INSPIRATIONS | cowlestory

Click on any image to read about the touchstones for our celebration!

PARTY INSPIRATIONS

Joseph Albers Celia knew immediately she wanted to use Josef Albers' square color studies as the inspiration for her party. It wasn't until we did some research, though, that we discovered that the Austrian artist (who taught at Yale) travelled with his artist wife, Ani Albers, to Mexico every year to teach themselves color theory from what they saw.
CONCRETE MINIMALISM Celia loves modern architecture! Especially minimalism - and concrete! So she's using two different shades of gray in her decor.
CITRUS First inspiration: citrus fruits! Celia loves to eat them, smell them, and look at them. And now she goes to a school surrounded by orange trees!
LATIN Celia's favorite school subject is Latin - she loves all the rules!
GEOMETRY Math was never a fun subject for Celia - until she discovered geometry. We're having fun using geometric shapes all over the place!
MEXICO We have spent all year doing studies of Mexican culture, food, and history. We visited Mexico City in March.
LA CONDESA Celia was inspired by the colors and Art Deco architecture in Mexico City's coolest neighborhood.
PALACIO DE BELLAS ARTES The fonts in the Palacio de Bellas Artes (which is Art Nouveau wonderland on the exterior and Art Deco wonderland on the interior) inspired our font choices and design.
INTERIOR MEXICAN FOOD Can't wait to introduce you to the work of Chef Alma. So delicious!
AUSTIN DELICIOUSNESS Breakfast Tacos! BBQ! Crunchy healthy stuff! Crazy fusion food trucks! We eat well.
MARIACHI AND TRAJES DE CHARRO They're cool, right? So cool.
DISCO Be warned that Celia's musical tastes run to disco and electro-swing!
80s MUSIC 1980s pop makes her happy, too.
THE JONES CENTER We're excited to show off the new rooftop at the Jones Center, and the amazing new piece by the Spokane-born artist, Jim Hodges, With Liberty and Justice For All (A Work in Progress).
LAGUNA GLORIA Kati started working with the museum in 1996 and has stayed involved as a staff member, volunteer, and now Board Member ever since. The lakeside Laguna Gloria site is on the verge of a fabulous new revamp and update as a sculpture park.

COLORS

The quinceañera was based on Celia's preferred palette: citrus colors like yellow-orange, lime green, lemon yellow, and red-grapefruit coral; turquoise/aqua and gray of any shade (the girl loves concrete, go figure!) The layered squares that are our theme are adapted from one of her favorite art works, one in Josef Albers' series of studies, Homage to the Square. For more on that and its happy-surprise connection to Mexico, check out the Party Inspirations gallery below.

PRONOUNCING CELIA'S NAME

(Don't worry if you've been pronouncing it wrong! She answers to anything, and doesn't really mind. :-) And by the way, Cowles is pronounced KOLZ. No "ow" in there, or cows, either.

SAIL-ya

Like "sailboat"

This is the Spanish pronunciation.

We don't know why Gabriel's name always gets pronounced in English and Celia's in Spanish, it's just the way it felt right when they showed up!

CELIA'S FAVORITE COLORS

Pronouncing Celia's Name

PARTY INSPIRATIONS

THE COURT

A key tradition in Mexico is the selection of fourteen of the quinceañera's peers to serve as a court of Damas and Chambelanes (dames and chamberlains) to witness the ceremony and represent her fourteen previous years of life. Celia's court is a mix of cousins, school friends, Girl Scout buddies, with her brother Gabriel serving as her Chambelan de Honor, her official date for the evening.

Celia ended up with fifteen attendants in total, as her closest cousin, Emily, was unable to come to the event due to a theatre competition. We made a life-size photo cutout of Emily in her dama dress to make sure she wasn't left out of photos!

DAMAS

CHAMBELANES

CHAMBELÁN DE HONOR

Gabriel Cowles

DAMA IN ABSENTIA

Emily Torrance

Emma Benson

Callie Cho

Kaitlyn Falke

Helena Girardoni

Kiki Hood

Conor Jones

Annika Katz

Clint LaRoux

Julien Luebbers

Jack Miller

Katie Moss

Aiden Tindall

Belle Walston

GABRIEL'S OATH

There's no equivalent to the quinceañera for boys in Mexican tradition, but Gabriel is also making the change from child to teen, so we created an oath for him to take to recognize his maturity, as well. In the oath, he promised to be a friend and support to Celia as they grow, and to stay connected to his heritage and family groups. The oath was officiated by Mr. Fleming, Gabriel's philosophy teacher, flag-football coach, school Dean of Students, and friend.

OFFICIANTE DE JURAMENTO

Sean Fleming

Celia's adored "Fake Uncle Jeff," a talented actor, international TV show and event host, screenwriter, and author, and college singing buddy of Kati's, graciously flew in from Hollywood to serve as the event's MC.

MAESTRO DE CEREMONIA

Jeff Locker

HELPERS

AYUDANTES

Marc and Angela Hernandez

and Edwin, Ellie, Kyan and Inara

Celia's Uncle Marc's family were in charge of dispersing the glowsticks that made the last dance (Time Warp, from Rocky Horror Picture Show) and the last goodbye extra-special!

CEREMONY MUSIC

Celia's Aunt Lizzie and high-school friend Ken provided two songs for the ceremony, "I Am Your Child," written by Barry Manilow, and "I Hope You Dance," by LeeAnne Womack.

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CANTANTE

Lizzie Hernandez Rodriguez

GUITARRISTA

Ken Fowler

PYRAMID OF THE SUN	WITH SCHOOL HEADMASTER	TRIANGLE X 2006
PARAGON PREP GRADUATION Celia was a Class Speaker and the female winner of the Honor Award for student who most represented the ideals of the school.	WITH HER BRO	Sept Oct 2007 069
Celia and Her Horse	TOO TOO TALL, THAT BROTHER OF MINE	STAR WARS DAY
CELIA SMILE	WITH JIMPA	THACHER GIRL
MOM AND DAD	WITH BUDDIES	MEETING GABRIEL