{ JUDY NYQUIST }
{ MAKING SPACE FOR ART }
{ NICOLA PARENTE }
{ AFTER HARVEY }
{ A SONG OF HOPE }
artH O U S T O N V I S U A L A RT S , C U LT U R E , R E V I E W S
ISSUE 08
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Photo by F. Carter Smith
PUBLISHER’S LETTER 3
Art lifts man from his personal life into the universal life
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L e o To l s t o y
hile producing our eighth issue, inspired by my artistic mind, fueled with creative energy, and working under deadlines, I realized that art cannot be defined! Art is often considered the process or product of deliberately creating something appealing to the senses or emotions. With that thought, I hope that perusing the pages of ArtHouston you will get a hint of that sensation. After all, the taste of the tea is a thing of lesser importance; it is the aroma which remains and delights. We are very pleased to highlight the Museum of Fine Arts Houston new $450 million development with Holly Walrath’s in-depth article Making Space. We are also excited to feature an interesting article written by Jody Morse on the artist Nicola Parente, which highlights the artist and writer connection.
We continue our Collector Focus with Sabine Casparie’s interview of one of Houston’s greatest patrons of the arts, Judy Nyquist. We will always save a spot to show how art can touch someone’s heart with the documentary photography of Oliver Klink. His work is about survival and about the Spirit, Heart, and Soul of us all. We also highlighted a multi-faceted program The Community Cloth, which helps empower refugee women in Houston. To conclude, I wanted to share this quote from Oscar Wilde, the renowned Irish author, who once said, “It is through art and through art only that we realize our perfection; through art and art only that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence.” Yours faithfully. John Bernhard
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CONTENTS
PUBLISHER’S LETTER 3
NEWS BITS 6
14 FEATURE
Collector Focus: Judy Nyquist Sabine Casparie
BOOK REVIEWS 10 COUPS DE CŒUR 12
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Making Space for Art Holly Walrath 26
GALLERY LISTINGS 56
Nicola Parente Jody T. Morse
PERFORMING ARTS SCHEDULE 62
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After Harvey
EXCERPT 64
Sabine Casparie
REVIEWS 66
Cultures in Transition
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Oliver Klink
* THE DREAM POJECT 72 EXPOSURE 76
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StateCraft Arthur Demicheli 46
COLOPHON 79
Anya Tish Gallery John Bernhard
EDITOR’S PICK 80
* Fresh Arts’ interviews
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Art Party Arthur Demicheli 54
Nuit Blanche Sabine Casparie 60
InTune Matt Ross 65
Art Stories Alex Kurkowski 68
A Multi-Faceted Program ON THE COVER: Night view of the Glassell School of Art, west elevation. Photograph © Richard Barnes
Arthur Demicheli 70
A Song of Hope Mariam Haddad
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news bits
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SALLY MANN
Museum of Fine Arts Houston
VINCENT VAN GOGH
Museum of Fine Arts Houston
R. Kim Rushing, Sally with Camera, c. 1998, gelatin silver print, collection of Sally Mann.
Carole Feuerman, Miniature Balance, Oil on Resin with 24K Gold Leaf Cap.
THOUGHT-PROVOKING ART Art in the World Gallery
Mark your clalendar... you don’t want to miss this event premiering in March with Carole Feuerman. This world-renowned sculptor of hyperrealistic figures dawning swimwear and caps often made of gold leaf and Swarovski crystals, will be exhibited beginning in March at Art of the World Gallery. Inspired by her childhood memories of watching others at the beach, Carole’s motif of ladies lounging with caps make the perfect pairing for spring fashion and beauty. www.artoftheworldgallery.com.
HONORING GERI HOOKS Houston Art Gallery Association
The Houston Art Gallery Association (HAGA) honored Geri Hooks of Hooks-Epstein Galleries for her 50 years of owning and running a respected gallery in Houston, and for her contributions to our city’s arts and culture. The event took place in February at Deborah Colton Gallery. Founded in 1969, Hooks-
Epstein Galleries, Inc., is one of the Houston’s longest running art galleries. Representing established, mid-career and emerging artists, the gallery pioneered the museum area while remaining in the forefront as specialists in late 19th, 20th and 21st century representational American, European, and Latin works of art.
Photographer Sally Mann explores what it means to be Southern. For more than 40 years, Mann (born 1951) has made experimental, hauntingly beautiful photographs that address overarching themes of existence: memory, desire, death, and the bonds of family. Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH) is the first major retrospective of the celebrated artist’s career. This internationally traveling exhibition investigates how Mann’s relationship with her native Virginia, a place rich in literary and artistic traditions yet troubled by history, has shaped her work. Featuring over 120 images organized into five sections—family, landscape, battlefields, legacy, mortality— A Thousand Crossings shows how the American South emerges within Mann’s work as a powerful and provocative force that continues to shape American identity and experience. March 3–May 27, 2019
Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of a Man, 1888, oil on canvas, © Kröller-Müller Museum
The Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH) brings together more than 50 masterworks by one of the most iconic artists in the history of Western art. Vincent van Gogh: His Life in Art follows Van Gogh (1853–1890) through four key stages of his career, from early sketches to final paintings. Few artists left behind as complete a diary of life and work as Van Gogh, whose decadelong career as an artist began when he took up painting in 1881. Vincent van Gogh: His Life in Art highlights the artist’s early years in the Netherlands; his luminous period in Paris; his search for light and color in the South of France; and his exploration of nature as a source of enduring inspiration in Saint-Rémy and Auvers. The exhibition showcases portraits, landscapes, and still lifes drawn primarily from the collections of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the KröllerMüller Museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands. March 10–June 27, 2019
NEWS BITS 7
NEW ART PROGRAM Pride Houston Pride Houston is announcing a brand new, art-focused, component to the organization’s operations known as the Pride Houston Art Program. The priority for this program is to highlight Houstonbased LGBTQIA+ artists and elevate their artworks/careers onto a national and international platform. Pride Houston is looking to identify five artists to feature in its inaugural program with an art exhibit at Houston City Hall during Pride Month (June 2019). Artists will receive an honorarium of $1,000 each for participating in this exciting new opportunity. To that end an open call will be launched to last from February 12, 2019 to March 24, 2019. All LGBTQIA+ artists who are interested should submit their art proposal showcasing their artistic and creative ability and speak to how their work resonates with our welcoming and diverse city, celebrates Pride and reflects the LGBTQIA+ community. Deadline to apply is MIDNIGHT on March 24, 2019. The guidelines and application portal for the Pride Houston Art Program can be found at www.pridehouston.org. “The mission of Pride Houston is to bring LGBTQIA+ individuals and allies together and educate the world on important issues for the community, commemorate our heritage, celebrate our culture and strive for equality,” said Lo Roberts, President of Pride Houston. “Through this new art program, we hope to engage a dynamic and diverse community within Houston – our artists – who can use their artistic medium to speak truth to our mission so we can showcase Houston as the welcoming and accepting city it is through not only the many Pride celebrations we produce but now also through the arts.” The committee will review all applications. The top five artists will be notified in April of their award. Houston Pride Houston is a 100% volunteer run organization and is a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that works to bring lesbians, gay-men, bisexuals, transgender individuals and allies together to educate the world on issues important to the LGBT community, commemorate our heritage, celebrate our culture and strive for equality. For any questions or more information about this program please contact Radu Barbuceanu at rbarbuceanu@pridehouston.org.
NATIONAL GRANTS AWARDED The National Endowment for theArts
The National Endowment for the Arts announced their first round of grants in 2019, including Houston Cinema Arts Society, Aurora Picture Show, The Menil Collection, Galveston Arts Center, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Recipients in this round include applicants to the NEA’s Art Works program, which supports projects that “celebrate our creativity
and cultural heritage, invite mutual respect for differing beliefs and values, and enrich humanity,” and to the organization’s Challenge America program, which is geared toward helping arts non-profits reach underserved populations. For more information on this National Endowment for the Arts grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
Roni Horn, If 2, 2011. Pigment, varnish, colored pencil, and graphite pencil on paper. La Colección Jumex, Mexico. © Roni Horn
RONI HORN
Menil Drawing Institute, The Menil Collection The Menil Collection proudly presents Roni Horn: When I Breathe, I Draw. This is the first museum exhibition devoted to Horn’s drawings in the United States and the second exhibition held in the Menil Drawing Institute since the new building opened to critically-acclaimed reviews last fall. The exhibition is curated by Michelle White, Senior Curator. For over thirty years, drawing has been fundamental to the practice of contemporary American artist Roni Horn (b. 1955), whose work revolves around the mutability of identity and the fragility of place, time, and language. Roni Horn: When I Breathe, I Draw, an exhibition in two parts, presents a selected survey of the artist’s drawings from the early 1980s to her most recent work on paper. The exhibition explores Horn’s unique technical approach of mark-making with dense hues of pure pigment and dynamic process of cutting and reassembling images and language. The exhibition’s title, When I Breathe, I Draw, evokes the integral place of drawing within Horn’s artistic practice. It is derived from the artist’s understanding that drawing is akin to “a kind of breathing activity on a daily level.” Roni Horn (b. 1955) lives and works in New York and Reykjavik, Iceland. Her work has been the subject of numerous major exhibitions, including Roni Horn at the Foundation Beyeler, Basel (2016); Roni Horn a.k.a. Roni Horn, co-organized by Tate Modern, London, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Opening February 15, 2019
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CRAFTING A LEGACY 2019-20 SEASON
PRESERVING A LEGACY
HCCC
Houston Grand Opera
Art Museum of South Texas and McClain Gallery
At the organization’s 10th annual Crafting a Legacy Spring Luncheon, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) will honor legendary arts professional and HCCC board member, Clint Willour. With a long career as a curator, collector, and philanthropist, Clint has been instrumental in the careers of countless artists and has played a pivotal role in the Texas art scene for nearly 50 years. The program will include remarks by renowned artist and educator, Piero Fenci, as well as gallerist Betty Moody and curator Anne Tucker. Guests will have the opportunity to bid on fine craft made by celebrated artists in the silent auction, purchase stunning centerpiece artworks, and shop fabulous jewelry and accessories in the Asher Gallery pop-up shop. The event will take place Wednesday, April 24, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM. For tickets contact: legacy@crafthouston.org
Houston Grand Opera’s 2019–20 Season features a lineup of seven productions never before seen by Houston audiences.
McClain Gallery has been selected to represent the artwork of one of Texas’ most important 20th century artists, Dorothy Hood (19182000). In conjunction with the Art Museum of South Texas (AMST) and its holdings of works by the artist, McClain Gallery will represent the AMST’s goal of preserving and promoting the legacy of Hood. Funding raised by the sale of Hood’s work through McClain Gallery is dedicated to the care and conservation of the Museum’s permanent collection, especially the art of Dorothy Hood, and to academic programs and research focused on the life and career of the artist. “The life and work of Dorothy Hood,” says gallerist Robert McClain, “is a compelling story of a gifted and fearless woman from a small Texas town who forged a brilliant and fascinating life devoted to art, filled with passion, and embracing the great ideas of her time. Dorothy’s life and art rivals that of other painters of her generation that we now champion as modern icons.” McClain Gallery will debut works by Dorothy Hood at the upcoming Dallas Art Fair in April, to be followed by a major solo exhibition in the fall of 2019. Dorothy Hood, Photo courtesy of the Dorothy Hood Archives at the Art Museum of South Texas.
Clint Willour. Photo by Hall Puckett.
The upcoming season presents Javier Martínez and Leonard Foglia’s world premiere of El Milagro del Recuerdo, the North American premiere of Saul, new productions of Rigoletto and Aida, a dazzling production of The Magic Flute, the rarely performed La favorite, and the much-anticipated return of Salome. HGO’s mainstage season will comprise 42 performances (including three free community performances) of seven productions. The company will also present four student performances. Subscriptions to the 2019–20 season are now available at HGO.org. Single tickets will be available later this summer. More information is available a: HGO.org.
STONEWALL 50
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
Stonewall 50 is an exhibition conceived as a snapshot of the complexion, interests, and activities of a diverse group of queer and allied artists. Whether working in local communities or on other continents, these artists’ responses to the worlds around them—in photographs, paint-
ings, films and videos, sculptures, performances, and other media—address a range of personal and collective concerns and desires. Stonewall 50 follows a number of paths: it traces artists’ engagement with trans issues; suggests possibilities for for-
mal and conceptual inter-generational dialogue; and looks outside the United States to consider queer issues abroad. While these themes provide a framework for the exhibition, the show’s contents are not limited to artworks exploring these notions. This exhibition
is organized with an understanding that the privileges and disadvantages that affect the self-determination of sex and gender expression are linked inextricably to cultural perceptions around ability, age, nationality, race, wealth, and a host of other issues. Stonewall 50 is curated by Dean Daderko and made possible by a grant from The Hollyfield Foundation and support from Marcy Rothman and Tammy Pye. April 27 - August 4, 2019.
DANCE SALAD FESTIVAL 2019 Wortham Center
NEWS BITS 9
Now celebrating the 24th anniversary in Houston and the 27th season, Dance Salad Festival promises another gathering of world-class performers. Famous in their own countries, classical and contemporary dancers share the Dance Salad Festival stage to form a mix of movement and compelling choreography. Here’s a sneak peek at the companies and performers booked for this year’s festival: Dancers of the Royal Danish Ballet (Copenhagen, Denmark): • Carmen (curated version) choreographed by Marcos Morau • Unravel choreographed by Kristian Lever, accompanied by live music performance by duet “Walentin & McKenzie” New York City Ballet principal dancers Ashley Bouder & Joaquin De Luz (New York, USA): • De Triana a Sevilla choreographed by Victor Ullate Spellbound Contemporary Ballet (Rome, Italy): • Full Moon (curated version) choreographed by Mauro Astolfi Maria Kochetkova, guest principal dancer with Staatsballett Berlin (Germany), former principal dancer with San Francisco Ballet, USA, and Sebastian Kloborg, guest dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet (Copenhagen, Denmark):
• Closer choreographed by Benjamin Millepied • New Suite choreographed by William Forsythe Susanna Leinonen Company (Helsinki, Finland): • Shame/less created specifically for Dance Salad Festival by choreographer Susanna Leinonen, coming from her work Nasty. Donlon Dance Collective Berlin (Germany): • Strokes Through the Tail (curated version) choreographed by Marguerite Donlon PERFORMANCES: April 18, 19 & 20, 7:30 PM at the Wortham Center, Cullen Theater. CHOREOGRAPHERS’ FORUM: April 17, 2019, 7:00 PM @ Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Featured choreographers will share insights into their creative process and show video excerpts of their works. Discussion panel and Q/A will be moderated by dance writer Maggie Foyer, from London, UK. Free Event.
Members of Susanna Leinonen Company (Helsinki, Finland) performing Shame/less, a curation based on Nasty choreographed by Susanna Leinonen, created specifically for Dance Salad Festival. Photo by Mirka Kleemola.
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book reviews
The Artists Who Will Change the World OMAR KHOLEIF This cutting-edge book is the essential guide to what’s next in contemporary art, and to the visionaries who are making it happen. Traditional histories of art have often been confined to a western European framework. But with the birth of contemporary museum culture, the proliferation of art fairs and biennials in regions far and wide, and the advent of digital technologies, new global networks have emerged, fostering a new world map of art, and paving the way for the art of tomorrow. Thames & Hudson, October 2018
Shape of Light
The Animal Kingdom
Shape of Light tells the intertwined stories of photography and abstract art from the early 20th century to the present day, looking at historic works in a variety of mediums from painting and sculpture to montage and kinetic installations. Beginning with the works of cubism and vorticism, it then highlights the key contributions of Bauhaus, constructivist and surrealist artists of the 1920s and 1930s. D.A.P./Tate, June 2018
Acclaimed photographer Randal Ford celebrates our fascination with and love of animals through his engaging portraits of the animal kingdom. A young male lion cub seems to sport a rebellious mohawk; a chimpanzee adopts a pensive pose; a curious duckling cocks his head at the camera lens and flaps his wings. The featured animals cover a wide range, from birds such as the African crane, cockatoos, flamingos, and roosters, to big cats such as tigers, cheetahs, and leopards, to Arabian horses, bulls, and Longhorn sheep, among many others. Bird and animal lovers will be drawn to the powerful and emotionally engaging images that seem to reveal the individual character of the other animals that share the Earth with us. Rizzoli, September 2018
SIMON BAKER
RANDAL FORD
Collision
PETE GERSHON
Frida Kahlo MARÍA HESSE
Frida Kahlo by María Hesse offers a highly unique way of getting to know the artist by presenting her life in graphic novel form, with striking illustrations that reimagine many of Kahlo’s famous paintings. University of Texas Press, Sept. 2018
Drawing upon primary archival materials, contemporary newspaper and magazine accounts, and over sixty interviews with significant figures, Gershon presents a narrative that preserves and interweaves the stories and insights of those who transformed the Houston art scene into the vibrant community that it is today. Texas A&M University Press, Sept. 2018
Seeing Deeply DAWOUD BEY
With images ranging from street photography in Harlem to a commemoration of the 1963 Birmingham church bombing, this volume offers a forty-year career retrospective of this award winning photographer. University of Texas Press, Sept. 2018
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coups de cœur
ARTIST, WRITER, SCUBA DIVER
Janavi M. Folmsbee
Janavi M. Folmsbee hunts for the universal and global connection amongst us. This quest has propelled her to continue her search in an element that physically connects us all - water. She is strongly influenced by marine life, drawing abundant inspiration from her experiences with scuba diving expeditions. In her interdisciplinary work, Folmsbee creates ethereal, intricate shapes, which she calls characters, that are meant to invite the public into something very private. Her paintings intend to take the viewer into the work’s moment of origin. www.janavimfolmsbee.com
ARTIST
Ayad Fadel
Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Ayad Fadel demonstrated artistic strengths early in life. His artistic work, through the abstract and figurative depictions, exhibits the essence of the subject in his paintings. His expression, through both color and expressive activity, emotively depicts the pain and hopes of his native country. Incorporating culturally relevant design and symbols, his work reveals the hopes and dreams of what a truly democratic and independent Iraq may look like. www.ayadfadelarts.com
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ARTIST, WRITER
Dianne K. Webb Dianne K. Webb is best known for her color rich paintings that capture ideas and translate them into abstract visual elements. Large works in oil and mixed media on canvas as well as ink works on paper often combine figurative with geometric elements to express the ideas of transformation; love and the struggles of relationship; the struggles of democracy and capitalism; death and dying; and various aspects of the individual’s ever morphing identity. www.diannekwebb.com
ARTIST
Ben Schwab
Ben Schwab has been fascinated with the dynamics of cities, where you can simultaneously observe decay and vitality, expansion and contraction, and history and impermanence. Layering and mark making allows Ben to explore these themes, and the combination and manipulation of images allows him to capture multiple views and introduce a sense of abstraction. The result is a place that is both familiar and unfamiliar, blurring the lines between here and there and creating an experience that is unique for each viewer. www.deandaygallery.com
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JUDY NYQUIST COLLECTOR FOCUS:
BY SABINE CASPARIE
On a balmy summer day, John Bernhard and I have come to visit Judy Nyquist, one of Houston’s greatest patrons of the arts. An art historian, curator and promotor of civic arts Nyquist has served on the board of almost every Houston art institution. As an advocate for art in public spaces, such as Buffalo Bayou’s Cistern and Discovery Green, she has been a champion to exposing larger audiences to art.
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Judy Nyquist surrounded by her art collection at her home in Houston. Photography by John Bernhard N Y Q U I S T G R E E T S U S WA R M L Y W I T H C O F F E E and pastries, and we immediately feel at home. Her house is like Candyland for art lovers: full of artworks often in bright and uplifting colors, on the wall, suspended from the ceiling, in glass boxes, on shelves. Pieces of text appear on the steps of the stairs. Another text work floats over the kitchen counter. Yet despite this visual feast, everything flows beautifully from room to room, without ever feeling overwhelming. Judy Nyquist clearly has an eye for curating. A small space connecting the hallway and dining room contains a selection of Old Master drawings, on a cleverly made shelving unit that Nyquist designed herself. It is a neat historic niche between all the contemporary arts on view. These drawings have special pride in Nyquist’s collection: they are the first works she and her husband Scott acquired. “I am an art historian and completed a Masters in art history in London. I realized early on that
instead of writing about art, I wanted to work with objects. My husband and I started collecting works on paper by Old Masters. They were easy to transport and affordable.” Nyquist loved the vibrant contemporary art scene in London. Saatchi had just opened his collection, the Young British Artists were shaking up the art scene, and she started going to degree shows: the Chelsea College of Art, the Royal College of Art. But when the family moved to Houston in 1988, they realized that there is an amazing contemporary art scene here too. The Nyquist collection has a strong focus on contemporary craft. “I have a real love of craft. When I lived in London, I visited the Chelsea Craft Show often. London has a great history of craft: the Victoria & Albert Museum is fantastic. In Houston, we have always been a big supporter of the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. Things that are happening right now in craft
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From top clockwise: Glenn Barkley Memphis Carbunkle Pot, Earthenware 12” x13.2” x12.9” inches Jaydan Moore Stoc, Silver-plated teapots 24” x 10” inches Collection of old master drawings Opposite page: The Nyquists’ rooms are filled with art
are amazing, and I believe that artists working with craft don’t get the kind of attention they need.” Nyquist is also a strong supporter of homegrown talent. “The great thing with local artists is you really get to know them. You visit their studio, learn their thought process and see their artistic process. It is organic.” But Nyquist is adamant about the importance of galleries, who she believes are very important to the art economy. Does she go to a lot of art fairs? “Art fairs are great for getting an overview; in Texas, the Dallas Art Fair owns the scene. It’s a fun scene, but at the end of the day, it is about the art for me, not the parties.”
We look at some striking pieces. A luminous object inside a glass cabinet turns out to be an early edition of a Moby Dick book crystallized in Borax, by San Francisco artist Alexis Arnold. The crystals remove the text and transform the book into an aesthetic, non-functional object, like an artifact or geologic specimen imbued with the history of time. Similar themes of history and nostalgia appear in the work of Jaydan Moore, inaugural recipient of the American Craft Council Emerging Choices Award. Nyquist shows us a stacked composition of silver items, like a small totem, made of pieces of found silver table-wear that Moore welded together to revive their untapped histories.
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Judy Nyquist in front of a crystallized book by Alexis Arnold, Gulliver’s Travels, Book, Borax crystals, 9” x 5” x 7” inches.
Against the backdrop of the pink dining room wall is a white patterned vase adorned with pastel-colored swirls: ceramics on ceramics. This piece is by Australian artist Glenn Barkley, who uses ceramics to reference his own everyday life as well as folk and popular culture. It is playful and light. In true Nyquist style, a shelf opposite holds colourful clay pieces made by the Nyquist’s three children. There is an element of irreverence and humor that is often absent in great collections. This collection is refreshing and alive. A giant neon ice cream sign, a vintage find from Texas, takes prime position in the living room. Nyquist and her husband raised their three children in this same house, and I ask how they experienced raising a family amidst all these great artworks. “You cannot be too precious”, Nyquist explains. “Young children will know that something is beautiful and valuable when they see it. The biggest mishaps were with our dogs. Children, they learn to live with art, respect it and love it. Our son, who is in his twenties, has just bought his first apartment in San Francisco. The first thing he wanted to know is what art I can ship him!” Living with objects, instead of looking at them, is important to Nyquist. “Art is a living and breathing thing. I am not running a museum. Art for me is something you enjoy, that becomes part of
don’t own any of this, “ I feel IthatamImerely a steward of this collection. ” your life.” But the quality of the art remains solid throughout. It is clearly visible that Nyquist has a true investment in each of her pieces. “I see a real distinction between a collector and a patron. A collector collects a work, but a patron wants to promote an artist. I like to think I enable artists to further their practice. To do that, is a both pleasure and a responsibility.” And this is the strength of the Nyquist collection, acquired with passion, displayed with verve, but ultimately staying humble and truly invested in the artists. Nyquist words it perfectly. “We feel that we don’t own any of this, we are merely the stewards of this collection. We enjoy it, admire it and protect it until one day it moves on. Hopefully someone else will have it and look after it one day”. Whoever it will be, is going to be very lucky.
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MAKING F O R A RT I S HA R D E R T HA N I T L O O K S . T H I S PA S T Y E A R , T H E M U S E U M O F F I N E A RT S H O U S T O N D E B U T E D T H E F I R S T P HA S E O F I T S T H R E E - P HA S E $ 4 5 0 M I L L I O N D E V E L O P M E N T— T H E N E W LY R E I M AG I N E D G L A S S E L L S C H O O L O F A RT. BY H O L LY WA L R AT H
T H E B U I L D I N G I S A L R E A D Y S E E I N G A G O O D D E A L of use, like on “Royals” Doggie Day when visitors and their pooches swarmed the Brown Foundation, Inc. Plaza in January. Swaths of booths filled the courtyard, neatly lined up beyond the cordoned-off bulk of Eduardo Chillida’s outdoor sculpture, Song of Strength (1966). The exterior façade of the Glassell School of Art winked in the bright sunshine, an L-shaped geometrical incline made of 178 pre-cast concrete panels. The panels were fabricated in Waco, and each is individually unique, a foot thick, and aids in foundational support. Patrons took photos with their majestic pups in front of “Houston’s Bean,” the silver sculpture Cloud Column (2006), which now reflects three large construction cranes in its shining surface. Children ambled up the steps to the rooftop terrace, stopping to take pictures of the view: the Cullen Sculpture Garden (Isamu Noguchi, 1986), Houston’s medical center complex, and the farther-off view of downtown behind. It’s
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a far cry from the two-acre parking lot the space used to hold. Inside, families lounged and watched tablets on the massive concrete steps forming the grand stairwell, which also serves as an amphitheater. Visitors walked up the spiraling stairs, marked by 35 studio offshoots, gallery space lit by insolated windows cut like trapezoids, and a 75-seat auditorium. The Glassell School offers art classes in painting, drawing, and photography as part of an impressive catalog of amateur and professional art classes open to anyone who wants to attend and can afford the cost—an average of $225-2500. Established first in 1927, three years after the museum’s 1924 opening, the Glassell School established its Core Residency Program in 1982, added a critics’ residency in 1998, and is today the only museum school in the U.S. with programs that serve students of all ages from tots to post-grads. The sight of the plaza in full swing makes this whole reinventing-a-modern-art-campus idea look easy. But the expansion
View of the Glassell School of Art from the Cullen Sculpture Garden; rendering from the original photograph by Richard Barnes
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“Here’s a chance to make a campus. To unify in a horizontal, pedestrian way, in a porous way, and to merge with that beautiful city plan that exists, and make it something very special.” Steven Holl
was a slow process, with many ups and downs along the way. It started in 2012—when architect Steven Holl was awarded the commission and became the designer of MFAH director Gary Tinterow’s vision of a walkable campus—one that would connect the arts district to nearby Hermann Park and the Houston Zoo. The massive amount of funding required for the project (let us not forget that $450 million dollar price tag) brought a series of fundraising events on a scale that is frankly impressive, from a Latin American gala to a garden party in Bayou Bend to a shooting party complete with shotgun-toting investors that raised $266,850 by itself. The appointment of Steven Holl for the new expansion came just one year after director Gary Tinterow joined the MFAH from 28 years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Asked about his future plans for the museum in a 2011 interview with the New York Times, Tinterow said, “The sky’s the limit.” Tinterow’s return to Texas, where he was raised as a young man, brought his meticulous expertise to the Museum, including changing how the MFAH tallies participation (which Arts & Culture Texas reported at the time was inflated dramatically by the Museum’s questionable patron tracking system), increasing the cost of admission, and shepherding the Museum through several changes in curatorship. Tinterow’s vision for the expansion is one that focuses on a more walkable, unified arts district. It was his idea to push the parking underground and create a series of tunnels for pedestrians to get to the existing galleries. For a non-Houstonian, this idea sounds reasonable. But for a city with a history of hurricanes that floods on a yearly basis, the
idea of another concrete block of low-rise buildings connected by tunnels had some scratching their heads. A similar tunnel system exists in downtown, with over six miles of underground tunnels that regularly flood during storms and direct water into buildings that wouldn’t otherwise flood. While the roof of the Glassell School was touted as “green,” the plants are sparse, and it’s not the same as say, a grassy hill with shade trees where people can relax. Phase one of the MFAH expansion had some in the community asking: Does Houston need more concrete? Is this the best way to spend $450 million dollars? Adding to these concerns was the loss of the previous Glassell School building, built in 1979 building by Houston architect Seth Irvin Morris, who brought us the Wortham Theater Center and the Astrodome, among other Houston historic buildings and residencies. Morris’ legacy was as a humble and somewhat reluctant contributor, who questioned the viability of the Astrodome and was told by Harris County Judge Roy Hofheinz to “make it happen” or “I’ll get me another damn architect.” Destruction of Morris’ Glassell School building was deemed a sacrifice of architectural heritage by some, despite the school’s projected growth and overflowing classes. Glass bricks from the original building were “removed” to form an imperceptible wall separating the Brown Foundation, Inc Plaza from the Cullen Sculpture Garden. A Space for Conservation Just a block away from the Glassell School, the second phase of the expansion opened in October 2018. The two-story Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation Center for Conservation is a 39,000-square-foot facility built on top of the existing Fannin Street garage and designed by Lake|Flato Architects. The Center brings together the Museum’s nearly 70,000 objects and encyclopedic collections in paintings, decorative arts, sculpture and textiles, works on paper, and photography. The conservation studios on the outer sides of the buildings have clerestory windows and 22-foot ceilings designed with sustainably harvested materials and dowels rather than nails. Mechanical support such as ductwork and piping resides a floor below, allowing more space for soaring ceilings and natural sunlight. “The imperative was light,” said architect David Lake in an MFAH article. “The design was driven by the concept of light as the organizing gesture, resulting in a central corridor that divides the day-lit studios from the spaces requiring darkness. With all of the mechanical support located on a floor below, we were able to free up ceiling space from ductwork and piping to create a soaring ceiling throughout.” Current research projects include technical studies of the 26 paintings in the Samuel H. Kress Collection, a collaborative project with the Menil Collection and the Department of Chemistry at Rice University designed to create a scientific research program studying how paintings age, and a silver-coating program for the Museum’s large silver collection. U n i t y, Wa l k a b i l i t y, a n d Q u a l i t y o f L i f e So here’s the challenge: How do you best use an enormous budget to best serve the most populous city in the United States? How do you take a museum that started on a one-acre plot and make it as big as the city that started it? Houston is the eighthmost expansive city in the U.S., with one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse populations in the country. The truth is,
ESS AY 2 3
Visitors Walking Glassell Roofline; Photo by Allyson Hunstman. Left page: View of The Brown Foundation, Inc. Plaza from Glassell roof; Photo by Cameron Bertuzzi
no matter how much money the MFAH is able to fuel into arts give us 25’ candles of natural light at 5’6” off the ground on all preservation, outreach, education, and community space, it may the galleries.” Again, the overriding feature of the architecture of not ever be enough to serve the growing and changing place that the Kinder building is light. Holl goes on to explain, “I always love is Houston. the possibility that you can go in our museum buildings and not Perhaps the sky IS the limit. The most important piece of the turn on the lights on at all. You can see the art.” Museum of Fine Art’s expansion is yet to come. In 2020, the The site is curiously triangular, and the design aims to maximize Nancy and Rich Kinder Building is set to make waves—waves of gallery space with irregularly slicing curves of glass and conglass that is. Architect Steven Holl’s design will rise in undulating crete center support. The ground floor will be an open space juxtaposition to the black steel of the Caroline Wiess Law Build- similar to the arrangement of the flowing floors and stairwells of ing and the limestone of Moneo’s Beck building, the staples of the the Glassell School, but without the monolithic gray steps. The MFAH’s current campus. building will house seven vertical gardens with reflecting pools It’s a bit complicated to imagine how this building will bring at ground level, two floors and 54,000 square feet of galleries, the together the MFAH campus. 202-seat Lynn and Oscar Wyatt Each MFAH building is differTheater, a restaurant, a café, and “The average guest will have no idea ent and unique, and this is part meeting rooms. A tunnel will allow of the work that it took to get to this point, of the appeal of an organizapatrons to leave the parking garage tion that has grown over the nor perhaps an inkling of the need for even more and enter the Museum or walk bemany years of its existence. tween the Glassell School and the art spaces of its kind in Houston.” But they all feature a kind of Kinder building. simplicity and momentous tone that binds the whole. As of yet, there are no exhibitions planned for the Kinder “Here’s a chance to make a campus. To unify in a horizontal, building, which will not bring in traveling shows but instead pull from pedestrian way, in a porous way, and to merge with that beautiful the Museum’s collection of works yet to be seen by the public. The city plan that exists, and make it something very special,” says collection includes foundational work from Pablo Picasso, Henri architect Steven Holl. Matisse, and Juan Gris to name a few; as well as surrealist work by The design features a “luminous canopy” that will allow light Max Ernst, Juan Miró, and Yves Tanguy; New York School artists like to enter naturally. In his signature watercolor sketches, Steven Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, and Houston’s favorite Mark Rothko; Holl’s ideas are so big that they’re a bit hard to imagine. In an in- as well as pop art and minimalist pieces by Andy Warhol, Donald terview, Holl described the canopy as “…cloud formations that are Judd, and Jasper Johns. It is unclear which of these artists might going to be pushing down on the building and causing the roof to make it to the Kinder building’s new digs, but the third phase of the warp in certain ways that allow slices of light just the right size to expansion is clearly going to be the most stimulating for art devotees.
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“We might quibble over how it’s done, what it costs, and what the future might bring, but we Houstonians need institutions like the MFAH more than ever. Yes, the vision is sprawling—like Houston.”
Aerial night view of the Susan and Fayez S. Sarofim Campus.
“The Museum of Fine Arts is an outstanding institution. When I grew up in this city, my family did not have a lot of money to take what I call vacations outside of the city, so for us, getting on the bus and going to the Museum was that vacation. You walk through it and you’re able to see things that in my neighborhood, you were not able to see,” says Mayor Sylvester Turner in a promotional video for the expansion. So far, the events hosted at the MFAH are seeing good turnout and the new space is fulfilling its purpose of bringing together members of the community so far. Despite the changes, the MFAH is still that place where people can come and enjoy art. Visitors Uber in or grab a train from the Med Center, bringing their friends and dogs. The average guest will have no idea of the work that it took to get to this point, nor perhaps an inkling of the need for even more art spaces of its kind in Houston. We might quibble over how it’s done, what it costs, and what the future might bring, but we Houstonians need institutions like the MFAH more than ever. Yes, the vision is sprawling—like Houston. It’s complicated and big and fueled by economics. But we mustn’t forget that Houston’s commitment to art in all forms is a blessing, our best-kept secret as a city. Art brings joy and a new understanding of what it means to be a sprawling metropolis with a tiny hope in its heart—that we’ll be able to keep art publically accessible and preserved for years to come.
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n ce p t ff ro o f co sh o w in g o ll o H n ve r by S te w a te r co lo R en d er in g,
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Nicola Parente’s 2012 exhibition at the Manuel Felguerez Abstract Art Museum in Zacatecas Mexico
NICOLA PA R E N T E The
artist a n d
The
writer,
a connection.
B Y
J O D Y
T.
M O R S E
O V E R T H E PA S T FEW YEARS, I’VE INTERVIEWED DOZENS OF AMAZING INDIVIDUALS F O R M A G A Z I N E A R T I C L E S A N D S O C I A L M E D I A F E AT U R E S ; H O W E V E R , N O N E O F T H E S E
E N C O U N T E R S H AV E A F F E C T E D M E A S M U C H A S M Y I N T E R V I E W W I T H A R T I S T N I C O L A PA R E N T E . A Q U I C K E N I N G O F M Y P U L S E , S P I N A L C O R D T I N G L I N G , A N D S M I L E S O F
RECOGNITION WERE BROUGHT ON APLENTY DURING OUR AFTERNOON OF CONVERSAT I O N . T H E O R D E R O F T H E D AY, A S I TO U R E D T H E H O M E O F T H I S FA S C I N AT I N G A R T I S T A N D L I S T E N E D TO N U G G E T S O F H I S A D V E N T U R O U S L I F E S TO RY, WA S C O N N E C T I O N .
W H I L E T H E R E W E R E M O R E T H A N A G E N E R O U S H A N D F U L O F A R T I S T- T O - A R T I S T,
S O U L - C O N N E C T I N G M O M E N T S T H R O U G H O U T T H E A F T E R N O O N , I J U D I C I O U S LY M A N A G E D T O PA R E I T D O W N T O F I V E V I G N E T T E S F O R P R E S E N TAT I O N I N T H I S P I E C E . A N A I S N I N O N C E W R O T E T H AT “ W E W R I T E T O TA S T E L I F E T W I C E , I N T H E
M O M E N T A N D I N R E T R O S P E C T ” ; A S I W R I T E T H I S A R T I C L E , I S AV O R T H E P L E A S U R E O F TA S T I N G O U R A R T I S T- T O - W R I T E R C O N N E C T I O N I N R E T R O S P E C T.
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Home of Nicola Parente. Opposite page: Nicola Parente. Photo by Hall Puckett,
Life’s Box.
Nicola Parente has chosen a life lived both inside the box and outside of it. Approaching his home, I was astounded by what I saw. There, in the midst of a somewhat standard, family neighborhood on the edge of downtown Houston, stood a gray, metal box of a building. If I’d come upon this structure in the trendy business quarter of Washington Avenue or in one of the warehouse districts, I wouldn’t have been surprised. But, here, in a residential zone, this corrugated square of a home stood out like a beacon of innovation and out-of-the-box living. Nicola says he wanted to create a home for himself that was something akin to a renovated warehouse and he wanted to do it in a district of our city that was on the mend, a neighborhood on the verge of revitalization. Once he found and purchased the plot, the designing began. He
Mixed media painting Safe Harbor by Nicola Parente.
had so many ideas for how to make this house a reflection of his spirit and work. A few of the outside-of-thebox ideas that evolved inside his box-of-a-home include a laundry room hidden behind a movable art wall, a gorgeous studio apartment that he sublets to artistically minded Airbnb guests, and a breathtaking breezeway that conjoins the main house and the studio space. Just as Nicola has chosen to live in a box but in an outside-of-the-box way, I too have chosen to live in an outside way in a simple rectangular structure. Both of us appreciate the necessity for containers while still living lives that challenge the dimensions, concepts, and boundaries that boxes provide. “Don’t box us in, unless we want to be contained,” say the artist and the writer.
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Eco-Friendly Mindedness.
In the side yards of Nicola’s home, two spectacular sculptures reside. Not only did I find them intriguing and beautiful, but they also revealed the eco-conscious, sustainability mentality that Nicola embraces. This was the second way in which we connected. Me, the writer who bought a ranch in the heart of a national forest in an effort to “protect and preserve, at least, eighteen acres worth of trees.” And Nicola, the artist who commissioned and co-created a duo of artwork monoliths out of the boards and bolts leftover from the construction of his home. On this subject, I must also mention that the gated entrance to Nicola’s yard is also a reclaimed scrap material creation, as well as, a number of other reused and recycled features in his home. And I’d be loath not to mention his participation and work in the upcycled fashion industry.
One of Nicola’s passions of the moment is his participation in the Magpies & Peacocks zero-waste, upcycled fashion show. This brilliant eco-minded artist designed handpainted gowns made from discarded hotel table cloths. His custom textiles will even be featured as a part of London Fashion Week this year. Making beauty from the marginalized, thrown away, and neglected—a virtue Nicola and I share.
Movement.
Our third connection revolved around movement and frequencies. Standing before a stunning piece of art hung on one wall of his open concept living room/dining room/ kitchen, I commented that it reminded me of the vibration
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From left: Mixed media painting Safe Harbor by Nicola Parente. Transwestern Building Lobby. Photo By Joe Aker. Dynamic set and costume design by Parente for Dominic Walsh Dance Theater’s production of Terminus, E_Merging II at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Photo By Gabriella Nissen.
of violin strings—I’ve played since elementary school. Nicola replied that the piece was about vibrations and frequencies. He went on to say that most of his works contain elements of movement and motion. In fact, one of the biggest influences and inspirations to his work has been the experience of riding trains across Europe, where he grew up and still visits frequently. I too have lived and traveled in Europe and fell in love with trains in transit. There’s something magical about the motion of a train and watching the world pass by outside the window. In this same vein, Nicola commented that his earliest recollection of being on a train was when he was three or four years old. “What really excited me was looking out the windows and seeing the cadence and movement of the landscape.” Thus, was the inspiration for Nicola’s Edge of Awakening series, pieces of which are featured at the Manuel Felguerez Abstract Art Museum in Zacatecas, Mexico. We discovered that we are both moved by movement.
Poet-Trees.
As we sat at his dining table with its clean lines and minimalist design, we chatted about our passion projects—past and present. During the conversation, he mentioned a few of the local charitable and entrepreneurial ventures that he has spearheaded or been involved with over the past decade or so, including Art Unity, Artist Inc with Fresh Arts, a Houston Arts Alliance project with Tammy Merrick, and the Poet-Trees project, a collaboration with WITS (Writers in the Schools). My jaw dropped at the mention of the Poet-Trees. Not only have these live trees, decorated with tiles penned with poems, been a huge inspiration for my career in the writing and publishing of poetry, but I also have a mini-Poet-Tree on my table at every comic-con and literary festival I attend. I enjoy giving people the chance to play with words in a haiku-sort-of way. Who knew that I was sitting in the presence of the mastermind behind this amazing, arboreal endeavor of hope and inspiration?
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Hand painted textiles by Nicola Parente. Featured at London Fashion Week, Designers Jerri Moore + Clarence Lee for Magpies & Peacocks. Photo by MP&P
“After only being up for less than a month, we had over three-thousand people leave messages, sentiments, thoughts, and prayers on the branches of the trees. It was incredibly special,” Nicola said. We’re all poets and writers and artists at heart.
Multifaceted Artistry.
While Nicola may technically be labeled a visual artist and I may bear the title of writer, we’ve both blurred the artistic lines and played in other creative sandboxes. Nicola has explored photography and sculpture, as well as, painting. I’ve written poetry, fictional stories of various lengths, and, of course, nonfiction pieces. Nicola designed a rug for the lobby of the Post Oak Hotel, and I’ve been a supernumerary with Houston Grand Opera. We’ve each been a part of the on-stage dance scene at various times and have accepted invitations to create and collaborate with
fellow artists in more ways than either of us could count. The list of our adventures and epic forays into imaginative entrepreneurialism goes on and on. We, the artist and the writer, agree that life is most delectable when you sample from a variety of plates and glasses. Sad to go but thoroughly energized and inspired by my connection with this incredible artist, I leave you with two final quotes from Nicola Parente. “I once created a series about interconnectedness, featuring circles and circular forms. It was an expression about the intersection where the circles meet. The place where relationships form, and all the connections are made.” “I see my line as a red thread that runs through everything. The red signifies the human aspect of life and what we’re all about. As one thread runs through one discipline, it easily runs through another, but they’re all related because of that one connection that we make.”
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AFTER HARVEY B Y
S A B I N E
C A S P A R I E
“A great disaster is a symbol to us to remember all the big things in life and
forget the small things, of which we have thought too much”, Kawaharlal Nehru, first prime minister of India, once said. Whether you were directly affected by
Harvey or witnessed it from the side lines, all Houstonians will remember that
period when everything and everyone seemed to be immersed in the depths of the w a t e r. P a s t S u m m e r w a s H a r v e y ’ s a n n i v e r s a r y, b u t H o u s t o n i a n s c o n t i n u e t o l i v e
with the aftermath of Harvey and many have only just gone back to their homes. A r t h a s a p o w e r t o b e a r w i t n e s s a n d t o e x p r e s s c o m p l e x e m o t i o n s i n a n e w w a y. I decided to speak to four artists who embodied their experiences of Harvey in
art. For some, this took on a social dimension and a sense of community that they n e v e r a n t i c i p a t e d . F o r o t h e r s , i t h e l p e d t h e m t o p r o c e s s t h e e v e n t m o r e p r i v a t e l y. W h a t t h e s e f o u r a r t i s t s h a v e i n c o m m o n i s t h e i r c r e a t i v i t y, w h i c h n e v e r l e f t e v e n at the height of distress.
Sarah Fisher
T h a t Wa s Ha r v e y , T h i s i s Ho u s t o n Having moved to Houston in 1997, Sarah Fisher has always been struck by Houston’s diversity. The work of Stephen L. Klineberg, professor of sociology at Rice University and director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, had occupied Fisher for some time. As Fisher explains, Klineberg and his students have been tracking the remarkable changes in demographic patterns, economic outlooks, experiences, and beliefs of Harris County residents in the annual Kinder Houston Area Survey, seeing Houston as a design for the
future of other US cities. “My work is centered on portraiture. In 2017, I was thinking about how Klineberg has painted Houston with his data for so many years, and I was trying to find a way to express these data in an artwork”. Then Harvey hit. Fisher went to the NRG Center on the day it opened as a shelter, and was moved to find long lines of volunteers. Her allocated group of thirty-two people was tasked with receiving donations from private vehicles and loading them into trucks. Doing this for several hours,
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Sarah Fisher, That was Harvey. This is Houston, 2017-2018, Oil on canvas (eight panels), 120’’ x 19’’ in. Top: Sarah, self-portrait by Sarah Fisher.
Fisher was stunned at the seamless, organic operation that emerged straight away from a group of people who had never met each other. “Then it hit me. This is what I have been thinking about. My group of people was such a diverse group: teenagers, older people, people from all nationalities and ethnicities. It may sound strange, but in that moment I thought ‘I may want to paint this’.” Fisher took a group photo. “Everyone organized themselves naturally, just like they had in the volunteer opera-
tion. Some people jumped on the truck. It struck me how in the photo, everyone is looking at the camera, no one is blinking. To me this exemplified the intensity of the entire experience.” Fisher’s portraits always try to adhere to human scale, but with thirty-two people that was challenging. She decided to transfer the photograph’s grid to eight square canvases, reaching a total surface of 120 by 190 inches. It took Fisher five months to finish the painting, sharing each step of
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Avisheh Mohsenin Resurface
the process on social media. “What I wanted to remain was the pride we all stand in our city. By showing the process, I could keep that feeling alive. To me this felt like a community project.” Fisher was moved and inspired by the hundreds of reactions she received. One of the people who became aware of her project was Tommy Gregory, then in charge of the Public Art Program at Houston Airport Systems. He asked Fisher to show the work as part of a temporary installation at Bush Intercontinental Airport, entitled Always strong. The painting stayed there for two months, after which it was picked up by another art advocate, Christine West, who arranged for it to be shown at George R. Brown Convention Center, the first Harvey shelter, during Harvey’s anniversary. From there it travelled to the Houston Food Bank, Memorial Middle School and Strakes Jesuit College. Fisher intends for the painting to travel to wherever it can be an inspiration to others. “It is important for me that the painting is going to schools. It raises issues that I believe are essential: altruism, diversity, community and resilience.” Fisher’s title for the work That was Harvey, This is Houston reflects both the moment in time when this diverse group of volunteers came together, as well as the aftermath of the painting itself, the way in which it was shared and picked up by members of the Houston art community. “Houston is a city that embraces people who make things better. This is what makes our city great. This painting sums up for me what I know about Houston”. www.sarahfisherart.com
For Avisheh Mohsenin, Harvey was traumatic. Having just bought a house near the bayou with her husband, moving there from Chicago, she was not prepared for what happened. “The basement was my studio space and we took all valuables to the first floor, but we never expected the water would raise as high as that. Our house was sitting in a lake. We lost two beautiful magnolia trees and there was destruction everywhere.” Mohsenin documented the experience in a powerful short film. Wading through the water in her living room, Mohsenin was devastated to find boxes full of family photographs sticking together in dirty, rotting piles. “Although I hadn’t look at the boxes for years, it felt comforting to have them, as a reminder of my childhood in Iran. Seeing the photos damaged like that, I felt a great feeling of loss.” But somehow, after the first devastation, Mohsenin’s creative mind started to work. She noticed how the water had caused the surface of the photographs to dilute, allowing underlying colors and chemicals to seep through. “Suddenly, I saw art. Other photographers I admire – Matthew Brandt, Curtis Mann, Jessica Warboys – deliberately try to achieve a similar effect. I was staring at the people in these photographs that seemed to be looking straight at me, speaking to me almost. Then it dawned on me that I had already lost these people a long time ago, and that that was my real loss. Somehow that helped me seeing that loss separate from the destruction of the objects.” With little time to act, Mohsenin selected photographs and slides and started drying them outside in the sun. Once dry, she re-photographed the images, some against the background of the damages pavement in front of her house, or of the walls inside. It was only after sharing the photographs on social media that it dawned on Mohsenin that other people were finding comfort in her work. “People acted very emotionally. Some people said how beautiful these images were. Others shared their personal experiences with me: someone in LA who had been in an earthquake, someone in NY who recently got divorced and felt she had lost everything. It was then that I realized what my process did for other people. The personal became collective.” The Houston Chronicle ran a feature, and Heidi Vaughan from Vaughan Mason Fine Art persuaded Mohsenin to exhibit the works. At Mohsenin I struggled with the idea of exhibiting these images in a White Cube setting. She decided to donate a part of the proceeds to the Houston Art Alliance who is helping Harvey victims. As photocollage is her prime medium, she also made a new series of work, using parts of the destroyed photographs and combining these with other fragments from the re-construction of her home: pieces of furniture, the arm of a construction worker. Looking back now, Mohsenin realizes that Resurface em-
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bodies many of the theoretical and philosophical questions that have always occupied her. “What is memory? It is a fluid concept. And what is a photograph? When you look at photos, do you freeze that moment in time, or are your memories colored by all that came after, by who you are now? Are photographs just images, documentation, or are they physical objects in their own right? What is the value of objects and our material attachment to them?” But most of all, for Mohsenin the series is about hope. “We all go through something, but there is often something good just around the corner. That is what I would like people to take away from this. A silver lining.” www.avishehmohseninart.com
Top: Avisheh Mohsenin. Photography by Nima Taradji Above: Avisheh Mohsenin, Resurface-Excavation, 2018, Photo on archival metal print (edition of 3), 11’’ x 14’’
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Cindee Klement Harvey Heroes
Cindee Klement grew up on an isolated cotton farm in West Texas, and has always had a strong affinity with animals. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that a large part of the series of monoprints that she made after Harvey deals with the less exposed stories of the floods: the rescue of the animals. “I went to volunteer at NRG stadium and there was this huge shelter for pets. One thirds of the families who were in the shelter took their pets, but they were often too depressed and traumatized to walk their dogs. I was glad to see that the entire pet space was so clean, with all these new crates that people had donated. But at the same time, I realized that this crate and the cot they sleep in may be all that these families have now. It really left me with crossed emotions.” To make her prints, Klement used screenshots from news stories, enlarged so that the details of each image faded and became pixelated. She used a technique diffusing watercolor paint on an acrylic plate, making a clear print and
a ghost print of each image. They show horses being saved from the water, a man in a cowboy hat carrying a dog to dry grounds, a man carrying a large pig (in Conroe, as Klement remembers). Klement is working on rendering the print of the rescued pig as a large sculpture in bronze, using her characteristic ferrocement faux boix technique. There is a strong aesthetic that ties Klement’s sculptures and these works on paper together. “My prints are a way of absorbing the images that people all over the world would see over and over, taking out some of the detail of the image so that a more abstract image remains. Just as I do in my bronze ‘burnouts’, where through a process of physically burning away material I reveal the cavities in the mold. What I want to show is what I try to show in all my artworks: energy and movement. Harvey Heroes is about the emotional energy of the people affected, and the natural energy of all that water.” www.cindeeklement.com
Cindee Klement, She would never leave him, 2018, Watercolor monotype 22” X 30” Cindee Klement Photography by Nash Baker
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Sylvia Beijnink Harvey
Silvia Beijnink is an artist working in collage, using a meticulous process of layering thousands of pieces torn from magazines. She hardly uses scissors, letting the paper itself speak through her fingers. Beijnink started her collage Harvey after Houston’s devastating hurricane, slowly building up its forms as Houston’s citizens were re-building their homes. This allowed Beijnink to process her own experiences of Harvey. “After the water was gone I remember the first time I drove around. I was looking at tons of moldy parts, a piano, a kid’s car, paintings, records. I couldn’t stop crying. These were people’s life stories displayed on the curb. And I realized how lucky my family and I had been. It made me feel powerless and guilty too. I volunteered at NRG stadium, but my collaging is how I process feelings, so I started to make work.” Like most people, Beijnink was struck by the sense of community and hope in Houston after Harvey. The tree, a common motive in Beijnink’s collages, represents this. Beijnink
has always been fascinated by trees, symbols of life and growth. The tree contains memories in its bark that can go back centuries, and thus it can act as a vessel for the sensual, the natural and the emotional. In Harvey, the roots and the tree trunk are made out of images of water, carefully chosen, torn, and put back together. “ The base of the tree reflects the water coming in. Life stood still. When the water withdrew, activities started again and mainly, there was hope. The leaves and the color of the leaves express growth and a new beginning, like a rainbow.” This single artwork symbolizes the healing power of nature. As Beijnink states, “water is a powerful natural source. Harvey showed that in various ways. When the water came in, it destructed everything around it. At the same time, water is the source of life. We can’t live without water.” If interviewing these artists has shown me anything, it is that we can ‘t live without art either. www.sylpaperworks.com
Sylvia Beijnink Photography by Sylvia Beijnink Harvey, 2018 Collage on board 22’’ x 26’’
Sasha Roovers
Cultures in Transition OLIVER KLINK
SOUL of the Bürkitshi, Plate 126 Siezbek and his Brother, Eagle Hunters, Mongolia, 2016. Photo by Oliver Klink
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Left: Plate 56, Home, Aichun Village, Yunnan Province, China,2016. Right: Plate 20, Summer Camp, Bituu, Sagsai Soum, Mongolia, 2017 Photos by Oliver Klink
DISCOVERY 41
the changes that people go through, the subtleties that make their life evolve, their spiritual guiding light. As a boy in Switzerland, Klink had dreams of becoming an explorer, to follow his deep curiosity and hunger to understand what makes people who they are. In 2001, he made his first trip to China with his wife and in-laws, who had left China in the 1970’s. Their stories were riveting and became the catalyst for Klink 30 trips in the next 15 years to five Asian Countries (Bhutan, China, India, Mongolia, Myanmar). He photographed environmental portraits of the continuity between family, work, and spirituality. There was no separation, but peoples’ concerns about how ‘progress’ can create disconnection and alienation between themselves and their communities became more evident. This fluidity of life is at the core of Cultures in Transition. With each subsequent trip to Asia, Klink’s explorations became more rustic and further away from the mainstream tourist locations. He watched people and started to feel their emotions about change, their worries, their accepC U LT U R E S
IN
TRANSITION
EXPLORES
tance. He witnessed them falling behind, trying to hold on to their culture, and their spirituality. As opposed to a voyeuristic glimpse of another person’s life, the images articulate the subject’s true desires. His photography had evolved from process to artistry to authenticity. Anne Wilkes Tucker, curator emerita of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston writes: “Both Klink and I hope that family histories and some of their traditions will travel with the younger generations as they leave the rural for the urban. Neither Klink nor I still live on the farms owned by our families (his father’s farm in Switzerland, my uncles’ and cousins’ farms in Louisiana). We take advantage of the modern conveniences of city life. I did interview my mother and father about their childhoods and those of their parents and recorded these conversations in my journals, but I am all too conscious of the gaps, now that the older generations are gone. Given their low incomes, it is unlikely that rural families in China have been able to document their lives with photographs or even on paper, of which there are shortages in many rural schools. Maybe
ARTHOUSTON 42
Plate 17, God’s Rays, Tha Ya Bu temple, Bagan, Myanmar, 2014. Photo by Oliver Klink
Klink’s images, given to the sitters, will be used later to spark memories, just as they have for his in-laws who left China decades ago.” Klink was transported to a world that he could hardly comprehend still existed. Klink says: ”It was challenging to take it all in and at the same time distill the true essence of the people, their lifestyle. Sometimes their look was telling their stories; other times, I could feel them gazing at me perhaps as the transition to their uncertain future.” Animals have always held a special place in Klink’s heart. At his parents’ farm, he saw calves being born, flocks of chicks following the hen, ducks taking their first plunge in the river. The commonality was a reliance on the parents to survive, to grow. He could not imagine any other ways for these animals to grow up until he heard about the eagles of the Altai Mountains in Mongolia. The Bürkitshi (eagle hunters) capture young eagles and train them to hunt and be dependent on the owner for survival. There is a deep bond and a rich unspoken language between the Bürkitshi
and their eagles. Yes, the hunt is violent, but the Bürkitshi’s intimate connection with their animals instills the sport with a sense of grace and art. At one point, Klink got stranded in their winter camp for a few days and suddenly he felt like he was back with his in-laws, listening to their stories passed down from generations – a full circle, making it appropriate to complete the Cultures in Transition project with the “Soul of the Bürkitshi.” Geir Jordahl, publisher from True North Editions also writes: “Klink’s pictures are dreams manifest – they become representations of our past, present, and future. His photographs are of exotic places and people, yet they connect deeply to what it means to be human. They are about survival. They are about hope. They are about the Spirit, Heart, and Soul in us all.” Cultures in Transition book is available in two editions: Limited Edition (900 copies) and Collector Edition (100 copies). All books signed and numbered by the artist. www.culturesintransition.com
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Statecraft
SE L E C T ION S F ROM T H E J E W E L RY C OL L E C T ION O F T H E DA N I S H A RT S F O U N DAT I O N BY
This spring, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) is pleased to host a collection of exquisite contemporary art jewelry, assembled for the first time in the United States, from the Danish Arts Foundation. On view March 15 – June 2, 2019, in the Asher Gallery, Statecraft will showcase more than 80 important pieces of contemporary jewelry that the Foundation’s Craft and Design Committee has acquired directly from the country’s most innovative and prominent designers and artists over the last five decades. Featuring a wide variety of trends—everything from the late-1970s emphasis on fine silversmithing to the riot of new materials, forms, and concepts of the 1990s through today—the collection provides an irreplaceable opportunity to trace the evolution of contemporary Danish jewelry design. Many of the featured works represent examples of singular Danish artists at different moments in their careers, which, in some instances, span more than 40 years of sustained output in jewelry.
ARTHUR
DEMICHELI
The Foundation supports the livelihood of practicing artists and, for the Danish people, preserves an important part of their cultural legacy. Since 2007, a majority of pieces in the collection have been made available for Danish citizens— who participate in official, special, or public events—to borrow and wear for those occasions. The lending program provides everyday Danes the chance to see, appreciate, and understand, through the opportunity to wear, the best of Danish jewelry design. HCCC Executive Director Perry Price commented, “HCCC is thrilled to be the first institution in the United States to host this selection of jewelry from the collection of the Danish Arts Foundation. The Foundation’s commitment to supporting practicing artists is to be celebrated, of course, but most remarkable is their willingness to place important pieces of contemporary jewelry into the hands of its citizens. It fulfills the mission of collecting art for the public good—and of connecting, educating, and investing the public with the work of their artist compatriots.”
45
2000 Edwards Street, #218 Houston, TX 77007
Nich ole Dittmann
J E W E L R Y
D E S I G N S
713-501-7290 nicholedittmann.com
ARTHOUSTON 46
GALLERY PROFILE 47
Anya Tish Gallery B Y
J O H N
B E R N H A R D
For more than 20 years, Anya Tish Gallery has been dedicated to the promotion of international emerging and mid-career artists. In the heart of Montrose the gallery represents artists from various cultural backgrounds, and provides a conduit for artists who address pertinent social and environmental issues. The gallery exhibits works that emphasize a strong correlation between concept and materials in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, photography and video. JOHN BERNHARD: What year did
JB: You represent over 30 artists
you open the gallery and how did you get started in Houston?
from diverse cultural traditions from the U.S. and Europe. What are your criteria for choosing them?
ANYA TISH: After receiving a
Master’s degree in psychology from Jagiellonian University, in Krakow, Poland, I came to the United States to study art. I took art history courses at the University of Houston, and studio art courses at the Glassell School of Art. Shortly afterwards, I began working at the Gerhardt Wurzer Gallery in Houston, where I held the titles of assistant manager and later director. In 1996, after several years with the Gerhardt Wurzer Gallery, I decided to open my own gallery.
AT: I regularly attend important
non-commercial art venues such as Venice Biennale, Prague Biennale, and Documenta; commercial art fairs such as Basel Switzerland, Basel Miami and the Armory; and work with contemporary museums such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow, in order to familiarize myself with current relevant artistic trends and themes. This knowledge enables me to focus on contemporary artwork that possesses a strong correlation
between concept and materials, regardless of the medium. The work of the artist that I choose to represent needs to demand my attention and resonate with me. It needs to persist with me after I have left the piece. It needs to show me something that I didn’t know before, or tell me something that I have felt. I must be able to connect to the work with both excitement and respect. JB: Can you recommend some
emerging artists from your gallery roster? AT: It is my firm conviction that
an important responsibility of a
ARTHOUSTON 48
contemporary art gallery is to provide a venue for unknown talent. Representing emerging artists brings fresh exciting ideas and challenging perspectives to the art community, which can only vitalize and enhance art’s cultural relevance. By representing emerging artists, the gallery also provides emerging collectors the opportunity to purchase works of art, thus promoting a promising strong collector base. Recommending
“ I want collectors to allow themselves to be transported from the world of the ordinary.
”
emerging artists from my gallery roster, is similar to picking my favorite child. Each artist represented by the gallery, whether emerging, mid-career, or established, creates challenging, thought-provoking, and compelling art. Eduardo Portillo, a Houston based Salvadorian artist, pushes the boundaries between painting and sculpture, creating unique geometrical configurations that confront the traditional genre of painting. New Mexico-based artist, Corey Pickett, creates immense gun sculptures stuffed with foam and upholstered in Victorian and Dutch textiles to visually reference the slave trade triangle and its effect upon African-American culture. Engaging the aesthetics of the internet and of a fast-paced online visibility, Chinese artist Gao Hang paints electric ‘portraits’ of sharks, bears,
interiors, or abstracted landscapes, rendered in thin flat shapes and fluorescent hues, which he considers to be the tones of his generation. Executing his pieces with the proficiency of old masters, Colombiaborn artist Johan Barrios, in his rich charcoal drawings and oil paintings, pays close attention to every aspect of the body’s anatomy, while articulating the ephemerality of human relationships, emotions, and life. JB: Over all these years, can
you recall your most memorable exhibition? AT: The gallery’s twentieth anniversary exhibition was my most memorable. It was a two part exhibition, XX Part One running from April 22, 2016 - May 28, 2016 and XX Part Two running from June 3, 2016 - July 9, 2016. The two group exhibitions, featuring the works of 22 artists, consisted of painting, video, sculpture, photography, and installation, by recent and long-standing artists from the gallery stable.
according to a report on the market’s current state published by Art Basel. In 2018 more galleries closed than opened. What are your thoughts on the role and existence of a gallery? AT: As the Internet and social
media have expanded exponentially, viewing art on our computer screens has become commonplace. Although this can be a helpful tool for getting a sense of the artwork in the comfort of our homes, art must be encountered in person to be fully appreciated. The art gallery provides the community with this opportunity, to directly experience a work of art, whether it be a painting or an installation. And in so doing the gallery becomes a conduit for something that truly nurtures the human spirit. Picasso said “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls”. The art gallery has a strong connection to its
JB: When future collectors or
patrons visit, what do you hope they experience? AT: I want the collector’s encounter
with art to transform his habitual routine of looking, into an experience of feeling enriched, and fundamentally changed somehow. I want collectors to allow themselves to be transported from the world of the ordinary. I want them to realize that a work of art is something that they can live with, something that has the power to inspire and renew and be enjoyed from day to day. JB: The art market is in crisis,
Right page from top: Katja Loher The Trembling of a Leaf or the Movement of the Universe, September 2017, Video installation/ Performance. William Cannings Luster Cluster, September 2016, installation View. Adela Andea Mandragora: Liquescent Light, installation view, September 2013. Previous page: Gallerist Anya Tish at the MOCAK (Museum Of Contemporary Art) Krakow, Poland, Maria Wasilewska WONderland installation, 2017. Photography by Mark Tish.
GALLERY PROFILE 49
ARTHOUSTON 50
Richard Tuschman Hopper Meditations, (Photography) installation view February-March 2018.
“ ...I prefer the traditional gallery venue that enables me to build a lasting relationship with the client over a long period of time.
�
community. It is a place where people can come together to engage in a discourse initiated by the art, a discourse that often serves as a catalyst for addressing social concerns. Thus the art gallery, by enabling art to become an integral part of the individual’s life, fulfills an essential part of the fabric of a healthy society. JB: According to the New York Times,
almost half of all gallery sales are nowadays conducted at the art fairs. What is your experience with art fairs? AT: I have participated in several art
fairs - the Texas Contemporary, Art Palm Beach, the Houston Art Fair, and the Boston International. Although such fairs are exhilarating and often
profitable, I prefer the traditional gallery venue that enables me to build a lasting relationship with the client over a long period of time. JB: What are your future plans? AT: I have developed a great interest
in art installation, the three-dimensional visual artwork created for a specific place and designed to change the perception of space by creating its own environment. I think that it establishes a new relationship between artwork and audience unheard of with a painting, drawing, photography, or sculpture. My future plans are to promote more art installation, with the gallery serving as a venue for artists dedicated to this art form.
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A R T PA R T Y FUNDRAISING FOR THE CHILDREN’S ASSESSMENT CENTER
This year’s CAC ART PARTY, Houston’s most posh young crowd hosted, partied and raised funds for an amazing cause, the Children’s Assessment Center (CAC), a place that houses investigative police, specialised medical and therapy services for the victims of Child Abuse and their families. The statistics are so alarming, but thankfully a group of generous philanthropists with a great heart and a great eye for art get together yearly to raise funds every year for this wonderful cause that offers relief and awareness to the general public.
The event was curated by Yvonamor Palix, Yvonamor Palix Fine Arts Gallery and Brian Freeze of Gremillion & Co Fine Art Gallery was the art director in charge. This year’s venue was Million Air, where a hangar was adorned with well selected hand picked art as well as stylish furniture and leer jets! This art event is becoming a yearly gathering for art collectors with discerning taste who wish to add good quality art to their collections. The young and very creative chairs and event committee composed of
BY ARTHUR DEMICHELI
Haydee Davoudi, Julie Kuo, Andrea Medina, Luvi Wheelock, Katie Dwan, Natasha Parvizian Gorgue, Katie Keener, Meredith Marshall, Lauren Sanfillippo, Jordan Seff and Jennifer Smith understand the need to offer artworks by established, mid career and young talents to better serve the market offering a variety of prices and styles. This amazing group of ladies puts so much soul and good sense into all the details to make this event unique and profitable for the CAC. This year the Art Party included a series of artists painting live, performances
by Houston’s Rockettes, amazing music, stylish cozy decor as well as the leer jets that reminded us that we were in an Airline Hangar! Guests enjoyed wonderful food and libations throughout the evening. Guests buy art through a silent auction, a buy now option for those who want to do good twice by supporting the arts and the CAC, but the main event is always the exciting Live auction, where auctioneer Hamid Parvizian donates more than his time and his own money for a cause he feels strongly about, he knows how to stir the crowd’s hearts.
EVENT 53
From top: Artist Janavi Folsmbee, Art collector’s Dennis Powsawng and Yigal Kass with Yvonamor Palix. Crowd ready for the every exciting Live Auction, animated by Hamid Parvizian. A view of some of the art sold that evening. Photos by Mark Bayse
ARTHOUSTON 54
NUIT BLANCHE BY SABINE CASPARIE
In December last year, an article appeared in Christie’s magazine titled ‘Art Cities: How Houston became a hotbed of contemporary art’. It seems they can now add a new Houston art event to the list. On April 6, 2019, the first edition of Nuit Blanche (Noche Blanca) Houston will take place: a twelve-hour, free, city-wide festival of contemporary art. ‘Nuit Blanche’ stands for ‘sleepless night’: for one night the area around City Hall, Houston Public Library and Tranquility Park will be transformed by art and music performances, film projections and installations of light and sound. Nuit Blanche started in Paris in 2002, with the aim of bringing contemporary art into the public sphere. Annually, places like Notre Dame and the Pompidou museum are turned into movie screens, and the street becomes an artistic playground for a series of art experiences. It has become hugely successful and has since spread to 35 cities, often under the same brand but independently produced (since 2013 it has been staged in Dallas under the name Aurora). In her previous role at Paris City Hall’s communications office, Laura Matesco worked closely with the organizers of Nuit Blanche Paris. When she came to Houston with her family in 2014, she set out to introduce a similar event here. “Nuit Blanche is a perfect opportunity to highlight Houston’s heritage, and also to show the city in a new light. This matches perfectly with the city’s goal to draw national and international interest as a cultural destination.”
Like most people who move here, Matesco was surprised at how vibrant, diverse and unconventional Houston is. Nuit Blanche plans to celebrate that diversity. International street artist JR will present a continuation of his Inside/ Out project, monumental stagings of photography in various cities around the world. Portraits of 1,000 children will be pasted on walls and buildings in Downtown. Moreover, the event is designed so that the public can engage and interact with art, and with each other. French-Hungarian artist Yona Friedman will have an installation of his ‘mobile architecture’: removable structures that are meant to be transformed into flexible architectural constructs through participation of the audience. Matesco believes that the appeal of the Nuit Blanche model is its accessibility. “This is the perfect vehicle to reach new audiences. As a free event, it is accessible to non-traditional gallery-going audiences across all income
INSIGHTS 55
Screening of the movie Faces, Places by artist JR at Axelrad in November 2018. Below: Sofia Adrogue, co-host, Laura Matesco, director and Judy Nyquist, co-host.
levels. We welcome everyone, from families with small children, to teenagers and adults. Food trucks and popup bars will accompany the art, and there will be live or projected outdoor music performances. With the wide selection of art installations, there’s something out there for everyone.” Bringing a new concept to a city has its challenges, but Matesco is not easily fazed. “I was lucky to meet amazing people that are involved in the arts community who helped me to make this first edition possible. I was also very lucky to meet amazing volunteers that are strongly involved in the project and passionate about it, I can’t thank them enough! It has been a great opportunity to meet with a wide range of professionals from different sectors, and work closely together to support contemporary creation.” Matesco and her team hope that Houstonians, who embrace the non-traditional, will come and experience this
first Nuit Blanche edition, the first of many. “This will be a fun and interactive way to get the community together and enjoy the wonderful talent and culture our city has to offer. I believe in the power of art to build better lives, better communities and a better city.”
ARTHOUSTON 56
gallery listings
BISONG GALLERY 1305 Sterrett St. 713 498-3015
BOOKER•LOWE GALLERY 4623 Feagan St. 713 880-1541
CAPSULE GALLEY 3909 Main St. 713 807-7065 CARDOZA FINE ART 1320 Nance St. 832 548-0404 Carol Berger, Leaf
ARCHWAY GALLERY 2305 Dunlavy St. 713 522-2409
MARCH 2- APRIL 4 Donna Perkins A P R I L 6 - M AY 2 Carol Berger, “Leaf ”
M AY 4 - 3 0 Tom& Cookie Wells JUNE PrintHouston exhibition
AEROSOL WARFARE 2110 Jefferson 832 748-8369
ARADER GALLERY 5015 Westheimer Rd, #2303 713 621-7151
ART OF THE WORLD GALLERY
ARDEN GALLERY 239 Westheimer Rd. 713 371-6333
2201 Westheimer Rd. 713 526-1201 ART LEAGUE OF BAYTOWN 110 W Texas Ave, Baytown 281 427-2222
ANYA TISH GALLERY
4411 Montrose Blvd. 713 524-2299 APAMA MACKEY GALLERY 628 East 11th Street 713 850-8527
ART PALACE 3913 Main St. 832 390-1278
ART LEAGUE HOUSTON
CASA RAMIREZ FOLK ART 241 West 19th St. 713-880-2420 CATHERINE COUTURIER GALLERY 2635 Colquitt St. 713 524-5070 CAVALIER FINE ART 3845 Dunlavy St. 713 552-1416 CINDY LISICA GALLERY 4411 Montrose Blvd. #F 832 409-1934 CLARKE & ASSOCIATES 301 E 11th St. 281 310-0513 COMMUNITY ARTISTS 4101 San Jacinto, Suite 115 713 523-1616
1953 Montrose Blvd. 713 523-9530
DAVID SHELTON GALLERY 3909 Main St, 832 538-0924
ASHER GALLERY 4848 Main St. 713 529-4848
DEAN DAY GALLERY 2639 Colquitt St. 713 520-1021
BARBARA DAVIS GALLERY 4411 Montrose Blvd. 713 520-9200
D. M. ALLISON GALLERY 2709 Colquitt 832 607-4378
DEBORAH COLTON GALLERY 2445 North Blvd. 713 869-5151
DEVIN BORDEN GALLERY 3917 Main St. 713 529-2700
DIMMITT CONTEMPORARY ART
3637 W Alabama St #160 281 468-6569 18 HANDS GALLERY 249 W. 19th St, Suite B 713 869-3099
FOTO RELEVANCE 616 Hawthorne St. 281 989-4356
Gspot GALLERY 310 East 9th Street 713 869-4770 GALERIA REGINA 1716 Richmond Ave 713 523-2524 GALERIE SPECTRA 303 Memorial City Way, 832 656-9671 GALLERY SONJA ROESCH 2309 Caroline St 713 659-5424 THE GITE GALLERY 2024 Alabama St. 713 523-3311
GALVESTON ART CENTER 2501 Market St. Galveston 409 763-2403
GLADE GALLERY 24 Waterway Avenue The Woodlands 832 557-8781
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Jonathan Paul Jackson,The Creation of the Earth (After the Volcanoes Cooled Down), 2019, acrylic and oil pastel on paper mounted on board, 50 x 90 inches.
Foltz Fine Art Presents: NEXT: T hree G e ne ration s of Hou ston Abstrac t E xpressioni sts featuring Richard Stout, Ibsen Espada, and Jonathan Paul Jackson March 16—April 27, 2019 O p e n i n g R e c e p t i o n : S a t u r d a y, M a r c h 1 6 , 6 - 8 p m
2143 WESTHEIMER RD, HOUSTON, TX 77098 713-521-7500 REAVESART.COM
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GRAY CONTEMPORARY 3508 Lake St. 713 862-4425
GREMILLION & CO. FINE ART, INC. 2501 Sunset Blvd. 713 522-2701
GUERRERO-PROJECTS 4411 Montrose Blvd. 713 522-0686 HANNAH BACOL BUSCH GALLERY 6900 S. Rice Ave. 713 527-0523 HARAMBEE ART GALLERY 901 Bagby St. harambeeartgallery.com HARRIS GALLERY 1100 Bissonnet 713 522-9116
HIRAM BUTLER GALLERY
JACK MEIER GALLERY 2310 Bissonnet 713 526-2983 KOELSCH GALLERY 801 Richmond avenue 713 626-0175
LA COLOMBE D’OR GALLERY 3410 Montrose Blvd. 713 524 -7999
713 528-0664
McCLAIN GALLERY 2242 Richmond Ave. 713 520-9988
5015 Westheimer Rd. Galleria II, Level II 713 871-0940
MEREDITH LONG & CO. 2323 San Felipe 713 523-6671
OCTAVIA ART GALLERY 3637 West Alabama #120 713 877-1810
MOODY GALLERY
O’KANE GALLERY UH-Downtown One Main Street 713 221-8042
Andrea Rosenberg February 23 - March 30
PARKERSON GALLERY 3510 Lake St. 713 524-4945
2815 Colquitt St. 713 526-9911
Dan Sutherland April 6 - May 11
4520 Blossom St. 713 863-7097
1441 West Alabama Street 713 529-4755
OFF THE WALL GALLERY
PEVETO 2627 Colquitt Street 713 360-7098 POISSANT GALLERY 5102 Center St. 713 868-9337
HOOKS-EPSTEIN GALLERIES 2631 Colquitt St. 713 522-0718
HOUSTON CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY
Mackenzie Thorpe
POST GALLERY 2121 Sage, Suite 165 713 622-4241 Dan Sutherland, Exterior Profile, 2013, oil on aluminum, 18 1/2” x 11 1/4”
HUNTER GORHAM GALLERY 1834 1/2 Westheimer Rd. 713 492-0504
NICOLE LONGNECKER GALLERY 2625 Colquitt St. 713 591-4997
INMAN GALLERY 3901 Main St. 713 526-7800
NOLAN-RANKIN GALLERIES 3637 W. Alabama St.
REDBUD GALLERY 303 E. 11th St. 713 862-2532
ROCKSTAR GALLERY 5700 NW Central Dr #160 832 868-0242 RUDOLPH BLUME FINE ART 1836 Richmond Avenue 713 807-1836
SHE WORKS FLEXIBLE 1709 Westheimer Rd. 713 522-0369 SAMARA GALLERY 3100 Richmond, suite 104 713 999-1009
SERRANO GALLERY
2000 Edwards St. #117 713 724-0709 Valentina Atkinson
gallery listings
SICARDI AYERS BACINO GALLERY 2246 Richmond Ave. 713 529-1313 SIMPSON GALLERIES 6116 Skyline Dr. Suite 1 713 524-6751 TEXAS GALLERY 2012 Peden St. 713 524-1593
WILLIAM REAVES SARAH FOLTZ FINE ART 2143 Westheimer Rd. 713 521-7500
YVONAMOR PALIX FINE ARTS 1824 Spring St. 281 467-6065 ZOYA TOMMY 4102 Fannin St. 832 649-5814
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ARTHOUSTON 60
INTUNE
Houston’s leading graphic reproduction firm carry on its collaboration with interior designers, artists, curators, and gallery owners. BY MATT ROSS
For hundreds of years the ability of artists to share their art was limited by the artist’s own individual ability to create. Because each piece was singular and unique, faithful replication and distribution to reach a broad audience was difficult and expensive. Art comes in many shapes, sizes, and media. And, while every artist’s vision may be unique, each work springs from that artist’s mission of expressing to and engaging an audience in that vision. Today, however, artists who seek to broadly share their vision
QUE staff are experts and work closely with each artist on color management, precision scanning, and print-on-demand. QUE’s technologies include: cruse scanning – This line-scan digital camera technology enables simultaneous captures of 2D and 3D color Image structures at highspeed – even from large originals of up to 48” x 72” with a depth of up to 14”. The simultaneous detection of height and color is a major advantage for the inspection of these data. Used extensively in the mu-
have a partner in digital technology. Due to advances in both scanning (data digitization) and reproduction, artists now enjoy the freedom to create beyond traditional limitations formerly imposed by technique, process, texture and media. As Houston’s leading graphic reproduction firm, QUE Imaging has served the Houston arts community for over 35 years, pioneering the application and integration of new digital technologies to provide artists with a broader, more exciting creative landscape. No longer bound by the challenges of faithfully reproducing the artist’s vision in quantity or strictures formerly imposed by size, texture and substrate, artists utilizing virtually every technique and media are partnering with QUE to realize their full artistic potential in both 2D and 3D. President Bob Abbinanti states, “At QUE Imaging, everything we have learned about graphics is at the service of our artist clients. This includes insights about color, resolution, hue, and contrast from our vast experience in photo reproduction.” The
seum field, this technology offers entirely new possibilities for archiving valuable originals in 2D and 3D. Giclée printing – Giclée printing is a process that uses fade-resistant, archival inks and archival substrates to print on large format printers. Giclée printing is used by artists to make reproductions of their original two-dimensional artwork, photographs or computer-generated art for resale while preserving the original. QUE works with hundreds of artists and photographers to create gallery-quality reproductions of their work. The variety of media Giclée printers can reproduce includes: canvas, paper, wood, aluminum, glass and acrylic. According to Jeffrey Abbinanti, “Sometimes an artist will visit our showroom and seeing something we have done for another artist sparks an idea or option on new way in which they can express their vision. Discovery and collaboration is the process that expands the range of possibilities.” For more information, visit www.queimaging.com.
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Adriana LoRusso
Suzette Schutze
Denise Giordano
Gretchen Bender Sparks
Kyong Burke
Karuna Leach
Vicki Hessemer
Nichole Dittmann
Lily Gavalas
Lacy Husmann
Valentina Atkinson
Tania Botelho
Nataliya Scheib
Lyn Sullivan
Danyelle Lakin
Studio 326 832-607-9117 alorussoart@gmail.com
Studio 301 281-455-8421 www.artbykaruna.com
Studio 317 713-724-0709 www.valentinaatkinson.com
Studio 306 281-881-8981 www.suzetteschutze.com
Studio 121 713-504-9118 www.vickihessemer.com
Studio 102 281-660-5061 Facebook ArtByTaniaBotelho
Studio 214 713-444-7562 www.gretchenbendersparks.com
Studio 108 713-206-3526 www.giostudioart.com
Studio 218 713-501-7290 FB-Nichole Dittmann Jewelry Designs
Studio 115 571-212-9279 www.NataliyaScheib.com
Studio 119 713-859-7143 www.lilygavalas.com
Studio 312 281-520-1349 www.lynsullivan.com
Studio 321 281-389-8347 www.kyongburke.com
Studio 105 832-993-5583 www.lacyhusmann.com
Studio 204 281 707 0772 www.danyellelakin.com
WHERE ART LOVERS AND ARTISTS CONNECT VISIT ARTISTS’ STUDIOS EVERY SECOND SATURDAY OF THE MONTH
2000 EDWARDS ST. HOUSTON, TX 77007
12-5PM
SILVERSTREETHOUSTON.COM
ARTHOUSTON 62
performing arts schedule
ALLEY THEATRE
DA CAMERA
THE HUMANS BY STEPHEN KARAM DIRECTED BY BRANDON WEINBRENNER HUBBARD THEATRE MARCH 1 - MARCH 24
MARK GUILIANA JAZZ QUARTET March 23 8:00 pm
615 Texas Avenue 713 220-5700
CRIMES OF THE HEART BY BETH HENLEY DIRECTED BY THERESA REBECK HUBBARD THEATRE APRIL 12 - MAY 5 CONSTELLATIONS BY NICK PAYNE DIRECTED BY LESLIE SWACKHAMER NEUHAUS THEATRE MAY 3 - JUNE 2 THE THREE MUSKETEERS ADAPTED FROM THE NOVEL BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS DIRECTED BY MARK SHANAHAN HUBBARD THEATRE MAY 31 - JUNE 30
1402 Sul Ross 713 524-524-7601
A LITTLE DAY MUSIC April 3, May 1 12:00 pm DAVE DOUGLAS DIZZY ATMOSPHERE April 12 8:00 pm WEINBERG AND MENDELSSOHN May 10 8:00 pm
HOUSTON GRAND OPERA Brown Theater, Wortham Theater Center 510 Preston St. 713 546-0200
DON GIOVANNI April 20, 27, 30, May 3, 5 THE PHOENIX April 26, 28, May 4, 7, 10
HOBBY CENTER 800 Bagby Street 713 315-2400
ANASTASIA Mar 5 - Mar 10, Sarofim Hall YEKWON SUNWOO Apr 25, 2019, Zilkha Hall PAW PATROL LIVE! “THE GREAT PIRATE ADVENTURE” Mar 15 - Mar 17, Sarofim HalL MISS SAIGON May 7 - May 12, Sarofim Hall THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG Mar 26 - Mar 31, Sarofim Hall
THEATRE UNDER THE STARS 1475 West Gray 713 520-1220
MAMMA MIA! February 19 - March 3 Sarofim Hall RAGTIME Apr 16 - Apr 28 Sarofim Hall JEROME ROBBINS’ BROADWAY May 28 - Jun 9 Sarofim Hall
ALADDIN Jun 26 - Jul 14, Sarofim Hall
Left: Eva Noblezada in a scene from MISS SAIGON. Photo by Matthew Murphy Opposite page from top: Steven Reineke. Photo Tom Shea Marie, Ian Casady and Melody Herrera. Photo Amitava Sarkar
SCHEDULE 63
HOUSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Jesse H. Jones Hall 615 Louisiana Street, Suite 100 713 227-4772
STAR WARS — A NEW HOPE IN CONCERT March 22, 23, 24 CARMINA BURANA March 29, 30, 31 TCHAIKOVSKY AND RACHMANINOFF April 4, 6, 7 INDIGO GIRLS April 10 UPPER ELEMENTARY April 17, 18 MUSIC OF LED ZEPPELIN April 19 CIRQUE DE LA SYMPHONIE April 26, 27, 28 ONCE UPON A TIME April 27 BEETHOVEN’S EROICA May 3, 4, 5 RACHMANINOFF’S THE BELLS May 9, 11, 12 BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE May 16, 17 SONG & DANCE — THE BEST OF BROADWAY May 24, 25, 26
HOUSTON BALLET Wortham Center, 500 Texas Avenue 713 227-2787
Houston Ballet Academy Spring Showcase April 26-27 COPPÉLIA May 17 – 26 THE MERRY WIDOW May 31 – June MARIE June 14 – 23
A R T H OAURSTTHOONU S6 T4 O N 6 4
excerpt america’s call
B Y
J O H N
B E R N H A R D
“It must have been hours since we left the cozy motel where we had slept for the last time together. Carmela had decided to return to Florida for some personal reasons. It felt like time stopped as we walked miles in silence, side by side, losing sight of our surroundings. Then I looked up and there was the Greyhound bus station. I could see Alain’s face tensing with emotion he didn’t want me to see. We proceeded to the ticket counter where Alain bought his ticket to New York, the ticket that ends his travels, the end of something unexplainable because we had gone through so much together and we never really thought of the ending. It’s tough to leave a friend after almost a year spent together, traveling thousands of miles, sharing days and nights. But I felt it was neither the end of an adventure nor the end of a journey, but the beginning of a story. I realized that my face started to tense more so as we hugged in a brotherly way at great length, I must admit that I had a hard time hiding my emotions. It felt like I had a fish bone stuck in my throat, like I was swallowing razor blades. The bus driver screamed two or three words to hurry the last passengers. I looked at Alain, his black hair all ruffled, his baby face and his little brown eyes. He joked often about his eyes and he used to say in jest that he was part American Indian and everyone always believed him until he exploded in laughter. I cannot find many faults besides his chauvinist comparisons, which fueled some fights during our trip, but his sensibility, almost childlike, made me forget everything instantly. He started boarding the coach without looking back. I noticed the small bag I had given him for his birthday. He was holding it with pride with his left hand close to his hip, as if he was afraid someone would steal it. He was the last passenger to board. The door closed and he disappeared inside. You couldn’t see him behind those annoying tinted windows, but I still waved. The engine started to spit the usual black fume from its exhaust. You overwhelmingly felt it because it mixed quickly with the hot, humid, stagnant air of New Orleans.” Excerpt from the book America’s Call , The rocky road of the American dream, first published in 2011
ESS AY 6 5
A Two Week Story about Chris Weekley and his wife Sarah that met at a Dog Park in Nashville, Tennessee. Along the way, they had five children, a cat, and a dog, and endless memories! Illustration by Lilian Ibrahim
ART STORIES
TURNING PERSONAL STORIES INTO UNIQUE GIFTS BY ALEX KURKOWSKI
I started mailing epistolary (literary/ar-
I decided to start Tellinga. Tellinga, LLC
expectation of a holiday/birthday greeting
tisanal work in the form of letters) style
is a Houston, TX-based start-up that cre-
card. The goal is to provide an extremely
hand-drawn images to friends a family
ates personalized stories with customized
personalized gift that brightens a loved
as a joke approximately one year ago. I
illustrations through traditional mail. Sto-
one’s day by delivering little hand-drawn
would draw pictures in story form and
ry recipients receive hand-drawn stories
story surprises in their mailboxes.
mail them out to loved ones piece by piece
about themselves based on unique pref-
Tellinga currently employs 24 talented
over a period of time. Imagine a comic or
erences. It can be fun, dramatic, thought-
Houston artists from Rice University and
any book with images being taken apart
ful... anything! Your mailbox isn’t dead -
the University of Houston.
page by page and then those pages snail
it’s more alive than ever!
mailed out one by one throughout weeks
We live in such a digital world these
or even months! For my friends and family,
days as we are always emailing, text mes-
it was always a way to stay connected and
saging and following each other’s social
create fun personalized stories so that
media accounts. Tellinga offers a way to
they could look forward to checking their
tap back into the tangible and traditional
mailbox every day. My family and friends
by providing a product that you can touch
enjoyed these stories because they were
and feel on a deeper level rather than
goofy, consistently sent over a period of
staring at another screen. It provides that
time, and they were always drawn as the
old level of eagerness and anticipation of
main characters in their own personalized
looking forward to checking your mailbox
“mailbox movie.”
every day. It is the same exciting feeling
In late 2017, I started my first year at
of when you were exchanging letters with
the Rice University MBA program and de-
a pen pal or loved one growing up, look-
cided to turn my passion into something
ing forward to that new monthly/weekly
that can truly impact the community, so
edition of your favorite magazine, or the
HOW IT WORKS: 1 First, select your story length, rating, and genre. 2 Next, upload a photo and add a description of your desired story. 3 After receiving your request, our team of professional artists will start working on your story. 4 A few days later, the designated recipient of the story will start receiving unique hand-drawn images every other day in their mailbox until the package ends. For more info visit: www.tellinga.com
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reviews
Ivan Plusch, Immortality #1, 2018, Acrylic on Canvas, 59”x 79”
Donna Perkins, Untitled, 2018, Acrylic on wooden panel, 12”x12”
IVAN PLUSCH
DONNA E. PERKINS
Deborah Colton Gallery presents Ivan Plusch: The Promise of Eternal Life, a solo exhibition featuring accomplished, young Russian artist, Ivan Plusch. This exhibition is the first solo exhibition of Ivan Plusch’s work in the United States. Ivan Plusch, born in 1981, is a young Russian artist on the rise and is part of the Nepokorionnye Group. He is based in St. Petersburg and has studied in various art schools including the State Academy of Art and Design, the Roerich Art School and the PRO ARTE Institute. Ivan Plusch’s work has been exhibited throughout Russia and worldwide. Ivan Plusch finds the visual interpretation of eternal life as a phenomenon in his works. His characters appear to be in the ordinary reality, which is depicted mechanically through the creation of sponge pattern or monotonous destruction of the background. These characters become the flow of paintings which is symbolizing the moving of time and impossibility to stay in one place or in one moment forever. He suggests that humans who are able to create around them their own, imaginary protective world that takes them from the ordinary reality to the virtual space have the hope to live in this vision forever, whereby they can remain in one point in time. Struggling with mild autism since childhood, Plusch has a special perception on life that is original and inspiring. His success as an artist reveals that we all can identify with how important it is to slow down and appreciate each interaction, each moment and cherish our best memories in our hearts forever. March 9 to April 27, 2019
Archway Gallery presents Spill, featuring new paintings by Donna E Perkins, on view March 2 - April 4, 2019. The word “spill” can be a noun or a verb, although even the noun implies action. A spill can be intentional or accidental. It can reference the serious or the humorous as one can spill blood, tears, milk or the beans. Works on Paper: These large paintings hang from the wall freely and unprotected, not obscured by glass, not bound by frame. They are of sturdy, heavy watercolor paper primed with gesso both front and back before the painting process begins. They are painted while pinned onto a wall. As the paint spills across the top edge, a spray of water encourages the paint’s downward run. Works on Boards: These smaller works on rigid wooden boards have a shallow frame or a defined edge. These are painted lying flat. The artist, perkins, explores the viscosity and translucency of layers of paint and continues until the result pleases her; gravity and chance have an effect here as well. Deeper Meaning: perkins is experiencing the world as chaotic and out of control. She feels as if she is a grain of pigment trapped in the spill of political accidents; she finds this both fascinating and horrendous. What to do? Make calls, contributions, meetings, march. For sanity, go to the studio and make art. Since 2009, perkins has had the privilege of working with choreographers and dancers. Working with dancers has been important in the development of her approach to painting. She finds the painting process to be a solo dance with the tactile sensuality of paint.
DEBORAH COLTON GALLERY
ARCHWAY GALLERY
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Eric Breish, Eye of the Beholder, oil on aluminum, 40”x40”
Andrea Rosenberg, Untitled 31.18, 2018, mixed media on paper, 29 3/4” x 22 1/4”
ERIC BREISH
ANDREA ROSENBERG
“Creation is derived from process and my process is rooted in music. Entering my studio every day, the ritual begins with running the music. It drives the movement of my hand and inspires form at every step of creation. The movements are from my subconscious where a line is created, and in turn, influences the next line or stroke. The process is similar to Automatism where an act is performed unconsciously.” Houston born Eric Breish, known for his abstract paintings on metal that create holographic illusions, engages the viewer in mesmerizing planes of light and color that constantly shift before the eye. Using a combination of tools and unique methods, each mark on the metal is strategically placed to absorb and reflect light, creating the dimensional effect that separates Breish’s work from traditional abstract paintings. Aluminum, copper or steel are the substrates on which he works, while layered transparent paintings and varnishes create a glass-like finish that enhances depth, dimension and color. For nearly a decade, Breish has apprenticed under renowned artist and innovator of metal art, Andreas Nottebohm. It was this mentorship that pushed him to find his artistic voice while carrying on the tradition of this very unique style of metal-based art. Although he doesn’t currently have a formal degree in art, Breish believes the lack of formal education has allowed him to create a style that is not only unique and powerful, but one that cannot be learned in a classroom. Breish consistently shows throughout Texas and his work resides in numerous private and public collections throughout the US.
Moody Gallery presents an exhibition of new drawings by Andrea Rosenberg. Drawings is her second one-person exhibition at the gallery which features mostly large-scale works. Her work is comprised mainly of acrylic, watercolor, graphite, gesso, and crayon on paper, however the largest work in the exhibition will be a painting using the same materials on linen. “What struck me first, upon seeing Andrea Rosenberg’s drawings a few years ago, was their expansive, graceful form, the result of an unstudied confidence, and their subject matter, the vitality of life itself.” -Frances Colpitt, from her essay The Living Line. Andrea Rosenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1948 and currently lives and works in both Dallas, Texas and Fishtail, Montana. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1970 and a Master of Arts degree in 1971, both from Case Western Reserve University at the Cleveland Institute of Art in Ohio. Her works are in the permanent collections of many institutions including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Texas, Dallas Museum of Art, Texas, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Texas, Brooklyn Museum, New York, and the Cleveland Institute of Art, Ohio. Her work is also included in many private and corporate collections throughout the United States and Europe. Rosenberg’s work has been featured in many solo exhibitions in Texas including at the Amarillo Museum of Art, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Arlington Museum of Art, Tyler Museum of Art, and the Longview Art Museum. February 23 - March 30, 2019.
DEAN DAY GALLERY
MOODY GALLERY
ARTHOUSTON 68
a multi-faceted program EMPOWERING
REFUGEE
WOMEN B Y
IN
A R T H U R
HOUSTON D E M I C H E L I
The Community Cloth is a microenterprise initiative of The Alliance* that empowers refugee women in Houston, Texas. It targets economic, educational and social goals through the provision of training and peer support, and by expanding market opportunities for refugee women artisans. It supports the artisans in creating and selling handmade, indigenous arts and crafts such as woven scarves, knitwear, household items, children’s hats, bags and more. All proceeds go directly to the artisans and the program. They currently work with 32 refugee women artisans who come from Myanmar (Burma), Bhutan, Iraq, Congo, and Afghanistan.
*The Alliance is a leading nonprofit organization for welcoming and empowering those who face financial, educational, health, language or cultural barriers to realizing their dreams.
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Meet the Artisans of The Community Cloth! They are here to build a new home for themselves and their families.
Invest in the artisans today and shop with a purpose 100% of profits from sales go directly to the artisan woman and the program to help support themselves and their families. For more info and to get involved visit: www.thecommunitycloth.org
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A Song of Hope
BY MARIAM HADDAD
Have you ever noticed how art and songs seem to frame memories and moods? Coming from a musical family – rich and diverse sounds are a large part of memory that is tied to my emotional landscape. I can still hear the rich sounds of my grandmother playing the piano when I was three. I remember being able to pay attention only to the sounds she played – and watching her hands move over the keys. The sound of her heart playing through her music created such a strong impression -it provoked a lifelong love affair with music, sound, vibration and the evolution of the human spirit. If we really perk up our ears to listen – and to hear – we can find that there is simply sound – everywhere. Sound is color and color IS sound. We, as humans, live in a world that is vibration and resonance in motion. In fact, it turns out that human beings vibrate 570 trillion times a second. It also turns out that the healing power of sound has been utilized as far back as Ancient China, India and Greece. Taking the idea of music and sound therapy to heart, a local program called Be the Peace Be the Hope is benefiting Houston’s vulnerable children through an arts driven emotional and social healing program. It takes into account not only the richness of the visual arts and movement but now adds in the powerful healing of sound therapy. As Plato said – all the keys to learning are in the arts. Be the Peace Be the Hope, has successfully helped empower over 3,000 children and youth in the Houston area as well as empowered many teachers in at-risk environments. It has also helped many children internationally through outreach to refugee camps in Nigeria, Iraq and an orphanage in India. With a formal track record of officially decreasing anxiety and depression in children by up to 60%, it has helped numerous children to find resilience, self-reliance, social awareness, responsible decision-making, leadership, and positive relation-
ships, especially after they have suffered severe trauma, bullying and violence. As a local Houston businesswoman, as well as a life long classical musician and educator, it became personally important to me to help bring awareness to this incredible program. This year, we saw wonderful art auction called The Power of Hope dedicated to raising awareness and funds to help students in Houston restore hope and peace. On September of 2018, The Power of Hope was hosted by Amegy Bank and curated by John Bernhard. It reminded us that we can unite forces through art & education to spread peace and hope to children, teachers & communities in at-risk environments both in Houston and around the world. Music was next up – bringing art and music together in one healing space. This year’s offering of A Song of Hope featured a musical menu of the Classically Unclassical – essentially sound therapy at its best as classical music finds itself undone through the vehicle of Jazz. From Bach, to Piazolla to Mozart – Italy’s finest musicians pianist Francesco Attesti, Maurizio Bozzi and Maicol Cucci graced Houston’s art scene Sunday, Feb. 10th at 2:30 pm at the Czech Center Museum Houston in a truly unique concert designed to bring awareness to the cause of healing the human spirit – through art and through sound. We know the healing power of music and of sound. We also know the healing power of what Be the Peace Be the Hope is creating. In the end – life is art, life is music – and we – as science has proven, are simply vibration resonating together. We are all each an instrument of communication playing our part in the global symphony of life. Art is self—expression. Music is vibration and color in sound. The arts heal and blossom life. To find out more about this ground-breaking program please visit www.bepeacebehope.org.
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“ E v e r y t h i n g
i n
l i f e
i s
v i b r a t i o n . ” Albert Einstein
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THE DREAM MACHINE PROJECT What is Dream Machine?
DREAM MACHINE IS AN ANNUAL AUDIO AND VISUAL HALLUCINATORY EVENT DEDICATED TO INTERACTIVE AND IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGY, ART, MUSIC AND DESIGN. INSPIRED BY THE ORIGINAL ANALOG “DREAM MACHINE” BY BRION GYSIN IN 1963, THE EVENT AIMS TO PUT YOU IN HYPNAGOGIC STATE; THE VIVID, DREAM-LIKE STATE OF MIND BEFORE ONE FALLS ASLEEP.
What are your next projects? Hannah Bull Throughout this year, I will be working on my own personal paintings.Towards the end of March, beginning of April, I will be organizing an event called ‘Pussy Pop.’ It’s an event centered around community with a huge emphasis on queer community. I have movers and shakers of various entities (drag, burlesque, hair dressers, musicians etc.) come dressed as their favorite pop icon and have a 30-45 minute DJ set which they play for an audience. There is lots of dancing, costumes and good vibes with various community patrons all across the spectrum.
Black Cassidy My main focus this year will be painting new works for my solo show. I am also working on a small documentary the first half of 2019, but that is all I am willing to say about it. On top of that, I am designing a couple of murals for a couple local businesses soon to be announced. I will be painting Live for SXSW in March and for Illectric River, May 25th. Dom Bam I am currently focusing on his pen and ink artwork, his comedy podcast and beginning to dabble in installation work.
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Black Cassidy It is very hard to describe why I create art as an adult. But here are some answers that are all equally true: I began drawing when I was 7 years old and I just never quit. I didn’t have a reason to begin creating as a child and I do not have a reason as an adult, accept that I am compelled. I am so bored with reality, I must create to keep it interesting. It does not matter if it is visual art, writing and recording music, or taking part in film projects, the act of creating something from nothing is the most addicting drug on the planet. My imagination moves faster than my ability to produce so creating always feels so urgent. As an adult artist now, I am grateful that my gift has given me a platform. I can only hope that as I follow my own destiny, others will be inspired to do the same.
Why do you create art? Bambull Black As a whole, Bambull Black wants to produce more events. We are currently brainstorming to generate quality concepts to manifest. Our two events thus far are ‘Dream Machine’ and ‘Pussy Pop.’ We hope to do a ‘Choose your own Adventure’ style of event soon. Bambull Black is very stringent on quality, community involvement and artistic progress so we will not produce an event unless we know for sure it’s going to be good.
Hannah Bull There are various reasons as to why I create art. Physiologically, I create art because I am filled with excessive energy, racing thoughts and insatiable appetite to make things with my hands. Essentially, my body tells me I have to so I listen to it. Additionally, collaborating in the arts with others keeps the storms at bay and medicates my feelings of existential dread. I also just want to make the world a better place for everyone.
Dom Bam I find art to be an engaging way to train the mind, where you can experiment with new ideas and very rarely be wrong. Bambull Black Simply stated, we formed Bambull Black because we saw a need in Houston music and arts scene and collectively, we all have this sacrificial drive and desire to unify and elevate our community. We’ve been together for three years, and although the work we do is hard, working together makes us strong and able. Houston is such a large city and yet the art and music community is quite small in comparison. Fueled by initiative, grit and desire, we formed Bambull Black to help induce fierce creativity in the Houston arts scene so that all of us can live within a rich community.
Through Dream Machine, we are trying to take a fresh look at art and technology. We want it to inspire people to create and collaborate.
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Meet the Creators of Dream Machine.
Dom Bam Born and raised in New York, I made my way to Houston in pursuit ofsomething entirely new. Once here, I connected with like-minded individuals in the Houston art scene and quickly discovered my love for curation and event planning, so I am the creative director for Dream Machine.
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Hannah Bull I am from a small town in the breeches of South Texas which was a very unsatisfactory town for an insatiable mind like mine so I geared up to get out. I felt energized by the beautiful creative utopia when I moved to Houston after college. I am classically trained as an oil painter, art educator and dance director.
Black Cassidy In my own work, I am muralist with an extremely versatile style, with BamBull Black I curate events with a goal of creating conceptually immersive and progressive events. I was born in Houston as a creative serf with an insatiable duty to my community; I am always involved in the community searching for new and original ideas.
exposure
A R TAHROT UH SOTUOSNT O7N6 7 6
LYN SULLIVAN
www.lynsullivan.com Lyn@lynsullivan.com 281 520-1349
GRACE ZUÑIGA
www.gracezuniga.virb.com 832-303-1564
Photography by: Tere Garcia
TYLER ONDINE WHITMAN
www.tylerondine.com 323-481-6215
E X P O S U R7 E7 7 7
HALL PUCKETT
www.hallpuckett.com hall@hallpuckett.com 713-688-0099
VALENTINA ATKINSON
www.valentinaatkinson.com valeatkinson@gmail.com 713-724-0709
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artH O U S T O N PUBLISHER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
JOHN BERNHARD E D I T O R - A T- L A R G E
SHANNON RASBERRY DESIGN
JOHN BERNHARD BERNHARDPUB.COM CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Ralph Gibson, New York, 1967
713 628 9547
De Frog Gallery
fine art photography representation
HOLLY WALRATH SABINE CASPARIE JODY T. MORSE MARIAM HADDAD MATT ROSS KARINE PARKER-LEMOYNE MEGHAN HENDLEY LOPEZ JACQUELINE PATRICKS ALEX KURKOWSKI ARTHUR DEMICHELI PHOTOGRAPHERS
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ARTHOUSTONMAGAZINE.COM ARTHOUSTONMAGAZINE@GMAIL.COM ArtHouston is published semiannually by Art Houston Magazine, LLC. ©Copyright 2019. All right reserved. The entire contents of ArtHouston may not be reproduced in any matter, either in part or in whole, without written permission from the publisher. In addition, the artists within hold copyrights on their images and essays. Any use of or copying of their works without their written permission is in violation of the copyright law. Art Houston Magazine, LLC. is not responsible in any way for mispellings, omissions, incorrect phone numbers or addresses. Unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, and other materials must be accompanied by postage and a self-addressed return envelope. ArtHouston is not responsible for unsolicited submissions. Address all correspondence to: ArtHouston Magazine, 217 Knox St. Houston, Texas 77007.
C O L O P H O N 7799
contributors
Shannon Rasberry EDITOR
Shannon Rasberry is a copywriter and graphic designer from Houston who has worked in the marketing, advertising, and publishing industries since 1999. Since 2007, Shannon has been a creative services consultant for everything from startups to global energy companies. He holds an MA in Humanities from the University of Houston. He is an avid fan of art, film, and books.
Meghan Hendley Lopez WRITER
Meghan Hendley Lopez holds 15 plus years of experience in music, education, and journalism. A classical pianist, composer, and vocalist she loves to write about the inspired city of Houston and beyond. Meghan enjoys spending time and collaborating with her husband, a visual artist and sound engineer. Their latest musical project is GrayMatter, with a new album slated for release Spring 2016.
Nathan Lindstrom PHOTOGRAPHER
Nathan Lindstrom is a commercial portrait and lifestyle photographer based in Houston with clients from all over the world. Having grown up in Iowa and lived in Argentina and Spain, Lindstrom draws on his experiences for inspiration. His work was included in two shows during the last FotoFest exhibition. Lindstrom has a studio in Silver Street Studios and lives with his wife and their dog, Kirby.
Mariam Haddad
ENTREPRENEURIAL EXECUTIVE
Mariam Haddad is the CEO & Founder of The Performance Communication Co., a boutique advisory firm sought after by leaders of organizations to create powerful external messaging delivered by empowered speakers that brings brands to life. Mariam has performed in leading operatic roles and in solo and chamber music recitals, nationally and internationally. www.perfcommcomp.com.
Jody T. Morse WRITER
Multi-genre writer Jody T. Morse has penned prize-winning flash, numerous blog contributions, boasts over three-dozen magazine articles to her name, and has a number of published works of innovative poetry out in the world. When not writing, Jody runs a boutique publishing house, helping new and emerging writers to be seen and heard. BountifulBalconyBooks.com/JodyTMorse
Karine Parker-Lemoyne CURATO R, EDUCATO R
Karine Parker-Lemoyne is a Texan-French curator, visual artist, educator and community developer. She currently runs the Texan-French Alliance for the Arts. Some of the major projects she developed include Go West 1 at UNESCO in Paris, the Houston citywide “Open the Door” public art program, and in 2015 “From A Space to A Place” that strives to meet the challenges of increasing urbanization.
Holly Walrath EDITOR, WRITER
Denver Writing. variety Houston Texas.
Holly Walrath is a freelance editor and author living in Seabrook. She attended the University of Texas at Austin for her B.A. in English and the University of for her M.L.A. in Creative Her writing has appeared in a of publications including the Chronicle and Arts+Culture
Sabine Casparie WRITER
Originally a lawyer, Sabine Casparie decided to follow her passion and gained a Masters in modern and contemporary art from Christie’s Education, London in 2012. She set up her own art tours company and writes a blog about art and our daily lives. Sabine moved with her family from London to Houston in 2016 and just completed a Certificate in Museum Education at the University of Houston. www.sabinecasparie.com
Hall Puckett PHOTOGRAPHER
Hall Puckett is a photographer based in Houston. Early on when friends and family asked him what he was going to do with a major in psychology and a minor in photography his response was “I guess I’ll just have to take pictures of crazy people!” Funny how things work out. He currently lives off the north loop in a “transitional neighborhood” with his wife, two rescue dogs, and a cat named Lalo.
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editor’s pick
Javier Marín
Photography by Nick Lovitt FAMED MEXICAN ARTIST JAVIER MARÍN BRINGS STUNNING MASTERWORKS FOR HIS FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION IN HOUSTON. That his works have come to Houston and Art of the World Gallery is a testament to the incredible Latin American community and artistic desires of Houston. In a career spanning over thirty years, Javier Marín and his works have been exhibited in ninety-plus solo exhibitions around the world. His use of a variety of materials and techniques, including bronze, clay, polyester resin, and more, as well as mixed media painting, gives his works a dynamic and ephemeral nature. Yet, they also display a rare permanence that cannot be underestimated. The constant tug of emotions and eternal questions his works elicit are signs of a truly great master living artist worth noting – and perhaps collecting.