Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/452972
Chuck Is in the House: The late Chuck Ramirez was the heart and soul of the San Antonio art scene. Now he gets a posthumous survey at Octavia Art Gallery, where director Illa Gaunt is a Ramirez expert (through February 25). You'll find a wide range of conceptual photos to see and acquire, from the artist's series of empty candy boxes and his decaying hospital blossoms (both meditations on the AIDS crisis) to images of brooms used by domestic workers, a Whataburger cup and, in the back room, his burst-piñatas series. Painter's Progress: Texas Gallery shows the spiritual-seeking canvases of West Coast late master Lee Mullican, whose cosmic abstractions helped define the L.A. scene back in the day (through February 21). Mullican was a co-leader of the city's post-war Dynaton movement, which promoted paths to the transcendental through painting. Paper Lady: At Anya Tish Gallery, bask in the light sculptures of Adela Andea (through February 14), followed by extraordinary abstract works on paper by Orna Feinstein, who elevates printmaking to new levels. Feinstein will also craft an epic multimedia 3-D installation (February 20 – March 21). All in the Family: At Inman Gallery, Carlee Fernandez marries sculpture and photography in a compelling way (through February 21). She spent her adolescent years in Houston; now she's in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Art, Houston, and is fresh from showing at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. (Follow me on Twitter at @PaperCityCA to see a photo of Fernandez with her tall-as-a-person family calendar.). Modern Masters, Indeed: Meredith Long & Company's impressive group view presents late greats Kenneth Noland and Lee Krasner alongside contemporary notables Donald Sultan and Rachel Hovnanian of the contemplative gold-leaf canvases conceived with NASA technology (through February). Arrivals + a Return: We spotted Galveston Arts Center's curator Clint Willour, who's back after a lengthy illness, at Moody Gallery's beautiful show for the bronze nests of Lisa Ludwig (through February 14). Willour's first appearance was at the reception for Houston Center for Photography's new game-changing director, Sarah Sudhoff, who has worn many hats through the years: photographer, performance artist, artists advocate and former Time magazine photo editor. (Sudhoff arrives via San Antonio, and before that NYC, and has Houston ties: Her brother, Jacob Sudhoff, is in the real estate biz) … Another new hire is Menil Drawing Institute's just announced chief curator, David Breslin, arriving from the jewel-like Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. For weekly art topics and musings, head to papercitymag.com. Catherine D. Anspon Atlanta star chef and restaurateur Ford Fry returns to his Houston roots (St. John's, Lamar High School) with his first Texas restaurant, State of Grace, to open this spring in Lamar River Oaks Shopping Center at 3256 Westheimer. He joins fellow Atlantans Sid and Ann Mashburn, who opened their eponymous clothing store in the same center a year ago. The menu will be inspired by the Texas Gulf Coast and Texas meat, using locally sourced ingredients, much like Fry's seven other restaurants in Atlanta (El Felix, Superica, St. Cecilia, King + Duke, The Optimist, No. 246 and Jct Kitchen) … Henke & Pillot, the famed grocery store chain started here in the 1800s by Henry Henke and Camille Pillot, returns to Houston, but this time around as a lounge. The three-story imbibe-teria is not only named after the famed local grocery chain but will also be housed in the same building the store once occupied, at 809 Congress. Co-owner Marcus Lam, proprietor of construction company Advent Builder, reconstructed the historical locale. Currently in its soft opening phase with hours from 4 pm to 2 am, Wednesday through Saturday, it's expected to fully open in February, with live music and a rooftop patio on the second and third floors added in the near future … Stag – Provisions for Men, the great menswear store based in Austin, opens this spring at the Westheimer and Kirby shopping center next to Sloan/Hall and Armandos, in a portion of the shuttered Buffalo Hardware space. Stag will stock such names as Jack Spade, Faherty, Hamilton Shirts, Filson, Saturdays Surf, Bridge & Burn, Pendleton, Wolverine and more … Another spot for the boys, Chicago-based Knot Standard, has opened at the Mosaic Building at 5925 Almeda Road. Knot Standard is a robust online site for handmade, luxury suits, shirts, ties, blazers and leather goods, and this showroom augments the online services with custom clothiers to take precise measurements for a bespoke suit … The first Houston Snaidero kitchens showroom opens in March at 3805 Kirby, Suite 120, with sleek Italian kitchens designed by Paulo Pininfarina Design, Pietro Arosio Design, Michele Marcon Design and Snaidero … This spring, Drybar opens another blowout bar with its signature buttercup-yellow blow-dryers and signage, also at the Westheimer and Kirby shopping center near Stag (see above). Art Notes FEBRUARY | PAGE 6 | 2015 Lee Mullican's Mediations On A Jazz Passage, 1964, at Texas Gallery luxury PROPERTIES. utmo DISCRETION. M E C O M P R O P E R T I E S . C O M 7 1 3 . 5 5 8 . 3 3 1 8 Mary Elizabeth is a member of the Martha Turner Sotheby's International Realty Circle of Excellence and Hall of Fame and ranked one of Houston Business Journal's Top-25 Realtors. T hursday, February 5, help a garden grow at the Green Gala: "Lasso Your Heart for the Park" benefitting Memorial Park Conservancy. Join co-chairs Tammy Jenkins and Camille Patton at Running Trails Center in Memorial Park for cocktails, seated dinner, presentation of the Ima Hogg Volunteer Service Award to Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo, and entertainment by Wood and Wire; media sponsor PaperCity (832.673.0860; ann@annsevents.com; memorialparkconservancy. org) … Tuesday, February 10, Recipe for Success presents Dress for Dinner: Rock Your Sox Off with Men We Love Fashion Show & Dinner with the Designer at M Penner and The Tasting Room in Uptown Park. Chairs Leisa Holland- Nelson and Laura Max Nelson invite local male celebs to walk the runway in socks designed by Vivek Nagrani; dinner at The Tasting Room; custom Recipe for Success socks available for purchase; media sponsor PaperCity (713.520.0443; events@ recipe4success.org) … Wednesday, February 11, Tootsies celebrates Valentine's Day early at Love's in Fashion, benefitting Dec My Room. Chairs Joanna and Brad Marks, Hannah and Cal McNair; honorary chairs Susan and Mike Plank; 20 Sweetheart Philanthropy Couples to walk in a runway fashion show (832.538.1201; decmyroom.org) … Wednesday, February 18, Houston Center for Photography holds its annual Print Auction at Junior League of Houston. Chairs Joe Aker and Geoffrey Koslov preside over the auction of premier photographic art from across the world; media sponsor PaperCity (713.529.4755 ext. 17; alex@hcponline.org). Also on Wednesday, February 18, Houston Ballet's The Masked Ball: A Tribute to Romeo and Juliet at Wortham Theater Center celebrates Stanton Welch's world premiere of Romeo and Juliet; chairs Melissa and Michael Mithoff, Henry Richardson and Monsour Taghdisi; honorees Phoebe and Bobby Tudor; dinner Jackson and Company; auction of jewels curated by Tony Bradfield and Kevin Black of Tenenbaum & Co., Wine Cellar by Devinder Bhatia and artworks Barbara Davis Gallery; media sponsor PaperCity (713.535.3230; scadey@houstonballet.org) … Friday, February 20, shoot the breeze with Alley Theatre at the Sporting Clays Shoot at Greater Houston Gun Club. Chairman Butch Mach; sporting clay and flurry competitions; buffet lunch The Coronado Club; cocktail reception; awards ceremony; media sponsor PaperCity (713.315.3332; laurenr@alleytheatre.org). For still more fabulous events, go to papercitymag.com. Erin Oppenheim Social Whirl A wedding march through a grand cathedral calls for quite a different dress, train and veil than a walk down a sandy aisle. Tel Aviv-based Galia Lahav's couture gowns, available exclusively in Houston at Ivory Bridal Atelier, are meant to make a statement. Think dramatic trains with embroidery and boned bodices with stunning silhouettes. Revered by shapely brides for her deep, deep back décolletage, Lahav draws on her history as a fine artist and origins as a seamstress in Russia to create her lavish designs. Ivory Bridal Atelier, 2800 Kirby Dr., 713.550.1622. Kate Stukenberg Wedding Works of ART Film denizens, take note: A small, well-edited festival makes its third annual appearance in town this month. Mountainfilm Houston, the traveling version of Telluride's famed film festival, culls documentaries whose topics impact issues, cultures and environments (aka ICE). Chairmen Shushana and Jack Castle brought Mountainfilm to town; she served on the Clinton Global Initiative and has recently penned the volume Rethink Food: 100+ Doctors Can't Be Wrong. Four feature-length documentaries headline the two-day event: Tashi and the Monk (enlightenment in the Himalayas as a former monk teaches a problem child); Mending the Line (the poignant return of a former GI, now 90, to the beaches of Normandy for a fishing trip); Xmas Without China (getting through a holiday season without acquiring goods made in China); and Cold (the harrowing ascent to an 8,000-meter peak in Pakistan undertaken in winter). All screenings — including some intriguing short films — take place Friday and Saturday, February 20 and 21, at Asia Society Texas Center's Yoshio Tanigichi-designed theater. Dinner and dessert from Shade, as well as beer, wine and soda will be on offer. Tickets $30 per night, $55 for both evenings; asiasociety.org/texas or icetalks.org. Catherine D. Anspon Gems Chuck Ramirez's Purple Ribbon, 2000/2011, at Octavia Art Gallery COURTESY RUIZ-HEALY ART, SAN ANTONIO Tashi and the Monk, screening Montainfilm Houston PILGRIM FILMS Galia Lahav at Ivory Bridal Atelier SCREEN