Students from 25 campuses across the Houston Independent School District are turning doors from storm-damaged homes into works of art that will be showcased throughout the city.
The fine arts initiative — known as Project aDOORe Houston — aims to strengthen school communities that were most impacted by Hurricane Harvey by providing students with a means to heal through the creation of art.
Students will use the doors to visually document how the storm affected them, their school, and their community. They also will be tasked with depicting how the city has overcome, united, and grown as a result of the storm.
“We know students in these school communities have gone through traumatic experiences as a result of Harvey,” HISD Superintendent Richard Carranza said. “Some of them may not be able to talk about what they went through. But we hope through art they’ll be able to express themselves and focus on the task at hand — learning.”
Project aDOORE Houston was created by HISD’s newly established Fine Arts Department. The doors will be displayed during the Project aDOORe Art Exhibition from Dec. 7 to Dec. 15 at HISD’s Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 W. 18th St.
Beginning Dec. 18, the doors will become part of a traveling exhibition that includes stops at the Hermann Park Reflecting Pool, Discovery Green, Houston Public Library-Downtown, and BBVA Compass Bank Stadium. The final stop of the traveling exhibition will be the HISD State of the Schools Luncheon at Hilton Americas Hotel in February.
“Everyone in Houston was affected in some way by Harvey,” HISD Visual Arts Curriculum Specialist Rickey Polidore Jr. said. “By taking this artwork to the community, we hope to encourage someone who may be having a hard time telling their own Harvey story.”
More information is available on the website: https://projectadoorehouston.com/