What: The Grand Gala Ball
Where: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The scoop: Some 300 total guests walked the pink carpet for the Grand Gala Ball at the Caroline Wiess Law Building of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The exclusive, A-list fete raised a total of $1.9 million to support the museum’s general operating budget.
Playing on the theme of “Abstraction: Moving into Modern,” the event featured a curated selection of abstract pieces anchored by Trenton Doyle Hancock’s Good Vegan Procession #5 mounted on the wall of Cullinan Hall. Measuring 54 feet wide by 18 feet high, the mural-scaled backdrop depicts a brightly colored forest glade with silhouettes of over 100 dancing trees across a colorful field.
The Events Company mirrored the vibrant color palette with fresh floral arrangements in various hues, as well as Lucite tables and chairs to enhance the modern aesthetic. At the base of Cullinan Hall’s staircase, guests posed for pictures in front of a fresh flower wall spanning shades of white, pink, red, lavender, and deep purple roses, while admiring Harry Winston jewels posed on models atop mirrored platforms in front of the flower wall.
City Kitchen prepared a three-course dinner, starting with cauliflower soup with preserved lemon and parsley. Guests were also served pan-roasted main lobster with shallots, thyme, and crème fraîche; prime-aged beef tenderloin medallion with Bordelaise sauce; twice-baked Yukon gold potatoes with cheddar and scallions; and asparagus. For dessert, guests enjoyed a lemon meringue tart with raspberry sorbet and raspberry coulis.
The event featured live entertainment by Jessie’s Girls, as well as a special performance by Grammy-award winning Bruce Hornsby, who was hand-selected by Susanne and Bill Pritchard. Hornsby performed three songs: “The Way It is,” “The End of Innocence,” and “Mandolin Rain.”
Who: Lynn Wyatt, Nancy and Rich Kinder, Phoebe and Bobby Tudor, Sara and Bill Morgan, Franci Neely, Cherie and Jim Flores, Lisa and Ralph Eads, Michael Moser, Petra Martinez, Michelle and Frank Hevrdejs, Susan and Fayez Sarofim, Andrew and Mona Sarofim, Carol and Mike Linn, Margaret Alkek Williams, Jeanie Kilroy Wilson and Wallace Wilson, Anne Duncan, Rose Cullen, Sara Paschall Dodd, Soraya and Scott McClelland, Ann and John Bookout, Sultana and Moez Mangalji, Aliyya and Herman Stude, Marcy Taub Wessel and Tom Wessel, Trenton Doyle Hancock and JooYoung Choi, Ann and Karl Stern, Beth Madison, and Cathy and Joe Cleary.
Jerry Hooker and Jacob Sudhoff.
