Field of Light Glows

Enchanting Field of Light covers Discovery Green in a magical romantic glow

Even the weekend's evening showers, lightening and thunder could not dampen the glow of British artist Bruce Munro's Field of Light, which fills the Discovery Green oak alley with an incandescent garden of luminous orbs in an ever-changing array of gentle colors.

This not-to-be-missed iconic optical fiber installation, which has traveled the world in various forms, each site specific, will light the majestic Brown Promenade through Feb. 8. It is one temporary art installation that will truly embrace the viewer's heart. Fantastical, beautiful, romantic, divine — adjectives to describe this engaging work are endless.

The magnificent work includes 4,500 radiant, frosted glass spheres atop slender stems connected by 23 miles of illuminated fiber optic coils.

Though it rained heavily on the official opening on Saturday night, Field of Light was not diminished in the least other than the the fact that the opportunity to stroll the enchanting path of light became a rather soggy experience.

Still, there were visitors with umbrellas trekking through the water-filled sidewalk to experience the glow. Some felt it was reminiscent of the field of poppies in The Wizard of Oz. Others saw a garden of light and still others interpreted the dancing orbs as gigantic fireflies.

"My goodness, I never thought that I would be standing here talking to you 14 years later (after his original Field of Light) in Houston, Texas," said Munro, who has been in Houston for the installation and was guest of honor at the Discovery Green party at The Grove launching the installation.

The creative talent who says he has been "making art since old enough to hold a pencil" found inspiration for his Field of Light far from home. "The inspiration came from Australia. My fiancée and I were living in Australia and we traveled to the Red Centre and got to Uluru and it was a reaction to that space."

The first Field of Light was created in the back of his farmhouse in England. He used part of his house mortgage to pay for the installation. "That was my first piece of work which was life based and very much based on my sketch books," he said. "My sketch books have been going on since I was 14."

Subtle colors

The magnificent work includes 4,500 radiant, frosted glass spheres atop slender stems connected by 23 miles of illuminated fiber optic coils. "We try to color them in a very soft and gentle way in order to get a very subtle effect," Munro explained of the pinks, greens and pale yellow hues that rotate through the color cycle.

"This is the initiation of a world class art program here at Discovery Green," Judy Nyquist said.

In addition to his installers from England, the project took 200 hours over six days to install, much of the work contributed by 40 local volunteers.

"First of all this isn't me," Munro demured. "Houstonians are amazing people, very responsive . . . We had the volunteers with up to 100 people asking to participate and I'm sad that we couldn't let everybody join in . . . I very much love installation work which involves people. I'm just one small piece in a bit of the cake."

The Discovery Green installation is the first endeavor of the park's newly-organized public art committee headed by collector Judy Nyquist. "This is the initiation of a world class art program here at Discovery Green," she said. "And to have on-going temporary public art displays here is the perfect location. Our audience is so international at GRB and it was just waiting to happen. It was a marvelous confluence of many things."

Discovery Green president Barry Mandel echoed the sentiments of many attending the opening ceremony. "It's the first venture out for our public art committee and they have just knocked it out of the park with this one. "

"The idea came around with our fifth anniversary and what was going to be the focus of our next five years. What mark was it going to make, not just on this city but regionally and nationally," Mandel continued. "It has been such a pivotal point for the development around of the east side of downtown. We decided that we really wanted to make an impact via public art on a temporary basis in the park. "

Seen from the deck of The Grove, the installation resembles an image of astronomy.

Photo by Shafik Rifaat

Seen from the deck of The Grove, the installation resembles an image of astronomy.

unspecified

holiday budgeting news

Here's how much Houstonians are budgeting for holiday gifts in 2025

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

San Antonio residents are expected to spend over $900 on their Christmas gifts this year, WalletHub found.

Residents living in Houston's well-to-do suburbs aren't stressing about stretching their holiday spending this year: A new report from WalletHub found Pearland, The Woodlands, and Sugar Land residents are all among the top-25 biggest holiday spenders in the nation for 2025.

Pearland gift givers are expected to spend $3,277 on their festive presents, says WalletHub's 2025 "Holiday Budgets by City" report.

Pearland's holiday budget earned it No. 19 in WalletHub's national ranking of cities with largest holiday budgets, with The Woodlands and Sugar Land appearing right behind as No. 20 and No. 22, respectively.

To determine the U.S. cities with the biggest holiday budgets, WalletHub's experts compared 558 cities across five categories: Income, age, a debt-to-income ratio, residents' monthly income-to-monthly expenses ratio, and their savings-to-monthly expenses ratio.

The three U.S. cities that boast the loftiest holiday budgets are Palo Alto, California (No. 1); Mountain View, California (No. 2); and Newton, Massachusetts (No. 3). Palo Alto residents are expected to spend nearly $4,500 on their Christmas gifts this year, with the latter cities budgeting for $4,266 and $4,069.

Pearland's current holiday budget is $711 higher than it was in 2024, when the city ranked No. 31 in WalletHub's list of U.S. cities with the biggest holiday spenders. It's also much higher than the $2,127 projected budget from the 2023 report, when Pearland ranked No. 36 nationally. They're definitely competing with Mr. Claus for the "best Christmas present" award.

Festive neighbor The Woodlands ranked as the city with the 10th-highest holiday budgets last year, so its current rank as No. 20 is a bit surprising. Even with a dip in the rankings, The Woodlands residents are still expected to spend a lofty $3,265 on their holiday presents this year, or about $51 less than last year.

Residents living in No. 22-ranking Sugar Land are projected to spend $3,191 on their holiday gifts this year, or $19 less than last year, the report found.

Houston proper ranked 285th on the list with a $1,302 projected holiday budget this year, or $6 more than last year's budget.

Five more Houston-area cities landed in this year's report on the heftiest holiday budgets:

No. 34 – League City ($2,997)
No. 291 – Pasadena ($1,294)
No. 321 – Missouri City ($1,233)
No. 412 – Conroe ($1,063)
No. 490 – Baytown ($890)

Regardless of the dollar amount, Houstonians should pay attention to their spending and pick a budget that works for their financial situation, experts say. The National Retail Federation expects holiday sales to surpass $1 trillion this year, and the report warns credit card debt is a major challenge faced by many Americans as they plan their holiday shopping sprees.

"The holidays bring plenty of joy, but they can also spark seasonal stress, much of it tied to overspending," the report's author wrote. "In Q3 2025, the average household carried $10,227 in credit card debt, up 2.3 percent from the year before, according to WalletHub data. Adding holiday shopping on top of that can quickly increase the financial strain, especially if balances roll into the new year."

Other Texas cities that ranked among the top 100 biggest holiday spenders include:

No. 4 – Flower Mound ($3,941)
No. 12 – Frisco ($3,491)
No. 28 – Allen ($3,055)
No. 31 – Cedar Park ($3,028)
No. 40 – Plano ($2,812)
No. 47 – Round Rock ($2,641)
No. 55 – McKinney ($2,502)
No. 56 – Carrollton ($2,498)
No. 82 – Richardson ($2,146)
No. 96 – North Richland Hills ($1,985)

According to the study's methodology, a consumer is considered to be in a "comfortable financial position to engage in holiday spending if they have: 1) enough emergency savings to cover at least six months of expenses and 2) a debt-to-income ratio smaller than 22 percent for a renter or 43 percent for a homeowner."

holiday budgets holidays christmas wallethub houston pearland the woodlands sugar land suburbs