Michelle Barnes

{{Short description|American artist, educator and arts administrator}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Michelle A. Barnes | honorific_suffix = | image = Michelle Barnes.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1948}}<ref name="University of Houston" /> | birth_place = Austin, Texas | baptised =  | death_date =  | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | nationality =  | education = | alma_mater = University of Houston | known_for = Community Artists' Collective | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | father = | mother = | relatives = | family = | awards =  | signature = | signature_type = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website =  | module = }} '''Michelle Barnes''' (born 1948) is an American artist, educator, and arts administrator based in Houston. She works with sculptural materials including fibers and papier-mâché, and is the co-founder and executive director of the Community Artists’ Collective.

== Early life ==

Michelle Anita Swain was born in Austin in 1948 to August and Anita Swain; her family moved to Houston's Third Ward neighborhood in 1951 or 1952 when she was four or five after her father finished his graduate degree in social work.<ref name="University of Houston">{{Cite web |date=27 February 2015 |title=Interview with Mrs. Michelle Barnes |url=https://www.uh.edu/class/digital-history/one-false-step/Interview-michelle/index |access-date=23 March 2024 |website=University of Houston |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Texas Christian University-2016a">{{Cite web |date=17 June 2016 |title=Michelle Barnes: Background and Community Cohesion {{!}} Civil Rights in Black and Brown |url=https://crbb.tcu.edu/clips/6060/background-and-community-cohesion |access-date=23 March 2024 |website=Texas Christian University}}</ref> Her mother taught home economics and was a member of Delta Sigma Theta.<ref name="University of Houston" /><ref name="Texas Christian University-2016a" /> Barnes was the first grandchild on both sides of the family.<ref name="Texas Christian University-2016a" /> The family attended the Wesley Chapel AME.<ref name="University of Houston" />

She grew up in a creative family. At an early age, her father taught her mosaics and furniture building and her mother taught her to sew. By 13, she had won awards for sewing.<ref name="Sewing-2015">{{Cite news |last=Sewing |first=Joy |date=5 October 2015 |title=Style profile: Artist Michelle Barnes blends art and style |url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/style/article/Style-profile-Artist-Michelle-Barnes-blends-art-6546296.php |access-date=22 March 2024 |work=Houston Chronicle |language=en}}</ref>

She attended Edward L. Blackshear and Lucian L. Lockhart elementary schools and Miller junior high school (now the Young Women's College Preparatory Academy).<ref name="Texas Christian University-2016b" /> She graduated in 1966 from Jack Yates High School,<ref name="University of Houston" /> where she participated in fashion shows and learned dressmaking. She started at the University of Houston in 1966, took her first traditional art classes there, and graduated in 1970.<ref name="University of Houston" /><ref name="Sewing-2015" /><ref name="Hughes-2005">{{Cite news |last=Hughes |first=Kim |date=15 September 2005 |title=Artist's patience brings its rewards - Barnes helps kids learn with hospital's exhibit. |work=Houston Chronicle}}</ref><ref name="Texas Christian University-2016b">{{Cite web |date=17 June 2016 |title=Michelle Barnes: School Experiences and Attending the University of Houston {{!}} Civil Rights in Black and Brown |url=https://crbb.tcu.edu/clips/6062/school-experiences-and-attending-the-university-of-houston |access-date=23 March 2024 |website=Texas Christian University}}</ref> She became friends with Lynn Eusan while they were both students at Houston.<ref name="University of Houston" />

== Career == Barnes first worked at Sharpstown High School in the Houston Independent School District, then at The Kinkaid School for eight years starting in 1981.<ref name="Karkabi-1994" /> For 30 years, she taught art at SHAPE Community Center as a volunteer.<ref name="Hughes-2005" /><ref name="Williams-1993">{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=Kathy |date=24 March 1993 |title=Community artist studio targets talented women |work=Houston Chronicle |pages=452, 456}}</ref> While teaching, Barnes worked at DuBose gallery from 1977 to 1981.<ref name="Karkabi-1994" /> Working in collaboration with Alvia Wardlaw, she was the program coordinator for the Scholastic Knowledge for Youth (SKY) program in 1994 where middle school students learned film-making and interviewed local artists.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Karkabi |first=Barbara |date=3 August 1984 |title=Video students of summer may be directors of the future |work=Houston Chronicle |pages=107}}</ref>

She founded the Barnes-Blackman Gallery in 1983 in collaboration with The Ensemble Theatre. This initiative showed art on a part-time basis in the theater's lobby, with Barnes installing each exhibit prior to that evening’s play and removing them shortly after the performance.<ref name="Sewing-2015" /><ref name="Johnson-1997">{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Patricia C. |date=20 April 1997 |title=The collective conscious/Group celebrates 10 years of supporting black artists in myriad ways. |work=Houston Chronicle |pages=10}}</ref> In 1988, Barnes became a founding board member of the African American Heritage Museum. The small museum, which opened later that year, was located in downtown Houston at 2101 Crawford Street.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Patricia C. |date=4 September 1988 |title=Museum to focus on black culture in Southwest |work=Houston Chronicle |pages=16}}</ref>

Barnes was also the assistant director of the University of Houston-Clear Lake Art Gallery in 1989.<ref>{{Cite news |date=8 November 1989 |title=UH, TSU sponsor art show |work=Houston Chronicle |pages=188}}</ref> She was the coordinator of the Minority Internship Program for college students launched at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in the summer of 1990.<ref>{{Cite news |date=11 April 1990 |title=Minority Internship Program offered at Museum of Fine Arts in Houston |work=Houston Chronicle |pages=349}}</ref>

In 1985, Barnes joined with her college schoolmate and fellow artist Sarah Trotty to create the Community Artists’ Collective to provide exhibition space for emerging African American artists, and African American women artists in particular.<ref name="Johnson-1997" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Nickerson |first=Ryan |date=13 January 2022 |title=Community Artists’ Collective presents- “Wisdom and Hope” |url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/neighborhood/bellaire/article/Community-Artists-Collective-presents-16771356.php |access-date=22 March 2024 |work=Houston Chronicle |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Karkabi-1994">{{Cite news |last=Karkabi |first=B. |date=27 January 1994 |title=Let's do lunch with ...Michelle Barnes. |work=Houston Chronicle |pages=4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Medley |first=Alison |date=16 March 2021 |title=Meet the creative force behind Houston's Community Artists' Collective |url=https://www.chron.com/culture/arts/article/Community-Artists-Collective-Houston-Black-Artists-15977821.php |website=Houston Chronicle}}</ref> The organization also offers programming to introduce children and adults to various forms of art such as pottery, painting, quilting, and photography.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

She found the first location for the Collective in 1989 at the intersection of La Branch and Elgin streets in Houston.<ref name="Karkabi-1994" /><ref name="Houston Chronicle-1993">{{Cite news |date=27 June 1993 |title=Michelle Barnes |work=Houston Chronicle |pages=9}}</ref> With no toilets and no heat, the building had long been vacant which allowed her to negotiate a lower rent. She worked with her husband to renovate the space, and the Collective held its inaugural exhibition in 1990 in this space as a part of Houston Fotofest.<ref name="Williams-1993" /> The exhibition featuring photos by a South African magazine with the opening coinciding with Nelson Mandela's release from prison.<ref name="Johnson-1997" />

== Awards == In 1992, Barnes was honored by the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts at its annual Musicfest gala for her contributions in visual arts.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 May 1992 |title=Barnes honored at Musicfest gala. |work=Houston Chronicle |pages=4}}</ref> She was honored for her professional achievements as a YWCA Woman of the Year in 1993.<ref name="Houston Chronicle-1993" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=18 June 1993 |title=Outstanding achievers laudedYWCA honors 15 local women. |work=Houston Chronicle |pages=4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=13 June 1993 |title=Outstanding Women's Luncheon honors 15 Houstonians |work=The Houston Post |pages=E-2}}</ref> In 2009, she was honored at ''The State of Art by African Americans'' by the South Texas Cluster of The Links and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston African American Art Advisory Association.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Britt |first=Douglas |date=1 April 2009 |title=Event salutes Houston art-world stars. |url=https://www.chron.com/culture/main/article/event-salutes-houston-s-top-black-artists-1591163.php |work=Houston Chronicle |pages=2}}</ref>

== Personal life == Barnes married while still in college before her fiance enlisted in the military in 1968 and was deployed in the Vietnam War.<ref name="University of Houston" /> The couple had a child together and divorced.<ref name="University of Houston" /> She later married attorney Barry Barnes and had two additional children.<ref name="Karkabi-1994" /><ref name="Houston Chronicle-1993" />

== References == {{reflist}}

== Further research ==

* {{Cite web |last=Barnes |first=Michelle |last2=Enriquez |first2=Sandra |last3=Rodriguez |first3=Samantha |date=17 June 2016 |title=Oral History Interview with Michelle Barnes, June 17, 2016 |url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth987502/ |access-date=23 March 2024 |website=Portal to Texas History |language=English}} – [https://crbb.tcu.edu/interviews/interview-with-michelle-barnes alternative link to interview] at TCU Library * {{Cite web |date=11 October 1985 |title=Michelle Barnes interview - University of Houston Libraries Audio/Video Repository |url=https://av.lib.uh.edu/media_objects/t148fh16n |access-date=23 March 2024 |website=University of Houston |language=en}}

Category:Living people Category:20th-century American women artists Category:21st-century American women artists Category:1948 births Category:People from Houston