GalleryHOMELAND settles in for a stay
Under construction are two galleries, a ‘creative resource library’ of art catalogs and magazines, a performance space, studios and more.
Paul Middendorf fell in love with the industrial, scrappy feel of the East End the first time he came to Houston, in June 2010, to curate “The Big Show” at Lawndale Art Center.
He had co-founded galleryHOMELAND, an ambitious alternative art center in Portland, Ore., in 2005 but was looking for a new environment. By May 2011, he had officially moved, bringing a wing of galleryHOMELAND with him.
He set up shop in an un-airconditioned annex of the old Commerce Street Artist Warehouse, next to the studio of artist Terrell James, whom he’d met in 2009 in, of all places, Berlin.
Back then, the foot traffic on Commerce consisted mostly of stray packs of dogs. Today, rows of new townhouses line the still-evolving street, and locals hang out at the hip Tout Suite cafe.
“The energy is contagious,” Middendorf said. “We’ve been increasing our programming and spaces every year.”
He closed galleryHOMELAND’s Portland operation last September. Late next month, when his organization makes its third Houston move in six years, he’s hoping it will finally be settled.
Middendorf said he has committed to occupy about a quarter of the Plant at Harrisburg, a redevelopment project in the old Imperial Linen Services building at 3401 Harrisburg. He plans to be open by late October.
The developers, who include Jeff Kaplan and Forest Design Build, are still programming portions of the 20,000-square-foot building, but the locally owned furniture factory HTX Made is moving in, too. There will be a cafe and a central, shared core. Kaplan expects to have the building fully operational by late April.
“We’re interested in building community,” Kaplan said. “GalleryHOMELAND got that.”
GalleryHOMELAND’s 4,200 square feet will accommodate all the kinds of activity it had in Portland, including an international artists’ residency program. Under construction are two galleries, a “creative resource library” of art catalogs and magazines, a performance space, a few studios, offices and an open-use conference-office room.
GalleryHOMELAND hosts the kind of experimental art and performance you might have seen 30 years ago during the infancy of Lawndale or DiverseWorks, although Middendorf is no organizational renegade.
He has a degree in painting and drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He usually wears a jacket for meetings, even when it’s blazing hot outside. He has cultivated important relationships.
“One of the things that brought me was the over-abundance of this collaborative effort I didn’t see in other cities. Houston is a large city but surprisingly one of the smallest-feeling art cities I’ve been in,” he said.
Middendorf is especially impressed by the engagement of museum curators and directors in the community — “not just at big galas but at the UH undergrad show or a word-of-mouth visual art punk-rock show … . You don’t get that in every city.”
Taking wild chances
GalleryHOMELAND began as an artists’ space, not as a nonprofit, Middendorf said.
“We had a residency before we had an exhibition space. Once a year, maybe twice a year, we were flying artists out. The idea was … to be conservative, get a small project space and use the extra money for artists’ stipends, to commission projects.”
The mission grew, but Middendorf has maintained low overhead, so galleryHOMELAND can host performances and events for other organizations cheaply or at no cost.
In Portland, he worked with a developer who gave galleryHOMELAND prime storefront space to “activate” a building by hosting and organizing events there — everything from exhibitions and performances to dinners.
But Portland’s economy tanked shortly after that space opened.
“Across the board, everyone was losing their jobs, especially in the art market,” Middendorf said. “Our benefit is that we came in with a different mentality. It wasn’t like someone gave us a bunch of money and then we worked off of that and grants. We’ve been savvy to that. … It’s a slippery slope of relying on grants because if you don’t get them, you’re in trouble.”
Middendorf can envision an annual budget of $300,000, but for now, that’s up in the air. “With this new building and projected staff needs, artist stipends, residencies, is where the need for a bigger budget comes in,” he said.
James, who chairs the galleryHOMELAND board, likes Middendorf’s vision.
“He focuses on the lively activity between art centers — and helping artists meet, exchange ideas and work together from city to city,” she said. “When artists are given the chance to connect and explore new environments, things begin to happen.”
The organization also encourages exchange between disciplines — something James believes could help enliven Houston’s status as a national arts center.
Middendorf said “off-the-cuff programming” is part of galleryHOMELAND’s mission — and he has hosted groups such as the puppet theater BooTown, the improvisational music group Nameless Sound and Zine Fest Houston.
“If it fits into our programming, we’ll facilitate it if we can,” Middendorf said. He also sees galleryHOMELAND as an overflow space for projects that larger organizations can’t accommodate.
“Sometimes we’ll show things that may not get a lot of public attention but are important,” he said.
Last year that included “Kokomo,” an exhibition by Dallas-based artists Jeff Gibbons and Greg Ruppe that included a “hydro-accoustical” performance with large aquariums and metal punch bowls. A few of the aquariums had violin strings underneath them, so they could be played. And everything was mic’d — even the floor — so as visitors walked through, sound reverberated and expanded.
For artists, exposure at a respected venue can be a career boost. Middendorf loves discovering new talent. Last year, he gave recent University of Texas graduate Iva Kinnaird her first professional show of “performative” sculpture and installation.
“She takes a lot of wild chances,” he said.
Kinnaird stacked bricks on a gallery bench Middendorf had built, expecting it to crater — that would have been the “performance” part. For this year’s “The Big Show” at Lawndale, she filled a shopping cart with bricks until the legs gave out; but the bench held up.
“From an exhibitor standpoint it was a little hazardous,” Middendorf acknowledged. He had to shoo children away from it, fearful it could fall at any moment. “But it was even better than her original vision. Just this gallery bench with 800 or 900 pounds on it,” he said.
Kinnaird felt motivated by the experience, she said, because galleryHOMELAND gave her a “substantial place” to try out ideas, some of which worked better than others.
“It’s unique that it’s accepting of younger artists that haven’t necessarily been vetted,” she said.
Filling a void
The days when an artist could rent an East End warehouse for several hundred dollars a month are long gone. Many artists have had to leave the area they pioneered, but so far, developers in the East End appear to be sensitive to keeping its strong, creative vibe.
Citywide, Middendorf sees more happening now than when he arrived six years ago: “There are more spaces for programming and more people … adding more gears to the machine. You’ve got new festivals and fairs — the art fairs and CounterCurrent.”
Still, he says galleryHOMELAND will fill a void. The city’s original art spaces — including Lawndale, DiverseWorks and Art League Houston — have evolved into mature institutions. “There’s a bit of open space for young, alternative programming,” he said.
“I want to be part of a thing that’s happening in the neighborhood, and I want diversity in our viewership.”