ART
BY THE BOOK HOUSTON KIDS GO BEHIND THE CAMERA
This month , you can see Houston as area kids do . An exhibition of photography and prints created over a period of six years by Houston-area schoolchildren , highlighting our city ’ s diversity and energy , will be on view at the Rice Media Center on the Rice University campus , from March 7 – 31 .
In the Eyes of Our Children : Houston , An American City , accompanied by a 296-page book , complete with over 300 color plates , presents a panoramic view of Houston , including public parks and gardens , sports stadiums , shopping malls , cultural venues and Downtown . It takes you inside kids ’ rooms at home , along city streets and highways – even inside family refrigerators . Whatever caught kids ’ eyes and captured their imaginations , you ’ ll find it here .
Houston photographer GEOFF WINNINGHAM , a professor of visual arts and photography at Rice University , along with his wife , artist JANICE FREEMAN , led the project , guiding 132 elementary and middle-school students – of diverse racial , cultural and economic backgrounds – in the art of photography and printmaking . “ This exhibition and the accompanying book offer a unique vision of Houston at this moment in its history through the eyes of its children ,” says Winningham . Undergraduate volunteers from Rice University pitched in by taking leadership roles at the participating schools and the summer workshops .
The 132 students from Houston-area schools who participated in the project ( 43 % Hispanic , 30 % Anglo , 16 % African American and 11 % Asian ) mirror the diversity of Houston ’ s population and lend insight into the changing vision of our cities and our nation . “ Houston is at the forefront of the epic demographic transition that is taking place in the United States ,” according to Stephen Klineberg , noted sociologist and professor at Rice University , and a contributor to the book .
The exhibition is free and open to the public . If you can ’ t make it , the book In the Eyes of Our Children : Houston , An American City is available at Brazos Bookstore or at www . pozosartproject . com and retails for $ 45 .
By Tim Moloney Photography by Angel Mena
34 LOCAL | march 17