trunk show

Unforgettable elephant art installation rumbles into Houston's Hermann Park

They say an elephant never forgets. And it’s very likely that those who see the upcoming Great Elephant Migrantion installation in Hermann Park won’t forget it. One hundred life-sized Indian elephant sculptures will be on view from April 1-30.

The majority of the herd will take up residence in Hermann Park’s newest destination, the Commons. Smaller herds will be located at the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Texas Medical Center. The installation is open daily during park hours and is free to view.

Houstonians also get a chance to see the newest — and biggest — member of the herd. His name is Matt, a real life Kenyan elephant who stood 10-feet tall and weighed more than six tons. As one of Kenya’s largest tuskers, he was closely monitored by Save the Elephants. Matt was fitted with a GPS collar in 2002, revealing groundbreaking insights into elephant migration. Over his 52 years, Matt roamed farther than any other tracked elephant in Kenya, covering hundreds of kilometers. Matt died of natural causes in 2019, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inform conservation efforts.

The exhibit is part of Hermann Park Conservancy’s Art in the Park Initiative. This is the fourth U.S. stop for the installation, which was previously seen in Newport, Rhode Island, New York City, and Miami Beach. The Great Elephant Migration is a women-led conservation effort, reflecting the matriarchal structures that elephants uphold in the wild. CBS Sunday Morning profiled the exhibition last year.

Each elephant is one-of-a-kind. The pachyderms were created by The Real Elephant Collective, a community of 200 Indigenous artisans living within India’s Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in southern India. The herd is made from reclaimed Lantana camara, an invasive plant species that has entangled 300,000 square kilometers of India's forests and diminished food sources for all herbivores. The Great Elephant Migration is designed to spread a message of peaceful coexistence between humans and wildlife.

“The Great Elephant Migration is more than an art installation — it is a call to action and a place to experience joy,” said Cara Lambright, president and CEO of Hermann Park Conservancy. “By bringing this breathtaking global effort to Hermann Park, we are inviting our community to be part of a worldwide movement to protect ecosystems, eradicate invasive species, and inspire change. These are shared values that span continents.”

Parkgoers will see every elephant the artists live alongside, from female cows, male bulls (with and without tusks), and baby calves. They’ll also be part of a global awareness campaign. In addition to the pride and financial stability provided to the 200 members of theSoligas, Bettakurumbas, Kattunayakan, and Paniyas communities who created and coexist with the real wild elephants the herd is based on, the exhibit has raised more than half a million dollars.

While the installation is on display, Hermann Park Conservancy, in partnership with the Houston Parks and Recreation Department and Houston Museum of Natural Science, will present a series of engaging activities designed to help people learn more about these incredible creatures. The activities will be announced soon.

Following their stop in Houston, the elephants will continue their migration west, with stops in the Blackfeet Nation; Buffalo Pastures in Browning, Montana; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and Los Angeles.

Elephant sculptures part of The Great Elephant Migration

Photo by Corey Favino, Courtesy Elephant Family USA and Newport Restoration Foundation

The Great Elephant Migration is coming to Hermann Park in April.

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MFAH expands

Houston museum acquires historic Masonic lodge property for new greenspace

Holland Lodge No. 1, A.F. & A.M./Facebook

The building at 4911 will be torn down for the new greenspace.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has acquired a prime parcel to expand its campus in the Museum District. On Tuesday, December 23, the museum announced it has purchased a two-acre parcel of land at 4911 Montrose Blvd that will bring its total footprint to 16 acres.

Located just north of the Glassel School of Art, the property will be developed as a greenspace that will serve as a community lawn as well as be utilized for future museum events and parking. MFAH has retained landscape architects Nelson Byrd Woltz — the firm responsible for work at Memorial Park and the recently-opened Ismaili Center — to create the design for the new greenspace.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston greenspace rendering A rendering offers a bird's-eye preview of the new greenspace.Image by by Cong Nie/Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

At this time, the museum does not have plans to build anything on the property, according to a press release.

To make way for the greenspace, the property’s existing building, Holland Lodge No. 1, will be torn down. Built in 1954 as a home for the oldest Masonic lodge chapter in Texas, the building features a sandstone mural facade. It has been for sale since at least 2005, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle.

Demolition on the site is expected to begin in spring 2026 with the greenspace opening in approximately two years, according to press materials. In addition to the Glassell School, the museum’s campus includes the Audrey Jones Beck Building, the Caroline Wiess Law Building, the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden, and the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building.

“We are delighted to contribute to Houston’s greenspace access with this new initiative, which will expand the museum’s 14-acre campus to a thoroughly walkable 16 acres,” Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the MFAH, said in a statement. “While the primary objective for the purchase of this property is to secure land for any potential future expansion of the museum, our priority now is to create a welcoming community lawn. Thoughtfully designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz, one of the leading firms in sustainable landscape practice, the site will serve as public greenspace and provide additional parking for museum visitors.”

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