Shannon Hall, Marcus Sloan, Leigh Smith and Tony Bradfield
Photo courtesy Children's Museum Houston
The afternoon at CMH includes a special storytime reading with Houston author Tonya Duncan Ellis, who will recite her recently released children’s picture book They Built Me For Freedom: The story of Juneteenth and Houston's Emancipation Park.
Tonya Duncan Ellis (photo by Madison DiMarco)
In this unique and beautifully illustrated book, Duncan writes in succinct, melodious prose from the perspective of Houston’s Emancipation Park, which occupies 10 acres in Houston’s historic Third Ward. The land was purchased in 1872 by three formerly enslaved church and community leaders to commemorate the events of June 19, 1865, when, two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, 250,000 enslaved people of Texas found out they were free. In the era of Jim Crow, it was the only public park in Houston open to Black people, and since then has been the site of community celebrations, sporting events, and social protests.
Toward the conclusion of her book, on a page illustrated with butterflies in flight and a grandmother and granddaughter dancing in the park, their shadows cast on the green grass, Ellis writes, “While they enjoy my beautiful grounds, they recall their ancestors and all they overcame. Standing strong. Walking proud. Singing songs of jubilee . . . running free.”
Celebrated Texas poet, novelist, and photographer Van G. Garrett will also be at the story time to read his book, Juneteenth: A Picture Book for Kids Celebrating Black Joy.
Other events for Sunday's Juneteenth Freedom Fest include a DJ set in the Kids’ Hall Alcove by DJ Ferbidden; an opportunity for visitors to help paint a community mural; Ted Ellis’ Juneteenth Champions art exhibition, which highlights 29 historically influential African Americans; and a music, poetry and dance performance by Express Children’s Theatre.
Additional festivities and exhibits will be activated on Wednesday, June 19.
Courtesy of Sol Diaz-Peña
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.
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