Morris’ painting is a golden, close-up portrait of singer and performer Prince; his head is slightly bowed and his eyes are closed. The painting is inspired by Prince 3, a photograph of the singer taken by Herb Ritts in 1991. Before his death, Prince became one of the best-selling musicians of all time, celebrated for his soaring vocals, multi-instrumental skills, and pioneering aesthetics and sounds.
Obey’s sculpture, “Primeval Couple,” features a prehistoric male and female couple fused within the arms of one another. The heads of the figures are decorated with embellished swirls, often featured in the terracottas made by students of Carroll Harris Simms. Simms related Obey’s design to those he had seen in the mountains of northern Nigeria.
Toussaint's painting, "Prickled," pushes back against the notion that women's role is limited to being nurturers. In her own words, her "creative perspective is rooted in a sensitive and feminine lens—one that challenges the common reduction of femininity to gentleness and passivity." After graduating from Texas Southern University, Toussaint started teaching art in a Houston-area middle school.
The pre-sketch stage of Texas Southern alumnus J.W. Sampson's mural on the first floor of Hannah Hall is shown here. Before he took paint to the wall, Sampson first made a grid (to help with scaling up to the large mural size) and then drew out his intended design. His final, geometric design is characteristic of Dr. Biggers's teaching at the time.
Oliver's painting depicts vanguard Black politicians from the Reconstruction period following emancipation. Radical Reconstruction saw the election of dozens of Black lawmakers in former slave states like Texas. After 1897, Texas didn't elect another Black legislator until 1966.
Long’s print was created during his 1990 Prix de Rome fellowship. The print features two aquatic animals, possibly whales or birds, emerging from the water, while other colorful creatures float around and within them. The cast bronze frame features the words “Pre Rome,” a hand, a paintbrush, and an eyeball, which is one of the motifs that appears most frequently in Long’s artwork.
Long’s print was created during his 1990 Prix de Rome fellowship. At the center of the design is a large, oval-shaped eye. This is a frequently used motif in Long’s artwork, across many different mediums. The vertical and diagonal rays and bars draw attention towards the eye, which features a man’s face where the pupil would be. The frame, made from cast bronze, features a city skyline, embedded coin shapes, and the words “Post Rome.”
Fax’s painting is a portrait of a young man sitting with his hands in his lap. Yearbook photos suggest the subject may be George Latson, who was an art student at TSU at this time. During his career, Fax taught and held residencies at a variety of institutions, including Texas Southern University. He became internationally acclaimed for his work as a cartoonist, illustrator, and writer.
Settles' painting tackles the ongoing issue of police brutality against and harassment of Black Americans. The fluid swirls on the men's clothing, the anxious onlookers, and the white officer's drawn baton illustrate the high intensity and precarious emotion of the piece.
Hinojos' painting, "Pescador de Hombres," draws on Christian themes. The painting references the story of Jesus' miraculous feeding of the multiple with bread and fish, but also a symbolic representation of Christ as the "Bread of Life," a source of spiritual sustenance. Hinojos is a graduate of Texas Southern, accomplished airbrush artist, and founder of the Houston Art Center, an organization that aims to support artists in the Hobby area of Houston.
This is a brochure for Morris’ senior art exhibition. The culmination of the Texas Southern art curriculum is a senior exhibition where students showcase artwork created over the course of their undergraduate studies. The brochure features a catalog of the artwork featured in the exhibition, a photo of one of her textiles, and a photo of one of her paintings.
Morris's sculpture depicts a stylized version of the artist's own head and neck. As was required by Professor Simms, the artist adorned her self-portrait with swirls on the neck and rear of the scalp. The bust's blue hue is unique within the Texas Southern terracotta collection.
Hall’s painting is a surreal landscape of water flowing through a creek with various items along the path. There is also a faint inscription that reads “Jesus Saves” on a boulder to the far left. A mango, fossil, and butterfly are all pictured in the foreground. The loose and fluid paint strokes are reminiscent of impressionist paintings and characteristic of Hall’s style, particularly his more recent works.
Criner’s print shows a man fishing; he is holding several catfish that he has caught. He is wading in the water with his hands full of fishing gear. Criner learned printmaking firsthand from Dr. John Biggers and was the longtime artist-in-residence at Houston’s Museum of Printing History.
“Owl,” by Oliver Parson, features spiraled embellishments on the head and symmetrical holes on the wings, with a gray slip painted on the body. In the middle of the figure’s body, a crescent shape cradles a small egg, perhaps referencing owls’ nocturnal natures. Parson experimented with different clay colors in his terracotta sculptures.
The mural captures the emotion and creative environment of a mid-20th century jazz club. Heliton chose a corner spot for his mural, which lends a sense of depth to the piece. The overlapping of patterns, portraits, and instruments suggests the intimacy of a small club interior.
This detailed painting by Barry Morris includes a pair of hands rising up and clasping a bird. There are also bundles of wheat and a set of vessels. This work is very similar to the leftmost section of Morris's Hannah Hall mural and may have served as a partial study for the mural. Oversized, detailed hands and birds are frequent motifs in the artist's work.
This mural reflects themes of emancipation and progress. The figure of a Black man raises his fist, while broken chains dangle from his waist. The bales of cotton and chains allude to slavery. Black men in various professions represent changes brought by emancipation.
Hall's colorful painting highlights the view of a busy street corner. The main figure walks through the scene with tense shoulders and a balled fist, with a crowd of people lining the background. Graffiti, dice, and litter are seen on the street, sidewalk, and walls. This may be a depiction of Hall’s experiences growing up in Sunnyside, a historically Black neighborhood in southeast Houston.
Parson’s senior notebook includes his written philosophy of art, photographs of the artist’s works and his process, and a copy of his senior exhibition brochure. As a part of the Texas Southern art curriculum under Dr. John T. Biggers and Professor Carroll Harris Simms, students would create these notebooks to explain their artistry and showcase the works they created as students.
Sifuentes’ print shows a series of shotgun houses. The composition portrays Oleander Homes, a public housing complex in Galveston, Texas, the artist's hometown. The complex was destroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008 and was rebuilt and reopened in September 2024. Shotgun houses and urban environments are common settings for Texas Southern student artworks.
Donato’s painting portrays an elderly woman feeding hungry birds. This particular geometric style of painting is characteristic of students of Dr. Biggers who attended Texas Southern in the mid-to-late 1970s. The mother-child relationship is a common motif in the artwork of TSU students, usually a human mother and child or an animal mother and child. This painting seems to be unique in its depiction of a cross-species maternal relationship.
The print by Booker shows a rural landscape featuring a small, neglected house. A tire swing and clothesline hang from the two trees. The area appears not to be frequented by people, as suggested by the boarded window, overgrown weeds, and mushrooms.
This print by Bennie Settles shows a mother and child standing in a field and feeding chickens and other birds. Settles' illustration of seeds is reminiscent of the way John Biggers paints seeds in his mural "Web of Life." Settles' work can be recognized by the power imbued in his careful portrayal of Black hair.
Onyeiwu's painting depicts a smiling woman wearing a green dress with geometric designs, against a blue background. The artist is a Texas Southern alumnus and current art professor, teaching painting, drawing, and murals courses. Much of his work highlights the beauty of Black women.
This large, oblong ceramic plate created by Carroll Harris Simms has a red glaze. This piece is among those that Professor Simms chose to feature in the 1976 book he co-authored with Dr. Biggers and John Edward Weems, Black Art in Houston: The Texas Southern Experience.
The red and orange-hued apocalyptic scene shows the moments after an explosion. In the middle, a dying woman’s soul leaves her body. The mural appears to have been left unfinished, as the baby, one hand, and parts of the foreground and background are not painted in.
Biggers and Harvey Johnson, a former TSU art professor and student of Dr. Biggers, painted this mural in the lobby of the Jesse H. Jones School of Business. It speaks to the history of commerce and the wealth of Africa. NUBIA is full of visual symbols drawn from African art, including ceremonial combs, gold weights, and several meaningful animals, like the hippo, buzzard, sacred ibis, double crocodile, spider, tortoise, and more.
Caldwell’s painting reflects a comical scene from an art museum. An elderly woman walks past the artworks exhibited, glaring with a dubious expression on her face. Her posture and facial expression suggest disapproval and criticism. The leftmost piece pictured in Caldwell’s painting is “Landscape” by Marrion Cole, a textile piece from Texas Southern’s permanent collection. This is one example of how art students interact with TSU’s art legacy.
Ellison's painting is a nature scene featuring a bisected tree stump, with untamed growth all around it. At the bottom of the painting, there are several seashells, which the artist enhanced with raised, textural elements. Ellison graduated from Texas Southern University in 1972.
