Bird Totem
The Civic Art Collection #1
Back in April I discovered that the City of Houston has an interactive map of all the art it owns. I posted about it, and at the time wrote this: “The map is an ideal tool for planning art-viewing expeditions—I plan to make several excursions based on its recommendations.” I haven’t really followed up on that since then, but this morning I went to Fleming Park, a neighborhood park just north of Rice University. (As a Rice undergrad, I never went to Fleming Park all that much because the Rice’s campus already has a park-like vibe. But I did go to a Beto O’Rourke campaign rally there in 2022 when he was running for governor.) On any given morning it is full of kids and their nannies (it’s a well-off neighborhood). Fleming Park has a sculpture that is part of the Civic Art Collection—Bird Totem by Fletcher Mackey.
Fletcher Mackey (1950-2021) was born and raised in the Third Ward, a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Houston. (Where I live now used to be counted as part of the Third Ward, but at some point my neighborhood started to be called Midtown—a name perhaps coined by property developers who were trying to make my hood seem less “black.”) He studied art first at the Glassell School, the art school associated with the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and then got his MFA at CalArts in Los Angeles, one of the most prestigious art institutions in America. In 2005 he became an educator at MICA in Baltimore, another of America’s most prestigious art institutions. He was a working professor there when he passed away unexpectedly in 2021.
While in Houston, Mackey taught at TSU and the High School for Performing and Visual Arts, and was Cultural Program Director for Project Row Houses. He was heavily involved in African-American arts organizations both in Houston and Baltimore. Bird Totem is the only work of his in the Civic Art Collection, but the Houston Independent School District hosts tiles he designed at Roberts Elementary School. He has one work in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston called Untitled 13 (not on view at present) and artwork at the Texas Children’s Hospital, but I haven’t been able to find any photos of the latter.
Bird Totem seems like an elaborate bird house. Many of Mackey’s sculptures are bird house-like, and a neighborhood park like Fleming Park seems like a perfect location for a bird house-like sculpture. The colorful tile on either side of the middle section stands out.
I was in the park reading Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman until it got too hot, but I was happy to start my occasional tour of Houston’s Civic Art Collection here. Many more to come, I hope!
Furthermore, I am of the opinion that for the good of America, Jeffrey Epstein’s best friend Donald Trump must release everything related to the Epstein case (unredacted), disband ICE, and resign!
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Looks like a nice piece of his at the MFAH.