Arts Rescue Mission -Aid For Aging Artists
P u b l i s h e d W e e k l y, N e w s, A r t s, & S t o r i e s F r o m T e x a s
Vol. 1, Issue 8, P. 1
Jan. 1, 2026
Mike Kirby, His Mission, His Vision, on Hosting Patrick Renner's "Tape & Take" / Ground Swell
D. M. Allison, December 18, 2025
(word count 951)
I was on my way to photograph and begin archiving work for another artist, a project commissioned by Sarah Foltz, when I decided to make a quick stop at Mike Kirby’s studio in the Heights. It was meant to be a pop-in, nothing more. I’d met Mike only two weeks earlier at a book signing for yet another artist, the kind of quiet, cumulative introduction that seems to define Houston these days, especially as Arts Rescue Mission looks toward publishing and preserving more of this city’s histories.
What I didn’t know was that Patrick Renner’s work was still in Mike’s studio.
From the street, the neighborhood remains a little rough around the edges, the kind of place you don’t expect to house anything extraordinary. That made the surprise sharper. Mike built the studio in 2016, and stepping inside felt like entering a hidden chamber: generous light, space to breathe, space to think. Almost immediately, the visit shifted gears. What began as casual conversation turned into an interview neither of us anticipated.
Mike, who has been in Houston for more than a decade, didn’t begin by talking about his own work. Instead, he led me directly to Patrick Renner’s installation of Tape & Take, part of Renner’s ongoing Groundswell series, which have included exhibitions at Redbud and earlier iterations beginning at James Surls’ studio in Splendora. Mike spoke with the fluency of someone deeply invested, not just informed, but connected.
Renner’s work is inseparable from community. He gathers painted wood from the neighborhoods where he works, materials offered by residents themselves, and through a process that is at once environmental, archival, and poetic; he transforms the ordinary into something resonant. As Mike put it, Patrick “turns water into wine.” Outside the studio, small piles of leftover wood, remnants from a project begun nearly a year ago, felt less like debris than evidence.
I felt lucky to encounter the installation in its final moments, just before it disappeared, cut apart, archived, and dispersed. These were objects shaped by a community, and soon they would scatter back into history. Where they’ll ultimately live remains an open question.
Only later did Mike begin to talk about his own work: the Ouroboros series, sculpture in bronze, cast concrete, and volcanic stone, developed from years spent studying at the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City. The ouroboros, the ancient symbol of the snake eating its own tail, is a recurring metaphor: dual forces intertwined, opposing and inseparable. As he spoke, Mike’s hands twisted in the air, good and evil, rich and poor; tension made physical. Mike noted that Patrick Renner and Mike Hollice had hosted a benefit, for long time, much loved, Houston fine art art framer Tom Cunningham when his star passed over our horizon. It's at this point in our conversation that I realized I had a kindred spirit here who also realized that artists are the ones that have a vision, and care enough to do something about it.
Kirby’s own career reflects exactly this blend of formal study, craftsmanship, and community engagement. Michael Sean Kirby is a Houston-based sculptor whose work spans bronze, stone, concrete, clay, and fiberglass. He holds a master's degree in visual arts with honors from the San Carlos Academy in Mexico City (2001) and is a graduate of the University of Texas, grounding him in both traditional technique and contemporary practice. Kirby’s Ouroboros pieces, multiple iterations of the intertwined form, explore cycles, unity, and contradiction, and one such work was acquired by the City of Houston’s Civic Art Collection for permanent display at Houston Hobby Airport in 2022.
He has shown work across Texas and Mexico, including at venues like the University Pinacoteca Alfonso Michel and Contemporary Art Museum Houston, and participates in local initiatives such as Sculpture Month Houston. Beyond his studio practice, Mike contributes to the cultural fabric of this city as both an educator and writer. He’s a contributing writer for Art Houston Magazine and remains dedicated to art education and exhibition support.
If you are not a carpenter, and I made my way through the end of high school and all of college swinging a hammer one way or another, you just can't exaggerate the amount of craftsmanship and careful time t takes to build what Patrick is doing, or for that matter what Mike does carving stone, and casting bronze. But for Carpenters, Patrick's sculptors are Michelangelo's Pietà.
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Walking back out into the afternoon, I realized I’d discovered yet another hidden room in Houston’s art house, and that James Surls & Johnny Alexander (Bert too) were the original instigators lighting a fus like they said they would back in 1979 with the "FIRE SHOW" at Houston's Contemporary Art Museum. The candle seemed to dim a little bit with the infliction on Houston of the “Art Fairs” coming to town. In my opinion, the Carpetbaggers from up North brought Las Vegas to Houston but didn't bring the high rollers and collectors; forgetting about our own interests, our own game, and that severely cost us and our own casinos a pretty penny.
Well, the whole fine art game is a bit of a gamble, isn't it? We recovered, and the flame is burning hot now, with substantial homegrown galleries celebrating 50 years, celebrating 35 years, and new gamblers on West Alabama, Westheimer, and Taft St. betting that Houston is a winner.
I met Mike Kirby at a book signing recently. We agreed I would come for a visit. On the way to finish up an Ibsen Espada archive project I thought I would drop in. I would be in the neighborhood. Boy am I glad I did........