Jimmy Houston, Retro-Animation Artist Hosts Student Workshop at Art Center of Corpus Christi


SEPT 10, 2016  

Dianna Bluntzer, Director of Art Center Corpus Christi (ACCC) and Juan Antonio (Tony) Armadillo, ACCC Board Member, extended an invitation to Houston based Retro-Animation Artist, Jimmy Houston to host an educational art workshop for the Advance Placement Studio art students on Saturday, September 10th from 10am - 2pm at the ACCC campus.

Twenty-two students were hand selected for the special opportunity to spend four hours with the popular artist, to hear about his journey in becoming a professional artist. Armadillo, an art teacher of forty (40) years, had seen Houston’s artworks and marveled at the sentiment and mastery of execution behind his “Retro-Animation” characters.

“Our school district is identified as a low economic environment and has few opportunities to truly enhance student’s art experiences. Generally, the student’s best art experiences may occur when they participate in V.A.S.E., Visual Arts Scholastic Event and only if they get selected to represent our region at the State Level. So I feel that this visit is extremely important to our community,” said Armadillo. “Mr. Houston will be our first guest artist to address our CCISD students. It is not a goal for students to complete a finished work but rather gain new knowledge about the artist and his skills and approach to creating art.”

 The students listened intently to Jimmy Houston as he explained what it meant to him to be a professional artist, why he selected animation his main genre, how he conceived his twin primate characters “Rig & Rex.” Houston also recognized his amazing support system, which included his wife, Kendra, a Cy-Fair ISD Reading Enrichment and Dyslexia teacher, family, friends and his management team, CJL Media Arts Group.

 After the morning presentation, Houston led a hands-on work session inviting the talented students to create an original painting of their own. He instructed them to select a subject matter with a strong composition that had strong balance, rhythm, focus, and a clear theme. Houston stated that he was “Excited to impart something that art students rarely have the opportunity to do; get input from a professional artist.” “The students really enjoyed the workshop,” Sindi Alvarado, ACCC Education Coordinator said. “We would like to invite Jimmy Houston back to conduct an adult workshop.”