The Transformative Power of Art series celebrates the artistic and spiritual importance of the Rothko Chapel, bringing three speakers associated with Mark Rothko and the Chapel.

Brice Marden, Artist: About Painting and What It Can Do - Jan 29

American painter Brice Marden was featured in the exhibition Marden, Novros, Rothko: Painting in the Age of Actuality at Rice University in 1975. Marden and David Novros exhibited their work with four paintings from the Chapel commission. Marden's early work was characterized by luminous monochrome panels; his works of the last twenty years have incorporated calligraphic gestures and heightened color. 

David Novros, Artist: Painting and Patronage - Feb 12

David Novros is an American painter and muralist of geometric abstraction, creator of many large-scale installations, and known for the recurring motif of right-angled L shapes. In 1975 Novros and Brice Marden exhibited their work at Rice University with four paintings from the Chapel commission in Marden, Novros, Rothko: Painting in the Age of Actuality. Novros will speak about the public dimensions of creating major commissions like the murals in the Rothko Chapel and aspects of patronage. 

The Reverend Susan J. Barnes: Acts of Faith - Feb 19

The Reverend Susan J. Barnes will address the overarching issue of faith and spirituality in the lives and enterprises of the Menils, of which the Rothko Chapel was the first outward and visible sign - the first Act of Faith. A native Houstonian, Barnes was present at the installation of the Rothko paintings in the Chapel and was a keen observer of its early years in the life of Houston.