“I’m a man of the earth. I work with my hands.”— Leon Renfro

In a 1982 article from Sam Houston State University, Leon Renfro described creating from memory instead of models, pulling from childhood, East Texas, African influences, and lived experience. The article highlighted his thesis exhibition featuring “seven summers of work” and noted that he often used materials connected to his upbringing, including burlap, wallpaper, earth colors, and texture.

“I work from memory instead of models. I find that it helps. The imagination works like this [he snaps his fingers] and it [the idea] comes quickly.”

— Leon Renfro, 1982

Decades later, those words still speak through the work.

Brown Renfro: The Professor. The Student. The Curator. is more than an exhibition. It is a continuation of memory, lineage, labor, and love carried forward through generations.

Reference article is in the comments.

www.BrownRenfro.com

We don’t just hang the art. We carry it on.