helping hands

Striking new downtown mural honors essential workers and local heroes

Hands of Heroes mural Discovery Green The Grove anat ronen

"Hands of Heroes" honors essential workers and everyday do-gooders.

Photo by Anat Ronen

As the nation battles record-breaking coronavirus cases and hospitals are jam-packed with new patients, thoughts have no doubt turned to those on the front lines of the war on COVID-19. There have been video tributes from celebrities, clanging of pots and pans, and of course, the now-popular spontaneous applause from apartments in New York.

Now, Houstonians can honor essential workers at a new downtown public art installation. “Hands of Heroes” by local artist Anat Ronen, is located at the Jack C. Alexander Plaza, in front of The Grove restaurant in Discovery Green.

Ronen started on the mural days after 60,000 Houstonians gathered at Discovery Green and marched to City Hall to demand justice for George Floyd, according to a press release. Her “Hands” is said to represent the diversity of Houston and the many heroes in the community — those who are fighting for equality, working 12 hour shifts at the hospital, or restocking grocery store shelves.

Ronen also drew inspiration from “The Synchronicity Wall,” a Discovery Green public art installation by Margo Sawyer.

Visitors can pose in front of the mural and post photos to social media using the hashtags #HoustonStrong, #DiscoveryGreen, and #TheGrove. Meanwhile, The Grove, the Schiller Del Grande Restaurant Group restaurant located on the southern end of Discovery Green, is offering a free appetizer with a purchase of equal or greater value when they show their post to restaurant staff.

For every 1,000 check-ins at the mural, The Grove will throw a complimentary happy hour for essential workers. Logistics will be determined based on safety regulations in place at the time of the event.

“We can’t say thank you enough to the essential workers who are putting their lives on the line every day,” said Barry Mandel, president and park director. “That includes the essential work being done to fight for equality. This mural beautifully encapsulates our city’s diversity and strength.”

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sit and relax

Rothko Chapel dedicates a peaceful new garden for quiet contemplation

Photo by Brian Austin, courtesy of Rothko Chapel.

The Rothko Chapel will dedicate its new Peace Garden on Friday, November 14.

Generations of Houstonians have experienced moments of quiet contemplation inside the Rothko Chapel. Now, they can do so just outside its walls as well.

On Friday, November 14, the chapel will dedicate the the Kathleen and Chuck Mullenweg Peace and Reflection Garden. Described in press materials as “a contemplative outdoor space designed to foster stillness, renewal, and connection,” it’s the latest addition to the Rothko campus as part of its Opening Spaces expansion project.

Similar to the chapel’s minimal interior of black panels, the new Peace Garden offers a relatively austere environment of benches surrounded by low plants and shaded by young trees. It allows visitors to sit quietly and relax while experiencing sunlight, the sky, and the day’s weather. The chapel cites research by Harvard University that found time spent outdoors has a number of health benefits, including reducing stress, lowering blood pleasure, and improving mental well-being.

“Few places in the world embody the marriage of the sacred and the civic as profoundly as the Rothko Chapel,” Rothko Chapel president Abdullah Antepli said in a statement. “This new peace and reflection garden extends that invitation outward — a place where silence becomes a shared language, and where reflection can blossom into hope.”

Rothko Chapel Mullenweg Peace Garden Another view of the garden. Photo by Brian Austin, courtesy of Rothko Chapel.

The Peace Garden will be open daily during the same hours as the Rothko Chapel.

Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects worked with the Rothko Chapel to design the garden. The firm has been involved in a number of projects in Houston, including ongoing work at Memorial Park and the recently-dedicated Ismaili Center.

First announced last year, the Opening Spaces campaign is a $51 million project to expand the Rothko Chapel campus with additional buildings. Led by Architecture Research Office (ARO),

it includes the new Administrative and Archives Building and the Welcome House. Still to come are a new Program Center, building a guest bungalow for speakers and fellows, and creating a tree-shaded plaza that will serve as a venue for events. So far, the chapel has raised $38 million towards that final goal.

The dedication ceremony will feature remarks by Christopher Rothko, chair of the Rothko Chapel Capital Campaign; Matt Mullenweg, Houston native and co-founder of WordPress; Lanie McKinnon, principal at Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBWLA); Adam Yarinsky, principal of Architecture Research Office (ARO); Troy Porter, Rothko Chapel board chair; Council Member Abbie Kamin; and Abdullah Antepli, president of the Rothko Chapel.

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