Floyd Newsum, 1950 – 2024

Floyd Newsum, an artist, professor, and co-founder of Project Row Houses in Houston, died on Wednesday, August 14, 2024.

Floyd E. Newsum, Jr., was born on November 3, 1950, in Memphis, Tennessee. Growing up in that time and place, he was a witness to the Civil Rights movement. His father was an activist and one of Memphis’ first Black firefighters. In 2020, on the My Brother podcast, Mr. Newsum spoke of the culture in his city, referencing Blues music and barbecues. He noted that it wasn’t until he was about 17 years old that he truly came to understand the bigger issues that were affecting his community. He spoke about attending activist meetings and marches related to the Memphis Sanitation Strike, with his father and brother, and how those experiences influenced his early work.

Mr. Newsum has said that he knew from the time he was in third grade that he wanted to be an artist, but that his mother recognized it when he was just four years old. He spoke of his family’s support of his artistic career, with his parents funding his schooling and his aunt purchasing his first painting. In 1973, he received a BFA from Memphis College of Art, formerly Memphis Academy of Art. Two years later, he received an MFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In 1976, a year after his graduation from Temple University, Mr. Newsum was offered a position at the University of Houston Downtown. He taught courses in drawing, painting, printmaking, and art appreciation. During his 48-year tenure with the university, Mr. Newsum also held a variety of administrative roles. In 2003, Mr. Newsum received UHD’s Scholarship/Creativity Award, recognizing his contributions to the field of visual arts.

In a press release, Loren J. Blanchard, UHD President, remarked, “Professor Newsum was more than an artist, more than a teacher. He was a connector, a motivating force who worked to touch lives every day and who brought people together in remarkable ways. His art was intricately linked with his desire to nurture young artists and invest in the next generation of change agents, not only here at UHD but also in the historic Third Ward of Houston and even in communities he visited when his art was on view.”

Mark Cervenka, a UHD art professor and Director of the university’s O’Kane Gallery, told Glasstire, “Floyd by nature was inquisitive and a good listener. This, in my opinion, made him a very good teacher; a good attribute especially for a studio professor able to offer technical expertise, but also make students feel at ease developing and navigating their artistic vision.   As he did greeting staff or administrators in the halls of the university, in a meeting, or in the classroom he gave everyone his respect and attention.”

Mr. Newsum spoke of himself as an “artist social servant.” His desire to help and support others manifested in a multitude of ways. One of the most visible realizations of his social work was as co-founder of Project Row Houses (PRH). In 1993, Mr. Newsum, along with James Bettison (1958-1997), Bert Long, Jr. (1940-2013), Jesse Lott (1943-2023), Rick Lowe, Bert Samples, and George Smith, transformed a block of shotgun houses in Houston’s Third Ward into a resource for the community. Over the last 30 years, the organization has grown substantially and continues to invest in the area through art programs, community enrichment projects, and neighborhood development activities.

In a statement, Danielle Burns Wilson, PRH Executive Director, stated, “Floyd was vibrant, insightful, and ready with a challenging question or unexpected suggestion followed by a smile and a laugh to let you know he was pushing you because he felt you were worth pushing… Floyd found joy in his art, but talked about how personal it was to him, and what a contrast his intensely personal practice was to the Project Row Houses’ practice of socially engaged art. But he also found joy as a teacher, a calling rooted in the full meaning of collective creative action.”

Earlier this year, PRH named its Summer Studios Program after Mr. Newsum. The Floyd Newsum Summer Studios Program is an opportunity for emerging socially engaged artists to create and exhibit work in response to or reflective of the local community.

Mr. Newsum is a nationally acclaimed artist whose work has been shown in over 100 exhibitions, including at venues such as the Taft Museum in Cincinnati; the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans; The Studio Museum in Harlem in New York; the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; the Polk Museum in Lakeland, Florida; the David C. Driskell Center in Maryland; the Califia Gallery in Horazdovice, Czech Republic; and the American Center in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Last year, Mr. Cervenka and Dr. Lauren Cross, the Gail-Oxford Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, co-curated a major retrospective of Mr. Newsum’s work. Floyd Newsum: Evolution of Sight was on view at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in Madison, Wisconsin.

Mr. Cervenka explained, “[The] retrospective provided an opportunity to look closely at the arc of Floyd Newsum’s career.  [We] worked closely with Floyd and found themes that crossed decades while evolving in style and execution. In addition to his intense reflections of social justice born of his upbringing in Memphis —, Newsum’s gem-like gouache paintings of the ‘70s and ‘80s followed by later works sometimes caked with heavy impasto or with thin washes provided intimate conversations of identity, community, nature, and spiritual transcendence.”

Ms. Cross spoke to Glasstire about Mr. Newsum’s legacy. She said, “For many of the younger Black artists and curators born and raised in Houston, there were certain artists in the city who really shaped our understanding of what life as an artist or an arts professional could look like. Floyd Newsum was one of those artists for me. Like artists, Dr. John Biggers, Jesse Lott, Bert Long, Jr., and Rick Lowe, Floyd Newsum was part of a legacy of artists who not only showed you how to be a professional artist but also how to give back to your community.”

Another way that he has given back to communities is through his public artworks, many of which are in Houston. These local public art projects include the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, two Houston Metro Light Rail Station art designs, seven sculptures for Houston’s Main Street Square Station, four paintings in the Commerce Building of the University of Houston-Downtown, and a suspended sculpture for the lobby of the Acres Home Multi-Service Center in Houston. Additionally, Mr. Newsum’s For Better Life is installed at the Hazel Harvey Peace Center for Neighborhoods in Fort Worth.

In his fifty-year career as an artist and educator, Mr. Newsum has touched countless lives, including community members, students, artists, arts professionals, and more. While his legacy is felt strongly in Houston, it echoes beyond the city.

Janice Bond, Director of ART IS BOND, a gallery in Houston that represents Mr. Newsum, spoke of the artist’s legacy. She told Glasstire, “Floyd Newsum was not just a master visual artist; he was a visionary whose work and humanity resonated deeply with many, including myself. His canvases were more than art — they were conversations about history, resilience, and hope, woven with personal symbols and a vibrant palette that captured the essence of the Black American experience. As we remember Floyd, we celebrate a man who used his talent to inspire, teach, and love, leaving a legacy that will continue to influence and provoke thought, ensuring his spirit and dedication to community and craft will endure.”

Ms. Cross reflected, “He truly is a remarkable human being with a big heart, a wonderful family, and a deep faith. Houston has lost such an amazing artist yet I am so grateful to have witnessed the legacy that he leaves behind. He has informed the type of artist and curator I want to be — how you treat and honor others is everything.”

UHD is creating an endowed scholarship in the memory of Mr. Newsum. The Floyd Newsum Visionary Artist and Humanitarian Scholarship will be available to students pursuing degrees in art or social work. 

A memorial service for Mr. Newsum will be held on Tuesday, August 27, at 11:00 a.m. at the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church (3826 Wheeler Avenue) in Houston. The service will be viewable via livestream. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the UHD scholarship.