Christina Rees
Today Glasstire is announcing that the publication and its longtime Editor-in-Chief, Christina Rees, have parted ways.
Rees was a freelance writer for Glasstire and eventually joined the publication’s staff in 2014 as Senior Texas Editor. In 2017, Glasstire named Rees Editor-in-Chief, in recognition of her work growing Glasstire’s audience and contributor base. Over her seven years at Glasstire, Rees helped shape the publication into what it is today: a serious and critical paper of record covering Texas’ art community.
In her time writing for Glasstire, Rees has been an advocate for Texas art and artists, and penned many of Glasstire’s most-discussed pieces, including essays exploring the effects of art fairs on galleries and artists; the pitfalls of viewing art on Instagram; the need for art writers to pen “honest, engaging, readable critical writing”; and the art world’s mixed reactions to negative criticism. Rees’ newest essay, published this week, “The Progressive Hammers Are Out, Looking For Nails,” explores trends that she’s seen in the art world in recent months. Rees’ full catalog of writing for Glasstire may be read here.
Glasstire’s Publisher, Brandon Zech, said, “it has been my pleasure working with Christina over the past six years to raise Glasstire’s profile both across Texas and nationally. Her incisive writing has contributed a great deal to our site and to our art community, and her work and leadership as our Editor-in-Chief will be missed.”
In recent years, Rees has been widely recognized for her accomplishments in criticism. In 2017, she was a recipient of the inaugural Rabkin Prize for Arts Journalism, given by the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation. This $50,000 award recognized “outstanding career contributions by art critics who inform the public through their writing on contemporary art and artists.” She was also named “Best Critic” in 2018 by Dallas’ D Magazine.
Currently, Rees is attending graduate school full-time at the University of Houston.
In the coming weeks, Glasstire will announce plans for its editorial department. In the meantime, Glasstire will continue to publish feature articles and news reports about art happening in Texas.
38 comments
Best wishes for your next chapter you set the standard for professionalism in art writing, will miss your insights to the current art scene.
Cant wait to see what you do next. Thank you for all you brought to us Texas artists through your words! Much much love.
Bittersweet news. In so many ways you are Glasstire, but Glasstire is is in good hands and will have the great opportunity for new voices and a new generation. We will all miss your voice here, but with eyes and ears peeled, we will look for it wherever it emerges. Best wishes for the days ahead my dear friend.
You will be missed! Best wishes for your next chapter!
Christina, I selfishly hope you’ll remain on Texas’ frontier but take comfort in knowing you’ll be on a frontier somewhere.
Thank you Christina!
All best for continued success!
Margaret & HJ Bott
Thank you, Christina, for everything.
Best of luck to you, Christina! We will miss your insight and commentary. Thanks for being such a great champion of Texas artists.
All the best for you Christina, thanks for your interest and support. Jay
Thanks for your support over the years (de stijl, Podium for Art). Lots of success in graduate school and the larger world. Stay in touch, with us somehow. Marja Spearman
What a revolting development. Can’t help but think her last article has something to do w/ this–just speculation, but if that’s the case, then this development certainly proves her point in the article. Which is spot-on in terms of censorship of ideas or observations that don’t cowtow to the current (incredibly fascist from the far left and far right, which are actually quite closely aligned in different ways) zeitgeist. I hope she founds her own publication at some point. Best of luck to you, Christina, you are badass.
You will be missed, Christina.
Also, I wish you the best as you continue your career. You yourself are a work of art! And a critical voice addressing not only the fascist right, but also the fascist left. As faculty editor of the university’ student newspaper, I saw free speech being eroded by left-leaning students who proudly reported their role as journalist-activists who joined in on physical attacks against other students whose views differed from the views of the aforesaid student-activists. Please put me on your mailing list.
Best of luck and fortune to you Christina!!!! Thanks for the incisive writing and wisdom you have shared over the years. I will look forward to seeing where you go and what you do from here! Sincerely, Ken
All joy and peace to you Christina. Thank you for all you have done for the arts here and elsewhere.
Christina, write a book, please. I have no intention of quietly missing you for long, but I’ve always known your voice is meant for bigger things.
I got your frontier, baby!
I’m really going to miss reading Christina Rees’s words on here and listening to them.
I will miss your incite and support of Texas art and artists. Waiting for your next chapter.
Christina, your perspective has been so influential and so very appreciateD. Your fearless and incisive commentary alongside your deep appreciation of the art, the artists, and the galleries has had a profound effect on those involved in the Texas scene. You’ve invested so much, from cheerleading to keeping us all accountable all at once. You’ll be a tough act to follow and I hope you’ll still contribute to the public discourse around art and that you won’t be a stranger.
Christina, you are a rock star! My deep appreciation for your clear and insightful writing for over two decades. Thank you too, for your commitment to making the art of today engaging and accessible. You have raised the bar on art writing and made a real difference in the cultural landscape of Texas. I will never forget how my Doug Aitken exhibition in 1999 at the DMA was slammed by all the local art critics. But in your Dallas Observer review, you nailed it on what his art was about–music, film and experience. Again, my gratitude for your immeasurable contributions. Wishing you all the best in your next chapter. I know it will be amazing! Your forever fan, Suzanne
Thanks Christinna for all you have done for Texas Art!!!
Thank you for all you’ve done for the Texas art community Christina, you’ve always had incredible insight into what artists are most concerned about. I’ll miss reading your work and thinking “damn I wish I could have said that as well!” Good luck on all endeavors!
Huge loss to Glasstire. Christina, please put me on your mailing list for whatever you do next.
Christina
It’s obvious you made your mark and will be sorely missed. A huge thank you for supporting local arts. From me and the 30+ artists at Archway Gallery you have our eternal gratitude. Can’t wait to see what’s next for you,
Thank you.
Best of luck to you in graduate school and all that the future holds for you. I have looked forward to reading your take on the arts these past few years. Please resurface soon….maybe Northern California? Keep killin it Christina!
If Christina’s departure has anything to do with her recent article, I am sickened and disgusted. At the very least, it proves her point.
Christina, I really enjoyed working with you. You were a wonderful editor and you deserve better. I hope you find it.
Yeah, nothing fishy about this.
I wish you the very best as you move forward and upward. Please put me on your mailing list.
Darn, I was sad when you left Dallas and moved to Houston. But I still got to hear and read your insightful comments on Grasstire. Well, please continue to have a public presence. Your audience is totally subscribed!
Still processing this news and hope that this is just end of one chapter and beginning of a new one- her frank insight and inviting nature inspired me to continue growing as an artist as well as helping other female artists gain exposure.
Deeply saddened and a bit shocked by this news. We need writers and critical thinkers like Christina who are fearless – whom we can rely upon to call things as they see them – who are willing to stick their necks out and start difficult conversations. Christina’s work provided such valuable support to artists, along with guidance and clarity in a historical period fraught with misinformation and distrust of challenging ideas. Christina, it’s inadequate to say you will be sorely missed. Please put me on your mailing list too.
Big loss for Glasstire. If there’s a email list for future writings, I’d like to be included.
Wishing you the best in your future. Your voice and critical commentary regarding the best of Texas art will be missed. Your willingness to engage the viewer in a deeper understanding of contemporary art is remarkable!
Thank you, Christina!
I guess all good things must come to an end. Best of luck Christina in your new endeavor(s).