One among Amarie Gipson’s many items is an unyielding need to ask questions. Having labored at establishments like The Modern Austin, the Artwork Institute of Chicago, and the Studio Museum in Harlem, Gipson has cultivated a follow of inspecting constructions and pushing past their limitations. Her inquiries are incisive and rooted in a profound respect for individuals of all backgrounds, with a central aim of increasing artwork’s potential past museum partitions.
A real polymath, Gipson is a author, curator, DJ, and founding father of The Reading Room, an impartial reference library with greater than 700 books dedicated to Black artwork, tradition, politics, and historical past. Titles just like the century-spanning African Artists sit alongside Toni Morrison’s novel Sula and Angela Davis’ provocative Freedom is a Fixed Wrestle, which connects oppression and state violence around the globe. The simultaneous breadth of genres and the gathering’s give attention to Black life permit Gipson and different patrons to very actually exist alongside those that’ve impressed the library.
One afternoon in late April 2025, I spoke with Gipson through video about her love for the South, her dedication to assembly individuals the place they’re at, and her hopes for The Studying Room.
This dialog has been edited and condensed for readability.
Grace: I’d like to begin initially. Why begin a challenge of this nature in Houston?
Amarie: I’m a scholar of so many unimaginable Black ladies writers, artists, curators, thinkers, and theorists, and I actually take critically the recommendation that I’ve gotten by way of studying their work. If one thing doesn’t exist, you must begin it. I’ve moved and migrated by way of these nice United States for a while, and after I moved again to Houston seven and a half years in the past, The Studying Room didn’t exist. I wanted it to occur. I wished to expertise my books someplace exterior of my residence, and I additionally wished to create a vacation spot for folk once they got here to city, in order that my pals know that they’ve a cool place to land. These are the 2 predominant causes: it didn’t exist, and I wished someplace to go.
Grace: There’s a factor that occurs in Chicago on a regular basis–I believe it occurs anyplace that’s not New York or Los Angeles–and the methods artists take into consideration their careers and what it takes to achieve success. There’s usually this notion that to succeed in a sure degree, they should go to a kind of two cities. And I might think about Houston has an identical feeling.
Amarie: Completely. I believe it’s essential that everybody leaves residence in some unspecified time in the future. However don’t go away since you don’t suppose that something exists right here. Go away since you wish to see what else there may be and produce it again. Come again residence and create the issues that you simply wish to see right here.
I don’t suppose I may have The Studying Room in New York. I don’t suppose I may have The Studying Room in Chicago. It’s not my residence. I really feel extra empowered right here. I really feel safer to have created one thing like this, particularly in a state that’s so extraordinarily suppressed, politically, socially. However culturally, we stand agency, particularly in Houston. So, it felt pure.
Grace: What space of Houston are you at the moment in?
What extra can we do to connect with the individuals? How can we bridge the hole between the parents who care about Black artwork and people who care about Black individuals and the issues that have an effect on us?
Amarie Gipson
Amarie: The Studying Room is at the moment positioned in north downtown, proper throughout the way in which from the College of Houston’s downtown campus. Downtown shouldn’t be essentially the most thrilling place within the metropolis, however it’s a assembly level for all various kinds of cultures. The Studying Room lives inside a hybrid artwork studio referred to as Sanman Studios. There are two models. They operate as an occasion house and manufacturing studio. There’s an artwork gallery, an artist residency work house, and The Studying Room. That is Houston’s inventive hotspot.
Grace: I’m questioning how your institutional coaching has influenced The Studying Room. How have these experiences pushed you to make one thing that’s decidedly not institutional?
Amarie: I used to be simply enthusiastic about this every week in the past. I got here into the curatorial area round 2016, and that was on the peak of philanthropic establishments in search of methods to diversify. One of many options was to introduce youthful, undergraduate-aged college students from underrepresented communities to the sphere. I did the Mellon Undergraduate Curatorial Fellowship on the Museum of Fantastic Arts, Houston. I used to be a junior in faculty on the time, and this program actually gave me a crash course on what museums are like; how the exhibitions are produced, the place the artwork is saved, and the way curators work with different departments. I spent two years on the MFAH within the Prints and Drawings division, and I used to be at all times in search of Black artists. I noticed shortly that if nobody’s right here to advocate for this work to return out of storage, nobody’s ever going to see it. I used to be making an attempt to sift by way of the gathering, discover, find, and make these works extra seen.
I additionally acknowledged early in my profession that persons are actually essential to me. I began asking questions: What are the capabilities and duties of artwork establishments? What are we actually presupposed to be doing? I do know what we have now performed, however what’s the objective? I ultimately took these inquiries to Chicago and New York, and I moved round to totally different museums to attempt to discover the reply.
A turning level was after I received employed on the Studio Museum in Harlem, which, for any younger Black individual within the artwork world, is the head. It’s the place. It’s the place a number of careers begin. Many of us’ first job within the artwork world is on the Studio Museum, they usually’re being formed and molded to proceed within the area. Nevertheless, shortly after arriving, I noticed the Studio Museum was not the place.
In 2020, I appeared round in any respect the totally different establishments throughout New York sharing statements of solidarity and pledging institutional and systemic adjustments. I wished the Studio Museum to do greater than say, “We’ve been doing this. We’ve been dedicated.” As a result of what are we doing and does that dedication to care solely profit Black artists, or does it present up in our consideration for all Black individuals? There are actual Black people who find themselves being focused and locked up for protesting the truth that police are murdering us. What extra can we do to connect with the individuals? How can we bridge the hole between the parents who care about Black artwork and people who care about Black individuals and the issues that have an effect on us? What in regards to the individuals working in and for the museum? What are we doing to help the wrestle exterior of working our lofty little museum jobs? The response that I received is that the establishment goes to maintain doing what it’s been doing. And that simply wasn’t sufficient for me. I labored in my entire profession to get there, however I noticed that it was not the place I believed it was or hoped it may very well be.
And so I left that job and located a technique to join my beliefs with my actions. I’ve taken the entire abilities that I’ve discovered—the right way to construct relationships, the right way to hear, the right way to analyze and arrange issues, document maintaining, information administration, object administration, storytelling—and do one thing completely totally different, one thing that prioritizes on a regular basis Black individuals in a means that reinforces our mental, cultural, and artistic capability. If it’s elevated entry to literature, if it’s elevated entry to tradition, if it’s only a place that has air con, a spot the place individuals can come and hang around, so be it. It’s making house for all of it in a means that hopefully destroys the out-of-touch, elitist hierarchy that surrounds “the work.”
Grace: That’s one of many issues that I believe is so highly effective about The Studying Room and the work that you simply’re doing. Artwork books are notoriously costly, and aside from sporadic free days, museums typically should not low-cost both. You actually do steadiness such a powerful aesthetic perspective and a vital rigor usually related to establishments with the accessibility of one thing like a public library meant for actually everybody. I ponder, on a tangible degree, what goes into making an area like that?
If it’s elevated entry to literature, if it’s elevated entry to tradition, if it’s only a place that has air con, a spot the place individuals can come and hang around, so be it. It’s making house for all of it in a means that hopefully destroys the out-of-touch, elitist hierarchy that surrounds “the work.”
Amarie Gipson
Amarie: I didn’t have a bodily house when the thought first got here to life. I began engaged on the idea in the summertime of 2021. I handed by an outdated American Attire storefront on this neighborhood in Houston referred to as Montrose. I bear in mind going to that American Attire as a teen. I by no means may afford something, however I used to be at all times stepping into there to attempt stuff on. I appeared inside, and I used to be like, what would I do if I had the house? On the time, I didn’t actually know the way anyone may afford something exterior of paying their lease. Individuals who had small retailers, espresso retailers, small companies, kitschy little shops, I used to be like, what do you have to do so as to make this occur? I ultimately discovered my technique to Sanman. I met Seth Rogers, the proprietor. I used to be working for {a magazine}, so I began asking him questions.
I used to be additionally DJing on the time. I had been DJing for 4 or 5 years previous to transferring to Houston, however my DJ profession blew up after I moved again as a result of the tradition right here is so wealthy. Nightlife is a big a part of the town. I began saving my cash from my day job, gigs, and partnerships. I might be on the occasions that I might play, and I’d be yelling to individuals over the audio system, “I’m constructing a library. I’m constructing a library!”
I misplaced my job on the journal within the fall of 2022, and I had stumble upon sufficient cash to focus absolutely on The Studying Room. I constructed the web site to anchor the idea. I scanned the back and front covers of 325 of the books that had been within the assortment on the time. I constructed a powerful relationship with Sanman and hosted a two-day, in-person expertise after I launched the positioning. There have been about 130 individuals who got here that weekend simply to hang around. Somebody approached me and mentioned, “I didn’t even know this many books on Black artwork existed.” That was the second every thing made sense, after I realized I’m on the correct path.
As a result of it is a reference library, the place the gathering doesn’t flow into, we’ve received to do applications. Each single program that we do is impressed by or related to a e book that’s within the assortment. That’s bringing individuals in, and it’s leaving them with a studying listing in order that they’ll maintain coming again. That’s been the formulation to date. My ambition is to garner sufficient help and neighborhood response in order that after I get away of a shared house, the site visitors is regular and the influence deepens.
Grace: After we take into consideration assembly individuals the place they’re at, a lot of it’s about creating a number of entry factors into the work that you simply’re doing. When somebody is available in, what does that course of appear like? How do you interact with them?
Amarie: It relies upon. Most folk are identical to, oh my god, I like this house. Another people will likely be like, I’m engaged on a challenge about Black hair. Do you’ve got any books about hair? And I’ll go and pull books about hair. I’ll clarify the relationships between the books on the principle show and level out how I’ve chosen and positioned issues, then give a crash course on the place you’ll find what.
So even when they don’t know what they’re in search of, pointing them in a route, they’ll be capable of wayfind. It’s a vacation spot for discovery. You are available, and also you fall down a rabbit gap.
Grace: I consider curation primarily as a means of offering context. I’m questioning how the vastness of your assortment—in that there’s historical past, politics, and tradition, and also you’re not targeted on solely having visible artwork or images—manifests as a part of your dedication to accessibility. What you’re doing in making these bigger connections and offering context so that individuals don’t must learn an paintings or picture by way of a standard artwork historic, canonical perspective, however slightly can method it by way of music or politics or a cultural second, looks like an accessibility transfer to me.
Amarie: You mentioned it so superbly. Severely, that’s it. The books that persons are aware of are what’s going to attract them in, after which they’ll see that the majority of the gathering is about visible artwork. Hopefully, what they know is a gateway to what they don’t know and what I wish to share. When you open up Arthur Jafa’s monograph, MAGNUMB, I need you to know Hortense Spillers and Saidiya Hartman. You gotta know all these individuals. Their books reside right here as a result of they’re in dialog with each other. The artist’s monograph lives alongside the anthologies or the novels that impressed the creation of the work. The gathering focuses closely on visible artwork, simply because that’s what I collected. I’m enthusiastic about visible tradition at massive, but in addition historical past. How can we situate these objects inside a bigger continuum? We reside inside that continuum, so it’s essential to see every thing in live performance with each other.
To your level about accessibility, it begins to faucet into that extra tangible impact, tangible influence, proper? We are able to have conversations about politics in right here, and it doesn’t essentially must be by way of the lens of an artist, however as a result of the e book lives within the assortment, we are able to sit and discuss something, proper? We are able to discuss democracy or the dearth thereof. We are able to discuss in regards to the American flag. We are able to discuss something as a result of there’s one thing right here that’s going to assist us situate it. We are able to take heed to the music. There are such a lot of intersections, and having assortment classes that increase past artwork and design permits for that.
Grace: I used to be studying an older interview with Martine Syms lately about her publishing follow. She talked about publishing as a technique to make concepts public—after which to make use of that to create a public round an thought as a result of you’ve got shared reference factors. That feels similar to what you’re doing. The Studying Room, by bringing individuals collectively and permitting these conversations, is definitely creating this collective thought and a chance to have this shared mind-set about one thing.
Amarie: For positive. I take into consideration that lots. Artwork books, not solely due to the value, are largely inaccessible to the general public, however are additionally inaccessible to artists who deserve them. It’s a must to go a great distance in your profession earlier than any individual looks like they care sufficient to make a e book for you. You normally have to attend for a significant retrospective or survey exhibition. Or for those who’re actually younger and sizzling and also you’ve received gallery illustration, they could make you a e book.
I’m additionally enthusiastic about how The Studying Room is usually a supply, a bridge, or a doula that finds methods to amplify artists who’re being missed or have been working for a extremely very long time and nonetheless don’t have books, how their work can land within the fingers of the general public in a means that’s accessible. I’m hoping to begin a publishing department of The Studying Room within the subsequent couple of years. I’m going to begin with zines this 12 months and see what occurs.
I’m additionally enthusiastic about the legacy of impartial Black publishers throughout historical past, popping out of various cities, and what it means proper now within the age of misinformation, to create a platform for reality. Yeah, will probably be making artwork books. However we’ll even be making political pamphlets, recirculating concepts from the previous. How many individuals know what the Black Panther Get together’s 10-point platform actually was? What if we made posters? How can we apply these issues as we speak? I’m excited about all of that. I wish to do each single factor that I couldn’t do in these museums, that’s too taboo or too controversial to do in a museum.
I really feel far more current and clairvoyant than ever earlier than. I noticed that for the primary 12 months of working The Studying Room, I used to be like, I’m not studying sufficient. I used to be targeted extra on the construction of this factor, filling in gaps within the assortment, all of that. Final summer time, I made a summer time studying listing for myself, and I learn ten books. It felt so good to only cease and skim. I really feel more healthy, calmer, and stronger. I’ve been reworked. I need that feeling for everyone.
The Studying Room is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday at 1109 Windfall St., Houston. Discover the gathering in the online archive, and comply with the newest on Instagram.
