After our weird winter of discontent, spring approaches. We sense it artfully in the air because not only does March bring us some blooming new art in galleries and art centers, but outdoor installations and murals are popping up all over this month.
From the craftiest exhibitions to glorious outdoor art walks, there’s a lot to see, but for the biggest creative surprise, we’re headed below ground and into outer space all brought to us by a new immersive piece at the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern.
So whether inside or out, Houston art puts a spring in our step with these exhibitions and shows.
"Forms of Inheritance: The Work of Anna Mayer" at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (now through May 8)
Featuring ceramic and bronze sculptures, the exhibition highlights Mayer’s her artistic practice that explores humanity through “geologic time,” and her fascination with time, lifespan and mortality. “In a culture that privileges autonomy and self-reliance, Mayer’s sculpture offers a new way of being that strikes a balance between communal action and individual agency.
Her work provides us with an understanding of the shared responsibility that we have to care for the world around us and those that inhabit it,” says HCCC curator Kathryn Hall.
"Texas Masters Series: James C. Watkins" at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (now through May 8)
HCCC recently named Watkins the latest artist in its illustrious Masters award series that recognizes acclaimed recipients for their roles as career artists, professionals, or educators who have made a significant impact on the field of craft in Texas. Inspired by his childhood in the South, the Lubbock ceramicist creates double-walled vessels inspired by his southern upbringing, time working in Asia and nature itself.
Building on ceramic traditions, Watkins manipulates his clay surfaces using alternative firing techniques, creating lustrous and colorful surfaces enhanced by the atmosphere of the kiln.
Meet Houston's Artists Docuseries Group Exhibition at Sabine Street Studios (now through April 24)
View in-person the work by the cast of artists from “Meet Houston’s Artists” a docuseries filmed, directed, and created by local Houston Artist, MoNique LeRoux. The 14 episode series chronicled the art journey of Houston artists working during the chaos of 2020.
During the series when asked what the world needs, they all responded “empathy.” Now see that art inspired by themes of empathy in this new group exhibition.
“Home and the people who live there” from Fotofest (now through May 30)
This collection of works ruminating on home and community can be found at various locations in Arts District Houston and features artists included in the FotoFest 2020 Biennial exhibition “Ten by Ten: Ten Reviewers Select Ten Portfolios from the Meeting Place 2018.”
While the diverse group of Citlali Fabián, Anton Gautama, Daniel Handal and Krista Svalbonas present their own visions of the concept of home, Fotofest explains for all these artists “home is not simply a place, but rather a space of belonging, where the intimate and personal are the fabric of everyday life.”
"Time No Longer" at the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern (March 12- December 12)
The latest immersive art installation to grace one of Houston’s most remarkable and sometime otherworldly spaces comes from internationally renowned multi-media artist, Anri Sala.
This film project will be projected onto a a translucent, 22-by-150-foot screen with the soundtrack reverberating throughout the massive underground chamber. Commissioned specifically for the cistern, the film depicts a turntable floating in a space station and playing a new arrangement of French composer Olivier Messiaen’s "Quartet for the End of Time."
Taken as a whole, the work connects themes of loneliness and exploration from deep into the earth to outer space.
"At the End of the Tunnel" at Spring Street Studios (March 13-June 12)
The studio residents at Spring Street asked themselves, “what missed activity or pursuit do you long to resume?” Their answers influenced this group show that they hope “engages, inspires, and sparks conversation as we glimpse the end of this year-long isolation period.”
Arts District Houston Welcome Center opening (March 13)
Yes art is everywhere in Houston. But, the Washington Avenue-into-downtown corridor, encompassing the First and Sixth Ward, takes the state-appointed title of Arts and Cultural District Houston. Now, the district opens a welcome center to give visitors a place for general information and to find suggestions of things to do in the area as recommended by local artists.
Each month the center will feature artwork from a new local artist each month. For the opening set for the monthly Sawyer Yards Second Saturday, we’ll get our first look at a new large scale exterior mural by David Maldonado, a commissioned map of the District by Kimmie Gillespie, and site-specific furniture by woodworker David Mendozahas.
"True North 2021" along Heights Boulevard March 15-December 15
Thanks to a team of art and neighborhood-loving volunteers and the Houston Heights Association, the annual Heights sculpture project artfully brightens the Heights Boulevard esplanade once again.
This year’s standing parade of sculpture installations include eight new works in all by Texas artists Cary Reeder, Jamie Spinello, William Cannings, Bill Peck, Anthony Suber, Julia Ousley, and David Adickes. From the early 400 block of Reeder’s Treeodesic Dome to Adickes’ Three Colorful Friendly Trees at the 1800 block, art fills the outdoors and gives us the most colorful, thoughtful, and fun reasons for a leisurely drive or better yet, a glorious walk along the boulevard.
Zero Hunger Mural Houston Downtown (completed mid-March)
Working with Street Art for Mankind (SAM) project, Japanese street artist Dragon76 drops his latest large-scale mural. The five-story work painted on a 250-foot wall of the Homewood Suites and Hampton Inn property depicts a group of children using food packages scraps and cans as playtime fashion.
According to the artist “their facial expression and creativity among limited resources, testify of strong vitality and hope.”
This second of six planned murals across the nation are being created to raise awareness and mobilize action to combat global food insecurity. The SAM project comes from the World Food Program USA, in support of the mission of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
