Nancy Douthey

 

    

Nancy Douthey is a performance artist and gallerist at Texas Gallery. Among other things, Nancy is a Dolly Parton enthusiast, a fantastic hostess, a voracious reader, smitten with land art and her three roommates: a Papillon named Radar, a smooshy fluff ball of a cat named Chainsaw and a shy little sweetie named Meatball.

Perched three stories up in a high-rise in Houston Nancy's place feels like it's home to the coolest grandmother you never had. The kind who lives in the city, who has little gold rimmed bourbon glasses and more books than you can count. The kind of grandmother who has lunch dates and plays cards by the pool, who's plush apartment is somewhere you just want to get lost in. Needless to say, it's an incredible place. 

Sipping whisky from her grandmother's hand-me-down glasses, we dug through Nancy's goodies and explored her amazing art collection, her inherited Ferragamo loafer stockpile, pretty pieces of jewelry, an endless supply of books and lots and lots of blazers. A girl really can't ever have too many blazers.

My personal style is...a pair of comfortable jeans and a t-shirt, some very fancy shoes, (a special thanks to my friend Cindy who put me in my two favorite pair of shoes after her aunt was tossing Ferragamo loafers, one pair light pink and the other brown to the garage sale box last summer - they've lasted a solid year and I can hardly name a day I don't wear them) and a blazer usually from J. Crew or, if I'm lucky, one from Elizabeth and James. My long time habit still stands of stealing shirts and shoes from my sisters' closets when given the chance and extends itself into the closets of my closest friends as they are all very well aware!

The last time I surprised myself ... was when I showed up to the movies to watch Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter willingly.

Five things I can’t live without are…  (in no particular order)

1. Fresh flowers - usually carnations or ones that remind me of something Mapplethorpe would photograph.

2. Pink stationary - a special thanks to Kim Coleman at PH, Houston.

3. My local animal farm based at 3614 Montrose (my place). Chainsaw, Meatball and Radar.

4. The countless T-shirts directly from the Studio of Shane A. Tolbert.

5. The hours of phone calls to my family and friends.

On a sunny afternoon I... love to put on a swimsuit and head downstairs to the pool to hang out with my neighbors and enjoy the architecture of my apartment building built in 1964.

If I live in another era I’d choose... the 1970’s when Adrian Piper created her Mythic Being, Carolee Schneemann performed Interior Scroll, Judy Chicago had The Dinner Party, Joan Jonas was making experimental videos like Vertical Roll, Eleanor Antin performed in her video The King and Mierle Laderman Ukeles was shaking hands with New York City Department of Sanitation employees (just to name a few!) AND the Women’s Building in Los Angeles was open for business! 1970’s performance – yes please!

When I’ve got money to burn I head to... Kayak.com – lets go somewhere!

I’m inspired by... “brushing my teeth in the morning when I’m barely awake…” Alan Kaprow

Lately I’ve been listening to… Culture Club when I get off work, Jens Leckman when I get in the car and my boyfriend’s top 20 most played iTunes list while I’m working at Texas Gallery – and I’ve got Terry Allen’s latest Ghost Shine Rodez on constant repeat!

When I’m at home I love to…take very long baths while attempting to “sing” along to Meredith Monk. Thus the LONG baths, it takes hours to perfect Monk!

If I were in a movie it would be… The Devil Wears Prada. We established this at Texas Gallery years ago when the movie came out in 2006. I’m Hatahaway and the star of the show who would play Meryl Streep’s character, Miranda Priestley - Fredericka Hunter – LOVE!

When I walk up to the bar I order… a whiskey and coke but usually I walk up to the bar at Double Trouble and order an Angela Lansbury: one ounce gin, one ounce ginger liqueur, three fourths lime and one half simple syrup topped with ginger beer. The recipe is by bartender Roy Mata and it isn’t [my favorite] just because I’ve watched every episode of Murder She Wrote.

I’m crushing on… Paris, Pringles, mustaches, Charlie Chaplin and Vin Diesel’s facebook page – he’s inspirational, positive and posts fan art! Anyone want to submit something with me?

The last book I read was... Sex and Death to the Age of 14, Spalding Gray (stolen from the bookshelves of a very hip friend) along side Tennessee Williams', Four Plays and The Collected Writings of Joe Brainard (the Brainard book was my splurge purchase while hanging out at Domy Books in Austin, thanks Russell!) I like a good curated group of books – this is the latest and I highly recommend doing all of them at the same time.