^{COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT BY HONEY ART CAFE}

Tucked within Houston's vibrant creative scene, Honey Art Cafe is a fun art space founded by artists and friends Lulu Fang and Amy Lin. Known for its whimsy aesthetic, craft-forward workshops, and imaginative experiences like Doodle Land, the cafe blends art, delightful (and delicious) macarons, play, and connection in everything it does. As Doodle Land prepares to close its doors on April 20, Lulu and Amy, known by the artist name Lulu Lin, chat with us on what the project meant and what’s coming next.

Kathrina Maribao: What inspired you to create Doodle Land?

Lulu Lin: Doodle Land is an Alice in Wonderland inspired interactive art museum where you can collect stamps, solve puzzles, doodle, and play games.

KM: What did you hope people would feel or experience when they walked through it?

LL: We feel like the surplus of digital installations pushes people away from art while a more analog approach that challenges visitors to engage both physically and mentally provides a more personal experience.

KM: How did Doodle Land evolve over time? Was there anything that surprised you in how people interacted with it?

LL: When we first opened Doodle Land a year ago we focused more on promoting the art installation portion. Over time we have been using the space for more events, art classes, and private parties.

KM: A doodle is fun and playful. What role has play or imperfection had in your creative work or running a business?

LL: Every creative workshop or art installation we make engages with the community in a fun way. While we love making paintings that are only meant to be visually admired, we feel like it’s a lot more meaningful to see how people are inspired to use their creativity not just at our art cafe or art installations, but also moving forward. People dm and tag us @honeyartcafe on IG or TikTok even years later to show us the art they’re making.

KM: Now that Doodle Land is ending, what's next for you and Honey Art Cafe?

LL: Once Doodle Land is closed April 20 we will be able to focus on throwing more fun community events at Honey Art Cafe. Since we are just two artists running both Doodle Land and Honey Art Cafe by ourselves, we don’t always have the time to host all of the fun events and workshops that we want. In the past, we’ve run Cake Picnics, Drawing with Kittens workshops that fundraise for local shelters, etc. 

Doodle Land is closing on April 20. Visit on these dates above and pay what you want for entry before it’s gone forever!

WEEKEND EVENTS

All weekend

• Houston book crawl ongoing for the month of April

• The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival

• Houston Botanic Garden presents “Rich Soil”

• The Great Migration Elephants

Friday, 4/11

9am-5pm, Art Gallery | Last chance to view Art League’s Winter ’25 exhibitions including: Becoming Sticky, Significant Otherness, and “We Have Been Here Before.” Free! See flyer.

6pm-11pm, Art Festival | The Orange Show presents Art Car Ball, “an evening of live music, outrageous costumes, performance art, and of course - ART CARS!” $50 for GA. Buy tickets.

9pm-2am, Nightlife | SincerelyHTX is presenting their popular Euphoria event at Bald Kitty! $15 for early access, $20 for GA. Buy tickets.

10pm-2am, Nightlife | Sugar Room is hosting “Forbidden Friday’s,” their Casino Night where they transform their patio into “a high-stakes haven with live casino tables, craft cocktails, and seductive vibes all night long ❤️‍🔥” See flyer.

Saturday, 4/12

9am-11pm, Block Party & Market | Second Saturday in Second Ward! Stop by and support local businesses in the best community day of the month. Featuring Las Perras Cafe, Flor Y Miel Grand Opening, Champ Burger and much more! See flyer.

11am-4pm, Outdoor Concert | Art Cellar Houston is presenting Echoes in the Park! 30 vendors including locally owned businesses, artists, makers and food vendors along live music by ECHO Orchestra at Ray Miller Park. Free. See flyer.

12pm, Corgi Racing | Watch Kirby Icehouse’s annual Corgi Races at their Upper Kirby location. Free to watch, $15 to race. See flyer.

12pm-3pm, Grand Opening | New luxury fragrance store Tijon Houston is celebrating their grand opening with a live DJ, food and drinks, giveaways, and in-store discounts! Stop by their location at M-K-T. See flyer.

12pm-5pm, Open Studios | Sawyer Yards Second Saturday is opening their six repurposed warehouses open to the public to view 11 art gallery spaces. See flyer.

2pm-5pm, Car Show | Her Market HTX and Shifty Stickers are hosting a car show case with 30 vendors to shop from, crawfish, photo ops, live DJ and a food drive. See flyer.

2pm-6pm, Food Festival | Tacos and Tequila Festival presented by Tapatio Frozen Foods is happening at Sam Houston Race Park. Featuring live performances from T.I., Lil Jon, Chingy, Paul Wall, and Mike Jones. GA starts at $69. Buy tickets.

3pm-10pm, Music Festival | Souled Out Dates Fest Houston curated for dancing, voices, and best fits! “A completely DJ led fest for sounds of the diaspora.” at White Oak Music Hall.  $24. Buy tickets.

6pm-9pm, Museum Afters | Another favorite of ours, Spring Nights at Museum of Fine Arts Houston! This Saturday’s artists will feature Woody Witt Trio and DJ Seys. Ticket comes with a complimentary drink. $40 for non-members. Free for members. Buy tickets.

Sunday, 4/13

10:30am-2pm, Live DJ + Matcha | Matcha Mia is hosting their 4th house music party. There’s a pilates class before hand at the park to get a pre-party workout. See the flyer.

4pm-7pm, Live DJ | Stop by Golden Hour with Eden at POST Houston. Chill with a glass of wine and savor Spanish-inspired bites in Eden’s plant-filled oasis. Free with RSVP.

Four good reads this week in Houston

What's your favorite Houston place to hang out? Here's what you said. | Q&A with Lisa Gray (Houston Chronicle)
Co-founder Kathrina Maribao got a small feature in a recent Houston Chronicle piece about our favorite place to hang out!

Why downtown Houston has become a hotspot for murals, public art and street-style storytelling (Houston Chronicle)
Fascinating read on the history and making of the murals expansion in downtown Houston. It’s helped to beautify the space and also change the outlook on street art in the city. “That mural’s popularity helped shift public attitudes about murals from graffiti-adjacent to tourism-worthy. Now, even outside of downtown, street art has become a marker of economic development (ergo, gentrification) instead of vandalism.”

Receipts: It takes a lot of green – and a lot of sweat – to keep Houston’s parks green (Houston Landing)
Of the city’s 382 parks and 190 miles of trails, it takes about just over 200 workers to maintain it year round. The annual cost? $25.5 million. On top of that, our extreme weather and heat make it difficult to upkeep. We gotta give Greenspace Management a bit more credit for keeping our parks clean and beautiful.

Why Chefs in Houston Are So Supportive of One Another (Houstonia)
This insightful interview with Abbas Dhanani of Burger Bodega and Rafael Nasr of Craft Pita gets into why Houston, as a food city, is generally not competitive compared to other big cities. They allude to the fact that it’s such a vast muli-cultural culinary scene and that can make for very interesting collaborations. “You can literally eat from any continent, any country in the world, in Houston. I think that education part that Houston has to offer—I think that chefs and food people in general don’t take it for granted, and I think that also adds to the togetherness.”

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