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
