Theresa Escobedo (b. 1985)

Theresa Escobedo is a multi-disciplinary artist, curator, and arts administrator currently living and working in Houston, Texas. She studied at the University of Houston and received a Bachelor Degree of Architecture in addition to a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design with a focus on community planning.  She manages Civic Art for the City of Houston through the Mayor’s Office of Cultural affairs and is a current Artist in Residence at the Zocalo Artist Residency through the year 2020.

As an artist, her work intersects ancestry, history, and spiritualism, and most recently merges ideas on land, nature, and the act of pilgrimaging. This effort combines expressions of the artist’s cultural heritage with intellectual, emotional, and spiritual considerations to demonstrate and ultimately represent cosmopolitan influences and spiritual perspectives. 

For this exhibition, the artist presents Journeying: Land, Memory, and the Realm of the Spirit, an ongoing series of photographic works which document pivotal moments in the artist’s spiritual evolution, her journey toward intergenerational healing, and the dawning of deep self-knowingness developed from the pursuit of ancestral connection. 

The presentation of this series is complimented by a site-specific altar installation, An Ofrenda for Our Wounded Hearts, which invites public participation and collaboration. Visitors to the installation are encouraged to drop-off or send in mementos or symbolic objects to be added to the ofrenda as offerings and petitions for collective heart healing as we together face unprecedented challenges in our social, political, and economic climates.

EDUCATION

2011                 Post Baccalaureate study, Fine Arts and Art History, University of St. Thomas Houston, Houston, Texas, United States

2010                 Post Baccalaureate study, Photography/Digital Media, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, United States

2008                 Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Science of Environmental Design, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, United States

2004                 National Hispanic Institute Summer Language Program, Brethren Colleges Abroad, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2020 -               Administrative Coordinator for Civic Art, Houston Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs

2019 - 2020      Project Manager, Arts District Houston

2018 - 2020      Resident Curator, MECA Houston

2018 - 2019      Director of Exhibitions and Events, The Union HTX

2012 – 2018      Co-Founder / Director, Main Street Projects

2015 – 2016      Director, Unix Gallery Houston

2013 – 2015      Assistant Director, Deborah Colton Gallery

2012 – 2013      Lead Workshop Instructor, Houston Center for Photography

2011 – 2012      Associate Director, Deborah Colton Gallery

2011 – 2012      Education Assistant, Houston Center for Photography,

2007 – 2010      Graduate Assistant, Communications/Media, Texas Learning & Computation Center, University of Houston

EXHIBITIONS
2019                 Herencia Reclamada, Zocalo Apartments Artist in Residency, Houston, Texas

INTERSECTIONS, Presa House Gallery, San Antonio, Texas

2018                 Ephemeral Instant, Main Street Projects, Houston, Texas

2018                 FotoFest Biennial: El Chow: La Fruta en Vaina, El Rincon Social, Houston, Texas

2017                 Open Studios, El Rincon Social, Houston, Texas

2016                 Fotos y Artefactos, Flight Gallery, San Antonio, Texas

RATIO V, Photography Exhibition, El Rincon Social, Houston, Texas

2015                 RATIO IV, Photography Exhibition, El Rincon Social, Houston, Texas

2014                 RATIO III, Photography Exhibition, El Rincon Social, Houston, Texas

Grow, Main Street Projects, Houston, Texas

Terra Nullius, Alonzo Gallery, Houston, Texas

2013                 RATIO II, Photography Exhibition, El Rincon Social, Houston, Texas

A Likeness, Main Street Projects, Houston, Texas

Uprooted, Main Street Projects, Houston, Texas

2013                 Print Auction Exhibition, Houston Center for Photography, Houston Texas

2012                 #HCPinteractive, Houston Center for Photography, Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Houston, Texas

30th Annual Juried Membership Exhibition, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, Texas; Juried by Anne Wilkes-Tucker

Facsimiles of Time and Beauty, The Lens Capsule, 2012 Fotofest Biennial, Houston, Texas

2010                 The Mix, Winter Street Studios, Houston, Texas

PANEL DISCUSSIONS

2020                 Conversation Series: Adapting and Staying Resilient, Fresh Arts; featuring Theresa Escobedo and Jaime Roberston

2019                 DIY Events, 2019 FreshArts Artists’ Summit; with Mandy Clinton, Theresa Escobedo, and Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, Moderated by Reyes Ramirez

2016                 Walking and Talking Around Architecture, Sculpture, and the Female Body; Thursday, March 16, 6 - 8 pm, DiverseWorks; Houston, Texas; Discussion with Theresa Escobedo, Evan McCarley, Jennifer Traina-Dorge, and DiverseWorks Curator Rachel Cook

Reviving Houston's Lost Art History, 2016 Houston Art Fair; Houston, Texas; Discussion with Patricia Covo Johnson, Pete Gershon, Chelby King, and Catherine Anspon

2012                 #HCPinteractive, Houston Center for Photography, Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Houston, Texas; Discussion with Travis McCarra, Michael Garcia, Theresa Escobedo, and Bevin Bering Dubrowski

SELECT CURATORIAL PROJECTS

2019                 Retablos32, MECA Houston, Houston

Hombres Sinceros, MECA Houston, Houston, Texas; co-curated with Jimmy Castillo

                        HUB | HTX, Main Street Projects, Houston, Texas

                        Generation One, The Union, Houston, Texas

                        Poems, Protest, and a Dream..., MECA Houston, Houston, Texas

2018                 Retablos31, MECA Houston, Houston, Texas

Mujeres del Sur, The Union, Houston, Texas

Ephemeral Instant, Main Street Projects, Houston, Texas

2017                 Open Studios, El Rincon Social, Houston, Texas

2016                 Proof, Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston, Texas

2015                 Collective Solid, Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston, Texas

2014                 Angelbert Metoyer: Seasons of Heaven, Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Terra Nullius, Alonzo Gallery, Houston, Texas

2013                 Uprooted, Main Street Projects, Houston, Texas

2012                 #HCPinteractive, Co-Curator, Houston Center for Photography, Texas

Contemporary Art Fair, Houston, Texas

PUBLICATIONS

ByLine Houston, contributing author

Glasstire.com, contributing author

What’s The New News, contributing author

Not That But This, contributing author

MEDIA

The Houston Chronicle, July 2020

The Houston Chronicle, July 2020

Glasstire.com, April 2020

The Houston Chronicle, November 2019

Houston Public Media, October 2019

Houston Public Media, August 2019

The Houston Chronicle, August 2019
Fox 26 News, March 2019

Glasstire.com, March 2019

Glasstire.com, February 2019

ByLine Houston, January 2019

The Houston Review, November 2018

Houstonia Magazine, October 2018

Houston Press, October 2018

Glasstire.com, October 2018

The Wall Street Journal, April 2016

PaperCity Magazine, April 2016

Houstonia Magazine, March 2016

Houston Press, March 2016

Houstonia Magazine, March 2016

L'Oeil de la Photographie, March 2016

Glasstire Texas, March 2016

Glasstire Texas, March 2016

Houstonia Magazine, March 2016

Local Houston Magazine, February 2016

Houston Press, January 2016

PaperCity Magazine, July 2015

CultureMap Houston, July 2015

PaperCity Magazine, March 2015

Glasstire Texas, March 2014

CultureMap Houston, July 2013

90.1 FM KPFT - Pacifica Houston Texas, April 2013

CultureMap Houston, April 2013

ABC - Channel 13 KTRK, March 2013

CultureMap Houston, January 2013

Glasstire Texas, January 2013

Arts + Culture Magazine, December 2012

Free Press Houston, December 2012

CultureMap Houston, July 2012

Glasstire Texas, March 2012