At Arthouse, a new museum opening this spring in Marble Falls, the inaugural exhibition highlights an underappreciated visual arts element. Words Matter features artworks that all contain an element of text, including pieces by Faith Ringgold, Ed Ruscha, Terry Allen, Jenny Holzer, and other artists.
The show pulls from oil and gas entrepreneur and philanthropist Mickey Klein’s collection of artworks, which he has curated over several decades alongside his wife, Jeanne. The two are some of the world’s most dedicated art collectors, and were named to ARTnews magazine’s list of the top 200 collectors in the world several years running. They have ties to museums across Texas and the United States, including the Chinati Foundation, the Whitney Museum in New York City, and the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, where they were instrumental in bringing in works by Ellsworth Kelly and Teresita Fernández.
Arthouse is located on Main Street in Marble Falls where its new limestone and metal building stands next to a post office built in 1910. Designed by Lake Flato, the firm that brought home the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 2024, the new building is meant to feel “like it has always belonged here and will continue to grow alongside the community” says lead designer Grace Boudewyns. The building will double as both a public gallery and an office.
“We wanted to combine our two passions at this time in our life, architecture and art,” Jeanne says.
The public will be able to visit Arthouse this spring. The gallery’s debut is April 25, during Marble Falls’ Paint the Town Festival.
“We want to be able to walk around and talk to the people about every piece of art that we’re showing so we can interact with them and so that they can get a real appreciation. We want the students from the local schools to come in,” Mickey says.
The educational focus springs from his experiences attending museum tours alongside children getting their first exposure to art. “I love to listen to the questions they ask, because they’re so incisive, they’re so imaginative, and they don’t have any past reference,” Mickey says. ”They’re just pure good questions. I learn from their questions, really.”
Arthouse will provide a space for the questions to continue, as the public sees works that otherwise would remain in storage, in private residences, or sporadically loaned to art institutions.
