HOUSTON, TX.- Houston Center for Contemporary Craft announced the appointment of María-Elisa Heg as the next HCCC curatorial fellow. Heg is an illustrator and cartoonist who has been a co-organizer of Zine Fest Houston since 2012. She is currently a MA candidate in the Arts Leadership program at the University of Houston. In 2009, she received a BA in medieval studies, as well as a BA in visual and dramatic arts, from Rice University. Since then, she has been active in various capacities as an activist and artist, featured in shows at the Blaffer Art Museum, CentralTrak, Hardy & Nance Studios, Matchbox Gallery, and the Caroline Collective. Her research and curatorial interests are rooted in social practice, focusing on strategies for the decolonization of art, self-publishing, and lifting up artists and other groups who have been marginalized in mainstream society.
In her new role, which begins November 26th, Heg will work with HCCC Curator Kathryn Hall to conduct research as well as develop and install exhibitions over the three-year fellowship. Hall commented, “María-Elisa brings enthusiasm to the position, as well as a keen eye for recognizing emerging talent. We are delighted to have her join the HCCC team, and we look forward to the valuable contributions she will make during her tenure here.”
Current HCCC curatorial fellow, Sarah Darro, concludes her fellowship in mid November. During her tenure, she has curated 10 exhibitions, including After Memphis: Crafted Postmodern, B. Anele: I Don’t Play That Game, Treachery of Material: The Surrealist Impulse in Craft, Head Gear, Pocket Museum, and Best If Used By. She also carried out curatorial projects at Texas A&M International University Fine Art Gallery and Arts Brookfield at Heritage Plaza. She was selected as co-juror of the Society of North American Goldsmiths’ 2019 We Are Snag exhibition, as well as the 2018 exhibition and catalog, Meta-Formations: Experiments and Rituals. She is a 2018 recipient of the Houston Arts Alliance’s Let Creativity Happen grant. Her exhibitions have been featured in publications, including American Craft, Arts + Culture Texas, UrbanGlass Quarterly, Condé Nast Traveler, Food Network Magazine, and Selvedge.
At the end of November, Darro begins a new curatorial post at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY. As a curatorial intern working under Susie Silbert, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Glass, she will assist with research, interpretation, and organization for CMOG’s upcoming exhibition, New Glass 2019, an international survey of contemporary glass celebrating the 40th anniversary of their foundational publication, New Glass Review.
