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“I was the boy who loved to draw and never grew up,” said Reginald Adams, a professional artist and founder of a Houston-based public art and design firm. Reginald C. Adams LLC,tell entrepreneur“And thanks to my incredibly supportive family, I’ve always been encouraged to do what I love.”
As Adams became a teenager and added other mediums to his creative practice, his circle of family support expanded to include paying customers. Thirty years later, he travels the world creating socially impactful artworks. Absolute Equality Juneteenth Mural Project.
“From 2014 to 2020, many of my works [was] Rooted in cultural symbols [and] “I wanted to create portraits and sculptures that would recognize or honor historical figures, primarily from the African-American community, for organizations, individuals and groups,” Adams says. Adams’ extensive collection of work includes: Juneteenth Legacy Projectcommissioned him to create a piece to celebrate the holiday.
Prior to starting his own business, Adams served as executive director of the Museum of Cultural Arts Houston (MOCAH) for over 10 years, where he focused on community-based public art and honed his skills around community engagement and supporting groups that engaged young people in creating public art. However, because Adams worked for a nonprofit, the work he created during that time was in the public domain.
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“I think it’s great that you’re giving back to your community, but what legacy are you going to leave for your children?”
One day, a “very smart businessman” sat Adams down and asked him a “powerful” question: “He said, ‘Reginald, I think what you’re doing is great and I think what you’re doing in the community is great, but what legacy are you going to leave for your kids?'” The businessman encouraged Adams to start a private company and commissioned a large work of art worth the equivalent of a year’s salary.
So Adams formed an LLC to continue creating community-based work, and now has full ownership and control over all projects and designs.
When Adams went out and started his own business, one of the biggest challenges he faced was his own mindset. “Coming from the non-profit world where you’re expected to do a lot of things for free or for free, I had to establish the value of what I was doing,” Adams explains. “And I realized that my work has value because it’s tangible. I’ve always dreamed big, so all my projects are very large-scale. But for a lot of artists, if you’re not trained to know how much your work is worth, it’s hard to speak about it with confidence.”
The change took some time to get used to, but Adams says a supportive community gave him the confidence to speak up about the value of his work and stick to it. His company now has six professional artists who are independent contractors, and he hires more as needed.
Image credit: ©2024 Courtesy of Reginald C. Adams LLC. Absolute Equality Juneteenth Mural Project, Washington, DC. Artist: Reginald C. Adams and Creatives 2024.
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“I want other artists to take a good look at what’s around them. [at whom you] Standing next to me.”
Adams says it’s important to surround yourself with people who believe in you, and that doesn’t necessarily have to be family or friends. Early in his career, he joined various business organizations, including the American Leadership Forum and the Houston Future Center, to “put himself in the middle of the decision-makers.” “I would encourage other artists to look around them,” he says. [at whom you] “We’re standing next to you because your network is your net worth,” he adds.
In January 2020, Adams A series of mosaic monuments in Liberation Parkis the oldest municipal park in Houston and Texas, and was founded by former slaves Reverend John Henry Jack Yates, Richard Bullock, Richard Allen, and Reverend David Elias Dibble. The Galveston-based Juneteenth Legacy Project then commissioned him to create a mural. Project founder Sheridan Lorentz wanted to paint a mural to commemorate Juneteenth in Galveston. Her family owns the Old Galveston Square Building, next to the Osterman Building, which was the headquarters of the Union Army in 1865.
“The Osterman Building doesn’t exist anymore,” Adams said, “and it’s now a parking lot, but that parking lot is right next to the wall that the Galveston Juneteenth mural is on, so that mural is the epicenter of this historic moment in American history.”
Adams admits that the project was “a little scary.” At 44 feet tall, 125 feet long and 5,000 square feet, it would be the largest mural he’s ever undertaken. But Adams was ready to take on the challenge, “especially given the nature of the project.” So, with a team of six artists and about 320 gallons of paint, Adams spent 1,300 hours over 27 days creating the piece. The work was unveiled three days after President Biden announced Juneteenth would be a federal holiday.
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“[Juneteenth] “It means different things all over the country, so we’re learning.”
“If you live in Texas, you know about Galveston; [are like]”People would ask me, ‘Where is Galveston?’ It was a great way to promote Galveston’s culture,” Adams said. “The scale of the murals made it so interesting.” [and] Beyond its visual content, the mural became a symbol of Juneteenth in many ways, with nearly every media network that featured news about Juneteenth or Galveston featuring the mural.”
Adams’ work had never received this much media attention before, but he noticed something. This is the way for you, Reginald. Juneteenth as a national holiday wasn’t just a trend, Adams said, and he wanted to take this story “beyond Galveston and across the country.” With support from Capital One, he’s done just that. Since 2021, the Absolute Equality Project has expanded with murals in 13 cities, including Los Angeles, Shreveport, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
Image Credit: ©2024 Courtesy of Reginald C. Adams LLC. Absolute Equality Juneteenth Mural Project, Shreveport, Louisiana. Artist: KaDavien Baylor 2022.
Before painting the Galveston mural, Adams said he “never really thought about Juneteenth” and didn’t participate in any celebrations of the holiday. But “learning what Juneteenth means changed that,” he added, noting that his work with the Absolute Equality Project has taken him around the country, giving him a better understanding of what the holiday means to people. “And it means different things all around the country, so you’re learning.”
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“My journey began because I was working on something that was important to me.”
Adams says that this Juneteenth he plans to attend the Los Angeles unveiling of “Absolute Equality,” a work by Samson Bimbo Adenugba, a Nigerian artist who now lives in Los Angeles. Adenugba’s mural is installed in one of Capital One’s cafes, “a very unusual environment for all of the murals in our collection,” Adams says, and he’s excited to see it in person.
For artists and entrepreneurs who want to create work that has social impact, Adams has some words of wise: “Focus on what’s important to you. My journey has only been possible because I worked on things that matter to me. I think when we focus on what’s important to us, we pay more attention to it. We’re able to be more authentic to who we are as creators, and our message is more authentic.”