Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/112444
DECORATION A DELFT HAND We���re loving the Delftware patterns popping up for spring, in everything FROM FASHION TO �� TIFFANY & CO. FIREARMS. Gucci Spring 2013 Prabal Gurung Spring 2013 Tiffany & Co. sapphire and diamond bracelet, $195,000 CONCEPT: Gucci Spring 2013 HOUSE Arhaus, 5000 Westheimer Road (corner of Post Oak Blvd.) 713.850.1615; arhaus.com A Moooi vase Porcelain wallpaper on blue from the Netherland���s Studio Ditte, about $180 a roll, at studioditte.com Roberto Cavalli Resort 2013 fter expanding throughout the Eastern seaboard and the Midwest, the Clevelandbased home furnishings concept Arhaus has headed westward ��� Southwest, to be exact ��� and opened its 47th store (the first in Texas) in the former two-story Barnes & Noble space at the Centre at Post Oak. The store is divided into concepts, as senior VP of fashion and merchandising Gary Babcock explains: A room to the left mixes industrial-inspired furniture with apothecary-themed accessories (think lab, not mad scientist), while the area just beyond borrows bits and pieces from the 1920s to conjure an ���old Hollywood meets Brits born well in Downton Abbey��� vibe. The dozen or so designers behind the blueprints for all the artisan-made furniture (which Arhaus contends is never mass produced) work with 10 to 12 colors plucked twice a year from the Pantone color book, sketching all manner of accessories, lighting, garden pieces, upholstery, case goods and the like, immersing themselves with what���s trending in home and fashion. While some decisive customers might elect to buy an entire room to go, the sales staff (which boasts design backgrounds and will make house calls to clients, too) can help you customize an upholstered piece with more than 2,000 fabrics to choose from, or show you those one-of-a-kind antiques or art installations dotted about the store. Laurann Claridge THE ALCHEMIST OF THE CAMERON BERTUZZI EVERYDAY Tony Feher���s Suture, 1997, at Blaffer Art Museum Charles Krafft���s porcelain and handpainted Large Uzi, 2011, at Zoya Tommy Contemporary Gallery The University of Houston���s Blaffer Art Museum opened a 20-year survey of works by American sculptor Tony Feher last fall. The exhibition, curated by Blaffer director Claudia Schmuckli, serves up a comprehensive look at 60 works that represent much of the artist���s career. Using an array of the most basic of materials, Feher gently dominates the newly renovated space. His art ��� which incorporates everything from found bottles, coins, buttons and glass beads to milk crates and paper bags ��� is reflective of both the artist and the times we live in. Feher believes that an artist needs to find the inherent quality of the object and let it tell its story. Through these objects, UP ALL FIRED It���s all about ceramics when the 47th annual National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) fires up the George R. Brown Convention Center Wednesday through Saturday, March 20 through 23. Supplementing the conference itself are exhibitions, workshops, lectures and demonstrations ��� in all, 175 ceramic-related exhibits held in 90 venues, including three juried shows: the NCECA Biennial at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (through May 5); NCECA���s National Student Juried Exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston���s Glassell School of Art (through March 23); and the Texas State K-12 Juried Student Exhibition at the Downtown Public Library (through April 12). As for the conference itself, Janine Antoni ��� whose work blurs the line between performance art and sculpture ��� gives the keynote address, with additional lectures by Bill Bowers, Namita Gupta Wiggers and Clayton Bailey. Look for site-specific instillations from five featured artists; a gallery expo uniting an array of national dealers; Art-Stream Gallery���s appearance in a 30-foot Airstream reconditioned into an exhibition space; and the 21st annual Cup Sale, where you can buy petite pottery for a pittance to raise funds for the NCECA Fund for Artistic Development. Information nceca.net. Seth Vaughan Feher weaves stories of life, transformation and upheaval, but we also find a majority of his works to be peaceful and very human. Known for his site-specific installations, the show occupies almost every space imaginable in the museum. Peering into the main gallery, a glass jug filled with Windex is suspended above the viewer; nearby, Enjoy, a monumental sculpture, boasts interlocking Coca-Cola crates; a Calder-esque mobile made from plastic bottles filled with blue ink floats atop the staircase, glistening in the light and inviting closer inspection. A narrow exhibition hallway highlights Feher���s work in its smallest scale, with an intimate series of landscapes.��Yet, the work is much more than the sum of its parts.��It���s an exploration of a caring man devoted to art that has the power to turn a simple bottle filled with water into a statement on our own fragile existence. Feher���s oeuvre takes time ��� time to collect, time to put into order, time to understand.��And that is the beauty of his message to us.��For an artist who has known nothing but to be an artist, his perseverance is a story unto itself. As the sculptor notes, ���A single pebble on a beach is as extraordinary as a mountaintop.��� Through March 17, at Blaffer Art Museum, blafferartmuseum.org. Artist represented by Hiram Butler Gallery; hirambutler.com. Steven Hempel