12:00 – 1:00 PM
Party Panel Slide Show & Tell Brunch
3 Party Panel Hosts including Nestor Topchy, Beth Secor and Michelle Barnes

Brunch Party Panel: A slide show plays whilst each of the 3 “hosts” sit at a separate brunch table to speak about their early work in Houston. The audience can mingle and hear from hosts at different tables.

From the Art Workers Coalition, to locally PRH, some of the most exciting, game-changing approaches to valuing labor in the arts and artists redefining our right to the city are not just happening now, but were precedented decade(s) ago. We start the weekend by looking to our local histories to inspire and connect us to a longer heritage of artists “not waiting and just doing what we want” in Houston.

Slide show compiled by Nestor Topchy, Beth Secor and Michelle Barnes with photo/video materials provided by: Ben DeSoto, Jack Massing, Michael Galbreth, Patricia Hernandez, George Hixson, Cameron Armstrong, Jim Pirtle and Dick Craig.

From 1989 to 2001, Nestor Topchy was Co-Founder and Artistic Director of TemplO/Zocalo, a non profit artist-run performance compound he established on the site he originally pioneered along with with Rick Lowe and Dean Ruck. TemplO/Zocalo was an incubator for experimental artistic activity, and gave artists of all disciplines a forum for creating, exhibiting and staging experimental and edgy works. The complex housed artists’ studios and living spaces, a gallery, indoor and outdoor stages, and embodied the belief that art is a creative and spiritual way of doing anything.

Beth Secor is a Houston-based artist. She received an MFA in Painting and BFA in Printmaking from the University of Houston. She is a lecturer in visual art at the University of Houston Downtown (UHD). Her work is represented by Inman Gallery. She moved to Houston in 1977.   From 1977 - 1980 Secor was part of an art collaborative formed at the University of Houston and known as Den Wittenbahl Blitzer.  From 1984- 1986 Secor was one of six artist-in-residents at DiverseWorks in its original location on Travis Street in Houston.  In 1986 Secor and Liz Ward received an NEA Interdisciplinary Grant to create an installation at Lawndale Art and Performance Space called a Retreat for K, based on the writings and life of Franz Kafka.  In 1988, Secor and Ward received funding to create an installation inside of a silverstream trailor, which was entitled The Effemera Museum and that was shown at both Lawndale and The Orange Show. During the late 70's and 80's Secor worked for Lawndale, and later The Orange Show where she was a key player in the establishment of its education and outreach programs.

Michelle Swain Barnes is a Houston-based Artist / Educator / Pro-Activist / Administrator / Facilitator / Wife / Mother / Grandmother. She is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Community Artists' Collective (The Collective)

The Community Artists' Collective is a community-based 501(c)(3) organization that, since 1987, has led change in service to the community through the arts.  The Collective), a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, was conceived  in 1985 by Michelle Barnes, artist, art educator and director of Barnes-Blackman Galleries and Dr. Sarah Trotty, artist and art educator at Texas Southern University. The COLLECTIVE was organized to meet the needs of the professional African American artists and with a special sensitivity to African American women artists.  The mission of The Collective is to provide the educational and cultural link among African American artists and all communities, inspiring unlimited creativity.  This mission is accomplished through programs of excellence in Education, Exhibition, Community Development, and Entrepreneurship generally in collaboration with other individuals, agencies, and organizations.  Through this work, services that engage people in generally underserved communities, are bridged by the creative process to satisfactory products and experiences.

The COLLECTIVE challenges local artists to make their own career decisions, to produce work, which truly reflects their unique vision, and to work with our organization or some other organized effort to give something back to the community from which we have emerged."

Panel/Fiesta con presentación de diapositivas, brunch y conversación
Tres anfitriones del Panel/Fiesta incluyendo a Nestor Topchy, Beth Secor y Michelle Barnes

Panel/Fiesta y brunch: Mientras se presentan diapositivas cada uno de los tres “anfitriones” se sientan en diferentes mesas durante el evento para hablar de sus inicios en el trabajo artístico en Houston. El público puede circular y escuchar a los anfitriones en las diferentes mesas.

Desde 1989 a 2001, Nestor Topchy fue el co-fundador y director artístico de TemplO/Zocalo, un recinto de performance sin fines de lucro manejado por artistas en el sitio que el mismo artista estableció junto con Rick Lowe y Dean Ruck.

Beth Secor es una artista radicada en Houston.

Michelle Swain Barnes es una artista / educadora / pro-activista / administradora / facilitadora / esposa / madre y abuela radicada en Houston. Es también co-fundadora y directora ejecutiva del Community Artists' Collective (The Collective) [Colectivo de Artistas de la Comunidad (El Colectivo)].