March is always the month when art blooms both indoors and outside, as several of our favorite annual art walks and festivals debut and our big art institutions open blockbuster shows. From knights in great battles to sculpted butterflies to graffiti houses, a flurry of art is on the move throughout Houston. So let’s get out there and revel in the art all around us.
"Anya's Eye” at Anya Tish Gallery (now through April 19)
This expansive group show features two dozen of the gallery’s artists, many of whom Tish discovered early in their careers and helped to champion their visions. Curated by gallery director, Dawn Ohmer, who worked closely with Tish for more than five years, Ohmer sees the show as a celebration of Tish’s legacy and an opportunity to “see” what she saw in the artists she represented, and experience how enriching and life-changing those encounters were.
“Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within” at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (now through May 18)
The MFAH helps fire up this first exhibition in 20 years of the groundbreaking sculptor’s work. Inspired by nature and her Okinawan, Japan and Hawaiian heritage, Takaezu garnered international acclaim by radically reimagining the ceramic vessel form as an object for endless experimentation. Featuring some 100 pieces, the exhibition presents a comprehensive portrait of Takaezu’s life and work by considering both the worlds she conjured within individual ceramic forms and her sublime installations. The show also includes rarely exhibited painting and weaving artworks by Takaezu.
“We are honored to partner with the Noguchi Museum in bringing Toshiko Takaezu’s pathbreaking work to Houston,” described MFAH director Gary Tinterow in a statement about the exhibition. “As a pioneering figure and revered teacher, her single-minded investigation of form, function, and sound continues to resonate today.”
“Knights in Shining Armor: The Pavia Tapestries” at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (now through May 26)
The arrangement of these seven immense and magnificent 16th-century tapestries — depicting one of the most influential battles in European history – proves that even 500 years ago great art could surround and transport viewers into another world. In this case, MFAH visitors will find themselves traveling back in time, into the chaotic Battle of Pavia when the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V claimed victory over French King Francis I, thanks in part to the use of an early type of long gun.
The tapestries were originally designed by court artist Bernard van Orley and woven in Brussels by Willem and Jan Dermoyen as a gift to Charles V in 1531, only six years after the battle. Usually housed at the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples, this exhibition marks the first time the tapestries have been presented together in the U.S. The MFAH brings a contemporary technological touch to the exhibition with the use of special lighting and surtitles to highlight figures and sections in each tapestry giving viewers insights into the history and design. To enhance visitors' understanding of the woven depictions of battle, the exhibition also includes a selection of arms and armor from Capodimonte’s renowned Farnese Armory.
“Houston Monarch Story” at Houston Arboretum & Nature Center (now through fall)
Art and nature fly together in this new (and free), outdoor interactive installation inspired by Monarch butterflies’ annual migratory path through Texas. This “Story” is told by large-scale sculptures by Houston artist Michelle Matthews but also their placement within the Arboretum’s coastal prairie restoration area, allowing visitors to explore the connection between Monarch butterflies and their native habitat.
“The Houston Arboretum is thrilled to host this meaningful art installation, which blends science, art, and conservation,” says Debbie Markey, executive director of the Arboretum. “This project underscores our commitment to education by engaging the public in the plight of Monarch butterflies and the importance of preserving native ecosystems.”
True North 2025 along Heights Boulevard (now through December)
Art grows the Heights Boulevard esplanade with this annual outdoor sculpture exhibition. The outdoor show features the latest work of some stellar Texas and Houston artists, including Elizabeth Akamatsu, Olaniyi R. Akindiya AKIRASH, Amanda Barry Jones, Susan Budge, Dave Clark, Tim Glover, Felicia Schneider and Ben Woitena. True North is always an artful excuse to make time for an art walk throughout the month to see what new work has popped up, especially since the artists usually don’t install their sculptures at the same time. This beloved tradition is once again thanks to an all-volunteer team, along with the Houston Heights Association in cooperation with the City of Houston Parks and Recreation and Public Works Departments and the Houston Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs.
“Artist Round 58: Free Someone” at Project Row Houses (March 8-June 1)
PRH’s longest running art program once again opens its seven row houses to visiting artists all working on a chosen topic. This round celebrates Houston artists who have overcome adversity to become renowned for their artwork in public places, using the city’s landscape as their canvas. Some of the city’s most innovative graffiti artists get a whole house to explore the relationship between street art and what PRH curator and programming manager Cydney Pickens, calls “sanctioned art.” The selected artists GONZO247, Phillip O. Perez (Article), Lee Washington (Theonelee), Erik Del Rio (Colors oner), Iris Karami, Craig “BBC” Long, Chandrika Metivier and DUAL come together to highlight their journey with collaborators, appreciators, and law enforcement over the last thirty years. The “Free Someone” title is play on the now iconic “Be Someone” graffiti work on railroad bridge over I-45.
“Tamara de Lempicka” at Museum of Fine Arts (March 9-May 26)
After getting a sneak preview, we have to call this show the most glamorous of the month, if not the whole year, as the MFAH presents this first major retrospective in the U.S of one of the leading artists of the Art Deco era, Tamara de Lempicka. With this presentation of over 90 luminous paintings and drawings, the exhibition will survey both Lempicka’s style and art but also her dramatic life. Born in Poland in 1894, during a time of expanding antisemitism, Lempicka learned quickly to conceal her Jewish ancestry. She married a Polish aristocrat, lived in St. Petersburg and later fled to Paris to escape the Russian Revolution. It was in France that she became a pioneering artist. She moved to the U.S. before the German invasion of France, embraced New York sophistication and Hollywood glam, and later in life even spent time in Houston, where she scandalized society when she wanted to paint her daughter’s River Oaks home pink.
“Acutely conscious of fashion and design, Tamara de Lempicka also had an inventive eye for detail,” states Alison de Lima Greene, coordinating curator for the exhibition at the MFAH. “Fiercely intelligent and unapologetically ambitious, she clearly understood the power of celebrity, and she took care to present herself after the style of Hollywood stars, staging portrait-photo sessions in her studio while clad in the latest couture. At the same time, her paintings are beautifully crafted, with an assured painterly touch impossible to see in reproduction.”
“What drawing can be: four responses” at Menil Drawing Institute (March 21–August 10)
Four select artists push the boundaries of what drawing can be in this new exhibition. In fact, the MDI gave each acclaimed artists an individual gallery space to explore the conceptual potential of drawing as a medium. Houston artist, Jillian Conrad creates sculptures and works on paper that engage aspects of the landscape and everyday material to investigate the space between the visible and invisible. Renowned for her installation and large-scale sculptures, New York artist, Teresita Fernández’s work raises questions of geography, cartography, cosmology, and political states. Using materials like graphite powder, torn paper, and digital projection the drawings of Tony Lewis confront social and political topics. Vienna-based artist, Constantin Luser, creates wire sculptures to also play with light and shadows. Along with the new, site-specific “Four Response” these four artists will create, the exhibition will include existing pieces that also redefine our traditional notions of what drawing is.
“Night Light” Buffalo Bayou East trails near Guadalupe Plaza Park (March 29)
Houston arguably has some of the most unique urban wilderness in the world. And perhaps no place is as urban wild as Buffalo Bayou East where Houston’s industrial past, its residential future, and green spaces all meet along the bayou’s winding path to Galveston Bay. Houston artists Saúl Hernández-Vargas, Diana-Sofia Estrada, and Isogram Media Studio will take inspiration from this remarkable landscape to create four new, site-specific art installations. But this annual event co-presented by Aurora Picture Show and Buffalo Bayou Partnership isn’t just a chance to see some cool video and light art. Make a full night (light) of it by checking out the event market, featuring neighborhood vendors and artisans, as well as music, food trucks, and refreshments.
Bayou City Art Festival at Sam Houston Park (March 29-30)
For over half a century this festival has been bringing the art party to Houston twice a year. If it’s spring that means the festival once again takes over the streets of downtown to showcase the works of 250 artists. Guests can personally meet the artists, view original works, and purchase one-of-a-kind art, prints, jewelry, sculptures, functional art and more at all price levels. As always, a festival ticket includes access to live entertainment stages, numerous food trucks, and a craft beer and wine garden. This year’s featured artist is Gwendolyn Redfern, a watercolor painter from Raleigh, NC. Be sure to also catch the annual Collegiate Art Collective, featuring one-of-a-kind artwork from Houston area college art students. The four chosen artists are Maryam Abdullahi of Houston Community College, Jasmine Bousie of the University of Houston Downtown, Tetzal Cornejo of Rice University, and Ashley Guevara of the University of Houston.
Tamara de Lempicka image info: Tamara de Lempicka, Portrait of Ira P., 1930, oil on panel, private collection. © 2024 Tamara de Lempicka Estate, LLC / ADAGP, Paris / ARS, NY.Image © 1969 Christie’s Images Limited
