Notes from The Reading Room

Hello world! My name is Amarie (uhh-mar-ē) and I’m an arts worker, DJ and creative director from Houston, Texas. My practice orbits around Blackness and my writing is focused on making the work of Black artists, thinkers, and cultural producers accessible.

This newsletter (formerly known as The Art of Return) is part of my lifelong mission to create safe spaces that celebrate and critically engage the breadth of Black culture. In the spirit of reinvention, I’ve redesigned this newsletter after a project I consider to be my life’s work: a Black art reference library called The Reading Room.

With nearly a decade of experience in the art, music and media worlds, I built The Reading Room with a desire to share my knowledge. The library’s collection has a special emphasis on visual art and the American South and is made of more than 300 publications, including exhibition catalogs, monographs, zines, novels, and critical anthologies that I’ve been collecting since the 12th grade.

Consider this newsletter an extension of my physical notebook: a creative field guide, musings on art & culture, reading lists, things to watch and listen to, the occasional life update and honestly whatever else arises in my research.

However you found your way to this, I’m so glad you’re here and I really hope you stay.

With love,

Amarie


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recs + research by Amarie Cemone Gipson, founder of The Reading Room HTX — a Black art reference library in Houston, Texas.

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arts worker, DJ and creative director based in Houston, Texas.