Floyd Newsum, artist and Project Row Houses founder, has died
HOUSTON - Floyd Newsum, a local and nationally recognized artist, and founder of Project Row Houses, has died, as announced by the non-profit Thursday morning.
Newsum, a well-known visual artist, had a 42-year-long career. He lived in Houston where he most recently was an art professor at the University of Houston - Downtown. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Tyler School of Art at Temple University.
In 1993, he was one of the seven other Black artists in Houston to create the Project Row Houses. The group saw creative potential in the shotgun houses located in the intersection of Holman Street and Live Oak Street in Third Ward.
"Our hearts have cracked wide open learning that our dear founder Floyd Newsum has gone to be with the ancestors. Floyd was vibrant, insightful, and ready with a challenging question or unexpected suggestion followed by a smile and a laugh to let you know he was pushing you because he felt you were worth pushing," Project Row Houses stated.
With more than 40 years of creating as an artist, Newsum has had his work displayed in nearly 100 museums and exhibits. He has artwork in permanent collections at the Smithsonian National Museum of African History and Culture in Washington D.C., the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Newsum leaves behind a wife and two children.