Houston’s Oldest Private School Auctions Off Apples Created by Art and Design Stars

Few parties in history are legendary, but the Surrealist ball hosted by Marie-Hélène de Rothschild and husband Guy in 1972 at Château de Ferrières, with costumes by Salvidor Dalí, tops the list. That epic evening inspired The Kinkaid School auction chairs Tina Papandreou, Brooke Robertson, and Courtney Swanson to theme this year’s event A Fantastical Fête, with surreal black tie as the dress code.

Held every three years, the auction is a significant fundraiser for Houston’s oldest private school. Taking it up another notch, decorator Alex Stillwell and PaperCity publisher Monica Bickers, co-chairs of the auction’s Tastemaker Apple Project, asked 14 well-known creatives to decorate a very large resin apple — 2 feet high and 17″ in diameter.

Gracie wallpaper applied 24K gold leaf before delicately hand-painting a scene of butterflies. Artist Hunt Slonem painted his with his trademark bunnies. Pop artist Ashley Longshore designed a glittery candy apple inscribed, of course, “Bad Apple,” while John Derian decoupaged his with cheery vintage apple cutouts.

Architectural Digest AD100 designer Miles Redd lacquered on his Schumacher Cubist pattern. Master ceramicist Christopher Spitzmiller glazed his pomme purple and fashioned it into a lamp.

Houston designer Ann Wolf transformed hers into a blue-and-white Delft pottery-inspired planter with brass inset. Architects Curtis & Windham dubbed theirs the “Ionic Appital” and affixed a Greek ionic capital atop. “It is a study of traditional architecture and surrealism colliding through form, color, and material,” they said.

Handcrafted furniture and accessories firm Bunny Williams Home bathed its in a statuary bronze finish. Wallpaper designer/artist Ashley Woodson Bailey splashed hers with her serpent/botanical themed-print, and local artist Reagan Corbett gave hers, “Pixelated,” a glittery, colorful geometric design.

Segreto Finishes plastered their “Gardinio Segreto” apple and added a bas-relief sculpture of flowers. It sits pretty atop a lucite base.

Bespoke lamp maker Liz Marsh decoupaged a botanical print on her “Garden of Eden” apple.

Kinkaid Art Group has also created an apple — soon to be revealed.

Each apple is a one-of-a-kind wonder, representative of the sheer creativity and talent from top tastemakers of our time. Bidding, which starts at $1,000, is open to the public and runs from Monday, February 18 at 10 am through Saturday, February 23 at 11:59 pm at kinkaid2019.ggo.bid.