Art & Activism is directed and edited by Cressandra Thibodeaux. The footage was shot by 28 students from the 14 Pews Film Academy. The film won Best Short Documentary at the International Black Film Festival and Tulsa American Film Festival. | Video by Cressandra Thibodeaux
A short documentary made in 2017 explores the late artist’s life, work, and the extraordinary nexus he developed in Houston over the decades
HOUSTON ARTIST Jesse Lott (1943-2023) died on July 24 at age 80. Lott expressed himself through wire and wood sculptures, papier mâché figures, and collages made from found materials, calling the work “urban frontier art.” A mentor and teacher, he patiently taught art making to anyone who was interested in learning and encouraged fellow artists to pursue their practices. He was a familiar presence in the Houston art community wearing what became his standard uniform of denim overalls.
Lott was among seven artists, including Rick Lowe, who co-founded Project Row Houses (PRH) in 1993. Envisioned by Lowe, PRH is a platform for art and community based in a series of renovated shot-gun houses in Houston’s Third Ward, one of city’s oldest African American neighborhoods. PRH focuses on exhibition, fellowship, residency, and grant opportunities for artists, alongside community enrichment and neighborhood development programs.
“There weren’t a lot of known Black artists in town at that time, and he was one… He played such a strong role in the broader arts community. He became somebody that I looked up to and I wanted to be next to,” Lowe told Paper City Magazine. “But his biggest influence to me, though, was his incredible support of my interest in developing Project Row Houses. His wisdom, his outlook on life, and his commitment to community reinforced my desire to push that project forward.”
Heartfelt remembrances of Lott, a great artist with a deep sense of humanity, have been shared on social media. Ryan Dennis previously served as curator and programs director at Project Row Houses. She paid tribute to Lott on Instagram. “Brother Jesse has always been orbiting around in really profound ways. It’s his words that keep you grounded and allow you to think about different solutions when you feel like you’ve hit a wall,” Dennis wrote. “Thank you for your wisdom and care over the 20 years that I’ve known you.”
Art League Houston said Lott was “someone whose light touched our hearts and souls in ways we could never have imagined.” The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston noted the loss of Lott and the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art in Houston called him “one of the city’s most important and beloved artists in the last half century.”
PRH was also among those who honored Lott’s memory. “He moved among us with grace and confidence, unbothered by convention and always focused on breaking down barriers for artists who, because of their heritage or practice, were not always immediately welcomed into the mainstream,” the organization said in an Instagram statement. “He found beauty in what others discarded, spoke truth to power, and took time to mentor untold numbers of Houston artists.”
“His biggest influence to me was his incredible support of my interest in developing Project Row Houses. His wisdom, his outlook on life, and his commitment to community reinforced my desire to push that project forward.” — Rick Lowe
Installation view of “Jesse Lott: Artist in Action,” 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award in the Visual Arts Exhibition, Art League Houston (Sept. 30-Nov. 19, 2016). | Courtesy Art League Houston
LOTT WAS BORN in Simmesport, La., in 1943. In the 1950s, when he was still a child, his family moved to Texas, where they settled in Houston’s Fifth Ward. He attended Hampton Institute in Virginia at the recommendation of his mentor, artist John Biggers, and continued his education at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, where he studied with Charles White. In the documentary “Jesse Lott: Art & Activism” (2017), Lott said he learned drawing and technique from White and “a lot of concept” from Biggers.
An award-winning short film directed by Cressandra Thibodeaux, “Art & Activism” explores Lott’s life and work. The documentary shows the artist with his son, Vida Lott, in his live/work studio, a vast warehouse overflowing with a tangle of artworks and found objects and materials.
“I think Jesse is often mistaken for a folk artist because of the kind of materials he works with, when really he is a trained artist,” art historian Peter Gershon said in the documentary. “He went to Otis in LA. The guy knows exactly what he is doing in every way. But I think in a way his art transcends that of a trained artist in many ways.”
At Project Row Houses, Lott is shown playing dominoes with Lowe and advising artist Sofia Mekonnen on her installation in one of the row houses. He teaches an art workshop at 14 Pews, an artist-run nonprofit centered around visual arts, film, and theater. He maintains his dignity when, based on his appearance, a security guard challenges his entry into an exhibition opening in the lobby of a downtown skyscraper where his work is featured.
Jesse Lott said he learned drawing and technique from Charles White and “a lot of concept” from John Biggers.
Installation view of “Jesse Lott: Artist in Action,” 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award in the Visual Arts Exhibition, Art League Houston (Sept. 30-Nov. 19, 2016). | Courtesy Art League Houston
Lott received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Visual Arts from Art League Houston in 2016. Artist Mel Chin, a decades-long friend of Lott, who he called “Cuz,” presented the award. The moment is captured in the documentary.
Chin said: “He’s been part and present in my life even before I knew him. As a young man, my father would tell me in the neighborhood of the Fifth Ward that there was another artist in the neighborhood and his name was Jesse. I didn’t meet him until we finally met in the frame shop of Ann Harithas’s gallery and I saw this person. We became friends and began to show each other, but he was revealed eventually to be this mythic person that is the most enduring and long-term friend I could ever have.”
“He’s been part and present in my life even before I knew him.… We became friends and began to show each other, but he was revealed eventually to be this mythic person that is the most enduring and long-term friend I could ever have.” — Mel Chin
Several years later in 2022, the Texas State Legislature designated Lott Texas State Artist (3-D). He received the “state’s highest recognition for excellence in the arts,” through an annual process managed by the Texas Commission on the Arts.
In the film, Lott spends time with Harithas, the gallery owner. “People went for security especially people here in Houston. They wanted to show what was popular in New York,” Lott said. “Her gallery was different from any other gallery because the focus was not on how much can you get. The focus was on what you doing.”
Lott also visits with Executive Director Charlotte Bryant at Blue Triangle Community Center where a mural by Biggers (“Contribution of the Negro Woman to American Life and Education,” 1953) is housed.
“One thing I learned from Doc (Biggers) is that when you do a work of art you have a greater possibility of reaching more people than you do when you write a book,” Lott said, “because the history books will be burned and the history will be mistold, but the art is there to be interpreted by each person every time they look at it. So you can tell many, many, many different stories with one picture.” CT
FIND MORE Project Row Houses produced a special newsletter dedicated to Jesse Lott with a cover portrait illustrated by Israel McCloud
FIND MORE The Houston Chronicle published an obituary of Jesse Lott (subscription required). Glasstire also reported Lott’s passing. Texas Monthly wrote a tribute and Paper City Magazine spoke to seven artists who knew Lott
FIND MORE The Lifetime Achievement Award from Art League Houston in 2016 included a survey exhibition of more than 30 works by Jesse Lott
FIND MORE “Basketball Players” (1987) by Jesse Lott is the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. The work is composed of 14 paper mache basketball players representing the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets during the 1986 NBA Finals. The figures were made by members of Lott’s Artists in Action group, while they were watching the championship matchup
Project Row Houses: “Brother Jess Lott touched countless lives.” | Photo by Wando Okongwu via Instagram
UPDATE (08/13/23): Project Row Houses announced family and friends are hosting a special ceremony honoring Jesse Lott Jr., on Friday, Aug. 18 from 7:30-8:30 p.m. at 2509 Lyons Avenue in Houston, Texas
In January, Sunnyside Health and Multi-Service Center opened in Houston with a permanent artwork by Jesse Lott installed in front. “The Dreamcatcher” was commissioned by the the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (MOCA) on behalf of the Houston Health Department and is a part of the City of Houston’s Civic Art Collection. | Video by Houston MOCA
Valerie Cassel Oliver on Jesse Lott: “One of the Magnificent Seven founders of Project Row Houses in Houston, he was beloved for his amazing creations, generosity and humor.” | via Instagram
Mel Chin on Jesse Lott: “Our world was made smaller, as the soulful enormity of Jesse Lott’s heart and art departed yesterday. ‘Cuz’ as we referred to each other, was genuine, as we were effortlessly family over our lifetimes.” | via Instagram
Ryan Dennis on Jesse Lott: “Brother Jesse has always been orbiting around in really profound ways. It’s his words that keep you grounded and allow you to think about different solutions when you feel like you’ve hit a wall.” | via Instagram
BOOKSHELF
The work of Jesse Lott is included in a few catalogs that accompanied group shows, including “Friendly Fire: Houston Sculpture.” His work is also documented in “Jesse Lott: Artist in Action,” which was published on the occasion of his 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award and exhibition at Art League Houston.
Also consider, “Collective Creative Actions: Project Row Houses at 25” and “Project Row Houses (21st Century Skills Library: Changing Spaces).”
