Friends

At 5:00 this afternoon, for the first time, I showed a group of good friends this city building that has occupied me for over a year. They got to experience the lobby with its 85 year old concrete columns, brick walls and wide expanses and art by Metlab Studio, Havel Ruck Projects, Kaneem Smith, Jesse Sifuentes, Agnes Welsh Eyster and MMH. All of this is just in the lobby.

Steve Stelzer was still at work in the Green Building Resource Center and he very graciously talked about the information and opportunities he offers to builders, contractors and the general public.

We went floor to floor, looked out the windows at the top of the central stairwell, stopped to look at the art in each elevator lobby and pushed open bathroom doors.

I love the bathrooms and wanted everyone to see the tile work that circles each column and the dropped portions of the ceiling that punctuate the tops of those columns. The bathrooms are wonderfully detailed.

Everyone loved the green roof and they agreed that Jesse's mural is indeed reminiscent of a WPA project.

And my friends moved the chairs away from my 'Overheard' wall on level 3, so they could read every single word. I'll talk more about those chairs in another post. It's complicated.

I was disappointed to discover that this building is so energy efficient that Serena's monitors in the central stairwell were OFF when we looked down expecting to see blue skies and clouds. Guess the monitors are only on during working hours? What a pity.

We moved outside to see Dick Wray's elevator tower. I have to say that one needs to walk over to the Amtrak station to really see this piece. It looks so different with a bit of distance. At a distance, uou can see the faces and figures that become invisible up close.

I sure do love this building and I loved playing a part in its transformation. And it was fun to show it off to good friends. I cannot believe that I've not walked friends through this building until today. I suspect there'll be a few more of these tours. I know absolutely that these women will be spreading the good word about the facility's 'greenness' and public art.

I heard more than one mention made of the lobby as a potential venue for receptions for green groups, the Greater Houston Partnership and organizations like Houston Tomorrow. Receptions could be another income stream for the GBRC and would certainly bring in folks that might never, ever have cause to visit the building.

BTW, I handed in final paperwork today to Houston Arts Alliance. I also gave them the individual artist plaques to install. I think I am just about done with this job, except for more thank you letters with updates to donors and collaborators.

Thank you to everyone who came to see the building this evening. It's wonderful to be able to show it off and hear folks say that the whole place is terrific.

And it was also fun to move on to Beaver's for good food and conversation and that mulled cucumber habanero infused vodka cocktail.

Last Art Wall DONE: Houston Recycles

All artwork for the Houston Permitting Center is now complete. It's done. Every bit of it. Amazing. The rest of the artists finished their installations by mid-June, but I did not even begin on the basement corridor wall until late June. This last text intervention runs along 88 feet of basement corridor and was completed just yesterday.

For a long time, I've felt like that fairy tale cobbler whose children are the very last to get shoes. Turned out to be OK as HPD is not moving into their new offices off this long corridor for another week. It's still pretty quiet in the basement.

This past weekend, Robynn Sanders, she of art car fame, finished hand painting the last small section of the basement's 88 foot long corridor and then applied the protective 'green' top coat. I'd say that corridor is quite a piece of work.

Robynn spent several weekends tracing elaborate patterns of words on those 88 feet. Once traced, she filled in each letter or character with absolutely 'green' paint. She was not too happy with the thickness of 'green' paint. In places, it looks more like water color, but we decided that is just fine.

The story of this particular wall begins months ago when I contemplated a laser cut, powder coated strip of metal that ran the length of the corridor. A sort of ribbon or banner of recycling words in lots of languages. I thought that the very length of the piece would convey the message that it is always time to recycle, rethink, repurpose, reuse, refine, redo and on and on.

The first step was to create a list of as many English words that began with 're' as I could. Got almost 50 words within minutes. Made me want to go back to the Latin root and learn a little more about 're' words.

Somewhere along the way, I scrapped the idea of the long metal 'ribbon' of words and began to think about painted words. Kelly Musebeck of S.O. Creatives introduced me to Robynn Sanders and that was it.

Then, with my list of 're' words in hand, I looked for translators, so that we might have similar words in Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and Arabic. I wanted this wall to show the universality of the recycling message as well as the diversity of Houston. Significant populations in this city speak each of these languages.

Working with the translators was a joy, because each translator was truly interested in the project and genuinely pleased that their community would be represented on this wall. My thanks to Mary Cee for Vietnamese translations, Najwa Barazi for Arabic words and phrases, to Yat Chong at S.O. Creatives for Spanish translations and Dr. Richard Smith for Chinese translations. When I contacted Rich, he was in China on sabbatical. Isn't email wonderful? He sent the words back to Houston in a day's time.

Sometimes, it really does take a village. Gathering translations for this undertaking became an example of one of the wall's messages. Diversity, inclusiveness. We're all in this together. I like that. Hope to get all the translators together soon for a look at the corridor - and all the rest of the facility. Hope Robynn will be there too to meet the folks whose words she painted.

Here is the last section of the wall, the one closet to the reception area. All the words and characters here are about redoing, reversing, beginning again, starting over. Which of course means walking back the length the corridor to the elevators. Making something circular out of a straight line.

I especially like that small Arabic character near the recycling logo. It's very simple, nothing long winded. It means, "Do it again." "Once more." Perfect.

It is also fun to know that Arabic is read from right to left, so the walk to the elevators is just fine for reading that particular set of words. Again, we are taking a straight line (that would be the corridor) and allowing it to become a circle of repetitive messages.

So there you have it. Thank you to all who contributed to this wall. It was a real collaboration. Thank you very much.

Why No Posts For Two Weeks?

It's been two weeks since I've posted on this blog. I have been otherwise totally and endlessly engaged with two small grandchildren who, with their mom, visited Houston for the aforementioned two weeks. Yep, they flew from cold rainy Seattle into Houston's summer of heat and drought.

With their arrival, I experienced a full motherhood/parenting flashback, which means that for two weeks, I did not complete one task that did not involve small children, nor did I maintain any flow of coherent thought. My right ear is in pain from sustaining the cries of rage and joy of four year old Lulu Bell and seven year old Charlie Bean. Most of their outbursts were in response to the ploys of each to irritate the other. Ah, sibling rivalry. For a first hand explanation of one of innumerable fractious moments, read The Great Paper Fan Fight.

We went to the beach for five whole days, we swam in friend's pools, we rode on the train at Hermann Park, we visited friends and family, we played at the Kids Space at Space Center Houston and the Children's Museum. We visited Beth Collins Wray where Lulu Bell sat at Dick's desk using watercolors within sight of a portrait of Matisse.

Caroline, Beth and I ate steel cut oats with molasses in the kitchen and actually had a running conversation. Oh, the wonder of colored pencils and paint under the tutelage of Matisse to properly direct a four year old's attention.

We even made a brief visit to the Houston Permitting Center, because I simply had to show off this new building to my eldest daughter. Her last visit home was almost two years ago, for the opening of Second Seating in September, 2009.

Kaneem, Charlie Bean interacted with your piece. Totally. The chimes were resounding. Joe and Andrew, the dials for your sensors were bouncing. Wish we'd been there during the work day so we'd have seen the results of children's heavy breathing.

It remains a great human mystery why I love these grandchildren so deeply and watched over them so carefully, while at the same time, pronounced profanities under my breath with unrelenting frequency. It is a mystery to me that what I will remember about these two weeks are the tender moments, the hugs and the eyes filled with wonder. I will overlook the Cheerios underfoot and my aching ear. Maybe.

And now that my head is clearing, I can, once again, write more about 1002 Washington Avenue. Plaques for the artwork have been proofed and ordered. There is a ten to fourteen day turnaround for these etched stainless steel plaques and then we'll get them installed so visitors will have the most basic information about each artwork.

COH's General Services is compiling content for four on-line tracks of information about this new facility. The interrelated tracks include the building's history, its green construction, on-going sustainability and the artwork. All of the art, by the way, relates to the city's commitment to reuse and sustainability and to Houston's broad cultural diversity.

But, let's back up a moment to bookend the discussion of my last two weeks. All of us have families and commitments and life changing events. During this year of creating artwork for 1002 Washington Avenue, it is worth noting that GONZO247 married Carolyn Casey, Joe Meppelink and his wife had a new baby and artist Dick Wray died. Life passages all.

Permitting Made Easy

Photos and mentions of the new Houston Permitting Center are beginning to show up on-line. Here's one from the Houston blog Is This Houston? houston by phone camera.

Lisa Gray's 'Coffee, Not Kafka' Now On-Line

I take it all back. Lisa Gray's story in the Houston Chronicle titled 'Coffee, Not Kafka' is now on-line. OK, there was no instant gratification on Sunday morning - meaning, I could not forward her story on the new Houston Permitting Center to the entire world. That is, of course, the first thing one wants to do. But today, it's right there on-line, so enjoy.

Houston Chronicle's Lisa Gray Touts New Facility

I wish that the Houston Chronicle would publish its entire Sunday edition on Chron.com at the same time the newspaper hits the curb in front of my house. That would have made for instant gratification. Meaning that I could forward 'Coffee, Not Kafka', Lisa Gray's terrific story on the new Houston Permitting Center, to the entire world as well linking to this blog. I expect that Lisa's take on the facility will eventually make its way on-line. But not soon enough for me.

In the meantime, grab the STAR section of Sunday's paper from the trash and enjoy a good read. She gives the place a great review. Thank you, Lisa Gray, for absolutely 'getting' this building.

And by the way, speaking of putting information on-line for instant gratification, a year ago, we talked about putting barcodes by each of the artful interventions in the permitting center, so folks could download pertinent information. I even visited the convention center to find out about their 'cell phone tours' for a low tech version. Just a week ago, I wandered through The Big Show at Lawndale and each piece had a label with a QR code. I also notice that the Houston Press is filled with QR codes.

Folks do indeed want instant information/gratification and I'll bet that if there were QR codes next to the artwork at the Houston Permitting Center, they'd be well used. Which means my job is not done until it's done.

And thank you, once again, Lisa Gray, for 'seeing' what this new Houston Permitting Center is all about.

Dick Wray's Tower

I know, I know, it is time I changed the photo on this blog's masthead to show off Dick Wray's four story stainless steel, laser cut, black powder coated, four story elevator tower. It's about time.

Charles Masterson and his crew did a great job and I need to upload many more photos of the installation process post haste.