“I am a little boy who loved to draw and who never grew up” – Reginald Adams, skilled artist and founding father of a public art and design firm based in Houston Reginald C. Adams LLCsays Entrepreneur. “And thanks to an incredibly supportive family, I was always encouraged to do what I loved.”
As Adams entered his teens and added other media to his creative repertoire, his circle of family supporters expanded to incorporate paying customers. Thirty years later, he traveled the world creating artworks with social impact – including The Absolute Equality mural project from June.
“From 2014 to 2020, a lot of my work [was] rooted around cultural icons [and] historical figures, primarily from the African-American community, that some organization, person or entity wanted to recognize or pay tribute to,” Adams says. “So I started painting portraits or creating sculptures honoring historical figures.” Adams’ extensive portfolio attracted attention Juneteenth Legacy Projectwho commissioned him to work to have a good time the holiday.
Before going into business himself, Adams served as executive director of the Museum of Cultural Arts Houston (MOCAH) for over a decade. There, he focused on community-based public art; Adams has built his skills around community engagement and supporting groups that engage youth in creating public art. However, because Adams worked at a nonprofit organization, the works he created during these years were in the public domain.
“I think it’s great how you serve the community, but what legacy will you leave for your children?”
One day, a “very smart businessman” sat down with Adams and asked him a “powerful” query. “He said, ‘Reginald, it’s great what you’re doing. I think it’s great how you serve the community, but what legacy will you leave for your children?’” Adams recalled. This businessman persuaded Adams to begin a private company and commissioned a large murals as a part of his annual salary.
So Adams formed his limited liability company and continued to create community work – now with full ownership and control over all of his designs and projects.
When Adams began running his own business, one of the biggest challenges he faced was his own way of considering. “Coming from the nonprofit world where a lot is expected for free or for nothing, I had to establish the value of what I was doing,” Adams explains. “And I realized that my work is valuable because it is tangible. I have always dreamed big, so all my projects are carried out on a very large scale. But for a lot of artists, the challenge is, unless you are trained, to know how much the work is worth it, and then confidently speak it out.”
This change took some getting used to, but due to a supportive community, Adams gained the confidence to speak about and defend the value of his work, he says. His company currently has six skilled artists who are independent contractors, and he employs additional artists as needed.
Photo credit: Courtesy ©2024 Reginald C. Adams LLC. Absolute Equality mural design from June 1999 in Washington, DC. Artist: Reginald C. Adams and Creatives 2024.
“I would encourage other artists to really look around [at whom you] “They’re standing next to me.”
It’s important to surround yourself with people who believe in you, says Adams, and they don’t necessarily have to be family or friends. Early in his career, the artist joined various business groups such as The American Leadership Forum and The Center for Houston’s Future to be “among the decision-makers.” “I would encourage other artists to look around [at whom you] they stand by because your network truly becomes your net worth,” he adds.
In January 2020, Adams graduated a series of mosaic monuments in Liberation Park, the oldest urban park in Houston and Texas, which was founded by former slaves: Fr. John “Henry” Jack Yates, Richard Brock, Richard Allen and Fr. David Elias Dibble. Then the Galveston-based Juneteenth Legacy Project approached him about creating the piece. Project founder Sheridan Lorenz desired to honor Juneteenth with a mural in Galveston; her family owns the Old Galveston Square building, which is next to the Osterman Building, where the Union Army headquarters stood in 1865.
“The Osterman Building no longer exists,” Adams says. “It’s currently a parking lot, but it’s directly adjacent to the wall that currently has a Juneteenth Galveston mural on it. “The mural is basically at ground zero of this historic moment in American history.”
The painting was “a little intimidating,” Adams admits – the 5,000-square-foot wall, 44 feet high and 55 feet long, would accommodate the largest mural he had ever tackled. But Adams accepted the challenge, “especially given the nature of the project.” So, with his team of six artists and about 320 gallons of paint, Adams created the work in 27 days and 1,300 man hours. It was dedicated three days after President Biden declared June 11 a federal holiday.
“[Juneteenth] means something different in every part of the country. So I’m learning.”
“If you’re in Texas, you know Galveston, but a lot of people, [are like]”Where’s Galveston?” So it was great for Galveston cultural tourism,” Adams says. “Because of the scale of the mural [and] in terms of visual content, the mural in many ways became the poster for Juneteenth, as virtually every media network focusing on a story related to Juneteenth or Galveston featured the mural.”
Adams’s work had never received so much media attention, and he was struck by the realization: This is the path for you, Reginald. He says June 11 is a national holiday that is now not only a trend, but Adams wanted to “take this story beyond the shores of Galveston, across the country.” So, with the support of Capital One, he did just that. As of 2021, the Absolute Equality Project has expanded to 13 murals in various cities, including Los Angeles, Shreveport, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
Photo credit: Courtesy ©2024 Reginald C. Adams LLC. Absolute Equality mural design from June 1999 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Artist: KaDavien Baylor 2022.
Before the Galveston mural, Adams says he “really didn’t think much about Juneteenth” or participate in Juneteenth festivities. But “that changed because of my awareness of what Juneteenth means,” adds Adams, noting that his work on the Absolute Equality project took him across the country and deepened his appreciation for what the holiday means to people: “And it means something in a different way in every a part of the country, so I’m learning.”
“My journey only started because I am working on things that are important to me.”
On June 11 this year, Adams says he plans to attend the Los Angeles dedication of Absolute Equality, a work created by Samson Bimbo Adenugba, a Nigerian artist now based in Los Angeles. Adenugby’s mural is located in one of Capital One’s cafes, “in a completely different environment than any of the murals in the collection,” Adams says, and he’s excited to see it in person.
For any artist or entrepreneur seeking to create work with social impact, Adams has some words of wisdom: “Focus on what’s important to you. My journey has only started because I am working on things that are important to me. Consider that when we focus on what is important to us, our attention to it increases. We are more authentic to who we are as creators. The message becomes more authentic.”