By David Taylor / Managing Editor
From young families shopping for art to decorate their new home, to investors seeking out that special promising artist, The Silos at Sawyer Yards maximizes the 80,000 square foot space of private art studios and creative flex space to attract even the occasional art enthusiast.
What could be more creative than a developer turning the once Riviana Rice packaging plant and silos into divided space to house more than 100 established and emerging artists, arts groups, and creative entrepreneurs.
The gem of the space comes every Second and Third Saturday of the month, when resident artists open their studios to welcome the public. The notion that artists are willing to spend valuable time discussing their feelings, thoughts, and inspiration behind their work is not novel, but rare.
Last Second Saturday, as shoppers awakened from their winter slumber, foot traffic at The Silos was particularly busy
When the front doors swing open for first-time visitors and novice art enthusiasts, they are greeted by an impressive array of art displays, akin to a museum exhibition, showcasing various genres of fine arts. Visual art includes realism, impressionism, surrealism, pop art, expressionism, minimalism, abstract expressionism, rococo, dada, conceptual art, portraiture, still life, landscape, and historical painting, to name a few.
Before running to a dictionary to refresh your memory on all those terms, ask the artist. They are happy to explain their art and in doing so, give depth to the meaning and purpose of the work.
In studio #209, Patricia Blackwell makes an interesting use of oval canvas.
“It’s figurative artwork that’s acrylic and pan pastels on canvas,” she said. “I just needed to do something, and to draw, so I did that every day.”
Blackwell’s process begins with the canvased oval on the floor of her studio.
“All you do is throw paint on the canvas first,” she said, and then she paints the photo-like object she calls “realism” on top. She’s no novice, and the work can be done in as short a period as an hour. The detail in the painting is exquisite and comedic at times.
At the end of another hallway is delightful Grace Phillips, whose studio #214 is just as artfully decorated as her abstract art.
“No images, and I do use a lot of black,” she said.
For 50 years, she has been creating art, even while she lived in Dubai in the Middle East.
“I was really involved in the art scene in Dubai and served as director of a gallery at the Dubai International Art Center,” she said.
She lived there for 20 years before returning to Houston and has since delved back into art locally. Her husband has a PhD as a geophysicist, the left brain in the family, and she has an art degree, the right brain, she joked.
“We’ve had a lot of life experiences, and we retired and came back to Houston,” she said.
Elaine Rose Lanoue at studio 218 is a self-avowed contemporary acrylic semi-representational and abstract painter who works together with her husband, Guiteau Lanoue, in their studio at The Silos.
Some of her work is postimpressionism with a little more abstract angle, whereas her husband’s works are more cubist, and he likes Picasso.
Lanoue has been painting for 60 years.
“I’ve been making a living at this since 1970 and I will be 82 at the end of the month,” she said proudly.
Lanoue starts her works very abstract, “then I start to see it,” she said. “French Impressionists were more squares of color where mine are not. They’re loose.”
“The reason the movement was so popular — and controversial, too — was they used to do very tight, like Rembrandt, detailed paintings. Then these guys come out and it’s much different,” she said.
Van Gogh, she said would walk up to the canvas and use the tube of paint, turn it, and leave its mark. The style is different today.
Mary Rogas, Cora Salvino, and Suzanne Buckland share a corner studio. Cora does glass work, and Mary does abstract, floral and figurative work, while Suzanne does oil, acrylic, and mixed media collage.
Mei-ing Hoffman at studio #113 is a part-time artist and full-time Associate Publisher for Grafikpress newspapers, which publishes several community newspapers reaching most of the North and East Harris County area. She has only been in The Silos since last September.
“I did my first painting six years ago, because my best friend wanted to have a bird, so I painted a bird,” she said.
When she finished, she looked at it and realized she might be able to paint professionally.
She is often inspired by the movement of nature, light, shadow, four seasons, and water. She has a great eye for composition, although she has never been officially trained.
“I’ve been running a commercial printing company, so I do know color and color schemes,” she said.
She tries a lot of different styles, although one of her favorites is impressionism. She has also done small sculptures using recycled wire and other found objects, as well as free-hand pencil sketches that burst with feeling, despite their simplicity.
Besides sharing her own art with a wider audience, one of the things Mei appreciates most about being part of The Silos at Sawyer Yards is the sense of community. The artists there encourage her and share painting techniques with her.
Most of the artists are available on the Second and Third Saturday of the month from 12 noon to 5 p.m. Others are also available during the week by appointment.
Drop by and visit them at their studios. The Silos at Sawyer Yards are at 1502 Sawyer Street, off I-10 at the Taylor Street exit near downtown Houston.
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