Philly artist commissioned for Wells Fargo’s corporate offices in NYC’s Hudson Yards
NEW YORK — Philly mixed-media artist Pauline Houston-McCall beamed as she peeled back the sheet of plastic covering her oil painting, Sala-Adoni. The large work, hanging in a conference room at Wells Fargo’s new corporate offices in New York’s skyline-altering Hudson Yards complex, is part of a 19-piece collection — 11 sculptures and eight paintings — that the artist was commissioned to create for the location.
Once the covering was removed, she reached into her bag for a permanent marker and gingerly signed her name in the bottom right-hand corner.
For Houston-McCall, 54, the Hudson Yards commission, officially unveiled on Tuesday, Aug. 6, is a highlight of a long artistic career. Her work has been exhibited in and around Philadelphia since the early ’90s at venues that include the Painted Bride, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the Ellen Powell Tiberino Museum, and Rutgers-Camden’s Stedman Gallery.
But she’d never before received a commission of this magnitude. "It feels like a dream that I wasn’t allowed to dream,” she said. “I feel angelic.”
Her largest piece, Hudson Blue, hangs on a wall in a different Wells Fargo conference room, overlooking the Hudson River from 63 floors up.
Houston-McCall said it isn’t lost on her that most of the people who will be at the conference table there aren’t likely to be people of color. New York has a 3-1 ratio of white-to-black workers in all occupations, according to reporting by USA Today, but it’s nearly 6-1 in business and finance.
PAULINE HOUSTON MCCALL
ABOUT PAULINE MCCALL HOUSTON
Pauline Houston McCall is a multimedia artist, vocalist and activist who believes deeply in connecting the threads between many disciplines.
“Art is another way of speaking to the world.”
“I want to speak LOUD!”
Her large paintings and sculptures and intimate drawings have graced exhibitions throughout the tri-state area, with a deep focus on the falling and rising of the human spirit, told through figurative imagery and stories.
She has designed and painted multiple indoor and exterior murals in Philadelphia and is involved in the bold beautification of neighborhoods through the arts.
Pauline is also the lead vocalist, co-songwriter and co-creator of Soul music endeavor MOKA. MOKA has graced many stages and has enjoyed massively positive reviews in many publications across the globe for its innovation, style and originality.
Pauline Houston McCall co founder of musical projects SPIRITUAL THUNDER
(freak folk duo) and REGGAE THUNDER!
Pauline is the founder and director of the nationally acclaimed women’s artist collective “WOMEN HOLLER” – a collective that unites and invigorates women artists, transcending issues of race and age. “Intimate Exposures,” a WOMEN HOLLER premier exhibition at the Painted Bride – was featured on CBS 3’s “EYE ON PHILADELPHIA.”
Houston McCall’s art, as well as her activism, has appeared in numerous articles and publications including Working Mother Magazine.
Currently, Pauline Houston McCall is the sole artist for 30 Hudson Yards, New York's second tallest high rise to date.
Pauline Houston McCall’s 8 paintings and 11 sculptures are commissioned for 41st to the 48th floor of 30 Hudson YARDS.
Pauline has recently been a featured artist in the exhibition “Expressions of Humanity” at the African American Museum.
In addition to her art making and other creations, Pauline is an energetic educator that has led many community collaborative projects and Artist Residencies in the Tri-State area for the past 13 years. Pauline Houston has taught multi-disciplinary arts at Perkins Center for the Arts as well as Appel Farms and is involved in the creation of both musical performance and visual arts residencies in area schools.
Pauline is a resident of Philadelphia and grew up playing by the Wissahickon in the beautiful Fairmount park with her many brothers and sisters.
She received a BFA in Printmaking from Moore College of Art.
“I have always listened to the voices of my ancestors. The ancestors truly guide my work and give voice to power and beauty!”
Her travels to and through India in 1991 have left her with deeper appreciation and a deeper imprint of the rising of the human spirit. This experience has connected her directly to the figurative narratives in her work.
EXHIBITIONS:
2008 “Expressions of Humanity” African American Museum
2007“Girard Nights Community Arts Space”
2004 “WOMEN HOLLER” group exhibition Painted Bride Art Center
2005 Community College of Philadelphia
2018 /2019 School District of Philadelphia
2019 Art in City Hall Creative Philadelphia Office of Arts and Culture
2003 Ellen Powell Tiberino Museum
2001 Mayhelen Art Center
1999 United Artist Front
1993 Stedman Gallery
1992 “Made in America” Camden County Cultural & Heritage Hopkins House Gallery
1991 United States Embassy Gallery in India
The Carlos Reid Gallery Music Playlists
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