AN INTERVIEW WITH Brad & Joanna Marks, owners of IW Marks Jewelers
What were your biggest challenges of 2020? Our biggest challenge was definitely dealing with the economic shutdowns due to the virus.
<p><strong>How did you adjust and overcome obstacles? How did you reset? </strong>We are expanding our selling to include online through our website and social media platforms. </p><p><strong>What's the secret to rising above obstacles and persevering in tough times? </strong>The secret to staying hopeful and forward-thinking is believing in God, yourself, business and employees. </p><p><strong>What did you learn about yourself, your business or your community that might inspire others? </strong>We can overcome anything with what we have been through this last year. </p><p><strong>What's new for 2021 that you're excited about?</strong> I am very excited about expanding our business to include online sales. </p>
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GOV. GREG ABBOTT has announced that all Texas businesses will be able to open 100 percent beginning March 10, adding that mask mandates will be lifted, according to multiple press reports. As a preemptive rebuttal to those concerned his actions are premature and could lead to a new wave of Covid cases, he set a new rule that allows county judges to override his policies if Covid hospitalizations rise above 15 percent capacity.
<p>Houston business owners are already reacting to the surprising news on the pandemic, which has roiled the world — and small businesses perhaps most of all — for a year. So far, it seems they are being cautious.</p><p>"I don't know the science behind what is being done," says Murry Penner of the Uptown Park men's clothing store M Penner, who left a staff meeting discussing the matter to comment. "It sounds like good news, but until all our employees are vaccinated — and that could be very soon — we plan on continuing to ask customers to wear face coverings.</p><p>"We take the health and welfare of our employees very seriously," he adds. "For now, it's status quo here."</p><p>Goodnight Hospitality — which owns two eateries, a shop and a bar in Montrose — also says they will take their time in moving on the governor's new policies. "We feel strongly that it is not our time to loosen any protocols for everyone's safety," reads the owners' statement. "That time will come when everyone has the equal ability to easily find a vaccine. Because of this, our staff will wear masks throughout their shifts, our patrons will wear masks unless seated at their table, we will perform daily temperature checks and maintain monthly COVID-19 testing for our entire team, and our indoor operations will remain at 50% capacity.</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0e0465dfdf6973622e65bf4b07a67b06" id="d90b7"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CKUgkrRJMsI/" data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0;
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</div></blockquote></div><p>"We know it's been a long year," the statement continues, "and we hold undying gratitude to all our supporters and supporters of independent restaurants. … We are hopeful for the future and extremely grateful to still be operating and are elated to see some of our dear friends and family have the opportunity to be vaccinated." Goodnight operates Goodnight Charlie's, Rosie Cannonball, March and Montrose Cheese & Wine.<br/></p><p>In his initial comments on the rescission of his previous orders, the governor said he expected businesses to make decisions for themselves. "Removing state mandates does not end personal responsibility and caring for your family members, friends and others in your community," Abbott reportedly said. "People and businesses don't need the state telling them how to operate."</p><p>Some news reports have noted that Abbott, who made the announcement at a Mexican restaurant in Lubbock, has been fully vaccinated.</p>
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Photo by Julie Soefer
AS SHE PREPARES to celebrate the 40th anniversary of her namesake gallery, Barbara Davis reflects on her trailblazing career. She's pretty much the Grand Dame of the Houston art world at this point, having weathered many a storm — literal and figurative — and launched the careers of several important artists.
<p>When she opened the <a href="http://www.barbaradavisgallery.com" target="_blank">Barbara Davis Gallery</a> in 1981, Houston's scene was small. "The galleries at that time were Meredith Long, Texas Gallery, Betty Moody," she says. "Houston was a much different place then. The Menil wasn't even open. But I knew Houston had the curiosity to become a very important arts center."</p><p>And she was right. Behind New York and L.A., Houston is the third-largest arts epicenter in the country. The MFAH was established in 1900, making it the oldest art museum in Texas. Other early additions were CAMH and Art League Houston, both opened in 1948. These pioneering institutions, along with the Menil family, led many Houstonians to great contemporary art. And Davis sold it to them. </p><p>"The art I show is not wallpaper," she says. Her short frame, clad in the classic gallerist uniform of head-to-toe black, belies an outsized personality. She is sharp and forthright. "There is a fundamental difference: Great art has emotional content to it. It's not just color that says nothing." Davis has spent the last four decades educating collectors on this difference by showing cutting-edge artists from all over the world and hosting dialogues in the gallery with notable curators like Toby Kamps. "I wanted to become an international gallery. My goal was to bring artists that had never been shown here."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
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<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Eduardo Portillo, Versailles de Verde, 2020 (photo courtesy Barbara Davis Gallery)</small></p><p>This driving focus led her to be the first in Houston to show such artists as Joseph Beuys, Kiki Smith, Haim Steinbach and Jonathan Borofsky, among others. Perhaps most famously, Barbara Davis gave Julie Mehretu, the now internationally renowned artist and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, her first solo show in the late 1990s. In 2021, Davis continues to mount exhibitions of national and international artists such as Mie Olise Kjærgaard and Judy Ledgerwood, as well as Houston-based talents like Eduardo Portillo. And she was the first tenant of the now iconic 4411 Montrose building, designed by Peter Zweig, out of which she still operates today.</p><p>Only time will tell if another boom in the Houston commercial gallery scene is imminent, like the era that saw the opening of Barbara Davis Gallery. (In the subsequent years Hiram Butler, Kerry Inman and María Inés Sicardi all opened their first spaces. Thirty-something years later they too are still around and are among the most highly regarded in the city.)</p><p>What Davis truly desires, though, is for more people to know where and <em>how</em> to look at art. "No one is born with an eye, you have to develop it," she explains. "It's all about the <em>feeling</em>. But you have to get in touch with it. I can take people on that journey, if they are willing to go there. "</p>
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