Arts Rescue Mission -Aid For Aging Artists

Arts Rescue Mission's four tenets, Restore, Shelter, Provide, and Preserve. 4 Hands - 1 Purpose Shelter WITH NEARELY A DECADE OF EXPERIENCE We bring a skillset, archiving and cataloging for artists and collectors into the non-profit landscape with Arts Rescue Mission. We understand the urgent need to support visual artists and collectors, especially those in their later years, as they work to preserve the legacy, value, and integrity of a lifetime of creative work. This is also the objective of the objectives of our GIFTING program RESTORE - SHELTER - PROVIDE - PRESERVE When We Shelter the Art, We shelter the Artist. Click on image below and let us walk you through the process of documenting and preserving art and collectibles. 2. Shelter Program /Subsidized Storage for A Lifetime Work Subsidized Storage to Protect a Lifetime of Work Purpose: To help aging visual artists preserve their legacy by subsidizing the cost of safe, professional storage for artworks, archives, and lifetime collections, a growing need as artists face limited space, rising storage prices, and diminishing support from institutions traditionally funded to safeguard the arts. Why Shelter Is Needed Now: Institutional and governmental cutbacks have reduced the number of programs that once offered archiving, storage, and preservation assistance. Many senior visual artists are at risk of losing decades of work simply because they can no longer afford to store or protect it. ARM fills this gap. How the Shelter Program Works: ARM raises dedicated storage funds through the annual ARMON Awards and year-round earmarked donations. These funds directly subsidize storage costs for selected visual artists who need help preserving their work and legacy. Artists are chosen through a democratic nomination and voting process, ensuring that those with real need and strong community support rise to the top. How Artists Are Selected: Nominations come from ARM’s statewide Advisory Council, our goal by mid-2028 is more than 400 members strong. Additional nominations come through the ARM e-mail list and social media suggestions. ARM compiles the top nominees for the year. Final selection is determined by a vote of the Board of Governors and the Advisory Council. About the ARMON Awards Spring 2028: Will be held annually, the ARMON Awards honor outstanding artists across the full spectrum of the creative disciplines, visual artists, musicians, songwriters, writers, chefs, and performance artists. Proceeds from the evening directly support the Shelter Program. Each year, ARM proudly remembers co-founder Gertrude Barnstone as part of this celebration. Get Involved: Join the ARM e-list and take part in the nomination and voting process. Email: artsrescue2025@gmail.com Our approach is different. As part of our outreach model, our Advisory Council, comprised of artists, collectors, curators, and professionals across the state, identifies urgent needs and opportunities aligned with our mission. They make recommendations to our Board of Governors, who vote to release funds directly. We are looking (09-15-2025) for a volunteer or volunteers to put in about 4 hours a week for this program. This will be a paid position as we move forward with our grant writing, and donations. If you are interested please contact us! artsrescue2025@gmail.com or signup here. Monthly subscriptions at any level receive a 50% discount on all event and table and chair reservations. How you can help power our mission: 1.Share: Share our campaign with your friends, family, and on social media. Your advocacy can amplify our impact. 2. Volunteer: Your time and skills can make an impact too. 3. Thank you for supporting our mission, your support is invaluable. 4. Join the ARM Advisory with a monthly subscription. 5. Earmark your donation to our SHELTER program. THANK YOU! Arts Rescue Mission artsrescue2025@gmail.com Donate Shelter

Arts Rescue Mission was founded as a non-profit by Houston artists Gertude Barnstome and Dan M Allison in 1994. ARM held it's first fundraiser at to aid the artists in Sarajevo during their civil war in May 1994. Allison re-established the ARM in January of 2025 as an outreach 501c3 dedicated to aiding aging visual, performing, and literary artists, through crowdsource funding, award presentations, and awareness events. RESTORE - SHELTER - PROVIDE - PRESERVE

Will Turner, a veteran of the early days of Commerce Street warehouse, and widely recognized studio and band musician we are excited to have his voice join The Mission News. That history makes him a natural fit for The Mission News. As a Music and Arts Contributor, Will Turner brings firsthand experience, a writer’s curiosity, and an ear trained across genres and generations. He knows music from inside the room - not only as a critic, but as someone who has lived it. 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 .... U s u a l l y Vol. 2, No. 9, p. 1 July 15, 2026 I got the band BLONDIE busted by ART POLICE! by Will Turner, 07-12-2026 (word count 1,141) A truly dreary rainy weekday afternoon, just after Thanksgiving in NYC, 1978. I was friends with Jimmy Destry, keyboardist of the then upcoming band BLONDIE, and out of sheer boredom (the Manhattan equivalent of cabin fever: apartment claustrophobia) a group of us made a solemn pilgrimage from The Village to the Whitney Museum of American Art, a journey less than half a mile as a dishonorable murder of crows fly, yet fraught with foreboding danger, a Twilight Zone transition into another, more ominous and sinister reality. The six of us (Jimmy and his girlfriend, Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, my girlfriend, myself) hailed a cab on Waverly Place, a mesh of umbrellas failing miserably to protect a dozen inappropriate shoes while splashing through foul water across a nondraining street to enter the Sacred Repository of Art. I readily concede we weren’t quite the typical tourists from Wichita moseying about from painting to painting. Decked out in the latest finger-in-your-eye punk-rock styles, all black leather, colored hair and spikes: well, let’s just agree we stood out from the otherwise lackluster crowd. An entire detail of Security was immediately mustered, intent on following our every step. For over an hour we wandered aimlessly, admiring, disdaining various works of art, spouting typical pretentious college kid pronouncements on aesthetics, high-minded yet vacuous nonsense, until we stumbled upon THE ARTIFACT. Out in the middle of a room, like traditional sculpture, with no ostensible rope barriers to fend off the great unwashed, sat Claes Oldenburg’s SOFT TOILET (1966). Since some may not have been vouchsafed the almost heavenly grace of encountering THE ARTIFACT in real life, (probably not something likely to come across while grocery shopping, or driving in workday traffic), I will attempt a terse description. THE SOFT TOILET, this inexplicable monument of human ingenuity, is a hand-sewn, gracelessly pliable art object made of loosely stuffed vinyl, limp and drooping like an aging human body surrendering with more grim determination each day to gravity, endowed - perhaps possessed - with a very specific personality, a seemingly effortless gravitas, a profound sense of cosmic humor and stark drama all its own. It was so unexpected, beyond all conventional perceptions of reality, confrontational yet instantaneously alluring, irresistible collective sighs riding high atop an ocean wave, Circe’s Sirens chanting across the room’s cloistered silence, luring this poor young art sailor from Texas toward inevitable destruction, doomed to the dire certainty of being smashed upon wretched rocks of anguish, despair, jutting raw out of the wine-dark sea of humanities’ modern art. Now, I’ve always prided myself for some level of discipline, impulse-control in most facets of life, effortlessly resisting everything except temptation, but in that instant, my mind a complete blank, reacting - with nary a single nano-second of thought - to some primeval urge from the lizard brain curled lazily at the base of my skull, I reached out and lightly touched Claes Oldenburg’s SOFT TOILET. Instantly a shrill disharmony of whistles exploded through the silence of the sacred space, and we were surrounded by guards, all ready to defend the Soft Toilet from these nefarious Barbarians at the Gates, quite prepared to sacrifice their lives if necessary for the greater good of the integrity of soft-toilet-art not to be interfered with by despicable punk-rockers with evil intent. I’m still surprised my finger wasn’t shot off in the heat of the moment, or I wasn’t at least tasered or something. Patience had won the day – the Art Police had finally apprehended a Fiendish International Terrorist Gang of dastardly Soft-Toilet Touchers. Absolute scum. As a group we were immediately herded into a windowless room, Officers of the Guard diligently checking our I.D.s. I still don’t know if it was for better or worse that The Blondies weren’t known around NYC sufficiently for the Art Cops to recognize them, at least Debbie Harry, who was already getting local media attention. Their breakthrough LP was just weeks away from release. However, there was no dispute possible with the relevant facts of the case: I was from Texas, a virtual foreign threat; I had desecrated the Holiest of Art Holies; I was a clear menace to society, a threat to humanity, fully capable of Touch Crimes of the First Degree, an Evil Little Man from an Evil Little Country. The sole mystery awaiting solution: what was I doing amidst all these people from Brooklin? Didn’t Leon Trotsky live in Brooklyn? Did I know Leon Trotsky? Was I Leon Trotsky? Debbie Harry explained I was a visitor from Texas, and didn’t understand the rules, and that the rest of our group had nothing to do with the ill-advised toilet-touching incident, but to no avail. Things had escaladed beyond mere reason and sanity: exceptional action was demanded by exceptional times. The Art Gendarmerie had reached their Rendezvous with Destiny. No turning back now, folks. Double-Down time. After their persistently insidious third-degree methods of ham-fisted sadism failed to break our resistance, furtive glances were exchanged among the beleaguered authorities. We were all informed our identities were painstakingly noted and filed away – in triplicate, on Computers! - for future reference, should any further soft-toilet-touching attempts be contemplated. The Officer in charge of The Art Constabulary gruffly barked that we were all, as a group, officially ordered to vacate the Museum Premises, with immediate effect. Get the hell out, and don’t even think about ever returning. Ever. Under threat of another dire whistle blast assault, we were all forced into a freight elevator and out the front doors by a military phalanx of Defenders of Soft Three-Dimensional Art. Out on the curb, hunkered under a chaotic coterie of color and pattern-clashing umbrellas, heads still reeling from the surreal nature of bizarre events, our merry band of survivors crossed the boggy street for warm shelter provided by an ever-present NYC coffeeshop, and laughed for an hour at the dreamlike psychosis of the entire event, Jimmy’s otherwise silent girlfriend surprising everyone by suddenly comparing the insanity to an episode of Fawlty Towers. Yes, I perpetrated the insidious SOFT TOILET FINGER-TOUCHING CAPER of November 1978. And, on a certain level, I am still quite proud of myself. Note: This photo of the Soft Toilet was taken days before it was first displayed in 1966. By 1978 – twelve years later – the sculpture had settled into an increasingly decrepit state, with the vibrant blue water decomposing towards dull burnt umber, while the crisp white toilet biodegraded to a sickly flesh tone, sagging in all directions, all aspects of the aging plastic’s reaction to time and the air. Oxygen is truly caustic to some substances. I probably should have sought out Medical Attention after touching it. ~ Will Turner Click On Image To Expand To Full Screen Oldenberg Soft Toilet, 1966 Oldenberg Soft Toilet, 1966 1/1 Claes Oldenburg, Soft Toilet, 1966 * In 1961, Claes Oldenburg wrote a manifesto asserting his radical artistic position: “I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum.” Soft Toilet, a work that eschews the conventional properties of the art object, does not sit on anything—even a pedestal, like much sculpture—but rather hangs from a metal support. Oldenburg emerged as a Pop artist in the early 1960s with his so-called “soft” sculptures of quotidian objects, such as this work. Here he transforms the toilet—a factory-produced, rigid porcelain symbol of modern hygiene—into a hand-sewn, pliable object made of stuffed vinyl. Beginning, as he usually did, with drawings of the fixture, Oldenburg produced three separate iterations of the toilet: a hard version constructed out of cardboard, a soft model of sewn canvas (which he called the “ghost” version), and the vinyl Soft Toilet. Limp and drooping like an aging human body, Soft Toilet is endowed with a personality and sense of drama all its own. Introducing Will Turner Music and Arts Contributor, The Mission News Before Will Turner writes a word for Mission News, it helps to know that music has been chasing him most of his life. A veteran of the early days of Houston's Commerce Street warehouse, widely recognized across Texas as a studio musician, sought after lead guitar player, and song writer, we are excited to have his voice join The Mission News. He began as something close to a child prodigy in South Texas, playing guitar in a country-and-western band while he was still young enough to be conspicuously out of place among the grown musicians, most of which were in their mid-sixties. Comedy was built into the situation: a boy carrying a guitar into a performance with a band of adults, wearing their perfunctory leftover band costume from the player he was replacing, a 300 lbs. Country Western guitarist who had passed away. Expected to play like one of them with his sleeves and pants legs rolled up, Will tells the story with the dry humor of someone who learned very early that talent can get you through doors your age ordinarily would not. Then came New York. Will arrived in 1978 and quickly found himself auditioning in the middle of the city’s exploding punk and new-wave scene. The audition went well - well enough that Blondie asked him to join the band. It is the kind of line most musicians could build an entire biography around. For Will, it is one turn in a much longer life of performing, songwriting, listening, and paying attention to what music reveals about the people and times that produce it. That history makes him a natural fit for The Mission News. As a Music and Arts Contributor, Will Turner brings firsthand experience, a writer’s curiosity, and an ear trained across genres and generations. He knows music from inside the room - not only as a critic, but as someone who has lived it. *Photo and info Whitney Museum of American Art

A Life Between the Studio and the Museum Wall, A San Francisco Art Institute graduate of 1969 and later a Rockefeller Fellow with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Edwards came of age when American museums were shaking off their dust and artists were storming the gates. His early years in the Bay Area placed him near the epicenter of post-Beat experimentation—an education in both discipline and rebellion that would shape a lifetime of curatorial work. 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 2, Oct. 22, 2025 page 1 Jim Edwards: The Quiet Architect of Regional Visions A conversation between friends, “I wasn’t that good of an artist, but I had a good head for facts.” D. M. Allison, Mission News, October 22, 2025 Jim Edwards, Dan Allison, David Brauer, pictured with BB the wonder dog, d. m. allison galler on Colquitt, 2015 I got to know Jim Edwards through a mutual friend, David Brauer, the former art history lecturer at the MFAH Glassell School. A few weeks ago, and kind of out of the blue, Jim sent me a postcard. Nobody sends postcards anymore, but just like our old friend David Brauer, Jim would prefer to do anything than sit in front of a computer, or text someone on his phone. He'd always rather have a conversation or write a letter. As I examined the hieroglyphics and collage on the handmade art card he had sent, I realized how out of touch we have gotten since he left Houston and how much I missed having conversations with him. It also reminded me that there were still a few of my mentors left standing from the good old days and I immediately gave him a call. He and Victoria had just finished remodeling a large house in San Francisco. “That’s great,” I told him, “But sometimes finishing a big project feels like finishing a novel, the last chapter’s done, and then what gets you up in the morning?” He laughed and said, “A new studio. I’m playing again.” For Jim Edwards, it’s always about the next chapter. He said he was going back to his roots, he’d started out as an artist, something I had forgotten, and was making collages again, small postcard-sized pieces he mails out to friends. I hadn’t known about his battle with stomach cancer, or that he had made a full recovery, and so much so that when a friend came to visit him and his wife Victoria in San Francisco, he and Jim spent the day museum-hopping and riding trolley cars. “We probably walked six miles,” Jim laughed. Sad to say, I can't imagine doing that at this point myself. Our conversation trailed off is it usually does from the present day to stories from Jim about his experiences with art, artists, collectors and everything else under the sun. He spoke of studying under Richard Diebenkorn and Robert Rauschenberg, giants whose shadow could humble anyone. “I wasn’t that good an artist,” he said, “but I had a good head for facts.” That mind led him toward curating, teaching, and writing, the architectural side of the art world where he would leave his mark. Still, I’ll be glad to see another one of those new collages show up in my mailbox soon. A Life Between the Studio and the Museum Wall A San Francisco Art Institute graduate of 1969 and later a Rockefeller Fellow with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Edwards came of age when American museums were shaking off their dust and artists were storming the gates. His early years in the Bay Area placed him near the epicenter of post-Beat experimentation—an education in both discipline and rebellion that would shape a lifetime of curatorial work. By 1972 he had traded California’s haze for Alaska’s frontier, becoming Curator of Art at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau. From there, his career traced a restless western arc—Idaho, New Mexico, Utah, Texas—each stop adding to his conviction that art is a form of regional storytelling. Wherever he landed, he built exhibitions that carried local voices into national conversations. In Texas, Edwards’s curatorial eye found its permanent home. He organized Contemporary Narrative Painters of the Southwest for the San Antonio Museum of Art in 1989 and co-curated Pop Art: US/UK Connections 1956–1966 with The Menil Collection, showing his gift for linking regional artists to global movements. Over the decades his fingerprints appeared on shows from the Salt Lake Art Center to the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, framing work by painters such as James Francis Gill, Bill Komodore, René Alvarado, and Michael Roque Collins with essays that balanced scholarship and empathy. When Houston Baptist University (now Houston Christian University) recruited him in the early 2000s to direct its Contemporary Art Gallery, Edwards shifted gracefully into the dual role of educator and advocate. He brought decades of museum discipline to an academic setting hungry for vision, curating exhibitions that gave Houston’s emerging and mid-career artists a professional platform. Students remember his critiques as sharp but generous, his office stacked with catalogs from every corner of the Southwest, his conversation as likely to drift toward poetry as pigment. (Click On Image To Expand To Full Screen) Michael Collins, David Brauer, Jim Edwards, Ed Wilson, Paul Kittelson, and Mel Ann Harithas Opening Jim Edwards, backyard of d. m. allison gallery on Colquitt, 2014 Artist Richard Stout & Michael R. Collins at Ann Harathis' Openg at Houston Baptist University Michael Collins, David Brauer, Jim Edwards, Ed Wilson, Paul Kittelson, and Mel Ann Harithas Opening 1/4 Photo credit 1, Michael Collins, David Brauer, Jim Edwards, Ed Wilson, Paul Kittelson, and Mel Chin at Ann Harithas Opening at HBU, ARM Archives Jim Edwards belongs to that rare breed of curator who could translate between the worlds of artists and institutions without losing the trust of either. His résumé spans half a century, but it reads less like a climb than a map—of places where he built bridges, mentored painters, and reminded us that art history doesn’t just happen in New York or Paris. It happens wherever someone like Jim Edwards quietly insists that it does.

Our books are dedicated to all the artists that have come before and deserve to have their journey shared and story told. We would like to ensure that archive materials are preserved, providing a historical record of the artist and their work for future reference by appraisers, archivists, and researchers. Oricle Project Please Chose a Book & Take a Closer Look Our books are dedicated to all the artists that have come before and deserve to have their journey shared and story told. From years of experience, it became evident that family, friends, and associates often don't retain and pass down crucial documents, such as articles, exhibition records, and professional correspondence, these are frequently discarded or overlooked. We would like to ensure that such materials are preserved, providing a historical record of the artist and their work for future reference by appraisers, archivists, and researchers. ARM (Arts Rescue Mission) 501 c3 Charity, is an virtual outreach organization supporting aging artists in the Visual, Performing, and Literary Arts, with crowdsource funding, awareness events, and programs, to Restore, Shelter, Provide, and Preserve their work. Click On the Book You'd Like To Read Or Purchase RESTORE - SHELTER - PROVIDE - PRESERVE Please Join Us! Preserve Funded through subscriptions to oversee ARM preservation initiatives. Click Here to find out more. / Project Manager 16 hrs./week From years of experience, it has become evident that while family members often retain and pass down artwork, crucial documents, such as articles, exhibition records, and professional correspondence, are frequently discarded or overlooked. We would like to ensure that such materials are preserved, providing a historical record of the artist and their work for future reference by appraisers, archivists, and researchers. This is a lengthy and expensive four-step process that's involves photography, scanning, tagging the photos and scanned images, and putting them together in Excel files chronologically. We are recreating a life and there are lots of judgment calls while setting up an Excel file which oftentimes more than a 1000 entries in a professional performing or visual artist's lifetime. This is essential work as the book closes on a lifetime of accomplishment but it's often neglected because of the expense. Click Here to earmark your donation to our PRESERVE program.

Users can post and retrieve ephemeral data not published to the inernet usuful to Wikipeadia. Arts Rescue Mission Financials 2025 2025 Financial Statement PDF Click Here Examples from our Community Open Source Archive (Click On Image To Expand To Full Screen) RESTORE - SHELTER - PROVIDE - PRESERVE With your input & ideas the end result, after the archives are in chronological order for each of the artists or entities listed could be books as as outlined in our PROVIDE program. . The Rescue Station Archive: Is an Open Source community project serves as a reso urce for artists and the community to preserve and share documents related to artist's lifetime journeys engaging them in their later years or after their passing. From years of experience, it has become evident that while family members often retain and pass down artwork, crucial documents, such as articles, exhibition records, and professional correspondence, many items & objects are frequently discarded or overlooked. This archive seeks to ensure that those materials recorded are preserved, providing a historical record of the artist and their work for future reference by appraisers, archivists, and researchers. Our archive also connects to larger institutional archives, which may hold more comprehensive collections of an artist’s records, either before or after their passing. Many of these institutional archives are not easily accessible through a standard Google search unless the user is familiar with advanced research tools. For instance, a general search like "Texas sculptors from the 1980s" would not retrieve these resources effectively. Additionally, local newspaper archives and other publications often do not document an artist’s exhibition history outside their immediate region. This archive helps bridge that gap by consolidating exhibition records and related materials from various locations. Rescue Station also provides a platform for temporarily or permanently posting documents from before 1996, when the internet was not yet widely used for institutional archiving. Many historical records remain offline, and while tools like the Wayback Machine (Internet Archive 1996) was launched by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat became an invaluable resource by 2001, they do not cover pre-internet materials. By maintaining these archives, Rescue Station contributes valuable historical resources that can aid researchers, writers, and even Wikipedia contributors in documenting artists’ legacies. Arts Rescue Mission has an archive spanning over 45 years of Texas and Houston Arts History, 1979–2025. At present, this collection includes at least 50 images, ephemera, and studio documentation related to artists, galleries, writers, and alternative space exhibitions listed at the right. We are actively seeking additional materials for the highlighted artists, This fall 2025 we are focusing on Ibsen Espada, Richard Stout, and the 1984 Show that was sponsored by the Houston chapter of the women's caucus for the Arts. If you are in possession of their artwork, images of these artists, ephemera concerning either artists, exhibitions we investigate, please contact us through our sign in page portal where you can upload images and documents as well as your stories and details about what you are sending us. Snapshots of their events and studio parties are perfect. Help us tell the whole story! As we move forward, the individuals and institutions represented will be notified of our work. Any objections will be respectfully noted, and adjustments will be made as needed. Many of these stories are already well documented by the institutions themselves, but we believe this history can be further enriched by the voices of those who witnessed these artists, events, and alternative spaces firsthand. Think about it. Who would have more information about artists, events, public exhibitions, and institutions than the actual participants? Everyone who witnessed these artists and events. If you have material to contribute to these archives, or if you would like to suggest a new point of focus for documenting the legacy of Texas arts, please contact us through our sign-in page. This is a community-driven, open-source effort, and your participation is vital. Click on the preservation icon to make a donation to our PRESERVE program

Arts Rescue Missiion, with special permissiion from the director or archivist, allows users to sell some part of the collection they are working with. These posts are up for no more than 30 days. Archive & Book Projects Preserve Funded through subscriptions to oversee ARM preservation initiatives. Click Here to find out more. / Project Manager 16 hrs./week MORE INFO From years of experience, it became evident that while family members often don't retain and pass along crucial documents such as articles, exhibition records, and professional correspondence, and these are frequently discarded or overlooked. We would like to ensure that such materials are preserved, providing a historical record of the artist and their work for future reference by appraisers, archivists, and researchers. This is a lengthy and expensive four-step process that involves photography, scanning, tagging the photos, and tagging the scanned images, and then putting them together in an Excel file chronologically. We are recreating a life and there are lots of judgment calls while setting up an Excel file which oftentimes has more than a 1700 entries in a professional performing or visual artist's lifetime. This is essential work as the book closes on a lifetime of accomplishment but it's often neglected because of the expense. Click Here to earmark your donation to our PRESERVE program. Preservation Works hand in hand with our PROVIDE program and our desire to create books about artists. As we mentioned above, this chronology recreates a life. From childhood friends and family photos through their life's journey , artists oftentimes have some of the most interesting stories to tell. Interesting work for us, and engaging content for you. Provide Funded by the "Station Cabaret" dinner and jazz in October. Click Here to find out more. / Project Manager 16 hrs./week MORE INFO Our aim here is to support projects that give writers, musicians, composers, and artists the time to pursue their passions in later years, time they never had while balancing careers and family. While we are preserving artists’ stories and works in our Preservation program, we are also creating the foundation for providing new opportunities. A carefully built archive doesn’t just keep history safe, it supplies the raw material for biography, scholarship, and celebration. Imagine a book that chronicles an artist’s journey: part memoir, part catalog, part testament. That book is both preservation and provision, a bridge between past accomplishments and future recognition. The same way the ARMON Awards sustain our Shelter program, our fall event—the Station Cabaret, an evening of dinner, jazz, and creative presentations in a spirited Halloween atmosphere, funds our Provide program. Through it, we give artists in their later years the chance to share their story, renew their visibility, and shine once more. In every program, the goal is the same: to ensure that artists, who have given us so much, are never forgotten, neglected, or left without support. To see how we set the stage for this event Click Here . To earmark your donation to our PROVIDE program Click Here. "Four Hands" RESTORE / SHELTER / PROVIDE / PRESERVE Fall Project 2025 Visual Artist Ibsen Espada Book Project (Goal Fall 2026) 09/06/2025 This is our first Community archive project. As of September 5th 2025 we have scanned more than 160 objects for his press and personal archive, and recorded 39 known Works courtesy of Foltz Fine Art , with approximately 300 more to photograph in storage, we have accounted for 318 slides, thanks to the fabulous team volunteer Mary Forbes, from past works and are in the process of having those scanned and added to Ibsen Espada's Archival Records. We are reaching out the community if you have more personal photos or images of Espada's friends, life, or his work, please click here to attach files and let us know in the sign-up comments what you would like to add to this community effort. THANKS! Ibsen Espada project: Press Ephemerals / Art Rescue Mission / 64 Objects / 09-06-2025 GALLERY 1. Load More Ibsen Espada project{ Personal Ephemerals / Art Rescue Mission / 66 images 09-06-2025 GALLERY 3. Load More Ibsen Espada project. Known Works / Examples / Art Rescue Mission / 39 works / 09-06-2025 GALLERY 2. Load More Ibsen Espada project. Crew / Examples / Art Rescue Mission / June 2025 GALLERY 4. Load More RESTORE - SHELTER - PROVIDE - PRESERVE PLEASE NOTE: ARM NEEDS COMMUMITY INPUT: Help us tell Ibsen Espada's Story. Identify the stories and individuals in this gallery. You can also add to this community library by CLICKING HERE and sending us your Ibsen Espada photos and stories. Our publications are open source and rely on the community for input. On the sign up page you can upload images, text or PDF files, and tell us what you remember from way back when. Even if you are already a subscriber the sign-in and load page will keep track of who's sending us information so we can give you credit for your contribution. A t this time, the images are only identified by number. Use this number to let Arts Rescue know what image you are referring to, We need your help adding to this community effort. We'll have a BIG party when the book comes out. (More on that latter) THANKS! Our Book Store - 31 Avaiable (Click On Images To Expand To Full Screen) Active Archive Book Project Proposals Are In Red Richard Stout Perry House Ibsen Espada Rock'n Robin Guitars Jesse Lott Red Shack Music The 1984 Show Jim Edwards (Click On Images To Expand To Full Screen) (Click On Red Projects To View Progress)

Arts Rescue Mission's Four Programs, Restore, Shelter, Provide, and Preserve, Aid for Aging Artists Four Programs / One Purpose / Aid to Aging Artists 1. Restore Program / Urgent Assistance After Illness or Accident "We give broken Angels time to mend a wing. Recourses for the time it takes to heal, pay rent & bills, after sudden illness or accident" Purpose: Provide rapid, short-term financial support so artists facing unexpected illness or injury can stabilize, cover essentials, and regain time for recovery. How It Works: We activate ARM’s crowdsourced funding network — including retired contact lists from our affiliates — to help artists reach sympathetic friends, patrons, and supporters. We guide the artist through launching their own emergency crowdfunding request using our best-practice templates. We distribute verified requests to ARM subscribers, giving the community the choice to contribute. We host periodic informational events (e.g., Zoom seminars) to help artists and supporters understand how to efficiently and ethically use crowdfunding — especially as traditional institutional support declines. Why It’s Important: When public, institutional, or governmental grants shrink, artists often have nowhere else to turn. Restore helps fill that critical gap. Typical Timeline: Aid often begins arriving within 72 hours of a submitted, shared crowdfunding request. Staffing Note: ARM is seeking a part-time volunteer (16 hours/month) to help coordinate Restore Program submissions and communications. As funding grows, this position may evolve into a paid part-time role. 2. Shelter Program /Subsidized Storage Protecting A Lifetime Of Work Subsidized Storage to Protect a Lifetime of Work Purpose: To help aging visual artists preserve their legacy by subsidizing the cost of safe, professional storage for artworks, archives, and lifetime collections, a growing need as artists face limited space, rising storage prices, and diminishing support from institutions traditionally funded to safeguard the arts. Why Shelter Is Needed Now: Institutional and governmental cutbacks have reduced the number of programs that once offered archiving, storage, and preservation assistance. Many senior visual artists are at risk of losing decades of work simply because they can no longer afford to store or protect it. ARM fills this gap. How the Shelter Program Works: ARM raises dedicated storage funds through the annual ARMON Awards and year-round earmarked donations. These funds directly subsidize storage costs for selected visual artists who need help preserving their work and legacy. Artists are chosen through a democratic nomination and voting process, ensuring that those with real need and strong community support rise to the top. How Artists Are Selected: Nominations come from ARM’s statewide Advisory Council, our goal by mid-2026 is more than 400 members strong. Additional nominations come through the ARM e-mail list and social media suggestions. ARM compiles the top nominees for the year. Final selection is determined by a vote of the Board of Governors and the Advisory Council. About the ARMON Awards: Held annually, the ARMON Awards honor outstanding artists across the full spectrum of the creative disciplines — visual artists, musicians, songwriters, writers, chefs, and Substack authors. Proceeds from the evening directly support the Shelter Program. Each year, ARM proudly remembers co-founder Gertrude Barnstone as part of this celebration. Get Involved: Join the ARM e-list and take part in the nomination and voting process. Email: artsrescue2025@gmail.com Funded through donations and our annual "ARMON AWARDS" dinner in April. Project Manager 16 hrs./ month More Info Here. When We Preserve the Artist's Story , We Preserve the Artist RESTORE - SHELTER - PROVIDE - PRESERVE All Images on this site are from the ARM Community Archive And Intended for community use. 3. Provide Program /Renewed Opportunity / Book Projects / Videos / A Creative Second Act Creating New Opportunities for Writers, Musicians, Composers, and Visual Artists, with Book and Film Initiatives Purpose: To support aging artists as they pursue creative projects they never had the time or resources to complete earlier in life providing visibility, opportunity, and renewed career momentum in their later years by producing books and films. Why Provide Matters: Many artists spent decades balancing work, family, and survival, leaving little time for the projects closest to their heart. As public arts funding shrinks and the cost of living rises, the need for structured support in later-life creativity has never been greater. ARM’s Provide Program aims to fill that gap. What the Provide Program Does: Supports new creative work by aging writers, musicians, composers, performers, and visual artists. Develops opportunities for visibility — talks, readings, performances, catalog essays, interviews, and public presentations. Builds pathways for future recognition, including book projects, creative memoirs, catalogs, and career retrospectives that bridge past accomplishments with future celebration. Explores access to health-insurance options tailored for older creatives who often cannot secure traditional coverage due to freelance careers and limited employer-provided benefits. Connects artists to ARM’s Preservation Program, ensuring that new creative work is built on a foundation of properly archived materials. How Provide Is Funded: The Station Cabaret, ARM’s annual fall fundraising event — an evening of dinner, jazz, creative performances, and “All Saints Night” atmosphere — generates the core support for the Provide Program. This event gives artists a chance to: Share their story Reclaim visibility Present new work to an engaged community Shine again at a time when many feel unseen Goal: To ensure that artists who have shaped their communities for decades are never forgotten, never isolated, and always supported as they continue to create. 4. Preserve Program / Ephemerals For Book And Video Projects / U of H Archive Archiving a Lifetime of Artistic Work Purpose: To safeguard the documents, images, records, and materials that make up an artist’s full professional history ensuring a reliable archive for book and film initiatives, future appraisers, scholars, curators, and family members. Why Preservation Matters: While artwork is often saved by families, the essential paper trail articles, reviews, correspondence, exhibition paperwork, grant files, catalogs, and ephemera is frequently lost. Without these records, an artist’s life becomes difficult to reconstruct, their legacy becomes vulnerable, and their value in the historical record diminishes. What the Preserve Program Does: ARM assists aging artists by helping them secure and organize the materials needed to reconstruct a complete professional history. This is a detailed, multi-step process involving: Photography of artworks and archival materials Scanning documents, letters, articles, and records Tagging and metadata entry for every file and image Building chronological archives (often 1,000+ entries) using Excel or comparable systems This is painstaking, essential work and it is often neglected because of cost, time, and the complexity of managing a lifetime’s worth of material. How Preserve Is Funded: Supported through subscriptions specifically earmarked for Preservation initiatives. Includes a future Project Manager role (16 hrs./month) to oversee archiving tasks and coordinate with artists, as funding becomes available. Additional support comes from the Station Cabaret fundraising event each October. Why Preserve Exists: Because an artist’s legacy is more than their artwork — it is the complete story of a life lived in service to creativity. ARM ensures that story is not lost. Funded through subscriptions to oversee PRESERVE initiatives. Project Manager 16 hrs./ month More Info Here. Funded by the "STATION CABERET" dinner and jazz in October. / Project Manager 16 hrs./ month More Info Here. Please Sign Up For The Mission News!

At the center of Richard’s work is the interior, not as a stable environment, but as a constructed stage. Into these spaces, he inserts images of sculpture, decorative objects, and fragments of art history, allowing them to coexist with domestic settings that feel at once real and edited. 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 .... U s u a l l y Vol. 2, No. 2, p. 3 April 10, 2026 Jim Richard: Modern Fragments Interiors, Collage, and the Theater of Taste d. m. allison, April 10, 2026 (word count 1,128) If Tommy Fitzpatrick builds architecture from the outside in, Jim Richard constructs his world from the inside out, through interiors, objects, and the quiet negotiations of taste that define how we live. Richard has been working this territory for decades. Since the early 1990s, when he shifted from acrylic into oil, his work has consistently explored the push and pull between Modernism and its surroundings, between high art and the everyday environments that absorb, distort, and repurpose it. More recently, working in the velvety matte surface of Flashe vinyl paint, he has pushed that dialogue further, at times borrowing the visual logic of paint-by-numbers while placing it into spaces that feel both familiar and slightly off. At the center of Richard’s work is the interior, not as a stable environment, but as a constructed stage. Into these spaces, he inserts images of sculpture, decorative objects, and fragments of art history, allowing them to coexist with domestic settings that feel at once real and edited. In Modern Fragments at Inman Gallery, collage takes the lead. It’s a medium Richard has returned to consistently since the early 1990s, collecting printed material and recombining it into finished works, often as a daily studio exercise. By the late 1990s, collage had become integral to his practice, an efficient, intuitive counterpoint to the slower process of painting. That practice deepened under pressure. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Richard evacuated New Orleans with a satchel of accumulated paper fragments and, while temporarily based in Austin, spent four months working on collages every day. The medium’s portability and immediacy became essential, both practically and psychologically, providing structure during a moment of disruption. . That sense of assembling stability from fragments still defines the work on view now at Inman in 2026. Across these works, Jim Richard returns again and again to the interior—not as a fixed space, but as something constructed, tested, and quietly unsettled. Each composition begins with a recognizable environment, only to introduce elements that interrupt its logic, compress its depth, or pull it apart. What unfolds is less a series of discrete images than a sustained investigation into how space is built, and how easily it comes undone. In Just Walkin (2023), that inquiry begins at the tabletop. A patterned cloth and scattered utensils establish a domestic setting, while a small figurative sculpture anchors the center. Behind it, foliage flattens into a decorative screen and a geometric border closes in at the edges. The scene feels staged, almost ceremonial, but the elements refuse to fully align. Fine dining, sculpture, and ornament coexist without resolving, producing a quiet dissonance. It is not one space so much as several, layered and slightly out of sync. That instability carries forward into Passing Through (2022), where the setting shifts into a more architectural interior. A brick threshold opens onto a warmly lit room, but the passage is interrupted by irregular vertical forms, cut shapes that read as silhouettes or voids. These insertions fracture the continuity of the space, turning what might have been a straightforward interior into something more psychological. The viewer moves through it, but only provisionally, aware of the interruptions. In Order (2022), the structure tightens but does not resolve. A modern living room—defined by clean lines, low furniture, and reflective surfaces—begins to cohere, only to be overtaken by large, flat planes of color. A red rectangle presses forward, joined by a vertical band of yellow and a cool blue-gray field. These elements compete with the image rather than support it. The title proposes stability, but the composition resists it. Order is introduced as an idea, then quietly undermined. Earlier work such as Opening (2014) makes that disruption more explicit. A vivid yellow form spills across the interior, cutting through furniture, space, and perspective with a molten force. It reads less as an object than as an event—something happening to the room rather than existing within it. The tension between the controlled environment and the uncontrolled gesture becomes central, setting the terms for what follows. In Widespread III (2022), the interior gives way to a garden, but the underlying tension remains. Dense plantings draw the viewer inward, while a hovering geometric form—outlined in orange and filled with muted color—holds at the surface. Depth and flatness compete, each asserting a different version of space, neither fully yielding to the other. By the time we arrive at Modern Fragments (2016), these concerns have been compressed into a tighter, more distilled form. Architectural elements, sculptural references, and planes of color are brought into close proximity, held in a composition that feels at once controlled and unresolved. Everything is present, but nothing holds. (Click On Image To Expand To Full Screen) Jim Richard, Dog on Mantel, 2022, collage, 7.75 x 8.5 in. Jim Richard, Just Walkin, 23023, collage, 13. 2 x 12.75 in. Maggie Hills, Tommy Fitzpatrick, Kerry Inman, Jim Richard, March 2026 Jim Richard, Dog on Mantel, 2022, collage, 7.75 x 8.5 in. 1/10 At the center of Richard’s work is the interior, not as a stable environment, but as a constructed stage. Into these spaces, he inserts images of sculpture, decorative objects, and fragments of art history, allowing them to coexist with domestic settings that feel at once real and edited. Taken together, these works trace a consistent line of thought. Richard does not depict interiors so much as he constructs them, layering, interrupting, and recalibrating their logic until stability itself becomes provisional. Space, in his hands, is never given. It is assembled, tested, and left deliberately unresolved. Across these works, Richard’s compositional intelligence is unmistakable. He understands how to distribute visual weight, how to let one element stabilize a space while another unsettles it. The surfaces may appear casual, but they are carefully calibrated. Richard Hamilton self portrait, 1960s Richard Hamilton collage, 1960s There’s a lineage here worth noting. His use of collage and interior space recalls Henri Matisse’s late cut-outs, where color and shape construct space as much as they describe it. At the same time, his layering of imagery and attention to everyday material echoes Robert Rauschenberg, particularly in the elevation of found visual language. And in the way interiors become sites of psychological and aesthetic tension, there are parallels to Richard Hamilton, whose work also examined domestic space as a reflection of cultural values.

Awards Evening Entertainment & Awards Seating Chart and Event Stages Purchase Tables and Chairs Message In A Bottle 1994 Return To Event Use "Print" Button To Print Map POST Houston Cultural Center, "X" Atrium, West Wing, 401 Franklin St., Houston TX 77021 "X" Atrium Parking Here

John Atlas, singled out as a favorite by fine art luminaries like James Harithus, Bill Campfield, and David Brauer, but could not take the pressure of all the attention, he felt uncomfortable, and it's understandable, if you add a generally raucous and reputation the artist held in his early years it makes sense that he took his show on the road and and left Houston in about 1986. Atlas worked in Austin Texas, Seattle Washington, periodically return to Houston to live and and work. 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 6, P. 1 Dec. 15, 2025 page 1 Artist John Atlas Pirate of the South Pacific D. M. Allison December 15, 2025 (word count 2,198) During the ark of their career's artists follow their imagined star always at the edge of the horizon. Often that remains their Guiding Light for the duration, sometimes another celestial crosses that path and shows the way to another horizon. John Atlas, was singled out as a favorite by fine art luminaries like James Harithus, Bill Campfield, and David Brauer, but could not take the pressure of all the attention, he felt uncomfortable, and it's understandable, if you add a generally the raucous reputation the artist held in his early years it makes sense that he took his show on the road and left Houston in about 1986. Atlas worked in Austin, Texas, Seattle, Washington, periodically returned to Houston to live and work. John's story intertwines with his art, much like our two-hour phone conversation after my studio visit. For two decades, he has lived and worked in the Elder Street Art Lofts, once St Joseph's hospital. When I saw John at a gallery opening, any old tension over me calling him "Johnny" in the early 80s was gone; we chatted, set up a visit, and I agreed to write about him. Both fascinated by tools and rooted in Houston’s 1980s art scene, we reconnected as a printmaker and cabinet maker. Our long talk on the phone after my studio visit, aided by old computers that tried our patience, led us to reflect on the challenges of technology before finally focusing on John's artistic journey and methods. His early years in Houston, 1980 – 85 took a turn in 1986 with a yearlong adventure to the South Pacific to decompress. He returned to Houston to live and work out of his childhood home and would prepare periodically for adventure after adventure. “As I evolved a worldview, I sought to chart the processes of perception and conception, develop a theory of knowledge, and use this to cultivate a belief system based upon my own experience. Important to this was an effort to recognize my own authentic responses to the world, indicating innate affinities. My ambition was to picture the spectrum of life and experience, and to create a language and text addressing the nature of reality and the problems of living.” After guiding me from the parking lot and a smiling welcome as I crossed the threshold into his world, told him what a really great place he had, and found out that although John had been in this location for almost 20 years and gave one the impression of permanence and stability, I could not have guessed he would have had such a checkered history relocating at least a half dozen times from 1980 through 2005. But living at home, taking care of his dad, using the garage as a studio, was a lifestyle that gave him the economic freedom to keep his adventurous journey alive until landing at the studio he now occupies and would become his private sanctuary to recall his travels, memories, friends, and define his relationship to the world. His work, when well considered, gives us pause to take an inventory of our own. “As I evolved a worldview, I sought to chart the processes of perception and conception, develop a theory of knowledge, and use this to cultivate a belief system based upon my own experience. Important to this was an effort to recognize my own authentic responses to the world, indicating innate affinities. My ambition was to picture the spectrum of life and experience, and to create a language and text addressing the nature of reality and the problems of living.” After taking a brief walk around his home and studio, identifying the shop where he does his woodworking, we went straight into the main studio and two major pieces he has been working on for the last several years. So, we start this story about the actual artworks at the end of his journey, and where he is now with his work, his thoughts, and an ever-present philosophical narrative during the entire conversation. While there were narratives woven throughout his work, they were folded into one another in an origami of mental conclusions. “At a certain point, early in my life, it became clear that all received knowledge is suspect. Equally clear was the falseness of the dominant cultural paradigm which, in the long term, is devastatingly destructive to the majority of life on the planet, including humanity. Interests in science and philosophy informed me as I sought to start over from scratch. Beginning with a minimum of provisional assumptions and raw, unmediated perception, I assembled fragments of memory, trying to distill patterns typical of the world, revealing relationships and suggesting predictability.” Some of the best artists I know really don't have a smooth timeline, a straight path, it's often complicated, broken, and unusual. That's what makes them interesting and causes us to compare, because we can't help but see our lives within theirs and find meaning in the juncture of their unusual path and the usual. This causes us to have perspective, literally looking at things from a different point of view. “I learned to think for myself and sought to learn how to live. This activity led me to record these images, and in the process, create an external memory encoding the narrative of my life, focusing on the experiences, ideas, and emotions which both inspire and alarm me.” I don't think I've ever met another artist that could take me so far out on a limb that I actually feared it would break off. But John does that in the most disarming, friendly, demeanor and I couldn't help but want to hear the stories, that manifested themselves for us to ponder on the walls of his home and studio, his history, depicted in personal hieroglyph, in personal calligraphy puzzled together; Islands of memory, opinion, and judgment and his resolution and relationship to the world at large. Having said this, I was talking to a pirate. “Dan, I was trying to tell the story of meeting a giant moray eel in the Marquesas Islands, curled up inside a coral head. Those eighteen pieces come out of that encounter. It was a creature larger than anything I’d ever known. When I first saw it, I didn’t even recognize what it was because it was so out of scale, coiled in thick, meter-wide loops inside a hollow coral formation. At first, I thought it must be some species of coral I wasn’t familiar with, but the texture was wrong. The structure itself was like a fifty-foot-tall pagoda, hollow and pierced in places. Normally, something like that would be crowded with life, but it was completely lifeless and no fish anywhere. I swam away, and about a hundred yards off I began seeing twenty- or thirty-pound groupers in the holes along the bottom. Strangely, they didn’t flee when they saw me. I had a spear gun but wasn’t planning to use it. I poked one of the groupers, and it just looked back at me, as if to say, why are you doing that? When I poked it again, it finally swam off down the slope. When I surfaced, Andrea, a Canadian woman from the ship swam over and asked if I’d seen a giant serpent. She pointed back toward the coral head. I swam toward it, and it was like Puff the Magic Dragon. What I could see was maybe ten feet of its neck exposed, and it could have swallowed me whole. There were still no fish around. It could have killed me without effort if it wanted to, or it would have already but instead I had the distinct sense that it was enjoying the novelty of my presence.” We started with the largest and most imposing painting in the room, about 8 x 10 ft, and in a small space of course, that's what you're going to talk about first. The elephant Atlas was working on in the room, “Similar Forms” is no doubt satire as well as a labor of years. Over this large canvas taped around the edges were several pieces of vellum tracing paper. The drawing was elaborate on the paper over the canvas and one would estimate several hundred hours of labor (pic 3.), but after talking with the artist about his method of working out his ideas as he went, and how he developed his relationships, it was evident quite a bit more time than that. This is an artist who isn't lazy, nor shies away from commitment, and the time it takes for craftsmanship. Craftsmanship is something you find not only in his studio and living area but of course in the objects that he makes in his woodshop. "I'm making a flute" was his reply as I was leaving about what he was doing the rest of the afternoon. As for the grand endeavor at hand, he described how he started. The drawing laid on top of the “soon-to-be finished” painted canvas had grown from a very simple initial layout of areas, segmented in pencil outlines on the paper, echoing the elements of the painting below. He had started with a stylized design of his name, and as a process worked out from there in areas of meaningful content and their relationships to one another connecting his physical compositional elements as he connected the dots in his mind and on the paper to himself, his memories, and the world at large. Not many artists need to have their work come with a set of instructions not only to try to see things their way, understand things their way, but the viewer might also need to take at least an undergraduate class in philosophy. Do you want to go to that much trouble? Not knowing what he would find; and what would be the point? Much like his travels in the real world, he would not find his destination until completion of the entire piece. His self-discovery and lifelong journey have arrived at contentment and happiness for him though the journey continues. “Over many years I worked to create a metaphor for the fundamental forces of nature, suggesting a continuous organizing principle which manifests at all scales. I have used concentric circles, ellipses, and spirals to indicate sources for radiating and collapsing wave fronts, intersecting to form interference patterns which produce the variety of the world and its ongoing narratives.” This is best illustrated in the large drawing covering Similar Forms, destined to be an entirely second un-mirrored half of a future diptych with possible titles of "Mockery," "Prophecy," or maybe "History" at this time. (Click On Image To Expand To Full Screen) 2 B 5B 17B 2 B 1/19 His pieces are visually enjoyable and pleasing, realizing after some conversation that the man's paintings are not visual abstractions of our world seen through his eyes but quite the opposite. We come to understand that his works originate as mental abstractions, something truly new in our landscape, The seeds of his thoughts rising up into our physical world. If what the artist does is not an abstraction from what we all see in our physical world and come from someplace as ethereal and unabsorbable as the connections between memory and conclusion, then it necessarily manifests itself as something brand new. Let me try to reorganize that logic, so it doesn't sound like "art speak." He manifests on canvas in a myriad of puzzle pieces and strokes a field of ideas that spring up where nothing was there before. Ok, still art speak? More to the point, every stroke, and mysterious character represents an individual idea and element in his painting as he works to know himself. We all have a secret self, a part of us that we hide from others as well as ourselves, something known but unspoken. By being brutally honest with himself and his relationship with others, he's asking us to also take a moment and reflect on our journeys, our honesty, and our reason for being here at all on planet earth. One can perceive his work in this manner, recognize the source, or just enjoy the outcome. Physically the pieces are strange, and brooding, and set a tone for the overall work which manifests itself as the expression of an internal calligraphy, sometimes characters, sometimes areas, sometimes groups of strokes that could be mistaken for a visual swirl around the sky of a Starry Starry Night, but actually could be the recollection Atlas speaks of a school in the thousands, glimmering fishes from a dive in the South Pacific swirling around his relationship to friends that he once sailed with. His paintings are challenging, and an acquired taste, like a first adult beverage and rumored this sailor had plenty of in the early 1980s. His earliest works stylistically were very simple, playful, colorful and enjoyable reminiscent of Miro, until in this day they are so condensed as to be unrecognizable by the same hand , the arc of his creative star having traveled from Houston to the South Pacific and back to get away from it all and then make sense of it all. “You got to get in to get out of it.” After guiding me from the parking lot and a smiling welcome as I crossed the threshold into his world, I told him what a really great place he had, he's been this location for almost 20 years, from 1980 through 2005.

Art Rescue Mission Legacy 1993 - 1995 ARM, Artist Rescue Mission flyer 1994, nonprofit organization to assist artists in areas of conflict providing materials to express their point of view and a venue for exhibition outside their region of crisis ARM Bridge Exhibition Cat., Pennzoil Place Exhibition, Houston TX 1994 Artist Rescue Mission (ARM), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was founded in 1994 during the war in Bosnia with a simple but radical idea: give artists in conflict zones the tools and support they need to tell their own stories. It has now been revived to service the artists in the visual, performing, and literary Arts in the present day. The organization began when Houston artist and activist Gertrude Barnstone approached fellow artist Dan Allison. Barnstone knew exactly who to call, Allison had deep ties in the region, having toured Bosnia in 1987 and 1989 with exhibitions sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency. He wasn’t just familiar with the terrain; he was a recognized and respected name among the country’s art community. At that time, massive humanitarian efforts were underway, but many had ground to a halt. Shipments from well-funded organizations like the Soros Foundation were stalled, their crates sitting immobile on docks, unable to pass through the choke points of war. In contrast, the artists inside Sarajevo weren’t asking for food or clothing. What they needed most, they said, was a way to speak, tools to document what was happening around them, to counter the tide of propaganda, and to ensure their voices weren’t erased. Houston Chronicle News object above courtesy of Houston based photographer, collector, and Houston based activist Melissa Noble Barnstone and Allison responded with a bold, nimble plan. After raising funds at a benefit hosted by the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, they filled 50 boxes with essential supplies, ramen noodles, medicine, daily necessities, but hidden carefully beneath the surface, wrapped in plain brown paper, were the real treasures: cameras, tape recorders, batteries, and media gear. These items were the means for artists to record the truth and send it beyond their besieged borders. These items were also not permitted to cross checkpoints on their way from Slovenia to Bosnia. Gertrude added one final idea to disguise the media package. Knowing how suspicious eyes could scan aid shipments, she proposed padding the top layers of each box with feminine hygiene products, bras, and underwear, items no soldier was eager to dig through. The supplies were packed at Allison’s studio and quietly sent on their way. It was a bold move, but it worked. In the end, halfway between Ljubljana and the city of Mostar, a big burly Serbian captain snipped the security tag off the back of the truck, sliced open the first box, plowed through the ramen noodles, candy bars, and a medicine chest worth of daily necessities to the bottom of the box, recoiled like he'd just found a snake, gave the universal sign in a circular hand gesture in the air to wind it up, “they're good to go”, and the media treasure made it through, safely tucked beneath an armor of undergarments. City of Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina 1990 ARM Bridge Exhibition Cat., Pennzoil Place Exhibition, Houston TX 1994 Dan Allison, pictured below in the city of Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina, ARM relief & documentation equipment delivery supply mission, 1994 After ARM returned to Houston, the artists sent the photos via fax machine out of Sarajevo. These were exhibited at the Barbara Davis Gallery in Pennzoil Place in early 1995. The images were printed on fine rag paper, placed into archival document bags, and sold for $100 each. The project raised another $6,000, which was wired directly back to the artists, no intermediaries, no red tape, supporting their communities at a time of urgent need. As the war continued, ARM expanded its mission. In April of 1995, it mounted an ambitious dual-site exhibition and benefit titled Bridge, as part of the Houston International Festival’s “Public Pictures” program. The event featured large-scale reproductions installed outdoors in Tranquility Park, along with original works by Houston artists and images from Sarajevo displayed at the Davis Gallery in Pennzoil Place. The opening reception included a live press conference connecting attendees directly to the artists in Sarajevo via broadcast, a literal bridge between worlds, built through art. 1994 ARM Mission Statement: ARTIST RESCUE MISSION, INC. (.ARM) seeks to support and assist in areas of conflict, providing materials to express their point of view and a venue for exhibition outside their region of crisis. INITIAL CONTACT PROGRAM. ARM identifies crisis areas through conventional news sources and elects to "'target" a region based on need the feasibility of completing the project, and artistic activity in the area prior to the crisis. ARM (Artist Rescue Mission) Mission 1994 BRIDGE exhibition, programing, and results That first wave of programming also formalized ARM’s working model: identifying regions in crisis, making first contact with artists, and delivering materials, cameras, recorders, sketchbooks, and necessities, while gathering real-time documentation of life under duress. ARM’s goal was always twofold: to provide practical aid, and to create a traveling exhibition that told the truth of conflict through the eyes of the people living it. In doing so, ARM offered an alternative to conventional media, shifting the narrative from tragedy to resilience, from silence to self-expression. Today, Artist Rescue Mission carries that spirit forward, refocusing its efforts here in Texas, where many artists, especially in the visual and performing arts, face their own crises, often quietly, invisibly. Health emergencies, financial instability, housing insecurity, and aging out of support systems can sideline creative voices that are vital to our culture. ARM is committed to making sure they’re not left behind. Through its Restore initiative, ARM provides resources and time for artists recovering from sudden illness or injury. The Shelter program helps subsidize housing and studio storage for visual artists, often funded through signature events like the ARMOND Awards. Assistance programs support musicians, writers, and performing artists, especially those in their later years, giving them the breathing room to create. Meanwhile, the Preservation initiative, centered around ARM Station, serves as a growing digital archive for artists to document, share, and protect their work. This platform also provides tools for crowdfunding, research access, and community support. Whether smuggling cameras into Sarajevo or helping a Texas artist keep their creative spark alive, ARM’s mission remains unchanged: to protect and uplift artists where systems fail, and to make space for their voices when the world needs them most. Pictured above, ARM president Gertrude Barnstone, concert pianist Dalia Golubich, and event organizer Dan Allison. Houston Chronicle, Contemporary Art Museum, initial fundraiser Wednesday May 25th 1994, Houston Texas. Below portrait of Gertrude Barnstone 1940s About Gertrude Barnstone PROGRAM IN TWO PARTS PART ONE: Because of the diversity of artistic disciplines, and circumstances that surround the variety of situations Artist Rescue Mission will encounter. ARM has standardized the delivery of artists' materials. providing cameras, tape recorders, and basic drawing tools on initial visits. Daily necessities unlike art materials can and will be specifically suited to the general needs of the disaster at hand on the first "'contact" visit. (i.e. include vaccine where there is an epidemic, warm clothing where it is needed.) Artists participating in the program will be asked to complete a «wish list" that ARM will use to select art supplies particular to their individual needs. While they document their immediate situation through photography and recordings, ARM will work on their individual supply lists. PART TWO: Before and during the rescue effort ARM will explore the options for exhibiting the resulting photographs and, artists' recordings. ARM will return to pick up the photographs and tape recordings for exhibition, and at the same time deliver items requested by the individual artists from their "wish list". These items will include both specifically requested art s upplies and daily necessities. ULTIMATE GOALS. To deliver practical aid into troubled areas, while arranging for the exhibition of a constantly traveling, "real time"' crisis museum that expresses the thoughts, beliefs, and hopes of the people involved institutions that are currently unfolding. Works in this exhibition would be revised over time as ARM becomes involved in new target areas. RESULT. Unlike conventional broadcast news sources, ARM provides an opportunity for direct contact with the individuals involved in areas of concern, and focuses on communicating their ideas about solutions to problems rather than reporting the resulting tragedies. ARM is a "helping hand" in crisis situations opening a window of understanding through the arts in a world of ever increasing diversity. ARM in 1994 - 1995 "BRIDGE" a visual arts exhibition and benefit on two sites opening April 18 through May 28, 1995. It is part of The Houston International Festival's "Public Pictures» program. An unveiling of the large scale works in the show will take place in Tranquility Park in downtown Houston at 11:00 a.m. on April 18, and will be followed by an opening reception at 7:00 p.m. for the artists and related works at the Davis/McClain Pennzoil Place Gallery. A percentage of the proceeds from the sales of art in the exhibition will go to benefit the artists and their communities in Sarajevo. Sponsored by Davis/McClain Gallery and the Patrick Media Group and organized by the Houston based non profit group Artist Rescue Mission (ARM), "Bridge" includes works by area artists Jim Martin, Sharon Kopriva, and Benito Huerta as well as images from artists now living and working in Sarajevo. THEME: The exhibition focuses on the interaction between artists and the communities in which they live, as well as establishing a link with artists living in areas of distress. In 1994, ARM established communications by phone, fax and person contact while delivering relief supplies to artists in the besieged city of Sarajevo. ARM provides artists both materials to express their point of view and offers them the possibility for exhibition outside their regional crisis. LOCATION NUMBER ONE : Patrick Media Group will reproduce one of each of the participating artists' works for exhibition during the Houston International Festival. These large scale outdoor works will be installed on the grounds of Tranquility Park and be on display for approximately thirty days. The public is invited to join the unveiling ceremony at 11:00 a.m. on April 18 in Tranquility Park Celebrate Houston's international involvement in these current events and artists everywhere working to find creative solutions in an ever changing world. LOCATION NUMBER TWO: Davis/McClain Gallery bas generously donated Pennzoil Place Gallery, located near the Houston Festival site and Tranquility Park in the Pennzoil Building, for an exhibition of original works by Houston artists and images from Sarajevo. A reception for the artists will be held from 7:00 to 9:30 pm. on April 18, 1995. The artists and visitors will be invited at that time to speak directly with the artists in Sarajevo at a live press conference for broadcast in Sarajevo and KPFT in Houston. For more information about the event or ARM, please contact Gertrude Batstone at 713-528-0397 or Dan Allison at 713-864-3737. ARTIST RESCUE MISSION, INC. (.ARM) seeks to support and assist artists in areas of conflict, providing materials to express their point of view and a venue for exhibition outside their region of crisis. INITIAL CONTACT PROGRAM. ARM identifies crisis areas through conventional news sources and elects to "'target" a region based on nee~ the feasibility of completing the project, and artistic activity in the area prior to the crisis. ARM Co-founder Dan Allison, Bosnia, 1994 Art Rescue Mission "Bridge" Catalog Pages (6 of 30 pages) Houston Artist Sharon Kopriva Houston Artist Benito Huerta Croatian team Bojon Echic & Sandra Hnatjuk Sarajevo artist Mustafa Skopyuk Sarajevo Trio Committee president Drzava Amila Sarajevo artist Amila Smajovic