The Paper Boy

JJ 152

There’s a good chance most readers have an example of Jerry Jeanmard’s work in their freezer: The Louisiana-born artist is the man responsible for drawing the silhouette of the young girl leading a cow that graces every pint of Blue Bell ice cream. “I worked as a graphic designer before becoming an interior designer,” says Jeanmard, who, now in his 70s, is “semi-retired” from his firm Wells Design/Jerry Jeanmard.


Now, he is having a third act, this time as a fine art collagist. “I had always loved paper. I’ve been collecting interesting paper for 50 years — craft paper, wrappers, the tags that come with your dry cleaning — and liked playing with it. Then I started making these shapes that started looking like people. I showed them to my friend [star curator] Clint Willour and that led to my the show Paper People.”

That 2014 exhibition at Moody Gallery included images of 57 separate figurative collages, each around a foot high. Jeanmard’s new exhibition, More People and More, which runs at Moody through Nov. 22, documents the developmental arc of that work, from Jeanmard’s earliest paper abstractions to the latest evolution of his “people,” which are now nearly twice as large.

“If I were presumptuous,” Jeanmard says, having since shown his work in the Hamptons and London, “I might go so far as to even call it a retrospective.”

Jeanmard says working with paper is a nice contrast to practicing interior design, which is very structured. “I know exactly what a room will look like when I finish it,” he says. “With collage, I move things around this way and that, until it feels right, until there is a person there. It’s very forgiving. Unlike in life, there’s no real way to make a mistake.”

Art+Culture
Thrive & Inspire: Alchemy’s Arquella Hargrove ‘Inspired by People Making an Impact in the World’

Arquella Hargrove, Chief Culture Officer and Owner of the Alchemy Consulting Group

WHAT IS THE secret to running a successful business? The secret to a successful business is a rockstar team. With a rockstar team, clients experience the transformation within their culture. This also is connected to other success factors — a commitment to relentless change, communicating courageously, and collaborating to win. The ultimate goal is to be the change for our clients and to create a culture where team members thrive and grow exponentially.

Keep Reading Show less

Paella Valenciana at Mi Luna

THOUGH IT'S BEEN in Houston less than a decade, Sof Hospitality has made major inroads with foodies and critics alike. Its concepts include Doris Metropolitan, Hamsa and Badolina Bakery, all of which deliver the rich flavors of Israeli cuisine in complex, photogenic and delicious dishes. Its newest, Októ, opened earlier this year, one of several energetic restaurants to bow in the Montrose Collective, just in time for the holidays.

Keep Reading Show less
Food

Bill Viola’s ‘Ascension,’ on display as part of ‘Living with the Gods’ at MFAH

THE ARTIST WHO ushered in the expressionist movement in the early 20th century was not, in fact, Picasso or Matisse. It was Paul Gauguin, whose career spanned the decades just preceding the turn of the century. The French painter is the subject of the Museum of Fine Arts’ latest exhibit, Gauguin in the World, which was organized by Henri Loyrette (formerly of the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, Paris). The show, just one of the museum’s diverse winter season shows, debuted in Australia in June and will be on display through Feb. 16, 2025, at the MFAH, the only U.S. venue for the survey.

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment