November art openings

Houston's epic Gauguin exhibit and 11 more can't-miss art openings

We fall into more vivid art colors this November, as galleries and museums across Houston open a diverse array of shows and exhibitions. The Museum of Fine Arts keeps the art blockbusters coming with a rare Gauguin exhibition. The Contemporary Arts Museum celebrates a Texas original, while the Center for Contemporary Craft celebrates motherhood. Discovery Green and Artechouse get ready for the holidays. Plus, we’ve got some of our favorite annual art buying and exploring traditions this month.

"Celebrations of Spirits: Encore” at Sabine Street Studios (now through January 12)
Artists of both Sabine Street and Spring Street Studios continue to contemplate Day of the Dead with this new show that not only gives honor to those departed but attempts to set up a painted dialogue between the living and the dead. The art featured in the show invites viewers to contemplate the many meanings of the holiday and the possibilities of feelings of both grief and joy when remembering our connections to those departed.

"WOW: Wonders of Winter" at Sawyer Yards (now through January 11)
The artists of Winter Street Studios embrace alliteration in this exhibition that contemplates wonder as an emotion. Each piece evokes emotions of surprise and curiosity, encouraging visitors to see beyond the canvas into the minds and inspirations of the creators. All together the show highlights a diverse selection of artists and artworks that feature techniques that elicit a "wow" moment in the art and perhaps the viewer, as well.

"Gauguin in the World” at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (now through February 16)
Certainly one of the biggest exhibitions of the fall, the MFAH is the only museum in the U.S to present this monumental survey of pioneering Post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin’s work. Originally organized by independent curator Henri Loyrette, former director of the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, the exhibition includes some of Gauguin’s most celebrated paintings, prints, and ceramics with this Houston presentation including some works not shown during the exhibition’s debut in Australia.

“Gauguin in the World will offer an exceptional opportunity to understand the astonishing range of the artist’s achievement,” said Ann Dumas, MFAH consulting curator for the exhibition. “Fusing influences as diverse as European Old Masters, Peruvian potters, and Egyptian tomb painters, Gauguin created not only sumptuous and richly colored paintings, but also developed entirely original methods of print making, and sculptures in wood and ceramic, dissolving conventional boundaries between art forms. His influence on avant-garde has been profound and continues in our own time.”

"Designing Motherhood” at Center for Contemporary Craft (now through March 15)
Billed as the first exhibition of its kind to consider the arc of human reproduction through a design lens, this new show at HCCC looks at the art of motherhood in a showcase of over 60 craft and design objects and prototypes from the past 50 years. From blown-glass weaning vessels and hand carved rocking chairs to art and jewelry inspired by pacifiers and breast pumps, the exhibition, which includes work by more than 20 contemporary artists, explores themes and concepts of reproduction, maternal health, and motherhood.

“Handcrafted objects are the intermediary space between the womb and the world. From handwoven swaddling cloths and knitted baby blankets to embroidered baby carriers and basket-woven bassinets, craft is often the first human experience of the material world,” said HCCC curator Sarah Darro in a statement. “[The show] draws out the intertwined properties of labor, care, embedded history, material intelligence, and intergenerational knowledge shared by craft and parenthood, ultimately asserting such reproductive experiences as forms of craft themselves.”

“In Residence: 17th" at Center for Contemporary Craft (now through June 21)
This annual exhibition celebrates the Center’s Artist Residency Program, which supports emerging, mid-career, and established artists working in all craft media and allows HCCC visitors the chance to visit the artists' studios and watch their creation process through the year. Now Houston will get a chance to see some of the culminations of that work with this exhibition featuring pieces in fiber, clay, paper, and found objects by 2023-2024 resident artists Robert Hodge, Ann Johnson, Sarah Knight, Hai-Wen Lin, Qiqing Lin, Rebecca Padilla-Pipkin, and Terumi Saito.

“Atlas” at Discovery Green (November 15-February 16)
Really, it wouldn’t be fall without a new large-scale art installation at Discovery Green to light up those long nights, and this latest by internationally renowned, Brooklyn-based artist/engineer Jen Lewin flies into downtown Houston just in time for the holidays. This site-specific monumental installation interacts with both the Discovery Green landscape and park visitors , as “Atlas” consists of twenty-four handcrafted glowing moths that will be suspended from the magnificent trees of the Brown Promenade. Each moth represents a unique endangered North American moth species and will react to viewers as they move below. “Atlas” becomes the first installation integrated into Discovery Green’s new Art Lab program.

“Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream…” at Contemporary Arts Museum (November 15-March 23)
Celebrated San Antonio-born artist Vincent Valdez will have his first museum survey with this exhibition that will also mark the first time the CAMH has dedicated all its galleries to a single artist. In his murals, monumental portraits, paintings, prints, and multimedia installations, Valdez depicts visions of American’s past, sometimes forgotten, while celebrating everyday people today. As a survey spanning 25 years of Valdez’s art, the CAMH uses the analogy that the exhibition will act like chapters in a book of Valdez’ continuing examination the country.

“Valdez’s creative practice has the uncanny ability to speak to our present moment despite the years, and even decades, since the works’ creation. Yet, its relevance extends beyond this slice of time by excavating buried facets of our country’s past to incite avenues for more equitable futures,” said exhibition co-curator Patricia Restrepo.

Art on the Avenue at Spring Street Studios (November 16)
One of Houston's favorite art buying traditions goes through a few changes this year with a new venue and a one-night-only mega party and auction. Moving to the big Spring Street facilities, the silent auction will feature 100 pieces of art, as well as an additional selection of handcrafted jewelry, a student show, and a “yard sale” of non-art items and experiences to bid on. Those who can’t make the '90s-themed evening “House Party” can still view the art earlier in the day and bid online.

"rest, raze, cullect” at Lawndale Art Center (November 21-December 21)
Texas-based artist, Ariel Wood makes objects and structures evoking plumbing and drainage to explore larger issues of the body, intimacy, privacy, and hygiene. This new show will bring together three interconnected bodies of Wood’s work and transplant objects of city infrastructure into the galleries of Lawndale. As part of Wood’s process, street corner utility boxes become shower stalls and water towers. Water main access pipes stretch upwards like pillars, and lamp posts, pipes, and vessels rest in their steel holds, face and connect the walls, or drop in blue, acrylic suspension from the ceiling.

"in a word” at Lawndale Art Center (November 21-December 21)
Houston artist Jean Shon uses images and text from her own family archives to explore loss and regeneration in this new exhibition. Working in photography, installation, text, and mixed media, Shon examines themes of origin, reproduction, erasure, and revelation. Shon sees “in a word” as a dialogue that evolves despite the lack of a living presence; rather, that presence is found and transformed through memories, ideas, oral stories, and conversation.

“Houston Holiday Spectacular” at Artechouse (November 22-January 5)
When the art and technology wonderland Artechouse opened in June, chief creative officer Sandro Kereselidze told CultureMap that they had plans to continually program new installations and exhibitions throughout the year. Now comes word that they’ll be expanding new art boundaries with two new seasonal installations where light and sound deliver visitors into the holiday season.

First, enter a “Spectacular Factory” to experience the dazzling imaginary world of a gift factory as it comes alive. Visitors will get swept away by dreamlike-yet-familiar holiday themes. If the holidays are already getting a little too overwhelming, you can soothe those frazzled senses with ASMR-inspired installations in “Tingle Bells.” Calling these installations a celebratory retreat for the mind, body, and soul, Artechouse wants to take visitors on a journey of nostalgia and joy, creating an oasis amidst the hustle of the holidays.

“ArtCrawl” presented by Houston Downtown Artist Warehouse District (November 23)
This beloved November tradition turns 32 years young this month, as dedicated art-lovers head out on a pre-Thanksgiving adventure to meet local artists in their native downtown habitat. The studio doors swing open allowing visitors to see the artists’ latest creations and maybe get some holiday shopping done at the same time. The mission of the Artcrawl is to assist the public in understanding contemporary art by directly involving the visitors in a dialogue with local artists in the Artist Warehouse District of Downtown Houston. Over 100 Artists will open their studios in Houston’s original cluster of artists warehouses including Bisong Art Gallery, Hardy & Nance Studios, MotherDogStudios. And now with Meow Wolf’s Radio Tave less than a mile away, art survives and continues to thrive in the downtown warehouse district.

$\u200bThe Museum of Fine Arts presents "Gauguin in the World"$

Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts presents "Gauguin in the World" (Paul Gauguin, Parahi te marae (The Sacred Mountain), 1892, oil on canvas, Philadelphia Museum of Art.)

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see these shows

Holiday-themed productions star in Houston's 11 best shows for November

Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Broadway at the Hobby Center presents Shucked

Our long fall nights have arrived just in time for all the evenings we’re going to need to see some of the most eclectic theater of the year. Holiday favorites like A Christmas Carol and The Nutcracker take to stages across town, but we’ve also got lots of comedies from holiday heartwarming to the darkly funny social commentary. Meanwhile Broadway at Hobby yields a corny harvest, and we’ve got two immersive shows for those who want to get caught up in the action.

The Endings from Strange Bird Immersive (ongoing through 2024)
Though known as the company who ties immersive theater with escape room experiences, there’s no escaping (the dark fun) with this new show that makes life and death choices into an absurdist adventure. Consider yourself a player, actor, or audience member. Either way you become a job applicant at an organization that seems to have a very bad history of OSHA violations. Wearing a headset and guided by a narrator, each applicant will explore a ruined office space and the hallways of their own mind. Players make choices that take them down different branching narratives. The Endings boasts eleven different narratives and thirty-six possible endings, but no matter where the story takes each player, it always ends in their very own ludicrous death.

Safe at Home at Schroeder Park, University of Houston’s baseball stadium (November 7-10)
Baseball meets immersive theater in this unique production from UH’s School of Theatre & Dance. In this new play by Gabriel Greene and Alex Levy, a visiting guest artist at UH, the actors and sets act as a kind of set bases as the audience moves from one scene to the next within Schroeder Park to see a whodunit thriller unfold. Each scene ends with a cliffhanger urging the audience to literally move onward into the story.

Set against the backdrop of Game 7 of the World Series, the play provides a voyeuristic look into complex issues of U.S. immigration policies, racial politics, and the intersection of personal ethics with media influences — all the while challenging societal perceptions.

Playhouse Creatures from Lionwoman Productions (November 7-23)
Is there a new queen of Houston’s theater jungle? We’ll find out as this prideful new company Lionwoman sets its debut production at the MATCH this month. It’s a thematically resonating choice of plays for a company on a mission to lift diverse voices, as this play by award-winning playwright April De Angelis tells the story of some of the first women actresses on the British stage.

Set during the 1660s in Restoration London, when women were first allowed into acting professions, Playhouse Creatures focuses on the lives of five, real-world actresses of the time. These fierce and fascinating “creatures” relish their opportunity to work on stage and navigate the society and time into which they’ve been “plopped.” Though a popular play in the U.K, this will be the first Texas production.

Love Bomb from Catastrophic Theatre (November 15-December 7)
It wouldn’t be the Houston theater holiday season if Catastrophic wasn’t decking the halls with some likely absurdist, wild, and avant garde counter programming. This year it’s a world premiere devised musical.

Conceived and directed by frequent Catastrophic guest artist Brian Jucha, this collaboration with the Catastrophic ensemble actors centers around taxi dancers, women in early 20th century dance halls who earned a living by ballroom dancing one song and one man at a time. Featuring songs from 1970’s singer-songwriter and cultural icon Melanie (a.k.a the First Lady of Woodstock), the experimental production will invite audiences into a dance hall where people will do anything to find love. Catastrophic says the rest is going to have to remain a surprise, and we can bet it will be.

The Twelve Ways of Christmas at Ensemble Theatre (November 15-December 22)
With a musical and moving focus on the word “ways,” this new production at Ensemble looks at the many ways people celebrate Christmas — with family, with friends, the holiday's religious significance for some, the wonder of being a child receiving gifts, and the longing of a soldier away at war. The show even tackles the experience of knowing grief during the holiday season. With book and and a jazzy score by artist Chika Kaba Ma’Atunde, the show should bring lots of music, laughs, and genuine feelings to our theatrical holidays.

A Christmas Carol at Alley Theatre (November 15-December 29)
The Alley world premiered this charming new production of the classic tale adapted by Alley artistic director Rob Melrose a few years ago, and it’s already a Houston holiday theater tradition. Melrose went back to Charles Dickens' original novella for inspiration. David Rainey is back as Scrooge with the rest of the resident acting company and Alley regulars playing all the ghosts and Dickensian characters. The Alley creative team and designers weave their own holiday magic alongside the actors in this production to create a music-filled Victorian wonderland with floating houses, intricate and sometimes spooky costumes, beautiful puppetry, wondrous stage illusions, and light snow for every performance.

Shucked presented by Broadway at the Hobby Center (November 19-24)
While many a traditional holiday show debuts this month, Broadway at Hobby isn’t quite done with its fall musical harvest, as it brings the Broadway smash musical Shucked to town. If legendary oldies Brigadoon and The Music Man ever had a Gen Z baby, that baby would be Shucked.

In this award-winning show, travel to a lost, magical farming town that needs the help of a Florida (con)man to save its dying corn harvest. With an original book by Robert Horn and an original score by the Grammy Award–winning songwriting team of Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally that's filled with numbers like the “Corn” song, the “Corn (reprise)” song, and the finale showstopper “Corn Mix,” this is one musical that loves four things: love stories, down home dance numbers, corn, and every corny pun it can sow and reap.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike from 4th Wall Theatre (November 22-December 15)
While not a holiday homecoming, siblings reuniting to hilarious results is definitely a core narrative in Christopher Durang’s Tony-winning comedy that gets an up close and personal production from 4th Wall. The story follows two middle-aged siblings, begrudgingly named after Chekhov characters, who are living a static existence in Pennsylvania until their movie-star sister Masha arrives, accompanied by her attractive and younger lover, Spike. Add in a possibly clairvoyant housekeeper, a wannabe actress neighbor, and a costume party to bring out everyone’s best-worst behaviors as the characters lives get thrown into comic disarray.

This all-in-the family production is directed by 4th Wall artistic director, Jennifer Dean and stars 4th Wall founders Philip Lehl and Kim Tobin-Lehl, along with some Houston favs. It should be a good pick for theater fans looking for a non-holiday comic treat. Small spoiler alert: Vanya and Sonia contains what is arguably one of the greatest comic monologue rants in the last 15 years of American theater, and we can’t wait to watch Lehl tackle it.

Winter Solstice at Rec Room (November 23-December 14)
Leave it to one of Houston’s smallest and most innovative theater companies to bring us a very different kind of awkward holiday family get-together with this play from award-winning German playwright, Roland Schimmelpfennig. On Christmas Eve, married couple Bettina and Albert get an unexpected surprise when Bettina’s mother brings a guest to dinner, a seemingly charming stranger she meets on the train. But charm can be deceiving. Rec Room says this sharp edged and sometimes experimental comedy plays with liberalism's inability to immunize itself against fascism’s rhetorical power in this wildly theatrical and inventive production.

A Texas Carol: Part Deux at A.D. Players (November 29-December 22)
A few years ago A.D. Players artistic producer Kevin Dean and executive artistic director Jayme McGhan created a new seasonal comedy for Houston with a decidedly east Texas twang. The holiday trials and tribulations of the dysfunctional but loving Dinkel family as they faced the death of their beloved matriarch made for a moving yet funny hit for the company.

This month, A.D. Players debuts the world premiere sequel with the members of the Dinkel family returning, along with most of the original actors. Two years after the events of the original Texas Carol, the extended family gathers once more at Mee-Maw's beloved ranch on Christmas Day for more holiday mayhem, including a wedding, bickering relatives, budding romances, weather emergencies, visiting French Canadians, Texas hockey, a giant feral hog on the loose, and probably most volatile of all, college cousins on opposite sides of the UT and A&M divide. The company calls the show their zany and heartfelt ode to families who, despite their dysfunction, somehow manage to keep moving forward in love.

The Nutcracker from Houston Ballet (November 29-December 29)
Houston Ballet wraps up the year with Stanton Welch’s sugarplum dreamy Nutcracker Ballet. The full company of dancers will perform during the production’s run, joined by hundreds of young dancers — a mix of students from Houston Ballet Academy as well as locals from the annual open audition. Dancing to the beloved Tchaikovsky score, all our favorites — the Nutcracker Prince, Sugarplum Fairy, Rat King, and the international ambassadors — will take a turn at the magical winter court. In Welch’s imagining, Clara becomes the hero of this enchanting story where the all the animals dance as well as the weather, in the form of the loveliest snowflakes in Houston.

Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Broadway at the Hobby Center presents Shucked.

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