• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Avenida Houston
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    "An Insider's Index"

    Preservationist touts local history in comprehensive Houston-centric dictionary

    Elizabeth Rhodes
    Jul 27, 2015 | 8:00 am

    Easily considered one of the staunchest proponents of Houston and its history, James Glassman is taking his hometown love to another level with a comprehensive index of the people, places, dates and terms that define this city.

    Glassman is the founder of Houstorian, an education and advocacy group "committed to telling the story of Houston, preserving its cultural and architectural history, and supporting the landmarks that make Houston fun and unique." Whether it's with his "Today in Houston History" Tweets, the T-shirts he designs that feature iconic images of all things Houston or his newly released book, The Houstorian Dictionary: An Insider's Index to Houston, Glassman promotes the Bayou City with every chance he gets.

    Released earlier this month, Glassman's new "dictionary" is both entertaining and informational, containing an extremely comprehensive index of definitions ranging from downtown bar La Carafe ("widely considered to be Houston's oldest commercial building") and the Azalea Trail ("annual late-April home and garden tour hosted by the River Oaks Garden Club") to "Screwston" ("Houston nickname from fans of local hip-hop act DJ Screw") and late TV personality Marvin Zindler ("known for his white suit, blue-lensed glasses, cosmetic surgery and signature line, 'Slime in the ice machine'"). CultureMap has an entry of its own, too.

    In light of his recent book release, Glassman spoke with CultureMap about his definitions, "cultural amnesia" and what it means to be a Houstonian.

    CultureMap: How did you compile all this information about Houston’s history?

    James Glassman: Little by little. It started when I joined Twitter. I thought I could do a definition every day, but that's hard to do with so few characters. Then I thought I could do a Houston history tweet of the day. I use my iCalendar to write it down and have it repeat every year. I got sort of compulsive about it and I wanted to fill up my calendar to have something every day. It took about two years to get every single day covered. I'd be reading books and find a date that this had the groundbreaking or when they decided to annex this part of town and it just grew.

    I kept a list of terms, people, slang, events, dishes, movies, books and songs about Houston. I wrote them down and started writing definitions. For example, my entry on The Menil Collection — well, now I have to talk about Dominique de Menil. Now I need to talk about Schlumberger, and then I need to talk about oil and gas. So you can see how it grows. Each of those get their own entry.

    CM: Do you feel like Houstonians are in touch with the city’s history?

    JG: Well, Houston has a history problem and I want to fix it. That's why I founded Houstorian. It was to cure this sort of cultural amnesia that we have. Steven Fox, the author of the Houston Architectural Guide, first coined that term in relation to Houston — that we have amnesia, that we forget our past. But I think we can fix it. I think we've grown dramatically as a city in the past 15 years and there's a greater respect for our history and telling the story of Houston.

    It's why I'm doing this project of mine, which is telling the story of Houston and getting people to be more boastful about the city. Even if you live in Cy-Fair, you can be proud of Houston. This is hopefully an expansive idea that includes everybody, all the commuters and suburbanites.

    CM: What is something you especially love about Houston?

    JG: A term I love is "misfit-tinkerer" — all the misfit-tinkerers that come out of Houston. Whether it's Howard Hughes, who was never much of a Houstonian but he's from Houston and he's about the most misfit-tinkerer who ever was, or even someone more conventional like Wes Anderson. He's a very Houston guy.

    This city is filled with people like that. We do it our own way. When you look at the things that we have, like the Art Car Parade or even the Astrodome — what a weird idea it was at the time to build that. But that was a Houston idea, we invented indoor baseball. There are a lot of really neat ideas that have come out of Houston. I love bragging about that.

    CM: What does being a Houstonian mean to you?

    JG: That's an impossible question to answer because there're so many different ways to be a Houstonian, there's not a perfect one. I think it comes with a willingness to embrace the "misfit-tinkerer." We celebrate the Art Car Parade. Even the Rodeo is sort of a weird thing. You know, we aren’t a cowtown but we invented this stereotypic "Texan" sort of party. You can't find anyone alive who can remember Houston without the Rodeo, it's over 75 years old now. It's part of who we are, even if we aren't much of a cowtown to begin with.

    We're scientists and experimenters, we've got the oil and gas industry, the energy industry, we've got the Medical Center, we've got this great arts culture. We have this enthusiasm for doing it our own way.

    There's no such thing as a typical Houstonian. I say I'm a fifth-generation Houstonian, which is true, but I sometimes hesitate to say that because Houston's about what you do when you get here, not how long you've been here. They talk about that in old cities like New York and Savannah, but people don't really talk like that in Houston, we don't value how long you've been here, we value what you do when you're here and how you make your mark here. Look at Mattress Mack. He's not from Houston, but can you imagine Houston without him?

    James Glassman's book, "The Houstorian Dictionary: An Insider's Index to Houston," is a must-read for any city resident or visitor.

    The Houstorian Dictionary James Glassman
      
    Amazon.com
    James Glassman's book, "The Houstorian Dictionary: An Insider's Index to Houston," is a must-read for any city resident or visitor.
    unspecified
    news/arts
    CULTUREMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME
    Get Houston intel delivered daily.

    artist lineup revealed

    Prestigious contemporary art fair unveils exhibitors for first Houston show

    Holly Beretto
    May 22, 2025 | 9:00 am
    Untitled Art fair Miami
    Photo courtesy of World Red Eye
    Untitled Art, Houston launches in the Bayou City this September, with exhibitors from Texas and across the globe.

    Houston's art world has been buzzing since Untitled Art, one of the country’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibits, announced it was expanding its reach from Miami to Houston.

    Now, the event has shared a slate of exhibitors who are coming to the Bayou City for the fair, which runs at the George R. Brown Convention Center from September 19-21.

    The participants are a blend of Texas talent and exhibitors from across the globe. Among the first-time exhibitors are Houston’s Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, Moody Gallery, McClain Gallery, and Barbara Davis Gallery; Meliksetian | Briggs from Dallas; Michael Kohn Gallery, La Loma, and Philip Martin Gallery, all based in Los Angeles; New York’s Half Gallery, New Discretions, and Swivel Gallery; Patel Brown, with outlets in Toronto and Montreal; London’s Cecilia Brunson Projects; as well as galleries from San Francisco, Miami, Madrid, Havana, Lima, and the Bahamas.

    Those participating in the fair’s Nest sector, an initiative that offers subsidized booths to mitigate the traditional barriers presented by the cost of art fair participation, include 12.26 in Dallas and Los Angeles, Austin’s Martha's Contemporary and Seven Sisters, Laura the gallery and F - Galleries from Houston. Other Nest participants come from Los Angeles, London, Buenos Aires, Miami, and other cities. Find a full list of exhibitors at the Untitled Art, Houston website.

    All were selected by the committee of Untitled Art founder Jeffrey Lawson, executive director Clara Andrade, and Houston director Michael Slenske.

    Untitled Art aims to showcase the work of emerging and established artists from all over the world, as well as offer avenues for art appreciation and collection for everyone from newbies to the art scene to prominent collectors. Houston emerged as a natural spot for the event’s expansion, given the depth of the city’s arts scene, its diversity, and its prominence as a cultural leader, with a thriving art market, seasoned collectors, leading institutions, commercial galleries, art schools, and artists.

    “This is a moment when all of Houston’s top museums are in expansion mode and currently offering some of the most dynamic programming in the nation, as are the city’s emerging and established galleries and project spaces,” said Slenske in a statement. "Meanwhile, there are countless world-class artists who live and work in the Bayou City. I'm just very excited to be part of this new era of growth in the city’s art landscape with the launch of Untitled Art, Houston.”

    In addition to exploring the work of the artists above, visitors to the exhibit will experience a floor plan designed by the Michael Hsu Office of Architecture, the Texas-based firm known locally for restaurant designs such as Uchi and Loro as well as the Montrose Collective mixed-use development (among others).

    "Our firm greatly values the process of collaborating with contemporary artists to bring fresh perspectives to the spaces we design,” said architect Jay Colombo. “We're happy to partner with Untitled Art to bring this event to Houston and share in their mission to support the wider art ecosystem."

    Attendees will also be able to explore a series of special projects displayed throughout the fair, watch and listen as the fair records its on-site podcast series, and check out installations that showcase Untitled Art’s cultural partnerships with Houston institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH); the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH); the Menil Collection, Asia Society Texas; the Rothko Chapel, which continues to recover from damage by Hurricane Beryl; and others. A percentage of ticket sales from Untitled Art, Houston will be donated to the chapel’s restoration efforts.

    Tickets are on sale now. Prices start at $35 for single day tickets, with discounts available for students, seniors, and veterans/active-duty military. Multi-day and VIP tickets are also available.

    Untitled Art fair Miami
      

    Photo courtesy of World Red Eye

    Untitled Art, Houston launches in the Bayou City this September, with exhibitors from Texas and across the globe.

    visual-artuntitled artdowntownfestivals
    news/arts

    most read posts

    New owner of Texas Renaissance Festival revealed in our top 5 stories

    Ben Berg's New York-inspired, fancy burger joint will soon shutter

    Houston's new Napa Valley-inspired restaurant sets opening date

    Loading...