Houston’s New Gravity-Defying Building Draws Plenty of Green in Power Art Auction: Record $669,000 Raised in Glassell’s Big Debut

What: Glassell Benefit and Auction: 90-35-1

Where: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s just unveiled Glassell School of Art

PC Moment: After a week that included a private sneak peek of the new Glassell building for the media, a big-pocketed donor dinner, and a swank, high-society rooftop cocktail party, it was finally time for the grand finale: the annual Glassell Benefit and Auction, this year at the new jewel of a building designed by Steven Holl.

About 365 guests mingled throughout the just unveiled grounds — a centerpiece of the $450 million campus in progress — moving from a temporary tent erected on The Brown Foundation, Inc. Plaza, to the grand, wide open space inside anchored by the robust sculptural concrete stairwell, topped by Houston’s finest new view: the BBVA Compass Roof Garden, where guests clinked bubbly and enjoyed the early-summer air.

This year, the gala was themed “90-35-1” in honor of three important Glassell milestones: 90 years of prestigious arts education, 35 years of the museum’s storied Core Program, and the school’s first year in the Steven Holl-designed landmark. Chairs Leslie and Brad Bucher and Marli Andrade and Alfred Glassell III introduced Joe Havel, director of the Glassell School of Art (who’s also an eminent sculptor). The trio of art gents held court, addressing a rapt collector, gallerist, curator, and artist crowd upon the historic occasion of what promises to be a game-changing arts destination in Houston’s Museum District.

A live auction then ensued commanded by Augie Uribe from Sotheby’s, in from the auction house’s Manhattan HQ. Brisk bidding was the order of the night for nine live auction lots culled from Core Program alums, augmented by more Core Fellow works in the silent auction served up by Paddle8. The collectible acquisitions were nicely showcased throughout the handsome new Glassell. Top lots included works from Shahzia Sikander (the video Singing Suns that garnered $60,000), Leandro Erlich (the night’s top lot, for a mixed media, reached $70,000), and Trenton Doyle Hancock‘s cheeky collage, titled Fucht Law, which went for $15,000 — all of which were nabbed by discerning Houston collectors. A record-breaking $669,000 was raised from both auctions as well as ticket sales, making the new building’s debut a most auspicious and green evening, indeed.

City Kitchen devised the buffet dinner, which was late starting due to the sublime sunset and skyline viewing from the third-story BBVA Compass Roof Garden.

After an extended cocktail hour of more than 90 minutes, guests finally descended from the roof — many via stairs on the side of the building, one of the Glassell’s signature architectural flourishes — to the tent whose minimalist decor was carried out by The Events Company.

Social Canvas: MFAH director Gary Tinterow and Christopher Gardner; illustrious longtime Glassell and MFAH supporters including Claire and Doug Ankenman, Judy and Scott Nyquist, Linda and Walter McReynolds, Penelope and Lester Marks, Victoria and Marshal Lightman, Heidi and David Gerger (who told us “when your name is on the building, you have to show up”), Leigh and Reggie Smith, Jereann Chaney and daughter Holland, Mary and Bernie Arocha, Betty and Stephen Newton, Melanie Lawson and John Guess Jr., widow of building namesake Clare A. Glassell, Cullen Geiselman, Marcy and Tom Wessel, Greg Fourticq Jr. with John Cone, Courtney and Christopher Sarofim; power gallerists Martha Long with Sean Wade, Betty Moody with curator Clint Willour; Erin Dorn of McClain Gallery, Hiram Butler and colleague Josh Pazda, Barbara Davis, Enrique Guerrero, Deborah Colton, and Meg Poissant (who’s also an attorney and candidate for a Court of Appeals bench); Sotheby’s Aliyya Stude and husband Herman Stude; and artists including past Core Fellows Sharon Engelstein and Aaron Parazette, live auction headliner Trenton Doyle Hancock with artist wife JooYoung Choi, Core alum Patrick Phipps and wife photog Claire Chauvin, Christy Karll, Mark Ponder, Glassell teacher and ace watercolorist Ken Mazzu, and Alexandra Kaldis Brummett and James Walter Brummett.