Houston is an art city, not only because of our vibrant artist communities or even our world class museums. Houston is Art City because art blooms everywhere we look, in our parks, street corners, airports, university campuses, and on the sides of skyscrapers. But taking artistic creations to sometime literal heights is not something every artist knows how to do. With this challenge in mind, Discovery Green Conversancy recently announced the launch of Art Lab, a mentorship program designed to provide underrepresented local artists with the skills and resources necessary to expand their practices into large-scale, interactive sculptural outdoor public works.

  

Courtesy of Discovery Green

"Mosaic of Light," one of the previous Discovery Green installation.

Since its opening in 2008, Discovery Green has welcomed over 30 million visitors and along the way has become one of the city’s leaders in presenting large-scale public art.

“Public art has been at the heart of Discovery Green since its inception 16 years ago, and the park has grown into an open-air gallery with a world-class permanent collection and remarkable temporary installations that draw hundreds of thousands of visitors each year,” said Discovery Green Conservancy president Kathryn Lott.

With that history, the organization certainly understands the challenges artists can face when creating on a large-scale for an even larger audience.

“While Discovery Green has always served as a hub for nurturing and uplifting local artistic talent, we learned that there was a void for opportunities for Houston artists to develop skills and access resources needed to build large-scale interactive public art,” Discovery Green artistic director Susanne Theis tells CultureMap. She adds that that while working and partnering with the Weingarten Art Group they have spent several years conceptualizing what a public art developmental program for artists could look like.

Now with the generous help of an anonymous national foundation, this fully funded Art Lab program is ready for launch.

“Art Lab will allow its fellows the unique opportunity to explore and experiment with new materials, media, methods, and technologies,” explains Lea Weingarten, Weingarten Art Group principal. “Mentors will focus on guiding them to design public artworks that are innovative and interactive – exactly what has captivated the many audiences at Discovery Green.”

So what does this initiative mean for Houston artists? After a selection process, Art Lab will provide two local artists with an apprenticeship, practicum, and honorarium of $4,500 to work with a team of mentors including Weingarten Art Group, Houston-based architecture and design firm Metalab, and internationally renowned, Brooklyn-based artist/engineer Jen Lewin. Along with a lengthy list of public art works, Lewin has created immense installations for Burning Man.

As the inaugural lead artist for Art Lab, Discovery Green has commissioned Lewin for a yet-to-be announced, site-specific art installation that will be in the park during the 2024/25 winter season. As part of their apprenticeship, the Art Lab resident artists will shadow and learn from Lewin as she works on that installation.

“Jen Lewin’s name has surfaced in many conversations for several years now, and we are thrilled that she is Art Lab's inaugural lead artist,” Theis says. “Her work engages the public on so many different levels and her themes resonate with Discovery Green’s mission and vision. Jen demonstrates so much enthusiasm for mentorship and shares our commitment to uplifting artists by providing learning opportunities.”

Open only to artists, architects, and designers residing within a 75-mile radius of central Houston, Art Lab applications will be accepted through July 14, 2024. Selected artists will be announced in August. The Art Lab program runs from September 2024 through January 2025.

The program might offer individual artists a life changing mentorship, but as Kathryn Lott explains, the Houston art-loving public will likely also reap the artistic rewards.

“Our goal with Art Lab is to keep connecting Houstonians and visitors to inspiring and thought-provoking works while creating opportunities for the incredibly talented artists in our own backyard.”