Kinfolk House in Fort Worth bringing community together through art, creativity
As the world continues to work on a return to normalcy, congregating was something that was sorely missed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a salute to folks now being able to gather once again, Kinfolk House in Fort Worth has a summer project appropriately titled “Congregate,” featuring work by celebrated artists Skip Hill, Colby Deal, and Angela Faz. The exhibit, free to the public, runs through July 30.
“We are thrilled to bring together these artists who work in different disciplines but are connected through a common interest in documenting and investigating the importance of community,” Director of Kinfolk House Jessica Fuentes said. “From our first meeting, it was clear that though the artists had never shown together before, they were enthused and inspired after learning about each other’s work.”
One of the artists creating works for the exhibit is Skip Hill, a South Padre Island native and mixed-media artist from Tulsa. His art can be found in public and private collections in the U.S., U.K, France, and The Netherlands, among others.
Houston-based photographic artist Colby Deal will also show work. Deal is an alumnus of Houston’s Project Row Houses.
Joining them is Oak Cliff’s multi-disciplinary artist Angela Faz, who achieved international recognition for a Collective Care hand-carved print selected for Amplifier’s 2020 Global Call for Art. Recently, Faz was a part of the inaugural Women & Their Work exhibition.
The project is the second for Kinfolk House, which opened in late February and was created by the husband-and-wife team of Sedrick and Letitia Huckaby. Its inaugural project, “Welcome,” was greatly received. It explored the feelings of seclusion brought on by the health precautions taken globally to mitigate the effects of the pandemic with a central focus on Sedrick’s late grandmother.
Fuentes said Kinfolk House was created with the purpose of bringing people together to experience community, creativity and art-making. She said in its opening year, the creative space will prioritize projects that embody its core values — uplifting the creativity and people of the Polytechnic neighborhood and building bridges between unexpected communities.
“When we sat down to plan the first year of exhibitions, we knew we wanted the first exhibition to tell the story of Sedrick’s grandmother — Hallie Beatrice Carpenter — and the family’s history with the home. We also knew that the second exhibition needed to then expand the conversation to the local community and the idea of communities and coming together,” Fuentes said.
Kinfolk House is housed in a reimagined 100-year-old historic home in the Polytechnic neighborhood of Fort Worth.
“As an art and educational space, Kinfolk House has the potential to be a special place for the community because it is situated in a residential neighborhood,” Fuentes continued. “The location, along with the physical nature of the space, already alleviates some of the traditional barriers between arts institutions and communities. Additionally, we are working with the exhibiting artists to plan community events that we hope will engage our local neighbors.”
For example, later in July, they are working with Deal to host a backyard cookout at Kinfolk House.
Fuentes said Kinfolk House is in the process of finalizing its fall project, which is tentatively titled, “Formation.” The project will open after Labor Day and run through mid-November.
She said they will also post a call for proposals for North Texas artists later this summer. The selected proposals will help shape the 2023 schedule. Also, Kinfolk House recently began taking book donations for a library/reading room being set up in one of the small rooms of the house.
A 3D scan of “Welcome” can be viewed on the website at www.kinfolkhouse.org/welcome.
Kinfolk House is free to the public. Visiting hours are Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; and Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
