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    best july art

    10 vivid and eye-catching July art events no Houstonian should miss

    Tarra Gaines
    Jul 7, 2021 | 10:30 am

    From the ancient Andean ceramics to pandemic-response new sculptures, July brings some intriguing visiting exhibitions to town alongside the freshest creations from local artists.

     

    As the summer heats up, we’ve got some of the coolest art to savor this month from our favorite museums to the most innovative galleries. No need to pack a bag to get set for the ultimate art-cation in Houston.

     

     “Martine Gutierrez: Radiant Cut” at Blaffer Art Museum (now through October 24)
    This “micro survey” of the one of the hottest millennial multidisciplinary artists focuses on Gutierrez’s artwork that probes themes of image, identity, and social construct. The exhibition begins with Gutierrez’s early series using mannequins and sex dolls to explore ideas on idealized partners and “plastic intimacy.”

     

    The show culminates with her latest project, the 128-page glossy magazine, Indigenous Woman. Reflecting on the work, Gutierrez explains, “My authenticity has never been to exist singularly, whether in regard to my gender, my ethnicity, or sexual orientation. My truth thrives in the gray area.”

     

     “Moving Forward” at Gray Contemporary (now through July 17)
    The original 2020 thesis exhibition of graduating artists from the University of Houston School of Art masters program was cancelled along with many other arts celebrations last year.

     

    One year later, this exhibition will now showcase a range of work these artists made during the three years at the university, as well as many works created during the past year as these artists and designers have emerged into Houston’s vibrant culture scene.

     

     “From Houston With Love” at GreenStreet 2 (now through August 15)
    This collaborative exhibition features 20 renowned Houston artists with local, national, and international reputations.

     

    This diverse group of artists — including multidisciplinary artists Cary Fagan, painter and designer Donkeeboy, photographer Deun Ivory, muralist Shelbi Nicole, and live photographer Greg Noire — work in a multitude of mediums and genres.

     

    For this show, they’ve created works inspired by Houston that exemplify their own perceptions on Houston culture.

     

     “Jagdeep Raina: Bonds” at Blaffer Art Museum (now through October 24)
    The award-winning Canadian artist’s first solo museum presentation in the United States features work created over the last six years that illustrate and reimagine stories and scenes from across the Kashmiri and Punjabi diasporas.

     

    Through drawings, writings, paintings, weavings, and videos, Raina examines diverse histories of transnational migration and mobility and their effects on contemporary life. The show will also include Raina’s recent tapestries and stop-motion animated films, which explore material histories in the context of the Phulkari shawl — a traditional garment woven from hand-spun cotton that is naturally dyed and embroidered with Kashmiri silk.

     

     Sawyer Yard Second Saturday Open Studios (July 10)
    Several new shows opened in the last several weeks at the various exhibitions spaces in the studios and warehouses at Sawyer Yards, so the monthly Second Saturday event makes for a great day to see them all.

     

    Join the conversation between art and viewer about spatial definitions, approaches, and relationships with the group show “Regarding Space” at Spring Street Studios. SITE Gallery has given the beehive silo spaces to UH sculpture artists to transform in response to the challenges of last year for the exhibition “Annex Energy.”

     

    An all-female artist exhibition puts a new spin on our ideas of POTUS in "Hail to the Chief." And Silver Street Studios latest studio artists group show highlights “The Sum of Us.”

     

     “Cauleen Smith: We Already Have What We Need” at Contemporary Arts Museum (July 15-October 3)
    This site-specific new exhibition of acclaimed Los Angeles artist, Cauleen Smith, features film, video, sculpture, textiles, installation, and drawings that, according to the CAMH, emphasizes acts of caring as antidotes to the injustices and inequities that shape our past and present.

     

    The exhibition includes video projected pieces and sculpted still-life, while also highlighting Smith’s recent work in neon. Inspired by science fiction, Third World Cinema, and Structural film, Smith takes viewers on a journey into an alternate world and “rendering visible both the people and the systems often kept invisible, or recasting what we know in a new — and colorful — light.”

     

     “Midsummer Dream” at Laura Rathe Fine Art (July 15-August 13)
    This group exhibition featuring new works by Audra Weaser, Kevin Gillentine, and Cookie Ashton will explore the artists’ environments and the nature world through varying degrees of abstraction.

     

    Though the artists create from different vision, the exhibition’s “pervading organic compositions are created through unique layering processes that are as complex as they are minimal, serving as metaphors to describe the natural world that binds people together even when they are apart.”

     

     “Olga de Amaral: To Weave a Rock” at Museum of Fine Arts (July 25-September 19)
    This major touring retrospective spotlights the acclaimed Colombian artist’s 60-year career. Organized into four thematic sections “Radical Materialism,” “The Rebel Warp,” “Alchemy,” and “The Line,” the exhibition will showcase some 50 works that trace Amaral’s architectural investigations of the woven form.

     

    The MFAH notes that “Her radical experimentation with color, form, material, composition, and space transforms weaving from a flat design element into an architectural component that defies the confines of any genre or medium.”

     

     “Enchanted: Visual Histories of the Central Andes” at Menil Collection (July 30-November 14)
    Presenting ancient and modern works from showcase works from the Menil’s own collection and loans from the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, this new exhibition brings viewers a fascinating survey of Andean art from ancient to the 21st century.

     

    Look for polychrome ceramic vessels of the Nazca culture (circa 100 BCE–800 CE), important textiles from the Wari (circa 600–1000 CE) and Chimú (circa 1150–1450) civilizations and 20th–21st century examples of elaborately embroidered esclavinas (short capes) and monteras (hats) worn during religious festivals in Peru.

     

    “Enchanted” will give Menil visitors insights into both continuity and change in Andean visual cultures, as well as an artful glimpse into the civilizations and empires that rose and flourished along the Andean Mountains for 3,000 years.

     

    The exhibition will complement these art and cultural objects with selections of gelatin silver photographic prints of religious festivals in the Andes taken between 1939 and 1945 by Pierre Verger, also known as Fátúmbí (1902–1996). John and Dominique de Menil gave Verger financial support for some of those travels in 1940.

     

    Works by Pierre Verger, including "Untitled (Devils with Long and Sharply Pointed Horns like Sabers Fiesta de San Pedro, Ichu, Puno, Peru)" will be featured as part of the Menil Collection's new exhibition “Enchanted: Visual Histories of the Central Andes." ,

    Menil, Enchanted: Pierre Verger, Untitled (Devils with Long and Sharply Pointed Horns like Sabers
      
    Menil Collection Courtesy Photo
    Works by Pierre Verger, including "Untitled (Devils with Long and Sharply Pointed Horns like Sabers Fiesta de San Pedro, Ichu, Puno, Peru)" will be featured as part of the Menil Collection's new exhibition “Enchanted: Visual Histories of the Central Andes." ,
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    Best July & August Theater

    Broadway hits and Shakespeare festival headline Houston's 12 best summer shows

    Tarra Gaines
    Jul 1, 2025 | 9:30 am
    Broadway at the Hobby Center presents Parade
    Photo by Joan Marcus
    Broadway at the Hobby Center presents Parade

    Lions and tigers and zebras and murder. Oh, my! From big blockbuster shows to annual chilly thrillers, summertime is some of the best time for theater in Houston. Shakespeare, jukebox musicals, mysteries, and madcap comedies always headline our summer must-sees. This year is no different, but we’re also got intriguing musical dramas, Tony Award winning Broadway shows, bittersweet love stories, and even a local world premiere. There’s no place like Houston for summer theater.

    The Wizard of Oz at A.D. Players (July 9-August 10)
    Something wicked this way comes from A.D. Players this summer. Yes, long before the musical told from certain witches’ perspectives, L. Frank Baum’s original journey to Oz began with a Kansas girl’s ride on a tornado. She found a magical and musical land filled lively lions, tin men, and scarecrows. Follow the yellow brick road to classic songs like “Over the Rainbow” and “We’re Off to See the Wizard,” but after a great adventure, learn that enduring message that there’s no place like home. Our favorite Galleria area Players say this newly imagined production will have incredible production values to delight the whole family.

    Crabs in a Bucket at MATCH (July 10-19)
    This satire comes by Houston-raised, nationally acclaimed playwright Bernardo Cubría gets its first regional production with a stellar local cast. Amargo and Pootz are two bitter crabs living in a shucking bucket. They spend their days judging the other crabs that got out, the ones who couldn't take it, and the losers who still live among them. When a new crab arrives filled with hope and change, they are faced with who they once were and their incessant dream of getting the shuck out. Any similarities between this crabby circumstance and human relationships are purely intentional.

    The Mirror Crack’d at Alley Theatre (July 11-August 17)
    Move over Hercule Poirot and you too Sherlock, because it takes a woman to untangle all the mysterious threads of jealousy, lies, and ambition in those seemingly charming English towns. One of Agatha Christie’s greatest detectives, Miss Marple, uses a cheerful and kind-auntie demeanor to disguise a keen intellect and nose for solving crime. For this Miss Marple case, the filming of a star-studded movie in a quaint village leads to a chilling murder, and everyone becomes a suspect. The Alley’s annual Summer Chills mystery production is usually one of their most popular shows, but this one will also make a bit of theatrical history as this production of the Christie classic, adapted by Rachel Wagstaff, marks the first time iconic sleuth Miss Marple has appeared on the U.S. stage.

    The 39 Steps at Main Street Theater (July 12-August 10)
    The classic Alfred Hitchcock spy thriller becomes exhilarating comic mayhem onstage when performed by just four actors. The original 39 Steps film is the story of an ordinary man accused of a murder he did not commit after he accidentally becomes involved with a mysterious and deadly woman. He must then go on the run over the English and Scottish countryside trying to allude both the police and an international spy ring attempting to steal British military secrets. In this hilarious parody adaptation by Patrick Barlow, the four actors leap in and out of over 150 characters, sometimes playing multiple roles in the span of seconds while also performing dynamic chase scenes, including an onstage plane crash. Look for some of our local favs to get quite the theatrical workout in this breakneck comedy.

    Parade presented by Broadway at the Hobby Center (July 15-20)
    For the penultimate show of Broadway at Hobby’s 24-25 season, they’re bringing in the 2023 Tony Award winner for Best Revival of a Musical. Set at the turn of the 20th century, the dramatic and still very timely story chronicles what happens when murder, politics, and prejudice meet during a sensationalized murder trial. Based on a true story, Parade depicts newlywed Jewish couple, Leo and Lucille Frank, struggling to make a home and find community in Georgia. When Leo is accused of an unspeakable crime, it propels them into an unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice, and devotion. Riveting and complex, Parade reminds us that to love, we must truly see one another.

    Iolanthe from the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Houston (July 19-27)
    We always look forward this annual summer performance treat, as Houston’s own esteemed Gilbert and Sullivan Society presents another opera gem from the Gilbert and Sullivan treasure trove of musicals. Marrying fantasy and satire, Iolanthe is set in a magical version of England filled with both snobby aristocrats and equally smug faeries. The fairy and human world clash when Strephon, the half-fairy, half-human son of the title character falls in love with the lovely human Phyllis, a ward of the Lord Chancellor. Chaos ensues amid a lively and beautiful score as the fairies interfere in British politics, elevating Strephon to Parliament and upending tradition. The comic opera skews the British legal system, the House of Lords, and Victorian sensibilities all with clever lyrics. Keeping with the fairytale setting, the production design will showcase dreamy lighting, larger-than-life flora set pieces, and costumes inspired by whimsical bugs.

    The Last Five Years at Queensbury Theatre (July 23-27)
    When this bitter sweet musical made its debut in the early 2000s, it garnered lots of critics and audience acclaim with its fresh way to tell its love story, simultaneously from both the ending and beginning. Cathy, an aspiring actress, sings their story from the end of their marriage looking back, while Jamie, a rising novelist, begins with their first meeting full of sparks and attraction. The musical tellings of their love and loss cross just once, with a wedding song they sing together in the middle of the show. Then, fate pulls them apart. Queensbury plans on updating the already innovative show for our cell phone-obsessed digital age. The show will blend live performance with social media and technology to reflect how we connect, communicate, and fall apart today. Get ready for a fresh take on this iconic musical, where texts, tweets, and time collide.

    Honky Tonk Laundry at Stages (July 25-August 17)
    The history of this show at Stages has all of the highs and lows of a real honky tonk song. The feel-good musical created by Roger Bean, who also brought the world The Marvelous Wonderettes, was supposed to be one of the first shows through the wash cycle when Stages’ Gordy campus opened back in 2020, but the pandemic put it on hold after only a week of shows. Stages did release a streaming version of the show, but now it’s back in its full live and in-person glory. The title says it all as a woman tries to turn an inherited washeteria into a honky tonk club. Two unlikely friends spin suds, stories, and songs by Reba, Dolly, Carrie, and more. This musical load contains over 20 country hits, including “Before He Cheats,” “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” and “Wide Open Spaces.” At the center of all the sudsy songs is a story of friendship, grit, and finding your voice, one spin at a time.

    Houston Shakespeare Festival at Miller Outdoor Theatre (July 31-August 8)
    It wouldn’t be summer without free Shakespeare productions at Miller thanks in no small part to the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance. This year brings a bard-tacular pairing with one of the great history plays, Henry V, and the effervescent comedy, As You Like It. Henry V lets us explore the qualities of leadership in all its challenges, complexities, and compromises as the young English king attempts to claim the French throne via battlefields and princess wooing. As You Like It marries some of Shakespeare’s best comic tropes including women disguised as men and urbanities losing their way, and sometimes sanity, in forests. Mix in some brotherly hate, mistaken identity, mixed up lovers, and a happy ending, and what’s not to like. The annual festival also offers some of the greatest roles for young regional actors getting their professional start and local favorites who have graced many a Houston stage.

    Life of Pi presented by Broadway at the Hobby Center (August 19-24)
    The Broadway at the Hobby Center 24-25 season ends not with a musical, but with this epic play. Based on the internationally award-winning novel and visually stunning film, this show won three Tony Awards and the Olivier Award for Best Play. After a shipwreck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi survives on a lifeboat with four companions: a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger. On this makeshift, floating menagerie, boy and animals must survive together. Told with jaw-dropping visuals, world class puppetry and exquisite stagecraft, this beguiling show creates a breathtaking journey filled with wonder, awe and joy.

    While Childhood Slept from Garden Theatre (August 15-17)
    This emotional musical has some deep Houston history, as it had its world premiere here in 1999. It later received an off-Broadway reading, and its finale number, “We Will Not Forget,” was featured in the documentary Paperclips. In 2005, a revised version with new songs was performed once again in Houston. Based on a true story of the boys of Home Number One in the Nazi concentration camp, Terezin, the musical chronicles how the children create a secret republic within the camp, publishing their own magazine of art, poetry, and short stories. A visit from The Red Cross presents the opportunity to disguise their magazine as a secret message and a means of escape. The show will be produced in partnership with Holocaust Museum Houston.

    The Chosen Ones from Thunderclap Productions (August 28-September 6)
    While we have many new takes on classic stories on stages across the city this summer, if you’re looking for something new with some timely resonance, don’t miss this world premiere musical, by local and award winning playwright Aaron Alon. The show chronicles the stories of a group of LGBTQ+ teens sent to a conversion therapy summer camp, led by an “ex-gay” minister. With humor, sorrow, and hope the Chosen Ones explores themes of living authentically, found families, and defying conventions. Look for a large cast of fresh and up and coming local performers in this funny and moving musical, which is also a part of Thunderclap’s John Steven Kellett Memorial Series of works relating to LGBTQ+ equity.

    Broadway at the Hobby Center presents Parade
      

    Photo by Joan Marcus

    Broadway at the Hobby Center presents Parade.

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