Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2009 > March > 08 > Entry
Faceted Jewel: Hogg/Garza House, 2
For Part 1, see post below …
The doctor is related to, but not directly descended from, Jim Hogg, the state’s first native governor, and his daughter, the Houston arts-and-parks patron Ima Hogg. He grew up mostly in Gilmer, along with other East Texas relatives in the Hogg family. A natural host, Hogg speaks with a Deep South lilt rarely heard in Austin.
Garza and Hogg met here — they were driving identical white Ford trucks, which started their first conversation — and while the doctor came with a family history of art collection, Garza also shares a love of Latino art, including Mexican painter Ruben Herrera, a distant relation, whose work will be exhibited at Mexic-Arte Museum soon.
The Mexic-Arte connection is not coincidental. In fact, for Garza and Hogg, it’s the main point for opening their home in April. The up-from-grassroots museum will hold its annual gala — a 25th anniversary celebration — at the home, instead in one of the usual downtown institutional suspects.
“By saving some money that might go to a hotel, we’re giving more money to the community,” says Mexic-Arte board president-elect Carlos Martinez, who promises a big announcement at the gala. “We’re going to put that $20,000 or $40,000 back into museum operations.”
“It’s especially exciting for us when you consider that architecture is also an art” says museum director Silvia Orozco.
Timely belt-tightening is a fair reason to hold a more domestic gala this season (other groups, including Austin Lyric Opera, are going that route). Yet I can guarantee that most of the expected 150 couples will come away with infinitely more descriptive storiesfrom the Garza/Hogg jewel than they would from a hotel ballroom.
The People’s Community Clinic gathering there Thursday buzzed like few other parties in months. Guests peeked into every cranny, relaxed on every terrace, scrutinized every view. The couple, who’ve been together six years, also plan a fundraiser for the Hispanic Scholarship Consortium.
“I was raised to leave the world a better place,” Garza says of his multi-generational Austin family.
Time will tell, but this faceted beacon could one day be considered a major player — perhaps a major masterpiece? — among all those mid-centuries.
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