Houston’s Own Beehive Hosts an Art Awards Reveal

Get Past the Moat and Party

By Erin Davis and Catherine D. Anspon // Jun 27, 2017

Photography Lizette Belen Soto

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A conversation over the container catwalk

When you're out enjoying life, you can control your home on your phone.

Host Nestor Topchy, Carolyn Ramo, John Guess Jr.

Ryan N. Dennis, honoree Kaneem Smith, Thelma Smith, honoree Regina Agu (Photo Catherine D. Anspon)

Barbara Davis, Toby Kamps

Kanon Collins, Rebecca Moss

Jason Dibley, Elaine Bradford

Becca Reyenga of Eat My Pralines passes her praline bread pudding.

Dawn Martin, Amanda Vlastas

The scene, not your usual event space

Imose Irabor, El Franco Lee II

Nestor Topchy's HIVE compound complete with moat and an ode to the Crystal Palace

Emily Link, Cinthia Gomez

Kanon Collins, Minerva Topchy

Katrina Moorhead, Francesca Fuchs

Chef brigade: Ashley Horne, Becca Reyenga, Jason Kerr, Ara Malekian, Carrie Jean Knight & Richard Knight, Tyler Horne

Necole Irvin, Barbara Davis, Debra Linse

Cindy Lisica, Catherine Colangelo

What: Cocktail evening revealing and toasting Artadia’s Houston 2017 Awardees

Where: Nestor Topchy’s HIVE (Habitable Interdisciplinary Visionary Environment) compound in The Heights

PC Moment: Artist Nestor Topchy is known for big ideas — among the biggest, and in the works, a utopian community formed from stacked shipping containers arrayed in a nifty beehive configuration. The prototype for the project has been constructed in Topchy’s own studio in The Heights, complete with moat, a tower of recycled shipping containers reborn as dwellings, colorful orbs suspended from trees and nestled in the surrounding greenery, and a meeting room resembling London’s 19th-century Crystal Palace. The chance to tour HIVE and learn the winners of the now-annual Artadia Houston Awards was a double draw for the art-centric crowd.

Topchy and wife Mariana Lemesoff enlisted chef pals to curate an alfresco cocktail party, topped by swell pizzas from the hand-built oven — courtesy chef Tyler Horne and buddies, including praline lady Becca Reyenga, who gleefully passed praline-inspired bread pudding.

Who: Headliners: Artadia Board member John Guess Jr. joined by 2017 winners Regina Agu and Kaneem Smith, each of whom receives a $10,000 prize; finalists Catherine Colangelo, Gabriel Martinez, and Sarah Welch; Artadia director Carolyn Ramo in from NYC; the Menil’s Toby Kamps, and Thelma Smith (mom to Kaneem); Project Row Houses’ Ryan N. Dennis, who served as one of the jurors; Glassell Core Fellows Francesca Fuchs and Bill Davenport, and Katrina Moorhead; gallerists Cindy Lisica and Barbara Davis; artists including Emily Link, Elaine Bradford, Jason Dibley, El Franco Lee II, and Cinthia Gomez; and representing the Mayor’s office, Debbie McNulty and Necole Irvin.