Skyspace

Almost every weekend, the Amazing Reese and I walk Tilly to Rice University for some off leash time. They have expansive green spaces and on Saturday and Sunday mornings, the students, with very few exceptions, are still sleeping. It's a lovely campus.

Week after week on our walks, we've watched the new James Turrell Skyspace being built. James Turrell designed the coolest tunnel under Main Street between the two buildings of the Museum of Fine Arts. It's exotic. So when this new skyspace was finally opened to the public, of course we wanted to see it.

The deal is, the "light show"for the new skyspace happens at dawn and dusk. I had read that people needed reservations for the show at dusk. Really?

Maybe it was because we were there at 5:20 in the morning after a late, restless night. Maybe it was the heat and brightness of the neon....and the bugs attracted to that.  Maybe it was the long list of don'ts positioned next to each entrance. Maybe it was because we weren't expecting the light show to be SO tediously SLOW.  Whatever it was, our first experience at the James Turrell's Skyspace at Rice University was underwhelming. 

It looks like a spaceship designed by math geeks, which I suppose is appropriate, since Rice is full of Math PhD candidates and Houston is Space City. 

We haven't written the experience off completely. We'll find our Zen and give it another go...in the winter...at dusk...after which we'll walk to Valhalla for a pint. That should be more fun.

Sticks and Stones

What do y'all do when you find out that someone is trash talking you behind your back? My natural inclination is to let it go and ignore it. But what good does that do? Is it worth correcting the false story and defending oneself?

It stands to reason that the person who is being maligned must apparently be intriguing enough for people to think about them all the time. So, maybe hearing false rumors about oneself is a good thing? Hm, how has it happened that I hadn't thought about that until now? Maybe Oscar Wilde was right when he said,

"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."

Life with Friends

So many dear friends came to the Archway Gallery opening that it has been difficult figuring out how to document the night.

Well, obviously, it is a completely different show than last year - different juror, different art, different artists. 47 works of art were selected for this show out of over 200 (less than 300) works submitted. (I've gotten two numbers for actual submissions - 240something and 280ish.) Either way, I'm absolutely thrilled to have been included.

The juror, Julie Farr wasn't able to make it to the opening reception. Someone else read her remarks about the art and her selections for prizes. First place went to a lovely piece of glass work called "Bee Box Reconfigured." That Julie wasn't there was the only damper on an otherwise very exciting evening. I really wanted to thank her and hopefully glean any bit of wisdom from her about art in general, and my piece in particular. It just so happens that we were both at a different art event last night so I was at least able to thank her for including "Sunset at Hermann Park" in the show.

One of my favorite stories from the night didn't actually happen until the next day.  The next morning, my friend  Tim, who was solo for the night because his wife and kids were out of town, played a piano piece at church inspired by the art in the show. It was, well, inspired, and so lovely. It's such fun when arts collide and such a blessing to have so many talented friends.

As part of Art Houston, an art crawl type event in which over 30 galleries participate, there's a second opening reception of the Fourth Annual Juried Exhibition tomorrow night. If you didn't get a chance to see the show last Saturday, or if it was too crowded to see the actual art in the exhibit, come on by Saturday, the 14th. Give me a shout and I'll meet you there.

Houston is the longest I've lived in any one place and for being the fourth largest city in the United States, (how many times have I said this?), it sure is a small town. In the above picture are dear friends Joni and Chris, who we've known for years yet hardly ever see, who came clear across town to support Team Hazel. Aren't they cute? Reese and I first met them when we were skinny, had two (of four) daughters, and my hair was still black. Imagine that! To give an idea where my painting is in the gallery, to the right of Chris (Chris' left) is the front door. In the background between Joni and Chris on that middle wall, you can recognize the painting. Again, what a blessing friends are!

For your viewing pleasure, here's a link to an album from the opening reception uploaded on facebook. (Archway Gallery Reception)

Also, besides tomorrow night, I'm happy to meet anyone at Archway Gallery to view the show. It's up until August 2nd.

New News

Just found out yesterday that one of my paintings, Sunset in Hermann Park, has been accepted into Archway Gallery's 4th Annual Juried Exhibition! Well respected  Julie Farr, the director of Houston Center for Contemporary Craft selected the work for the show this year. This is my second time to be included in Archway's Juried Exhibit. Last year I was ridiculously excited. You can read about it here. If possible, the plan is to be a little more subdued at tomorrow's opening. Yeah, right. As if.

The opening reception is July 7th from 5 - 8pm at Archway Gallery, 2305 A Dunlavy  here in Houston, Texas. The Amazing Reese and I hope to see some of y'all on Saturday.

"You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say." F. Scott Fitzgerald