Planting roots in Brownsville 

Flower Shop Art Studio opens new exhibition

Visitors browse the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art on Aug. 10 for the opening reception of “Brick by Brick,” an exhibit that highlights the process of establishing stability in a rapidly developing city.

Held by the Flower Shop Art Studio, the exhibition honors the foundations laid by community builders “before us in pursuit of safety and comfort,” according to the museum’s website. 

“This exhibit … seems, like, a collage of different viewpoints on life and people’s personal experiences,” Brownsville resident Farris Ryan said. “Everybody has their own personal story to tell, very much so a spectrum … of [the] human experience.” 

The show features 19 artists who work in a variety of mediums including sculpture, installation, photography, printmaking, animation, video and painting. 

Using industrial construction material and found tools, artist Sarah Reagan created whimsical sculptures that served as motifs throughout the exhibit. Her piece Is This Thing On? is constructed of brasswood, discarded saw blade and milk paint, suggesting the physical labor of community building. 

Reagan’s objects are contrasted with textiles and soft sculpture traditionally associated with domestic work. The contrast illustrates the interconnectedness of various forms of labor and its role in fostering a community, according to the museum’s wall text.

The exhibition was curated by Jesus Treviño, artist and founder of the Flower Shop Art Studio, a contemporary art space and nonprofit at 343 E. Jefferson St. in Brownsville that organizes art residencies for local and visiting artists.

The main purpose of the studio is to “continue the efforts” of past local art venues like Brownsville Artists and Musicians and Gallery 409, Treviño told The Rider during the reception.

“[This means] getting art communities together to build that sort of movement, that culture, and get people inspired to make things and, like, have conversations and share perspectives through art,” he said.

Brownsville resident Janet Evans said she is excited about the growing local art scene.

“I think it’s incredible because we were sorely lacking in the past,” Evans said. “So, we’re finally building momentum and I hope it keeps going.”   

Since the Flower Shop Art Studio’s inauguration in June, it has hosted three residencies for artists to “cross-pollinate their ideas … and share those thoughts with the community,” Treviño said. 

“‘Brick by Brick’ is like the culmination of that year of operation, sort of a celebration,” he said. “But also … the work was like the foundation set by people that came before us, our parents, their parents and a sort of mentality that was, like, ‘putting our head down,’ working in pursuit of comfort and stability and a better future.” 

Thanks to those who came before, Treviño said, people are afforded the privilege to pause, reflect on potential wounds and acknowledge the emotional toll that love can bring, including grief, pain and a sense of disconnection.

“This show became about remembering, looking back, healing and trying to move forward from there,” he said. 

Artist Cecilia Sierra said her inspiration comes from the childhood nostalgia of growing up around her grandmothers in Brownsville.

“It’s kind of like a push and pull of the positive, like the good, the bad and the ugly, so to speak,” Sierra said. 

“La Casa de Lydia,” a linocut relief print, pays direct homage to her grandmother and great-grandmother, both named Lydia, who defined what type of household they wanted to build for their family. 

“Them being divorced women and stuff, like, pushing through and being the matriarch of the household … it’s what inspires me,” she said. 

Sierra’s work reflects on the experience of living in a multi-generational household and the various perspectives on how womanhood is defined within a Latin American family, while also establishing her own identity, according to the artist.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m too fresa for my family, that’s bien raza,” she said. “And I’m too, like, raza for the fresa people out here.”“Brick by Brick,” is now on view through Sept. 13 at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art located at 660 E. Ringgold St. Visit bmfa.us for more information.