Annex Energy

• Sat, May 1, 2021 - Sat, Aug 14, 2021  

Annex Energy by the University of Houston School of Art Sculpture Graduates and Undergraduates will open to the public this Saturday from 3 - 9 PM.

Don't miss Jen Barker speak about her work at 4:30 PM and a stained-glass workshop by Michelle Vo from 3:30-6:30 PM (RSVP at michellebkvo@gmail.com). For the past three semesters, UH sculpture artists have been forced to work in virtual isolation. Yet they have persevered through a difficult year of cancelled exhibitions, limited studio access, and online-only classes. Despite the lack of real-world interactions, the sculpture artists have survived by sharing their creative energy and supporting each other through the bonds of a common pursuit. That is, pursuing artwork that excels despite and because of the struggles of the times--be it Covid, societal expectations, economic hardships, and beyond.

The SITE Gallery Houston exhibition will provide a window into the COVID experience. The beehive cluster of circular rooms--each uniquely transformed--will together convey the energy and vitality of the Sculpture Program. Originating at the Lawndale Annex, then the South Park Annex, and now at the newly constructed Elgin Street Studios facility, the UH Sculpture program continues to be a spark plug for new ideas as well as a launchpad for the next generation of Houston artists.

The ideas presented in this exhibition range from those addressing racial generational trauma, physical metaphors for human transitions through changes in environment, to intergenerational domestic representation and expression, and beyond. These artists explore the personal; the power of language; and the historical, modern, and cultural perceptions of camouflage. Their inspirations stem from Houston’s sounds of the bayou, the capitalization of water as a natural resource, experiential exploration, and the connections and contrasts between internal and external reflection. They traverse the difficult grounds of spiritual loss and longing, the thanklessness and often futility of labor, and lost South American ancestral knowledge.

These disparate practices and approaches, reflective of Houston’s richly diverse community, are unified by a common situation in the city. These artists offer their collective of work and perspectives, a year after the world turned upside down, as a way to redefine what art and artmaking look like moving into an uncertain future. Bound together by place, each installation in SITE Gallery Houston acts as a window into the work happening now, and the work that could be. This is Houston art.

Artists include: Jen Barker, Daniel Calderon, Noelle Dunahoe, Marley Foster, Nicolas Herrera, Randi Long, Jacinta Majithia, Blaize Marshall, Cat Martinez, Michelle Matthews, Tiffany Nesbit, Cheyenne Nevins, Katie Patzke, Brenna Rogers, Gustavo Solorzano, Stevie Spurgin, William VB, Jimena Vilchis, Michelle Vo, Debbie Vu, Marie Williams and Erick Zambrano.