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    Houston Genius Rewarded

    Project Row Houses pioneer wins a Genius Grant — and takes home $625,000 with no strings attached

    Barbara Kuntz
    Barbara Kuntz
    Sep 17, 2014 | 5:15 pm

    We have a genius among us — a person Houstonians already know who stands out as an extraordinarily creative visionary.

    Artist and social activist Rick Lowe, founder of Project Row Houses and originator of the art form "social sculpture," has been awarded a The MacArthur Fellowship, an honor commonly referred to as the “MacArthur Genius Grant.”

    The 53-year-old Lowe, along with the other 21 fellows including Austin artist and affordable housing advocate John Henneberger, will receive an unrestricted stipend of $625,000 each paid over the course of five years.

    The nonprofit venture initially centered around the revitalization of nearly two dozen shotgun-style houses that he and his team saved from demolition in Houston's Third Ward.

    The prize is awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to residents of the United States who "show exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work."

    “All of us at Project Row Houses are so proud and excited that Rick has received this prestigious recognition from the MacArthur Foundation," Project Row Houses exectutive director Linda Shearer said in a statement. "It will enable him to continue to perform his work in local communities.

    "Project Row Houses is now 20 years old and poised to embark on new initiatives into the future. We know he will continue to be a vibrant catalyst in transforming community through the power of art and look forward to his next steps.”

    Lowe, originally trained as a painter, earned international acclaim for his Project Row Houses, which he founded in 1985 alongside James Bettison (1958-1997), Bert Long (1940-2013), Jesse Lott, Floyd Newsum, Bert Samples and George Smith. The nonprofit venture initially centered around the revitalization of nearly two dozen shotgun-style houses that he and his team saved from demolition in Houston's predominately African-American Third Ward.

    Through Project Row Houses, those structures are now transformed into galleries, classrooms artist studios and community gathering spaces, helping shape the once fast-eroding neighborhood by nurturing a sense of togetherness and exchange. In fact, some children have gone on from this program to prestigious colleges (including the Sorbonne in Paris) and Lowe now mentors the generations behind them.

    "Lowe continues to provide the guiding vision for PRH as he pursues his overarching goal of animating the assets of a place and the creativity of its people," the MacArthur Fellows Program website notes. "He is not only bringing visibility and pride to the Third Ward by celebrating the beauty of its iconic shotgun houses; he is also changing the lives of many PRH program graduates and expanding the PRH campus to cover a six-block area in an effort to preserve the historic district’s character in the face of encroaching gentrification."

    President Barack Obama appointed Lowe to the National Council on the Arts in November 2013.

    Lowe has collaborated on similar "social sculpture" achievements throughout the United States, including just this spring in Dallas when he was selected artist-in-residence at Nasher Sculpture Center. His vibrant Trans.lation gave culturally diverse Vickery Meadow residents an opportunity to share their talents and traditions with each other through a series of workshops, free-standing white cube “galleries” and pop-up markets.

    CultureMap Dallas notes, "Lowe and the Trans.lation team inspired not only entrepreneurship, but also a new vision for what public space and interaction could look like in the neighborhood."

    Lowe has initiated similar arts-driven redevelopment in other cities, such as the Watts House Project in Los Angeles and a post-Katrina rebuilding effort in New Orleans. More community building projects include The Arts Plan for the Seattle Public Library, the Borough Project for the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C., and the Delray Beach Cultural Loop in Florida.

    His work has been exhibited at such national and international venues as Houston’s Contemporary Arts Museum and Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea and the Venice Architecture Biennale.

    Rick Lowe in front of Project Row Houses.

    Rick Lowe Project Row Houses September 2014
      
    Photo courtesy of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
    Rick Lowe in front of Project Row Houses.
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    news/arts

    Hodge Podge

    Houston artist bids farewell, for now, with career-spanning new exhibit

    Craig D. Lindsey
    Jun 18, 2025 | 10:29 am
    Robert Leroy Hodge Sanman Studios
    Courtesy of Robert Leroy Hodge/SANMAN Studios
    The exhibit shows a range of the artist's works.

    Artist Robert Leroy Hodge is saying goodbye to Houston – well, not exactly.

    The Houston-born multidisciplinary artist recently debuted his latest exhibit, Diamonds That Fall from the Treetop, at SANMAN Studios. Known more for his eye-catching, pop-art collages (in 2023, he collaborated with Austin artist Tim Kerr for the No Kings But Us exhibit at Blaffer Art Museum), this mini-retrospective will feature selected works from his two-decade career – including the early stuff.

    “A lot of kids think I only make collages,” Hodge tells CultureMap. “And, also, I'm not making collages anymore like that. So, it's like the end of an era. I show where I started with these portraits and real paintings and drawings and how I kind of got into collage. It's a wide range of things I do, not just collage.”

    Diamonds will also be his last exhibit in Houston, but he’s not moving away. Hodge will cut down on doing local exhibits and focus more on getting his art and his name out there in other parts of the world. He’s out to prove that serious art can come out of this place.

    “When I interact with politicians and people in higher positions, they treat local artists like they're secondary, they're not good enough,” he says. “[They say] ‘They're in Houston because they can't be in New York and LA,’ and that's not the case. I could be anywhere, and I chose Houston.”

    But Hodge wants to be known as an artist from Houston, instead of just in Houston. “There’s nothing wrong with being a local artist in your city, but that’s not what I want,” he says. “I live here, but for me to get to the next space I wanna get to, I need to be showing more in New York, LA, out the country. And it's nothing personal – when you do a lot of stuff here, you just can't keep doing the same thing. You start to feel stagnant.”

    As much as he loves both the city and its art scene, Hodge knows that the visual arts isn’t a high priority around here. “We are an oil-and-gas city,” he says. “And because that's the main way money is being made, arts and culture is not primary. And, then, the new mayor is not really into art. So, it's like it all depends on who loves art and who's in office.”

    Within city limits, Hodge says he will be more of a curator and mentor, helping young artists and working with galleries and studios on creating showcases for those artists and others. He also wants to continue collaborating with fellow art enthusiasts of color, like the folks at SANMAN.

    “I wanted to do it with SANMAN because it's owned by two young Black men,” he says. “They got a staff of Black creatives, and I wanted to really show cohesiveness between Black men.”

    But Hodge isn’t completely hanging up the idea of doing another big solo show in his hometown. “This is the last one for a while,” he says, “unless the Menil calls or something crazy happens.”

    -----

    Diamonds That Fall will be on display through Saturday, July 26.

    Robert Leroy Hodge Sanman Studios
      

    Courtesy of Robert Leroy Hodge/SANMAN Studios

    The exhibit shows a range of the artist's works.

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