When I moved back to Houston nearly three years ago, it was Glasstire that reintroduced me to the Texas art community.
When I moved back to Houston nearly three years ago, it was Glasstire that reintroduced me to the Texas art community. I was pleasantly surprised to find so much happening here. Lately, Texas artists have really been gaining momentum nationally, and I am proud to be living here and working to expand that energy even further.
So here are the changes I plan on making for the site. Up to now, Glasstire has been a useful forum; but it needs to be a more vital resource for Texas artists. We need to build a bridge between Texas and the international art community, and I want to expand Glasstire’s readership outside of Texas.
I want to use the site to inform Texas artists about their peers exhibiting elsewhere, and about exhibition opportunities they may be unaware of. In addition, I’d like Glasstire to be the prime resource for art professionals to see what Texas artists are doing. Glasstire will remain focused on Texas visual art, but will be expanding its scope.
The site has always been a space for multiple opinions to be heard. To continue this, I will include more emerging writers from different academic backgrounds. I want to include the perspectives of philosophers, historians, and anthropologists. I’d also like to create a program to promote critical writing at the high school and university levels.
In addition to adding new voices, I am starting two new series for Glasstire. The first one is about artists in their studios. Each piece will document and interview artists around Texas, focusing not only on their work, but how they use their studio. This series will spotlight interesting Texas artists, and will place them within a national context.
Another new series will explore communities that have ties to Texas. Each story will focus on a city, starting with Chicago, and will include interviews with local artists and curators. The goal will be to illuminate the connections between Texas and communities elsewhere, and to foster even more interaction between the two. As an artist, I believe that Texas is a place where artists must make the effort to exhibit in other cities, and by shedding light on interesting spaces where Texans have a connection, I hope to encourage Texas artists to continue to live and work here.
So keep reading and writing. Thank you.
Rachel Cook is the Editor of Glasstire.