ArtHouston Issue 9

{ BEST KEPT SECRET }

{ LESTER MARKS }

{ MAPA WIYA }

{ ARTISTS’ SPOTLIGHT }

{ ARTS INTEGRATION }

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 09

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Photo by F. Carter Smith

PUBLISHER’S LETTER 3

“

À votre santé! It’s been 5 years already.

Time f lies when you’re having fun.

”

ow, should we be excited and celebrate?

We think so. After all, ArtHouston has been received with tremendous praise. In fact feedback from readers and the art community at large has been so good we think the road ahead is wide open.

In this issue we are thrilled to have Morgan Cronin, our writer-at-large in New York, returning with a best kept secret story about Houston. A must read for New Yorkers and for all Houston aficionados.

In addition to the print coverage, our website, www.arthoustonmagazine.com, is considered one of Houston’s foremost “go to” online resource guides for cultural events calendar, museum and gallery listings. We maximize our readership with integrated digital publishing. All of our past issues can be perused on our website.

We continue our Collector Focus with Sabine Casparie’s interview of Houston Mayor’s Ambassador to the Arts, Lester Marks.

Our social media presence has grown considerably, we have almost 11,000 people following our Facebook page! Instagram is next and should be up and running soon.

During the past five years, I’ve learned that time flies faster than you think, and as I reflect, I realize that we are still passionate about the pure potentiality of our magazine and its continued growth, and embrace the journey ahead as we strive to be the voice of our vibrant art community.

Yours faithfully.

John Bernhard

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CONTENTS

PUBLISHER’S LETTER 3

NEWS BITS 6

14 FEATURE

Houston, The Best Kept Secret Morgan Cronin 20

BOOK REVIEWS 10

Mapa Wiya Arthur Demicheli

COUPS DE CŒUR 12 GALLERY LISTINGS 56

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Lester Marks Sabine Casparie 30

PERFORMING ARTS SCHEDULE 62

Valentina & Erik Hanneke Humphrey

POEM 64 REVIEWS 66

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Promises to Houston Holly Walrath 38

* TATIANA ESCALLO N 72

The Gallerist Mark Ross

* A N T H O N Y PA B I L LA N O 7 2

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The Water Line

EXPOSURE 76

Arthur Demicheli

COLOPHON 79

Nancy Littlejohn

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John Bernhard EDITOR’S PICK 80

* Fresh Arts’ interviews

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Horizonte Chloé Jolly 54

Wivla Lane Devereux & Kay McStay 65

Femme Mark Ross 68

Arts Integration Deborah Lugo & Karine Parker

ON THE COVER: Deaf Tommy Mungatopi, Tiwi language group. Coral, 1965, (detail).

Pigment on bark, 27x19 in.

Image courtesy of Fondation Opale, Lens, Switzerland.

Part of Mapa Wiya exhibition at The Menil. (page 20)

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STEVEN EVANS

Contemporary Arts Museum

ROYAL CURATOR

Museum of Fine Arts Houston

Ann Dumas, photo: Benedict Johnson

news bits

On view: June 29 - October 14

Steven Evans: If I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution!

Holocaust Museum Houston, Lester and Sue Smith Campus.

Photo courtesy of HMH

OPEN AND READY Holocaust Museum Houston

Holocaust Museum Houston (HMH) reopened in June after a two-year, $34 million expansion more than doubling its space from 21,000 to 57,000 square feet. Ranked as the fourth-largest Holocaust Museum in the country, the new three-story structure houses a welcome center, four permanent galleries, including an new Human Rights gallery, and two changing exhibition galleries, classrooms, research library, café, 200-seat indoor theater and 175-seat outdoor amphitheater.

Here is a peek of upcoming exhibitions: David Lyon: Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement Oct. 18, 2019 – Jan. 5, 2020 Dolores Huerta: Revolution in the Fields / Revolución en los Campos Nov. 15, 2019 – Feb. 16, 2020 For more details and to purchase tickets, visit hmh.org.

In a career that has spanned more than three decades, artist Steven Evans has consistently explored the connections between music, language, memory, identity, and collectivity. CAMH’s solo exhibition with the artist – Steven Evans: If I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution! – includes two distinct bodies of work the artist has created in colored neon and adhesive vinyl that highlight links between popular music, activism, and social and political change. They demonstrate that the notion of “movement” is multivalent in Evans’s oeuvre; it is simultaneously individual and collective, physical and political. Taken together, the bodies of work on view in this exhibition communicate a sense of collective celebration and spirited resistance.

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH) appoints Ann Dumas of the Royal Academy of Arts, London (RA), as Consulting Curator of European Art. Distinguished curator will steward exhibitions and collections, develop new initiatives for the MFAH and the Royal Academy, in this shared appointment.

Institutional partnership aligns the exhibitions and curatorial resources of the MFAH and RA “We are enormously pleased to announce this partnership with longtime colleagues at the Royal Academy,” said Tinterow. “Ann’s talent as a curator will no doubt bring projects at the highest level of expertise to both institutions.”

Tim Marlow, artistic director of the RA, added, “Ann Dumas is a world-class curator and the partnership between the RA and MFAH will give her a more expansive global stage on which to operate.”

ICONS OF STYLE

Museum of Fine Arts Houston Explore the rich and varied history of fashion photography through Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography.

More than 200 photographs by famous practitioners and lesser-known, yet influential artists present a broad and diverse perspective on fashion photography and its trajectory from niche industry to powerful

cultural force. The exhibition surveys the gradual recognition of fashion photography as an art form.

Icons of Style showcases a broad and diverse view of fashion and fashion photography— from elegant portraits made in the early 20th century to the trendsetting fashions of today.

Until September 22, 2019

George HoyningenHuene, Bathing Suits by Izod, Paris, 1930, gelatin silver print, the MFAH, Museum purchase funded by Geoffrey and Barbara Koslov Family, the Manfred Heiting Collection. © Condé Nast

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ARTIST BUSINESS SUMMIT Fresh Arts

Creatives of all disciplines attended Houston’s first Summit curated specifically for artists, makers, musicians and more in Arts District Houston over the last weekend of July. The two-day event hosted

by Fresh Arts, a local nonprofit that champions creatives to make a living as artists, saw over 200 registered creative entrepreneurs come together to network and gain essential career-building skills.

According to the U.S. Government, artists are 3.5 times more likely than the general population to have their own businesses.

This speaks to the nature of the profession, often lending itself to entrepreneurial endeavors, and one of the reasons why the Summit was created. On a Friday afternoon, the event opened with a free Arts Resource Expo which included networking opportunities for attendees with the members of Fresh Arts, Houston Arts Alliance and other local arts organizations.

Marci Dallas, Executive Director of Fresh Arts said, “I’m excited that our event has been able to reflect the diversity of our city. We have guests and panelists of all ages and all cultural backgrounds attending the Summit, and we are making sure that we meet all the needs of our community. That is why we offered Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART) services and live Spanish translations during our Keynote address.”

“For the future and longevity of the Houston arts community, it is vital that we provide a wealth of skill-building programming to local creatives.” Dallas also noted that, “Many artists have received little to no training in what it takes to live the life of a full-time entrepreneur and creative, so professional development is the key to solidifying the arts as a tenable career.”

Mentor Power Hours were hosted in Arts District Houston at Henderson & Kane, Henderson Heights Pub, Holler Brewery, and Decatur Bar & Restaurant. The entire event ended in a Happy Hour with an Art Walk to the Silos at Sawyer Yards for the opening of Artist INC 2018 alum Melissa Walter’s exhibition.

FERNANDO CASAS The Art Car Museum

This exhibition is a survey of Fernando Casas works spanning four decades - 1980 to the present. It includes Casas’ most recent creation – an installation of four large panels – as well as never shown before drawings done in his country of origin, Bolivia. These are shown together with his usual largescale oil paintings, mixed media works, drawings and prints that are part of the extensive production done in his adoptive city of Houston.

On view from September 14 until November 17, 2019

Fernando Casas, The Immortal, 2019 oil on canvas with array of mirrors, 90” x 68” (One of a four-panel)

Beatriz González, Jackeline Oasis, 1975, screenprint on paper, collection of the artist, courtesy of Casas Riegner Gallery, Bogotá. © Beatriz González

BEATRIZ GONZÁLEZ:

A RETROSPECTIVE

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Beatriz González: A Retrospective is the first large-scale U.S. exhibition dedicated to the work of Colombian artist Beatriz González. Based in Bogotá, González (born 1938) is not only an internationally celebrated artist but also one of the few living representatives of the “radical women” generation from Latin America. González’s groundbreaking production spans more than six decades of intensive research yet remains largely unfamiliar to audiences in the United States.

One of the most comprehensive displays of the artist’s work to date, Beatriz González: A Retrospective seeks to remedy this lag by presenting more than 100 works, from the early 1960s through the present, that embody the full scope of González’s oeuvre. The retrospective offers an expansive look at the artist’s unique and influential practice through her most iconic works, many of which have rarely been seen outside of Colombia. Selections range from two-dimensional paintings, drawings, silkscreen prints, and curtains, to threedimensional recycled furniture (beds, cribs, tables, armoires) and everyday objects (trays, TVs, cigar boxes).

The works on view are culled from the artist’s personal collection as well as from public and private collections in Colombia, Europe, and the United States. Beatriz González: A Retrospective travels to the MFAH following the April 2019 premiere at the Pérez Art Museum Miami.

October 27, 2019–January 20, 2020

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CREATIVE AGING

ARTCRAWL

50TH ANNIVERSARY GALA

Art League Houston

Downtown Art District

The Health Museum

Art League Houston (ALH) has been selected to be one of ten nonprofit arts education organizations across the country to receive grant funding to support the launch of new, innovative arts education programming for older adults.

The Catalyzing Creative Aging Initiative is in it’s second year and is presented by the National Guild for Community Arts Education in partnership with Lifetime Arts.

ALH has partnered with Baker Ripley to provide a Creative Aging visual art workshop series at the newly renovated J W Peavy Center in the historic 5th Ward community in the fall of 2019. This program will engage older adults, ages 55+, in capturing the unwritten histories of landmarks in 5th Ward through the visual voice of residents of the community.

The sequential workshops will build skills in drawing and plein air watercolor painting.

The program will culminate in exhibitions in the 5th Ward community in late 2019 and in additional art spaces around Houston in early 2020.

The ORIGINAL & HISTORIC Downtown Artists’ Warehouse District will open working art studios and exhibition spaces to the public for the official ARTCRAWLHOUSTON 2019.

The one-day event is Saturday, November 23, 10 AM - 9 PM. (Some warehouses will be open on Sunday.)

This year’s event marks the 27th anniversary of Artistic Survival, celebrated by an all-volunteer, artist-run, nonorganization in the 4th largest city in the United States.

Over 150 artists will participate in Houston’s original cluster of artists’ warehouses: • Hardy & Nance Studios • Michael Morton Architects • David Adickes Sculpture Studio • The original Silo Studios • Mother Dog Studios • Notsuoh • Harambee Art Gallery • JoMar Visions The landmark Last Concert Café will accommodate hungry and thirsty ARTCRAWLERS. MotherDogStudios, the oldest warehouse in Houston, is the official event’s headquarters.

On Saturday, November 2, 2019, The John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science will celebrate its first five decades of existence as the only health museum of its kind in the United States.

Founded in 1969, The Health Museum is Houston’s most interactive science and health learning center, as well as one of only two Smithsonian Affiliate institutions in the city of Houston. The “50th Anniversary Gala,” which will take place on November 2, 2019 at the River Oaks Country Club from 6:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., is The Health Museum’s largest fundraiser of the year.

The Health Museum was first inaugurated on November 16, 1969 as part of the Houston Museum of Natural Science by a group of local physicians and with the support of Houston Endowment and the Harris County Medical Society. On March 16, 1996, after the successful completion of a $9.6 million capital campaign, the opening of its current location in the Houston Museum District at 1515 Hermann Drive was celebrated.

The celebratory fundraising event will honor Dr. and Mrs. David Braden; Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth Mattox; and the M.D. Anderson Foundation with the prestigious “Heart of Gold Award” for their longstanding commitment to The Health Museum and to the overall health and wellbeing of Houstonians. The “50th Anniversary Gala” is chaired by Dr. and Mrs. Brian Strake Parsley; and Mr. and Mrs. J. Downey Bridgwater.

Table sponsorships and individual tickets are available. For more information, please contact Jenni Granero at (713) 521- 1515 ext. 332 or via email at jgranero@thehealthmuseum.org.

especially since the city’s art collection contains only one outdoor sculpture or monument honoring a woman,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

Artists residing in the United States are invited to submit qualifications for the opportunity to design, fabricate and install a tribute to the pioneering educator, civic leader and venerated Houston native.

The project has a total budget of up to $235,000. The deadline for submission is Sept. 23. For details, go to: www.houstontx.gov/culturalaffairs/barbarajordan.html.

Houston Public Library

OPEN CALL

City of Houston

The City of Houston Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs is starting the process of selecting an artist to create the city’s first permanent outdoor artwork commemorating the life and legacy of the late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan.

The site selected for the artwork is the historic African American Library at the Gregory School in Houston.

“It’s well past time we memorialize our hero Barbara Jordan with inspiring public art,

¡MÚSICA!

Hispanics have made and continue to make contributions to the Houston music scene in every genre and every decade. ¡Música! A History of Hispanic Sounds in Houston, captures key moments through the decades of their vast impact on the Bayou City and its music.

Journey back to dances at the Pan American and good times at the first Chicano and Conjunto Festivals. Learn about Lydia Mendoza, the “First Lady of Tejano;” Ventura Alonzo, the

“Queen of the Accordion;” and the gifted, Patricio Gutierrez and the Houston Symphony, the Ricky Diaz Orchestra and the Zenteno family.

This exhibit features oral histories, archival photographs, posters, and items from the Hispanic Archival Collections at the Houston Metropolitan Research Center (HMRC) and from those who played, promoted, and participated behind the scenes.

On view at the Julia Ideson Building, Exhibit Hall, August 24 – November 9.

AFRICAN COSMOLOGIES Photography, Time, and the Other The FotoFest Biennial 2020

Rotimi Fani-Kayode (1955-1989), Untitled, 1987-1988. Courtesy of Autograph ABP, London.

FotoFest announces the dates and curatorial focus for its Eighteenth International Biennial, the FotoFest Biennial 2020.

Taking place next year, March 7–April 19, 2020, the central program of the citywide festival, AFRICAN COSMOLOGIES—Photography, Time, and the Other, will focus on artists of Africa and its diaspora. The FotoFest Biennial 2020 marks the first time in its 37-year history that the Biennial’s central exhibition will focus on artists of African origin.

AFRICAN COSMOLOGIES is curated by Mark Sealy MBE, a British curator, writer, and cultural producer with a special interest in the relationship between photography and social change, identity politics and human rights. Since 1991, Sealy has been the director of Autograph ABP, the London-based non-profit photographic arts agency dedicated to highlighting issues of identity, representation, human rights and social justice. Formerly known as the Association of Black Photographers, Autograph ABP is an advocate of human rights worldwide, hosting exhibitions on the subjects of Pan African politics, and the photographic legacy of lynching in the United States, among others.

Steven Evans, FotoFest Executive Director, notes “FotoFest has a long history of international engagement, and we are especially excited to be working with photographers from

NEWS BITS 9

Africa and its diaspora in 2020.”

“Mark Sealy’s reputation and legacy of thoughtful exhibitions, programs, lectures and books is remarkable, and has established him as a leading expert and advocate for Black and African photography,” says Evans, continuing, “His meticulous engagement with important issues within society and culture aligns closely with FotoFest’s mission and ideals.”

With decades of work against a colonized view of photography in Africa, Sealy explains, “Photographic images can only be understood within the contexts of the cultures to which they relate.

Only once we understand the cultures within which an image is made, and read, can we begin to lock down any real meaning. …The establishment of a canonical reading of photography is in no way universal or democratic.”

“Photography for those locked out of the means of image production becomes an impossible barrier to the right to full and equal human recognition,” says Sealy.

“Especially if existence alone is an act of survival.”

AFRICAN COSMOLOGIES will feature over 30 artists from across the continent and its diaspora, making it one of the world’s largest exhibitions of African photography.

Evans continues, “We are very excited by the program Mark Sealy is creating, and excited to use FotoFest’s international platform to showcase these dynamic artists.”

The AFRICAN COSMOLOGIES program will include the central exhibition, on view across multiple venues; a hardcover book; a conference on contemporary African photographic arts; forums and panel discussions; commissioned projects; a curated film program; and other programs. The hardcover book will include reproductions from Biennial artists, and essays from international experts on African art.

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book reviews

Music & Literature No. 9

The Art of Texas

The Swiss-German writer Peter Bichsel is one of the best shortprose stylists of his generation and has earned a devoted following in the German-speaking world for his charming, melancholic stories-yet his work is all but unpublished in English. This portfolio announces the great writer in our own literature through a generous selection of works spanning his entire career, from his short fiction and an excerpt from his enigmatic first novel, interviews and a compilation of essays offer insight into the nature of Bichsel’s artistry as it has developed over nearly six decades, highlighting the themes to which he returns time and again: the peculiar history and attitudes of the Swiss, the struggle for inner freedom and the rights of minorities, and the pleasures of reading. Music & Literature, 2019

Critic Michael Ennis stated twentyfive years ago that there has never been more than a cursory overview of Texas art from the nineteenth century to the present. The Art of Texas: 250 Years now tells a deeper story, beginning with Spanish colonial paintings and moving through two and a half centuries of art in Texas.

Written by noted scholars, art historians, and curators, this survey is the first attempt to analyze and characterize Texas art on a grand scale.

Texas Christian University Press,2019

PETER BICHSEL

RON TYLER

Dear Mr. Picasso: An illustrated love affair with freedom FRED BALDWIN

A photographic memoir of photographer and FotoFest photo festival founder Fred Baldwin’s extraordinary life: how he followed his dream, used his imagination, overcame fear, and acted to accomplish anything. This account takes the reader to high adventure worldwide, but also to disaster and failure. This illustrated love affair with freedom shows how a camera became a passport to the world. The stories in this book are often laced with self-deprecating humour, a mechanism that Baldwin had developed early as a survival tool.

Schilt Publishing, June 1, 2019

A Book Maker’s Art WILLIAM E. REAVES JR. AND LINDA J. REAVES

Harvest of Memory BEA NETTLES

A survey of ground-breaking mixedmedia photography, spanning a half century of innovative perspectives that push the boundaries of how we define photography.

University of Texas Press,,October 2019

In A Book Maker’s Art, they present the freshly assembled story of the Wardlaw collection, from its modest yet unique beginning to its presentday status as one of the university’s excellent collections of Texas art, reflecting the exceptional bond of arts and letters that has come to distinguish Texas A&M University Press.

Texas A&M University Press, 2018

The Art of Pere Joan BENJAMIN FRASER

A close reading of the innovative, distinctive vision of Pere Joan, who has pushed boundaries in Spain’s comics scene for more than four decades and stoked a new understanding of the nature of reading comics.

University of Texas Press, April 2019

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coups de cœur

ARTIST,

Gabriela Monterroso

Contemporary figurative artist Gabriela Monterroso, lives and works in Houston. Her work represents human emotions through the female figure and through animal symbolism. Guatemalan born, she began painting in her late twenties when nostalgic feelings of her country’s traditions and colors began as her first inspiration. Monterroso’s professional background as a psychologist has influence her in creating images with unique colors but with a soothing stamp, as she recognizes that everything the eye sees influences the mind. www.gabrielamonterroso.com ARTIST

Page Piland

Raised in an art environment in Austin, Texas, Page Piland’s recent painting/assemblage work honors humble subjects: discarded, distressed or abandoned home building materials; wooden planks; railroad tie splinters; Bastrop burned trees; old books. Piland incorporates pieces of his original inspiration as well as a “trompe l’oeil” replica in/on his uniquely-sized canvases. www.pilanddesign.com

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ARTIST

Mario E. Figueroa, Jr. Artistically known as GONZO247, Mario was born and raised in Houston. He is a self-taught artist with over 25 years of experience in studio art practice, mural painting, private art commissions, and community involvement. GONZO is the founder of Aerosol Warfare Studios, founder and producer of HUE Mural Festival, and founder of The Graffiti and Street Art Museum of Texas. He has produced an Aerosol Warfare video series, established the Houston Wall of Fame (the city’s first and largest art production of its kind), and has participated in over 300 exhibitions and art projects, including work with top brand campaigns that speak to urban communities.

ARTIST

Fariba Abedin

Iranian born, Fariba Abedin’s work explores geometric abstraction with an emphasis on color study where geometry and color become the subjects of her intriguing paintings. Her large scale geometric paintings give the effect of a blown-up kaleidoscope to the viewers, and her carefully selected tints, shades and tones create the illusion of volume, space, and transparency. www.faribaabedin.com

ARTIST

Richard S.Hall

Richard S. Hall has a real love and appreciation for the Texas Gulf Coast. It shows in his paintings, drawings, and writings. Trained as a medical and scientific illustrator and architectural delineator, his works easily capture the character and essence of his subjects. Many of those subjects are harbor scenes, sporting scenes, and natural science. His writings most often focus on architecture, history, and natural science. He has won numerous awards and has exhibited in the US, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East. facebook.com/ThePintailGroup

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Mary Ellen Carroll in her studio in Manhattan.

Photography by Fernando Santangelo

Houston The

Best Kept Secret

BY MORGAN CRONIN

On the 10th floor of 22 East 17th Street in Manhattan, I am sitting in front of a window unit AC that blows a gentle breeze, and offers a much-needed reprieve from the New York City humidity. The studio, in which I am sitting, belongs to the conceptual artist Mary Ellen Carroll, and overlooks a private garden.

The garden, framed by mid-rise buildings, is shrouded from the view of Union Square Park. From Carroll’s 10th floor studio, I’m able to see past the garden, and through the air space of the smallest building. Florets of trees come into view, along with the domed entrance of the Union Square Subway station.

Carroll tells me that it was only recently that she moved into the studio, which is evident from the stacked trunks by which we are surrounded. Each case is labeled with a destination. I see MoMA typed across sheets of white, taped down, and grouped with other stacks, also slated to move to The Museum of

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“There are things about the way Houston is set up, and the way it is run, that helps facilitate art-going and art-making.”

Modern Art. The window unit still blows cool air as Carroll talks about the project that brought her to Houston: Prototype 180— a work that encompasses land use policy along with technology, culminated in the form of performance, sculpture, landscape and architectural art.

“The Art historian David Joselit and I have been doing interviews about my work. We started out because he has been to Houston to witness the many moments that have happened with Prototype 180. That’s what brought me down there… Actually, what brought me down there was the lack of zoning.”

Houston is unique in the sense that the city has absolutely no zoning laws. According to the city’s website, “the city of Houston does not have zoning but development is governed by codes that address how property can be subdivided. The city codes do not address land use,” meaning adult stores can be in the same strip mall as daycare centers. This lack of zoning was particularly of interest to Carroll when scouting locations for her “Daringly Unbuilt” performance, the final performance, and culmination of the 18-year urban policy project that is Prototype 180. Due to Houston’s lack of zoning, and unregulated land use policy, Carroll

was able to orchestrate a choreographed demolition of a singlefamily home, and its surrounding property, in Houston’s Sharpstown subdivision.

It is easy to see why artists are attracted to Houston.

The city’s lack of zoning offers a no holds barred playground for artists to conceptualize work without the development restrictions enforced by other cities. This, along with accessibility to space, natural light, and affordable rent make Houston a dream city for artists to live and work.

“In Houston there’s no plan, which makes things work better than other cities. There are things about the way Houston is set up, and the way it is run, that helps facilitate art-going and art-making,” says Vance Muse, former Director of Communications at the Menil Collection.

“Houston is a city of first class—an art destination—connected by third-world streets,” Muse continues. “I think it’s really important for a city to be a place where artists can afford to live. That makes for the dynamic. If you don’t have artists, then what do you got? People are pretty creative about where they can make work here.”

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0 8 1 e p y t Proto

All photos by Kenny Trice

Prototype 180 is an artwork by American conceptual artist Mary Ellen Ca r r o l l w h o l i ve s a n d w o r k s i n N e w Yo r k C i t y a n d H o u s t o n . p r o t o t y p e 1 8 0 i s “ t h e c e n t e r p i e c e o f C a r r o l l ’s I n n o v a t i o n Te r r i t o r i e s , a n i n i t i a tive co-sponsored by the Rice University Building Institute.Houston was self-selected itself as the site of the artwork because it lacks an o f f i c i a l l a n d - u s e p o l i c y.

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Moonmist 6 1. Ryan Hawk 2. Martyna Szczesna 3. Emilie Gossiaux and Joshua Citarella 4. Opening of the 2018 exhibition Our Going On 5. Virginia Lee Montgomery 6. Gracelee Lawrence and Anthony Iacono. All photos by Alex Goss

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On the South Side of Houston, artists Shana Hoehn and Alex Goss are transforming backyards into exhibition space through Moonmist, a backyard project space on 5926 Moonmist Dr.

“Each time I’ve visited, what was being displayed was either in the backyard, or in the garage. Paintings were hanging on the side of the fence, or from trees, and then amazing video is playing in the garage. It’s incredible. Where else can you see this?” Josh Pazda, Director of Hiram Butler Gallery says of Moonmist.

“I think there is something to be said about opportunities to do things in Houston that one might not be able to do in New York, simply because of things like the cost of living. Naturally, I think you’re going to get a more diverse group of people doing things of their own making in Houston that would sort of be under the radar, and not really correspond to any particular model.

People are just making it up as they want to do it,” says Pazda.

In addition to space and affordability, one thing that Houston offers is accessibility to funding without the cut-throat attitude often associated with cities like New York. Space HL Executive Director, Paul Middendorf describes Houston as a city with “national drive, and a small community feel” especially for nonprofits, in regard to flexibility, support and collaboration with major institutions.

After Hurricane Harvey, Middendorf was just one of the artists affected by the fragility of infrastructure. “All it takes is one major disaster to kick the leg out. Houston witnessed a willingness from people to donate large amounts of money.

The city really banded together. It’s very much the southern way”

Just ask Randy Twaddle, and his business partner Dave Thompson, who coined the guerilla slogan Houston is worth it.

For a city that boasts the fourth largest metropolitan, Houston can be described as hiding in plain sight, or as a sort of best-kept secret.

Home to some of the finest art institutions in the country, including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Menil Collection, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, the Blaffer Art Museum, Rothko Chapel, along with numerous galleries that exhibit artists from around the world, the city truly is a first-class, international arts destination.

“Houston is sort of come as you are. Everyone has different areas of interest, and ways of expressing that interest. I think there is opportunity for people in every level of the game here, and it makes for a really awesome diverse sort of melting pot,” says Pazda.

It’s easy to look at established institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Guggenheim in New York as top tier in terms of art and culture, but what makes Houston unique is the underrated aspect of its own first tier institutions.

To visit the Menil Collection, or the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, one has to drive through oak-laden streets, reminiscent of those found on southern plantations. Beyond the trees, some of the finest art in the world is hidden within the Montrose and Museum District neighborhoods.

“Houston is the best kept secret that keeps being told over, and over again. It’s one surprise after another,” says Muse.

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MAPA WIYA B Y

A R T H U R

D E M I C H E L I

M a p a W i y a ( Yo u r M a p ’ s N o t N e e d e d ) : A u s t r a l i a n A b o r i g i n a l A r t f r o m the Fondation Opale at The Menil Collection. Mapa Wiya features more than 100 works of Australian Aboriginal art.

This fall, the Menil presents Mapa Wiya (Your Map’s Not Needed): Australian Aboriginal Art from the Fondation Opale. Meaning “no map” in the Pitjantjatjara language of the Central Australian desert region, the exhibition title is drawn from a recent drawing by artist Kunmanara (Mumu Mike) Williams (b 1952–2019), the first showing of his work in an American art museum. His recuperation of official government maps and postal bags is a pointed response to the foreign cartographies of the country that Australian Aboriginal peoples embody.

Country is the foundation for the autonomous ways of the Aboriginal peoples. Vast deserts and rainforests with their distinctive rock formations and water holes, and other

meaningful spaces, including the land on which cities have been built—these are the diverse terrains of their lives.

They are places in which the laws and primordial creations of ancestors are always present, where painfully violent colonial histories are memorialized, and potential futures are reclaimed in song and dance. Knowing the land, moving through it, and living with its deeply embedded storylines animate the rich visual expression of Aboriginal artists.

Reflecting on the long history of art making and different ways of Aboriginal peoples, Mapa Wiya highlights work created after the 1950s and includes more than 100 contemporary paintings, shields, hollow log coffins (larrakitj or lorrkkon), and engraved mother of pearl (lonka lonka or riji) held by the Fondation Opale in Lens, Switzerland, one of

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Ignatia Djanghara, Wunambal language group. Cloud and Rain Spirit (Wanjina), late 20th century. Pigments on bark, 14 3/4 × 6 5/16 in. Image courtesy of Fondation Opale, Lens, Switzerland.

Left page: Mumu Mike Williams, Pitjantjatjara language group. We Don’t Need a Map (Mapa Wiya), 2017. Ink and acrylic on found map, 23 1/4 × 35 7/16 in.

Image courtesy of Fondation Opale, Lens, Switzerland.

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Kanpi Women’s Collaborative: Maringka Baker, Teresa Baker, Kani Tunkin, Pitjantjatjara language group. Minyma Tjutangku Kunpu Kanyini, 2017.

Acrylic on canvas, 59 1/16 × 118 1/8 in. Image courtesy of Fondation Opale, Lens, Switzerland

FEATURE 23

the most significant collections of Aboriginal art.

The exhibition showcases large, vibrant, and at times collaboratively-painted works by internationally-recognized artists such as Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (1932–2002), Paddy Nyunkuny Bedford (1922–2007), Emily Kame Kngwarreye (ca. 1910–1996), Gulumbu Yunupingu (1945–2012), Balang John Mawurndjul (b. 1952), and Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri (b. 1950).

Mapa Wiya (Your Map’s Not Needed): Australian Aboriginal Art from the Fondation Opale is curated by Paul R. Davis, Curator of Collections.

Lead funding for this exhibition is provided by Anne Schlumberger and BHP Billiton Petroleum. Additional support comes from The City of Houston. Exhibtion on view September 12, 2019 until February 2, 2020.

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LESTER MARKS COLLECTOR FOCUS:

As a constant, supportive presence in the local art scene, Lester Marks has made his mark. He is recognized as one of the top 100 art collectors in the United States, and carries many titles like “Texas Art Patron of the years” and “Houston Mayor’s Ambassador to the Arts.”

BY SABINE CASPARIE

When we visited Lester Marks he is feeling a little down. On top of mourning the recent death of his beloved mother, he is due for surgery the next day. Any other person would have cancelled the interview. Not Lester Marks. Our little delegation includes our publisher John Bernhard, and Heidi Vaughan, owner of Heidi Vaughan Fine Art which is showing a selection of artworks from Marks’ collection. Lester Marks has been included in many ‘top collector’ lists, so we are all excited and extremely curious.

FEATURE 25

Lester Marks amongst his art collection in his living room in Houston.

Photography by John Bernhard

Judy Nyquist surrounded by her art collection at her home in Houston. Photography by John Bernhard

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But before we can talk about Marks’ collection, we take a little detour to his eight-year old daughter Alena’s room. A budding artist (“She has sold many works already”, Marks informs us with a wink), Alena is also a talented piano player and, not the least intimidated by the visitors, she asks us if we want to hear a little concert. So there we are, in this pink princess dream of a room, listening to Alena who is seated under a display of her own artworks. “I am getting a baby grand piano soon”, she solemnly informs us.

There is something endearing about the Marks family. They are completely unpretentious. I ask Marks how it all started. “I was born with a love and respect for creativity. I was a person always searching for answers to life’s questions. I started making art, and I also loved poetry. I haven’t told anyone this, but I think that frustration leads to creativity. I was a small, Jewish boy with wild, curly hair in Clear Lake, Houston.” His parents took Marks and his

sister to New York regularly to visit the galleries. “The first time I truly fell in love with a piece was when I saw a Larry Bell cube.

I fell down the rabbit hole and decided that I wanted to become a collector. I still remember the sensuousness of the color bleeding through the glass.”

Color is still a strong thread running through the collection. In the dining room a large painting by Gordon Terry takes center piece: colorful circles bursting out from a black background. Below it, a glass wall hides a room at half height, filled with lush, white cushions. A video in the shape of a large eyeball is staring at us, blinking. “Yes, that is by Tony Oursler. When I saw Oursler’s eye, I just had to have it. He points at the room, which used to be a storage shaft. “I told my builder, what if you just push that shaft up and make a low ceiling. They didn’t believe me at first.

But now everyone loves it. The setting is inspired by the Milk Bar in Clockwork Orange.”

FEATURE 27

Sculptures, paintings, photographs, and installations cover-up every area of Lester Marks’s home. Photos by John Bernhard and Sabine Casparie

But it is not just the love of art that drives Marks. Once a car dealer, he also loves the thrill of a sale. “I don’t like museums that much. I don’t like art that I can’t at least think about buying.

Richard Feigen, the art dealer, once told me that anytime you sell a work of art it is a mistake. But sometimes, I couldn’t escape the thrill of finding someone to pay my price.” In fact, Marks recently put up part of his collection for sale at Heidi Vaughan because he simply had to make some room.

When we take a tour around the house, we start to see why. There is art everywhere: a monumental Anselm Kiefer book on a glass table faces a Ruth Asawa work similar to the one in the Menil Drawing Institute, two architraves with Yayoi Kusama nudes in her trademark polka-dots face a Coca-Cola freezer with a lifelike sculpture of general Franco by Eugenio Marino (“Franco on Ice - my daughter used to hate it!”). There is a Louise Bourgeois sculpture in a glass case on the landing, opposite a large

textile work by Trenton Doyle Hancock spanning the stairs. A felt Jesus by Jason Villegas in one room, a zen-like piece showing Houston’s highways by David Brown in the next; an African American female artist concerned with form (Senga Nengudi) in dialogue with a South American, conceptual male artist (Dario Robleto). The sublime talks to the absurd, the loud to the quiet.

And Marks has painstakingly labelled each piece, sometimes including little poems such as those inspired by the Jospeh Cornell boxes. There are many big names, but Marks is also keen to support less known, local artists. A video piece by Felipe Lopez brightens up Richard Long’s stone circle in the inner courtyard: Lopez is an upcoming artist from Houston whose career Marks is proud to support. He recently acquired an artwork by Hedwige Jacobs, who is in fact accompanying us on the tour.

“I live and breathe and sleep art”, Marks explains. I am a nightperson, often up until 3am. When I am watching tv, I set a piece of art next to me on the table. My favorite thing to do is to position

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Lester Marks in front of a painting from Robert Rauschenberg.

Photography by John Bernhard

that transfers the simple into “ theArtsublime, the ordinary into the extraordinary, the weird into the wonderful, all with the sheer use of color as a way of being.

”

my lifecycle exercise bike outside the courtyard at night, looking in. I consider these artworks my friends.” But if this might suggest that Marks art collection is purely for personal pleasure, you are mistaken. “I consider myself to be a curator and artist and mentor more than a collector. The best thing I have done with my art collection is to share it – those are the most joyful moments.

My favorite groups are people that know little about art. Someone on a tour once wrote me afterwards that it had changed their life. That is powerful.”

It has been two hours, but Marks has visibly lightened up, his eyes full of spark now, his surgery the next day all but forgotten. He looks at the notes that he has prepared for this meeting.

“I can summarize the art I collect as follows”, he reads out. “Art that transfers the simple into the sublime, the ordinary into the

extraordinary, the weird into the wonderful, all with the sheer use of color as a way of being.” As he told me, “the sum is always more than the parts”, and I see it now: his collection is one giant, immersive, performative, dizzying, breathing work of art. “Has anyone ever criticized your eclecticism?” I ask. Marks thinks for a moment. “Let’s put it this way”, he says with his mischievous, boyish smile, looking at the Minimalist box on the wall. “I am just glad that Donald Judd is no longer alive to see it.”

Objects from Lester Marks’ collection are available on an ongoing basis at Heidi Vaughan Fine Art, www.heidivaughanfineart.com.

Tours of Lester’s home and art collection are being coordinated through the gallery. In the Fall, Lester Marks will start a series of ‘Marks Talks’, a salon-style event at his home. For more info follow Mr. Marks on Instagram @lestermarksartcollection.

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Spotlight on Local Artists

Va l e n t i n a

Atkinson

E r i k a n d Hagen B Y

H A N N E K E

H U M P H R E Y

T H E W O R D S E T H EREAL AND EPHEMERAL STRUCK ME WHEN I MET VALENTINA ATKINS O N A N D E R I K H A G E N IN THEIR STUDIOS. VALENTINA IS LED BY HER FEELINGS IN CREAT I N G

A I RY A B S T R A C T I ONS, WHICH MADE ME THINK OF CÉZANNE: “THE PAINTER UNFO L D S T H AT W H I C H H A S NOT BEEN SEEN.”

ON THE OTHER HAND, ERIK HAS MORE O F A

S C I E N T I F I C S E N SITIVITY, GROUNDED IN THE WORLD. HE IS MOVED BY THE PASSAGE O F T I M E , T H E U N I V ERSE, AND OUR INTERACTION WITH NATURE.

W H I L E T H E S E I D EAS DIFFERENTIATE THEIR ART, THERE IS A SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN T H E TWO ARTISTS.

INDEED, BOTH FOUND INSPIRATION IN ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONI S M ,

A N D T H E Y K N O W EACH OTHER WELL FROM VOLUNTEERING FOR THE VISUAL A R T S A L L I A N C E . T H E N, I WAS STRUCK BY THEIR COMMON THIRST TO EXPLORE NEW ARTIS T I C T E C H N I Q U E S W I TH A STRONG AESTHETIC SENSIBILITY.

FEATURE 31

Above: Valentina Atkinson, Across the Sky, Mixed media, 72” X 64” in.

Photo by Martin Holmes

Erik Hagen Memento Mori: Cell Phone Photo by Martin Holmes 18th or 19th century frame, cell phone, mosquito, resin, 18” x 15” x 4” in.

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Left: Valentina Atkinson in her studio.

Photo by Hanneke Humphrey Right: Valentina Atkinson Chromática, watercolor and ink, 40” X 30” in.

Photo by Martin Holmes

Valentina

Through the exquisite use of watercolors and ink, Valentina’s paintings are lyrical and playful. Like Picasso who considered all children to be artists, she believes that too much knowledge can get in the way. “Watercolor is fascinating for me because it is spontaneous. For me, art is to express an emotion...right in the moment. I can play with the water, with the mistakes, and every mistake is an opportunity, a challenge....Abstract art is the way for me to express more color, emotions, textures, composition…. ” Chromática illustrates her style, with bright fields of color that are then defined by line and geometric forms. Here she is reflecting on life and place. More than mapping, she is making a positive statement about communities and the potential of people to live together, in neighborhoods.

Layering different materials, she builds up texture, suggestive of the complexities of life.

She also seeks simplicity and wants to “say the most with the least.” A Cat is a much smaller painting in which the ethereal image seems to emerge from the background, almost floating in space. As with all her work, this reflects the search for beauty with an economy of means.

Her love of color comes from growing up in Mexico where she was always surrounded by art. While she was showing us Across the Sky, she mentioned the influence of her father who had painted a whole room in a striking indigo blue called Azul Añil that is typical of Mexico. In her celestial painting, there is a mesmerizing push-pull effect as the opaque blue springs up from the more transparent background.

She speaks of her training in industrial design, in commercial art, and in Mexico, with renowned watercolorists Alicia Leyva and Guati Rojo. After moving to Houston in 1990, she took classes at the Glassell School of Art with the beloved Arthur Turner. She speaks of him as being the catalyst for her, encouraging the inventive use of color.

“He used to say that hot pink was a neutral color for Valentina.” She also delved further into abstraction, which challenges her more than the representational because the artist is left with only line, shape, texture, and color to make a composition. While Valentina is full of modesty referring to her influences, her art stands out with its graceful forms, vibrant colors, and confident brush strokes.

FEATURE 33

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FEATURE35

Erik Hagen Galveston and Texas City, Year 2500. Installation view at Rice University. Ice, resin, LED lights, print of Galveston and Texas City showing sea level rise in the year 2500, Cedar wood and concrete blocks, solar panel and car battery.

5’ x 8’ x 5’ in.

Photo by Erik Hagen

Left: Erik Hagen in his studio. In Front of: Fossils of the Anthropocene: LEGOS #1 (diptych), Hydrostone, tumbled LEGOS, pigments on wood, 60 x 14 in. and Fossils of the Anthropocene: LEGOS #2, Hydrostone, tumbled LEGOS, pigments on wood, 60 x 14 in. Photo by Hanneke Humphrey

Erik

Erik also has a cross-cultural background, as he has lived abroad and has family in Holland as well as Sweden.

Although he received a Bachelor’s degree in art, he went back to school to study science for a very practical reason, to make a living. His career as an environmental engineer and policy maker clearly inspires his creation, which references earth history and geological processes.

I see the ephemeral in Erik’s work, with pieces that integrate the old and the new. In Memento Mori: Cell Phone, his father’s old phone and handwritten notes are embedded in blue resin. The montage is encased in an antique frame found in Holland and covered in gold leaf. The piece combines the discarded with the precious and radiates with light.

Materiality is key to him as we can see in Fossils of the Anthropocene: Monopoly Houses. This piece looks like a topographical landscape as seen from 20,000 feet and presents the fossils we might leave behind, with the board game houses barely visible from a distance. “My work straddles the line between sculpture and painting and incorporates plaster, acrylic, pigments, resin, and found objects on a platform of ripped cardboard or panel.” All of this yields stunning textures that can be transparent, opaque, shiny, and matte.

Beyond these sculptural pieces, he produces digital art, video, and installations, often creating an immersive experience. “I believe that contemporary practice in my field has been moving away from art as an object…to art that better reflects community involvement.” Last year, he created huge ice sculptures for the Silos and Rice University, which weighed from 3000 to 4000 pounds each.

Transforming as they melted into new shapes, the artistic process involved giving up control and dealing with randomness. In Galveston and Texas City, Year 2500, the map was at the bottom of the basin, which filled with water as the ice melted.

This work allowed “me to create an installation piece that explores science themes while reaching for an audience beyond the fine-art community. This is a long-standing goal of my work.” Erik’s wide range of interests and inquisitive nature make him a wonderful artist who is always innovating.

Erik’s art places itself in time and reminds me of my responsibility towards the world, whereas Valentina reaches me on an emotional level, transcending time and place.

I leave their studios feeling enlightened by these two creators who share such passion for their craft and produce beautiful, compelling work.

ARTHOUSTON 36

ro mi

P ses to HOUSTON

BY HOLLY WALRATH

Dear Houston, You and I have had a bumpy year so far. Are you sad that I’ve settled down in Clear Lake, one of those mysterious suburbs that isn’t quite true Houston but still counts for the taxes and my street address? Did you flood my car out so I could finally feel like a true Houstonian? Do you miss the times I’ve stepped foot in the hallowed halls of your museums and theaters? Let’s face it, our history’s a bit tumultuous. You know, when I lived in Austin, we used to joke about you. Houston? Who would want to live there? Isn’t it mostly swamp? But our relationship can only be closer if I’m willing to grow. Look, I’ll admit I’m a bit of a typical suburbanite sometimes. I get rain-shy now, I’m afraid to leave the house unless I’m certain it will be a good time.

But I’m willing to work it out, for you Houston. So here are some promises for the fall I’m making to you to make up for all those times I made fun of you. I hope this soothes the bayou beast in your heart.

Houston, this fall I promise to take in more life drawing classes at the Art League. Did you know that I used to draw? Sure, my figures look more like anime characters than da Vinci models, but it’s worth it to turn my brain off and relax a little among artists. I can spare some time in my Saturday for three hours of quiet drawing bliss. In fact, I promise to check out more of the art classes you, fine city, have to offer. I may pop over to the MFAH’s sketch class in the gardens of Bayou Bend and feel like a butterfly among the woodlands. (Although if I must be hon-

est, I’ll probably wait till it cools off a little.) The CAMH’s Open Studio sessions this fall include assemblage inspired by their upcoming exhibit, Nari Ward’s “We the People.” I’d love to check out Second Thursdays at Texas Art Asylum and maybe try my hand at crocheting again. Do Houston girls crochet? I think so.

I also promise to take more advantage of your worldclass museums. It’s a bit of a joy that while the rest of the nation is largely unaware of how much of an art scene Houston boasts, I have the option to spend every weekend taking in a new exhibit. This fall, I promise to get out to “Miss Ima Hogg & Modernism” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (July 27-November 3). This collection of the famous First Lady of Texas is just another example of Houston’s secret undercurrent of strong, influential women who’ve shaped the art culture we all enjoy today. Ima Hogg donated her home—the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens—and her collection of early American decorative arts and paintings to the MFAH in 1957. It’s a chance to see more than 100 prints and drawings by artists including George Bellows, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, José Clemente Orozco, and Pablo Picasso. Speaking of influential women, the Menil will be hosting the works of American artist and author Dorothea Tanning through October 13th. This collection of over 100 graphic works includes prints and illustrated books featuring Tanning’s dreamlike lithography, delicate figures, and haiku-paired etchings.

37

With great thanks from my full calendar, the Rothko Chapel will be closed till the end of 2019 in a $30 milliondollar project to lift the ceiling, introduce new skylights true to Rothko’s original design, and revamp the campus by adding a welcome center. I’ll miss the quiet times I’ve spent sitting in the Chapel and writing, but I’m excited to add the Rothko to my springtime plans. And because I’m a little paper doll obsessed, I’m marking The Printing Museum’s exhibit Paper Couture (through December 22), featuring the work of Joan Son, an American artist who explores contemporary origami as fine art. Son’s work first appeared in 1993 in the windows of my favorite windowshopping spot, Tiffany&Co. These gorgeous, luminous displays of life-size paper doll dresses will certainly inspire my next short story.

Houston, I miss the days when I would drive in late on

Halloween, when the featured film is Night of the Living Dead. I might even dress up as a zombie for the occasion. Speaking of Houston landmarks I’ve never visited, I promise to finally visit some of Houston’s Instagramable public art and graffiti. From the Biscuit paint wall on Westheimer to Buffalo Bayou Park to the Gerald D. Hines Waterwall to the “Houston is Inspired” Mural on Travis Street, we have a lot of pictures left to take, dear city.

I can’t believe it’s been three years since the Buffalo Bayou Partnership opened the Cistern, and I still haven’t been out to visit it yet.

Here’s one promise I know I can keep: I will without a doubt be visiting Space Center Houston for their Thought Leader Series. I never get bored with visiting the permanent exhibits at NASA, but this year is extra special with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Mission and the

a Monday to hear a reading with Inprint’s Margaret Root Brown Reading Series. You can bet I’ll be checking out the double lineup of Carmen Maria Machado and Carolyn Forché January 27, 2020. That’s a duo I am certain will end in a fantastic conversation. Maybe I’ll even grab a drink at Birraporetti’s down the street and meet up with some other writers. I’m getting a bit sentimental, so I hope I’ll have time to swing by Write About Now’s weekly poetry slams on Wednesdays at Avantgarden. With over 75,000 followers on YouTube, this hit series is always a joy & a revolution.

I promise to finally get out to Miller Outdoor Theatre.

Can you believe I’ve never been? I’m saving the date for

opening of the newly-restored historic Mission Control, revamped to look exactly like the moment the night of July 20, 1969 when we landed on the moon. Clear Lake may be a suburb, but we’ve got laid back astronaut style, lakefront relaxation, and enough beer bars to go to the moon and back.

Look, I could go on and on, Houston. Whether it’s grabbing a bite at a new restaurant or new-to-me hotspot, or just taking a stroll down an oak-lined street the moment that first delicious breath of fall air hits, I know somewhere along the way I’m bound to keep a promise to you.

There’s a thousand futures waiting for us, a hundred or more amazing things to do with you, space city.

ARTHOUSTON 38

The

Gallerist,

rightly understood BY

MARK

ROSS

F

ESS AY 3 9

F

ROM

THE

LO OKS

OF

THINGS

ART

here in Houston. The incredible boom in repurposed industrial buildings has transformed old warehouses into big affordable artist spaces. This has proven fertile ground for a budding art community inhabited by a quite impressive collection of local artists, some certainly poised to expand into the larger US art markets.

Given the proximity of all these artists occupying close quarters, it makes sense that there would be monthly or perhaps fortnightly “open houses”: an opportunity for the public to see a multitude of artists exhibiting varied formats and mediums.

What better place to begin or continue your adventure in art collecting. No “brokers” or “dealers” dragging you around and inflating the prices. A chance to meet and get to know the artists themselves and see where the magic happens.

GALLERIST S HAVE IT ROUGH

That said, there are a multitude of reasons why people would more often than not benefit from visiting a Gallery and understanding the true role of the gallerist in the art world.

One distinction is absolutely necessary right off the bat: not all art “galleries” offer the services of a gallerist.

There are many galleries, for example, that primarily exist to serve the needs of the Interior decorators. For this type of gallery it is much more important that they have in stock artworks of a variety of colors and genres to match the palates of the decorator crowd (“I need something modern in a vibrant teal”) than that the art has some lasting value or a place in art History. From a business perspective these galleries are often quite successful financially and service a market with a steady demand. Some galleries specialize in primarily secondary market blue chip art. They have zero connection to

ARTHOUSTON 40

McClain Gallery- A Houston reference for well curated exhibits. Installation image from Each to the Other: Sharon Engelstein + Aaron Parazette, 2018.

Photography by Peter Molick

41

ARTHOUSTON 42

the artists and are really brokers of fine art. Again, this can be quite a lucrative business model and provides a viable market for people looking to liquidate their collections.

Which brings us to the actual gallerist. The gallerist’ role has many facets of which the general public has been largely unaware. Once connecting with the artist and fully understanding all the aspects involved: the personality of the artist, the technique used by the artist, the viability of the art in terms of both marketability and place in art history, the level of ambition and the self promoting capabilities of the artist, a relationship is formed. There is one romantic notion paramount in the artist-gallery relationship: a love of the art and the desire to share, in the broadest possible way, the works of art and the ideas behind them.

It is here that the gallery becomes a promoter of not just particular artists but of the entire art world. It is not just from formal education that the gallerist tunes their sensibilities to discover artists, it is a combination of education and an ability to sometimes challenge norms, feel the currents and assimilate the larger movements in art. It is a journey that occurs in some ways outside of time, or rather with disregard of the timeline of art history.

The gallerist must simultaneously embody the notions of the artist, the curator, the market analyst, the psychologist, the sociologist, the visionary and the promoter.

Visiting the great art fairs of the world is perhaps the best way to understand the Gallery model and see how different gallerists work. It is rare indeed to see an artist having a booth at a major art fair. I have seen many “one artist” booths but always curated and under the purview of the gallerist. At these major art fairs (Basel, Miami Basel, Arco, FIAC, to name a few) you can see, in a couple hours, dozens of Galleries from all over the world and meet with the gallerists.

Perhaps the greatest advantage for the artist in dealing through the galleries is the concept of shared risk. By embracing particular artists the gallerist commits to putting forth substantial time, effort and investment to promote the artist. For the less than fully established artist this is often the most efficient way of establishing a market and being promoted in venues simply not available to them otherwise. Not surprisingly artists tend to focus on their work. It is a rare breed of artist that can operate at full faculty in both the creation of works and the required promotion of their creations. With great melancholy we can only imagine the great artists that have gone

“

THE GALLERIST

MUST SIMULTANEOUSLY EMBODY THE NOTIONS OF T H E A R T I S T, THE CURATOR, T H E M A R K E T A N A LY S T, T H E P S Y C H O L O G I S T, T H E S O C I O L O G I S T, THE VISIONARY AND THE PROMOTER.

”

undiscovered in history. If there is a definitive role for the gallerist it could perhaps be best expressed by the desire to not allow such things to happen.

Houston is blessed with some of the finest museums in the world. Our art scene is vibrant and covers a vast array of opportunities to explore the scene. Houston offers diversity, a confluence of cultures and all the dynamics available to a complex urban environment. It is yet to be seen how the Houston art world will proceed. Collectors here are as eclectic as one would imagine.

There are thematic collectors, regional collectors, value seekers, speculators, collectors looking to enhance inherited collections. All viable and together will ultimately provide (or not) fertile soil for the growth and maturation of the broader art scene. I have seen in European art circles that collecting art need not be relegated solely to the collectors with great wealth. Gallerists quite often work with collectors to establish their collections gradually and expertly guide them in their quest to live with great art. The maturation of the art scene of Houston will depend on how effectively the professional participants make their mission both didactic in nature and sustainable for the artists.

43

Celebrating 40 years, Moody Gallery is interested in a wide range of artistic ideas and in showing all media. The emphasis has always been on artists living and working in Texas. Photo courtesy of Moody Gallery, Houston, Texas.

Below: Gallery Sonia Roesch, Installation image from Don Glentzer, Notation. The gallery focuses on contemporary reductive and concept-based art by international emerging and established artists. Photo courtesy of Gallery Sonia Roesch.

“ THE

MATURATION OF THE ART SCENE OF HOUSTON WILL DEPEND ON

H O W E F F E C T I V E LY T H E P R O F E S S I O N A L PA R T I C I PA N T S M A K E T H E I R M I S S I O N BOTH DIDACTIC IN NATURE AND SUSTAINABLE FOR THE ARTISTS.

”

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Nathalie Miebach, The Burden of Every Drop, 2018.

Wood, paper, rope, data. 17 x 10 x 2 feet.

Photo by Jean-Michael Seminaro.

THE WATER LINE BY

The Water Line, a solo exhibition at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) by contemporary basket weaver Nathalie Miebach, features a large-scale woven installation, sculptures, and watercolor musical scores that translate weather data into art. The exhibition addresses the scientific and emotional effects of 2017 hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, three of the five most catastrophic hurricanes in U.S. history. Miebach is fascinated by the two narratives generated by every disaster: one based on science, encompassing temperature, wind and pressure gradients, and one based on human experience, which provides important emotional perspectives and offers lessons to be learned.

The artist’s approach to data visualization pushes the means by which scientific data is commonly represented and demonstrates the beneficial marriage of art and science. In her woven sculptures, she uses basketry techniques to turn a simple grid of information into a three-dimensional object that can be studied in the round. She weaves together human experience alongside quantitative data to portray the complex narratives that occur during natural disasters.

Spanning close to 17 feet long, The Burden of Every Drop (2018) tells the fraught story of the effects of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico by combining weather and other numerical data with anecdotal information from news reports about the storm’s aftermath. Miebach juxtaposes the fierceness of the wind and rain with the stark silence of communication, caused by the breakdown of electrical systems on the island. The piece begins with wind data that crescendos, as the storm reaches landfall. Miebach creates a sort of

ARTHUR

DEMICHELI

unraveling quilt to represent the chaos of information, including the underestimated death toll, the fleeing population, and the slow reconstruction of the U.S. territory.

Like a modern-day Kandinsky painting, Miebach’s watercolor musical score, Harvey Twitter SOS (2018), depicts the effects of Hurricane Harvey on Houston, Texas, as abstract forms that stand in as musical notations. She uses color and geometric shapes to tell the traumatic narrative of the hurricane, layering precipitation and wind data with responses from individuals who turned to Twitter for help when the emergency response system became overloaded.

Like the clanging of symbols resonating across the paper, large circles depict different concentrations of tweets in areas where people were in distress.

The Waterline serves as a cry for change in how response and recovery are handled across the country. Two years after these natural disasters occurred, Miebach uses her artwork to comment on the reality of living amidst an increased risk of flooding—a reality all too familiar to Houstonians. HCCC Curator Kathryn Hall commented on the relevance of this exhibition in the current moment: “Over the past few years, the City of Houston has seen an uptake in the amount of flash flooding and precipitation that falls annually. By portraying the different emergency-responseand-recovery narratives of three, recent major hurricanes, Miebach questions how we can adapt to the increased precipitation in our own backyards. She encourages us to think collectively about what this means for our future and to share our own stories.” September 28 - January 5, 2020.

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

Nancy LittleJohn P H O T O G R A P H Y

B Y

B Y J O H N A N T H O N Y

B E R N H A R D R A T H B U R N

GALLERY PROFILE 47

Nancy Littlejohn at her home in Houston alongside a painting from Jules Olitski.

Photography by Anthony Rathburn. Courtesy of Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art.

Established in 1997 to promote emerging Texas artists, Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art now offers the very best representation of national and international established and emerging contemporary artists such as Sara Carter, Enrique Martinez Celaya, Kristen Cliburn, Vera Iliatova, Kysa Johnson, Paul Kremer, Cruz Ortiz, McKay Otto, Margo Sawyer, Chris Trueman, and Paul Weiner. Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art specializes in the sale and exhibition of paintings, sculpture, drawings and limited edition prints.

ARTHOUSTON 48

JOHN BERNHARD: You had a

NL: The art community is excited

gallery in downtown Houston in the late 1990’s, but after a break that lasted more than a decade, you decided to reopen the gallery. What prompted that decision?

about something new and because I have been involved in the art world and philanthropy for more than thirty years, I’m a known entity.

need in the market and as I travel extensively on both the east and west coasts, I thought I could bring artists to Houston that have never been seen here before, while continuing to represent important Texas artists.

JB: Your Gallery has only been open

a short time yet has already achieved significant recognition. To what would you attribute this attention from the media and art community?

JB: The 5,000 square-foot gallery

can you recall your most memorable high point?

space has a modern, minimalist feel that emulates the Menil experience.

Can you tell us more about the building and its history?

NL: In 1998, I opened what has been

NL: The building was built and

noted as the most avant-garde gallery in Texas, bravely showcasing emerging talent through exhibitions, performances and thoughtfully curated multi-disciplinary events. The most memorable was definitely my AREA show, Artists Reaching for an End to AIDS. It was a benefit for the AIDS Foundation Houston,

occupied by Cy Morris Architects in the early 1970s who designed the Astrodome – one of the premier architectural firms in the country.

A perfect example of modernist design, using glass, steel and concrete. It was a pleasure to restore the space to its original grandeur.

JB: In the early years of your gallery NANCY LITTLEJOHN: I saw a

and I curated a multidisciplinary show and brought in artists’ works from all over the country.

Cruz Ortiz installation view, April 2019. Photo by Anthony Rathburn. Courtesy of Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art.

49

Margo Sawyer installation view, May 2019. Photo by Anthony Rathburn. Courtesy of Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art.

“ We’re interested in artists who have something important to say.

”

JB: You have an impressive

JB: You have to be creative to tap

roster of over twenty well-known artists, but few emerging artists.

What are your criteria for choosing these artists?

Do you plan to increase the presence in your gallery of emerging artists?

into the next generation of collectors.

What’s your strategy to target this new demographic?

NL: We’re interested in artists who

have something important to say.

NL: Its multi-layered but we work with

Paul Kremer installation view, January 2019.

Photo by Anthony Rathburn. Courtesy of Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art.

established collectors and second generation collectors. It’s also a lifelong pursuit – this is something that has been built over thirty years; being a part of the community, chairing boards etc.

ARTHOUSTON 50

Certain Women installation view, June 2019. Photo by Anthony Rathburn. Courtesy of Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art.

“ Artwork has to be experienced in person.

It’s a personal experience – you can’t get the textures and nuances from an online photo.

JB: When future collectors or

patrons visit, what do you hope they experience?

NL: A bespoke experience and my 30 years of experience as a patron, collector, art advisor and gallerist.

JB: With the art market in transition,

i.e. internet self-empowerment and the growing online art market popularity, what are your thoughts

”

on the viable existence of a physical gallery?

or not in art fairs. What are your views and experiences with art fairs?

NL: Artwork has to be experienced

NL: I think art fairs are something

in person. It’s a personal experience – you can’t get the textures and nuances from an online photo. That’s why people actually go to galleries, museums and art fairs – they love looking at art in person.

that our clients expect, and we enjoy.

We want to be there because we want to reach a broader audience.

JB: For most galleries there are two

NL: To bring national and international

main schools of thought on participating

recognition to the Houston art scene.

JB: What are the key elements of

your growth plans for the future?

51

ARTHOUSTON 52

Geraldina Interiano Wise performing. Photo by Lynn Lane

HORIZONTE A U N I Q U E M U LT I - A RT S E X P E R I E N C E

BY CHLOÉ JOLLY PHOTOGRAPHY BY LYNN LANE PERFORMANCE ART AND HA R N E S S I N G R E P E ATA B L E S P O N TA N E I T Y WERE BREAKTHROUGHS

BY ARTISTS SUCH AS TEX AN ARTIST ROBERT R A U S C H E N B E R G — whose

Timed Paintings are a seminal source of inspiration for this project—and choreographer/dancer Trisha Brown, who often collaborated with Rauschenberg. These endeavors were a part of a changing landscape of art in the 60’s, 70’s and ’80’s.

Thirty-five years later, equity and access in contemporary art are driving collaborations in novel settings. Horizonte was born from a shared value in decoding the arts and interest in making them accessible. A repeat presentation of a performance art event

featuring contemporary music ensemble MUSIQA and live painting by visual artist Geraldina Interiano Wise, Horizonte is meant to break down the barriers of understanding contemporary art and music. Annie Gosfield’s piece for string quartet, The Blue Horse Walks on the Horizon, informs the gestural nature of Wise’s abstract expressionism, which appears spontaneous, but has been choreographed through an immersion process that has yielded a unique artistic vocabulary—her visual code to the music.

In this presentation, the audience was immersed in a live musical performance composed by Gosfield’s synchronized to a video projection of an art film of painting by Wise. During the

seventeen-minute piece, Wise painted live. The performance concluded with the cessation of music and the reveal of the works, or visual codes.

The Blue Horse Walks on the Horizon (2010) was chosen to be complementary and edifying to the artistic process on multiple levels.

Contemporary composer Annie Gosfield works on the boundaries between notated and improvised music, electronic and acoustic sounds, and refined timbres and noise. For that piece, she was inspired by the surreal radio broadcasts and codes used by European resistance groups during World War II. The Blue Horse Walks on the Horizon incorporates musical materials drawn from the mysterious “Messages Personnels” broadcast to the

French Resistance, a silken code scarf used by Danish Resistance members, and the transformative processes of encryption.

Wise has chosen to paint with house paints, in the colors of the most ancient pigments used by man across the globe, and Houston rainwater. She is making her own brushes, based on household items for cleaning, and painting on tarps, that will become contemporary tapestries. Her choice of materials connects to the labor Central Americans perform in our society and the elemental nature of art. Her project considers anthropology, cave art, and the mundane, situating itself away from the traditional white cube aesthetic associated with art.

EVENT 53

Geraldina Interiano Wise, Coding 17m (2019)
 acrylic, indigo and mixed media on canvas Courtesy of Geraldina Interiano Wise and Musiqa

ARTHOUSTON 54

C E L E B R AT E S ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY B Y L A N E D E V E R E U X A N D K A Y McS T A Y

T W E N T Y- F I V E Y E A R S A G O , T H R E E C R E AT I V E W O M E N

with other creative women. Today, women in Houston still find networking, nurturing, and connection in the organization that those three women founded –Women in the Visual and Literary Arts, commonly called WiVLA. Writer Karleen Koen, artist Janean Thompson, and art consultant Martha Skow met through a networking organization for professional women. Dissatisfied, they realized that they really wanted information, connections, and advice for their creative lives. They were tired of feeling isolated in their pursuits of art, and they wanted to form a group that would take the creative process seriously, provide role models and practical advice about the art world, and gather artists and writers for events that were inspiring and fun.

In January 1994, the three met with a few artist friends to form a board of directors. Thirty-seven artists and writers attended the first general meeting, held in March 1994.

That meeting ignited unstoppable energy. WiVLA became, and has remained, an inspiring and nurturing forum for women in the arts in Houston.

With the rich creativity of the local arts scene, WiVLA drew members from more than the traditional visual and writing arts areas. Members have also had backgrounds in graphic design, theatre, interior design, editing and F E LT A N U R G E N T N E E D T O C O N N E C T

publishing, storytelling, fiber and paper arts, playwriting, fashion, dance and choreography, calligraphy, sculpture, ceramics, glasswork, photography and more.

Drawing from all creative disciplines, WiVLA became the place where imaginative women connected, found opportunities to express their creativity, and learned from one another in workshops, monthly meetings, exhibitions, and literary readings. This connection between the art areas morphed into one of WiVLA’s hallmark events – collaborative exhibitions in which a visual or performance artist teams up with a literary artist to produce new work based on a chosen theme. These collaborative exhibitions and readings earned notice and attendance. Additionally, the group published art catalogs, chapbooks, and anthologies to promote and memorialize the collaborations.

Throughout its history, WiVLA created connections to the larger community through strong ties with the University of Houston’s Women’s Archive and Research Center, the Printing Museum, Archway Gallery, Harris County Department of Education, Houston Public Library, and Houston Book Arts Guild. More recently, WiVLA board members have joined with representatives of the Visual Arts Alliance, ClayHouston, Houston Metal Arts Guild, and PrintMatters Houston to support cooperative events and to enhance programming and administrative information.

INSIGHTS 55

From left: A WiVLA monthly meeting at Archway Gallery - presentation by artist Luisa Duarte.

Poetry Reading by member Melody Locke at the Heights Library during April 2019 for Poetry Month. Photos by Lee Steiner

WiVLA stressed individual development in the arts as a primary goal. To that end, its board instigated the Educational and Cultural Opportunity (ECO) grants that are open annually to individuals who have been members for more than two years. Through a simple application process, a qualifying member earns a chance to win a $1000 award to pursue a personal project in the artistic category or in the literary category. Since the inception of the grants, WiVLA has awarded $42,000 to artists, writers, and performers to use in any way that enhances or develops their creative life.

Winners have, for example, used the funds to attend state and national conferences, workshops and retreats, hire an editor, take classes, buy equipment, publish a book, travel to do research at home and in foreign countries, meet with publishers, and purchase fabric and art supplies. In one unique use, a fiber artist winner installed a septic system so she could use special dyeing techniques safely. Each recipient presents her project the following year at a monthly meeting where the lucky artist and writer inspire WiVLA’s membership by describing their ECO year accomplishments.

All of these aspects of WiVLA are tied together with

the worthy goals of enjoying and supporting each other.

Members attend meetings and events to have fun, learn, and mingle with other creative women. The group’s Circle of Five meetings, themed salons, workshops, and guest speakers all contribute to affirming artistic goals and promoting art. During interviews and conversations, members almost universally say that they appreciate WiVLA for its heightened supportive environment. A common statement has been, “I didn’t feel like a real artist until I joined WiVLA. It gives validation to me through all its activities.”

For 25 years and counting, the non-profit organization Women in the Visual and Literary Arts has embodied its stated mission: to provide an inspiring forum for women; to explore and advance their creative development; to promote their work in the marketplace; and to infuse the community with their spirit of cooperation and invention.

In 1994, three energetic friends started a group that has established itself in Houston with a profound and continuing commitment to support women in the arts.

Find WiVLA at www.wivla.org and on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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 Cecilia Villanueva, Space 24, 30”x40”, oil on canvas

ARCHWAY GALLERY 2305 Dunlavy St. 713 522-2409

S E P T. 7 - O C T. 3 Cecilia Villanueva O C T. 5 - O C T. 3 1 Becky Soria

NOVEMBER Jane Ewen DECEMBER Veronica Dyer

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

57

ARTHOUSTON 58

gallery listings

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

McCLAIN GALLERY 2242 Richmond Ave. 713 520-9988

MEREDITH LONG & CO. 2323 San Felipe 713 523-6671

MOODY GALLERY

2815 Colquitt St. 713 526-9911 Dornith Doherty October 19 - November 27 Group Exhibition December 7 - January 11

HOUSTON CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY 1441 West Alabama Street 713 529-4755 HUNTER GORHAM GALLERY 1834 1/2 Westheimer Rd. 713 492-0504 INMAN GALLERY 3901 Main St. 713 526-7800

OFF THE WALL GALLERY

5015 Westheimer Rd. Galleria II, Level II 713 871-0940 O’KANE GALLERY UH-Downtown One Main Street 713 221-8042

Dornith Doherty

NANCY LITTLEJOHN FINE ART

3465 B West Alabama St. 832 740-4288

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

PARKERSON GALLERY 3510 Lake St. 713 524-4945

SAMARA GALLERY 3100 Richmond, suite 104 713 999-1009

PEVETO 2627 Colquitt Street 713 360-7098

SERRANO GALLERY

POISSANT GALLERY 5102 Center St. 713 868-9337

REDBUD GALLERY 303 E. 11th St. 713 862-2532

4520 Blossom St. 713 863-7097 HOOKS-EPSTEIN GALLERIES 2631 Colquitt St. 713 522-0718

Peter Max

Bob Mosier September 7 - 24 Robert Dampier September 7 - 29 Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak October 5 - 29 Alfredo Romero November 2 - January 14 Robert Dampier

2000 Edwards St. #117 713 724-0709 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

FOLTZ FINE ART

2143 Westheimer Rd. 713 521-7500

NICOLE LONGNECKER 3233 West 11th St. 713 591-4997

YVONAMOR PALIX FINE ARTS 1024 Studewood 281 467-6065

OCTAVIA ART GALLERY 3637 West Alabama #120 713 877-1810

ZOYA TOMMY 4102 Fannin St. 832 649-5814

59

ARTHOUSTON 60

61

Adriana LoRusso

Clovis Postali

Didier Mayes

Gretchen Bender Sparks

John Bernhard

Rolando Rojas

Vicki Hessemer

Nichole Dittmann

Lily Gavalas

Lacy Husmann

Valentina Atkinson

Tania Botelho

Alessandra Albin

Lyn Sullivan

Matthew Gantt

Studio 326 832-607-9117 alorussoart@gmail.com

Studio 208 713-724-0709 www.rolandorojaspintor.com

Studio 317 713-724-0709 www.valentinaatkinson.com

Studio 215 832-696-5789 www.clovispostali.sitelio.me

Studio 121 713-504-9118 www.vickihessemer.com

Studio 102 281-660-5061 IG- @taniahbotelho

Studio 214 713-444-7562 www.gretchenbendersparks.com

Studio 317 713-724-0709 www.serranogallery.com

Studio 218 713-501-7290 FB-Nichole Dittmann Jewelry Designs

Studio 210 713-557-8731 aa@alessandraalbin.com

Studio 119 713-859-7143 www.lilygavalas.com

Studio 312 281-520-1349 www.lynsullivan.com

Studio 317 713-724-0709 www.johnbernhard.net

Studio 105 832-993-5583 www.lacyhusmann.com

Studio 213 713-689-9709 www.constellationism.info

WHERE ART LOVERS AND ARTISTS CONNECT VISIT ARTISTS’ STUDIOS EVERY SECOND SATURDAY OF THE MONTH

2000 EDWARDS ST. HOUSTON, TX 77007

12-6PM

SILVERSTREETHOUSTON.COM

ARTHOUSTON 62

performing arts schedule

ALLEY THEATRE

DA CAMERA

THE WINTER’S TALE

By Williams Shakespeare Directed by Rob Melrose Hubbard Theatre September 13 – October 13

OPENING NIGHT—BON APPETIT September 21

615 Texas Avenue 713 220-5700

1402 Sul Ross 713 524-524-7601

A LITTLE DAY MUSIC October 2, November 6, December 4 JOHN SCOFIELD QUARTET October 4 BLUE NOTE RECORDS 80TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION November 2

The Winter’s Tale

Vietgone

VIETGONE

By Qui Nguyen Original music by Shane Rettig Directed by Desdemona Chiang Neuhaus Theatre October 4 – November 3 A CHRISTMAS CAROL A GHOST STORY OF CHRISTMAS

By Charles Dickens Adapted and originally directed

by Michael Wilson Directed by James Black Hubbard Theatre November 15 – December 29 FULLY COMMITTED

By Becky Mode Directed by Brandon Weinbrenner Neuhaus Theatre November 26 – December 29

BRANFORD MARSALIS January 25. 2020

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA Brown Theater, Wortham Theater Center 510 Preston St. 713 546-0200 STUDIO SHOWCASE September 13, 15 RIGOLETTO October 18, 20, 26, 29, 30, November 1 SAUL October 25, 27, November 2, 5, 8 JOYCE DIDONATO November 6 EL MILAGRO DEL RECUERDO December 5, 8, 10- 12, 14, 15, 19-22 LA FAVORITE January 24, 26, February 1, 6, 2020

Fully Committed

THEATRE UNDER THE STARS 1475 West Gray 713 520-1220

A CHORUS LINE September 10 - September 21 Sarofim Hall SPRING AWAKENING October 8 - October 20 Sarofim Hall ELF—THE MUSICAL December 7 - December 22 Sarofim Hall A Chorus Line

HOBBY CENTER 800 Bagby Street 713 315-2400

CATS October 22 - 27, Sarofim Hall DEAR EVAN HANSEN November 12 - 24, Sarofim Hall HELLO, DOLLY! January 7 -12, 2020, Sarofim HalL THE BAND’S VISIT January 28 - February 9, 2020 Sarofim Hall JERSEY BOYS February 7 - 9, 2020, Sarofim Hall

63

HOUSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Jesse H. Jones Hall 615 Louisiana Street, Suite 100 713 227-4772 FIESTA SINFONICA September 15 STRAVINSKY’S FIREBIRD September 19, 21, 22 GERSHWIN’S PIANO CONCERTO & PORGY AND BESS September 27, 28, 29 MENDELSSOHN & MAHLER October 4, 5, 6 RICK STEVES’ EUROPE: —A SYMPHONIC JOURNEY October 11, 12, 13

WANDS & WIZARDS—MUSIC FROM HARRY POTTER & MORE October 12 WAGNER + BEETHOVEN 2 October 25, 26, 27 MIDDLE SCHOOL November 5, 6, 7 STAR WARS—THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK November 8, 9, 10 AX PLAYS BEETHOVEN November 15, 16, 17 TRIFONOV PLAYS TCHAIKOVSKY November 22, 23, 24 ALL-STRAUSS THANKSGIVING November 29, 30, December 1 SHAHAM PLAYS BRAHMS December 5, 7, 8 VERY MERRY POPS December 13, 14, 15 HANDEL’S MESSIAH December 20, 21, 22

From top: Robert Franz, Associate Conductor of the Houston Symphony. Photo by J.H. Fair. Artists of Houston Ballet in James Kudelka’s Passion. Photo by Amitava Sarkar

HOUSTON BALLET Wortham Center, 500 Texas Avenue 713 227-2787

LOCALLY GROWN. WORLD RENOWNED. September 19 - 29 THE NUTCRACKER December 1 - 29 THE SLEEPING BEAUTY February 27 - March 8

A R T H OAURSTTHOONU S6 T4 O N 6 4

poetry Blue Cadillac

B Y

H O L LY

W A L R A T H

Oh, the way you sat in the drive, taking it all up.

I climbed into your cool interior, sliding across the widest , darkest nav y seats spread beyond me, beyond my vision.

They seemed to expand and dissolve into a bright light on the driver’s side.

We drove, through endless lanes of white picket fences, long green, green lawns, the Texa s sun staccato in the trees, and it may be that I wore an Ea ster Sunday dress, all laced in white, and bows on my tights, or white slumping socks above black buckle shoes shining with polish.

And in the heat of a Texa s summer, how you could swallow me up in your blue dusty smell , that sweet sweet tobacco tucked into the glove compar tment beside a lady’s silver lighter.

For the sun merely seemed to enclose you, a line of gold light above the leather da sh.

But the ver y roundness of you, round seats and silver knobs and panel s like por thole windows into another time, but mostly the round, stitched-leather steering wheel which wa s surely made for white driving gloves.

And somehow in this memor y of you, your ma ssive lines like some primordial behemoth long since dead and buried in ice, the ver y blueness of you, I may have remembered myself, another cla ssic beauty.

This poem was originally published by Holly Walrath in In her debut chapbook Glimmerglass Girl.

65

F E M M E , A C E L E B R AT I O N T O WOMAN

A N E X H I B I T W I T H T H E P E R F OR M A NC E PA R E N T I NG OF L AT I NA A R T I S TA G E R A L D I N A W I S E I N T E R I A N O A N D M U S I Q A’ S S O P R A N O , KAROL BENNET. b y M a r k R o s s There has always been a delicate distinction

then the powerful emotive force of improvi-

the Houston ensemble MUSIQA, delighted

separating what I will call “art in the moment”

sational Jazz.

us while mixing form and genre and provid-

(live music, stage performance, …perfor-

Visiting Femme, a celebration to woman an

ing the soundtrack for the creation of an

mance art in general) and the less ephemeral

art exhibition curated by Yvonamor Palix,

abstract mixed media artwork by Geraldina

forms of expression resulting in physical

was one of those moments that took the dis-

Interiano Wise.

artworks—i.e., photography, sculpture and

tinction of art forms and beautifully erased

painting.

Ms. Wise, displaying simultaneously a

for a moment, that distinction. Upon arrival

thoughtful precision of technique and a visibly

That distinction is of course illusory, since

artists covering all levels of notoriety

emotional exploration of the abstract form,

all expressive forms resulting in an object

treated us to an amazing array of works.

created an amazing work of art. One cannot

are at some point kinetic in creation. It is,

From established artists Cindy Sherman and

help but feel the inspiration being brought

as so often expressed in quantum physics

Sandy Skoglund, to some outstanding

to life not only by the artist, but also by the

and more esoteric parts of eastern mysti-

local artists, the show truly was a celebra-

crowd of onlookers who seemed to be both

cism, the observer that gives life to objects

tion of form and concept. A celebration not

observers and participants in this truly

of expression. In music the distinction that

OF women, but TO woman.

diverse expressive form.

comes to mind is between Composition and

The otherwise conventional art exhibi-

From it’s roots the term “abstraction” means

improvisation. The only actual difference

tion was wonderfully interrupted by a cre-

“something pulled or drawn away” a deriva-

being time and the energy created by in-

ative and expressive tour de force. We were

tion. This is wonderfully displayed in Ms.

spired participants. One likes to imagine it

treated to a live performance mixing the

Wise’s terpsichorean explorations in abstract

is similar expressive inspiration that gives

ephemeral Beauty of music with the creation

art. A dance magically choreographed in real

us the thoughtful and intricate melodies of

of an abstract work of art. The powerful vo-

time resulting in rare and beautiful things,

the great composers of classical music and

cal skills of Karol Bennett, Soprano from

outstanding art and a moment to remember.

ARTHOUSTON 66

reviews

Becky Soria, Calix, 2018, Oil on Canvas, 36”x 36” inches

Mineko Grimmer, Remembering Plato, (installation view), 1992 Photo: Paul Hester

BECKY SORIA

MINEKO GRIMMER

Archway Gallery presents Seeding, Blooming, Renewal, featuring new works by Becky Soria, on view October 5 - 31, 2019.

Seeding, Blooming, Renewal is the current body of work from Becky Soria which emerged from her research into the organic dimension of the human being and the relationship between humans and plants. There is a long tradition of the feminine, fertilization, and reproduction symbolized through flowers, seeds, and gardens; Soria find this tradition relevant to our humanity. Flowers represent the ephemeral, the precarious, and the beautiful. Pods bursting forth represent a giving and forgiving from the future to the present. In these works, Soria seeks to defend what flowers represent and the natural world against the challenges presented by our times. There is an intricate interconnectivity between the organic in nature and the sensuality of nature which points to a healing relationship between plants and human beings. Nature is with us, and we are within nature.

When Soria discusses her work, she speaks about female iconography: fertility, the female as a representative of nature (as in “Mother Nature”), perhaps the flowering of the female into her maturity. Renewal points to a hope that humanity as a species can also undergo renewal with the new generation coming of age.

Becky Soria, an American born in Bolivia, began her artistic career in the 1980s. She studied painting in the studios of South American artists, and with the artist and philosopher Dr. Fernando Casas.

She also attended The Glassell School of Art in Houston, Texas.

Her works are included in corporate and private collections in the US, Europe, Canada, and South America.

Since the 1980s, the Japanese American artist Mineko Grimmer (b. 1949) has focused on issues of space, time, movement, and sound, creating what she refers to as “sound-producing kinetic sculptures.” She unites avant-garde approaches to acoustics in the tradition of John Cage and the conceptual principles of American Minimalism, seamlessly merging her training in Eastern and Western art practices to produce deeply meditative and sensorial works.

Remembering Plato is a room-sized installation. Pyramidshaped blocks of ice embedded with small pebbles are suspended above two water-filled basins. As the ice melts, the pebbles fall, striking the brass rods and piano wires extended over each basin, thus producing a randomized musical performance. The resulting ripples in the water are reflected on the dark gallery walls. The pebbles are strategically positioned within the ice to create a crescendo, rendering audible the speed of a typically silent natural process.

The title of the work refers to the Allegory of the Cave from Plato’s Republic, in which the philosopher Socrates posits that shadows cast on the wall of a cave are dim perceptions of reality.

Mineko Grimmer was born in Hanamaki, Japan in 1949. She studied art in Japan and later earned her MFA at the Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles in 1981. Her work has been exhibited widely in the United States. Her work is held in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the High Museum of Art, among other private collections.

ARCHWAY GALLERY

MENIL COLLECTION

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Dick Wray, Untitled, 2003, Mixed Media on Canvas 48 x 36 inches. Courtesy of Deborah Colton Gallery

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Love Story, 1991

DICK WRAY

BEYOND TIME

Deborah Colton Gallery presents Dick Wray: A Revelation. This vibrant and bold exhibition of paintings and mixed media works encompasses the entire gallery and is on view from September 7th to November 2nd.

A native Houstonian born in 1933, Dick Wray, was an artist of incomparable talent and personality who played a critical role in the development of Houston’s contemporary art scene since the late 1950s. Often categorized as an Abstract Expressionist, Wray is best known for his explosive and dynamic paintings that have received numerous accolades from Houston’s critical community as well as notable arts figures across the United States throughout his career.

Wray attended the University of Houston’s School of Architecture, and the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf Arts Academy in Germany. Returning to Houston in 1959, he began seriously working as an artist and over the next fifty years, he participated in many important exhibitions nationally and internationally, while locally Wray had his first solo exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston in 1975, was included in the Fresh Paint: The Houston School at the MFAH in 1985.

Wray was an instructor at the Glassell School of Art from 1968 until 1982. Wray was awarded the Ford Foundation Award in 1962, received a prestigious Artist’s Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1978 and was named Texas Artist of the Year by the Art League of Houston in 2000. His work is in major collections, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Booker-Lowe Gallery/Houston and Coo-ee Gallery/Sydney present Australian Aboriginal Art: Beyond Time, featuring 30+ paintings by leading and emerging indigenous artists.

Beyond Time features important works by well-known painters who helped launch the contemporary Australian Aboriginal art movement in the 1970s, including Clifford Possum Tjapaltjari and Emily Kngwarreye; senior artists who have continued and expanded the movement both geographically and stylistically, such as Dorothy Napangardi and Judy Napangardi Watson; and emerging artists who are building on the legacy, including Jimmy Baker, Jorna Newberry, and Kurun Warun, among others.

Possum’s “Love Story” uses desert iconography to tell an ancient Dreaming or myth involving a love-struck magician stalker, a naïve woman, and their journeys around Mount Allan among the area’s sacred sites. The icons are layered onto a complex background composed of tiny dots, representing the land and its geographical features.

While based on 50,000+-year-old patterns developed in cave drawings, as well as in sand, bark, and body painting, most Australian Aboriginal paintings appear strikingly contemporary. Their bold markings and contrasting colors may seem abstract but, in fact, they represent the Dreamtime or never-ending creation era, and the Aboriginal people’s deep connections to lands and culture that extend beyond time.

Opening September 14, 2019

DEBORAH COLTON GALLERY

BOOKER-LOWE GALLERY

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artsintegration

FOSTERING STUDENT LEARNING AND GROWTH

THROUGH THE ARTS

BY DEBORAH LUGO AND KARINE PARKER

school districts, educators and advocates travelled across Texas to attend the 2019 Kennedy Center Southwest Arts Integration Conference in Austin and learn how to best integrate the arts into their strategy, practices, curriculum and programming.

They all shared a common goal: to foster students’ academic development and social growth through the arts.

The Kennedy Center’s Southwest Arts Integration Conference was co-presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. and MINDPOP, a nonprofit organization in Austin that designs and implements creative learning systems. MINDPOP was pleased to underwrite the conference, supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department.

“The Kennedy Center has enjoyed a robust and longstanding relationship with the Austin and Houston communities as part of the Center’s nationwide initiatives Any Given Child, Partners in Education, and VSA programs. To come together and co-present the Kennedy Center Southwest Arts Integration Conference was not only a wonderful opportunity to continue supporting the community and the A RT S A N D C U LT U R A L I N S T I T U T I O N S ,

work happening there but as educators of all types from the southwest convened over two days in the Austin area, it serves as an invaluable experience to share the collective knowledge of harnessing the power of arts learning within arts integration. Numerous studies point to the value of arts learning and arts education – the arts engage the whole child in creative thinking, collaboration, crosscultural understanding, and communication. This impacts student learning and social-emotional growth while also supporting them in becoming life-long learners as well as future citizens,” said Jeanette McCune, Director of School and Community Programs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The conference hosted over 170 teachers from across the country for two days of arts integration workshops presented by expert facilitators from the Kennedy Center Teaching Artist national roster. The conference also highlighted MINDPOP and Austin’s Creative Learning Initiative, a citywide effort to provide equity to the arts and creative teaching across all Austin ISD schools.

“MINDPOP believes all students deserve the benefits of arts learning and creative teaching. This conference gives

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teachers exciting tools that support rigorous and engaging lessons. The techniques presented at this conference benefit learning on many levels. They engage students; they ask students to generate more and more ideas to find the best idea; they ask students to express their understanding in multiple ways; and, they create learning environments that value each student’s perspective. The combination of these effects make the learning fun, meaningful and lasting,” expressed Dr. Brent Hasty, Executive Director of MINDPOP. Twenty-one educators from Houston attended the conference thanks to a sponsorship from Arts Connect, a citywide collective effort that unites the Greater Houston community to ensure access to high-quality arts education for every student in the Houston Independent School District (HISD). Arts Connect recognizes the arts as a critical tool for student learning and essential to a complete education.

This conference offered a range of professional development opportunities to educators in Houston, allowing attendees to learn new and innovative practices regarding how to integrate the arts into science, math, social studies and literacy.

“We know the arts positively impact student academic and social growth, and must be embedded in every school, in every classroom, and in every neighborhood, no matter where you live,” mentioned Deborah Lugo, Arts Connect Director. A recent study from the Kinder Institute at Rice University demonstrated that HISD students involved in the arts had fewer disciplinary infractions, higher writing scores, more compassion for others, and increased school engagement and aspirations to go to college. Using new and improved ways of bringing the arts into the classroom support student learning and guarantee they are better prepared for college, career and life.

In HISD, there is a growing movement towards using the fine arts holistically in the lives of students. The district has made strides to support the fine arts on every HISD campus, including the decision to establish a district Fine Arts Department two years ago and the strategic push by the current Interim Superintendent, Dr. Grenita Lathan, to eliminate fine arts deserts in HISD elementary schools, where students did not previously have access to any

The Houston Delegation including H.I.S.D., Sugar Grove Academy, Arts Connect, Mercury, The Texan-French Alliance for the Arts with Amy Duma- Director, Teacher and School Programs, Kennedy Center.

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instruction by a certified fine arts teacher. In addition, Dr. Lathan has articulated her desire to expand the use of the fine arts in language arts instruction this year.

The recently established HISD Fine Arts Department is leading the charge by advocating for a more-inclusive use of the fine arts in the lives of every student. The goal is to provide an education that is rich in the arts, where every student learns to create, witness, and learn about the world through dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts daily.

By alleviating barriers between the fine arts and other instructional areas, teachers build interdisciplinary connections across subject areas, encouraging the development of critical thinking skills, and increasing student engagement. An arts integrated approach to teaching also provides tools for teachers to tailor their mode of instruction to fit the unique needs of every child. It is inspiring to see so many HISD teachers excited to engage with the arts.

Their passion to utilize the arts as a tool to inspire their students will translate to student growth academically, socially, and emotionally for years to come.

“The development of emotional intelligence and Mental Health support in public schools are also an important part where the arts have a role to play,” says Karine Parker, Executive and Program Director of the Texan-French Alliance for the Arts / Be the Peace – Be the Hope.

“Mental health promotion through the development of students’ skills and the creation of positive and engaging school climate, is becoming more and more important.

Students’ involvement in school and community-based programs that focus on developing social and emotional skills has been linked to improved academic outcomes as well as overall success in school and life.” * “In the 30 at-risk schools the Be the Peace – Be the Hope Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program partnered with, we have seen significant positive change by combining SEL activities with creative and community art activities based on student’s interests: up to 60% decrease in anxiety/depression, up to 36% increase in physical and emotional safety, 43% increase in relationships, 50% in-

crease in self-efficacy, 75% increase in respect, 80% increase in resilience, and 100% increase in creative thinking Giving our students a choice when picking an artistic discipline was a great catalyst for social and emotional work.,” says Parker.

“The Arts promote curiosity and imagination. They help children/youth communicate their feelings and build tolerance for the perspective of others. More often than not, art doesn’t go according to plan. Students are encouraged to use problem solving and adaptability skills. Students and Teachers who participated in the program expressed that they learned constructive ways to address challenging behaviors and situations through the arts.

Students who were isolated, aggressive and disengaged opened up and became active participants by contributing with pride to activities at the end of the school year community project and showcase. SEL art-based curriculum may reduce the number of students who require early intervention as participation in SEL art programs fosters in children the skills they will need to cope with life’s challenges.

This also supports teachers manage their classrooms in ways that promote motivation and student engagement. For those students who need additional support, the skills being taught in the classroom can be incorporated and reinforced within mental health interventions provided by school mental health professionals. SEL also equips the classmates of these challenging students to be more empathic, compassionate, supportive, and effective in interactions with them.”- shared Parker and Corazon Flores, Social Studies teacher at Sugar Grove Academy.

The Arts, not only give youth the ability to invest more in learning and perform better academically, they give them a sense of the richness of life, unique ways to develop coping skills and show them the power of imagination and creativity to transform spaces and lives.

Interested in supporting the integration of the Arts in Education, please contact deborah@artsconnecthouston.org, www.ArtsConnectHouston.org, www.BePeaceBeHope.org.

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paper-printed products (everything was done “old style” using offset printing), all of them were available at the character store that I opened.

Few of those items sit today, like memories in my art studio.

Where are you from?

What upcoming projects are you working on?

My upcoming project is taking me into new spaces and challenges that are bringing new feelings, expressions and thoughts about life and art. It is about three Large Scale paintings, 8x12 ft. each. The pieces will be exhibited to the public by the end of September and/or October at my studio located in The Historic Third Ward, 3715 Emancipation Avenue, 77004. I’ll be posting final details on my website at Tatiana Escallon.com, Fresh Arts events page, as well as my Facebook page.

I am also a children’s book illustrator and currently painting a musical instrument for my friend, singer, composer and author of children’s books Emily Arrow. This project is exciting because it is a new experience for me that will take me into new ideas.

What was the very first independent creative project you worked on?

It was during the 90s, when I was living in Bogota. I was in love with illustration and design, I created a character-brand and from there I illustrated and designed all kinds of

I was born in Bogota, Colombia, where I grew up and went to a school of arts, worked for a couple years as a graphic designer/illustrator and always kept painting on the side, then in my 30s I moved to Houston. After a long journey in the United States of becoming a citizen, I restarted my art career letting it be the meaning of my life.

Currently, I paint and exhibit my work in my studio near Downtown, an old house from the 1940s that was abandoned that I am rehabilitating to my art needs. It is a space that invites me to create with freedom.

What types of mediums do you work in?

What I like the most is to paint with acrylic on canvas, but depending on the creative process it can be mixed with graphite, charcoal or oil sticks, and the surface can also switch from paper to wood. I have also painted small projects on fabric, silk and in addition, done digital work (illustration for children). It is fun for me to keep exploring new techniques to express myself.

T h e m a t i c a l l y, w h a t i s your work usually about?

My work is inspired by emotions, experiences and reflections about life, giving a main importance to color and composition to create contrasts

TATIANA ESCALLON

that accentuate the meaning I want to express.

My ongoing work is inspired by the relation between “taste and contrast” which I believe makes life relevant. I also incorporate words in the paintings to accentuate the meaning; “these words are written in two languages because I am both.”

With the figurative/abstract work, my intention is to remark a specific moment in life giving importance to daily events that are not less important than spiritual reflections.

What recent projects are you most proud of?

About painting, I will definitely say the project I am working at this moment, the three large scale paintings that I will exhibit soon, this project is funded in part by the grant Support for Artists and Creative Individuals from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance. Talking about a life project, I will say the bravery of investing in my own art career, and having my own art studio in an unconventional place and space, a place in Houston that has taught me about American history and that gives me inspiration and confidence to continue my journey.

Why do you create art?

Because I have to and it is fun. No matter where life takes me, I feel the need to create.

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Where are you from?

What upcoming projects are you working on?

Since joining Archway Gallery on June 2019, as its newest member and discovering that my solo show there will take place within a year’s time, I have diligently and excitedly been creating works for it. Ever since wholly engaging myself in the arts a couple of years ago, I have concentrated a body of work exploring the beauty and the individual stories of the people I constantly meet in Houston. My month-long solo show at Archway Gallery will have an opening reception on June 6, 2020 and I hope my art will be as every bit celebratory of Houston’s diversity in final form as how I continuously envision and experience this city to be.

What was the very first independent creative project you worked on?

I am currently working on is my solo show at Archway Gallery in June 2020. This show will showcase my portraiture work rendered mostly in my signature hand-cut layered paper technique, though I may also include work in other media. The body of work for this show will explore my current artistic pursuit of celebrating the beauty and individual stories of the people I meet here in Houston, the most diverse city in the country.

I was born in the Philippines, but have in Texas for most of my life after my family immigrated to the United States. Art has been integral to me ever since becoming an avid student throughout High School. I intended to pursue an artistic endeavor in college, however, the career that developed led me to a completely different field from the arts.

For years since, I had all but given up on art, but when I began drawing and painting again in 2016, I found a renewed vigor in the creative process, and my life took on a completely new meaning and purpose.

I pursue portraiture that celebrates diversity and elevate everyone because as an immigrant to this country, I have observed that conversations only become meaningful and beneficial to all involved once recognition and appreciation of the fact that all that makes us different is what makes us so similar, occurs.

What types of mediums do you work in?

What recent projects are you most proud of?

Though I learned a variety of dry and wet media in High School, the former became my favored tool.

Graphite, charcoal, colored pencils, crayons, and pastels are my main mark-making instruments; however, scissors developed alongside these back in high school. Since then, and especially in the last two years, I have rendered portraits in layers of colored paper, hand-cut with scissors and pen blades.

T h e m a t i c a l l y, w h a t i s your work usually about?

Ever since I learned to formally draw, I have always been intrigued by the human form. This fascination has led to my exploring various aspects of the human condition and experience through my portraiture work, from ideas relating to self and identity, to topics about diversity. My current artistic pursuit is to visually celebrate the diversity and the individual stories of the people I meet whose walks of life all led to the multicultural and multiethnic rich city of Houston.

ANTHONY PABILLANO

Though I feel proud of the work that I create that resonate with others, the pursuit in the arts that bring me the most pride is the privilege of serving as a board member and volunteer for the Visual Arts Alliance (VAA) since 2017. VAA is a non-compensated, all-volunteer-run non-profit arts organization that has provided educational programs and exhibition opportunities for Houston-area artists since 1981. Giving my time for an organization that provides value to our art community has been a personally invigorating experience.

Why do you create art?

Though I create art that I hope to eventually sell, I am driven to make not for financial gain but rather for personal satisfaction that I am contributing to broader conversations in our society on topics I value, predominantly the celebration of our beautiful diversity.

exposure

A R TAHROT UH SOTUOSNT O7N6 7 6

HALEH MASHIAN

www.halehmashian.com info@mashgallery.com 213-325–2759

WILLIAM ROPP

w.ropp@free.fr +33 951 40 28 60

LILY GAVALAS

www.lilygavalas.com 713-859-7143

E X P O S U R7 E7 7 7

LYN SULLIVAN

Silver Street Studios, #211 www.lynsullivan.com Lyn@lynsullivan.com 281 520-1349

GILLES BERNHARD

gilles60@bluewin.ch 713 628 9001

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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

HOLLY WALRATH SABINE CASPARIE MORGAN CRONIN HANNEKE HUMPHREY JODY T. MORSE MARK ROSS LANE DEVEREUX KAY M C STAY KARINE PARKER-LEMOYNE MEGHAN HENDLEY LOPEZ 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, 9114 N. Allegro St. Houston, Texas 77080.

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.

Morgan Cronin WRITER

Morgan Cronin is a New York City based writer, originally from Houston. She received her B.A. in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma and is currently a secondyear MFA candidate at the New School, where she is studying creative nonfiction. She has been a regular contributor to ArtHouston. Her work has appeared in the Culture Trip, Houston Press, and elsewhere.

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.

Hanneke Humphrey WRITER

In addition to writing, Hanneke Humphrey is active as a creative artist, event organizer, and MFAH docent.

Of American, French, and Dutch background, she worked as an economist, marketing strategist, and educator for many years, while pursuing her love of the arts.

Mark Ross WRITER

Mark studied philosophy and literature at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Finding the Art world fertile ground for critical observation, crossing over the imagined barriers that separate art forms, understanding that music, literature, poetry and fine art are bound together as the highest forms of human expression, is a common theme in his writings. Mark now lives and writes in Houston.

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

Ashkan Roayaee

Photography by Ashkan Roayaee, 2018. Assistants: Alana Campbell and Hallie Gluk.

Makeup Artists: Christina Roayaee and Brandi Garza. Dancers: Fernando Martin-Gullans and Gloria Benaglia

Ballet. The Silver. The Gold is a 77-photo series shot by photographer, Ashkan Roayaee. This series was made in collaboration with seven dancers from the Houston Ballet and was inspired by previous experiments with body paint photography. The strong metallic quality, yet a vulnerable state of the dancers create a visual universe in which the lines between human form, light, and dance are blurred. A black, seamless backdrop that slowly transitioned into gray flooring was selected as the setting for the photoshoot. The lighting for the project was a single diffused overhead light source. Dancers were painted using a mixture of metallic powder and mixing liquid. Silver paint was used for the men and gold paint for the women. The photoshoot was an all-day process in which each dancer was painted for about an hour and then photographed for another hour. www.ashkanimage.com