Work on the Rothko Chapel is moving forward so the Houston institution is ensuring its board is ready to meet the needs of those who enjoy the space by filling out its board of directors.

David Leslie, executive director of the Rothko Chapel, recently announced that Troy Porter, the Rev. Laura Mayo and Dr. Kate Rothko Prizel are its newest board members. The three new members will serve on the board for a three-year term from 2019 to 2022. Recommended Video

According to information from the Chapel, “The Rothko Chapel is a spiritual space, a forum for world leaders, a place for solitude and gathering. It’s an epicenter for civil rights activists, a quiet disruption, a stillness that moves. It’s a destination for the 100,000 people of all faiths who visit each year from all parts of the world.”

The Chapel is currently during an extended renovation. It is scheduled to reopen in early 2020.

Despite being closed, the Rothko Chapel is still active. The Chapel will celebrate its Summer Solstice Observance at the Labyrinth in the Gueymard Meditation Garden at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, at the corner of West Alabama and Mount Vernon streets, next to the Chapel of St. Basil. The event starts at 7 a.m. Friday, June 21.

The morning observance will begin with opening words from Father Chris Valka, CSB. Also scheduled is a performance by Laura Lucas and John Edward Ross. The Labyrinth Walk will be presented by Jay Stailey. The event is free but contributions will be accepted.

The new board members helping guide the chapel from current off-site projects and observances to the reopening of the Chapel have a varied set of qualifications.

A native Houstonian, Porter is a “capital projects cost estimating manager for Chevron Phillips Chemical Company and collectively has worked in the energy industry for more than 25 years. As a community volunteer, he recently completed his term as board chair for the Fifth Ward Enrichment Program (FWEP), which provides after-school and summer programs for students in the Fifth Ward.”

Mayo is the “Senior Minister of Covenant Church. Mayo is active in interfaith work in Houston including membership in American’s United for the Separation of Church and State clergy advisory group, The Coalition for Mutual Respect (of the Anti-Defamation League), The Faith Leaders Coalition, and Interfaith Ministries’ Multi-Faith Council.”

Rothko Prizel is a retired physician and is the daughter of the abstract painter Mark Rothko, whose murals decorate the inside of the Chapel. Until 2008, “Rothko Prizel practiced Clinical Pathology and Transfusion Medicine on the faculty at Uniformed Services University, as Medical Director of the Chesapeake Red Cross Blood Services, and as Blood Bank Director at the Veterans’ Administration in Washington, D.C.”

Other board members continuing their service to the Rothko Chapel include: Maconda O’Connor Abinader, architect and community volunteer; Dolly Brenneman, president of Brenneman Consulting; Chao-Chiung (C.C.) Lee, AIA, the founder and president of Houston-based STOA International Architects, Inc.; Sanford L. Dow, founding partner of Dow, Golub, Remels & Gilbreath PLLC; Kristina Van Dyke Fort, research assistant professor at the Honors College, University of Houston; Ludmila R. Golovine, founder and president/CEO of MasterWord Services Inc.; Melanie Lawson, an award-winning journalist who currently serves as the co-anchor of Live at 5 and Eyewitness News for Channel 13 KTRK-TV; Ernesto Maldonado, architect and founding partner of GSMA; Michael Piana, president of MrP Resources; Karen Rosa, vice president and executive director of the Altman Foundation; Michele J. Sabino, Ed.D., development consultant at Harris County Drug Court Foundation; Aziz Saibani, M.D., neurologist associated with Baylor College of Medicine; and honorary director Frances T. Farenthold.