Second Seating Party Pix: Laurie Perez Does It Again

OK, OK, I know these photos should go in an album on Facebook or flickr or somewhere besides this blog. But I have to show some of the photos that Laurie Perez took the evening that Second Seating opened. She is terrific and so is the crowd. What is not to love about these images?
Here's a contemplative Diane Barber, co-director of Diverse Works.
Jesse Sifuentes hears a few words from TSU colleague Sarah Trotty.MMH expounds to HAA's Jonathon Glus and Alton LaDay.Central Houston's Bob Eury and the Buffalo Bayou Partnership's Anne Olsen meet in front of the Wall of Plates.Central Houston Angie Bertinot is charmed by something Joe Cooper is saying. He tends to say things that are 'charming and funny right on.'
Virginia Hancock, amazing woman who uncovered a very old cemetery, bikes every day and helped with the sewing bees for that very huge patchwork we assembled for the Second Seating Celebration table. Virginia's in conversation with Harris County Flood Control's Raouf Farid.And what is Mercedes Fernandez telling Agnes Welsh Eyster? Something outrageous. Have no doubt. Just look at her face.Meeting and greeting good friends: MMH with Irina Langhans, Marie Mansour, Minnette Boesel from Mayor White's office and Terrylin Neale, executive director of the University of Houston Foundation. Catarina Williams with her grandfather. A really marvelous portrait. Alex bar tending with efficiency and ease. Jeff Brown on his left.Here are the three collaborators who made the Bayou, Bay, Beach tableau come together as envisioned. MMH, Mark Ellis and Gonzo247. Quite a trio.One of my favorite folks in the East End, Bob Townley is a valued supporter of the management district's and even better, I never took my car anywhere but his shop on Harrisburg. George Beatty and his daughter visit with Sait Yavuz, one of our excellent guides on the trip to Turkey last May.Councilmember Sue Lovell with artist, former school board member and liberal Democrat who stands up for all the right stuff Gertrude Barnstone. Two extraordinary Houstonians.The party swells. Terrific. Looks pretty too.MMH and Phyllis Segal. Say no more. She drove a van of five great women out to Marfa in September 2005 to see my installation in that incredible green adobe ballroom at the International Women's Center. What good days they were out there in very west Texas. And all of this while Hurricane Rita was heading for Houston and then not heading for Houston.Neighborhood Centers, Inc.'s Carlos Paz and Natalia Ferreyra, partners and collaborators of Second Seating. Let me count the ways.Houston Dynamo's Oliver Luck and MMH under the Dynamo chandelier which will be auctioned off at the Houston Dynamo Gala at House of Blues on October 27.Lorraine Wulfe, wonderful wife and partner to Ed Wulfe who says one must ask seven times before giving up on something. A very good lesson. Lorraine also tells me that Ed says, "If you don't ask, you don't get." Good advice.And this last photo? I'm loving it. Way to go Laurie.

First Monday of the Month

Houston's chapter of The Transition Network gathered as we do the first Monday evening of every month for supper, conversation and this time, a look at Second Seating. TTN is a marvelous network of interesting women who have a lot to say and share about change. Many of us seem to be making good things happen when 'change' bounces into our lives either by retirement, divorce, death, illness, empty nests or new career opportunities. The change list is long. The organization itself is loose and welcoming.
Tonight I had the privilege of talking about what Second Seating means to me. For many of you who've followed the process on this blog for over a year now, it's old news. This installation has afforded me the opportunity to employ all of my skills and talents - to the fullest. I've had to raise the money to make the whole thing happen and find the wherewithal to ask what could possibly be hundreds of people to engage in the process.
'Making' Second Seating a reality has taken over a year and a seven day a week schedule. And you know what? I had fun doing it all. It's been a tremendous exercise in 'focusing'. It's provided me with an air of happiness in knowing that I brought a lifetime of knowledge to bear on this goal of collaborating with others to make an environment that just may enchant, entice, embrace anyone who enters.
The very best news is that every day someone walks into the space and says, "I want to have an event here. Can that happen?"
Yes, we can make that happen. In fact, that's kind of what it's all about. To those of you who've uttered those particular words?
You 'got' the whole idea of Second Seating. You want to be in the space itself. Thank you.

Jose Solis III: Totems and Chandeliers

Jose Solis is imaginative and the pieces he created for Second Seating combine many disparate elements. His chandeliers and totems are fanciful and quirky. And quite irresistible.
I first saw Jose's work years ago in a studio he shared at the Gribble Stamp Company with Ted Estrada. They used to invite people over to see new work and that's when I found his idiosyncratic wall pieces made with cans and wire, marbles and paint.

I bought one of his wall pieces for the Greater East End District and its sun shape has become one of their secondary logos. At the time, the management district offices were on the second floor of the Laredo National Bank on Harrisburg. Entering my office one morning, I discovered several big metal boxes connected by wide metal conduit on the wall over my desk. The bank had installed a neon sign on the outside of its building and all of the signs 'workings' were exposed on the wall of my office and were not a very pretty sight.

However, I knew who to call to make this mess of electrical boxes into a work of art. Jose created a series of pieces made with juice and coffee cans, more marbles and bits of metal and when he installed the work on all those electrical boxes, we had something wonderful.
Jose makes art filled with sly humor and quirky references. His work for Second Seating is a must see. And each of his chandeliers and totems is certainly a 'must-buy-and-take-home'.

Tired? Most Assuredly.

This is a photo my daughter Caroline took of me on Sunday evening after four days of family flying in and out for the opening of Second Seating and all of its attendant celebrations. It's Tuesday and I could still fall asleep on the floor given a moment or two. And I wouldn't have missed one minute of anything. Good days, all.

Welcome: International Quilt Festival

Quilt festival was born thirty years ago right here in Houston and today, it's the city largest annual convention, filling more hotel rooms and restaurant seats than oil and gas get-togethers. Imagine that! The vision of Karey Bresenhan and the power of quilters makes history year after year.Quilters and quilt lovers, welcome to Second Seating, the visual arts installation that is a fabulous mix of diverse dinner tables and quirky chandeliers all made from found objects, reclaimed materials and recycled packaging from Houston's East End industries.And Second Seating is right next door to Irma's Restaurant. Winner of a 2008 James Beard Foundation American Classics award, Irma is serving a 'Second Seating Lunch Plate Special' through November 7.

Second Seating 'Gatherings'

Lots of visitors and the guest book filling up. And hey folks, the work of eight artists is beautiful and all for sale. Every plate, every cup and every chandelier, every painting and table is for sale. Agnes Welsh Eyster's chandeliers are encrusted with metal flowers and colorful strips of aluminum cans. Jose Solis assembled a terrific chandelier with blue wine bottles and wire. I'm loving it all.We've discovered that Second Seating is so beautiful at night that we're planning several evening 'gatherings.' Let me know if you want to be on the email invite list by leaving a comment below. Place is truly gorgeous after dark. Enjoy.
We're loving this 'take' on Post Oak Boulevard's stainless steel arches. We even have bedding plants at the base of each beam. Ode to John Breeding and all those flower beds along the boulevard.Detail of a blue agave from one of Mercedes Fernandez' paintings. You can find yourself falling under the spell of these paintings because they are simply so luscious.A detail from a wall hanging with fabrics damaged by Hurricane Ike flood waters. I love the piece.
Bayou, Bay, Beach table in the late afternoon when the western sun shines through the windows. Just like an underwater fantasy and I love all the shreds of plastic hanging from the bottom of the chandelier on to the table and candelabra. A very good idea, Mark, to hang all those shreds of plastic.
Love the shadows and light that play behind Aggie's Tapestry piece.
And who would love a pot of pinto beans with clay roses. A lady bought one of these roses today. Shall I wrap them in pinto beans when she picks up her rose on November 7 when the show closes?
Aggie's tables are divine. Now is the moment to buy one.

A Few More Photos From Opening Night

Lots of folks taking pictures when Second Seating opened on Thursday evening. Here are a few more just downloaded. I think I was introducing Councilmember Sue Lovell here in the first photo.And here's a photo of Diverse Works co-director Diane Barber whom I first met when she came to volunteer at FotoFest in 1990. Thanks to Diverse Works for becoming the first underwriter of Second Seating last January.
And then there's that Wall of Plates, each with a hand written message. You've got to love that strawberry pink!
Here's Phyllis and me. And then a good photo of Mary, Sonya and Queta at the supper we all shared out on the patio after the reception.
Here's a photo of Catarina Williams' grandfather and family.
And Joe Cooper, a man who has supported this project when it was just a five page document. He could see it, or perhaps he simply knew that I could gather the wherewithal and the whomevers to do it.

And here are the guys very late in the evening. That's Gonzo247 on the far left and then Moises, Jeff, Alex, Chad, Martin and Angel. And I couldn't bear not to be in the middle of the photo. It was a wonderful evening.