February 2 - March 30, 2024
From HMAAC:
“Bert Long Jr’s legacy lives on at the Houston Museum of African AmericanCulture. We are pleased to present the 2024 Bert Long, Jr. Gallery Spring Survey Exhibition. Until his death on February 1, 2013, Bert Long, Jr. was one of the brightest lights in the Houston arts community. In recognition of his support of local artists, HMAAC dedicated a gallery in Bert’s name. The Bert Long, Jr. Gallery’s annual Spring Survey Exhibition shares the works of emerging Houston-based artists and selects one artist from the show to be awarded the Bert Long, Jr. Prize. The recipient is given a $3,000 prize and a solo exhibition the following summer in the Bert Long, Jr. Gallery. Our inaugural winner (2023-2024) is artist David Stunts. The 2024 artists were selected by HMAAC’s Chief Curator, Christopher Blay. They are Omari Cato, Brian Edwards, Morgan Grisby, Justin O’Keith Higgs, Ann Johnson, Rosine Kouamen, Shavon Morris, Christopher Paul and Kamaria Sheppard. Each artist brings with them a unique style and perspective and a record of accomplishment in Houston and Beyond. Although most are in the early stages of their careers as artists, they have in common a drive and professionalism that exemplifies the best of Houston artists. It is a distinct honor and pleasure to share the paintings, photographs, videos, sculptures and talents of these artists and we are excited to select our 2024-2025 Bert Long, Jr. Prize Winner! -Christopher Blay, Chief Curator, Houston Museum of African American Culture
About the Artists: Omari Cato: Omari Cato is a painter and street artist who lives and works in Houston Texas. He has exhibited works at Aramination I and Aramination II at Freetown Studios in Lafayette,Louisiana, at LSMSA University, and in 2022’s No Artist Statement at Sanman Studios where he holds residency. Cato is a middle school Social Studies teacher, as well as avid BMX and bike enthusiast. Brian Edwards, Jr.: Brian Edwards Jr. is a Houston-based photographer and filmmaker raised in Dayton, Texas. His work explores the beauty and authenticity of the human experience. It is his vision that the art he creates can be a catalyst for connection, wonder, and lesser-known stories of rich heritage. Morgan Grisby: Morgan Grigsby (b. 2001) lives and works in the Gulf coastal plains of Texas on the outskirts of a small town near Houston called Sugarland., and is known for his contemporary realist oil paintings that are inspired by his personal experiences growing up on the Gulf Coast as a black Texan. He has exhibited in solo exhibitions such as The Spellerberg Project gallery in Lockhart, Texas (2024) and at The Calaboose African American history museum in San Marcos, Texas (2023) among others. Justin O’Keith Higgs: “Justin O’Keith Higgs is a Houston, Texas-based creative visionary with a passion for transforming his subjects into living, breathing works of art.” ann ‘Sole Sister’ Johnson: Born in London, England and raised in Cheyenne, WY, Ann is a graduate of Prairie View A&M University in Texas, (where she now teaches) and received a BS in Home Economics. She has also received an MA in Humanities from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, as well as an MFA from The Academy of Art University, in San Francisco with a concentration in printmaking. Rosine Kouamen: Born in Cameroon and educated in the United States, Rosine Kouamen is a 21st century artist, being both multilingual and multi-cultural. She received a MFA in Photography and Digital Media from the University of Houston in 2012, a BFA in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2008, and a BA from the Washington and Lee University in 2005. She has exhibited at Texas Southern University Museum, Houston, TX, Project Row Houses, Lawndale Art Center, Texas Contemporary Art Fair, DiverseWorks, and Art league, Houston. She is currently shares her time between Houston and Havana. Shavon Morris: With her father being born in 1959 from the projects of Chicago, and her mother a Texas descendant of sharecroppers, the imagery presented in Shavon’s work is often simple, yet heavily contrasted with both social and visual juxtapositions. Through the process of collecting, layering, scanning, and reprinting, Morris’s collages evolve into unique compositions that challenge our perceptions of what we remember versus what we forget. Christopher Paul: Born in 1996 in San Antonio, Texas, Paul is a Houston-based performance artist and sculptor. Currently pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art with a focus in Sculpture from the University of Houston (2024). His artistic endeavors manifest through site-specific installations, delving into the intersections of the physical body, objects in contact with the body, and sonic sensations as autonomous energy vessels. Kamaria Sheppard: My work subtly revolves around issues of identity, memory, race, culture, womanhood, and femininity as an African American woman in the United States and beyond while the pieces themselves wave between minimal and excess, bold and subtle, loud and intimate, to speak or not to speak.
ABOUT THE HOUSTON MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE The mission of HMAAC is to collect, conserve, explore, interpret, and exhibit the material and intellectual culture of Africans and African Americans in Houston, the state of Texas, the southwest and the African Diaspora for current and future generations. In fulfilling its mission, HMAAC seeks to invite and engage visitors of every race and background and to inspire children of all ages through discovery-driven learning. HMAAC is to be a museum for all people. While our focus is the African American experience, our story informs and includes not only people of color, but people of all colors. As a result, the stories and exhibitions that HMAAC will bring to Texas are about the indisputable fact that while our experience is a unique one, it has been impacted by and has impacted numerous races, genders and ethnicities. The museum continues to be a space where a multicultural conversation on race geared toward a common future takes place.
LOCATION Houston Museum of African American Culture 4807 Caroline Street, Houston,TX 77004 Telephone: (713) 526-1015 www.hmaac.org Museum Hours Wednesday – Saturday, 11 – 6PM. The museum is closed Sunday-Tuesday and holidays, including New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas. We are also closed from the period after Christmas to mid-January.”
Reception: February 2, 2024 | 6–8 pm
Houston Museum of African American Culture
4807 Caroline St.
Houston, TX
(713) 353-1578
Get directions