Glasstire counts down the top five art events in Texas.
For last week’s picks, please go here.
Family Photos: Queer Representation in the Comer Collection
1. Family Photos: Queer Representation in the Comer Collection
SP/N Gallery at Synergy Park North 2 – UT Dallas (Richardson)
March 25 – May 23, 2025
From SP/N Gallery:
“There’s power in the collective demand to be seen, to be dignified as human, especially in photographs, when lopsided histories can be righted, and new stories can rise from the ashes of erasure. Representing oneself through pictures, when agency and authority lie solely with the imagemaker, makes the demand to be seen an act of bravery — What if my likeness is rejected, or worse, denied? — and an act of refusal — I will not let anyone else determine my existence. I am who I show you I am. The gift of visibility also extends to photographs, highlighting the intimate relationship between the photographer, the subject, and the viewer, too, who bears witness after the fact. And that’s what the photographs in Family Photos are: invitations.
A selection of thirty images from the Comer Collection of Photography at the University of Texas at Dallas, curated by Director Diane Durant, will be on view in the SP/N Gallery March 25 – May 23. Attendees are encouraged to bring shelf-stable food items to be collected throughout the run of the show which will be donated to Synergy Wesley, a nonprofit organization that welcomes and affirms all students from UT Dallas, Collin College, and Dallas College.”
Joseph Havel: all nouns become verbs
2. Joseph Havel: all nouns become verbs
Josh Pazda Hiram Butler (Houston)
March 1 – April 26, 2025
From Hiram Butler:
“This exhibition features drawings and sculpture in dialogue with one another, foregrounding drawing as a rigorous and consistent aspect of the artist’s studio production over three decades (1993-2022). In contrast to the singularity and uniqueness that characterize his sculptures (which are painstakingly fabricated in collaboration with a foundry), Havel’s drawings are often executed serially and emphasize the performative aspect of their making.
Each of the gallery’s three spaces pairs a single sculpture with a series of drawings and includes rarely seen works—many of which are exhibited for the first time here. Pairing drawings that were made years apart from the sculptures that they are shown with, this exhibition seeks to highlight through lines among the artist’s seemingly diverse bodies of work. In addition to emphasizing Havel’s deeply rooted visual sensibility, these pairings also make clear that action and movement are ever-present in his work—whether in gestural passages on paper or in cast bronze works that appear to defy gravity.”
Alejandra Almuelle, “The Body is a Place”
3. Vessel | Body | Home
GrayDUCK Gallery (Austin)
April 12 – May 11, 2025
From GrayDUCK Gallery:
“In this exhibition, Vessel | Body | Home, curated by Tammie Rubin, each artist tells compelling stories about being human through crafted objects and sculptural renderings that suggest the body as a container, object parts, reflections, and domestic spaces.
Artists Alejandra Almuelle, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Ron Geibel, Jihye Han, Clara Hoag, Ann Johnson, and Yeonsoo Kim create meticulously constructed artworks that delve into their distinct cultural perspectives and dissect histories. These artworks amplify shared human experiences such as joy, chaos, vulnerability, pleasure, beauty, and resilience, fostering a sense of connection.
Datchuk, Geibel, and Johnson state their art practices make narratives visible, investigate truths, and beat back the erasure of history and culture. Almuelle, Han, and Kim take traditional forms and ways of making, such as moon jars and Onggi, Korean earthenware pots, and skillfully infuse them with contemporary life. Hoag and Almuelle’s figurative sculptures consider the body as constructions, landscapes, and icons. Johnson and Datchuk examine themes of femininity and ritual.”
A Mountain of My Making
4. A Mountain of My Making
Mary Moody Northern Art Gallery at West Texas A&M University (Canyon)
March 27 – May 3, 2025
“A Mountain of My Making takes video work by four artists living and working in Mexico City to propose the building of a fictitious home, or haven. Since the 2020 pandemic, the world has changed dramatically, and the works in this project reflect that, starting with the rising death tolls in the city due to the COVID-19, the feminist movement that drastically shifted perspectives on monuments, the return to nature after a period of isolation, and the proposition of fictitious ecosystems can allow for new creation of life.
A Mountain of My Making is the proposition of a fictitious place atop a mountain. It is the story of building a haven and a small universe in a moment of chaos to rest and watch the world pass by.
–Leslie Moody Castro”
Mariana Ruvalcaba Cruz: Entre Búsquedas y Encuentros
5. Mariana Ruvalcaba Cruz: Entre Búsquedas y Encuentros
Weil Gallery Texas A&M Corpus Christi
April 7 – May 2, 2025
“Mariana Ruvalcaba Cruz is a multidisciplinary artist from Mexico who primarily works with ceramics and printmaking. Her work reflects a constant sense of ‘being in the middle’ — suspended and uprooted from a sense of belonging. She merges, distorts, and manipulates the human form alongside natural elements. In this ‘middle ground,’ she crafts hybrid creatures that embody her experiences with change, displacement, transformation, and self-discovery.”
