Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/184542
COURTESY CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART THE (ART) CAKE What were the most important exhibitions from the early years of the gallery? The Joseph Beuys exhibition in 1988, the abstraction exhibition in the mid-'90s and Julie Mehretu in 1998. JULIE SOEFER Art doyenne Barbara Davis takes 10 questions on a landmark occasion: her 30th anniversary as a pioneering Houston gallerist. The accompanying exhibition, "Mile Marker," is on view January 12 through March 2 at her eponymous space, Barbara Davis Gallery. Who are your most significant discoveries? I gave internationally acclaimed artist Julie Mehretu her first gallery exhibition in 1998 when she was a Core Fellow. Shahzia Sikander did her first wall drawing for her 1998 exhibition [with me]. In 2007, Andrea Bianconi had his first U.S. exhibition [here]. I discovered Mie Olise in 2007 during Frieze week, where she was a finalist in the "Saatchi Sensations" exhibition, and in 2008 she made her U.S. debut at my gallery ... These four stand out, as they have seen a great deal of success at an international level. How has Houston transformed as a place to make and exhibit art in the last 30 years? After New York and Los Angeles, Houston has become the third largest art center in the United States, followed by Chicago. In the last 30 years, the city has seen the founding of The Menil Collection; the expansion of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the evolution of the "Perspectives" exhibitions at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; and the birth of a number of area nonprofit art spaces, such as Lawndale Art Center, DiverseWorks and, most recently Box 13. This multicultural city has cultivated a vibrant art scene that is nurturing and supportive of working artists ... As a result, Houston has become fertile ground for curators at the national and international level to make serious discoveries. For the rest of the dialogue, visit papercitymag.com. JENNY ANTILL GENSLER COLLECTION CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART THIRTY CANDLES ON Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, AK A NEW MUSEUM RISES I Asher Brown Durand's Kindred Spirits (detail), 1849, at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art t's the most watched story in the American museum world, and six weeks ago was the big reveal: Retail giant Walmart has given back to its hometown, region and, in a much broader context, all of America. You see, Alice Walton — heiress to the discount giant's fortune — is the founder and board chairman of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. When the doors opened on 11-11-11, this venture turned the unprepossessing town of Bentonville, Arkansas (aka Walmart's corporate HQ), into a Mecca for a bold, expansive and welcoming vision of American art. At a time when the Whitney in New York is tilting towards the contemporary and other bastions of American treasures, such as the Amon Carter in Fort Worth, are ensconced in slow-moving tradition, Crystal Bridges may do for Arkansas what the Guggenheim Bilbao did for the Basque region of Spain. And like the Bilbao with its dramatic Frank Gehry–created sculptural edifice, Crystal Bridges did not play it safe: Instead, it erected a curvaceous, folding and dipping structure, artfully sited in rolling nature, designed by Boston-based international firm Safdie Architects and built by Houston's Linbeck in a joint venture with Nabholz of Conway, Arkansas. And this is no second-rate collection. Its expansive 201,000 square feet are stocked with icons of American art, from the colonial period to today, including one of the most seminal canvases of 19th-century American painting: Asher Durand's Kindred Spirits of 1849. This six-years-in-the-making new arrival (whose final price tag has been kept under wraps) promises to be "a very different type of museum," notes director of collections David Houston. The brilliant, democratic Don Bagigalupi, who served as the Blaffer's director in the 1990s, takes the helm at Crystal Bridges, which has secured a $20 million gift from the Walmart Family Foundation to ensure that admission is free to all. crystalbridges.org. Catherine D. Anspon JENNY ANTILL Clockwise: Inside the Julia Ideson Library's restored Spanish Revival splendors. The Tudor Gallery, one of the Ideson's newly restored spaces available for private soirées. The restored Julia Ideson Library, readying for its next century. THE IDESON: A NEW CHAPTER T here's nothing like a reborn building to ignite an interest in history. The Julia Ideson Library and its triumphant, just-unveiled $32 million redux wins our vote for being one of the most inspiring architectural and preservation stories of 2011. At the helm, Phoebe Tudor and her fellow co-chairs Minnette Boesel and the late Margaret Skidmore were tapped by former Mayor Bill White in 2006 to lead the public/private fund-raising charge, with the City of Houston donating $16 million to the ambitious five-year project, matched by individual, corporate and foundation gifts. Phase one was the renovation of the 1920s-era Julia Ideson Library, which for 50 years was the main downtown branch for the Houston Library System. Phase two was a new addition completed last month that saw the realization of the 1920s-era master plan devised by the Ideson's original architect, Ralph Adams Cram of Boston (known for Rice University and St. John's the Divine in New York), but thwarted by the Great Depression. The revived Ideson and its handsome Spanish-style expansion by Gensler architect Barry Moore, which melds seamlessly with the historic three-story structure at 500 McKinney, serves multiple purposes. The original building becomes a nexus for social fêtes, from weddings and receptions to fund-raisers, complete with a catering kitchen and its own events director, as well as an exhibition space where curator Danielle Burns has organized "Cabinet of Curiosities," (through May 5), culled from the Ideson's vast archives. Beautifully restored are the library's signature details, as extolled by Miz Tudor: "The carved-wood coffered ceiling, the murals, the red-tile floors, those tall windows, the elegant stucco walls …" Connecting Cram's original building, the new wing — on track for LEED certification — is all about giving a climate-controlled place to history. It features a new Texas Room for the Ideson's rich trove, including the fabled collections of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center (HMRC), which encompass city directories, the Sanborn Maps that record buildings block-by-block from the post-Civil War period on, plus millions of tantalizing photographs of the built environment and daily life, ephemera and personal as well as civic documents. Kudos to the new Ideson standard-bearers for keeping these treasures where they belong, rather than shipping them off to some distant warehouse facility, so that Houston's history can be accessible and celebrated. Catherine D. Anspon JOHN DICKINSON REDUX F or everyone who covets the late designer John Dickinson's iconic plaster furnishings but has yet to snag the rare piece at auction, we have good news. David Sutherland, the gentleman who first represented the California designer in Texas, has acquired the rights from Dickinson's estate to reproduce some of his most important pieces in a limited series. Starting this month with 12 and adding two more designs next summer, Sutherland is producing the small and medium African tables, the Footed table and the Hoofed table, which are recognizable by their paw and hoof feet, as well as the table with Rope Tie, the naturalist Tree Stump pedestal and the Twig lamp and mirrors. Dickinson's white-plaster tables, lamps and even beds, many produced in the '70s, were quite fragile, but thanks to technical innovations, the Sutherland John Dickinson Collection will be reproduced with a lightweight glass-fiber-reinforced concrete that can withstand moisture, freezing conditions and rust, so most can be used outdoors as well. Exclusively to the trade at David Sutherland Showrooms. Laurann Claridge