Rick Lowe

Rick Lowe (born 1961) is a Houston-based artist and community organizer, whose Project Row Houses is considered an important example of social-practice art. In 2014, he was among the 21 people awarded a MacArthur "genius" fellowship.^[1]

Life

He was born in Alabama. He was trained as a landscape painter, attending Columbus College in Georgia, before moving to Houston in 1985. There, he created politically charged installations and studied with muralist and painter John Biggers at Texas Southern University.^[2][3]

He served as the artist-in-residence at the Nasher Sculpture Center, completed a residency with the UC Berkeley Arts Research Center, and was a Mel King Community Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2014.^[4][5]

In 1999, Rick served as one of six selection committee members for the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence.^[6]

Project Row Houses

Project Row Houses' mission is " to be the catalyst for transforming community through the celebration of art and African-American history and culture."^[7] Employing the terminology of the German artist Joseph Beuys, Lowe describes the project as "social sculpture."^[8][9] He also draws inspiration from the work of artist John T. Biggers (whose own paintings depicted Houston's shotgun homes), working from his Five Pillars: Art and Creativity; Education; Social Safety Nets; Architecture; and Sustainability.^[10][11]

PRH dates from 1993, when Lowe worked with other artists - such as David Chung (artist), James Bettison, Bert Long, Jesse Lott, Floyd Newsum, Bert Samples, and George Smith - and community organizers arranged for the "purchase and restoration of a block and a half of derelict properties — 22 shotgun houses from the 1930s — in Houston’s predominantly African American Third Ward."^[12][13] These houses were then converted to arts spaces, revitalizing the neighborhood and providing community development for the blighted neighborhood. More than 20 years later, according to an ArtNews article, the project has grown to 49 buildings spread out over 10 blocks and has a support program for young mothers.^[14]

This unusual amalgam of arts venue and community support center has served as a model for Lowe to expand into other neighborhoods in need of revitalization. The artist has initiated similar projects in the Watts Housing Project in Los Angeles, in post-Katrina New Orleans, and in a North Dallas neighborhood with a dense immigrant population.^[15]

In 1997 Project Row Houses won the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence, a national design award that seeks to identify and honor projects that address social and economic concerns of urban design.^[16]

References

External video

Public Artist Rick Lowe, 2014 MacArthur Fellow, MacArthur Foundation[17]