best november art

Where to see art in Houston now: 10 shows and exhibits opening in November

Friends and family visiting Houston during the holiday season will find art openings that appeal to every taste. Classic art and history buffs can take time traveling journeys into ancient empires with two blockbuster exhibitions from the Houston Museum of Natural Science and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Younger generations with an interest in social media will find new immersive and interactive art that's perfect for sharing. For the adventurous wanting to see art in creation, consider taking a crawl through Warehouse District studios for art. Even busy travelers can see some of our best local artists with a special showcase at IAH.

“Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times” at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (now through January 25)
Featuring 160 objects of antiquity, including marble sculptures, frescoes, mosaics, delicate glass vessels, and bronze artifacts, the exhibition will transport visitors back in time to the Roman Empire during a flowering of art and architecture. The MFAH partnered with the Saint Louis Art Museum to organize the exhibition, which will showcase many pieces that have never been on view in the U.S.

While Emperor Trajan might not be the most famous — or in some cases, most infamous — of the Roman emperors, he ruled between 98 and 117 C.E. during the empire’s height and was the second of the so-called “Five Good Emperors” of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. During his reign, he granted citizenship and rights to some peoples from conquered lands. The exhibition will explore how this time period expanded what it meant to be a Roman and how art reflected Rome’s power and promoted the empire’s values and ideals.

“Soledad Salamé: Camouflage” at Blaffer Art Museum (now through March 7)
This exhibition showcasing the Chilean-born, Maryland-based multimedia artist focuses on Salamé’s work with environmental themes. Using aerial photos of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, the site where millions of pounds of disposable textiles, often called “fast fashion,” are dumped and piled, Salamé then hand embroiders the photos with needle and thread, adding weighty details to these landscapes of immense fabric fields. For other pieces in the exhibition, Salamé gives new shape to humble dresses that the artist has fashioned from recycled cotton fabric. Throughout the exhibition, Salamé finds ways to marry art, research, and re-invention.

“Sawyer Yards 2025 Showcase” at Bush IAH (now through July 31)
Let local artwork lighten your wait and brighten your travels at Houston's busiest airport. Bush IAH received the 2023 Best Art in the Airport international recognition from Skytrax, a status it aims to maintain with a new selection of recent pieces by Sawyer Yard artists. The works on display in Terminal A represent 15 artists from each of the five studio buildings across the Sawyer Yards campus. The range of media, including drawing, painting, assemblage, and photography, highlights the diversity of Houston artists. The display will remain on view for one year and then be rotated with new selections from Sawyer artists. The exhibition is located in Terminal A, starting at Gate A7.

“Mario Ayala: Seven Vans” at Contemporary Arts Museum (November 14-June 21, 2026)
Though Ayala’s paintings have been showcased in museums across the globe, “Seven Vans” becomes the acclaimed contemporary artist’s first solo museum exhibition in the U.S. Known for his unique way of depicting life on the West Coast and especially California, this CAMH show will feature seven life-sized canvases painted as realistic portraits of the back of vans. The CAMH notes that word and concept of vans came into being as an evolution of caravans, making them also representations of commerce and both working and counterculture lifestyles.

Influenced by the diverse artistic landscapes of his Californian home, from Mexican-American mural art to body tattooing to highway signage and car culture, Ayala’s paintings of the backs of vehicles become a kind of portrait of their owners. Each one portrays an individual personality. Without ever painting their faces, Ayala offers a vivid portrait of the people of his community.

“Ayala’s impactful engagement with car culture encourages a fresh look at both vehicles and the spaces they occupy,” describes exhibition curator Patricia Restrepo, who makes the case that the show will have great resonance for Houstonians. “Seven Vans is designed to resemble a parking garage, with each vehicle frozen like a performer mid-scene. This eerie stillness may feel all too familiar in Houston, where more than a quarter of downtown is paved with parking lots and garages.”

“Phenomenomaly” at Meow Wolf Houston's Radio Tave (November 15-January 4)
Visual and performance art meet in the time and universe tripping dimensions of Meow Wolf’s Radio Tave, with live performances from Houston dancers, musicians, and storytellers every weekend. These live performances will help tell “Phenomenomaly,” an immersive, new sci-fi story about the mysterious Flickerwerms.

Depending on the day or time, visitors will encounter different characters in this ongoing tale with the chance of spotting the story reaching its crescendo as Mama Flickerwerm emerges in a dazzling sequence of dance and performance. Some of the eclectic featured live performances in November and December will be from the contemporary Bollywood dance company, T2 Dance, Houston’s own poetry superstar, Outspoken Bean, the sizzling Hot City Brass Band, the beer loving opera divas and divos of Hopera, and the always vibrant Mariachi Oro de mi Tierra.

“Pop Air – Art Is Inflatable” presented by The Balloon Museum (November 15-April 19)
Already a hit in Dallas and Austin, the Balloon Museum will arrive in Houston with a different show than our neighbor cities. “Pop Art” features immersive air art from 14 international artists all creating work with themes about the power of play and human connections.

Together, these large-scale installations will span more than 65,000 square feet, creating luminous spaces for visitors to interact with the art. From inflatable sculptures of humans, monsters, and geometric shapes to colorful virtual reality worlds to simulated cloud rooms to landscape installations that move thanks to the energy generated by biking power, “Pop Air” art really is inflatable, interactive, and very Instagramable.

“World of the Terracotta Warriors: New Archaeological Discoveries in Shaanxi in the 21st Century” at Houston Museum of Natural Science (opens November 15)
Ancient art marches into town to conquer our imagination once again with the return of the Terracotta Warriors. The HMNS has previously presented exhibitions of these burial sculptures depicting the armies of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, but this new show will also deliver over 100 newly unearthed artifacts to North America for the very first time.

These latest archaeological discoveries tell the story of the people and culture that helped to give rise to the Qin dynasty. Included in the exhibition are jade pieces, gold ornaments, bronze vessels, and ceremonial horse fittings uncovered in the tombs of kings and noblemen, along with rare artifacts from the 4,000-year-old city of Shimao, China’s first walled city. The exhibition will include the Warriors in a variety of forms and roles including archers, kneeling figures, a high-ranking military official, and a even the figure of the emperor’s personal afterlife entertainer.

“This exhibit presents the latest archaeological discoveries that rewrote history,” says Dr. Dirk Van Tuerenhout, curator of anthropology for HMNS. “China’s advanced civilization did not start where once thought it did. This is a story of over two millennia with kingdoms waxing and waning. It ends with the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. His mausoleum still stands, undisturbed. His army and servants have awoken and await your visit.”

"Back in Black” at Laura Rathe Fine Art (November 20-December 31)
The group show represents a a new chapter for the Colquitt location of Laura Rathe Fine Art, reintroduced with a striking black façade to honor its legacy while embracing contemporary refinement. Featuring a curated selection of new works by LRFA artists, the exhibition celebrates individuality and collective vision alike. Each artist has spent months of dedicated work in the studio, refining their craft and creating pieces that reflect both personal evolution and shared purpose. Together, the art and the space tell a story of continuity, transformation, and the legacy of Laura Rathe Fine Art.

“ArtCrawl Houston” throughout the Downtown Warehouse District (November 22)
Take a pre-Thanksgiving crawl through some of the studios and artist spaces in the historic Warehouse District at the 33rd annual free event. Wander through open studios, exhibitions, and installations, all while catching pop-up performances in some of the spaces. Artists and visitors alike can expect a celebration of contemporary art in all its forms — abstract, figurative, digital, performance, and more — accompanied by food, music, and family-friendly programming.

Photo by Eric Scire/Atlas Media

Meow Wolf presents Phenomenomaly.

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Best May Art

MFAH's blockbuster modern art exhibit and 7 more openings in Houston this month

as Pablo Picasso, Woman in a Multicolored Hat, part of the MFAH's upcoming Picasso–Klee–Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen exhibit, opening May 20

Image courtesy MFAH

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents Picasso–Klee–Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen (Pablo Picasso, Woman in a Multicolored Hat, 1939, oil on canvas, Museum Berggruen, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. © 2026 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

May brings some of the biggest art shows and museum exhibitions of the year to town. Some fly in with patriotic fanfare, while others give us a rare opportunity to gaze at European masterworks. Whether someone is looking for irreverent performance art at the CAMH, wants to get in touch with whimsical spirits at Moody Art Center, buy art for a good cause at Silver Street, or get ready for the World Cup at Sawyer Yards, Houston artists, galleries, and museums have a show for all tastes.

“Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents That Forged a Nation” at Houston Museum of Natural Science (now through May 25)
We’ll call this one the art of democracy. This exhibition 250 years in the making might not fit the usual definition of "art," but this touring presentation of Founding-era documents at HMNS has to make this month's must-see list. The National Archives and Records Administration, in partnership with the National Archives Foundation, set aloft this flying tour of some of the nation’s most historical documents, complete with their own plane. Houston is one of only eight U.S. cities where the Freedom Plane will land. The original National Archives records featured in the exhibition are traveling together for the first time. Just some of the historic documents included in the exhibition are an original engraving of the Declaration of Independence; George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr’s Oaths of Allegiance, 1778; and the Secret Printing of the Constitution in Draft Form, 1787.

“As our nation approaches its 250th anniversary, there is no more fitting tribute than bringing these original documents, leaving the National Archives together for the very first time, directly to the American people,” says Joel Bartsch, president and CEO of HMNS. “From George Washington’s oath as a Continental Army officer to the Treaty of Paris that secured our independence, these are not replicas or reproductions. They are the genuine records, and Houston will have the rare privilege of experiencing them in person this May.”

“20th Annual Empty Bowls” at Silver Street Studios (May 15 and 16)
For two decades this beloved grassroots fundraising event has given art lovers the chance to pick up one of a kind, handcrafted ceramic bowl-shaped artworks for just $25 dollars each and helped to serve up millions of meals to the hungry. Over the years, Empty Bowls Houston has raised over $1.2 million for the Houston Food Bank. The lunch fundraiser is a collaboration between Houston-area ceramists, woodturners, and artists working in all media and Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. A special ticketed preview party on May 15 will feature light bites, beer and wine, live music, a pottery throw down event with local potters, and a chance to purchase a bowl early before the main event on May 16. Archway Gallery will also host its own annual Empty Bowls exhibition throughout May.

“No Longer, Not Yet” at Art League (May 15-July 19)
This exhibition of mixed media and fiber sculptures from Houston-based artist Marisol Valencia is the culmination of Valencia volunteering at a Houston-area shelter serving migrant women and children. To create the works in the show, Valencia uses material imbued with meaning, including fibers sourced from rural Mexican communities where migration often shapes daily life; bedsheets and pillows gathered from the shelter; and porcelain pieces inscribed with collected definitions of “home.” At the center of the exhibition will be a large cascading crochet sculpture made in collaboration with women and volunteers at the shelter.

“Picasso–Klee–Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen” at Museum of Fine Arts (May 20-September 13)
Houston claims another first as the MFAH hosts the U.S. debut of this monumental touring exhibition of masterworks by Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, and other major artists of postwar Europe. The exhibition will also tell the story of influential gallerist Heinz Berggruen and his relationship with the artists and collecting world. From the 1940s into the 1990s, Heinz Berggruen assembled a singular collection of hundreds of modern masterworks, many directly from the artists, and then in 2000, Berggruen placed the collection with the German state. The collection is now housed in the Museum Berggruen in Berlin-Charlottenburg as part of the Berlin State Museums/Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage.

“It is especially rewarding to introduce our audiences to the life and legacy of Heinz Berggruen — a pioneering art dealer, publisher, and collector whom I was privileged to know and work with for more than two decades,” remarks MFAH director Gary Tinterow on bringing the exhibition to Houston.

“Ballet of the Masses” at Sawyer Yards (May 21-July 25)
As Houston gets ready for the World Cup, local artists score their own kind of goals with this exhibition of artful soccer balls. Over 40 Houston artists have put a unique spin on a regulation sized fútbol — turning them into sculptural pieces. Organizers will suspend the works from the ceiling of Sabine Street Studios' North Gallery to create a kind of celestial soccer constellation. Together, these works will celebrate the dynamism and joy within sports and art.

“Never Forgotten” at Sabine Street Studios (May 21-July 25)
This powerful exhibition comes from a unique collaboration between Texas Center for the Missing, Houston Police Department Forensic Artists, and Sabine Street Studios, all dedicated to bringing the missing home. Three local forensic artists: Thurston Johnson, Bryan Bradley, and Kristen Aloysius have created age-progression portraits of missing persons in the hopes of reuniting families. Beyond showcasing real art, “Never Forgotten” was organized to shine a light on each individual case and continue raising awareness of the missing in our community. Sabine Street Studios will also host special programming in conjunction with the show, including a workshop on forensic drawing and drawing portraits based on memories.

“Mary Ellen Carroll: How To Talk Dirty and Influence People” at Contemporary Arts Museum (May 22-November 1)
Acclaimed New York-based conceptual artist Mary Ellen Carroll has spent over four decades crossing disciplines of performance art, photography, architecture, writing, video making, and public art to explore issues of environmentalism, architectural and technological infrastructure, immigration, urban legislation, and identity, as well as tackling fundamental questions of the nature of art. And some of this exploration has taken place in Houston with Carroll’s continual transformation and documentation of a post-war home in the city’s Sharpstown neighborhood.

This first major museum survey of Carroll’s work takes inspiration from legendary comic Lenny Bruce’s 1965 autobiography of the same name, and emphasizes the irreverent and honest nature of Carroll’s work. The exhibition will bring renewed focus onto some of Carroll’s larger series, for example, “prototype 180,” the Sharpstown project, and “My Death Is Pending… Because,” consisting of separate pieces like video documentation of the artist driving and destroying a 1985 Buick in a demolition derby in 2017 and video of Carroll in a polar bear suit climbing a defunct smokestack in Memphis.

“Carroll is that unique kind of artist who continually reminds you of the power of art and artists to inspire radical change, in ourselves and the world,” notes senior curator Rebecca Matalon.

"Shapeshifters, Sprites, and Spirits” at Rice Moody Center for the Arts (May 29 - August 15)
Delve into a world of whimsical wonder in this new exhibition and the first Texas solo show of acclaimed Japanese artist Masako Miki’s sculptural work and installations. Influenced by diverse artistic movements from European Surrealism to Japanese manga, Miki creates sculptures from felt layered over wood armatures. Once completed, they resemble animated and large scale forms of everyday objects infused with personality and character.

Miki’s work is also inspired by folkloric traditions, especially Shinto animism and its belief that all beings and things contain a spirit. For the site specific Moody exhibition, Miki has also created works with a focus on yōkai, supernatural entities taking the form of beings, objects, and apparitions, and particularly those that appear in the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (Hyakki Yagyō), a legend dating to medieval Japan.

“My characters are ordinary but have extraordinary powers,” describes Miki of her sculptures. “They are secular but are attuned to sacred traditions. As a collective, they advocate for both individual and collective agency, and the importance of stories as unifying systems in today’s complex world.”

$as Pablo Picasso, Woman in a Multicolored Hat, part of the MFAH's upcoming Picasso\u2013Klee\u2013Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen exhibit, opening May 20$

Image courtesy MFAH

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