Glasstire counts down the top five art events in Texas.
For last week’s picks, please go here.
Billy Al Bengston, “Lost at Sea,” 1997, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 18 inches
1. Billy Al Bengston: Lost at Sea
Texas Gallery (Houston)
June 8 – July 27, 2024
A show of watercolors and paintings by artist Billy Al Bengston.
Layla Luna, “Fort Worth to Big Bend (Brown Bat),” 2024, flashe, paint marker, and polymer clay on wood panel, 15 x 11 inches
2. Layla Luna: Talisman
Artspace111 (Fort Worth)
June 6 – July 13, 2024
From Artspace111:
“Artspace111 is proud to present the latest solo exhibition Talisman, featuring artist Layla Luna. Talisman is a series of paintings and small sculptures. Luna’s illustrative style uses motifs and palates of the desert in combination with text to present the viewer with a narrative rendering of time and emotional space. Luna’s images take place in desert paintings of West Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Small clay sculptures of southwest-dwelling animals honor the amulets, trinkets, and talismans. ‘Sacred souvenirs,’ as Luna calls them, have an ability to hold the magic of an experience and later serve as reminders of the lessons we learned during the journey. The desert and her inhabitants are incredible teachers if you take the time to know them. They demonstrate that tough paths can gift big rewards and you’ll always be pointed in the right direction if you listen to your landscape.”
John Bell, “Planet Life 46 Alt,” oil on wood panel, 13 x 19 inches
3. John Bell: Planet Life Paintings
Yard Dog (Austin)
July 1 – 28, 2024
A statement from the artist, via Yard Dog:
“In 2018 I began a series of paintings based on the forms and natural structures of the Southwest. I name this ongoing series Planet Life. Throughout my life, I’ve been drawn to art and designs that have strong, graphic shapes, that are reminiscent of the real world, without it being so literal. This approach allows the viewer enough information to make the images feel familiar, while leaving the mind to fill in the gaps with their own impressions. Planet Life also doesn’t take itself too seriously. The forms and colors are somewhat playful, in a mid-century modern sort of way.”
Works by Cody Vance
4. Cody Vance: Loving Influence
Carver Community Cultural Center (San Antonio)
June 27 – August 2, 2024
From the Carver Community Cultural Center:
“Cody Vance is a multidisciplinary artist who will be showcasing his vast body of stone sculptures, as well as paintings in The Carver’s main gallery. After a career in the Air Force as an award winning military graphic artist, Cody discovered his passion for stone carving in 2008. 16 years later, he attributes much of his abstract design influence to a serious sickness contracted as a child, and his mother’s guiding hand that helped distract him from the daily monotony of being confined to a hospital bed.”
5. 2024 Pots-n-Prints Juried Exhibition
Nancy Fyfe Cardozier Gallery (Odessa)
June 14 – August 3, 2024
From the Nancy Fyfe Cardozier Gallery:
“This juried exhibition focuses on works of traditional and alternative methods used in ceramics and printmaking. The juror, Alex Gregory, has served as the Curator of Art for the Amarillo Museum of Art (AMoA) since 2014.” For a full list of artists included in the show, please go here.
