LOCAL Houston | The City Guide FEBRUARY 2015 | Page 50

Local February 2015 final.qxp_002houston 1/26/15 1:57 PM Page 50

The Washington Avenue Arts District incites ingenuity and
resourcefulness of some of the most historically significant sites
within Houston’s landscape. The re-imagined 267,000sf commercial campus of Winter Street, Spring Street and Silver
Street Studios coupled with the soon-to-be 79,000sf Rice Silos
on Sawyer Street (circa summer 2015) are home to a populace
of innovative tenants, where creativity and productivity embrace
one another, catalyzing dreams to become reality. From artists
to graphic designers to PR firms, architects, design firms and
even theater companies, this Arts District lineup boasts of robust
talent like none other. There’s Nicola Parente, Sandi Seltzer
Bryant, Patrick Palmer ¬– all artists dwelling within Winter Street
Studios. Artist Justin Garcia, Damsel White Label Bridal
Company, sculptor Eva Graf, jeweler Nichole Dittman, at Silver
Street Studios. Theater companies Mildred’s Umbrella and Stark
Naked, aerial arts center Vault, VR photography designer Syd
Moen, artist Fariba Abedin, artist Jane Eifler, entertainment
extraordinaire Puppet Pizazz and even this magazine, LOCAL,
all call Spring Street Studios home. Yet, it takes skill, a keen eye,
vision and a knack for most things different to evolve into a community of unwavering flavor and distinctiveness that enables us
to see where we are going and also where we have been over
the years.
Per Deal, “As a veteran developer (his first redevelopment project, Afton Oaks, done in ’92 and which he still owns), I am
most motivated by the challenge and satisfaction of repurposing
old buildings. The collaborative relationship with developers,
homebuilders and investors in Silver Street Studios – FRANK LIU,
STEVE GIBSON and PAUL HOBBY; m H\