FOCA Houston Itinerary
3-23-17 v3
Fellows of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Houston Tuesday April 25-Saturday April 29 2017
Itinerary
Day One: Tuesday April 25th 2017
Group arrival into George Bush Intercontinental/Houston Airport. Here in “Bayou City,” as the city is known, Houstonians take their art very seriously. The city boasts a large and exciting collection of public art that includes works by Miró, Dubuffet, Nevelson, Oldenburg, Moore, Calder, Barnett Newman, Michael Heizer, Tony Rosenthal, and Albert Paley.
Art Horizons International president Lisa Hahn will greet the group at baggage claim and escort them to our private bus.
Check in at the Four Seasons Houston. (1300 Lamar St, Houston, TX 77010 Phone: (713) 650-1300)
6:30 p.m. Gather in the hotel lobby to meet study tour leader Leo Costello and Art Horizons International President Lisa Hahn.
7:00 p.m. Depart by bus for dinner.
7:15 p.m. Enjoy a welcome dinner at Hugo’s Restaurant. Located in the heart of Houston's Montrose area, Hugo's brings the exciting and earthy flavors of Mexico across the border.
Return to the hotel after dinner by bus.
Day Two: Wednesday April 26th 2017
6:30am on Enjoy breakfast at the hotel.
9:15 a.m. Gather in the hotel lobby to depart promptly by bus.
9:30 a.m. Enjoy a private art collection visit in Houston’s River Oaks neighborhood. These two Houston art patrons and their children live with an extensive contemporary collection that includes paintings, works on paper, photography and sculpture. The art leans towards representational work, sometimes conceptual, and usually with an ironic twist. Artists represented at the Smiths’ Houston home include many working in Texas, other important American artists (e.g. Fred Tomaselli, George Condo, Carroll Dunham, Laurie Simmons, William Wegman, Philp Taafee, John Currin, David Salle, Barkley Hendricks, and Jim Nutt), and artists from Japan (e.g. Yoshitomo Nara, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Yasumasa Morimura), Great Britain (e.g. Julian Opie, Yinka Shonibare, Richard Patterson, and Peter Blake), Latin America (e.g. Luis Gonzales Palma, Liliana Porter, Vik Muniz, and Monica Costillo), and elsewhere in the world (e.g. Wim Delvoye, Stephen Balkenhol). The pieces in the home range from a 1930’s painting by Francis Picabia (temporally the oldest piece in the collection), to mid-century work (e.g., among notable others, a 1956 drawing by Larry Rivers and a 1969 John Wesley work on paper), to pieces made in the last year (e.g. an amusing outdoor sculpture by artist Ray Smith).
10:30 a.m. Depart for another collection located nearby.
11:00 a.m. Enjoy a visit to a second private art collection in the River Oaks neighborhood.
12:30 p.m. Depart by bus.
12:45 p.m. Enjoy lunch at Canopy Restaurant. Enjoy seasonal fare in a dining room decorated with murals of trees and other eco-chic touches.
2:30 p.m. Depart for an artist's studio.
3:00 p.m. Enjoy a visit to the studio of Karin Boker.
4:15 p.m. Return to the hotel by bus.
4:45 p.m. Arrival at hotel.
7:00 p.m. Depart for Rice University.
7:30 p.m. Enjoy a special sunset visit to the James Turrell’s “Twilight Epiphany” Skyspace. Located adjacent to the Shepherd School of Music on the Rice University campus is the Suzanne Deal Booth Centennial Pavilion, James Turrell's Twilight Epiphany skyspace. Twilight Epiphany is acoustically engineered to host musical performances and to act as a laboratory for music school students. Constructed of grass, concrete, stone and composite steel, the structure is equipped with a LED light sequence that projects onto the ceiling and through an aperture in the 72-foot square knife-edge roof just before sunrise and at sunset. Turrell's composition of light complements the natural light present at
2 twilight, and transforms the skyspace into a locale for experiencing beauty and reflective interactions with the surrounding campus and the natural world. (Sunset is at 7:55 pm)
8:15 p.m. Depart for dinner.
8:30 p.m. Enjoy dinner at Annie’s Café.
Return to the hotel by bus after dinner.
Day Three: Thursday April 27th 2017
6:30am on Enjoy breakfast at the hotel.
9:00 a.m. Gather in the hotel lobby to depart by bus.
9:15 a.m. Enjoy a visit to an studio of artist Christian Eckhart (pending confirmation).
10:00 a.m. Depart for the Menil Campus.
10:30 a.m. Enjoy a visit to the non-denominational Rothko Chapel which houses 14 canvases by Mark Rothko. Architect Philip Johnson collaborated with Rothko on the design of the chapel.
11:00 a.m. Next, we will enjoy an introduction to the Menil collection given by the curator of Modern and Contemporary art, Toby Kamps. The Menil’s permanent collection is one of the most important privately assembled collections of the 20th century. The museum opened in 1987 to preserve and exhibit the art collection of John and Dominique de Menil. Designed by Renzo Piano, this understated but elegant expanse of gray clapboard features a roof of white louvers, used both in the gallery spaces and on the building’s exterior, to unify the structure. The “leaves” function as a method of controlling light levels and also as a means of returning air flow.
The Menil Collection houses approximately 15,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs, and rare books. Masterpieces from antiquity, the tribal cultures of Africa, Oceania, and the American Pacific Northwest, and the major modern and contemporary art movements are particularly well represented. Highlights of the museum include its Surrealist holdings, particularly the works of Max Ernst, widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost collections of its kind.
Special Exhibitions on View: The Beginning of Everything: Drawings from the Janie C. Lee, Louisa Stude Sarofim, and David Whitney Collections The Beginning of Everything will feature nearly 100 master drawings promised to the Menil by trustees Janie C. Lee and Louisa Stude Sarofim and bequeathed in
3 2005 by David Whitney. The 110 promised gifts represent the work of 41 artists, who range chronologically from Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas in the late 19th century to Piet Mondrian, Balthus, and Georgia O’Keeffe in the mid- 20th century to Robert Gober and Terry Winters in the present. Among the highlights are drawings by Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Richard Serra, Eva Hesse, Agnes Martin, and unique works on paper by Robert Rauschenberg.
Between Land and Sea: Artists of the Coenties Slip Between Land and Sea: Artists of the Coenties Slip brings together examples of the early work of Chryssa, Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, Lenore Tawney, and Jack Youngerman. These artists were among a group of intellectuals, writers, filmmakers, and poets who lived and worked during the late 1950s and early 1960s in the old seaport at the lower tip of Manhattan called the Coenties Slip. Distinguished by its views of the Brooklyn Bridge and its position between land and sea, the slip served as an important inspiration for the artists, who frequently incorporated aquatic themes into their early work. The exhibition will feature 27 aesthetically distinct works, united by the artists’ desire to locate new ways of thinking about abstraction.
ReCollecting Dogon ReCollecting Dogon showcases over 25 examples of artistry from the Bandiagara region acquired by John and Dominique de Menil during the mid-20th century. The sculptures, masks, necklaces, and other works by “unknown” artists not only suggest the significance of art to daily life among Dogon peoples, they evoke formidable legacies of colonialism and the limitations of representing Dogon peoples through objects collected by and for foreigners. Curated by Paul R. Davis, ReCollecting Dogon strives to destabilize the authority of ethnographic display by including 1930s ethnographic audio recordings simulated by Marcel Griaule, photographs of artworks taken by Walker Evans (1935) and Mario Carrieri (1976), and other archival works that recall the long history of encounters and transactions shaping current understanding of Dogon peoples. Recently commissioned masks, videos by Sérou Dolo of recent masking events, and contemporary works by artists Amahigueré Dolo and Alaye Kene Atô present vibrant, living visual culture and serve as counterpoints to historical representations Dogon peoples.
On view in the Menil’s Byzantine Fresco Chapel: Francis Alÿs: The Fabiola Project The Fabiola Project consists of more than 450 reproductions of a lost 1885 painting of 4th-century Roman Saint Fabiola by French artist Jean- Jacques Henner. The project was initiated by Belgian artist Francis Alÿs in the early 1990s, shortly after he moved to Mexico City, his current home. Fascinated by the artisanal culture of the city and short on funds, he decided to build an art collection for himself by combing the city’s flea markets and antique and junk shops. He expected to find copies of masterpieces by painters like Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and Jean-François Millet. Instead, he found and bought versions of Henner’s Fabiola, depicted in left-facing profile wearing a red
4 headscarf. Gradually, Alÿs’s casual collecting project gathered steam as he and his friends discovered new images of the saint during their travels around the world.
Today, The Fabiola Project consists primarily of paintings, but also includes bas- relief wood carvings and images in needlepoint, painted ceramics, jewelry, and in one case a mosaic made of rice and beans.
Also located on the Menil Campus is the Cy Twombly Gallery. This gallery houses a permanent collection of work by the late American Abstract Expressionist artist Cy Twombly, exhibited in a building designed by Renzo Piano (1995) whose design is a pure square of pale Texas limestone. The collection consists of paintings, sculptures and works on paper dating from 1954 to 1994, including a number of key large-scale masterworks and important sets of paintings and drawings. Natural light enters the gallery through the roof via a highly inventive system of light-filtering planes until it is finally diffused by the stretched cotton fabric ceiling. This gallery opened in 1995.
12:30 p.m. Enjoy lunch at the Menil Bistro. Chef Greg Martin reclaims the classic definition of a bistro by providing casual dining in his friendly, lively establishment. Bistro Menil offers European-inspired, American fare.
2:00 p.m. After lunch, please enjoy free time to further explore the Menil Campus.
3:00 p.m. Depart for an artist studio.
3:15 p.m. Enjoy a visit to the studio and foundry of a sculptor Joe Havel, who was featured in the 2000 Whitney Biennial. His studio is located in a 9000-square foot church, complete with a foundry.
4:45 p.m. Return to the hotel.
Dinner is on your own. A list of suggestions is provided in your welcome packets.
Day Four: Friday April 28th 2017
6:30am on Enjoy breakfast at the hotel restaurant at your leisure. The Remington Restaurant located on the lobby level. Vouchers will be provided.
9:30 a.m. Gather in hotel lobby to depart for the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.
10:00 a.m. Enjoy a guided tour of the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC), a nonprofit arts organization founded to advance education about the process, product, and history of craft. At HCCC, you will see the full range of the creative
5 process, from how an object is made to why the artist decided to create something “just that way.”
Current Exhibitions: United By Hand: Work And Service by Drew Cameron, Alicia Dietz, and Ehren Tool United by Hand: Work and Service by Drew Cameron, Alicia Dietz, and Ehren Tool is a program-driven exhibition led by three artists-veterans working in fiber, wood, and clay. Drew Cameron, Alicia Dietz, and Ehren Tool use craft as part of their own healing, and, through their artistic practices, continue to serve their country by promoting peace and giving a voice to veterans. Through both the works on view in the galleries and a series of craft-based programs, United by Hand pays tribute to U.S. veterans and aims to create neutral ground, raising critical awareness about the history and current state of war culture in the United States.
Future Tradition: Melissa Cody Future Tradition: Melissa Cody is a solo exhibition of recent work by the Navajo artist. Cody is a fourth-generation weaver from a family known for excellence in the traditional Navajo art. Like her contemporaries and weavers before her, Cody designs her pieces on a stand-up loom as she weaves, incorporating precise geometric forms and recognizable graphic elements, such as the yeii or Rainbow Person, who symbolizes protection, or a cross to represent Spider Woman, the giver and teacher of weaving to the Navajo. Unlike any other, however, Cody imbues her pieces with a stirring graphic vitality and personal voice, emerging as perhaps the most exciting young textile artist of today.
In Residence In Residence is an annual exhibition celebrating HCCC’s Artist Residency Program, which has supported makers in the field of craft for over 15 years. This exhibition features work by 11 artists working in ceramic, fiber, metal, wood, and mixed media: Susan Budge, Jonathan Clark, Madison Creech, Terry Fromm, Julia Gabriel, Rene Lee Henry, Younha Jung, Wen-Dan Lin, Sarah S. Mallory, Gary Schott, and Carolyn Watkins.
By incorporating digital fabrication, illustration, screen printing, pop-culture references, and found objects into immersive installations of fiber and quilts, Madison Creech’s sculptural works redefine the medium of fiber itself. Ceramicist Carolyn Watkins takes inspiration from folds of flesh, historic ceramic vessels, and how breath fills and leaves the body. Her bulbous ceramic vessels and sculptures subvert notions of utility, while physically incorporating her breath as she applies glaze through an atomizer. Built from an almost 40-year ceramics career, Susan Budge’s monumental abstract sculptures have lustrous surfaces, vertebrae-like interwoven cuts, and soaring forms that illuminate and redefine the spaces in which they reside.
6 Wen-Dan Lin creates intricate ceramic structures that take inspiration from industrial design and architectural forms. His work champions structure over chaos, elevating malleable, organic earth into elegant, fragile forms with total control. Similarly, multi-media artist Jonathan Clark transforms wood, office materials, and found objects into highly complex structures using principles of mathematics, divine proportion, and natural patterning. The sinuous, ribbon-like work of metalsmith Terry Fromm brings a surprising movement and softness to an inherently rigid and unwavering medium through skilled hammer work and forging. Layers of hand-cut paper, patterning, and embroidery unite in fiber and book artist Sarah S. Mallory’s vibrant representations of worlds, both natural and imaginary. Metalsmith and multi-media artist Gary Schott creates humorous kinetic and wearable objects that are activated through various interactions, giving the viewer the ability to wear his brooches or crank the handles of his kinetic machines.
Jeweler Younha Jung creates modern, geometric silhouettes from steel, building materials, and found objects that she has collected from construction sites. Her work explores the correlation between site and identity, bringing new life to the discarded artifacts she incorporates, while acknowledging their history and power as relics. The abstracted architectural forms and acid-mottled surfaces of Rene Lee Henry’s jewelry are redolent of the dilapidated buildings and monuments from which she takes inspiration. Her work uses these forms to explore the significance of contemporary ruins. Fiber artist and handbag designer Julia Gabriel also takes inspiration from geometric and architectural forms, using the mathematical principle of the golden ratio to inform her functional designs, which range from rectangular and cubic forms to cones and triangular prisms.
11:30 a.m. Depart for lunch.
12:00 p.m. Enjoy lunch at the Giacomo’s Restaurant. Giacomo’s is a casual, neighborhood Italian cafe and wine bar specializing in small plates of hot and cold antipasti for grazing, sharing, mixing and matching. All food is prepared from scratch using the best local and natural ingredients available.
2:00 p.m. Depart for private collection.
2:30 p.m. Enjoy a visit to a private collection. This collection features works by Robert Rauschenberg, Helen Frankenthaler, Pat Steir, James Rosenquist, James Tuttle, Nancy Graves, John Chamberlain and Kurt Schwitters.
3:45 p.m. Depart for the hotel.
4:15 p.m. Arrival at the hotel.
6:15 p.m. Depart by bus.
7 6:45 p.m. Enjoy a farewell dinner hosted at a collector couple’s gallery residence. Buffet dinner to be served 7:45pm.
Return to the hotel by bus after dinner.
Day Five: Saturday April 29th 2017
6:30am on Enjoy breakfast at the hotel.
Please check out of the hotel and handle your incidentals.
9:30 a.m. Depart for the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
10:00 a.m. Enjoy a guided tour of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, a not-for- profit institution in the Museum District, dedicated to presenting the contemporary art of our time to the public.
As a non-collecting museum, it strives to provide a forum for visual arts of the present and recent past and document new directions in art, while engaging the public and encouraging a greater understanding of contemporary art through education programs. The Contemporary Arts Museum occupies a stainless- steel building. The building was designed by Gunnar Birkerts and opened its doors in 1972.
Special Exhibition on View: Atlas, Plural, Monumental Atlas, Plural, Monumental is Paul Ramirez Jonas’s first survey exhibition in the Americas. Including sculptures, photographs, videos, drawings, performative lectures, and participatory works made from 1991 to 2016, Atlas, Plural, Monumental demonstrates how Ramirez Jonas is redefining “public art” by investigating how a public is constituted, as well as what brings one together. In his earliest works, Ramirez Jonas viewed historical references from a strategic vantage as he adapted early scientific experiments as “scores” inflected with his voice. Ramirez Jonas’s faithful reproductions of kites designed by inventors such as Alexander Graham Bell and Joseph Lecornu carried cameras into the air where re-engineered alarm clocks triggered their shutters, capturing images of the artist on the ground holding the kite’s string. In these works, Ramirez Jonas typically activated the scores himself; his later works extend this invitation to viewers. For His Truth is Marching On (1993) the public is invited to take up a mallet and tap a suspended circular arrangement of water-filled wine bottles; their successive musical notes offer a rendition of The Battle Hymn of The Republic.
In 2005, Ramirez Jonas shifted his focus toward decidedly public forms: the equestrian statue, the bronze plaque, the key to the city, and the like. The Commons (2011) is a riderless equestrian monument made from cork, and viewers
8 are invited to affix their own messages to its base. With this action, properties often attributed to commemorative sculpture—the singular voice of the state, the singular identity of the memorialized hero, and the immutability of inscriptions set in bronze and stone—are all upended. Ramirez Jonas’s work democratizes time-honored civic forms. Manifested in a range of compelling forms, Ramirez Jonas’s work invigorates our cultural commons.
11:30 a.m. Depart for lunch.
12:00 p.m. Enjoy a private buffet lunch at the home of an art dealer and collector. This dealer collects contemporary prints and drawings and owns works by Jennifer Bartlett, Tom Sachs, Sherrie Levine, Agnes Martin, James Turrell, John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Vernon Fisher and many more.
2:00 p.m. Depart for the airport.
Art Horizons International wishes you a pleasant journey home!
** Portions of this itinerary are subject to change based on availability. Art Horizons promises to make comparable changes to ensure quality and excellence in your program.
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