Dear UHD Community,
Last week, the University of Houston-Downtown lost a great artist, activist,
teacher, mentor, and friend — Professor Floyd Newsum. To say that Professor Newsum
will be missed is a grave understatement. After 48 years of service to UHD, he had
become a staple of our university, one who personally touched countless lives, including
students, faculty, staff, and friends of the university.
During his tenure at UHD, Professor Newsum created a wide range of work,
addressing themes such as social justice and community, ancestry, transcendence, and
contemplation. His work has been displayed in more than 100 exhibitions in locations
across the United States, including the University of Maryland College Park, Taft
Museum in Cincinnati, the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, the Studio Museum
in Harlem, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. His public art projects include four
paintings in the UHD Commerce Street Building, two public art projects in the Houston
Metro Light Rail Station, seven sculptures in the Main Street Square Station, a suspended
sculpture in the Acres Home Multi-Service Center, a relief sculpture in the Cathedral
Atrium at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, and five suspended sculptures in the Hazel
Harvey Peace Building (Fort Worth, TX).
Professor Newsum’s art is included in the permanent collections at the Smithsonian
National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C., the Museum
of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to name a few, and a
number of public catalogs, books, and art journals feature his work. In 2023, Madison
Museum of Contemporary Art exhibited “Evolution of Sight,” a large-scale retrospective
of Newsum’s work, which portrayed his transition from realism and naturalism to varying
degrees of abstraction, as well as his wide artistic range and consistent message
of resilience and hope. In 2003, Professor Newsum received UHD’s Scholarship/Creativity
Award in recognition of his contributions to visual art across a variety of media
and thematic investigations.
Over the years, Professor Newsum taught a variety of courses within the
Department of Arts and Communication, including drawing, painting, printmaking, and
art appreciation, among others.
A true teacher at heart, he extended his work into the community and co-founded
Project Row Houses (PRH) with six visionary artists in 1993. The Project Row Houses
founders sought to create sustainable opportunities for artists, small businesses,
and Third Ward residents. Thirty-one years later, PRH continues to empower artists
and residents to impact positive social change, and Professor Newsum remained actively
involved in the organization’s work throughout his lifetime.
Professor Newsum was more than an artist, more than a teacher. He was a
connector, a motivating force who worked to touch lives every day and who brought
people together in remarkable ways. His art was intricately linked with his desire
to nurture young artists and invest in the next generation of change agents, not only
here at UHD but also in the historic Third Ward of Houston and even in communities
he visited when his art was on view.
A Celebration of Life will be held at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church on Tuesday,
August 27, at 11 a.m. As a sign of our respect for Professor Newsum’s immense impact
as an artist and professor over the past 48 years, UHD will fly our flags on campus
at half-staff on that day. Plans are underway for a memorial and tribute here at UHD
in the coming weeks.
I speak for the campus community when I say our hearts are heavy; Professor
Newsum is dearly missed, and his wife Janice and their children are in our thoughts
during this season of grief. Let us celebrate his well-lived life with our own demonstrations
of kindness and care. I am certain Professor Newsum would have it no other way.
Sincerely,
Loren J. Blanchard, Ph.D.
President, University of Houston-Downtown
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