Lake Flato Shapes a Stunning New Art Space in Texas Hill Country

Main Street in charming Marble Falls, Texas, is punctuated with local boutiques, bars, and restaurants serving the best of Hill Country cuisine. But opening this weekend is a distinctly different space housed in a modern, gleaming white building conceived by Texas architects Lake Flato. Inside Arthouse, opening April 25, works by Mary C. Sloane, multidisciplinary artist Kenturah Davis, and painter Faith Ringgold from the personal collection of Mickey and Jeanne Klein animate 2,000 square feet of crisp white exhibition space.

“The modern design and restrained material palette were meant to place the focus on the artwork and exhibition space,” says the project’s lead architect, Grace Boudewyns of Lake Flato, which transformed a compact infill lot next to the town’s circa-1910 post office building in the heart of Marble Falls for the new structure. “We paid close attention to the scale, rhythm, and character of the surrounding buildings to ensure that Arthouse contributed to the continuity of the streetscape.”

Longtime supporters of the arts, the Kleins acquired paintings, sculpture, photography, and design from some of the industry’s leading names, like Ed Ruscha, James Turrell, and Teresita Fernández, while their philanthropic work has extended to institutions such as the Hirshhorn Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Chinati Foundation, and the Blanton Museum of Art. The couple, based in Austin, first collaborated with the Lake Flato team after purchasing a residence on Lake Austin that the studio designed for another client.

“They loved how the original house seamlessly connected with the lake and the wetlands, and, as ‘fans of our work,’ they also saw it as an opportunity to avoid the additional time and energy associated with designing and building a house from scratch,” recalls Boudewyns. “They made a very unusual request, and asked us to revisit anything that we had either not gotten to do or were not as happy about in the first iteration, which was a refreshing way to begin a project.”

Having already established a repertoire, the Kleins called on Lake Flato again in 2022 when they wanted to create a modest art space in Marble Falls, a welcoming Hill Country town northwest of Austin, selected by two of Mickey Klein’s longtime employees who had relocated there. “Marble Falls has become a special place for us, and we’re thrilled to share our love of art with the community,” the couple says in a statement. “Art should be accessible to everyone, and we hope this gallery inspires curiosity and connection.”

Opening in the midst of Marble Falls’ Paint the Town Art Festival, Arthouse will debut with the exhibition “Words Matter,” curated by Mickey and encompassing artworks that explore text and narrative. Crafted with a singular, movable wall to give flexibility to changing exhibitions, the building also houses a private office space upstairs and a courtyard conceived by landscape designer Sada Uchiyama, curator emeritus of the Portland Japanese Garden and a fourth-generation Japanese gardener.

“We knew we wanted a space of respite off the street, before you entered the gallery space,” says Boudewyns of the tranquil outdoor area. “Mickey has always had a passion for Japanese gardens and brought Sada on early in construction to landscape and design the front courtyard. The space was considered to be an extension of the gallery itself, and was designed almost as an installation.”

With artful influences both indoors and out, Arthouse will surely make a resounding cultural impact on the vibrant small Texas town.