Urban Arts

ELEVATING OUR SPACE, THROUGH LOCAL TALENT

Urban Arts

ELEVATING OUR SPACE
THROUGH LOCAL TALENT

Urban Eats is more than feast + drink, we are love.

And our love of art is as strong as our love of food. Join us as we feature new talent every three months, we’ll host each artist’s opening night when we introduce them and their masterpieces to our space and community.

Arts Immersion Exhibition 2023

October 30, 2023 – February 4, 2024

In May of 2023, a group of art students led by Laura Spector, a Houston-based art instructor, landed in Paris, France. Their itinerary had them walking through museums, gardens, and hidden courtyards with daily assignments for painting and drawing. Each day, students studied objects surrounding them using pencils, photography, and paint. The evenings were filled with delicious meals and memorable drinks. After a couple of weeks, a group of students moved toward the South of France to explore mountains, bridges, vineyards, and lavender fields. The Art Immersion Exhibition at Urban Eats is a collection of the artwork created from the Art Immersion- France experience. The exhibition is a survey of learned artistic experiences and inspiration.

Laura Spector, a Houston-based adult art instructor who can be found in classrooms online and at Glasscock School for Continuing Studies at Rice University, Art League Houston, Watercolor Art Society -Houston, and her own private classes, created Art Immersion experiences in 2018. Her goal is to bring art students on location to study directly from famed works of art, art history, and locations of where historical artworks inspired artists to create. Art Immersions include museum study, local lectures, off-the-beaten-track excursions, daily drawing and painting exercises with instruction and reviews. They build incredible memories, artistic skills, and fuel inspiration.

Previous Art Immersions have included travel to Florence, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, and the South of France. The 2024, Art Immersions will include Chicago and Tokyo. Registration will open shortly. For more information please contact Laura Spector directly at LauraMakesArt@gmail.com.

Laura Spector

Laura Spector is a Houston-based artist and art instructor. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently at The Jung Center in Houston and Georgetown Art Center. She is best known for her acclaimed Museum Anatomy project, which began in 1996, where she collaborated with museum curators in 16 countries, searching for hidden, stolen, lost and destroyed paintings, which she reimagines in paint, photography and sculpture. Among Spector’s honors are a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts, an individual grant from Houston Arts Alliance, the Sovereign Asian Art Prize and an artist-in-residence at Atelierhaus Hilmsen, Germany. Spector is currently an artist-in-residence recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation. For more information please contact Laura Spector directly at LauraMakesArt@gmail.com.

George Holland

George Holland is a non-commercial student painter who paints for his own enjoyment and artistic expression. He is a retired pharmaceutical research chemist who split his professional career between a major New Jersey pharmaceutical company and startup pharmaceutical companies within the Texas Medical Center. While tapering down from active employment, he has engaged painting as one of several alternative creative endeavors post retirement. His student association with instructor Laura Spector began in January, 2014 when he took her course at Art League Houston, entitled “Acrylic Painter’s Toolbox – An Intro To Acrylics”. Over the intervening years he has continued his studies with Laura working in acrylics, oils and, to a lesser extent, sketching, gauache and water color. He has studied in Europe as a member of Laura’s Art Immersion Courses which have been held in Florence (2018), Amsterdam (2019) Berlin (2022) and Patis and Provence (2023). g2holland@hotmail.com

Barb Brooks

Barb Brooks began painting in 2018 after a 39 year career in the energy business. She has taken classes in the continuing education programs at Rice University, Art League and Watercolor Society of Houston. Her painting mediums are watercolor, gouache, and acylic and paints landscapes and cityscapes. She can be contacted at brksbarbara@aol.com.

Ellen Salvage

Ellen Salvage has been creating artwork since she moved to the United States in 2009. She started studying art at Houston Art League and then continued taking different classes with Laura Spector. She is interested in painting portraits of people and pets trying to convey not only likeness in appearance but also a character of the subject. She also gets inspiration from traveling and visiting museums in different countries. ellen.salvage@gmail.com.

Sandra Sandoval

Sandra Sandoval is a native Houstonian and has been making art for two years. She takes classes at the Art League, Glasscock Center, and the Watercolor Art Society. She predominantly works in graphite and liquid charcoal and has recently moved into watercolor and gouache. Her work reflects some of her favorite haunts from Paris and France. Ssandovaltx@gmail.com

Anson Koshy

Anson Koshy, a native Houstonian, is a visual artist, pediatrician and educator. His portrait paintings intentionally weave his love of celebrity, persona, fashion, and design with bold color palettes to formulate a narrative connecting to both the subject and artist. His latest series “Days of Future Past”, aims to remind us of the value of examining the past in order to envision what lies ahead. www.malabarandmontrose.com IG: @artist_anson

Allison Haun

Allison Haun grew up in Houston and has been drawn to art all her life. She loves creativity and design across many mediums from painting, drawing, and photography to quilting and fabric design. Recently she has taken up gouache which she finds to be a fun and quick medium. Allison has been a student and fan of Laura Spector since 2020.