a higher incidence of poverty.

• As individuals and as a community we need to commit to improving our air quality. Responsible use of resources, regulation and innovation can help create a healthier community.

Your Body Your Air will be on view at the following HPL locations:

Your Body Your Air is supported by the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. This exhibit was also made possible through the generosity of the Houston Public Library Foundation.