This year the African American Art Advisory Association (5A) of the Museum of Fine Art Houston celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Citywide African American Artists Exhibition.

The Exhibit will be hosted at different venues and spaces across the city, including the University Museum at Texas Southern University and the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts.

The Houston Citywide African American Artists Exhibition is open to all artists of the African diaspora in the greater Houston area. It is sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, through 5A (the African American Art Advisory Association at the MFAH) and the University Museum at Texas Southern University.

Citywide Exhibition allows artists to show their work to a broader public and the collecting community.

For the past three decades, the 5A of the Museum of Fine Art Houston – has given hundreds of artists from the Houston area and from the African Diaspora an opportunity to exhibit their works to expanded various audiences. Michelle Barnes, Founder/Director of the Community Artist Collective, “The Citywide Exhibition, is a testament to the fact that the talent that exists in our cultural community is deep, diverse, and built on a legacy of creative expressions.”

We have listed the 2022 5A Citywide Artists Exhibit Winners:

1st Place, $500 Cash Prize:

James E. Walker, Push the Limit to the Sky, 2020, digital photography & illustration

The 5A Award:

2nd Place Winner, $250 Cash Prize:

Eddie Filer Jr., Poet, 2022, oil paint on canvas

3rd Place Winner, $150 Cash Prize:

Shawn Artis, Prototype Supreme, 2022, mixed media on wood panel

5A – Honorable Mentions:

Afi Ese, Sir Chesare, 2022, oil paint, silver gilding, and plaster on Masonite

Emmanuel Olaiyan, New Heights, 2022, photograph

Janice McCloud Warren, #Autism: A Mother’s Outcry, 2020, mixed media

5A – Curator’s Choice Award, Glassell School of Art Class Scholarship: La’Toya Smith, Let Freedom Reign, 2021, oil paint on canvas

The 5A Award:

Mari Modjo, Regalo, 2020,

graphite and charcoal on canvas - medium

James Walker’s first place winner has several touring art shows and has shown in local venues such as Pancakes & Booze Art Show, All Access Art Show, The Buy Black Marketplace at the Shrine Cultural Center, and Burning Bones Press’ It Came from the Bayou Show at Saint Arnold Brewing. In addition, exhibition displays of his work can be seen at The Printing Museum here in Houston, Texas, as a part of a permanent installation.

Presently, “The Bridging of a Negative Mindset with Positivity,” an exhibition of portraits by artist Eddie Filer, second place winner, curated by Romeo Robinson. The show is in the Bert Long Memorial Gallery in the Houston Museum of African American Culture.

Third place winner artist Shawn Artis has worked with numerous companies such as Starbucks, McDonald’s, Urban Souls Dance Company, Yellowstone Academy, the YWCA, The Center for Hearing and Speech, IKEA.

Celebrate the accomplishments of African American artists by becoming a member of the African American Art Advisory Association (5A). Founded in 1993, 5A has given vital support to the Museum’s collections, education programs, and community outreach. Now in its third de- cade, 5A again renews its commitment to engage the community, promoting the legacy and future of artwork created by African Americans.

This patron group hosts engaging programs yearly, including private exhibition tours, exclusive receptions, and lectures by renowned artists, curators, and historians. In addition, membership dues support acquiring African or African American art for the MFAH collections and other departmental initiatives and programs that further the Museum’s mission to exhibit and interpret art for all people.

For more info. on MFA’s 5A, please call: 713-639-7594. Or go to: www.MFAH.org/ patron-groups/african-american-art-advisory-association