Out and about in Houston: Public art and an artful home
Houston doesn’t always get a lot of love, especially from Austinites who invoke it as a negative example of soulless sprawl and traffic. True, Houston is a sprawling major city with congested highways (although I swear Austin may be its equal in traffic jams). But in-town you’ll find vibrant neighborhoods of historic and modern homes, terrific restaurants, international diversity, one of the best universities in the country, and world-class art museums. I may be biased, having spent my college years there and having a sister who lives there, but I embrace the tongue-in-cheek slogan that’s popped up in the Bayou City in recent years: “It’s OK to love Houston.”
Monumental Barn Owl by Geoffrey Dashwood
My daughter, a friend of hers, and I recently visited Houston and spent a fun-filled Saturday seeing public art at the Cullen Sculpture Garden, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the live oak-shaded Rice University campus. Since my sister and I attended Rice in the 1980s, the campus has added a number of modern sculptures and other works of art…
…like this one by Barcelona artist Jaume Plensa, titled Mirror.
“The figures are modeled in letters from eight alphabets – Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Hindi, Hebrew, Japanese, Latin and Russian,” the Rice website explains. “The artist considers this dialogue and interaction as central to learning, and more importantly to understanding, between people and cultures.”
Last year, my sister and sister-in-law showed us another example of Plensa’s work along Buffalo Bayou. I enjoyed seeing more of his work on campus.
The Rice campus itself, founded in 1912, is filled with beautiful examples of neo-Byzantine architecture. A more recently constructed building, Duncan Hall, which houses the Computational Engineering department, is always worth a look during a tour of Rice because of its kaleidoscopic painted ceiling.
The iconic 45°, 90°, 180° sculptures — the girls are standing on 180°, with the Campanile (bell tower) looming behind them — were installed the year before I entered Rice (i.e., quite a few years ago). Three pink granite monoliths in the Engineering Quad represent 45-, 90-, and 180-degree angles. 180° was a popular spot to hang out, sneak a beer, make out, and be photographed when I was a student, and there’s no reason to think anything’s changed. (The other two slabs, at slanted and vertical angles, are harder to climb.)
Another distinctive horizontal structure on campus is the luminous Twilight Epiphany, a Skyspace by James Turrell. I wrote about this Skyspace last fall, so click for full details and morning-light photos. This time, we were keen to experience the twilight show, which is more popular, so we made reservations.
Taking photographs during the light show is prohibited (although I don’t see why, so long as you don’t use a flash), but here are a couple I took while we were waiting for it to start. The white-walled space and benches are inside the grassy pyramid seen in the previous photo. There’s also a row of benches on a second level just under the floating roof.
The white roof with a central square cutout is washed with a slow-changing sequence of colored light, which changes your perception of the sky as the sun sets or rises. It’s a meditative experience to sit there for 40 minutes, gazing upward as the sky seems to pulse with energy. It can be a bit dizzying and make you feel like a tiny creature inside an Easter sugar egg — or at least that’s how it seems to me.
Austinites, there’s a Skyspace right here on the UT campus too, and although it’s smaller and less dramatic than the one on the Rice campus, it’s definitely worth a visit.
Another transcendent Turrell work can be experienced at the Museum of Fine Arts, a tunnel passage called The Light Inside. As with Twilight Epiphany, you don’t merely view the work. You step inside it. The art is light somehow made physical.
As you enter the tunnel, the vanishing-point black flooring is echoed by a black ceiling, with fog-like color suffusing the space on each side. Are there walls? You can’t really tell as you’re walking through. Space just seems to drop off along the edge of the black walkway, melting into a void of rich color. It’s mildly disorienting, as if you might accidentally fall off the edge into space. The color changes every 15 minutes or so, an attendant told me. I wish we’d stayed longer to experience each color. Next time!
I can’t end my recap of Houston art without showing off the artful beauty that my sister and sister-in-law have brought into their own home via new wallpaper and wainscoting. This is their dining room paper — gorgeous!
And here’s their mudroom, with a colorful Chinese dragon motif. And to think I used to disdain all wallpaper (after removing layers of dated paper in numerous houses over the years). Now I love it, and the bolder the better.
As you can see from my own foyer!
Their dogs are pretty adorable too. Here’s Layla, in a portrait taken by my daughter.
And here’s Sammy, stretched out like Cleopatra on the living room sofa. Thanks, Rebecca, for sharing your photo, and thanks, Sis and SIL, for a wonderful Houston visit!
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What a fun day. I love those figures made of letters. I would like to experience the light sculptures. They sound oh so interesting.
I like wallpaper. We have only a touch of paper in our house in a bathroom. You Sister’s home looks gorgeous as does your foyer with it’s paper. What sweet doggies and Sammy does look quite queenly all stretched out there.
Lisa, look for Turrell Skyspaces when you travel: http://jamesturrell.com/work/location/. They are quietly marvelous to experience. —Pam
Loved this post! I live in Houston, and it is always nice to see out-of-towners take the time to seek out some of the city’s hidden treasures. Your sister’s home is gorgeous. Beautiful photos of the Turrell works.
Houston has so much to see that I always wish for an extra day or two when I visit. —Pam
The skyspace is fascinating and your sisters house is gorgeous!
I always find it interesting to go back to places I frequented years ago – be it schools or neighbourhoods – and see how they’ve changed. For me, though, what I enjoy the most is the nostalgia of seeing what’s remained the same.
So true, Margaret. My sister and I attended the same Houston university, and we had fun walking around campus to see what had changed and telling stories from the old days. —Pam
I always love to see articles on Houston! I know the gardening scene is not as diverse as elsewhere but still, it’s home to me! I love the sculpture. I have been meaning to visit Rice to see their art – I keep seeing articles on it and it sounds interesting. (I mainly hit the museums.)
Wallpaper – Ugh! Yep, dread that stuff after trying to get it off walls. But hers (and yours) is really pretty! I keep hearing it’s not so bad to get off if it was put on properly. I just avoid it, though, because I change things too frequently. But I have seen many interiors with gorgeous walls of it. Did you visit Mercer? Surely, being a public garden, they had something interesting going on, garden-wise? But it would take a tougher person than I am to brave the heat and humidity to tour there nowadays! By this time, most people here are just trying to make it through the summer, lol.
Bold wallpaper is hot again, but of course the trend will fade, just as it did after the 1970s. And then we’ll all be scraping again!
We did not visit Mercer — in fact, I’ve never even heard of it. It was really too hot to think about doing much outside, except in the evening. (I nearly melted in the Skyspace until a breeze kicked up.) But I’m glad to know about Mercer for future visits.
As for the Houston gardening scene, I’m always interested to know what people are doing in their own private spaces. I’ve been on two of the Houston Open Day tours, hosted by the Garden Conservancy, and while the gardens are lovely they tend to be big River Oaks estates or minimalist Museum District gardens rather than gardeners’ gardens or “attainable” designer gardens. And yet I know Houston must have lots of those kinds of gardens, simply because it’s a huge city with plenty of money and a decent gardening climate (i.e., rain and soil). If you ever hear of a Houston garden tour that shows off gardens like that, please let me know! —Pam
It’s OK to love Houston! Haven’t heard that but it’s a good one. When I’m asked how my interest in art and design came about, the answer “I grew up in Houston” will bring surprised looks. Contemporary art and architecture has been part of Houston for as long as I can remember and that’s quite a while now. It’s so nice to see the tradition continue with new works being added.
Houston is definitely an art lover’s city. I can see how that would influence you growing up. —Pam
Excellent photo tour, Pam. You caught the skyscape perfectly. There used to be a really good skyscape at the Nasher Sculpture Garden here in Dallas, but the Museum Tower condo building with its blinding mirror glass facade ruined it, and it was closed. Expensive vandalism!
Oh, that’s terrible, Peter. What a loss for Dallas. —Pam
I love those first two sculptures. The owl is a particular beauty. And your sister and sister in law’s house looks wonderful with beautiful wallpaper. It really goes well with what I can see of the house style. Love those cupboards too. I gave up wallpaper years ago but I can tell you I had some pretty wild stuff. I used to bring it back from England where every house was wallpapered. One thing is clear. You don’t sit around when you go visiting.
My wallpaper came from England too, Jenny. I guess they’re still making wild and crazy patterns! —Pam
Mark and I keep talking about coming to Houston for the art. We’ve heard great things about it and your photos are one more reason for us to consider making the trek. And all of the wallpaper is absolutely stunning. I think it’s making a big comeback.
Linda, maybe you can combine an Austin trip with your Houston trip in 2018. Austin will be hosting the Garden Bloggers Fling that spring (dates TBA). The cities are only 2-1/2 hours apart by car. But do save a few extra days for Austin sightseeing too! —Pam
All of your latest posts are interesting, but more gardens like the wisconsin folk art garden, please…. (if you can find them)
Ha! I loved that garden too, lwc, but those are one in a million. Well, not that rare, but I don’t come across gardens like that every day. That said, I try to show every garden or naturally beautifully place (or just fun travel locations) that I see. I believe there’s wonder and beauty to be found everywhere, and I hope I convey that in all my blog posts. 🙂 —Pam