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BL AFFERBut instead of seeking a utopia on land, Saraceno looks to the sky for his inspiration. This exhibition, his first solo presentation in the United States will showcase twenty installations, sculptures, and photographs made since 2003.

Olivier is a painter and filmmaker from the Netherlands whose presentation of ten works inaugurates Blaffer’s new “First Take” series. Fusing painting and filmmaking, Jacco Olivier continually reworks his canvases, photographing each iteration and brushstroke, and finally combining the various stages with their liquid color into films.

Hoping to see you very soon,

Claudia SchmuckliDirector and Chief Curator

From the Director

Greetings,

We have hit the ground running to present you with a fresh look for 2010, which holds in store a series of engaging exhibitions and programs. I hope you like the new design of our newsletter as much as we do.

We are counting the days until our annual gala celebration on April 30. Spearheaded by our intrepid gala chairs Sue and John Porretto, and centered on the theme abracadabra, this year’s gala honors longtime supporters Lisa and Russell Sherrill as well as The Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation. For the first time in Blaffer’s history, we are celebrating at home, and we are looking forward to transforming the galleries into a magical maze leading to intriguing art, food by Prego, and other surprises. I am particularly proud of this year’s lineup of artists who have generously contributed to the silent auction. Images of select works can be previewed on our website, so please feel free to catch a sneak peek! We are partying until midnight to the music of The Fab 5, so for those of you who have set your heart on dancing, join us for the after-party beginning at 10 p.m.

On May 13 we are opening two exhibitions, Tomás Saraceno: Lighter than Air and First Take: Jacco Olivier, which will be on view from May 14 through August 7, 2010.

Trained initially as an architect, Saraceno follows in the tradition of visionaries such as R. Buckminster Fuller by looking to scientific principles and advances in technology to develop ideas for sustainable communities of the future.

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Current Exhibitions

Lighter than Air, Tomás Saraceno’s first large-scale museum presentation in the United States, showcases the artist’s installations, sculptures, and photographs made since 2003. Trained initially as an architect, Sara-ceno follows in the tradition of visionaries such as R. Buckminster Fuller by looking to scientific principles and technological innovations to develop ideas for sus-

Tomás Saraceno: Lighter than AirMAy 14–AUGUST 7, 2010

OpeninG RecepTiOn: ThURSdAy, MAy 13, 6–8 p.M.

tainable communities of the future. in the following interview, Saraceno talks with astrophysicist Volker Springel at the Max planck institute for Astrophysics near Munich, Germany, about spider webs, the Big Bang theory, and the Millennium Simulation, a computer program that simulates the evolution of the universe.

Galaxies forming along filaments, like droplets along the strands of a spider’s web, 2005. C-print; edition 1 of 5. 365⁄8 x 461⁄2 inches, framed. Courtesy the artist and Andersen’s Contemporary, Copenhagen and Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; and pinksummer contemporary art, Genova, Italy

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Tomás Saraceno: We are trying to learn about spi-ders’ behavior and net making, and we would like to learn more about the origin of the universe. . . . But maybe you could start by explaining the proj-ect first and also the analogy between the cosmic filaments and a spiderweb.Volker Springel: . . . The cosmic web, that’s how we astronomers talk about the big picture — how the universe as a whole presents itself and how gal-axies are arranged on large scales. I can show you a flight through the universe as we think it is. The stuff that is colorful here is actually matter that you can’t really see. On the computer we can paint it and we can illuminate it. What is visible a little bit here is that the backbone of [the] structure of the universe consists of these filament-like structures, which are part of the cosmic web, and along these we find galaxies that are arranged like pearls on a string. . . . We hope to find evidence for unknown elementary particles that we think make up most of the matter in the universe. [A]ll of this stuff that is red and yellow here are particles we have not discovered yet on earth.

TS: Black matter.VS: Yes. We call it dark matter. It has no color,

it does not shine, but it does have a gravitational action on you. It attracts all matter. The dark matter holds the galaxies together. Otherwise, they would fly apart because the stars move too fast. It is like when you are on a carousel and you [let go]; you . . . fly away. The dark matter keeps the stars in orbit through its gravitational attrac-tion. [T]he gravity of the dark matter in fact forms the universe as we know it. . . . But coming back to the colors again, this is really an artificial image. In reality, you would see no colors because the dark matter is truly dark. The red and the blue and so on, this [coloring] actually visualizes tem-perature — how cold and hot the dark matter is — which is just a measure [of] the velocity with which the elementary particles move.

Simulations of the formation, evolution and clustering of galaxies and quasars, 2005. The distribution of dark matter in the universe on different scales. The background picture shows a cut through the Millennium Simulation with a total extension of more than 9 billion light years on a side. At such huge scales, the universe appears nearly homogeneous, but the series of enlargements overlaid shows a complex “cosmic web” of dark matter up to scales of order ~100 Mpc (about 300 million light years). This large-scale structure consists of filaments that surround large voids and cross in massive halos of matter. The larger of these halos are rich clusters of galaxies, containing more than one thousand galaxies, which are still resolved as halo substructures in the simulation. Courtesy V. Springel, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Germany

TS: I think you have a beautiful eye for the selection of the colors! . . . I like to see the fila-ments becoming visible. . . .

VS: . . . A couple of biologists told me that it looks like nerve cells in the brain, like synapses.

TS: How important is regularity or irregularity in this cosmic structure?

VS: You know, there are certain characteristic sizes of these bubbles, but overall it is kind of irregular; it’s a mess. There is regularity, but it’s

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BL AFFERIridescent Planet, 2009. 1865⁄8 x 2557⁄8 inches installed, High-density polyethylene, iridescent foil, mirrored foil, net, flexible solar panels, air pump, rope. Courtesy the artist and Andersen’s Contemporary, Copenhagen and Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; and pinksummer contemporary art, Genova, Italy Photo: Gene Pittman

Current Exhibitions

TOMÁS SARAcenO: LiGhTeR ThAn AiR was organized by the Walker Art center, Minneapolis. The exhibition was made possible by generous support from John Taft. Additional support was provided by the harpo Founda-tion. Tomás Saraceno’s artist residency at the Walker was made possible by the nimoy Foundation. Artist materials were provided by 3M. The exhibition at Blaffer is sponsored in part by Gail and Louis K. Adler.

not made from a clear design. There is no clear geometric rule. Maybe no one understands the rules according to which a spider makes its web. But if one knows these rules, one could perhaps make a new web that looks like a spiderweb. And here — in cosmology — the rule is very compli-cated. The rule is: you start from the Big Bang and go forward in time in an expanding universe and let self-gravity act on the initial structure seeds. This leads to the emergence of the web. . . .

TS: People also ask why there should be one Big Bang; there [may have] been thousands of Big Bangs. . . .

VS: That’s right. There is a theory about the “multiverse” that assumes that there are many universes and we are just in one particular real-ization. That’s very speculative even for adventur-ous physicists. But how could one contact them? Are there other universes?

TS: The guy [English astronomer Fred Hoyle] who used the term “Big Bang” [wasn’t] serious. . . . [H]e was making a joke.

VS: He hated this theory. . . . The same with the “black hole”. . . . [I]t was just a joke.

TS: There is also the theory that the location of all the stars is defined by a kind of Voronoi order. . . . [O]ne reason why we chose a black widow [spider to emulate] was that she makes a net somehow similar to this structure here. The black widow builds her retreat and the main net in the upper part, and it has from there [a] few threads with gum [ends] that are connected to the ground in order to get the prey. I have . . . a practical thing to solve: there will be thousands of people in the exhibition room in Venice and they have to walk around. That’s why I like exactly this kind of Voronoi-mesh — because it [doesn’t have many] connection points to the ground.

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First Take: Jacco OlivierMAy 14–AUGUST 7, 2010

OpeninG RecepTiOn: ThURSdAy, MAy 13, 6–8 p.M.

Jacco Olivier’s luscious filmic vignettes are quiet meditations on painting set in motion. Technically, his work falls into the category of animation. Images are repeatedly reworked and rephoto-graphed to create a narrative that unfolds through a camera-driven progression. Olivier likes to tell a story, but even in his most anecdotal works, the most interesting tale is the story of painting itself.

For each work, Olivier repaints the same can-vas over and over again, carefully photographing each stage of development. In time the original image slowly degenerates and finally disappears altogether in the cumulative layers of paint. The final work, the photographic record, thus becomes an animated history of a painting, a slice of time that captures scraps of narrative and memories, and joins them together to form a moving picture with an atmospheric charge enriched by an ambi-ent soundtrack.

Hunger, Birds, Submerge (all 2003), and Hide (2004) delve into the animal realm. The viewer fol-lows a polar bear across snowy plains on his hunt for fish, soars into the sky with a flock of birds, dives into the deep sea, or catches glimpses of a frog alternatively jumping and hiding in a grassy field. Other works, such as Sleep and Normandy (both 2004), serve as meditative windows onto simple moments of daily life: one shows a woman tossing and turning in bed, while in the other she enjoys the breeze on the seashore. In his more recent work, including Bath (2009), Portrait (2009), and Transition (2010), Olivier has mined traditional genres, such landscapes and still lifes, bathers and portraits, often pushing the image to the edge of abstraction. With the new focus on painting as

a historical discipline has come a shift in scale that emphasizes the viewer’s relationship to the painting as an object. Where Olivier’s early films read like intimate, jewel-like visual poems, the new ones add a surprisingly expansive spatial and physical dimension to an otherwise largely immaterial experience of sight and sound.

First Take, Olivier’s first solo museum exhibi-tion, brings together ten works created between 2003 and 2010. The artist was born in the Nether-lands in 1972. He graduated from the Rijksakade-mie in 1998, and lives and works in Amsterdam.

FiRST TAKe: JAccO OLiVieR is organized by Blaffer Art Museum at the University of houston. The exhibition is made possible, in part, by The cecil Amelia Blaffer von Furstenberg endowment for exhibitions and programs and houston endowment inc.

Hunger, 2003. Animation on DVD. Duration: 1 minute and 10 seconds. Projection: 61⁄4 x 91⁄2 inches. Edition of 5. Courtesy the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York

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Top: Katherine Veneman, Jessica Flores, and Michelle Obama (left to right)Bottom: An artwork created by Jessica Flores, displayed during the fall 2008 YAAP exhibition

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Special Feature

On november 4, 2009, Blaffer’s young Artist Apprentice-ship program (yAAp), a six-week comprehensive art-making workshop for teenagers from neighboring houston independent School district high schools, won a coming Up Taller award from the president’s commit-tee on the Arts and the humanities. This prestigious award recognizes outstanding after-school arts and humanities programs that provide young people with learning opportunities and the skills to contribute to their communities.

Former yAAp participant and fall 2008 Martha Meier Memorial Scholarship winner Jessica Flores joined Blaffer curator of education Katherine Veneman in Washington, d.c., to receive the award on behalf of the museum. in an article written exclusively for Blaffer’s newsletter, Flores shared her experience:

I waited with extreme anticipation. We were close to last on the list, and it was nerve-wracking to hear the names of the majority of attendees called. Finally, a burst of excitement rushed through me as I heard “Young Artist Apprenticeship Program” reverberate over the speakers.

This was it: the moment we had anxiously waited for was here. After we made our way to the stage, Katherine accepted the plaque, and I walked over to the tall, beautiful woman smiling at me. She firmly shook my hand and said, “Congratulations,” as we positioned ourselves for the photo op.

With cameras flashing, First Lady Michelle Obama asked me where I was attending college and what I had selected as my major. I explained I was attending Texas A&M University and major-

ing in biomedical sciences in order to study vet-erinary medicine. Mrs. Obama gave me some brief but encouraging words about my future, and I felt proud and accomplished as I walked off the stage.

On the day prior to our White House visit, we had the opportunity to see many of the sights in Washington. At the National Gallery of Art, I care-fully noted several paintings’ brush strokes as Katherine explained the history of each work. In a fascinating moment at the Gallery, I watched as an artist accurately replicated a painting on canvas.

As evening came, we went to the “Coming Up Taller” gala reception at the Kennedy Center where we saw a wonderful student performance. I had the opportunity to meet members of the President’s Committee including celebrities such as Edward Norton. That night, it was especially hard to sleep as we had an exciting day at the White House ahead of us. The entire trip was an experience I’ll never forget, and I feel honored to having been a part of it.

Blaffer’s Young Artist Apprenticeship Program gave me the opportunity to expand my creative skills, which I’ve already found useful during my first year of college. My favorite part of the program was when we collaboratively created a mural that was installed in the UH Graduate College of Social Work. We started the project shortly after Hurri-cane Ike hit, so we decided to use fallen tree limbs to represent “helping hands,” a constant theme of social work. At the end of the program, stu-dents displayed their best works in the museum, something that was very rewarding for all of us.

—Jessica Flores

Blaffer’s yAAp Wins coming Up Taller Award

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Future Exhibitions

This fall Blaffer presents the first solo museum exhibition in the United States dedicated to the work of Gabriel Kuri. Absorbed by questions of production and exchange, and their imprint on the cultural economies of time and space, Kuri distils his observations of the everyday into images of subtle power that have garnered him a reputation as a “poetic activist.” Over the past decade, Kuri has concentrated on making sculptures and col-lages that zealously rummage through the detri-tus of material consumption. Both his objects and images are often created from the residue of mon-etary exchanges and the consumed goods that the artist collects on a daily basis. Kuri is a material archivist who extracts visual and linguistic value from the tracking systems, retail supplies, and

trivial marketing mechanisms that constitute our daily lives. He is also a spatial archivist, drawing attention to and decoding the physical spaces his work engages. His installations are carefully con-ceived in relation to the circumstantial codifica-tion of the site and thus engage a complex set of socioeconomic conditions specific to a particular time and place.

Organized by Blaffer director and chief curator Claudia Schmuckli, Gabriel Kuri: nobody needs to know the price of your Saab is a ten-year survey featuring previous and new work in an installation developed in close collaboration with the artist. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illus-trated catalogue. It is presented in conjunction with the celebration of the Mexican Bicentennial supported by the Consulate General of Mexico in Houston.

Gabriel Kuri lives and works in Mexico City and Brussels, Belgium. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and is a graduate of the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas in Mexico City.

GABRieL KURi: nOBOdy needS TO KnOW The pRice OF

yOUR SAAB is organized by Blaffer Art Museum at the University of houston. The exhibition and publication are made possible, in part, by the eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the consulate General of Mexico in houston, and Bank of America.

Gabriel Kuri: nobody needs to know the price of your SaabAUGUST 28–nOVeMBeR 13, 2010

Especulaciones (Predicción de expectativa) / Speculations (Prediction of the Expected), 2007. Painted plywood structure, plastic children’s table, artificial foliage, nylon string, pushpins, 251⁄4 x 471⁄4 x 471⁄4 inches. Courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto, Mexico City. Photo: Estudio Michel Zabé

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Production stills, 2010. Courtesy the artist, commissioned through a residency at the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts with additional support from Blaffer Art Museum and the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance. Photo: dabfoto creative

Berlin-based, Texas-born artist Amy Patton’s recent experiments in performance and theater stem from an interest in the semantics of storytelling that has characterized her work from her earliest films. Her first full-scale solo exhibition in the United States will feature two films, one debut-ing at Blaffer, and a new sculptural installation. Patton’s most recent film is both a filmed theater piece and a documentary on the making of the film itself. Patton developed the script for the play/film in collaboration with Justin Doran, a member of the Alley Theatre company, and with students from the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance, who also serve as actors in the film. It takes Upton Sinclair’s Oil! as a point of departure and plays with slippages between the novel’s characters and plot, and the experiences of the actors and artist in making the film. The film was commissioned by the University of Hous-ton’s Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts with support from Blaffer and the UH School of Theatre & Dance.

For her exhibition at Blaffer, Patton will create an installation around this newly commissioned film and an earlier film, A Satisfied Mind, 2005. Inspired by a character in the Jorge Luis Borges short story “Funes, the Memorious,” A Satisfied Mind comprises short excerpts from three unre-lated films found tangled together in a garbage bag in Austin, Texas. Patton has “hijacked” these films about early aviation disasters, amnesia, and riding a Greyhound bus to make a narrative frame-work of her own design about memory, trauma, coincidence, and authority.

Organized by Blaffer associate curator Rachel Hooper, the exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with essays by Hooper and German novelist and artist Ingo Niermann, as

well as an interview with Patton by Christina Linden, curatorial fellow at the Center for Curatorial Stud-ies, Bard College.

AMy pATTOn is organized by Blaffer Art Museum at the University of houston. The exhibition and publica-tion are made possible, in part, by The cecil Amelia Blaffer von Furstenberg endowment for exhibitions and programs.

Amy patton is the spring 2010 artist-in-residence at the University of houston’s cynthia Woods Mitchell center for the Arts. Additional residency support is provided by Blaffer and the University of houston School of Theatre & dance.

Amy pattonAUGUST 28–nOVeMBeR 13, 2010

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UH Collection

Born in Malden, Massachusetts, in 1936, Frank Stella is considered by many to be one of the godfathers of minimalism and a geometric, post-painterly abstraction. After graduating from Princ-eton University, where he majored in history, Stella moved to New York in 1958 to pursue a career in art. The minimalist paintings in his early Black, Aluminum, and Copper series caught the atten-tion of his peers, museum curators, and famed art dealer Leo Castelli. His later Protractor series of shaped canvases in the ’60s and ’70s gave way to the colorful baroque sculptures that he began in the ’80s. He is also a skilled printmaker.

Stella created the aptly titled Euphonia in 1997 for the then newly built Moores Opera House on the central campus of the University of Hous-ton. With the help of a team of local artists, he opened a temporary studio in Houston to produce this monumental work. Euphonia is still the larg-est piece in the UH Public Art Collection in terms of scale and budget. Stella covered the hundred-foot long barrel-vaulted ceiling above the lobby of the Opera House with a collage of abstracted imagery. He then used this same imagery and collage technique on the enormous triptych on the mezzanine level, measuring ten feet tall and seventy-two feet wide. Stella even replicated the pattern on the underside of the catwalk inside the Opera House. I like to describe the piece as a “visual cacophony,” and Euphonia truly is a gem of the UH Collection.

Michael Guidrycurator, University of houston public Art collection

Find the University of houston public Art collection on Facebook!

Frank Stella’s Euphonia at the Moores Opera house

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AUcTiOn FeATURinG WORKS By: Sterling Allen, The Art Guys, Richard Bergeron, William Betts, Natasha Bowdoin, Elaine Bradford, Margarita Cabrera, Nathan Carter, Jillian Conrad, Andy Coolquitt, Sharon Engelstein, Dan Fabian, Tony Feher, Christopher French, Johan Grimonprez, Michael Guidry, Rachel Hecker, Hana Hillerova, Hedwige Jacobs, Nicholas Kersulis, Mindy Kober, Gabriel Kuri, Jonathan Leach, David McGee, Michael Meazell, Katrina Moorhead, Jill Moser, Kia Neill, Aaron Parazette, Amy Patton, Jon Pylypchuk, Jim Richards, Susie Rosmarin, Tomás Saraceno, Amy Sillman, Emily Sloan, James Surls, Katherine Veneman, Monica Vidal, Juan Andres Videla, Eric Zimmermanimages of select works can be previewed at www.blafferartmuseum.org.

deTAiLS: 713.743.9537 or seconaway@uh.edu

SpOnSORS

Save the date!Blaffer’s 2010 Gala celebration

FRidAy, ApRiL 30, 2010 7 pM – MidniGhTBLAFFeR, 120 Fine ARTS BUiLdinG

hOnOReeSLisa and Russell Sherrill

The Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation

chAiRSSue and John Porretto

enTeRTAinMenTLive music by THE FAB 5

TicKeTS Individuals: $250 Underwriters: $1,000, $3,000, $5,000, and $10,000 After-party: 10 PM–Midnight: $50

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neWSBlaffer Welcomes Three new Board MembersBlaffer would like to welcome three new board members to our family. Local arts connoisseur cecily horton, businessman howard Robinson, and Blaffer family member John Royall began their first terms in January 2010. We are extremely happy to have them as a part of our team and look forward to many exciting things to come!

national and Local Sponsors of Blaffer exhibitions and programsBlaffer is proud to announce recent generous grants from the eleanor and Frank Freed Foun-dation, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the consulate General of Mexico in houston, and Bank of America in support of our fall 2010 exhibition Gabriel Kuri: nobody needs to know the price of your Saab. We also extend our thanks to the Kinder Morgan Foundation, Jane Blaffer Owen, dorothy c. Sumner, and the Travelers Foundation, the charitable arm of Travelers, for their recent show of support for our educational outreach programs. We are deeply appreciative of the support and extend our thanks to all for recognizing the importance of exhibitions and programs that enrich the cultural life of Houston with some of the most significant contemporary artistic voices of our time.

celebrating the young Artist Apprenticeship program (yAAp)Taught once again by experienced artist mentors Audry herber and patrick Renner, both fall and spring sessions of YAAP featured young artists from five HISD schools: Austin High School, Cesar Chavez High School, Eastwood Academy, Milby High School, and Yates High School. The fall 2009 exhibition, entitled Trailer Atelier, displayed works by twelve students, including Martha Meier Scholarship recipients desiree chagoya (first place) and Jessica hernandez (second place), both of Milby High School. The spring workshop brought a record number of student applicants, and our goal is to expand the program in the future to better meet the increased demand.

University Students at WorkThis year’s recipient of the Jerome and Minnette Robinson Scholarship for museum docents is Lindsey Slavin. As she continues her work as docent, she is pursuing studies in both the School of Art, where she is majoring in sculpture with a minor in art history, and the Honors College, where she is minoring in creative studies. This is the fifth year the scholarship has been awarded. Museum interns in 2009/2010 were Ryan hernandez, Samantha Jarvis, Veronica Lizaola, Francelle Lucas, Sophie Smith, and Jeremy Williams. We thank them for their hard work.

Desiree Chagoy (second from left) receives a Martha Meier Scholarship from YAAP artist mentors and Blaffer education curators.

John Royall, Jane Blaffer Owen, and Claudia Schmuckli (left to right)

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public program Wrap-upA whirlwind of programs accompanied the exhi-bitions Jon pylypchuk and Josephine Meckseper. Both artists returned to the museum to give memorable talks: Meckseper screened a series of her videos, and Pylypchuk spoke about experiences that inspire and inform his artistic practice. Talks by a visiting scholar also accom-panied each show. Robert enright, Professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, and Senior Contributing Editor of Border Cross-ings magazine, brought his critical insights to a tour of Pylypchuk’s works, relating them to the Canadian art scene. Sylvère Lotringer, Professor Emeritus of French Literature and Philosophy at Columbia University and Founder and Editor of Semiotext(e), shared his perspective on Meckseper’s work as a scholar who contributed to the exhibition catalogue.

Other programs brought diverse audiences to Blaffer: The Foundation For Modern Music’s

Musique Artistique showcased the renowned White Oak Trio (Meryl ettleson, piano; Steven McMillan, violin; Barrett Sills, cello) and their powerful performance of original works by Houston composers david Bernstein and Mary carol Warwick; the nearby Smith Neighborhood Library hosted our annual Studio Saturday, a family day of art-making; and the Blaffer Student Association threw its semester party, the Red Block Bash. A series of Brown Bag Gallery Tours featured artists david Waddell and david Krueger, as well as each graduating M.F.A. student. Blaffer was also the venue for a Friends of Women’s Studies Living Archives series event where First Lady of Houston Andrea White was interviewed by author chitra divakaruni.

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Andrea White (left) and Chitra Divakaruni (right)

Jon Pylypchuk

Visitors watch a selection of Josephine Meckseper videos

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neWSpresidential Reception in honor of yAAp On December 1 University of Houston President Renu Khator and her husband, Suresh Khator, opened Wortham House to Blaffer friends and supporters to honor the museum’s Young Artist Apprenticeship Program (YAAP), which received a prestigious 2009 Coming Up Taller award from the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Blaffer Advisory Board Chairman Gordon Goodman and his wife, Gastonia, were in attendance, as well as Jane Blaffer Owen and her nephew John Royall, Beverly and howard Robinson with his mother, Minnette Robinson, and Shirley and don Rose, among many others. Special thanks go to the Khators and to the University of Houston for hosting the celebration at Wortham House and for their tre-mendous support of this unique educational outreach program.

Ready, Set, Go: it’s Time for Summer Arts for KidsOnce again taught by sculptor patrick Renner, Summer Arts offers an art-making experience for children ages 6 to 12. This year’s workshops will be held June 22–July 4 in two sessions: Tuesdays and Thursdays or Wednesdays and Fridays. Participants may register for one or both sessions and should contact the education department at 713.743.9526 for more details or to sign up.

Christine Spin (left) with Renu Khator (right)

Full Speed Ahead!The exhibition Tomás Saraceno: Lighter Than Air benefits from several public programs, including a visit by the artist and a collaborative panel discussion hosted in partnership with the Latin American Art Department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and its support group Latin Maecenas. In addition, our tour program recently began a new partnership with Writers In The Schools, which brings junior and senior high school students into the museum.

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Partners

All efforts are made to be accurate. If you identify incorrect information, please contact the Office of External Affairs at 713.743.9537.

Lead SponsorsThe City of Houston

through the Houston Arts Alliance

George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation

Houston Endowment, Inc.National Endowment for

the Arts through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Major contributorsSallie Morian and

Michael ClarkJane Blaffer Owen

program partnersAllen Bennett MDThe Eleanor and Frank

Freed FoundationGastonia and Gordon

GoodmanInstitute of Museum and

Library ServicesLinda Pace FoundationMica MosbacherLouisa Stude SarofimDorothy C. SumnerTravelers FoundationUniversity of Houston

Student Fees Advisory Committee

director’s circleAnonymous DonorJohn P. McGovern

FoundationShirley and Don RoseTexas Commission on

the ArtsJoanne and Derby Wilson

director’s partnersAlvin and Lucy Owsley

Foundation Andrews Kurth LLPBank of AmericaKristen and David BuckIgnacio CarrionKaty and Michael CaseyConsulate General of

the Federal Republic of Germany

Linda and Simon EylesCarol and Dave FlemingJo and Jim FurrRyan D. GordonKinder Morgan FoundationJeanne and Michael Klein Cornelia and Meredith LongGretchen and Andrew

McFarlandLester Marks and Penelope

Gonzalez MarksNancy and Robert Martin

Meg and Nelson Murray Guillermo Nicolas

The Nightingale Code Foundation

Jennifer Smith and Peter Ragauss

Beverly and Howard Robinson

Karen and Scott RozzellLisa and Russell SherrillStephen W. and Marilyn R.

Miles FoundationThe TOBY FundVitol Inc.

Visionary MembersGail and Louis K. AdlerEmily Baker and

Gerardo AmelioWilliam BettsCatherine Blaffer-TaylorMarita and JB FairbanksKaren and Stephan FarberVictor B. FlattFlemish GovernmentGenslerAnn JacksonMr. and Mrs. I. H.

Kempner, IIIMelanie Marino The Michael & Rebecca

Cemo FoundationThe Mitsui USA FoundationMorgan Family FundJudy and Scott NyquistOccidental Energy

Marketing, Inc.Sue and John PorrettoRichard Stodder Charitable

FoundationVreni and Jack Schmuckli Christine and Jan Spin Cynthia TolesMartha Claire TompkinsMr. and Mrs. Wallace S.

Wilson

Founding MembersCenterPoint EnergyClaudia Schmuckli and

Matthew DruttDr. Roger EichhornFrost Bank, Medical CenterPaula and John HansenPablo and Maria Henning Christopher C. HillNancy and Carter HixonLisa and Will MathisSusan and Edward

OsterbergMinnette RobinsonCarson and Arthur SeeligsonJosé SolisScott SparveroHelen W. Drutt-English and

Mr. H. Peter Stern

The Martha Meier Memorial Scholarship endowment FundFran S. CardwellCathy Coers Frank and Jay

FrankLiza and Lee Littlefield Gundi McCandlessJerry I. Speyer

in-KindNoora AlsalmanArmandosBergner and Johnson

DesignMelissa BorrellBright Star Productions,

Inc.The Center for Land

Use InterpretationDJ DrewLeonardo DrewMasterson DesignJosephine Meckseper Mixed Emotions Fine ArtNeiman MarcusPaperCity MagazinePeel GalleryJonathan Pylypchuk Saint Arnold Brewing

CompanyStarbucksTootsie’s Tupelo Grease Co.

Recent Gifts (as of March 1, 2010)Chinhui Juhn and

Edward R. Allen, IIIAlejandro AmelioCatherine AnsponBelinda BennettWirt BlafferDevin BordenMary Bou-ChebelAntoinette CalvertJereann ChaneyPeter CohenStephen DerryDevin Borden Hiram

Butler GalleryMr. and Mrs. John L. ElliottBarbara FosdickO’Neal FurrCullen GeiselmanWayne GilbertJoanne GoffRobert T. Greenstein Heimbinder Family

FoundationDiana HooymanMr. and Mrs. Clay HosterKim and Mike HowardJackie KacenFrazier KingCarol and R. P. Kors

David H. LakePhilip LamczykLawrence Markey, Inc. Debbie McNultyMarsha Amdur MalevHelen MintzKatherine Veneman and

Matthew PapanikolasAaron ParazetteWilliam H. Powell, Jr. Suzanne and Mark

RichardsJames RosengrenJohn Royall Safeway, Inc. Mr. and Mrs. John

SchneiderBrian ShawSandy and Robert ShawClaudia SolisSara Dodd-Spickelmier

and Keith SpickelmierSuzanne ThomasHector VillarrealEdith and Robert Zinn

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University of Houston120 Fine Ar ts BuildingHouston TX 77204-4018P 713 743 9521F 713 743 9525blafferartmuseum.org

Location Blaffer is located in the Fine Arts Building on the University of Houston’s central campus, Entrance 16 off Cullen Boulevard, south of the intersection of Cullen and Elgin. directionsFrom Downtown and points north:Take I-45 South toward Galveston. Exit #44C Cullen Boulevard. Turn right onto Cullen. Pass through the light at Elgin. Turn left into Entrance 16.

From points south:Take I-45 North toward Downtown. Exit #44A Elgin-Lockwood⁄Cullen Boulevard and continue on feeder road. Turn left onto Cullen Boulevard. Turn left into Entrance 16.

parkingReserved parking for museum visitors is along the front of parking lot 16B directly across from the Fine Arts Building. Visitors parking in the reserved area should check in at the museum’s front desk. hoursOpen Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–5 pmClosed on Sundays, Mondays, University of Houston holidays, and during exhibition installations (visit the website or call to confirm) All exhibitions and related programs are free and open to the public. The museum is ADA compliant.

For information call 713.743.9521 or visit us online at blafferartmuseum.org

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Calendar

April May July

21 Wednesday, 6 pm Membership Collection tour at the home of Bill Stern

13 Thursday, 6–8 pm Opening reception for Tomás Saraceno: Lighter than Air and First Take: Jacco Olivier

21 Wednesday, 6:30 pm Lecture by UH Assistant Professor of Architectural History and Theory Coordinator Michelangelo Sabatino in conjunction with Tomás Saraceno: Lighter than Air

2010

Front cover: Tomás Saraceno, 32SW/Flying Garden/Air-Port-City, 2007. 32 elliptical pillows, polyester webbing, elastic cords, iridescent foil, moss, 6615⁄16 x 6615⁄16 x 6615⁄16 inches overall, installed. Collection Walker Art Center; Gift of Collectors’ Group Acquisitions Fund (Michael J. Blum and Abigail Rose, Robert Bras and Julie Matonich, John and Deborah Christakos, John Cullen and Joe Gibbons, Toby and Mae Dayton, Lisa and Pat Denzer, Kathy and Steve Gaskins, Kristine and David Gigerich, Katharine L. Kelly, Dr. John C. and Searcy T. Lillehei, Ron Lotz and Randy Hartten, Dr. Tim J. and Kimberly Montgomery, Joan and John Nolan, Donna and Jim Pohlad, Rebecca C. and Robert Pohlad, Alan Polsky, Peter and Annie Remes, Jody Weisman), 2008. Photo: Bonniers Konsthall.

Back cover: Tomás Saraceno, Large Iridescent Planet, 2009. Iridescent foil, pillow, fishing net, flexible solar panels, pump with overpressure release valve, ventilator, black flexible tube. 1865⁄8 x 2557⁄8 inches overall installed. Commissioned by Walker Art Center, 2009. Courtesy the artist and Andersen’s Contemporary, Copenhagen and Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; and pinksummer contemporary art, Genova, Italy

Spring and Summer events

15 Saturday, 3 pm Tomás Saraceno in conversation with Dia Art Foundation curator Yasmil Raymond, Freed Auditorium, Glassell School of Art, 5101 Montrose Boulevard

30 Friday, 7 pm–midnight Abracadabra: Blaffer’s 2010 Gala Celebration

June

16Wednesday, 12 pm Brown Bag Gallery Tour in conjunction with First Take: Jacco Olivier

30 Wednesday, 6:30 pm Contemporary Salon in conjunction with Tomás Saraceno: Lighter than Air, co-presented by the UH Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts

28 Wednesday, 12 pm Brown Bag Gallery Tour in conjunction with Tomás Saraceno: Lighter than Air

NON-PROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

pAidHOUSTON, TX

PERMIT NO. 5910

Blaffer Art MuseumUniversity of Houston120 Fine Ar ts BuildingHouston TX 77204-4018

04+05+06+07+08 2010