Archway Gallery's current exhibition "New Visions, New Voices; Inspiring Connections Through Art" features works by newest member artists Rhonda Radford Adams, Michael Angell, Gözde Kaya, Kay Sarver, and Eric Stiles.  Here is a artist Eric Stiles speaking about his work:

Featuring New Paintings and Mixed Media Works by Harold Joiner
On View at Archway Gallery from November 2 - December 5, 2024
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Of his new solo exhibition, artist Harold Joiner writes:
I grew up on the grassy plains of Eastern New Mexico. The paved road in front of our house ended at the property line, and there was nothing but prairie beyond it. I played in that prairie with neighborhood friends, especially in an arroyo that was filled with tall grass and sunflowers. We spent endless hours there chasing horned toads, grasshoppers, and the occasional snake. I’m old now, and even though I live in the big city, this childhood memory of being close to the land has never left me.

My first artistic steps were at that table, next to my mother’s easel; I would draw while she painted.  Also in that big studio were her sewing machine and kit.  She was a marvelous designer of her own, my sister’s, and my dresses.  She even created a wardrobe for my dolls.  She said that you could see the quality of a dress when you looked inside and outside.  She liked for both to be perfect.   My mother painted until the last months of her life.  She won a Gold Medal at the Florence Biennale, just two months before she died. “

What type of message do I want to bring to my work?    Sometimes I ask myself, whatever happened to the concept of ‘Art for the sake of Art’?  The famous Colombian artist Fernando Botero once said: ‘The true objective in art is the pursuit of happiness, but the world seems to have forgotten about it.’ I totally agree with him.   If I can brighten the viewer’s heart with an image I have created, then I have accomplished my goal.” This is a tribute to Silvia’s talented mother and her easel and her sewing machine.  

​Former Archway member artist Joel Anderson was recently interviewed for an episode of The Houston Hour on local radio station KPFT. He discusses a number of topics including how he began creating artwork and his unique encaustic process, his time at Archway, and his success selling his work at national-level art festivals.​ Click here to listen.

The Houston Hour is an hour-long radio show all about Houston that airs every Friday at 6 pm on 90.1 KPFT Houston, a listener-sponsored Pacifica radio station. The producer is TV’s Houston Historian, Mister McKinney, and the Co-Hosts are Mister McKinney and Heidi Vaughan, owner of Heidi Vaughan Fine Art. 

Archway Gallery shows the work of three talented jewelry artists: Mary Rogers, Cindi Hendrickson, and Vanessa Parker. Recently Mary Rogers was featured in Canvas Rebel.  Here is some of what she said of her work:  "As a jeweler I have always focused on creating jewelry that is personal within a wearable format. Many jewelry artists strive to be cutting edge; I have consciously chosen to create jewelry that although very contemporary is classic and personal. Hopefully it will be comfortably worn thirty years from now, giving no visual clue as to when it was created. The challenge of creating unexpected but distinctive works lead me to explore unusual metal choices and techniques. I am primarily self-taught, so my studio practice has been varied."  Read more here.

The non-profit organization Hot Poet publishes Equinox, a biannual, digital, multimedia journal that chronicles and showcases poetry, prose, and art. We are pleased to say that two works by Archway artist John Slaby appeared in the spring 2024 issue alongside works by Dom Zuccone and Jean Sutherland. It is well worth reading: click here to see the issue.

This is a portion of an article originally featured in the Jewish Herald Voice. Read more here.

Larry Garmezy loves being one of the 34 artists at Archway Gallery for the camaraderie and level of excellence. But he really loves the Houston-based gallery’s commitment to charity. “One of the great things about the Archway Gallery is we believe in supporting community,” said the 69-year-old Bellaire photographer. “We have big hearts. Art can be lonely, but at Archway, we have a community. There’s a civilization out there, and we have to support it. It makes me very proud to be part of Archway.” Archway Gallery, 2305 Dunlavy St., is partnering with the Houston Food Bank for the 18th annual Empty Bowls Houston (emptybowlshouston.org), from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, May 11, at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, 4848 Main St. In addition, Archway Gallery will raise money for Empty Bowls Houston at its studio through Tuesday, April 30. Empty Bowls is one of several charity events that Archway does each year.

This is a portion of an article originally featured in SHOUTOUT HTX. Read more here.

I always wanted to be an artist, but I’d heard about the “starving in a freezing garret” thing. While I wasn’t sure what a garret was, I understood the other bits, so I thought I’d better get another career first. Around 1979, when I had a job and was settled in, I started taking classes at the Glassell School here in Houston. Eventually I found my way to the print shop and began a wonderful journey. 

One of my recurring themes over the years has been hobo symbols.  When I was quite young, we lived in Idaho. My father was a minister and we lived near the railroad tracks. People came to our door often asking for food. One day my father came home to find a man sitting in the living room eating a sandwich. My mother was a very kind woman but might not have always thought things through. It was a gentler time though and we’d moved to Idaho from an island off the coast of Maine where there had been no such knocks on the door.
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I remember my father saying, “You need to be careful. They’ll mark the house.” I didn’t know what he was talking about, but many years later I found a book that had hobo symbols in it. They were marks that would be left for the next people coming through, telling them where it was safe, who would give you some work or some food, and so on. They were nice graphic symbols, and I happily incorporated them into my artwork.
Though I am primarily a printmaker, weaving is another of my art forms. While I do make things like kitchen towels and scarves, I also weave tapestry. It’s a slow process but one I enjoy. I hope to be able to do both types of art for many more years. 

​​Looking back at herself and her practice, Denise tells us how she began her artistic journey in a completely different environment in this interview:

-Question: What was your art path? 
 I’ve always had a passion for art since I was as young as 6 years old. I played around with oil paints,         won a few awards in school, but had no technical training. I was accepted into the High School of Art and Design in New York City, but only lasted three months. I entered the corporate world, and never looked back… until recently. With that said, I believe that my creativity carried me through my career, in many forms.
-Question: Why the move from New York City to Houston?
I worked on Wall Street in New York until 1999, when I came to Houston to work in the energy industry. It wasn’t until 2018 that I started doing my artwork, and entered the Houston art scene.
-Question: What is the background of the "smoke and soot technique” ?
I came across something on Instagram and just started playing around, first with candles, then with kerosene. The ethereal feeling makes it special to me. You can’t control the smoke……and it just feels right.

Denise’s dramatic style captures the imagination, whether it be with bursts of bright colors or stark black and white. See more of her work here. 

by Annette Palmer, photography by Chris Spicks
(this article was originally featured in The Woodlands City Lifestyle Magazine)

When you meet Joe Haden, you meet a man whose work and artistry are his life, working with the toughest of materials and dangerous tools, fire, metal and sheer grit. He is a tall gent with a beard, clad in his signature uniform of denim overalls and accompanied by his constant companion, Mrs. Jones. If you have ever visited The Houston Art Car Museum or enjoyed The Orange Show annual Art Car Parade, then you will undoubtedly have viewed some of Haden’s fantastical creations.  A pioneer of The Art Car Parade, now in its 36th year, he continues to invent creative, humorous designs with incredible artistry. He’s won “Best in Show” 5 times! This is quite a departure from Haden’s initial engineering career; originally employed in the aerospace industry, he designed components for the stealth bomber and then later worked for Bell Helicopter. Embracing his love of design, he began constructing homes. “I saw the homes as individual sculptures” he states, “it awoke my design aesthetic, I would personally design and build the homes”.  He would add character by introducing a subtle artistic detail to every project. The struggle between engineering and art is somewhat contradictory, the rigid rules and precision of engineering versus the playfulness, creativity and experimentation of the artistic journey. Eventually focusing full time on his art practice, Haden expresses “It’s always play, if it’s not play, it’s work”

Tools of choice include a plasma cutter, oxygen acetylene torch, and blacksmithing equipment including an anvil, propane, and coal forge. With these heavy-duty means, he can create filigree designs on the most unforgiving, hard materials. Pretty florals and fragile feathers emerge, as intricate shapes are cut and formed from discarded farm equipment, oil cans, shovels, rakes and other metal utilitarian basics. Once again, we see a contradiction in his work, the softness and femininity of the patterns and designs of the lightweight subjects, borne from the hardest, heaviest and strongest elements, The “Paradox of Containment” vessels, include obsolete milk churns and oil cans, with lace like patterns cut into the body of the containers, creating holes in something designed to hold and preserve liquids, transforming these abandoned functional items into fine art pieces with a narrative. The shadows created when light shines through the multiple elegant cutouts are as beautiful as the physical item, with a play on shadows cast, and positive and negative spaces, another paradox.
Haden is inspired by the avant-garde dada art movement of the 1920’s, which explored absurdity and artistic freedom as a reaction to a global situation. As well as an acknowledgment of the upcycling movement and the fulfillment of creating something new from something old. Haden elaborates “The practice of using found objects poses its own set of problems, working around existing design features adds a whole new challenge, and it’s important to work the problem into the beauty of the piece, which ultimately adds to the end result.” 

This heavy machinery and force with an almost industrial feel may lead us to think that Haden is a man as tough as steel, but we would be mistaken.  Constant companion, Mrs. Jones, his 9lb rescued chihuahua rarely leaves his side and Haden tends to her every need with love and tenderness. He is a master of the Japanese art of reiki, a positive technique that focuses on energy vibrations. His mother, who was an expert in the reiki field, taught him this meditative process that rests the brain and calms our thoughts. He enjoys meditation and other aspects of self-care, believing that ultimately, respect for yourself and others is what makes the world go round. “It’s all about the balance of life, like the balance between engineering and art”, he says.  Those that enjoy astrology would also find it interesting to find that Haden is a Libra, the horoscope sign represented by the scales, it’s about finding the equilibrium and seeing the lighter side of the heavier things, just like his art. Haden works from his family ranch in Crockett, Texas, the same ranch that has been in his family since the early 1800’s is a place of peace and inspiration, a tranquil sanctuary. His mother was born here and when she became unwell 15 years ago, Haden went home. The ranch years were a time of immersion, isolation and routine, when he cared for his mother, worked on the ranch, and made art. Literally returning to his roots, he could sense the earth beneath him and experience a connection to the spiritual energy of his ancestors and history, the connection with nature, the constellations, and the universe.

The Houston Art Car Museum, 140 Heights Blvd, Houston, will present “Joe Haden”, a solo exhibition, new sculptures will showcase alongside his inaugural photography collection. The opening reception for this event is between 6 – 9pm, on Saturday, June 17th, the show runs until the end of September.