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T he judges for PaperCity DesignAwards 2014 are designers Alexa Hampton, Celerie Kemble, and Jay Jeffers, and architect Michael Imber. The awards will be announced at a cocktail reception at Houston Design Center Tuesday, April 1. For more information, visit papercitymag. com/designawards. THE STATS: New York-based Alexa Hampton took over her father's venerable firm, Mark Hampton LLC, where she is principal designer and has been named to the AD100, House Beautiful's Top Designer's List and Elle Décor's A-List. She has fabrics and furniture collections through Kravet and Hickory Chair, carpets through Stark and lighting through Visual Comfort. She also has two books; the latest is Decorating in Detail. Designer Celerie Kemble is principal designer in the NY office of Kemble Interiors. She has collections of fabric and wall coverings through F. Schumacher, floor coverings with Merida Meridian, furniture with Henredon and accessories through Maitland-Smith. She also appears in J.Crew's "Real Women" ad campaign and the Benjamin Moore "Experts" ads. She has published two books, her newest is Black & White (and a Bit In Between). San Francisco-based designer Jay Jeffers has designed spaces all over the world, including the Ritz-Carlton Residences Lake Tahoe signature spaces. He has been named to the Elle Décor A-List; has a retail shop in San Francisco, Cavalier, and his first book, out this month from Rizzoli, Jay Jeffers Collected Cool, The Art of Bold, Stylish Interiors. Michael G. Imber, FAIA, is principal architect of Michael G. Imber Architects, based in San Antonio — a modern classical design firm that is strong in historic sentiment. Imber has recently won the Palladio Award for Outstanding Achievement in Traditional Design (2010, 2011, 2013) and Institute of Classical Architecture & Art Texas Chapter John Staub Awards (2011, 2012). His newest book, Michael G. Imber, Ranches: Villas & Houses (Rizzoli), was published in 2013. Art Notes Twentieth-Century Bounty: Bask in Braque and marvel in Magritte with these extraordinary shows that don't sacrifice intimacy for the import of ballyhooed blockbusters. At the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, cubism co-pioneer Braque gets his day in a retrospective organized by the Pompidou, installed with verve in the luminous spaces of the MFAH's Law Building Upper Brown Pavilion. Watch for some of the world's first collages, with modernist still lifes from 1912 that foreshadow the Jazz Age (through May 11). Then The Menil Collection boasts not one, but two peeks into Surrealist king Magritte (through June 1). While you're there, contemplate Lee Bontecou in the artist's first-ever drawing survey, organized by Menil curator Michelle White, which conjures the macro and micro, from deep space to the interiors of human and plant bodies (also through May 11). Speaking of Abstraction: Texas-based second-gen ab ex master Tony Magar pairs with Cecil Touchon of the Yves Klein-inspired cyan paperworks in a double-header that posits a fresh look at mark-making at Laura Rathe Fine Art (through March 22). Mexico Now: Mexico City-based Melanie Smith solos in two shows. The smart video artist, one of the stars of the contemporary Mexico show recently on view at Fort Worth's Modern, also headlined at the Venice Biennale. Sicardi Gallery presents Smith's take on a 1920s Ford town in the Amazon rendered in hypnotic, veiled paintings (through April 19), while Contemporary Arts Museum Houston rolls out her video, including a work filmed in Edward James' Surreal fantasy land of Xilitla (March 22 – June 15). Sultan of Painting: The king of abstracted reality, the talent who can take latex and tar and make it heroic, solos at Meredith Long. Catch Donald Sultan now on view (through March). The Lens of the Arab Avant-Garde: Prepare to roll up your sleeves and take in 5,500 images, as FotoFest unfurls its 15th biennial with a first-ever Arab-world theme; many of the 49 participants from 13 countries have never before shown in America (see our definitive preview, page 61; March 15 – April 27). New Arrivals: Speaking of FotoFest, this biennial marks the first for new executive director Steven Evans, who melds credentials as an artist with Texas connections (past director of the Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio) and an acclaimed tenure as managing director of DIA:Beacon. Founders Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss, the guiding lights of this photographic nonprofit, remain on to continue its artistic vision … Welcome Bonna Kol, the new director of Asia Society Texas Center. Cambodian-born Kol comes to Asia Society from top positions at Catholic Charities and KIPP Schools, and will work side-by-side with deputy director John Bradshaw Jr. on taking the Taniguchi-designed building and its programming to a wider, more diverse audience and amplify its vision. Catherine D. Anspon Jeff Gale, proprietor of beloved Barnaby's Café (five locations), has opened Luna Pizzeria at 3435 Richmond at Kirby near Office Depot. It's a build-your-own-pizza concept, with Italian sandwiches, salads, soups and desserts. Love the toys in the center of the communal tables … Punk's Simple Southern Food, created by Clark Cooper Concepts (the duo who brought us Ibiza, Brasserie 19 and Coppa), makes its culinary debut in Rice Village mid-month. Exec chef Brandi Key's menu embraces ingredients and foodstuffs found across the South, from Texas to the Carolinas … Good news for those missing Three Brother's Bakery's River Oaks locale: A new location opened late last month on Washington Avenue … Johnny M. Carrabba has relocated his Piatto Ristorante from Royal Oaks on Westheimer to a space in the Heights, on the ground floor of a seven-story residential building on Studewood. The 130-plus-seat eatery with private dining and patio seating opens early this month … Bonefish Grill, a seafood eatery specializing in market-fresh fish prepared over a wood grill to order, opens in the Woodlands any day now … Scotch whisky drinkers, take note: Reserve 101 has procured a rare bottle of Glenmorangie 1963 and is selling sips for a whopping $550 a shot. It's reputed to be one of just 50 bottles in existence. Laurann Claridge Restaurant Buzz C O L L E C T O R ' S CONVERSATION DALLAS ART FAIR Dallas-based patron, collector, educator and president of Henry S. Miller Interests, Inc., Jackie Stewart, poses questions to exhibiting gallerist Rachel Churner, owner, Churner and Churner, New York. Tell us about growing up in Dallas and how it impacted your entry into the art world. I'll never forget the first time I stood under Oldenburg's Stake Hitch at the DMA, or saw Borofsky's huge Hammering Man at NorthPark Mall. Those works stayed with me because they seemed to engage the legacy of Texas — its cowboy and oil rig days — without having been built specifically for a Texas space. I grew up in McKinney, and back then it was still a small town. I spent a lot of time at the Heard Natural Science Museum as a kid: They had one of those glow-in-the-dark rock displays and old dusty rooms with vitrines of shells. The intimacy of the museum stuck with me and is something that I still think about. You really felt that you were part of the place instead of a mere visitor. Why are you exhibiting at the 2014 Dallas Art Fair? The Dallas Art Fair has a great reputation, and my colleagues who've done it in the past speak incredibly highly of it. Plus, the energy in the Dallas art world is so strong right now — from the DMA to the Kimbell to the amazing private collections. We wanted to be a part of that. And, of course, I'm excited to be back in my hometown, even if only for a few days. How will your booth be curated? Which artists are you bringing? New works by three incredible up-and-coming artists: Nick Hornby, Elise Adibi and Scott Nedrelow. Nick's marble resin sculpture is both an homage to and a subversion of classical sculpture. It is also a beautiful object in its own right. The piece, 6 Degrees Takes One Minute, is based on the profile of Michelangelo's David mirrored upon itself at an acute angle to make a new compound face, which is then extruded to a point. Elise, who was just featured in Artforum (January 2014), is showing new paintings made from essential plant oils and oil paint that engage the grid and simultaneously explode it. And Scott will exhibit a group of new paintings that look like photographs of shadows. Made by air-brushing printer ink onto photo paper, they are subtle challenges to the viewer. For the rest of the conversation, peruse papercitymag.com. DALLAS ART FAIR: APRIL 11–13, 2014; PREVIEW GALA APRIL 10, 2014 Rachel Churner Jackie Stewart BILL FARRELL We never miss it: The venerable Azalea Trail (this year, the 79th), sponsored by River Oaks Garden Club, is Friday through Sunday, March 7 and 8, chaired this year by Sallie Mansell and Sally Matthews. The Sallys have procured four top-drawer homes and gardens: 4016 Inverness, architect Hamilton Brown, interiors designed by the fabulous NY decorator Miles Redd (would love to see him spin his magic on a garden), gardens McDougald Steele; 5221 Pine Forest Road, architect Dillon Kyle, gardens Herbert Pickworth; 6102 Crab Orchard, architect Preston Bolton, interiors Sylvia Longoria Dorsey, gardens Herbert Pickworth; 2239 Troon, architect Murphy Mears Architects, interiors Marcus Mohon, gardens Exterior Worlds; as well as the always stunning Bayou Bend, Rienzi and River Oaks Garden Club. Tickets available at any of the seven locations days of the tours. 713.523.2483, riveroaksgardenclub.org. Trail-Blazers Celerie Kemble Designers are making their way from both coasts to The Houston Design Center's Spring Market Tuesday, April 1. Alexa Hampton is in from New York, Jay Jeffers from San Francisco and architect Michael Imber from San Antonio. All will join a lively panel discussion at 11 am at Alkusari Stone showroom (Suite 229), followed by a signing of the three designers' books. That night, PaperCity DesignAwards are presented by Hampton, Jeffers and Imber at a cocktail reception, 6 pm at Design House showroom (Suite 115). For reservations to either event, go to thehoustondesigncenter.com or call 713.864.2660. The Houston Design Center, 7026 Old Katy Road. Control Panel Tony Magar's Ultra Deep, 2013, at Laura Rathe Fine Art Georges Braque's Compotier et verre (Fruit Dish and Glass), September 1912, at MFAH Spring Street Shala, 1824 Spring St., springshala.com Spring Street Shala is an ashtanga collective founded by Stepanie Boult Eberhart, who has practiced ashtanga yoga for 11 years. Ashtanga, which was originally taught by Sri K. Pattahbi Jois in Mysore, India, was introduced to the West in 1975. Not your big-box yoga studio, this intimate space with room for about 20 students and three instructors per session, follows the teaching and practice of the traditional Mysore style; instruction is one on one in a small group setting. Students practice at their own pace, while adjustments are provided by three passionate and experienced teachers: Eberhart herself, Tammy Fontaine and Samuel Palmer. Intensely physical and athletic, the practice synchronizes the breath with a progressive series of poses, producing internal heat and purifying perspiration to detoxify muscles and organs. Sign us up! Michelle Aviña Shanti! Shanti! Samuel Palmer MAX BURKHALTER The Judges Are … PAPERCITY DESIGNAWARDS Alexa Hampton Michael Imber Jay Jeffers 5221 Pine Forest Road WWW.DALLASARTFAIR.COM brought to you by THE LEONARD A. LAUDER CUBIST TRUST, NYC. IMAGE © STINEHOUR PHOTOGRAPHY. © 2014 ARS, NYC / ADAGP, PARIS