Posts tagged Houston

I’ve long been a fan of artist Jean Shin; she’s turned discarded objects into really cool artwork. (We’ve featured some of her work on the Unconsumption Tumblr.) Here, I’m standing in front of one of her broken umbrella sculptures, in a private collection in Houston. (Taken with Instagram at Houston, Texas)

I’ve long been a fan of artist Jean Shin; she’s turned discarded objects into really cool artwork. (We’ve featured some of her work on the Unconsumption Tumblr.) Here, I’m standing in front of one of her broken umbrella sculptures, in a private collection in Houston. (Taken with Instagram at Houston, Texas)

Via unconsumption: The Houston artistic team of Dan Havel and Dean Ruck is at it again. (Previous mentions here and here.) Thanks to their handiwork, another old bungalow slated for demolition is being transformed into architectural artwork. The public art project, which Havel and Ruck designed to function as a stage, is a temporary centerpiece in a new pocket park in Houston’s Fifth Ward, a neighborhood developed in the late 1800s. The Fifth Ward went into decline in the 1970s; in recent years, the area’s been undergoing redevelopment and revitalization. [Side note: Former residents include Congresswoman Barbara Jordan and musician Arnett Cobb.] Photo above via Fifth Ward Jam - Houston Arts Alliance.  Pre-deconstruction photo below (by Havel Ruck Projects) via Swamplot.com.  For additional photos and information, see this Swamplot post.  Houston!

Via unconsumption:

The Houston artistic team of Dan Havel and Dean Ruck is at it again. (Previous mentions here and here.) Thanks to their handiwork, another old bungalow slated for demolition is being transformed into architectural artwork.

The public art project, which Havel and Ruck designed to function as a stage, is a temporary centerpiece in a new pocket park in Houston’s Fifth Ward, a neighborhood developed in the late 1800s. The Fifth Ward went into decline in the 1970s; in recent years, the area’s been undergoing redevelopment and revitalization. [Side note: Former residents include Congresswoman Barbara Jordan and musician Arnett Cobb.]

Photo above via Fifth Ward Jam - Houston Arts Alliance. 

Pre-deconstruction photo below (by Havel Ruck Projects) via Swamplot.com. 

For additional photos and information, see this Swamplot post. 

Houston!

houstonartsalliance.com

I love this vintage sign. The building — the old drug store — was shuttered several years ago. If you look through the building’s front windows, you can see merchandise inside, scattered on shelves, countertops, and atop the soda fountain. Did the former occupant leave in a hurry, and never return? A mystery. (Taken with Instagram at 2119 Washington Avenue, in Houston)

I love this vintage sign. The building — the old drug store — was shuttered several years ago. If you look through the building’s front windows, you can see merchandise inside, scattered on shelves, countertops, and atop the soda fountain. Did the former occupant leave in a hurry, and never return? A mystery.

(Taken with Instagram at 2119 Washington Avenue, in Houston)

This vacant industrial building has not only a #ghostsign on it, but a yellow coat hanging from one of its windows. #awesome (Taken with instagram) Subsequent note: In recent years, at least one club has operated out of the building (which could help explain the presence of the coat!). The warehouse is located at 2001 Commerce Street — within shouting distance of Minute Maid Park — east of downtown Houston. Thanks to a Google search, I now know that Graybar Electric Company was formerly housed in the building. The company’s old logos jibe with the ghost sign’s faded paint. See history.graybar.com/1942-1964.php and history.graybar.com.

This vacant industrial building has not only a #ghostsign on it, but a yellow coat hanging from one of its windows. #awesome (Taken with instagram)

Subsequent note: In recent years, at least one club has operated out of the building (which could help explain the presence of the coat!). The warehouse is located at 2001 Commerce Street — within shouting distance of Minute Maid Park — east of downtown Houston.

Thanks to a Google search, I now know that Graybar Electric Company was formerly housed in the building. The company’s old logos jibe with the ghost sign’s faded paint. See history.graybar.com/1942-1964.php and history.graybar.com.

David Eagleman and Mysteries of the Brain : The New Yorker

What a brush with death taught David Eagleman about the mysteries of time and the brain.

A fascinating read, by Burkhard Bilger.

When David Eagleman was eight years old, he fell off a roof and kept on falling. Or so it seemed at the time. His family was living outside Albuquerque, in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. There were only a few other houses around, scattered among the bunchgrass and the cholla cactus, and a new construction site was the Eagleman boys’ idea of a perfect playground. David and his older brother, Joel, had ridden their dirt bikes to a half-finished adobe house about a quarter of a mile away. When they’d explored the rooms below, David scrambled up a wooden ladder to the roof. He stood there for a few minutes taking in the view—west across desert and subdivision to the city rising in the distance—then walked over the newly laid tar paper to a ledge above the living room. “It looked stiff,” he told me recently. “So I stepped onto the edge of it.”

In the years since, Eagleman has collected hundreds of stories like his, and they almost all share the same quality: in life-threatening situations, time seems to slow down. He remembers the feeling clearly, he says. His body stumbles forward as the tar paper tears free at his feet. His hands stretch toward the ledge, but it’s out of reach. The brick floor floats upward—some shiny nails are scattered across it—as his body rotates weightlessly above the ground. It’s a moment of absolute calm and eerie mental acuity. But the thing he remembers best is the thought that struck him in midair: this must be how Alice felt when she was tumbling down the rabbit hole.

Read the rest here.

Meeting a friend for brunch on the east side of town gave me good reason to drive around the area east of downtown Houston (east of Minute Maid Park, for baseball fans!). I wish I knew the back story behind this building, which appears to be empty, and its ghost signs. Among the words I can make out are “No dust. No dirt.” And: “5 ¢.” “Metro.” Odd combo.  (Taken with instagram, with no filter.)

Meeting a friend for brunch on the east side of town gave me good reason to drive around the area east of downtown Houston (east of Minute Maid Park, for baseball fans!). I wish I knew the back story behind this building, which appears to be empty, and its ghost signs.

Among the words I can make out are “No dust. No dirt.” And: “5 ¢.” “Metro.” Odd combo. 

(Taken with instagram, with no filter.)

At last, pleased to add this pic to my ghost sign series! … Had time today to drive by this building — the former Waddell House Furnishing Co. building — before I leave this side of Houston. Sadly, it’s a disused building. What future does it have? Bonus: captured a bird in flight! (Taken with instagram, with gotham filter.)

At last, pleased to add this pic to my ghost sign series! … Had time today to drive by this building — the former Waddell House Furnishing Co. building — before I leave this side of Houston. Sadly, it’s a disused building. What future does it have?

Bonus: captured a bird in flight!

(Taken with instagram, with gotham filter.)

Prominent Houstonians' ideas on what to do with Dome

lettersfromhere:

I find it totally beyond imagination that the Astrodome could cease to exist. This article is a must-read for anybody who believes, as I do, that the Dome is a crucial piece of physical history.

Hello? Anybody?

Anyway: They shoulda asked The Art Guys for ideas, too.

(Thanks Molly!)

Agreed. 

lettersfromhere

Textures. Interesting pink stamped pattern. #Houston #streetart #drivebyphotography (Taken with instagram)

Textures. Interesting pink stamped pattern. #Houston #streetart #drivebyphotography (Taken with instagram)

Pile o’ curb pieces ripped out due to street-widening project. They’re old, with street names labeled in tile on them. Would be cool if the city of Houston is saving them to reuse them. (Taken with Instagram at Lola)

Pile o’ curb pieces ripped out due to street-widening project. They’re old, with street names labeled in tile on them. Would be cool if the city of Houston is saving them to reuse them. (Taken with Instagram at Lola)

Afternoon view: Blanket of white azaleas outside the library. (Taken with Instagram at Heights Library)

Afternoon view: Blanket of white azaleas outside the library. (Taken with Instagram at Heights Library)

[Museum of Fine Arts, Houston] MFAH’s James Turrell acquisition adds to Houston’s bounty | Houston Art | via 29-95.com Bonus: “Rice University has commissioned a [Turrell] skyspace for its campus following a multimillion-dollar gift from alumna Suzanne Deal Booth.” Related: Earlier post about the Turrell skyspace in Houston’s Live Oak Friends Meeting House. Update: Info from today, March 18, via The Rice Thresher, Rice University’s newspaper: The $6-million skyspace “will be situated on a raised grass hill so that people will be able to walk through it into a covered tunnel inside, where there will be space for 30 to 40 people to sit on benches. The second floor will have standing room for 60 to 70 people, along with a panel in the ceiling to display the sky and frame an LED display for shows at sunrise and sunset. The skyspace will be outfitted for musical performances by small ensembles.” The installation is expected to be completed by December.

[Museum of Fine Arts, Houston] MFAH’s James Turrell acquisition adds to Houston’s bounty | Houston Art | via 29-95.com

Bonus: “Rice University has commissioned a [Turrell] skyspace for its campus following a multimillion-dollar gift from alumna Suzanne Deal Booth.”

Related: Earlier post about the Turrell skyspace in Houston’s Live Oak Friends Meeting House.

Update: Info from today, March 18, via The Rice Thresher, Rice University’s newspaper: The $6-million skyspace “will be situated on a raised grass hill so that people will be able to walk through it into a covered tunnel inside, where there will be space for 30 to 40 people to sit on benches. The second floor will have standing room for 60 to 70 people, along with a panel in the ceiling to display the sky and frame an LED display for shows at sunrise and sunset. The skyspace will be outfitted for musical performances by small ensembles.” The installation is expected to be completed by December.

29-95.com

Okay, last shot of that same site from this evening’s walk downtown. This pic shows the open space / parking lot between the two other buildings (the ones with the ghost signs). A relic — the word “shoes” — is intact in the terrazzo (beneath the metal barricade). The tile in the area to the left of this spot is different, leading me to think two or three narrow stores once sat on this site. Bonus: See that red brick building in the background? I used to live in a loft there.

Okay, last shot of that same site from this evening’s walk downtown. This pic shows the open space / parking lot between the two other buildings (the ones with the ghost signs). A relic — the word “shoes” — is intact in the terrazzo (beneath the metal barricade). The tile in the area to the left of this spot is different, leading me to think two or three narrow stores once sat on this site. Bonus: See that red brick building in the background? I used to live in a loft there.