Best Of Modern in Dallas .. edition.06 // june2021

e.6 ‘21

// mesa design group | photo: mark mcwilliams

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by Kendall Morgan

// oak court - photo: mark mcwilliams

the seeds of

// guernsey - photo: cody ulrich

The award-winning MESA Design Group harvests the beauty of the natural world for communities and clients all over Dallas.

Founded in 1981 with the goal of bringing artistic sensibilities to landscape architecture, MESA has spent the ensuing years beautifying spaces from the Anatole Hotel to NorthPark Center, from the Shops at Park Lane to the Kalita Humphreys Theater.

Originally named MESA as a nod to its Southwestern roots, the company is now under the adept stewardship of managing principal Stan Cowan, who earned his degree in landscape architecture at Kansas State University.

Raised on the plains of the Texas panhandle on a vast ranch, Cowan was indoctrinated in the concept of land stewardship from an early age. Post joining MESA, he was eventually made partner and became the genius behind

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// amherst – photo: mark mcwilliams

the scenes, introducing computers into what was then an all-hand-drawn methodology.

Meanwhile, his future wife and co-firm principal Mary Ellen Cowan was studying under a scholarship at Texas A&M with no idea that landscape architecture was a possible career path.

“I had no clue what I was going to do at school,” she recalls. “But I grew up as a total outdoors person; my father, grandfather, and mom were huge gardeners, and

we loved trees and plants and flowers. But the hardscape portion of landscape architecture was pretty new to me, learning about detailing and planning.”

Mary Ellen began her career working for companies like Lambert’s but kept seeing MESA’s hand in some of the city’s most creative projects. She decided what the firm was missing was a residential component, so she approached MESA in 1996.

“Residential work is just what I love to do. I decided that’s

// forest hills – photo: craig blackmon

// t. boone pickens hospice and palliative care center - photo: tracy allyn croysdale

how I can make my mark on the firm, build my career, and excel. I put a resume together and approached them and thought, ‘Okay, this is a large-scale landscape architecture firm, and this is something I’m completely interested in and want to be a part of.’”

Stan and Mary Ellen soon found themselves drawn to one another, and became partners in life as well as business. Rounding out MESA are principals Aaron Duncan

and Fred Walters, who bring their own unique skillsets to the table.

“Aaron is a planner and landscape architect, and he works with developers on the planning side,” Cowan says. “He’s also great with money and finance. Fred went to Kansas State with Stan – they’ve been friends forever. We all work hand in hand. I’m probably the most solo out of the four of us because I handle all the residential group, but if somebody has a deadline, we all help out.”

View our collection.

// bridge hollow – photo: nathan schroder

This collective approach allows MESA to respect the architects’ intentions while preserving the values of the company’s clients. Each project MESA undertakes is done so to keep the native topography. Cowan says with her work, in particular, she prefers to be involved from the very beginning so that the architecture and landscape architecture can work hand in hand.

“We start with the layout of where the garden patterns are going to be and how we are defining spaces,” she

explains. “We try and pull from the (house) architecture so that our garden spaces tie in nicely with the materials of the home itself, whether it’s concrete, wood, or metal.

We like to pull those kinds of materials into the landscape design, so you have one through-line between house and property.”

Plant material is used less for decoration than to set up outdoor borders or rooms. Sustainably sourced perennials or wildflowers are added in a layered fashion with space to

// miron – photo: jimi smith

// house by the creek – photo: tim hursley

// hall tower

// waterbrook – photo: tracy allyn croysdale

evolve with time. Quality and sustainability are two words Cowan consistently uses as a foundation. The architect says she prefers to use fewer materials of a higher grade and focus on the topography to help her design.

// kpmg // centrum observatory – photo: mesa

“We try and read sites and see what a site is telling us,” she says. “Whether it’s the trees on the property, or if there’s water that runs through it—we try and play on that so that there is a sense of regionalism. It’s like brush strokes, and we keep adding as it evolves. As we go along, we have a pretty orthogonal layout to hardscape that appears rigid, but then we start to add plant layers that are a little

// rockbrook – photo: mark mcwilliams

// mesa principals - credit: tracy allyn croysdale

bit loose. It’s a tapestry of layers.” Now more than ever, clients are expanding on their outdoor living areas with all that entails. Yet Cowan eschews trends like outdoor televisions, and she isn’t afraid to tell a client her opinions.

The use of fake grass, in particular, is a bête noire for this landscape purist.

“We’re so not into being fake. Over the last few years, people are nuts about artificial turf. You come to the property and think about how beautiful that lawn is, and then you come up to it and discover it isn’t real grass. When it’s supposed to be this golden color in the wintertime, it’s

vibrant green, and I hate that. I had a project where the client was adamant about using it, and I was adamant about not doing it. We joked afterward that we had a turf tiff,” she laughs.

Yet, in both their commercial and residential projects, the partners of MESA retain longstanding client relations, some extending over two decades. As a garden is a growing thing, so is the firm’s work so that their designs grow with the times as well.

“We stay in touch with clients from the past and get lots

// pump house - credit: mesa

of calls (for updates). With an interior designer, after 15 years, people want a whole fresh look. With landscapes, things are growing, evolving, and ever-changing. I have a couple where they have me do quarterly reports, and I’ll walk around and tell them things to do for a spruce up.

For several people, I’ve been doing seasonal color programs for three seasons a year. I love coming back to give hints and suggestions, so it still looks just as good as the first day we finished.”

Cowan says as MESA grows and changes in the future, she envisions the company thriving like one of their gardens, long after its current set of stewards have rested on their laurels.

“That’s the hope and the big picture. When Stan and I retire, then the next group will come along. It’s really about the people of the firm, not individuals.” mesadesigngroup.com

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// jeanine michna-bales, ready for battle, 2019

by Kendall Morgan

// installation new work - pdnb gallery

“One of Dallas’ most enduring art spaces, PDNB moves into sleek new environs at 150 Manufacturing Street.

Founded by Burt and Missy Finger in 1995, the gallery otherwise known as Photographs Do Not Bend built an international reputation on its stable of iconic 20th-century images. Representing work from the likes of Lucienne Bloch, Elliott Erwitt, Chema Madoz, and Nickolas Muray (to name a very few), it is rare for one to stroll into the gallery and not spot a photograph you’ve been familiar with for most of your adult life hanging on the pristine white walls.

PDNB is actually in its fourth stage of metamorphosis, a journey taking the Fingers from a small Uptown bungalow to photography fairs worldwide.

Partners in business and life, the Finger’s passion for the art of photography was sparked in different ways.

Burt caught the bug as a child when his father bought a camera and developing kit as a present.

“I would photograph in the day and afternoons and come home at night to make contact prints,” he recalls. “As a seven-year-old, watching the prints come up in the developer was magic to me, and it’s been magic ever since.”

// earlie hudnall, jr., wheels, 1993

James Surls, Mind World (detail), 1997, graphite on paper, 22” x 30”

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// elliott erwitt, new york city, 1974

While serving in Vietnam as a public information officer, Finger was in charge of all photographers who came to visit. He credits an encounter with Time LIFE shooter Larry Burrows as another instrumental influence in his pursuit of the medium.

Having earned a degree in psychology, Finger went back to work on his master’s in art at the University of North Texas and was taught at the institution before he met Missy through mutual friends in the mid-1980s.

“I had studied art but (earned a) marketing degree at college and was very excited about photography,” Missy says. “The fact he used to be a photographer was one of the things I was drawn to. He had a really nice library of monographs, and I was drawn in by the Aperture monograph of Diane Arbus’ work. We just hit it off.”

At the time, Burt worked as a contractor and began a lucrative business collecting and selling antique watches.

Going back and forth to New York to attend auctions

// esteban pastorino diaz, las ventas #5, 2006

at Sotheby’s or Christie’s, he was surprised to see museum-worthy images by Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Alfred Stieglitz sold for affordable prices. Soon, his photography collection eclipsed his watch collection, and Missy suggested the two begin to sell some of their stable of work.

Says Burt, “We had some spare cash at the time from selling watches, and we kept buying photographs. After a while, we had so many Missy said, “You have to stop buying, or we have to open a gallery!”

Although they knew nothing about the art business, they were natural entrepreneurs, and it soon became clear the pathway to success was to rep individual artists and create an inventory.

Because photography is known as the “democratic art” and produced in multiples, collectors could buy important images for a fraction of a painting on the same scale.

Though the medium wasn’t perceived as influential as it is today, the Fingers had ambitious programming from the very start. Opening their first space on Routh Street

// michael kenna, fifth avenue, new york, new york, USA, 2006

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// installation view photo kevin todora

// keith carter, fireflies, 1992

bungalow in 1995, they showed the work of New Mexico artist Joel-Peter Witkin, who built his reputation on challenging imagery dealing with death, physically challenged subjects, and intersexuality.

how people would react to it—the art world is so small compared to the rest of the population in Dallas. But Joel-Peter Witkin actually came to speak at the Dallas Museum of Art, and the whole place was filled.” // paolo roversi - audrey, paris 1996

“At the time, we really appreciated him and his work; he was so influential,” Missy says. “I didn’t have any idea

Choosing the name “Photographs Do Not Bend” for their enterprise, the Fingers were inspired by a classic rubber

// ruth orkin, couple in mg, florence, italy, 1951

stamp used by dealers to ensure safe shipping for their images.

“We were going through names, and Finger gallery sounded terrible, Fingersmith sounded awful, Fingerprint sounded disgusting. All these names didn’t sound right,” laughs Missy. “Usually, galleries are named after their director or owner, but we decided Photographs Do Not Bend should be our name and the stamp should be our logo.

The only people who really get it are artists. Eventually, we shortened it (to PDNB) to make things easier on us!”

As photography finally found representation in the museum world, it was an ideal time for PDNB to launch, and the

Fingers approached various talents they admired to build their stable. Picking up work by Keith Carter, Michael Kenna, Earlie Hudnall, Jr., Bill Owens, and Neil Slavin, they also began relationships with both talent and collectors that endure to this day.

Their growth was slow but steady. Burt says it “took years” to build up a clientele, and he found his role as gallery director, including equal parts of education and salesmanship.

“It was hard for people buying paintings and sculpture to

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// pdnb gallery’s first location on Routh, Street, Dallas, TX, c. 2000

get into photography,” he says. “In the art world, you have painting, you have sculpture, you have printmaking, and photography gets a small piece of that. It’s a niche—people don’t just walk in here from out in the street and say, ‘I’d like to buy a photograph.’ It’s something they study and research. You have to have a certain savvy or expertise, but once you get bit by it, it’s hard to exist without it.”

District, relocating to a 3,800-square-foot spot across from the Dallas Contemporary on Glass Street. During the COVID-19 shutdown, the Fingers realized they didn’t need quite as much space. They relocated in April 2021 to their newest outpost in the burgeoning enclave on Manufacturing that also houses the Dallas Art Fair, 12.26 Gallery, and Erin Cluley Gallery.

Eventually, PDNB moved to a larger space in the Design

Currently showing “Ruth Orkin: A Centennial Celebration” (a

// chema madoz, untitled, 2008

retrospective of the American photographer, photojournalist, and filmmaker) through August 14, PDNB will follow that show up with a big opening entitled “Standing Together” by Jeanine Michna-Bales, lauded for her 2017 show at the gallery portraying sites along the Underground Railroad.

Burt is also prepping for a sequel to a show he did a decade ago called “Shine,” focusing on imagery of shoeshine boys from the 1920s to the 1960s shown alongside an antique collection of shoeshine boxes, a blend of folk art and photography.

Through all of their ups and downs, the Fingers’ love for photography—and the people who collect it—won’t abate any time soon. The couple has the same enthusiasm for the work they possessed when they

// ida lansky, untitled, c. 1950

// unknown, shoeshine box, c. 1920, Wood, 11 x 11 1/4 x 7 in.

purchased their very first image. “We’re very excited about having a new gallery,” says Burt. “It’s like starting all over, but with more knowledge.”

fascinating in so many ways. The clientele is so interesting; the artists are so interesting. It’s just a really fascinating world that we’re in.”

“PDNB has turned out to be such a great business,” adds Missy. “It’s not the easiest of businesses, but it’s

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IN MODULAR

// light and bright blossom street interiors

PUTTING THE MODERN

No matter how modern a home’s design, most likely the method used in its construction is the same one used for almost 200 years. Materials are delivered to the site and assembled over a period of weeks or months. The work is noisy, time consuming and exposes the structure to the elements while the work is in-progress. There is also a good deal of waste making site-built home less sustainable.

To award winning architects Rame and Russel Hruska there had to be a better way to create good design as well as more efficient homes. With that in mind they started BoxPrefab, their own factory for building modern sustainable housing.

“Our mission was to deliver dreams,” says Rame.

“We believed we could provide smart, sustainable, homes through a simplified process.”

Enter BoxPrefab, the innovative off-site construction company producing precision built prefabricated homes from design to completion. They focused on designs that were not just efficient but created homes where outdoors and indoor spaces blend seamlessly. “We like to use a holistic approach to our designs,” Rame noted. Their designs make the most of the living spaces without

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// adu series - aria

feeling the least bit cramped. Open floor plans make inviting comfortable and modern spaces that feel more like custom homes, because they are.

“We integrate design and construction into a cohesive process,” says Hruska. “Unlike others, we have our own factory producing our own work. This gives us full control over the process and the ability to work with clients directly without a middleman, with less back and forth, and in a transparent fashion.”

What is more evident from the offerings of BoxPrefab is the obvious passion for design. The team offers projects that are ready to build as well as customized solutions for a variety of needs.

Early markets have been for urban or rural locations seeking Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) that serve as quest houses or offices. Freestanding single family homes used for urban in-filling also make up a big part of the market and the flexible configuration of modular

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// inside view - pivot home series

construction as well as the relatively rapid construction with a minimum of on-site work make these kinds of projects attractive from both a design and cost standpoint.

warping and mold. Being built in a factory, the homes are inherently more sustainable, producing less waste in a more con-trolled environment which results in less impact to the site.

All the homes are built to the same codes as site-built construction with the advantage of not being exposed to the weather during construction which can lead to

These modern homes already are appearing in Texas cities like Houston and Austin and are soon to show up

// connect series - quadro

// duo series cuadro

in the North Texas area as well. They provide a lot of advantages over site-built homes without sacrificing comfortable living spaces with stunning designs.

awards include an NAHB Award, Coverings Stone and Sustain-ability Award, Duravit’s Dream Bath Award and the Metal Architecture Chairman’s Award. They founded Intexture Architects together in 2001.

About the Architects Russell and Rame Hruska’s work has been featured in many publications including Architect Magazine, Green Building and Design, Interior Design Magazine, American Builder’s Quarterly and Architectural Record. Their

Russell Hruska, AIA Co-founder of Intexture with a career that spans over 20 years, Russell has in-depth operational experience in the modular industry as well as traditional construction. He has developed a series of homes for Houston’s Museum

// thompson terrace - photo: gustav schmiege

Park neighborhood and innovated a new standard in urban infill development.

Rame Hruska, AIA Licensed architect and co-founder of Intexture she brings a variety of experience including residential and commercial projects in Europe and the Middle East. Prior to founding BoxPrefab, she served in an executive leadership role in two modular off-site construction firms. She has a passion for design seeks to bring good design to mainstream markets at affordably and at scale. boxprefab.com

CADDALLAS.ORG 2020 MEMBERS 500X Gallery Carneal Simmons Contemporary Art Conduit Gallery Craighead Green Gallery Cris Worley Fine Arts Erin Cluley Gallery Ex Ovo Gallery Galleri Urbane Marfa+Dallas Holly Johnson Gallery Kirk Hopper Fine Art PDNB Gallery RO2 Art Talley Dunn Gallery Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden

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your modern

calendar

Modern events and activities make for fun around the Metroplex.

Design Inspirations Panel - David Hocker Moderator The Dallas Architecture Forum // june29

2021 Preservation Achievement Awards Preservation Dallas // june30

Walking Tours Discover the Arts District + Explore the Main Street District Ad Ex

Virtual Tour - The Fight for Civil Rights in the South Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum

Nasher Public - Cameron Schoepp Nasher Sculpture Center

For a Dreamer of Houses Dallas Museum Of Art

Milton Avery Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

Fair Park Architectural Tram Tour Ad Ex // july21

modern

art galleries

Modern art, exhibits, around the Metroplex.

Charles Mary Kubricht Kirk Hopper Fine Art

Deborah Ballard Valley House Gallery

Daniel Johnston + Visible Ro2art

Jules Buck Jones + Marco Querin + Cindy Johnston Conduit Gallery

Matthew Cusick Holly Johnson Gallery

Possibility Made Real: Drawing & Clay 12.26

Anna Elise Johnson + Steven Charles Cris Worley Fine Arts

Kate Petley + Lorraine Tady + Liz Trosper Barry Whistler Gallery

Jer’Lisa Devezin + Nitashia Johnson + Kevin Owens Talley Dunn Gallery // view current shows online or appointments maybe available