What: Artists on Artists: Houston Botanic Garden Welcome Dinner for Sculptor Kristine Mays

Where: Bayou Bend Towers

The Scoop: A lush spring evening set the scene as Houston’s creative elite gathered at Bayou Bend Towers to welcome sculptor Kristine Mays to town ahead of her exhibition Rich Soil at the Houston Botanic Garden. Hosted in partnership with the Houston Museum of African American Culture, the evening celebrated Mays’ wire-woven works that pay tribute to ancestral legacies and the spirit of Alvin Ailey’s Revelations.

Exhibition co-chairs Saundria Chase Gray, Ryan Martin, and Michael Mandola curated a dinner full of meaningful conversation and artistic connection. Joining the welcome committee were Harper Watters of Houston Ballet, powerhouse vocalist Kam Franklin, and experimental performer Lisa Harris, each representing a unique corner of the local arts scene.

Watters offered praise for Mays’ pieces — 29 life-size wire sculptures that seem to breathe and move within the Garden — and presented a moving short dance film shot among the figures. Set to run through September 21, Rich Soil invites visitors to experience sculptures that shimmer like spirits and echo with quiet resilience.

As Mays put it, “Both plants and human beings come and go — reverberating within the cycles of life.”

Who: Jailyn Marcel, Simin and Guardie Banister, Gin Braverman, Anne King, Alecia Harris, and Cindy Miles.

  

Photo by Hung Truong

Gin Braverman and Jailyn Marcel.