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    Party Watch

    Hot young professionals shun the holiday craze for a wild art party

    Shelby Hodge
    shelby hodge
    Dec 8, 2013 | 7:26 am

    What: The Menil Contemporaries "This Is Not a Holiday Party" event.

    Where: At The Menil Collection.

    The 411: More than 200 members of the museum's young professionals group, led by chairs Kelly Hamman and Jessica Phifer, embraced the non-holiday theme even though the hors d'oeuvres from Jackson and Co. followed a traditional holiday dinner influence and the cocktails from Mongoose versus Cobra had a decidedly festive flare. In lieu of any holly and mistletoe influences, Brooke Stroud and Eric Zimmerman of the museum's exhibition design team transformed the Menil foyer into a Magritte-inspired atmosphere complete with a projected roaring fireplace. The theme was an early spin-off of the Menil’s Magritte exhibition set to open in February.

    Who: Divya and Chris Brown, Michael Dinh, Amanda Shagrin, Liz Anders, David Vassar, Lindsay Grossman, Tracy Leibovitz, Wirt Blaffer and Nina Delano, Caroline Starry LeBlanc, Ross Tomson, Whitney Mears, Katie Mears, Elizabeth Gregory and Margot and Zach Davis.

    Ross Tomson, from left, Whitney Mears, Katie Mears, Elizabeth Gregory, Margot Davis and Zach Davis at the Menil party.

    5 Ross Tomson, from left, Whitney Mears, Katie Mears, Elizabeth Gregory, Margot Davis and Zach Davis at the Menil Young Professionals party December 2013
      
    Photo by © Jenny Antill
    Ross Tomson, from left, Whitney Mears, Katie Mears, Elizabeth Gregory, Margot Davis and Zach Davis at the Menil party.
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    Wildcatters Unite

    Museum gala raises $1.3 million with an assist from Billy Bob Thornton

    Joel Luks
    May 26, 2025 | 3:00 pm
    Bryan Museum Wildcatters Gala 2025
    Photo by Dave Rossman
    John Bryan, Mary Jon Bryan, Billy Bob Thornton, and J.P. Bryan.

    The Bryan Museum tapped into its roots and raised a glass — and more than $1.3 million — during its 10th Anniversary Gala, a high-octane homage to Texas’ oil legends that glittered as bright as a gusher at sunrise. Held April 12 on the storied grounds of the Galveston landmark, the Wildcatters Gala toasted five titans of the Lone Star oil legacy in a night that mixed boomtown nostalgia, couture curation, and a live-wire performance by Billy Bob Thornton and his band, The Boxmasters.

    More than 500 guests turned out for the celebration, chaired by Dancie and Jim Ware and Renee and Scott Rice, honoring Ernie H. Cockrell, Mary Ralph Lowe, Trevor Rees-Jones, and the families of Eddy C. Scurlock and R.E. “Bob” Smith.

    Guests were welcomed by a cinematic Boomtown façade and ushered into the rollicking Spindletop Saloon, where bartenders in oil-rush garb served “The Rob Roy” with a wink. The saloon spilled into interactive history vignettes—one channeling the early 1900s with the Scurlock and Cockrell legacies, another styled as a 1980s oil tycoon’s den complete with vintage tech and nods to the Astrodome. The immersive experience felt part museum, part Mad Men, part Texas-sized fever dream.

    And speaking of curation. Inside, guests previewed Kermit Oliver & Hermès: Storytelling on Silk & Canvas, the acclaimed exhibit blending high art and haute couture. Native Texan Kermit Oliver, the first American to design for the French fashion house, was feted through rare Hermès scarves and original works, reminding partygoers that Texas culture isn’t just oil and cattle, but silk and symbolism, too.

    J.P. Bryan, museum founder, took center stage for a poignant tribute to the honorees.

    “This year we chose to honor, not just a single gifted individual, but an entire industry of exceptional people who succeeded in making Texas the largest oil producer in the United States,” he said. Each honoree received The Bryan Museum History Medal of Honor, embedded with a 1500s-era silver coin and set in a five-point star, one point for each honoree, all stars in their own right.

    The night ended on a high note — literally — with Billy BobThornton and The Boxmasters igniting the tent with a raucous set that left boots tapping and bourbon glasses clinking.

    The $1.3 million raised marks a new fundraising record on Galveston Island, benefiting the museum’s exhibitions, education initiatives, and outreach programs.

    Among those in the crowd were Christy and Webb Jennings, Mary B. Jennings, Lila Jennings, Gary Petersen, Susan and Bill Sealy, Ellye Anderson and Carter Ware, Eddy and Harrison Blanton, Diana and Scott Anderson, Brady Caruth, Lisa and Michael O’Leary, Kirby and Scott McCool, Lindsay and Rand Holstead, Courtney Hopson, Shelly Mulanax, Mayes Middleton, Jochen Reiser and Gerri Popov, Terry and Tom Smith, Diane and Fred Burns, Victor and Janice Pierson, Kelley Sullivan Georgiades and George Georgiades, Jolyn and Russell Scheirman, Sarah and Todd Sullivan, and Alicia Brian.

    Bryan Museum Wildcatters Gala 2025
      

    Photo by Dave Rossman

    John Bryan, Mary Jon Bryan, Billy Bob Thornton, and J.P. Bryan.

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