SPAC
ARTHOUSTON 20
MAKING F O R A RT I S HA R D E R T HA N I T L O O K S . T H I S PA S T Y E A R , T H E M U S E U M O F F I N E A RT S H O U S T O N D E B U T E D T H E F I R S T P HA S E O F I T S T H R E E - P HA S E $ 4 5 0 M I L L I O N D E V E L O P M E N T— T H E N E W LY R E I M AG I N E D G L A S S E L L S C H O O L O F A RT. BY H O L LY WA L R AT H
T H E B U I L D I N G I S A L R E A D Y S E E I N G A G O O D D E A L of use, like on “Royals” Doggie Day when visitors and their pooches swarmed the Brown Foundation, Inc. Plaza in January. Swaths of booths filled the courtyard, neatly lined up beyond the cordoned-off bulk of Eduardo Chillida’s outdoor sculpture, Song of Strength (1966). The exterior façade of the Glassell School of Art winked in the bright sunshine, an L-shaped geometrical incline made of 178 pre-cast concrete panels. The panels were fabricated in Waco, and each is individually unique, a foot thick, and aids in foundational support. Patrons took photos with their majestic pups in front of “Houston’s Bean,” the silver sculpture Cloud Column (2006), which now reflects three large construction cranes in its shining surface. Children ambled up the steps to the rooftop terrace, stopping to take pictures of the view: the Cullen Sculpture Garden (Isamu Noguchi, 1986), Houston’s medical center complex, and the farther-off view of downtown behind. It’s