Summer's Clever Pop-Up Art Shows Include This Weekend's 'Interwoven'

SUMMER’S HERE, AND the pop-up art exhibits have begun. Maybe it’s a response to the relentless heat and unpredictably weird weather, but during June through August, the city’s more forward-thinking (and often relatively young) art mavens embrace an approach to curation and presentation that is both cost-conscious and community-centric.

The resulting “pop-up” shows are often installed in private homes or other alternative spaces across the city, always expertly curated, and typically on view for a very limited time, sometimes just a day or two. One such show is put on by Jessi Bowman, founder of the Montrose-based “nomadic photo exhibition series and a community arts space” FLATS.

Courtesy of Mary Margaret Hansen

Courtesy of Colby Deal

On June 14 and 16, at the home of John Walker and esteemed arts writer Catherine Anspon located in in the historic Harwood Court complex, FLATS presents Interwoven, a group show curated by Bowman and photographer Ryan Francisco, featuring works by Houston photographers Colby Deal, Lee Deleon, Sol Diaz, Mary Margaret Hansen, Adrienne Simmons, and Briana Vargas. “This is our first exhibition since the pandemic that we have held in someone's home,” says Bowman, who hosted the organization’s first defiantly grassroots shows back in 2016 in her apartment. “It harkens back to how FLATS was started.”

Interwoven is presented in two parts: Friday night, 6-10pm, is the “opening party” for the exhibit; Sunday from 1-3pm is described as an “Art Mass,” where attendees are invited to bring creative materials, including cameras, journals, pens, and paintbrushes, for a chill afternoon of collective art making, conversation, and meditation. Bowman and Francisco will also moderate a discussion with Interwoven’s exhibiting artists. You can RSVP for one or both events at the FLATS website.

In a press release, FLATS explains the “heart” of Interwoven lies in the diversity among the exhibiting hometown artists, “whose backgrounds, ages, and artistic styles span a broad spectrum.” If there is a thread connecting each of these artists, it may simply be Bowman and Francisco’s enthusiasm for and fascination with the range of possibilities and perspectives the medium of photography inspires.