staff

Frank Rose - Publisher
Varina Rush - Associate Publisher
John DeMers - Editor in Chief / Performing Arts
Tria Wood - Editor in Chief / Visual Arts
Kara Duval - Sales Manager

regular contributers

Michele Brangwen
Sean Carroll
R. Eric Davis
Dr. Thomas GH Dorsch
Garland Fielder
Sarah Gajkowski-Hill
Victoria Ludwin
Lester Marks
Nichole Pruitt
Tom Richards
Kristen Wong
Nancy Wozny

 

about us

ArtsHouston Magazine aims to fill a need for a media voice dedicated to the cultural arts in order to increase the visibility of Houston as a major center for the arts. ArtsHouston is a business based on profitability, independence, and integrity and focuses on contemporary art and culture while providing fresh perspectives on conventional styles. ArtsHouston features editorial coverage that is intelligent, inspiring and fun while speaking to all aspects of the art and culture cycle.

As Houston’s only monthly arts magazine, we aim to be a platform of communication for our community. Houston is a city set to lead in the arts and we hope to be the voice that propels this vision.

***FOR THE MEDIA: Please send information pertianing to the visual arts to Tria Wood and for the performing arts, John DeMers. Do not contact the Publisher for editorial considerations. For possible inclusion on our website, contact the Web Administrator. Please use the contact form to connect with any of the above mentioned.

 

staff

Frank Rose

Frank has been living in Houston since 1995 and earned a B.F.A. in photography and digital media from the University of Houston. As an artist himself, he has shown in various venues in Houston, South Korea, and China. Before coming onboard with ArtsHouston, he was the Press Coordinator for FotoFest and Director of Gallery 1724. While he misses the mountains of his previous homes in Seattle and Anchorage, Houston has been kind and generous enough to convince him to stay.
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John DeMers

John has 30-plus years in journalism. Though he began his career as a news reporter, he seldom felt more at home than when he was writing about the performing arts. He has been published in Opera News and Ballet News, and served as the arts/entertainment/book editor of the Jackson, Miss., Daily News. He has successfully launched three magazines, four food and wine radio shows, and also reported every Friday evening for eight years on the PBS TV affiliate in his native New Orleans. John relocated to Texas four years ago, to serve as food editor of the Houston Chronicle.
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Tria Wood

Tria is a native Texan and lifelong art aficionado who earned her M.A. in English from Texas A&M University, where she also served as an assistant lecturer before moving to Houston. In addition, she holds an M.Ed. in Art Education from the University of Houston. For several years, she mentored disadvantaged youth through arts-based nonprofits. In 2004, she co-founded the art education organization GRASSROOTS: Art in Action, named Best Nonprofit 2006 by the Houston Press. Tria’s poetry, fiction and reviews have appeared in a variety of publications; she also teaches creative writing to Houston area children through the Writers in the Schools program. Through ArtsHouston, Tria merges her passsions for writing, aesthetic theory, and contemporary art.
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Varina Rush

Varina refers to Houston as her boomerang town; she always comes back. She has been painting for 14 years, has painted over 100 paintings and has exhibited in Austin and Houston. Varina is passionate about collaborating and supporting others and Creation itself. She has donated her time and artwork to many causes such as hurricane Katrina relief, Via Colori, and many others. Before her position at ArtsHouston, she could be found working within the creative walls of artist John Palmer's Gallery. As Associate Publisher, Varina brings a passion to the position that is innovative and savvy.
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Kara Duval

Kara is the person who sings along out of key but with total commitment. She often finds herself dancing for her cats or talking gibberish when she is nervous. This is all done with sincerity and enthusiasm. Kara tries to live all of her life with passion and flare. On more serious matters, she received her BFA in Photography and Digital Media and her sparkling personality from her family and loved ones. When she's not working at ArtsHouston, you can find her managing Gallery 1724 or groovin' with Ecstatic Dance Houston. Life has taken her on many adventures including living in Alaska, taking various road trips through the US and Canada, and raising baby seals. All of these are 100% true except one.
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contributers

Michele Brangwen

Michele Brangwen is a dancer and choreographer. Her Houston-based contemporary dance company, the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble, specializes in the commissioning of new music for dance and the integration of live music and dance in performance. A native of New York, she trained at the Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance and with Nancy Bielski at the David Howard School. She graduated from New York University where she majored in dance and minored in creative writing. She has written for Dance Source Houston and Houston Dance.com, in additional to various other publications.
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Dr. Thomas GH Dorsch

Dr. Thomas GH Dorsch, a visual artist and scholar/professor in Art History, received a humanities education from the Universities in Marburg, Hamburg and Berlin where he studied Art History, Studio Arts & Graphic Design, Archeology, and Musicology. He also holds a diploma in piano and composition. As a pianist and composer he is very influenced by late 19th and 20th century (contemporary) classical music which is reflected in his solo piano as well as polyphonic and symphonic works. He recently composed for a Theatre Play at the University of St. Thomas and appeared as guest pianist at the Gulf Coast Film Festival and the Masquerade Theatre. He has been living in Houston since 2003 and started writing for ArtsHouston in October 2007.
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Sarah Gajkowski-Hill

A poet by training, Sarah Gajkowski-Hill received a full scholarship to the University of St. Thomas and moved from Milwaukee to Houston in 1996. The campus, adjacent to the Menil Collection, the Cy Twombly Gallery, the Dan Flavin Installation and the Rothko Chapel, invigorated her and inspired much of her writing. Her first book, Distracted and Other Poems, was published in 2000 and she began teaching English and creative writing in middle schools, with the organization Writers in the Schools, and as an adjunct professor at Houston Community College. Dabbling in impasto oil painting and her passion for rich description piqued her interest in writing about visual art and her reviews have appeared in ArtsHouston and the Houston Press. The mother of three young children, Gajkowski-Hill can often be seen toting toddlers through the museum district.
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Lester Marks

Lester Marks, President of International Art Advisory Services, Ltd., is an art collector, patron, and supporter of the arts in Houston. He has been listed by ART NEWS Magazine as one of the Top 200 Collectors in the World, and by ART & ANTIQUES Magazine as one of the Top 100 Collectors in the United States.
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Nancy Wozny

Nancy Wozny has been with Artshouston since its second issue. She also contributes to Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit, The Houston Chronicle, Goldrush, Dance Source Houston, Culture Vulture, and other publications. Ms. Wozny was a 2005 NEA Fellow of the American Dance Festival’s Institute for Dance Criticism. She is also a 2004 recipient of the Gary Parks Memorial Award for Emerging Dance Critics, a two-time recipient of Artists Project Grants from the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County, a 2001 finalist for the Sommerville Award in Somatic Writing, and a 1994 Research Fellow at the Leonard Bernstein Center for the Arts and Education. Currently, she also hosts Houston’s only dance blog, /Dancehunter/.
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