e.14 ‘22
// cobalt homes | nimmo architecture
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// cobalt homes | nimmo architecture // laman residence photo: dror baldinger, aia architectural photography, mark menjivar photographer
a rarefied
a e s t h e t i c by Betsy Lewis
// cobalt homes | nimmo architecture
// groveland house - craig kuhner architectural photography
Cobalt Homes has built a thriving business by creatively outwitting the limited amounts of workable space in the most desirable locations. Partners Don Carroll, Greg McGowan, and Josh Nichols are changing the game on how to build a rarefied aesthetic for Dallas townhome living that somehow, as if by magic, makes the city’s coolest neighborhoods just a little bit cooler.
company as Cobalt Homes, but with a focus on land development. “We were focused on doing larger-scale community development, where we would sell lots to builders and they would go vertical,” Nichols explains. “Through that process, we started a builder in Long Island, of all places. We had a high-end, custom home community about 35 miles outside of Manhattan. After doing that, we realized that if we can build well 1600 miles away with lots of plane trips and everything else, we can certainly do this in our backyard.”
Carroll, McGowan, and Nichols began working together in 2008 as Coast Oak Group — essentially the same
// cobalt homes | nimmo architecture
// aldwick residence - charles davis smith faia architectural photography
Around 2015, Coast Oak began focusing more on Dallas after successful land developments across the rest of the country, from New York to Maryland, Virginia, Florida, and Colorado. They looked at what other builders were doing, and had a lot of ideas for elevating the game for Dallas. Nichols recalls that shift as the genesis of the Cobalt Homes brand. “We did a couple of smaller projects at first to see what we could do that was more interesting,” Nichols remembers. “What we did early on were some of the most architecturally interesting projects that East
Dallas had seen up to that point. Crestfield Place and Caxton Court were very, very different types of townhome projects, recognizing where there’s not a lot of room for creativity in a tight area. Those were received really well.” Caxton Court in East Dallas is a favorite among the partners and their listing agent, Jeff Mitchell of Modern Living Group. “It was the first project we built in this particular little location where we were working to acquire a number of properties,” says Carroll. “We made some
// cobalt homes | nimmo architecture
// cobalt homes | nimmo architecture
// 16 vanguard way photo: thad reeves aia // cobalt homes | nimmo architecture
decisions to do a distinctive design in an effort to try to establish what that neighborhood was going to mean going forward. We ended up getting a fantastic reception from the market. The units sold at a price point that established a new benchmark. It helped transform that area into some of the highest quality product in East Dallas; it’s different from everything else that’s been built in that part of town.”
“I’m a big Josh Nimmo fan,” adds Mitchell, citing one of Dallas’ superstar architects and the designer of Caxton Court. “From a design perspective, it’s an excellent floorplan.” McGowan is equally proud of Cobalt’s work on that project, but selects his favorite from a slightly different perspective. “Echoing what Don said, there’s a number of projects we’ve done in East Dallas that helped redefine value, but
// cobalt homes | nimmo architecture
bley sleeping craig kuhner architectural photography ////cobalt homes | house nimmo-architecture
// architect bentley tibbs photo: charles davis smith faia
Get inspired.
// ooswouder residence - dror baldinger, aia architectural photography
// cobalt homes | nimmo architecture
my favorite at this point is Towns on Bishop designed by Far + Dang, because it was our entry into Bishop Arts,” he says. “That’s a market where a lot of people have a natural level of distrust of new development, thinking that it’s going to change the character, but new development can be a good neighbor to an existing and established
submarket. I’m proud of Bishop from the standpoint that a solid project is a demonstration of how new product can feather into the existing fabric.” “The good fortune we’ve had is that we’ve designed, with great architects, a pretty creative and well-conceived
// cobalt homes | nimmo architecture
// moore design group
// cobalt homes | far+dang architects
// 17 vanguard way - charles davis smith faia architectural photography // cobalt homes | far+dang architects
product,” he continues. “It is not, in the best of times, an easy business from an execution perspective. But if you look at trends over the past 10 to 15 years, we’re big believers in Dallas-Fort Worth as a whole. There’s a lot of younger people who have put off home buying for an extended period of time. As we examine the world, it’s through the lens of where are really cool places for people to live with an established reason for living there. From a
housing perspective, there’s an interesting break in the synapse between people living in apartments and people buying homes in a more suburban location. It’s not just limited to an East Dallas or a Bishop Arts.” Thinking back to Cobalt’s earliest Dallas projects, McGowan recalls the City’s predevelopment meetings that gathered “everybody relevant to the process for a
// cobalt homes | nimmo architecture
// cobalt homes | far+dang architects
// oaxaca interests - 707 townhomes photo: robert tsai
// 17 vanguard way - charles davis smith faia architectural photography
// cobalt homes | nimmo architecture
roundtable discussion — things they liked, things they saw that were challenging, problems they had. It’s rare of a municipality to avail themselves like that. Dallas is terrific because the overall attitude is receptive to the right type of growth. When Dallas decides to encourage development in a particular area, they’re very good to work with, very efficient, particularly in the front end of the project.”
“We actually love working in Dallas and not just because it’s our home city,” Nichols concludes. “We believe in the city a great deal. People complain about Dallas — and there’s plenty to complain about — but it’s a great place to do business.” cobalthomes.com
// big tme rescue, 2017. acrylic paint and paper on canvas. 84 x 84 in. photo: thomas r. dubrock. // patty carroll, pride home, 2021 - pdnb gallery
A World of Pure Imagination
by Kendall Morgan
// all images ourtesy of the artist and nancy lttlejohn flne art.
// still image from jooyoung choi’s journey to the cosmic womb, part 1 & 2, 2018.
Multidisciplinary artist JooYoung Choi invites everyone into her Cosmic Womb at the Crow Museum of Asian Art. If you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to spend the day in Pee-wee’s Playhouse, sail down Willy Wonka’s chocolate river or get a makeover for your mind in the Emerald City, then you’ll delight in JooYoung Choi’s candy-colored universe.
The Houston-based artist creates work steeped in mythology, and her motto, “Have Faith, for You’ve Always Been Loved,” is both a reminder to the once-lonely child she used to be, as well as an invitation to possibility for all who view her work. Part of a multi-year series dedicated to female contemporary Asian artists, Choi’s “Songs of Resilience from the Tapestry of Faith” explores identity, place, tradition, and modernity in the gentlest, most
// like a bolt out of the blue, faith steps in and sees you through, 2019. wooden armature, fabric and hardware, paint, vinyl dots. dimensions variable.
healing of ways. With oversized collaged canvases starring her Cosmic Womb’s key characters, animation, puppetry, and an epic soft-sculpture installation, her multiverse expresses the strength in storytelling through a cavalcade of quirky characters.
doubt; it was just the decision of what KIND of work she should make. As an elementary school student, she was torn between whether she would eventually develop characters for Disney or write the score for the Mouse House’s animated films like Alan Menken.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to Concord, New Hampshire by way of adoption, Choi was born to be an artist. Though she wasn’t encouraged by her adoptive parents, the idea of becoming a creator was never in
“I think (my mom) had gotten to the point where she didn’t know what to do with me, so she said, ‘Do both, that’s a good idea,’ and I went back to doing my weird stuff. I lucked out because the community of people around me
// still image from jooyoung choi’s journey to the cosmic womb, part 1 & 2, 2018.
offered a lot of opportunities to be creative and make and do things. When I was in elementary school, one of my best friend’s mothers started Odyssey of the Mind, which is kind of a creative competition (in) kind of the way you would have a cheer competition. I think they saved my life putting that seed in my brain as a kid; it was a huge game-changer for me.” Still not realizing she could make fine art for a living, Choi initially envisioned herself as a classical musician,
attending Boston’s Berklee College of Music while working on “Tori Amos singer/songwriter type stuff” on the side. When a tone-deaf professor inquired why she didn’t work as hard as his students who came directly from Korea, she knew that fitting inside someone else’s mold was not her destiny and quit music school. Then she discovered some of her roommates were life models for fine art classes, which blew her mind. “I was like, wait, ‘WHAT do you do?’ I was so confused
// still image from jooyoung choi’s spectra force vive: infinite pie delivery service, 2021
as to why they were always wearing bathrobes. They had to explain people go to school for this, and you can make a career out of being an artist. That’s when it started to solidify, you can actually make this a career, and I can continue to be creative for the rest of my life. It was such an eye-opener that I could serve my own story. I took some community art classes and fell in love with my drawing professor. I knew I wanted to be an artist and find a way to have this peace and happiness in my life.” // michael kenna, fifth avenue, new york, new york, USA, 2006
Choi ultimately completed her bachelor’s degree at MassArt while serving as the director of a social justice education program for children, a cashier, and a waitress. While she was about to graduate, she was encouraged by a friend to attend the lecture of another world-building creative, Trenton Doyle Hancock. While earning her MFA from Lesley University, she reached out to him as a mentor, and the two realized they had much in common, even if he was a fan of DC Comics, while Choi prefers the Marvel
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// discovering truth will make me free: the liberation of poundcake man,2018. acrylic paint and paper on canvas.48 x 60 in. photo: christopher henry
Universe. Choi was poised to return to Korea, where her birth family lived, when she noticed “he was getting more and more sad.” “It took a while for me to realize that he really liked me. I asked, ‘Trenton Doyle Hancock, do you want me to move toroversi Houston instead Korea?’ and he // paolo - audrey, parisof1996 said, ‘I’d like that very much.’ It was really art that created the pathway for me to find my soulmate.”
// jooyoung choi. all images courtesy of the artist and nancy little john fine art
// still image from jooyoung choi’s spectra forcev vive: infinite pie delivery service, 2021.
The duo spends hours wrapped up in their “world of creativity,” bouncing ideas off one another in a judgment-free zone. With 100 plus (and counting) mythical creatures sprung from her mind, Choi often allows her characters to take the driver’s seat, making their biographies and destinies clear as she creates them. “Some of them just kind of pop out where I’m bored and will draw something and figure out why it needs to exist.
Some are more impatient than others, like Lady Madness—she’s such a terrible villain! My first large-scale sculpture was five different versions of her. I think she’s just such a demanding character, like ‘You need to pay attention to me.’ I made her first, then created a superhero to punch her in the face. I always do something that starts as a little whim; then, I use whatever resource I have to make it. Some things I’ll keep for years, and I also have a folder thing with just stacks and stacks of ideas.”
A flying bed, “Pom Pom Thunder,” conceived initially in 2014, is at the center of Choi’s soft sculpture installation “Like a Bolt Out of the Blue.” If that piece is the heart, then the soul of the work is clearly “Spectra Force Vive: Infinite Pie Delivery Service,” a still-inprogress project that will eventually be completed as a full-length film. Blending puppetry, animation, human actors, and voiceover artists, the film features characters from all over the spectrum of race, gender identity, and physical abilities. “Spectra Force” offers a galaxy where all are welcome. As COVID dies down, Choi looks forward to getting collaborators back in her studio to complete her movie and expand her scope of community projects. Having fleshed out the Cosmic Womb, she envisions making an “Enough Room for Everyone Island” diorama that can be added to as it moves around the world. // like a bolt out of the blue, faith steps In and sees you through (detail), 2019. wooden armature, fabric and hardware, paint, vinyl dots. dimensions variable.
// mondo and grandma with burrow in pa
“I’d like to have people come in and make their own house or develop the home their mom always wished they could have had as a child or give to a family member. Or maybe they could create a new library if theirs shut down and explain the story of the building. We could amass 60 to 100 of these buildings along with the ones I’ve already created for the Cosmic Womb and create this little city. Enough Room for Everyone Island would be such a cool thing, and it could go on tour and continue to grow.”
JooYoung Choi’s “Songs of Resilience from the Tapestry of Faith” will be on view at the Crow Museum of Asian Art of the University of Texas at Dallas through September 4, 2022. The artist will be present at a members-only event Thursday, April 20, 5:30pm to 7:30pm. crowmuseum.org
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BREAK ING BORDERS by Kendall Morgan
CARNE y ARENA, 2017 // A user in the experience // photo credit: Emmanuel Lubezki
The Nasher’s immersive CARNE y ARENA exhibit allows visitors to immerse themselves in the other side of immigration. Imagine crossing the desert in the middle of the night. Bitter winds buffet your skin as you crouch barefoot on the rocky desert floor, following the coyote (smuggler) who will lead you across the border. Beside you are your frightened children; a pack with your worldly belongings is on your back.
To truly experience the immigrant’s fear, bravery, and hope is an impossibility—until now. Academy Award-winning Mexican director Alejandro G. Iñárritu has taken on the task of transforming bystander into subject with his virtual reality experience CARNE y ARENA (Virtually present, Physically invisible), currently on view through April 18th in Fair Park. Produced by the Nasher Sculpture Center and the George W. Bush Presidential Center (in partnership with Emerson
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Collective, PHI Studio, and Legendary Entertainment), this immersive exhibit puts the viewer in the footsteps of Central American and Mexican refugees as they flee from lives of crime and poverty in hopes of a better future.
CARNE y ARENA, 2017 Re-enacting a scene in the desert Credit: © Legendary Photo: Chachi Ramirez
Originally presented at the Festival de Cannes, CARNE y ARENA has already earned the five-time Academy Award-winning director a special Oscar® for its “visionary and powerful experience in storytelling.” As Iñárritu has stated, “During the making of this project, I had the privilege of meeting and interviewing many Mexican and Central American refugees. Their life
CARNE y ARENA, 2017 A moment of focus during the intense motion capture shoot Credit: © Legendary Photo: Chachi Ramirez
stories haunted me, so I invited some of them to collaborate with me on the project. “My intention was to experiment with VR technology to explore the human condition in an attempt to break the dictatorship of the frame—within which things are just observed—and claim the space to allow the visitor to go through a direct experience walking in the immigrants’ feet, under their skin, and into their hearts.” Already a success upon its 2017 debut, CARNE y ARENA was shown at the Prada Foundation in Milan and the Los
CADDALLAS.ORG 2020 MEMBERS 500X Gallery Carneal Simmons Contemporary Art Conduit Gallery Craighead Green Gallery Cris Worley Fine Arts Erin Cluley Gallery Galleri Urbane Marfa+Dallas Holly Johnson Gallery Kirk Hopper Fine Art PDNB Gallery RO2 Art Talley Dunn Gallery Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden
CARNE y ARENA, 2017 Chivo and AGI feeling frustrated shooting a test on how the light behaveswith the dust particles in the California desert. credit: © Legendary photo: Chachi Ramirez
CARNE y ARENA, 2017 Testing to get the right amount of sand on the shoe. The migrants talk about sand being everywhere and in everything. Credit: © Legendary Photo: Chachi Ramirez
Angeles Museum of Art when the Emerson Collection, a social impact investment firm, decided to enlarge its scope. Says Nasher Sculpture Center director Jeremy Strick, “They felt that it was so important for people to see it, that they wanted to see what they could do to extend the project. They worked with a Canadian firm that created the internal structure and expanded it from a single space, so you have triple the audience at any time. They were
determined to send it on the road. It’s gone to Washington, DC, Montreal, and Denver, and last winter, they approached the Nasher. We thought for a variety of reasons this would be something that would be important to do or try to do, but obviously, even if we were to clear out our entire building, we wouldn’t have the space.” After exploring various local warehouses and buildings as potential venues, the institution landed on the Food and Fiber Pavilion, a space expansive enough that three viewers
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CARNE y ARENA, 2017 Selena, a mother from Guatemala, has her image digitally recreated Credit: © Legendary Photo: Chachi Ramirez
// rock, paper, scissors, shoot! - hdr architecture photo: charles davis smith photographer
// photo: shoot2sell
CARNE y ARENA, 2017 AGI directing during a motion capture shoot Credit: © Legendary Photo: Chachi Ramirez
at a time can go through the various stages of the exhibit without ever seeing one another. CARNE y ARENA might be the ideal art show for the time of COVID, as it was designed to be experienced alone for the most intense effect. Lasting just six or seven minutes (although the viewer can linger longer to watch video testimonies of the actual refugees portrayed in VR), it is a short but impactful show that should nonetheless have a lifetime effect on its viewer. “We’ve had an interest for a long time in the potential for virtual reality to provide a sculptural experience and
expand on the understanding of what sculpture is and what sculpture can be, and we were eager to do something in that area,” says Strick. “CARNE y ARENA is one of the most extraordinary and successful ventures in that domain. Produced and created by a great artist, it’s a remarkable work of art in itself, but beyond that, it addresses an issue which is extraordinarily relevant. When you think about the fact it first appeared in 2017 and the issue (of immigration) is no less prominent to this day, the perspective that CARNE y ARENA provides seems all the more urgent for Texas. This is an issue that is especially present here, and (the show) offers the opportunity to
experience really profound empathy, which is something that we need.” And indeed, from the moment the viewer is ushered into the sandy-floored “freezer” holding pen strewn with lost shoes, it is nearly impossible to separate oneself from the lives of those who have sacrificed so much to become American. Disorienting, terrifying, yet—ultimately—uplifting, CARNE y ARENA is a theatrical triumph every Texan man, woman, and teen should experience. CARNE y ARENA will run through April 18 at the Food and Fiber Building in Fair Park. Tickets are $35 to $55. Tickets are available here
CARNE y ARENA, 2017 AGI and a baker from El Salvador at a motion capture shoot for Carne y Arena. Credit: © Legendary Photo: Chachi Ramirez
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your modern
calendar
Modern events and activities make for fun around the Metroplex.
SHANE COEN Dallas Architecture Forum
WALKING TOURS Discover the Arts District + Explore the Main Street District Ad Ex
THE BOOK SMUGGLERS Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum
HARRY BERTOIA Nasher Sculpture Center
GUADALUPE ROSALES Dallas Museum Of Art
JOOYOUNG CHOI Crow Museum Of Asian Art
STEPHANIE SYJUCO Amon Carter Museum Of Art
JILL MAGID The Modern Art Museum
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art galleries
Modern art, exhibits, around the Metroplex. GAIL NORFLEET Valley House Gallery
JILL MOSER Holly Johnson Gallery
URSULA VON RYDINGSVARD Talley Dunn Gallery
LUDWIG SCHWARZ + ARI BRIELLE Conduit Gallery
TREY EGAN Cris Worley Fine Arts
LORI LARUSSO + HORSE SHOW Galleri Urbane
BRIAN FINKE Kirk Hopper Fine Art
NEW TO RO2 + SCOTT WINTERROWD RO2Art
THE BAUHAUS IN TEXAS PDNB Gallery