Womble Bond Dickinson’s Houston Office Launches Art & Diversity Initiative by hosting Exhibition Showcasing Four Local Artists

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HOUSTON—Womble Bond Dickinson’s office in the Houston Skyline District normally is a professional workplace for attorneys, patent agents, paralegals, legal assistants, and other legal industry professionals who help clients achieve their business goals. But starting Dec. 6, Womble Bond Dickinson’s Houston Office also will showcase a different type of outstanding work—the creativity of four local Houston artists.

Womble Bond Dickinson has announced their Art & Diversity Initiative, a series of rotating art exhibitions organized to engage with local artists and create visibility for them. This rotating art exhibition will feature local artists reflecting their interpretation of select themes during a two part series annually launching December 2023.  The theme for the first series is “Nos Populi: We the People.”

Our initial installation, “Nos Populi: We the People” exhibits works of art that highlight the diverse cultures, perspectives, and identities of Houstonians. The exhibition will bring together works of accomplished Houston artists John Bernhard, Luisa Duarte, Farima Fooladi, and Nel Gaskin, installed across the main floors of Womble Bond Dickinson’s Houston office, recently relocated to the 717 Texas office tower to provide additional office space for its growing Houston legal practice.

The installation will be available to be viewed virtually. 

Womble Bond Dickinson Houston Office Managing Partner Jeffrey Whittle said, “We are honored to launch this innovative exhibition, Art & Diversity, that features the work of talented local artists.  We believe that this exhibition reflects our commitment to diversity and inclusion to and within the greater Houston community, and we are excited to share it with the community broadly. We also believe the art can create a personal touch to the Houston office.”

Kevin Hall, Chair of the firm’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, said, “Art is a powerful tool for promoting understanding and inclusion. Through creative expression from different traditions, art gives voice to the many varied experiences of our community.  We look forward to celebrating the diverse cultures, perspectives, and identities of our great city and to sharing the works of these talented artists with friends and clients of Womble Bond Dickinson and the community at large.”

“We the People” is a celebration of the strength and beauty that can be found in our differences, and provides a reminder that, as a society, we are stronger when we are inclusive. Our Art & Diversity initiative is aimed to support visual artists, who are often society’s storytellers, to engage with the community. The artists engage us with their creations as mindscapes for us to think creatively and wander somewhere we might never have imagined before. We would like to think these works to tell a story about Houston and Womble Bond Dickinson as well as represent Womble Bond Dickinson’s core value, which is “respect for the individual,” said Womble Bond Dickinson Patent Agent Azie Aziz, Ph.D., the primary organizer of the exhibit.

The exhibit kicks off on the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 6 at the “Open Doors, Open Minds: An Evening of Art, Culture, and Connections” event taking place at Womble Bond Dickinson’s Houston office. Guests will have the opportunity to view the exhibit, hear from the artists and Womble attorneys, and mingle with a diverse crowd of business individuals from the Houston area.

“Nos Populi: We the People” will be on display through June 6, 2024. The exhibit is supported by Womble Dickinson’s Houston office and the firm’s Diversity Committee.

About the Artists:

• John Bernhard—Swiss-American artist, photographer, and writer who traveled North America extensively before settling in Houston in 1980. For more than three decades he has chosen the medium of photography to explore the everyday world from new perspectives, breaking away into different pathways of artistic expression. (“Displaced” attached.)

• Luisa Duarte— An accomplished Venezuelan American multidisciplinary artist. With a background in architecture, she has garnered widespread recognition for her distinctive and original artistic style, characterized by sharp-edged shapes that range from composed monotypes to vibrant paintings. (“Crossing the Bridge” attached.)

• Farima Fooladi—A painter who combines existing and imagined personal memories with artistic and literary references to create complex installations that blur the distinction between fantasy and fact. (“Road of Curiosities” attached.)

• Nel Gaskin—A visual artist currently working and living in Houston. She paints her pieces from pure imagination, combining emotion and a variety of expressions on the characters she creates. (“Ladies” attached.)