Say Cheese

FotoFest opening night party draws photo-loving crowd from around the world

Blame it on the camera-equipped smartphone — everyone is a photographer nowadays. But only a select few have the eye to transform the fast growing populist genre into fine art that stops viewers dead in their tracks to ponder composition, content and affect.

There's no question that Houston's affinity for photography roused a large crowd to pour into Spring Street Studios for the opening bash of the FotoFest 2014 Biennial Saturday. The collection of images by notable international talent filled the walls of the warehouse, offering artsy consumers a first look at the organizer's 15th show, themed "View From Inside: Contemporary Arab Photography, Video and Mixed Media Art," which runs through April 27.

Surely guest curator Karin Adrian von Roques and FotoFest founders Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss would love nothing more than to relive the moment.

Remarkable photographers such as Jerusalem-born Steve Sabella traveled from London and Khaled Hafez from Cairo to mingle with the who's who of the city's art cognoscenti, which included gallerists Anya Tish, Deborah Colton, Barbara Davis and Terry Hamman. Plus Contemporary Arts Museum Houston director Bill Arning and partner Mark McCray, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston photography curator Anne Wilkes Tucker, Houston Arts Alliance CEO Jonathon Glus and on and on.

Case in point: It was the trending affair of the weekend. Surely guest curator Karin Adrian von Roques and FotoFest founders Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss would love nothing more than to relive the moment.

Only major players — and there were many — enjoyed access to a party tent erected for the occasion. After noshing on a buffet catered by City Kitchen that dished up plates of chicken tagine, hummus and baba ganoush and the formalities of opening remarks, it was up to the exotic grooves of the Kinan Azmeh Quartet to liven up the ambiance.

Spotted in the crowd were Simone Anna Blumenthal, Moe Boughaba, Abdel Elkhadiri, Rudeina Baasiri, Steven Evans, David Klonkowski, Dania Dandashli, Wadih El Hajj, Wafa Abdin, Diane Barber and Karen Neimeier, Victoria and Marshal Lightman and Edge of Arabia artists Hamza Serafi and sisters Raja and Shadia Alem.

Leen Baasiri, from left, Annick Dekiouk, Rudeina Baasiri, Veronique Prentia and Zoe Goldman.

Photo by Morris Malakoff

Leen Baasiri, from left, Annick Dekiouk, Rudeina Baasiri, Veronique Prentia and Zoe Goldman.

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RIP, Wally

Texan Wally Funk, oldest woman to travel into space, dies at 87

Wally Funk aboard Blue Origin New Shepard

Photo courtesy of Blue Origin

The 82-year-old Wally Funk became the oldest person to go to space on July 20, 2021.

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — Wally Funk, an aviation pioneer who was the oldest woman to launch into space, has died. She was 87.

Funk died Wednesday, July 8 at her apartment in an assisted living facility in Grapevine, Grapevine City Councilwoman Duff O'Dell said Thursday. O'Dell, who described herself as Funk's caregiver, said she was by Funk's side. Funk had fallen a couple of times recently and had an infection in her leg.

“It took its toll,” O'Dell said in a phone interview.

Wally Funk became a hometown hero in Grapevine. Facebook/Wally Funk's Space for Race

Funk was one of 13 female pilots who went through the same tests as NASA’s all-male astronaut corps in the early 1960s but never made it into space. In 2021, she got her chance aboard Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket. At the time, the 82-year-old was the oldest person to go into space, though the record was later broken by “Star Trek” actor William Shatner and Ed Dwight, America’s first Black astronaut candidate. They were both 90.

Bezos chose Funk as an “honored guest” to ride alongside him and two others on an up-and-down hop from West Texas aboard his Blue Origin rocket.

In interviews after the 11-minute flight, Funk enthusiastically told reporters, "I loved every minute of it. I just wish it had been longer.”

Wally Funk in her '20s as a flight instructor. Facebook/Wally Funk's Space for Race

She became a hometown hero when she returned home to Dallas-Fort Worth; the city of Grapevine threw a parade for her history-making experience.

“Wally Funk never stopped believing that one day she would reach space. Her passion for flight, perseverance, and love of exploration will continue to inspire generations of Americans. Godspeed, Wally,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman posted Thursday on X.

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This story contains material from CultureMap story archives.

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