San Antonio Invades Houston for a Party Takeover
When Art and American Idol Meet
BY Matthew Ramirez and Catherine D. Anspon // 02.07.19Ada Vox, Clint Willour (Photo by Jenny Antill Clifton and Johnny Than)
What: The Glasstire Party: San Antonio Comes to Houston
Where: The Space HTX
PC Moment: This year’s iteration of Glasstire‘s annual artist-focused fundraiser served up a toast to the talents of San Antonio. (Last spring’s inaugural bash celebrated the painters, sculptors, and photographers of Houston, the Texas-founded online arts magazine’s HQ.) Power chair sextuplet – Marita and J.B. Fairbanks, Eleanor and Dan Gilbane, and Sloan/Hall‘s Shannon Hall and Marcus Sloan – were selected due to their ties to the Alamo City. (Miz Fairbanks and Miz Gilbane both hail from there, and the first Sloan/Hall store still calls SATX its home).
This chair group and GT founder Rainey Knudson and editors Christina Rees and Brandon Zech – just announced as new GT publisher – fine-tuned to perfection the arts publication’s fresh iteration of its gala, bringing in more than $150,000, a 25 percent increase over last year’s debut benefit effort. Unlike many other silent auctions conducted for charities, Glasstire mindfully gave back 50 percent of the proceeds to its auction donors – in this case, some of the state’s most influential and highly collected artists.
Unique flourishes added energy to the evening: signature cocktails from Treaty Oak Distillery and Tito’s Vodka; bites by Tim the Girl Catering, based in San Antonio, led by chef Tim McDiarmid; DJ Men-Yo on the turntable, also in from SATX; and the live entertainment. American Idol‘s Ada Vox, a Top 10 finalist, dashed in from the Alamo City to wow the crowd, crooning classics such as Aretha Franklin’s “Natural Woman,” and her own new single “Because of You.”
Top lots for the evenings were snared by two Houston collectors: Kelly O’Connor’s Bottom of the Pool (Miami, FL), 2018, and Gary Sweeney’s Texas, the International State, 2018.
Every guest left with a parting gift: the signature Glasstire motto done up as nifty buttons that proclaimed “Go See Some Art.”
PC Seen: A bevy of collectors, including Leigh and Reggie Smith, Jereann Chaney with daughter Holland, Heidi and David Gerger, Bridget and Patrick Wade, and Yvette and Scott Hill; consultant Julie Kinzelman and husband Christopher Tribble of TYart (who donated art handling services); blogger Robert Boyd; independent curator Clint Willour and husband Reid Mitchell; Houston gallerists Barbara Davis, Lee Steffy of Moody Gallery, Hilary Hunt and Arturo Palacios of Deasil, and Foto Relevance’s Bryn Larsen, with photo pals artist Libbie Masterson and collector Karen Chiao; San Antonio posse, including Artpace’s Riley Robinson, gallerist and jeweler Susan Oliver Heard, and dealer Patricia Ruiz-Healy, with husband Juan, and headlining artists including Joey Fauerso, Jesse Amado, Cruz Ortiz, Sarah Fox, Gary Sweeney, Katie Pell, Jeffrey Dell, Margaret Craig, and Michael Velliquette.
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