Design Boom

IN HOUSTON, AMERICA’S ENERGY CAPITAL, THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE SCENE IS BIG—AND ONLY GETTING BIGGER.

- Christina Ohly Evans

THEY SAY THAT EVERYTHING IS SURPRIZED in Texas—not just the 10-gallon hats and Tex-Mex smorgasbords, but also its art and design worlds. In Houston, especially, cultural institutions are thriving, and introducing an international design mix has become a top priority. The city has long been an epicenter for oil, space exploration, and medicine, and with that has come a diversity that is being reflected in everything from art exhibitions to residential architecture, making Houston one of the most dynamic and eclectic urban centers anywhere.

“We’re knocking it out of the park,” says Gary Tinterow, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, of the city’s flourishing arts institutions. “Our museums, the opera, and the Houston Ballet are creating programming that is as good as anywhere else in the world.” There’s something for art enthusiasts in nearly every genre. The spate of culturally hefty programming includes a blockbuster exhibition, “Vincent van Gogh: His Life in Art” (through June 27) at the MFAH, and “Contemporary Focus: Trenton Doyle Hancock” (through May 19), a show of the sardonic illustrator’s work at the Menil Collection, which features a new Drawing Institute designed by Los Angeles–based ED A-List architects Johnston Marklee.