Houston, let's take a nap together.

Kolbe, who has become a regular napper at Napping Affects Performance, has shared her own blog entry about NAP and Julia Claire Wallace's Sunday afternoon Community Nap and performance.


"Houston, let's take a nap together."
by Kolbe Ricks on May 25, 2010

A dimly lit room, cots with blankets and pillows chosen to fit how you sleep, white noise lulling you to sleep, a naptician to gently wake you when your nap is over. This can all be found at the Napping Affects Performance or NAP exhibit at Art League Houston on Montrose.

Emily Sloan’s NAP exhibit is an intricate weave of performance art, art installation, and comfort. The interactive art endeavor opened on May 14 and runs through June 25.

I went for the first time on Friday with my friend Haley. We weren’t quite sure what to expect. Were we going to look at something, actually take a nap, see any traditional art? When we first arrived we were definitely a little nervous and unsure of what we were doing. Haley, being an artist herself, took the lead when we got to the actual NAP room. We were greeted by Emily Sloan, the creator and the naptician. She asked us to sign in and write down the time that we would like to be awoken from our nap (you can also choose to nap as long as you like and not be woken up by a certain time). We opted for a 20 minute snooze, ourselves.

Sloan gave us the correct type of pillow for our sleeping style, which was on our side. I later realized that I’m actually a stomach sleeper. Haley and I were pretty caffeinated and I didn’t actually fall into a deep sleep, but it was very relaxing and the cot was surprisingly comfortable.

Sloan then told us that there was going to be a performance on Sunday afternoon accompanied by a community nap and there was no way that we were going to miss out on that!

So Sunday rolled around and it was time to head back to the Art League Houston and commence naptime! Julia Claire Wallace was the performing artist. She played two lullabies that she had written and went around the room and rubbed everyone’s back as they drifted off to sleep. We had signed in for a 30 minute nap this time, but for some reason we didn’t wake up until over an hour after we had planned! This time though, we actually fell asleep. I’m not sure about Haley, but my nap was awesome. Also, this time all of the cots were filled with nappers and someone had to put a sleeping bag on the floor for their nap!

I really like this exhibit, my brother and I are going to go sometime soon and hopefully when my friends from Dallas come down to visit they’ll be up for a nap. If you are looking for something free and awesome to do in Houston, you should definitely check out Art League Houston and the NAP exhibit. It’s next door to a really delicious coffee shop so you can caffeine up after your nap too.

Visit Kolbe's blog.