3,000 years of art

Acclaimed BBC series inspires massive new religious art exhibit at MFAH

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Living with the Gods exhibit

"The Stream Crosses the Path" by John Biggers is one of the many divinely inspired works at MFAH's new exhibit.

Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

For as long as humanity has had gods, people have painted, sculpted, sung, danced, carved, woven, performed, and sketched to connect with them. The desire to touch the divine with our own creations is one of the few universal constants across history and geography.

That is why the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is presenting Living with the Gods: Art, Beliefs, and Peoples, October 27, 2024-January 20, 2025. The massive exhibit is the capstone of the MFAH’s centennial celebration and will cover a remarkable 11 galleries. The collection includes more than 200 pieces from across 3,000 years and every continent except Antarctica.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Living with the Gods exhibit The exhibit will include this Hanukkah lamp.Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Instrumental in bringing this collection to life is Neil MacGregor. A former director of the National Gallery in London, MacGregor created a phenomenal BBC radio series and authored a book (both also called Living with the Gods) to detail the way humans have used art to honor and placate our deities.

“Neil MacGregor’s acclaimed 2017 BBC radio series and book brilliantly chronicled this enduring form of human expression,” Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the MFAH, said in a statement. “We are honored that he brought that perspective to Houston, making it visible through objects chosen from our own collections as well as some truly exceptional loans.”

The pieces on display are both modern and ancient. MFAH has arranged them thematically, focusing on depictions of water, the cosmos, animals, and more. Among the most notable are a Pentecostal altarpiece on loan from the Padro, Madrid that depicts the resurrection of Jesus; a silver urn used by Maharaja Madho Singh II, an Orthodox Hindu, to drink only water from the Ganges River when he traveled overseas for the coronation of King Edward IV; and Bedu masks from Africa’s Ivory Coast used during funeral dances and purification rituals.

“This exhibition is about how people everywhere have made beautiful things to negotiate their place in time and in the world; and how we use works of art to think about how we relate to each other,” MacGregor added. “Putting art into that context allows for a different conversation. In museums, many great objects can lose their original purpose, which was spiritual. An exhibition of this kind can give that purpose back to them, allowing a new and deeper approach to great and familiar works.”

Many of the items in the exhibition rarely leave their home countries for display, showing how remarkable the organization of such a collection is. It is a unique opportunity for Houstonians to see the art and tools used to reach across the void and communicate with something transcendental.

Ticket information can be found on the MFAH website.

let's roll

Soccer star and Grammy-winning singer will lead Houston Art Car Parade

Courtesy of the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art

Art Car weekend returns April 9-12.

If you see a lot of unusual-looking automobiles on the streets and freeways next month, it’ll be for one simple reason: the Art Car Parade is back.

The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art announced the return of the Houston Art Car Parade Weekend presented by Team Gillman, taking place Thursday, April 9 through Sunday, April 12. This will culminate in the Houston Art Car Parade – its 39th – on Saturday, April 11, featuring more than 250 one-of-a-kind, rolling works of art.

The four-day celebration transforms the city into a canvas of color, creativity, and community, with the parade serving as the weekend’s crowning spectacle, drawing more than 315,000 spectators annually and making it the largest free cultural event in Houston. Serving as the 2026 Featured Artist is Phillip Pyle II, a visual artist, graphic designer, and photographer whose work engages with issues of race and popular culture through the lens of graphic design.

This year’s grand marshals, former Houston Dynamo player Brian Ching and singer/The Suffers frontwoman Kam Franklin, represent two powerful pillars of Houston’s cultural identity: sports and music. Ching and Franklin join a distinguished list of past marshals, including Bun B, Carl Lewis, Marilyn Oshman, J.J. Watt, Dan Aykroyd and George Clinton.

“This year’s Orange Show Art Car Parade honors Kam Franklin and Brian Ching as Grand Marshals,” said Orange Show executive director Jack Massing. “Selected for their positive contributions as Houstonians, both are dedicated community leaders committed to fostering creativity through music and sports, helping build a happier, healthier city.”

Attendance remains free and open to the public, reinforcing the Orange Show’s mission to make art accessible to all. For those looking to immerse themselves in the parade’s energy while supporting its mission, the VIPit offers a festival-style atmosphere with limited tables and reserved grandstand seating starting at $250. Admission includes complimentary food and beverages from Houston favorites, private restrooms, and premium parade views. Proceeds directly fund year-round Art Car programming at the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, including Art Cars in Schools, a curriculum aligned with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards that brings hands-on creative learning into classrooms across the region.

For more information, visit the Orange Show website.

art car parade brian ching kam franklin houston