RETAIL THERAPY: Silent Auction

On Tuesday, I met up with our fabulous Gala Silent Auction chairs Ana Abud and Stephen Hill to get the scoop on this year's silent auction. We have some fantastic items that could be yours if you place the highest bid...

Go local with Chef Monica Pope Gift Certificate. Four guests come to the Saturday morning Midtown Farmers Market at T'Afia, have breakfast with Chef Monica Pope, attend Monica's Green Plum Cooking School class and receive some of the Green Plum Kitchen prepared goods.

A chance to be a star in 002 Houston Magazine

Gift Certificates to Abejas Boutique, Bar Annie, Boheme Cafe & Wine Bar, Dolce Vita Day Spa, Michael Kemper Hair Salon and Day Spa and many more...

Pee Wee Herman Doll

Trip on a fabulous vacation

Guitar autographed by Madonna

and maybe or maybe not this...



Don't want to miss the silent auction? You still have time to get your table and/or tickets to the 2011 DiverseWorks Gala: RETAIL THERAPY on Saturday, April 2! For information and tickets, click HERE.

-Shawna

Shop 'Til You Drop for Art!

Calling all artists! We want YOU to create an artwork to be exhibited on one of the Underwriter/Sponsor tables expressing the theme for this year’s gala Retail Therapy. You can do so much with a theme like this one with all the variety of shops and stores in the mall (think shop ‘til you drop). Even if sculpture isn’t your usual medium, this is your chance to really let yourself go creatively to create a fun, whimsical or zany piece of art!

The only constraint is that your piece be no wider than 10 inches. There is no constraint on height. Artists who create and donate a table piece will receive two discounted tickets to the event.

If you are interested in donating a piece, please contact Lan Norwood at lannorwood@yahoo.com or (832) 867-1726.

Exclusive Pop-Out Pendant coming to DW

Hello, my name is Tracey and I'm addicted to jewelry.

Ask anyone here at the DiverseWorks office and they'll tell you I love jewelry. Now maybe not on the same level as Imelda Marcos loves shoes, but it's pretty close. I have tons of necklaces, rings, earrings, etc. And I'm always browsing the Web for more. So when the opportunity arose to work with Texas jewelry designer Melissa Borrell, I jumped at the chance to work with her on creating something awesome for DiverseWorks Artspace. Behold the Pop-Out Jewelry Collection exclusive DiverseWorks pendant! (See above.)

The pendant was inspired by the DW logo and is available in black, red and stainless steel; and will retail for $30, with all the proceeds benefiting DiverseWorks.

This is an exclusive item created by Borrell in collaboration with DW and there will be a limited supply of pendants available at DiverseWorks and www.diverseworks.org very soon.

In fact, you are looking at the first buyer of the pendant. (Now just which color do I want? Or should I just buy one of each!) For more information just contact me (tracey@diverseworks.org).

Join us as we honor 2011 TIF Grantees

It's finally here! The Idea Fund reception honoring the latest recipients will be held this Wednesday at The Eldorado Ballroom (2310 Elgin St., 77004) from 6:30-8:30p.m. There will be complimentary food and drinks provided by Cabo and Real Ale Brewing Co.

So come by Wednesday night to meet the newest grantees and enjoy free appetizers and beer!

--Tracey

Industry Night

Tomorrow night kicks off the first ever Industry Night at DiverseWorks!

Dear Art Community and for those people who love all things arty. This night is just for you. We are inviting artists from all disciplines and those who work in the arts to stop by and enjoy a tasty drink at our happy hour from 6-8pm. Bring your business card and receive exclusive drink specials for one night only (or at least until our next Happy Hour on May 17). Plus, if you are a DiverseWorks member you can enjoy those perks too!

The idea behind Industry Night...
The idea came about as a way to show our appreciation for the arts community in Houston. We live in a spectacular city full of arts and culture and what better way to give back then to host a happy hour just for you! Our hope is that it will be a chance for artists/ art groups to meet one another, an opportunity to plant the seeds for potential collaborations, and a chance to catch up with old friends.

The Extras...
Plus, our good friend Graham Gaskill will be DJing, Oh My! Pocket Pies! Food Truck will be here and Saint Arnold Brewing Company & Whole Foods are supplying the drinks!

Thanks to CultureMap and KUHF (88.7FM) for their support.

-Shawna

Thomas Kinkade: A Primer

It is estimated that one in twenty American homes contains a product adorned with an image by Thomas Kinkade. If that’s true then Kinkade, the self-professed Painter of Light, is onto something. No matter what you think about the work, there are LOTS and LOTS of people who gravitate towards Kinkade’s highly romanticized, gauzy depictions of serene landscapes, country churches, quaint cottages, and NASCAR tracks and they've collectively spent more than 4 billion dollars scooping up Kinkade merchandise over the past two decades. It’s often said that taste in art is subjective. But this isn’t really about art. It’s about commerce. Kinkade operates completely outside of the arts ecology--eschewing galleries for franchised storefronts in malls, replacing retrospective exhibitions with programs on QVC and the Home Shopping Network. Such is the nature of Kinkade’s thoroughly modern marriage of creation and consumption.

DiverseWorks takes a look at this phenomenon with the help of Houston-based artist Patricia Hernandez. Parody of Light, which runs from January 14-February 26^th in the main gallery, dissects Kinkade’s corporate empire using humor and wit with a heaping helping of irreverence thrown in. Mimicking the display techniques used in Kinkade's "Signature Galleries" and recreating the suburban home environment of an imagined Kinkade collector, Hernandez sheds light on the strategies, methods and savvy use of marketing and mechanization that have propelled Kinkade to billionaire status and earned him the mantle of "America's most collected living artist."

-Diane Barber

2010-2011 TIF Grantees

DiverseWorks would like to congratulate all the awardees of the Round 3 Idea Fund. Let's hear it for:

2011 The Idea Fund Grantees and their Projects:

ArtScouts Houston (Elaine Bradford, Emily Link, Dennis Nance, C.H. JoAnn Park) – Nohegan East: An art-making weekend retreat with a focus on community. (Houston-Pearland)

Boozefox (Drew Liverman, Jules Buck Jones, Michael Phalan, Scott Eastwood) – Battleship Earth: A large sculpture/watercraft resembling an iceberg, which will be “driven” around Lady Bird Lake over the course of one or more days. (Austin)

Nathaniel Donnett – What’s The New News?: A project that will challenge, respond to, and juxtapose, the way we read the news and how rap and poetry interprets it, the differences in generations when seeking information regarding issues and current events specifically in Houston’s Third Ward. (Houston)

David Feil, Amye McCarther – Andrus Studios Archive: An artist-volunteer run archive of a collection of audio reels from Andrus Studios, an independent, progressive and artist-directed recording studio owned and operated in Houston by Walt Andrus from 1964 to 1971. (Houston)

Christine Foerster – Fish.taco.ponic: A fully functioning aquaponic greenhouse to be built, maintained, narrated and exhibited in collaboration with students and community members of Segundo Barrio, El Paso. (El Paso)

GENDER book creators(Boston Bostian; Mel Reiff Hill; Jay Mays) – the GENDER book(let): A colorful, highly-illustrated resource, short in length and with detailed real-life experiences, the GENDER book serves as a starter manual that presents the beautiful diversity of gender. (Houston)

Leila Grothe, Cynthia Mulcahy – Square Dance: A Community Project: This project proposes art as social practice in the form of an outdoor seasonal community dance at the new Trinity River Audubon Center in Dallas. (Dallas)

Buster Graybill – The Progeny of Tush Hog: This project will document the offspring of Tush Hogs, a hybrid species of Minimalist sculptures and deer feeders discovered near Marfa, TX, as they continually adapt and migrate towards the urban centers of San Antonio and Houston. (Converse, TX)

Andy Rihn – Texas’ Longest Hammer Choir: To make a slow rolling short film of an event consisting of 500 people hitting hammers together across abandoned railroad tracks, filmed from a custom-made railroad cart that houses the soundtrack musicians, propulsionists and film makers. (Austin)

The Rio Grande Collective (Mattie Matthaei, Eileen Torpey, Bett Williams) – The River is the Road Festival: Our project is a street festival and a site specific video art installation in the historic Sacred Heart Chapel currently under restoration by the Texas Historic Commission. (Marfa – Ruidosa, TX)