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Leon Renfro was an American artist, designer, and educator based in Houston, Texas. His career spanned industrial design, fine art, and education, including work with NASA and decades of teaching at Texas Southern University.
His artwork reflects African and African American cultural influence, symbolism, memory, and spirituality. Through both his creative work and his teaching, he helped shape a generation of artists while building a body of work that continues to resonate.
TIMELINE
1939
Born in Houston, Texas
1964
Bachelor of Arts in Education, Texas Southern University
1964–1965
Designer and illustrator, Manned Spacecraft Center (NASA), Houston
1960s–1970s
Industrial and technical design work including Brown and Root
1974
Returned to Texas Southern University to teach design
1977
Participant, FESTAC ’77, Lagos, Nigeria
1982
Master of Fine Arts, Sam Houston State University
1980s
Faculty roles at Texas Southern University including assistant and associate professor
1989
Work included in Black Art: Ancestral Legacy, Dallas Museum of Art
Legacy
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Leon Renfro’s legacy lives through his work, his students, and the ideas he left behind.
Through Brown Renfro: The Professor. The Student. The Curator., his work continues to move, be studied, and be shared.
This is not only preservation. It is continuation.
Sources and References
• Black Art in Houston — John Biggers, Carroll Simms, Edward Weems
• Black Art: Ancestral Legacy: The African Impulse in African-American Art
• Black Artists of the New Generation — Elton Fax
• “Artist Displays Seven Summers of Work,” The Huntsville Item
• Leon Renfro biographical data and exhibition records
• Texas Southern University and Sam Houston State University archives
Leon Renfro, The Professor, stands at the root of Brown Renfro.
An artist, designer, and educator, his work moved between the studio, the university, and industry.
Selected Works
• Trees of Life (1977)
• Egyptian Bulls (1987)
• Additional works from his thesis and exhibition archive
From designing at NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center to teaching at Texas Southern University, his life’s work reflects both technical mastery and creative vision.He believed that what is created should not remain still.It should travel, be experienced, and live beyond its origin.This page honors his life, his work, and the legacy that continues to grow from what he planted.
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