The Best Gifts For Art Lovers — With a Creative Texas Twist

Editor’s note: The most wonderful time of year is almost here and who doesn’t want to be the gift giver that everyone remembers? But gift giving’s hard, and everyone could use a little help. With that in mind, PaperCity is rolling through its 2024 Gift Guide Series. Expect anything but the usual gifts, and categories built around the quest of living your very best life.

Next up — The Best Gifts For Art Lovers

Supporting the creative economy, especially Texas’ cornucopia of talents, let’s you look beyond the ordinary in holiday gift giving. Jump start or expand a friend or family’s collection, and you have forged not only a holiday tradition, but hopefully fostered a curiosity about the art world that will last long after the last scrap of wrapping paper has been recycled.

Casting a wide net from Pop art to the profound, these artistic gifts will grace a wall or enliven a living room for years to come. These are The Best Gifts For Art Lovers:

Nic Nicosia’s bighands: A Miniature Museum Piece

Dallas-based Nic Nicosia has made a limited-edition (just 50) stainless steel desk-sized sculpture, bighands, emblematic of Nicosia’s larger work now in the Nasher’s inimitable collection. Priced at an affordable — less than Art Basel — price of $2,750, one can acquire this collectible Nicosia edition from the artist’s Dallas dealer Erin Cluley Gallery here.

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A Buzzy Present

Foodies and art collectors alike will appreciate a jar of honey emblazoned with a copy of Pop superstar Ed Ruscha‘s HONEY drawing from 1979 as its label. Harvested from the artist’s Los Angeles studio in Culver City where bees buzzed around a small grove of lime and kumquat trees, this coveted jar of honey —just 400 bottles exist — also does good.

All the profits fund the Mojave Desert Land Trust to restore habitat and preserve native seeds. Now that’s a honey of a gift. It costs $75, through Flamingo Estate. Just like putting your name down for a Murakami at Gagosian, you need to get on the wait list here.

Add Pop Art to Your Hanukkah

Light the Hanukkah candles in a way that Warhol would approve. Acquire this banana-inspired menorah and add wit to the holidays. Priced at $295 through Artware Editions, this functional, hand-cast ceramic sculpture represents a collaboration between E for Effort and BRKLYN Clay. You can order here.

Wear Your Art: Lord Karl’s Hand-Painted Couture

Houston talent Lord Karl’s practice intersects the dual worlds of fashion and art. Stop traffic, even along Berlin’s graffiti-adorned sidewalks, by sporting an original from this Bayou City painting prodigy. From $2,500 to $15,000, through Redbud Arts Center, here.

Victorian Lady Meets Feminist: Karin Broker’s Trouble Girl  

Rice professor Emerita, Printmaking and Drawing, and 1994 Art League Houston Texas Artist of the Year Karin Broker is known for work bridging the past (via reclaimed objects) and the present (with her staunch take on feminism). Get this 2024 sculpture straight from her studio. Crystal Bride is available for $25,000, at Heidi Vaughan Fine Art here.

Not Your Regular Deck: Patrick McGrath Muñiz’s Tarot Deck

Go beyond the expected stocking stuffer. Texas artist Patrick McGrath Muñiz’s tarot deck is both functional object for tarot readings and a series of 78 miniature reproductions of Muñiz’s paintings, The images are compelling and provocatively laden with social-political commentary. It’s $30 for deck with a 92-page book written by the artist in Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French, available at Heidi Vaughan Fine Art here.

’70s Style: Bill Owens’ Reagan on TV

California-based lensman Bill Owens is a cult fave for his classic take on the new American Middle Class circa 1970s put forth in his book Suburbia. The museum-collected photographer’s images resonate decades later with a power and poignancy of a transformative time when holidays were celebrated with a mix of the sacred and the mundane, as seen by the manger scene enacted alongside a TV show where Reagan appeared before his ascent to the Presidency. Reagan on TV, 1971 is $7,500, at PDNB Gallery. For more info, go here.

The Sweet Spot: Anna Sweet’s Donut Series

Want a little trompe l’oeil for gifting? Artist Anna Sweet’s droll donut series could almost be mistaken for the real thing. Sweet’s faux baked goods resonate especially in a state where heritage brand Shipley Do-Nuts rules and is on an expansion campaign. Anna Sweet’s Red Gummy Bear Donut, 2024 is $425, at Avant-Art Gallery. Get more info here.

Happy Nude Year: Heyd Fontenot’s Portraits

Memorialize your loved ones by commissioning Texas multi-hyphenate provocateur Heyd Fontenot to create their likeness in the nude. No worries; Fontenot’s images are more tender than naughty, and also guarantee to spark intriguing conversation wherever they are displayed. Commissions through Conduit Gallery are available here. Shown: Heyd Fontenot’s Paul Giving Jesse a Bear Hug, 2017 at Conduit Gallery.

Clay Master: Anthony Sonnenberg’s Porcelain Sculpture

Former Texan, now Arkansas-based artist Anthony Sonnenberg’s practice embraces performative works spun around clay, porcelain to be precise. Skewering the notion of functionality, his ceramics  dazzle with their lacy, gravity-defying surfaces often incorporating found tchotchkes. Shown: Anthony Sonnenberg’s Urn (Get Back to the Garden), 2023, $12,000 at Conduit Gallery. For more info, go here.

Mirror, Mirror: José Villalobos En la el Reflexión del Machismo 

Pérez Art Museum Miami-featured José Villalobos, a Joan Mitchell Award Recipient, needs to be on every avant-garde collector’s watch list. This Texas talent is a fearless fronterizo who grew up on the border of El Paso and Juarez. The artist’s En la el Reflexión del Machismo series casts the viewer as explicit participant and is about far more than a mere mirror on the wall. Shown: José Villalobos’ En la el Reflexión del Machismo 4, 2024, $8,000 at Liliana Bloch Gallery. Get more info here.

Architectural Moments: Jamie Sterling Pitt’s Mighty Masterpieces

New Mexico transplant turned Houston resident, Jamie Sterling Pitt challenges viewers to decipher mystery imbedded in small but memorable moments in his portable small-scale, hand-forged ceramic sculpture painted in unexpected shades that subtle harken to Post Modernism.

Pitt’s museum-worthy treasures are perfect for perching on a bookcase or desk, where they wink at grand ideas of architecture, art and design. Shown: Jamie Sterling Pitt’s Union #1, 2022, $9,500 at Seven Sisters. Get more info here.

Mystic Among Us: Susan Plum’s Glass Earrings & Painted Stars

Those in the know never miss Houston-based museum-collected artist Susan Plum’s Salon Sales. Acquire flame-worked glass earrings by the former Pilchuck teacher who was a pioneer of the Seattle Glass Movement. And/or snap up a small-scale Star Chart to map the way in 2025 for those near and dear. Email info@susanasusina.com to inquire about an order.

Unforgettable Meals: Georgie Miller’s Collaged Tablescapes

For convivial gifting, we recommend these unique photo collages that make us consider the dinner party: Who doesn’t love gathering around the table to share bites, quaffs and fellowship. PaperCity’s own Georgie Ferrell Miller has honed an art-smart practice that dialogues with art history’s grand tradition of still life capturing the remnants of a grand meal, while also speaking to a love of slow food and chef-driven Michelin-level cuisine. Shown: Georgie Miller’s Just a Small Gathering, 2024, $1,225, available from the artist here.

The Art of the Card: JP Terlizzi’s Greeting Cards

No gift is complete without a personal note on an artful card. We’re mad for artist JP Terlizzi’s design-forward take on a traditional Hallmark holiday. Pack of 10 to impress your friends for $25 at Koslov Larsen. Order here.