Artwork by Houston-Based Artist, Sarah Welch On View Now in Downtown Houston

New Work, Commute, on View at Main Street Marquee until November 2019

Houston Downtown Management District (Downtown District) installed the latest rotation of the Main Street Marquee, a billboard-sized canvas on the Main Street Market in Downtown Houston. Commute, a work by Houston-based artist and illustrator Sarah Welch, opened on June 3 and will remain on view through November 2019.

The Main Street Marquee is a cornerstone of Art Blocks at Main Street Square, a public art initiative that has activated the three-block pedestrian plaza with a series of site-specific installations since March 2016.

Welch’s work for the marquee, titled Commute, is rendered in the artist’s signature comic book style. It depicts two women in profile, sitting back-to-back on a commuter train, each reading a different book. Through the train window is a glimpse of a classic Houston mixed-zoning neighborhood, with an auto shop and home side-by-side. 

Commute is both a nod to everyday life in Houston and a metaphor for the power of books to transport readers through time and space.

“The Main Street Marquee continues to be a great space to showcase work by local and regional artists,” said Angie Bertinot, the Downtown District’s director of marketing and communications. “We were drawn to Sarah’s bold, fresh aesthetic and love Commute’s deeper message that one doesn’t have to physically travel far to experience new things.”

Born in Austin, TX, Welch has lived and worked in Houston since 2012. She regularly publishes prints, zines and comics in collaboration with Mystic Multiples, a local print shop specializing in letterpress and risography; and is a co-organizer of Zine Fest Houston, a volunteer-based organization and annual one-day festival dedicated to promoting zines, comics and other forms of small press. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Art Blocks is curated by the Downtown District with the help of community leadership and project consultation by Weingarten Art Group.

For more information about Art Blocks and programming updates, please visit www.downtownhouston.org/art-blocks.