Holiday 2016: On Location
Welcome back for round two! Here's your intimate behind-the-scenes look at the sophomore issue of the most exciting new magazine in Houston.
Nov. 21, 2016
WHAT WAS THE highlight of 2022 at your business? Winning Best of Show at the 2022 ASID Ruby Awards was very exciting. It was an honor to be recognized and supported by amazing industry partners and friends.
Successful people usually have many choices in what to do professionally. Why did you choose this? I discovered interior design purely by accident. Growing up on a farm in East Texas, I didn’t even know this was a profession. I took a beginning interior design class with a friend in college, and I fell in love with it. I believe I’ve been successful because I work hard, and I truly love what I do.
We’re fans of late educator Stephen Covey, who used to say that successful people “begin with the end in the mind.” At your business, what are you striving to accomplish? At this point in my career, I am working more as a mentor to my team. I want to leave my team and clients better off because they worked with me. Even though I’ll probably never 100 percent retire, I am slowing down and thinking more about what I want to leave behind. I feel so blessed with the success that I’ve experienced creating and building Eklektik Interiors, and I want to focus more on giving back to my industry and community.
Covey also spoke of having a “win-win strategy,” in which both the business owner and the customer win in the transaction. Can you describe your win-win strategy? When my clients are happy, I’m happy. It’s just that simple. I believe having a win-win strategy is being aware of the impact that you have and owning it. Every day that I get to get up and do what I love to do is a win. Figuring out different solutions, thinking outside the box, and finding inspiration in the process, is how I continue to find ways to make myself and others happier.
What’s special about your team? My team is eager to learn and tackle challenges. They love it just like I do! We all work together and individually to reflect Eklektik and our philosophy. We believe that the project isn’t about us; it is about our client and what they have asked us to do. I trust the fact that my employees know how to do just that. I love to see each designer flourish on their own and work together as a team for Eklektik’s success.
What’s new for 2023 that you’re excited about? We are very excited to announce our new location at 9434 Katy Freeway, Suite 200! Our studio in now dedicated 100 percent to interior design. We know that everyone is worried about inflation and being careful with their money. We are committed to working smarter as we give our clients the most bang for their buck. I’m excited to slow down and simplify my business and life and give my staff an opportunity to grow.
TWO OF HOUSTON'S greatest strengths — medicine and the arts — have once again been united in a moving display.
The Health Museum launched its new Healing Arts program to "bridge the gap between the arts and health sectors," and showcase ways in which art can be integrated into health education and practice. Rose Tylinski has been named the museum's Healing Arts Manager, and will spearhead initiatives such as Paint & Process workshops for those interested in blending creativity with psychological and medical insights; and Hearts of Hope, to support those struggling with mental health challenges.
Healing Hands is also new, a space within the museum to display works by community members who are caregivers. Through Feb. 2025, the gallery will feature art that tells stories about what it means to care for others, and the various pathways to healing.
The museum hosted a private opening reception for Healing Hands, attended by gallerists, artists and health advocates including Mathieu JN Baptiste, Carla Bisong and Anson Koshy.
Anson Koshy, Lori Raijman and Nader Adeeb
Ashura Bayya Lovelady
Carla Bisong, Crsytal Baptiste
Anson Koshy, Katie Scott, Mathieu JN Baptiste, Rose Tylinski, Gabriela Magana.
Michelle Vo
THE ATELIER OF Off the Wall Gallery, located on level one of The Galleria just above the ice-skating rink, is the site for Give Peace a Chance, a newly curated, premiere exhibition of limited-edition prints of artwork by John Lennon.
The exhibit is exciting, yet understated, in the best sense of the word, as Lennon originally drew and painted with no goal in mind other than to return to and enjoy the unselfconscious creativity we experience in childhood and typically abandon as we grow older and more “responsible.”
OTW Gallery Principal, Mimi Sperber-Wasserberg, who was instrumental in the curation of Give Peace a Chance, believes that for Lennon, creating art a way of reconciling a traumatic childhood with the love he found with his second wife and creative partner, Yoko Ono. “I think Yoko sparked something that allowed him to bloom again,” says Sperber-Wasserberg. “His artwork helped him heal.”
'The City in My Heart'
'A Bird Bath'
'Family of Peace'
'A Cat Napping'
'Power to the People'
Lennon’s trials and tribulations as a self-described “working-class hero,” who penned and sang his cri de coeur anthem “Help” at the height of his fame with The Beatles, are documented in songs that ranged from strange (“Strawberry Fields Forever”) to scorching (“I Want You [She’s So Heavy]”).
But he is also beloved for his post-Beatles repertoire, which includes such radio staples as “Instant Karma,” “Imagine,” and “Starting Over,” a paean to reconciliation with Ono and recorded in the last year of his life. (At age 40, Lennon was shot and fatally wounded by a deeply disturbed fan in the archway of The Dakota, where he and Ono had lived since 1973.)
In the wake of The Beatles breakup, and in his final years as a devoted husband and father, Lennon’s visual art garnered more attention, as it provided a subtle, ongoing commentary on living a relatively normal life in extraordinary circumstances. “He was not afraid to show the world what mattered most to him, which was people communicating,” says Sperber-Wasserberg of the subject matter Lennon explored in both his music and in his art.
Many of the drawings in Give Peace a Chance were created by John alongside his young son Sean. Lennon’s gift for wordplay and wry sense of humor is evident in the titles of this series: “An Elephant Counting” shows a pink elephant, big ears, trunk and all, at rest in a human’s bed, with an arc of sheep floating above its head. In “A Bird Bath,” a small, blue bird is perched atop an apple tree, enjoying a rainstorm as puddles form across the purple-colored landscape.
There are also Lennon’s drawings of himself and Yoko, realized in fluid, interwoven lines that suggest the spiritual connection they shared as soulmates. “Dream Power” is an homage to the cover of Ono’s 1970 debut solo album, Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band, although, in this version, she and Lennon are nude, just like planet Earth’s first creative power couple, Adam and Eve.
The title of the show comes from the 1969 Lennon song of the same name, where nonsensical rhyming in the verses (“Everybody’s talking about / bagism, shagism, dragism / this-ism, that-ism . . .” ) give way to the powerful refrain: “All we are saying / Is give peace a chance.” (A serigraph of Lennon’s handwritten lyrics is included in the exhibit.) Considering that the political unrest of our times feels so similar to that of the sixties and seventies, the message is both timely and timeless. “Lennon’s mindset wasn’t just 60 years ago. It’s applicable today,” says Sperber-Wasserberg firmly before adding with a laugh: “But I’m supposed to focus on the art!”
Give Peace a Chance: The Art of John Lennon is on view at Off the Wall Gallery from Aug. 20 to Sept. 7, 2024.