Leave it to the social columnist to attempt drawn-out conversations during 5x7.
Elizabeth and Aaron Stanley
The crush of art lovers at this AMOA/Arthouse event is overwhelming. Hundreds of small works of art (5 inches by 7 inches) hang in rigid rows. Folks pick out their faves early in the evening. When a buzzer goes off, they madly claim their purchases. The mood is upbeat but a bit loud and wild.
Still, almost everyone on there is worth a chat. I was reintroduced to new museum director Louis Grachos, who seemed to adapt to Austin social culture easily.
With Olga Campos and Kevin Benz, talk turned to philanthropist-in-the-making Milton Verrett and (unrelated) the shocking announcement that Beau Armstrong had put Block 21 up for sale.
With Texas Cultural Trust’s Amy Barbee, the subject changed to the fate of arts funding in the 2013 lege and the future Texas Medal of the Arts shows.
Artist and art installer Sean Gaulager indicated his presumably broken foot, injured by a ladder, which needed pressing attention, while lawyer and activist Becky Beaver and I sang the praises of People’s Community Clinic, which treats uninsured folks not unlike Gaulager.
Gail Papermaster introduced me to an intriguing artist and we revisited the subject of Marfa and the need to time carefully any visit to the tiny, arid, minimalist West Texas version of Austin. (Many go out there and find nothing.)
Snapped Aaron and Elizabeth Stanley, whose wedding blog, previously noted here, is dreamy. What a handsome couple!
The exchange of the evening came with Ellen LeBlanc, executive producer of the movie “The Story of Luke,” which premiered the next day here. Her Austin roots are astonishing. Her great-grandmother was a numerologist who performed career counseling in the lobby of the Paramount Theatre. Her mother, raised by two spinsters near the University of Texas campus, basically treated the 40 Acres as her personal playground, tooling around alone on her trike.
Wow! Gotta get all this down in narrative form some day …