Ana Villaronga-Roman has been curating spaces in the greater Houston and Katy areas for more than 25 years.[/caption]
After 25 years in the Houston art market, 21 of those years living in Katy, Ana Villaronga-Roman decided to shift her attention to serving the greater Katy art community. She has served as curator for Babaloo International Cafe and Bar since 2011 and was a founding member of the Katy Culture and Arts Alliance and Fort Bend Culture and Arts Alliance, both formed in 2011.
In 2013 Villaronga-Roman founded the Katy Contemporary Arts Museum in downtown Katy. She said the museum has been self-funded and supported through memberships from its inception. The museum was granted federal 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in June.
Villaronga-Roman oversaw the restoration of the historic Katy Lumber Company building, which serves as KCAM’s gallery, event space and arts classroom. She directs and curates the space and also works with local artists to prepare them for careers in the arts. To help meet the museum’s mission of supporting local art, KCAM’s entrance is dedicated to selling art exclusively from Katy artists.
What does it mean to be a curator?
Curating is not only choosing the artists but also handpicking the pieces that come into a show. Whether I go to the artist’s studio or they bring the work here, I pick what’s in the show and then decide how to install it so each one of the artists is displayed in the best way possible. That’s all curating. One artist shouldn’t be more important than another.
I’m actually staying quite conservative as far as contemporary art is concerned. I’m keeping it pretty low key. Almost everything I’ve shown so far has been easily accepted [by the public].
Did a lot of work go into the building restoration?
I did a lot of work to try and get the building back to how it was [in 1953]. For example, [the front] windows had been closed off and I reopened them. I wanted to keep as much of the integrity of the original building as I could. The building also wasn’t up to code, so it took a tremendous amount of work to redo the electrical and air conditioning.
Why contemporary art, and why Katy?
There are a large number of artists who live out in the suburbs. [And] if you work in Houston, once you drive to the suburbs you don’t want to have to drive in again for culture. Part of the mission of this museum is to make sure people don’t have to drive into Houston anymore [for art] or as often. Why contemporary? Because that’s what’s needed. [People] are very familiar with the traditional [artists]; what they need is [access to] contemporary art.
What kind of response have you had?
Wonderful. People have really embraced [KCAM]. People who don’t get the contemporary art, they appreciate that I repurposed a historic building and restored it, so it is now living again. Some people love that we’re doing the ‘It’s a Katy Thing’ [branding campaign], so there’s something for everyone. I think everyone in our community can find something to love about KCAM.
How do you decide which artists to show?
KCAM has specific submissions guidelines that are on our website. It’s just me reviewing people’s work, so I only review submissions twice a year [in January and July]. For the most part we only show Katy and Fort Bend [County] artists, but sometimes we look at Texas and regional artists.
What is the next big project ?
Right now I’m launching the Big 10 Art Competition for Texas artists. It’s open to high school students and adults in different age groups. It’ll be judged entirely by curators and the winners will have a show at KCAM next summer.
