Welcome to your oasis in the sky! Perched on the 24th floor of the Windrose Tower at Legacy West, this exquisite condo offers a lifestyle of opulence and convenience. It is a symphony of design, comfort, and cityscape views. Extraordinary amenities abound and define the luxury lifestyle.
Step into a world where elegance meets nature, and every detail whispers sophistication. The collaboration of Nastasi Architects and the Garcia-Nunez Design Studio incorporated an organic and artistic architecture design, creating this custom, soft-contemporary home where form dances with function and nature intertwines with creativity.
the continuing balance of life and art shared with dallas by the vogel family
by J. Claiborne Bowdon
// gallery and house 1957-1959a
Valley House Gallery at 70
Kevin Vogel is telling me about an artist named Carol A. Cook. She works in clay and creates small works that are usually of chair-bound or wheelchair-bound figures that are inspired by the patients she meets and works with as a physical therapist. Their scale and delicacy help to communicate that of the subjects, you care for them and want
them to be taken care of. Making them is as much a kind of therapy for Cook to help work through the emotions she experiences in the course of her job as it is an expression of artistic skill. “All of a sudden people are really starting to take notice.” Recently at a juried show with large scale pieces of reclining nudes and other classical subjects she
// pond north 1965
submitted a piece no larger than several inches in either direction. “She ends up winning. She’s really special.”
He then brings up the work of Amy Werntz, a painter, “She does these incredibly detailed images of the elderly. These are beautiful people.” And they are, as each is engrossingly captured in a highly realistic style with vivid colors articulating every white strand of hair, wrinkle, and texture of their clothing. Neither of these artists are representative of any particular school or style. They are
simply interested in their subjects, what their lives are like either through knowing them directly or the implied interior lives their appearance suggests.
Valley House Gallery is celebrating its seventieth anniversary this year, and both of these artists help to reveal a truth as to how the gallery has managed to continue to exist as one of Dallas’ most cherished art institutions. Kevin and his wife Cheryl took on the stewardship of the gallery around 1982. Though, as he remembers it, he just
// henry moore shoe gallery 1965
Get Inspired
looked up at Cheryl one day and said “Cheryl, you know, we’ve been running the gallery for the past five years,” to which she responded “Yeah.” They have both passionately kept their eyes, as well as ears, open to art and the artists behind it for the decades they’ve steered the course of Valley House. The richness of the artist’s stories and the artist’s own passion for their work invariably finds its way into the work itself, and Kevin and Cheryl are espe-
cially attuned to seeing that spark within the work and the artist. They, along with director Laura Green, then invite visitors to the gallery into that discovery so that an appreciation for the work can form beyond its visual impact. Their excitement becomes yours, and this generosity of spirit is what has welcomed Dallas into this oasis since the beginning.
// painting classes in the shop 1956
The gallery’s beginning actually took place in 1950 in the burned down remnants of the home of artist Perry Nichols. Kevin’s father and mother, Donald and Peggy Vogel, bought the home and the five acres it sat on and were living in the still standing servants quarters and garage. Their friend Betty McLean, a globe-trotting scion of a family that once owned the Hope Diamond,
had come to visit to see their newborn son Eric. Betty remarked that she was thinking of opening a business and Donald suggested that Dallas would be well served by having “a serious art gallery.” Then and there the Betty McLean Gallery was founded and eventually, thanks to Betty’s extensive connections in the international art world, would open with a show of works from the likes of
// kevin and cheryl vogel - 2010
Matisse, Chagall, Picasso, Monet, Renoir, and a multitude of other artists whose works are as revered and sought after as any to this very day.
With the wind the gallery put under their wings Donald and Peggy could set their sights on building a new home on the site that the Nichols house had stood on. Donald himself, an artist in his own right, would design a modern
home for his family with two bedrooms, two baths, a lightfilled studio for himself, and an open floor plan living room, dining room, and kitchen that, while a de facto approach today, was entirely uncommon for the time. However, before construction began, the Vogels received increasingly higher bids for the property. As it happened, a development next to the property required it for drainage control. Donald and Peggy seized the opportunity and used
// matisse at betty mcclean gallery
the money from the sale to purchase the land that Valley House now occupies.
The home Donald had designed was built on this site, and they also included a separate frame shop in order to have a steady stream of additional income outside of the Betty McLean Gallery. Both the house and the decision to build a frame shop would prove to be crucially important when
in 1954 Betty McLean had to close her gallery. Thankfully, Donald and Peggy had developed connections within the art world and had a client base from the McLean gallery, and they made the decision to open Valley House Gallery using their own home as an exhibition space. It became clear quite quickly that the gallery needed its own space, so the frame shop would be renovated into a gallery in its own right, which is the same exhibition space visitors
// uncrating party at valley house gallery
enjoy today. In 1958, it debuted to visitors with a classic gallery show of paintings hung on the walls, but the following four exhibitions would be much less formal affairs that captured the spirit of what makes the gallery special.
Donald and Peggy would welcome clients into the gallery with glasses of wine to enjoy “uncrating parties” where works that had just arrived would be opened and revealed from their protective shipping crates to the surprise and
delight of everyone in the room- the Vogels included; this same feeling, of not having the art at arm’s length, eventually extended to the garden that was created behind the Vogel home. In 1965, it would host an eight foot tall sculpture by the celebrated English sculptor Henry Moore, as part of a landmark show of his work that Donald Vogel considered among the finest the gallery put together. Around this same time a dinner was held in the backyard for the American Federation of the Arts, and all
// valley house gallery artists dinner 1983
around the property there were bamboo poles with Japanese lanterns lighting the paths and reflecting off the water. Sometime in the nineties at an art fair Kevin met one of the attendees of that party, and as soon as the name Valley House was mentioned they instantly lit up at the memory of it. Even over thirty years later it had stayed with them. The Moore installation and the party both reflect the ineffable quality of the gallery, which is the experience of exceptional art in an exceptional place.
There is a feeling that grips you, or rather relaxes you, as soon as you turn onto the drive off Spring Valley Road to
Valley House. In discussing trying to articulate that Kevin remarked “There is a person that comes by herself every year on her birthday. She takes the day off from work and spends part of her day here at the gallery and in the garden.” Donald Vogel once remarked that “You can get no more from a work of art than what you bring to it.”
Valley House’s legacy is surely giving more to those that visit by giving them more to bring to it, and then take with them. Even if you don’t buy a piece you take it with you.
// valley house gallery
// tom baenrimo show in house
sarah sze
at the nasher sculpture center
by J. Claiborne Bowdon
Travelling immersive experiences, such as the ones composed of the work of Van Gogh and Monet, have given projection art a bit of a more complicated position in the art world. In these shows the projections of works you are placed in and seeing blown up to massive scale are facsimiles of the real paintings. You can feel yourself awash in the colorful light recreating these paintings that, in the best circumstances, can be seen in greater detail
without having to lean in as you would in the museums where the paintings are displayed. You exist within the projection, but it is several times removed from the work itself. With a projection installation done by an artist you are truly within the work itself. Perhaps this distinction is merely a technical, and obvious, one, but it can also open the viewer up to a more intimate relationship with what you’re experiencing and what the artist has created.
// sarah sze, cave painting, 2024, Inkjet prints on paper mounted on tyvek, string, clamps, aluminum, and mixed media dimensions variable
The artist Sarah Sze has created several pieces that include projection that are on display at the Nasher, and they draw on, point to, and help to contextualize this distinction. The work also makes a point of highlighting the limitations of the medium. The projections, in tandem
with physical structures and images, recreate scenes of nature. Some, like sunsets and trees and blue skies, can be experienced right outside or in the garden of the sculpture center. The work can call attention to its pastiche-like existence by presenting a panoply of sunsets
all at once, which both elevates and dilutes the common phenomenon we can readily enjoy at the end of the day in its enumeration.
This is made even clearer with the large hanging sculpture right in front of a floor to ceiling window in the gallery space. It’s composed of images with torn edges, as if ripped hastily from encyclopedias and textbooks, that
are haphazardly hung in all directions. These fragments of experience display the breadth of what we can see throughout space and time in the world, but are still quite frail in their representation when it comes to what can be experienced on just the other side of the glass. The swirl and commotion of all these different depictions, static or as moving projections, does create a kind of awe at the vastness on display no matter how truncated it may
// sarah sze, love song, 2024 inkjet prints on paper, steel & aluminum wire, clamps, plywood, turntable, tripod, mixed media, and video projection. dimensions variable
appear. Our own ability to take it in is even brought into question by the multitude of images on display.
Sze employs three dimensional surfaces to interact with the flat projections and extend them beyond the walls and capture them in the air around you so that the work fills the room and gives you a greater awareness of how you’re occupying the same space it is. Once you’re out-
side again even a slight breeze suddenly jolts you into the feeling Sze’s work gives you. Obviously just existing in what’s around you is more calm and direct, but it reminds you of how much is out there as well. It’s easy to forget when your mind is elsewhere. The exhibition is open through August 18.
The Dallas Architecture Forum is for everyone who wants to experience inspired design. The Forum presents an award-winning Lecture Series that brings outstanding architects,interior designers, landscape architects and urban planners from around the world, as well as Symposia, Receptions at architecturally significant residences, and Panel Discussions on issues impacting North Texas.
EVERYTHING OLD
IS MODERN AGAIN
by
hardy haberman
In 1936, the world came to Texas. Dallas was the sight of the Texas Centennial Exposition and in the midst of the depression the city put on a World’s Fair. The planners took Fair Park and transformed it into a gleaming modern city, with buildings and grounds designed in both the Deco and Modern styles. The lead architect, George Dahl called the style of the grounds, Texanic, and it overwhelmed the crowds. Today, much of that original architecture still stands in Fair Park, making it the largest collection of Art Deco exposition architecture in the country. That legacy is being preserved and restored so
that generations to come will be able to enjoy the park and get a glimpse of what the future visions of 1936 looked like.
I have long been enamored with the buildings and grounds of Fair Park. As a native Dallasite, I grew up just a few blocks from Fair Park and I remember many summer evenings strolling the grounds with my parents. One of the curiosities I remember was a house near the Garden Center that looked strangely out of place in a park filled with heroic sized buildings. The small single -
family dwelling was unoccupied and somewhat neglected. I later learned that this was one of the five “Homes of the Future” that were built by companies to highlight use of their construction materials in residential housing. The remaining home was the Portland Cement House and it was indeed built completely of concrete.
I had remembered that house and recently went back to the fairgrounds to discover it was still standing and
had been restored. A little digging online and I found the architect responsible for the restoration, Norman Alston, FAIA. I originally spoke with him to learn about the restoration of the house but found he was a trove of information on the entirety of Fair Park.
“The Portland Cement House was my first restoration project,” Norman said.
“The house was being used as a storage shed for the gardeners and was in rough shape. We used materials as close to the original including the tiles on the roof in the restoration.”
The restored house would fit into any neighborhood in Dallas today. The minimalist traditional lines and big expansive windows still give the house a contemporary
look.That project started a career shift for Alston who has specialized in historic restorations of building across Texas and landed him on the board of Fair Park First, a non-profit organization overseeing the management and stewardship of Fair Park, the 277-acre Dallas City Park and National Historic Landmark.
“Fair Park inspires everyone who works on it”, Alston said. “The Texas Centennial was a celebration of Texas
freedom and opportunity and it is reflected in the architecture of the site.”
The park, which has long been considered the crown jewel of the Dallas Parks system is vastly underutilized. The mission of Fair Park First is to re-establish Fair Park as one of Dallas’ premiere venues accessible and enjoyed by all. Also, to preserve and restore and enhance the park and its landmark buildings and grounds.
A major step toward that restoration was the recent work on the Hall of State, a massive limestone structure that served as a centerpiece for the Centennial. Dallas architecture firm Gensler was contracted by the City of Dallas to begin renovations on the historic structure. After a bond package funded the project, the building has been largely restored to its 1936 condition with the addition of modern amenities including accessibility ramps and updated air conditioning equipment.
On my recent visit, the gleaming white of the native Texas limestone was as dazzling as it must have been to Centennial visitors, and the interior frescos and base relief are truly impressive. I think of the Hall of State as a temple to all things Texas. The stunning details of the building are often missed by visitors. Outdoor lights with sculptures of figures representing the six different flags that have flown over the state are worth your time to notice. Bronze doors with attributes of the Lone Star State tell a story of our heritage in art deco style.
Every aspect of the building was designed to frame vistas and highlight architectural details if you take time to look.The overall vision of the Texas Centennial Exposition was both a nod to Texas history and a look to Texas future. The preservation of not just the House of the Future, but the entire exposition grounds will carry that vision to future Texans as a grand civic legacy.
ARCHITECTURE
ARCHITECTURE:
listen to the podcasts
Ron Stemarski Perkins&Will
Bruce Bernbaum + Patricia Magadini Bernbaum/Magadini Architects
ENTREPRENEUR
John Sayah
cravings modern
// boborelax designed by cini boeri in 1967, is one of the first examples of a single-block bench, made exclusively of polyurethane foam, without an internal frame available. smink
// suspension lamp with diffused light emission available in linear and organic compositions by patricia urquiola available. scottcooner
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your modern calendar
Modern events and activities make for fun around the Metroplex.
WALKING TOURS
Discover the Arts District + Fair Park Tram Tour
Ad Ex
FAIR PARK ARCHITECTURAL TRAM TOUR
Ad Ex
PATRICK MARTINES + WHO’S AFRAID OF CARTOONY CONFIGURATION?
Dallas Contemporary SARAH SZE
Nasher Sculpture Center
HE SAID/SHE SAID: CONTEMPORARY WOMEN ARTISTS INTERJECT
THE IMPRESSIONIST REVOLUTION FROM MONET TO MATISSE WHEN YOU SEE ME: VISIBILITY IN CONTEMPORARY ART/HISTORY
Dallas Museum Of Art
JAPAN, FORM & FUNCTION EXHIBITION
Crow Museum Of Asian Art
ELIZABETH TURK’S: THE TIPPING POINT: ECHOES OF EXTINCTION
