Public Art UHS Remembers
Floyd Newsum (1950 – 2024)

We are deeply saddened by the loss of Floyd Newsum, visionary artist, dedicated professor, and co-founder of Project Row Houses. He was a mentor, colleague and friend who eagerly shared his wealth of knowledge and artistic talent with the entire University of Houston System. 

“Floyd was a warm, gracious, funny and generous man whose commitment to his craft and community were admirable.” said Michael Guidry, Curator of Public Art UHS. “He walked the walk and talked the talk in ways most of us can only aspire to. His compassion and positivity were infectious, and his memory will carry on not only with his family but with the thousands of students he taught and with everyone he encountered over his lifetime.”

His legacy lives on at the university with his monumental four-panel painting Contemplating Success installed across four floors of the Commerce Building at the University of Houston-Downtown. Commissioned in 2004 by Public Art UHS, the work embodies the ideals of higher education with the four ascending paintings referencing the four years of university life.  

“Floyd approached his public art by investing himself in the history and purpose of the commission,” said Mark Cervenka, Director of O’Kane Gallery and Professor of Art at the University of Houston-Downtown. “The UHD commission was very meaningful to him as it allowed the artist to celebrate the importance of education on his own campus. The ladder is prominent in these panels as it exemplifies the idea of growth in education but perhaps also as a symbol of curiosity and ascension. The ladder, additionally, was an image honoring his own father as one of the first African American firefighters in the South. Floyd loved teaching and considered himself as an ambassador making the arts accessible and relevant to the lives of students from all majors and disciplines.” 

Originally from Memphis, Newsum received a Master of Fine Arts in painting from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University. He moved to Houston in 1976 and began work as a professor of art at UHD, where he continued teaching for nearly 48 years.  

The artist has been included in over 100 exhibitions and, in 2023, had a retrospective show titled Floyd Newsum: Evolution of Sight at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in Madison, Wisconsin. His works are represented in prestigious collections such as the Smithsonian National Museum of African History and Culture, Washington DC; the Studio Museum of Harlem, New York; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among many others.  

He will be dearly missed.