artiFACTS: July/August 2012

Aaron Parazette, Surf Fever, 2008, Acrylic on Canvas. 68 x 88 inches. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST.

Houston Art Dealers Association announces the ArtHouston 2012 summer event with   35 participating fine art galleries, opening on July 14th in a day-long event. Participating galleries include those along Colquitt, in the Museum District, Midtown, the Heights, and surrounding areas.  The galleries of ArtHouston invite you to their opening activities and to exhibitions continuing through the month.


Domokos Benczédi, Nancy Douthey, and Patrick Turk are the new artists for the seventh round of the Lawndale Artist Studio Program.


Houston Center for Contemporary Craft welcomes their new artist in residence Rachelle Vasquez, a Houston-based artist and certified art teacher who works primarily with fibers.


The Menil Collection director Josef Helfenstein announced that the Board of Trustees has unanimously chosen the Los Angeles-based architecture firm, Johnston Marklee to design the Menil Drawing Institute (MDI), the first major building project to be initiated under an ambitious plan for the institution’s future.


Crystal Benavides is the new director of Voices Breaking Boundaries.


Performing Ginastera’s Harp Concerto, harpist and Rice University Shepherd School of Music alumna Megan Levin won the 37th annual Houston Symphony League’s Ima Hogg Competition on Saturday, June 2 at Rice University’s Stude Concert Hall.


The Ensemble Theatre’s 2012/13 season includes The Nacirema Society by Pearl Cleage, The African American Shakespeare Company’s Cinderella, Knock Me a Kiss by Charles Smith, Broke-ology by Nathan Louis Jackson, Race by David Mamet, and From My Hometown, conceived by Lee Summers.


Houston Ballet dancers Joseph Walsh and Karina Gonzalez in Jerome Robbins’ Ballet In The Night. They head to Malaysia this month to perform pas de deux from Madame Butterfly and Sleeping Beauty.
PHOTO: LEONEL NEIRO, ART INSTITUTE OF HOUSTON NORTH.

Houston Ballet’s Center for Dance has been honored with a 2012 Landmark Award in the category of “Special Project” by the Houston Business Journal. Houston Ballet’s Center for Dance was also a finalist in two other categories: Community Impact and Public/Private Assemblies.


The Houston Family Arts Center 2012/13 season includes Our Town; The Glass Menagerie; Crazy for You; You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown; Annie; Leaving Iowa; Over the River and Through the Woods; and Fiddler on the Roof.


Houston Ballet director of marketing Andrew Edmunson and Dance Advantage founder Nichelle Strzepek presented at the Dance/USA conference. Frame dance artistic director Lydia Hance and The Houston Met artistic director Marlana Doyle were selected to participate in the 2012 Institute for Leadership Training (DILT), a mentorship program for dance artists and administrators. Former Houston Ballet executive director C.C. Conner served as a mentor.


Michael Peranteau is the new executive director of Art League Houston (ALH). Peranteau joins Art League Houston directly following his position as the development director for Project Row Houses.  ALH also announced that Aaron Parazette as the 2012 Texas Artist of the Year and Judy and Scott Nyquist as Texas Patrons of the Year.


Stark Naked Theatre Company’s 2012/13 season includes Annie Baker’s Body Awareness  (October 25th-November 10th, 2012), with Kim Tobin, Pam Vogel & Matt Lents; Christopher Durang’s Beyond Therapy (February 21st-9th, 2013); and Shakespeare’s Macbeth (June 6th -June 22nd, 2013) with Philip Lehl and Kim Tobin as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.


River Oaks Chamber Orchestra’s (ROCO) season opener will feature guest conductor Josep Caballe-Domenech and piano soloist Anne-Marie McDermott on October 6-7. On November 17, ROCO will feature American organist Paul Jacobs and guest conductor Edwin Outwater. ROCO performs the second Brandenburg Concerto “conductorless” on February 9-10 with Joseph Swensen as guest concertmaster and soloist. The season finale on April 20-21 will feature guest conductor Andre Raphel and the world premiere of a percussion piece by composer Jonathan Leshnoff, written for ROCO percussionist Matt McClung and guest artist Todd Meehan.