Houston’s Own Beehive Hosts an Art Awards Reveal: Get Past the Moat and Party

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.