Dallas’s art scene welcomed a new bastion of creativity earlier this year when the Adolphus Tower Gallery opened its doors. The gallery provides a space for established artists and Dallas College students and alumni to showcase their work.
The Adolphus Tower Gallery is a collaborative effort between Dallas College, Downtown Dallas, Inc. (a nonprofit focused on elevating the downtown experience to promote safety, sustainability, and inclusivity), FGIII Fine Art Productions (a “full-service, comprehensive art advisory team”), and Hoque Global (the investment company that owns Adolphus Tower).
Located at the corner of Main and Akard in the heart of downtown Dallas, the gallery has successfully opened three exhibitions. The most recent, headlined by Dora Zeneth Reynosa and titled Si La Riegas Creces, will run through December 27.
The initial idea for the gallery sprang from discussions between Ahava Silkey-Jones, Vice Provost for the School of Creative Arts, Entertainment and Design at Dallas College, and Shalissa Perry, Downtown Dallas, Inc.’s Chief Marketing Officer, around leveraging space downtown to provide greater visibility for student artwork.
“We have…the El Centro Downtown Campus [with a] great visual arts and fashion program, but no one can really see it because we’re on the 11th floor of One Main Place and kind of insular in our building,” says Silkey-Jones.
They quickly realized that Adolphus Tower’s location would make it ideal for their goals. They hoped that the Tower’s owners at Hoque Global might be interested in replacing the ads on the windows with student art displays. The company was not only interested – they wanted to take the idea even further, allowing Dallas College to utilize the interior of Adolphus Tower and “activate” the space with art.
“It’s a key space, key location, the heart of downtown,” says Perry. “And it made perfect sense with all of the windows to do something that was beautiful from the outside as well as activated from the inside.”
Arthur Santa-Maria, a vice president with Hoque Global, says the partnership is a natural evolution of the work the company – and its founder, Mike Hoque – have been doing for years. “Mike opened his first business down here 20 years ago,” says Santa-Maria. “We’re Dallas people; we’re downtown people. And, you know, we see it as a no-brainer…to partner with people who are like-minded and want to have an impact in the community.”
The additional space Hoque Global provided allowed Silkey-Jones and Perry to expand on their initial idea, providing ample room for current Dallas College students and others in the community. “[It is] a huge space for us to fill with just student artwork,” says Silkey-Jones. “And we want to make sure that we’re also…showcasing local artists because we have a lot of students who then become local artists.”
FGIII Fine Art Productions came in to help fill the space and manage it on a day-to-day basis while also providing guidance to the student artists exhibiting there. Everyone involved in the gallery’s operation is clear that the Adolphus Tower Gallery is not a museum; it’s an interactive space meant to educate and empower the Dallas College students and alumni who exhibit there.
Frankie Garcia III, Principal of FGIII, says, “I don’t imagine…that this is your traditional gallery. I think this is just more of a ‘creative space’ where FGIII is…assisting the project [by] curating ‘wow factor’ pop-up exhibitions that have a story attached to [them]. And that story…will always relate back to that student at Dallas College, you know?
“Who is that student? And what does that student want to do? Are they creating art? And what do they hope to do with their art? Well, I want them to understand more of that in this space.”
The partnership with Hoque Global includes a commitment to employ Dallas College students and alumni to work the gallery. “We’re open [Thursday through Sunday], and we have Dallas College students working at the gallery under my team’s direction,” says Garcia. “So they’re getting that direct experience of what it’s like to interact with individuals in a gallery atmosphere, and Hoque Global is paying them an hourly rate to do it, so we’re sustaining a program.”
The Adolphus Tower Gallery also allows the students to share the exhibition space with established artists like Dora Zeneth Reynosa. Reynosa is currently headlining the gallery with a collection of her work entitled Si La Riegas Creces, which she describes as a “cohesive series of paintings” from across her five-year career, emphasizing the importance of allowing oneself to make mistakes without judgment. “In Mexico [Si La Riegas Creces] has a double meaning,” says Reynosa. “The word ‘riegas’ means ‘to water something’ or ‘to mess up something.’”
Reynosa sees the Adolphus Tower Gallery as an invaluable asset for young artists. “It’s…unheard of, to be honest, what they’re doing,” she says. “The Adolphus Tower Gallery is honestly…such an incredible thing because not only are they providing the students with mentorship, but they’re also providing a literal space that’s in downtown. It’s a beautiful gallery. And [the students are] able to really get their hands in and see…what goes…into putting a show together, what it takes to manage a gallery. That’s not something a lot of people get to do. It’s an incredible opportunity.”
Tiffany Frame, a Dallas College alumni who now works for the school as a coordinator for the twelve galleries located on its seven campuses, has had the opportunity to exhibit her work at Adolphus and also works there on the weekends, educating visitors about the work on display and the purpose of the space.
Frame says the gallery has had a positive impact on students. “I see them light up…they’re so excited, especially when we have, you know, their opening shows, and [they are] seeing the reality of what art can really become and how it’s really needed in our society.”
The local community has also supported the gallery and what it represents. “We hear it time and time again,” says Garcia. “People passing by are like, ‘My goodness…I’m so glad that you’re utilizing this space for what you’re doing…this is what we needed downtown.’”
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