Courtesy of Kris Becker

What he does: It might seem like a simple question: What do you do? For composer-pianist Kris Becker, it's not a simple answer. "First I laugh," Becker says. "Then I consider my audience. And then I try not to confuse people out of their minds." His success rate with that varies.

"At my core, I am a nu-classical composer-pianist." The order in which he uses terms like rock, fusion and classical to describe his style depends on what he's working on at the moment.

Becker has described himself as "classically trained, jazz-influenced, with rock and roll sensibilities." What exactly does that mean? "Mostly it means I use classical skills to create music that most people wouldn't call classical."

More »

What He Does: Vincent Fink has been a graphic designer ever since he left the Art Institute of Houston in 2005. He found a nice high-paying job doing what he loved, but a cruel and verbally abusive production manager inspired him to strike out on his own. Now he heads Point 506 Clothing & Graphic Design. They're an independent fashion company here in Houston that aspires to produce unique artist interpretations of scientific concepts and to bring an air of enlightenment to modern fashion.

Every single design comes right out of the talented left hand of Fink, who feels that a trendy design should have a deeper meaning than just 'Hey, it looks cool.' Fashion doesn't have to be empty; it can show off centuries of expanded mathematical thought, and that's what he offers on his shirts.

More »

Stephanie Saint Sanchez in her room. Notice the DEVO hat on top of the TV.

Stephanie Saint Sanchez is a Houston-based short film maker and founder of Senorita Cinema, and all-Latina film festival that takes place this weekend in various locations around town.

What She Does
"I like to take our mythologies and recreate them to fit modern modalities," she said. "I am not 'stuck' in arrested development. I relish arrested development."

Sanchez talks a lot about her childhood growing up in Beaumont. She was the youngest of three siblings -- an older brother and sister -- by ten years. Her parents couldn't afford a babysitter so they often took her to the movies with them, usually adult-rated films.

"The first movie theater I ever went to was the Lamar Theatre (in Beaumont). I was really happy to have such a good childhood," she says.

Much of her childhood influences her work now she said, including the music her teenage siblings turned her on to -- bands like Devo. Sanchez also sometimes Djs parties and art events, but says she is primarily a visual person.

More »

What He Does: Ned Gayle likes to doodle, but he hates doing backgrounds and landscapes. It's admitted laziness on his part, so he decided to find a unique way around it. His work takes pictures and paintings bought from thrift stores (Mostly Goodwill Select), and incorporates his drawings over key parts of them to create something between a collage and a traditional visual creation.

Sometimes he bases his adaptations on a picture that strikes his fancy, other times he creates characters beforehands and scours shelves for an appropriate picture. Either way, it's a one-of-a-kind style that makes for very fine pop art. Currently most of his creations are only available for viewing through tumblr or his instangram account (@nedofthedead), though he's looking into publishing a zine and a website to try and spread his unique style a bit further.

More »

Photo by Ana & Nico Photography

A career in fashion wasn't always on the drawing board for designer Sameera Faridi. Originally a pre-med student with a strong biology background, she decided to make a switch when she moved to Houston from Dubai. Houston Community College's fashion design program gave her the creative outlet and technical skills to jump right into the retail world with the opening of her own store, Poshak Fashion & Style, in 2004.

For the first few years, Sameera's passion for design took a backseat to the retail side of Poshak. Now that she's established her store as the go-to for quality South Asian wear in Houston, she's been able to focus on her craft in the form of Sameera Faridi Design Studio. Her bridal wear consultations are a unique niche in the South Asian market where most clients do not get personal attention from the designer of their custom-made clothing.

"Here they come in and sit down directly with me rather than with someone else," she explains. "It's a very intimate setting between the brides and myself."

More »

Ruhe and his puppets

When Greg Ruhe was young becoming a professional puppeteer was not on the agenda. But 25 years later this is exactly what he does. Ruhe's puppets may not be what you expect. Yes, in his school workshops he does work with more traditional puppets, shadow puppets, etc, but the majority of Ruhe's puppetry happens inside the body of a giant costumed creation. Ruhe doesn't just control the puppets, he becomes them.

For two and a half decades Ruhe has become widely known in Houston as the man behind Puppet Pizzazz, a company that brings interactive, large-scale puppets to parties, events, galas, you name it. Wearing the body of a puppet for multiple hours at a time is hot, it's heavy and it's hard, but Ruhe loves it.

What He Does:
"I am a professional puppeteer. It's hard for me to admit that without giggling a little. I play with puppets every day and have managed to make a career out of it for the last 25 years. As the creator and director of Puppet Pizzazz I produce extraordinary event entertainment and educational puppetry experiences world-wide."

More »

Photo Courtesy of Psophonia Dance Company

Sophia L. Torres has always loved being onstage, even if that meant playing the Wicked Witch of the West in elementary school. "It was my first big role, and I loved it," she says, even though her mother wasn't too keen on her daughter paying the villain.

As a member of her high school dance team, she was the go-to girl for choreography advice. Her innate understanding of movement caught the attention of a senior member who told her about auditions for the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She was accepted and jumped at the chance to dance.

After graduation, she decided to hone her technique at Southern Methodist University where she was exposed to dance artists from the Martha Graham Company, Merce Cunningham and Twyla Tharp. SMU "really opened up my thought process in a positive way," she explains, especially in regards to her own movement style. "I learned that it's OK to be strong, to not necessarily be pretty in my movement, which is earthy. It has punch, as opposed to being light and ethereal."

In addition to teaching at the University of Houston and Houston Community College, and her work with Young Audiences of Houston, Sophia says she "now owns" the fact that she co-directs a professional dance company. She describes Psophonia as "athletic, visual, audience-friendly, and approachable."

More »

Photo by Wally James

Maggie Lasher is, in a word, vibrant. From the lights and fire that she weaves into her dance performances to the colors she dons around Houston, everything Maggie touches in Houston's art scene seems to glow.

Maggie currently serves as a dance professor at Houston Community College as well as the artistic director of her own company, China Cat Dance. After getting an MA in dance from Case Western University, obtaining an MFA in dance at Sam Houston State, and spending two years teaching in San Antonio, Maggie landed in Houston in August 2010.

Performing came to Maggie early, at a dance studio in her hometown of Flagstaff, Arizona. She always knew she wanted a career in the arts, although in her youth, she "hadn't really fleshed that out, besides 'movie star.'"

High school and college saw Maggie involved in performance art in a number of ways, including costume design, acting, tech theater, choreography, and teaching movement to pre-kindergartners. It was at Sam Houston State that Maggie brought together her various interests into one entity - China Cat Dance.

More »

Jordan Jaffe, from Asia Studies major to model to founding Black Lab Theatre

What He Does
Jordan Jaffe founded Black Lab Theatre in 2011 while still an undergraduate at Rice University. On the day we spoke, he was preparing for the opening night of Black Lab's most recent play, Chinglish, to be shown at Asia Society Texas Center through May 26.

"I bring new, interesting plays to Houston," he said, before rattling off a plethora of other tasks, from choosing the theater's seasons to working with marketing and development. "I kind of basically do it all."

"I also usually take a creative role, either acting or directing, but with Chinglish, it's been so massive, I am only producing."

Jaffe didn't start out in the theater, though. He originally started school as an Asian Studies major, until a chance encounter turned him on to theater.

More »

Emanuelee "Outspoken" Bean understands that being a Slam poet isn't for everyone. The process involves performing original work not only for a live audience, but also for a panel of randomly chosen judges who award each poet a competitive score. "A lot of people shy away from it because they say, 'Oh, this is my poem, nobody can judge it; it is what it is.' But the truth is you're getting judged anyway. Even if those people don't have score cards."

A member of the VIP Houston Slam team, Bean describes the Slam process as an unfair game. "But it's so unfair for everybody that no one had an advantage, so it's fair. The reason it's unfair is that you're being judged by someone who has no qualifications. They just walked in a coffee shop, that's their qualifications. And now they get to decide if your poem is any good or not."

Bean and his fellow Slam poets have a favorite trick to level the playing field a bit. "We encourage the audience to boo the judges," he laughs. "Never boo the poet, boo the judges."

More »