April is the perfect month to experience art all around Houston, especially outdoors. With all the festivals and free, large-scale installations opening this month, we have a herd of new art to explore.

But if the days get hot, museums and galleries will also welcome Houstonians inside for some cool and colorful exhibitions. Look for exciting new shows opening in the Museum District, plus both the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Contemporary Arts Museum Houston celebrate young local artists.

"The Great Elephant Migration" at Hermann Park (now through April 30)
Art stampedes through Houston this month, as this mammoth installation of 100 life-sized Indian elephant sculptures makes a home in the park. Houston is the latest stop in the installation’s migration across the U.S. to spread a message of peaceful coexistence between humans and animals. For this special Hermann Park visit, the elephants are welcoming a new addition to their herd, Matt, a massive tusker based on a real life Kenyan elephant. Beyond the wonder of wandering through such an awe-inspiring installation, “Migration” contains a multitude of layers, both literally and figuratively. These artworks were created by The Real Elephant Collective, a community of 200 Indigenous artisans living within India’s Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, and sculpted from the invasive Lantana camara plant. This vegetation takes over Indian forests, essentially chocking the elephant’s native food supply. Houston is the perfect temporary home for this message of care and conservation, as Lantana is invasive in Texas, as well.

“Empty Bowls Invitational Exhibition” at Archway Gallery (now through April 30)

  

Photo by Tasha Gorel

The "Great Elephant Migration" herd arrives in Hermann park.

If you missed the annual Empty Bowls fundraiser for the Houston Food Bank last month, there’s still time to check out this benefit exhibition at Archway Gallery. More than 30 artfully crafted, one-of-a-kind bowls will be displayed along with work submitted by both 2D and 3D Archway Gallery artists, including Chris Alexander, Carol Berger, Harold Joiner, Gözde Kaya, Isabel Perreau, Shirl Riccetti, John Slaby, and Liz Conces Spencer. The Empty Bowls artwork will be available through the month of April with proceeds benefiting the Houston Food Bank.

“Flower Clouds” at City Place (now through April 30)
We’ve been watching all the vivid and innovative outdoor art installations spring up at City Place for some time now, and this latest has us floating on cloud nine. Created by the London-based studio Graphic Rewilding, this collection of park benches will make for the perfect place to while away a spring day. The giant benches depict over 25 species of natural vegetation (as well as insects and birds) native to the Texas Gulf Coast in all their colorful glory. Using these places of rest as a canvas and calling their work “meadowscapes,” Graphic Rewilding want the benches and their illustrated wildlife to rekindle a human connection to nature while also underscoring the joys of home-grown local culture. While these spring flowers will bloom for a short time before disappearing in May, look for them to pop back up this summer from June 1-July 27.

“Pandemic Made” at Houston Center for Photography (April 10-June 1)
The Covid pandemic was not just a specific set of dates, but also a perception-shifting event for the world. This group exhibition featuring the work of Christopher Lowell, Sandra Klein, Brad Ogbonna, Ryan Frigillana, and Safi Alia Shabaik, will showcase photographic art grounded in the specific time period but also made under a great change in artistic practice.

“While all the works in this exhibition were born out of covid and conceptually touch on the pandemic, it is just as much about the artist’s compulsion to create — even in the most extreme of times, especially in the most extreme of times,” states the exhibition curator, Anne Leighton Massoni. “This exhibition exalts the creative’s relentless need to share their unique sensibilities, invest in their artistic practice, and respond to the calling of their muses in spite of — and in response to — the reality surrounding them,”

“Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other” at Center for Contemporary Craft and Houston Museum of African American Culture (April 12-August 16)
It will take two Museum District institutions partnering to deliver this major exhibition of the acclaimed fiber artist's large-scale installations. Clark creates big with her community-centered and participatory projects, and visitors will definitely want to make the short trip between HCCC and HMAAC in order to see these multifaceted endeavors, including“The Beaded Prayers Project” (1998-ongoing), “The Hair Craft Project” (2014), and the “Monumental Cloth series” (2019). Using everyday fiber materials, such as hair, flags, and found fabric, as well as a range of textile techniques – including weaving, braiding, quilting, and beading – Clark’s work explores issues of history, racial injustice, cultural legacies, and reconciliation.

“For Sonya Clark, craft and community are intertwined, and we hope that this iteration of the exhibition reflects the relationship between legacies of craft and the African American experience in the United States,” described organizing curators John Guess Jr., founding CEO of HMAAC, and Sarah Darro, curator and exhibitions director of HCCC, in a statement about this unique collaboration. “Presenting ‘We Are Each Other’ across our institutions, which are devoted to African American culture and contemporary craft practice, respectively, embodies the collaborative spirit that defines Clark’s oeuvre.”

“Eye on Houston: High School Documentary Photography” at Museum of Fine Arts (now through Spring 2026)
Every spring we get a peek at tomorrow’s artists with this annual exhibition of student photography from area high schools. The show always becomes a celebration of Houston’s diverse neighborhoods from the perspective of these budding artists who live here. From friendships, to Houston landscapes, to the rooms of their lives that reflect their innermost thoughts and dreams, the exhibition presents the beauty and dynamics of the the city and our rising generation through the images captured by students representing eight high schools: Bellaire, Carnegie Vanguard, DeBakey, Eastwood Academy, Heights, Washington, Westside, and Jack Yates.

38th Annual Houston Art Car Parade & Festival at various locations throughout Houston (April 10-13)
One of Houston's favorite annual multi-day art events begins early with the Main Street Drag, as the art cars cruise to locations across the city and visit individuals who may not have the opportunity to attend the actual parade, like schools, nursing homes, developmental centers, and hospitals. Later that day, Discovery Green and Avenida Houston offer a preview art of over 100 art cars. Come out for a close look at the cars, meet the artists, and enjoy live music and kids’ crafts. Friday night, don’t miss the wild costumes, live music, interactive and performance art, food, drinks, and a huge selection of illuminated and fire-breathing art cars at the annual Legendary Art Car Ball at the Orange Show World Headquarters.

Saturday brings the big parade, as 250 rolling masterpieces cruise through downtown and along Allen Parkway. One of the greatest athletes of track and field, Houston’s own Carl Lewis, takes the wheel as the parade’s grand marshal. Then, there’s no party like an after party, as the crowds head over to Market Square Park to experience dozens of art cars lining Preston and Congress Streets along with live music, bubble stations, photo ops, and family-friendly fun. On Sunday, the weekend ends with the Art Car Awards Ceremony back at the Orange Show Headquarters. Over $15,000 will be distributed to Art Car artists, school, and nonprofit groups in various categories through a judging process that rates entries based on their creativity, artistic techniques, and inspiration.

Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival at Town Green Park (April 11-13)
Enjoy art along the water as one of the Woodlands’ favorite festivals celebrates its 20th anniversary. Set along the banks of The Woodlands Waterway in Town Green Park, festival guests will have the opportunity to enjoy a vibrant outdoor gallery with authors, music, food, and kids' activities while shopping for art created by local, national, and international artists working in a variety of mediums. For those wanting some performance art amid their visual art, look for live music concerts, dance performances, poetry readings, and storytelling throughout the 3 days of the festival.

“Out of Stock” at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (April 11-October 19)
Once again the CAMH showcases Houston’s young artists with another round of this special exhibition of work from over 25 local teens. The budding artist created new work in response to questions of consumer culture, including: What is the line between product and person? What are you consuming? Is it consuming you? When does consumption cross the line between want and need?

Taken together, these pieces give insight to a generation growing up amid a myriad of consumer choices in a world of finite resources. The CAMH says the show will feature teen artists grappling with the symptoms of consumption society, with works exploring subjects like doom-scrolling, burnout, the pharmaceutical industrial complex, and the human exploitations of war and labor.

“Hung Hsien: Between Worlds” at Asia Society (April 16-September 21)
Though Hung Hsien (also known as Margaret Chang) has had a remarkable career, this will be the first major retrospective of the pioneering ink painter’s work. Born in China, Hsien was studying and working in the U.S in the 1960s when she invented a unique painting language that bridges traditional Chinese brushwork and Western abstraction. This landmark exhibition brings together over 50 works, spanning more than 70 years, from private collections and the artist’s personal archives. The show highlights Hung’s artistic evolution as she synthesized Eastern and Western artistic traditions and visions. The Asia Society notes that from the vivid, swirling compositions of her 1970s abstractions to her mature meditative works inspired by nature, her paintings reflect a lifelong commitment to innovation.