The exhibit, which was originally set to end on September 5, is now on display in San Antonio until September 25, 2022. Photo: TxTroublemaker Photography, used with permission.
Lighthouse Immersive is excited to announce that Immersive Van Gogh San Antonio is extending its stay in San Antonio until September 25, giving visitors an additional three weeks to see the works of Vincent Van Gogh projected in an immersive lightshow. The venue has been carefully outfitted by a creative team that designed the show to meet the venue’s specifications, creating floor-to-ceiling imagery reflecting the famous artist’s works. Lighthouse Immersive’s Global Creative Director David Korins (best known for his work on the musicals Hamilton and Dear Even Hansen) has also decorated the venue with interactive elements to provide audiences with a richer understanding of Van Gogh. (Lighthouse Immersive, 2022)
Tickets are now available for purchase for the extended dates starting at $39.99 ($24.99 for children 16 or younger), with timed and flexible ticket options available.
Sunday – Thursday: 10a.m. to 8p.m. Friday & Saturday: 10a.m. to 9p.m. Tickets to reserve a time slot can be purchased in advance online.
Immersive Van Gogh San Antonio 221 Burleson San Antonio, TX 78202
Lighthouse Immersive brings together two of Toronto’s preeminent production companies, Starvox Entertainment and Show One Productions to bring the world premiere of Immersive Van Gogh, Immersive Frida Kahlo, and Immersive Klimt: Revolution to over a dozen North American cities. Starvox Entertainment is Canada’s fastest growing live entertainment company responsible for bringing hit shows like The Art of Banksy to Toronto and Show One Productions is a full-service production company presenting concerts with high-profile classical musicians, opera stars, and orchestras. Working directly with the Italian masters of immersive digital art and other leading global creators, Lighthouse Immersive has custom-designed all exhibits to distinctly envelop the various architectural settings they inhabit.
In the last year, the Canadian company has announced or opened new galleries in 21 U.S. cities including Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York City and Orlando. To date, Lighthouse Immersive has sold over 4.8 million tickets to Immersive Van Gogh across North America, with Artnet recently commenting on the wave of immersive galleries, calling it “one of the largest coordinated art phenomena of all time.”
Blue Star Contemporary unveils three new summer exhibitions on July 1, 2022. Photo: google
Blue Star Contemporary (BSC), San Antonio’s first and longest- running contemporary art nonprofit, proudly unveils three new summer exhibitions opening to the public on First Friday July 1, 2022 at 6p.m.Andreas Till: De Ami, focuses on the influence of the presence of American troops in artist, Andreas Till’s, hometown Heidelberg, Germany. The Other Side, is a small selection of films by Faezeh Nikoozad, Aki Pao-Chen Chiu, Breech Asher Harani, and Fumiko Kikuchi . Fake Plastic Forest features photographic and lens-based work by France Dubois, Annette Isham, Işık Kaya, and Leigh Merrill. The exhibitions will be on view through October 9, 2022. (Blue Star Contemporary, 2022)
ANDREAS TILL: DE AMI focuses on the influence of the presence of American troops in artist, Andreas Till’s, hometown Heidelberg, Germany and the relationship between Germans and Americans between 1945 and 2013 born out of this presence. His research is based on found material from various archives such as the Rose Library in Atlanta and the Archive of the City of Heidelberg as well as various personal collections. The artist’s personal collection chronicles a lifelong friendship between former editor and publisher of the Atlanta Constitution, Ralph Emerson McGill and Till’s grandmother Else Volkwein.
Andreas Till (b. 1984) holds a M.A. in Photographic Studies from the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Germany. In 2010, he received a Fulbright scholarship to the Fine Art Photography and Integrated Media program (M.F.A.) of Ohio University in Athens, OH. He currently lives in Hamburg, Germany where he works as a photo editor.
THE OTHER SIDE brings together a small selection of films referencing ideas of transitions and events that foundationally change someone, i.e., “to be on the other side of something.” Works also allude to ideas of mortality and the spiritual concept of metaphysical selves entering a new plane.
This group of films was selected from Darmstädter Sezession’s 2021 prize shortlist for its collaborative Projection/Projektion grants and screenings programs with BSC. This will be the first screening of these films in San Antonio.
Featured Films Asb by Faezeh Nikoozad Translating Erasure by Aki Pao-Chen Chiu BINTANA (Window) by Breech Asher Harani I know where you are right now by Fumiko Kikuchi
FAKE PLASTIC FOREST features the work of France Dubois, Annette Isham, Işık Kaya, and Leigh Merrill; contemporary photographers and lens-based artists dealing with themes of artifice, truth and fiction, and the theatricality of our interactions with nature. Collectively these themes relate to ideas of preservation, the transcendent practice of experiencing nature, and seeking representations of nature to process and release intense events and emotions such as fear and grief. Our various relationships with nature are revealing of personal and collective selves. The urgency to reflect on these relationships is ever-present as we globally contend with humanity’s impact on our environment and consider transnational identities. The selected artists can be considered in the context of numerous other female photographers throughout the history of the medium who have used their environments, both natural and human made, as the site/studio where the work is made, and a part of the subject. These artists used the context of vast landscape, forests, and trees as well as fabricated, nature-inspired spaces, as sites and pivotal subjects for addressing themes such as psychology and mysticism.
Blue Star Contemporary, 116 Blue Star, San Antonio, TX 78204
Blue Star Contemporary is an anchoring cultural institution in San Antonio and a destination for residents and tourists alike. Located along the banks of the San Antonio Riverwalk, BSC is a central highlight between the bustle of downtown and the UNESCO World Heritage San Antonio Missions. BSC has remained true to its artist-centric foundation alongside this fiscal and programmatic growth. BSC is San Antonio’s first WAGE-certified organization, committed to transparent and equitable payments to artists for their creative contributions to BSC’s exhibitions and education outreach programs. Through its commitment to artists with a social practice, tuition-free youth arts education programs, and community-centric fundraising, BSC is dedicated to equity and social justice in all its endeavors.
Free fun and art making for families at Blue Star Contemporary’s Family Saturday. Photo: google
Blue Star Contemporary (BSC), San Antonio’s first and longest- running contemporary art nonprofit, welcomes the public on Saturday, June 25 for Free Family Saturday. From 1p.m. to 4p.m., families with children of all ages are invited to enjoy free hands-on art making activities, led by artists on view Jenn Hassin, Sarah Sudhoff, and Jill Ewing with Bihl Haus Arts. Also in attendance will be Vicki Johnson, who will be leading a letter writing activity with Operation Gratitude, a nation-wide nonprofit dedicated to providing people across our great country with opportunities for hands-on volunteerism to say ‘thank you’ to our Military, Veterans, and First Responders. (Blue Star Contemporary, 2022)
This free family event focuses on BSC’s current exhibitions and gives families an opportunity to interact with local artists and community organizations. The artworks on view inspire art making that encourages children to look deeply and understand contemporary art better through fun activities. Families are invited to enjoy BSC’s exhibitions as well as complimentary food and refreshments.
On View at Blue Star Contemporary BSC’s main gallery features Travel Distance, curated by independent curator and interdisciplinary artist Amber Zora. The exhibition features the work of Miridith Campbell (Kiowa), Joe Devera, Claudia Hare, Jenn Hassin, Gina Herrera, Monte Little (Diné), Jessica Putnam–Phillips, Daniel Rios Rodriguez, Renee Romero, and Sarah Sudhoff. The artworks featured represent how veterans and their families have processed, moved through, purged, and reclaimed their experience around military service.
The Learning Lab at BSC presents The Veterans Book Project, a library of books authored collaboratively by artist Monica Haller and dozens of people who have been affected by, and have archives of, the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In their printed format, the books provide a place, or “container,” that slows down and materializes the great quantity of ephemeral image files that live on veterans’ hard drives and in their heads. Each book re-deploys volatile images with the aim of rearticulating and refashioning memories. It stands both independent of and in concert with the larger collection.
These exhibitions coincide with the Blue Star Museums program, a collaboration among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums. Running from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2022, museums across the United States offer free general admission to active-duty military personnel and their families. BSC participates in this program in an effort to say “thank you” to our military community.
Opening on July 1, Andreas Till: De Ami, focuses on the influence of the presence of American troops in artist Andreas Till’s hometown Heidelberg, Germany and the relationship between Germans and Americans between 1945 and 2013 born out of this presence. The Other Side, is a selection of films referencing ideas of transitions and events that foundationally change someone, i.e. “to be on the other side of something.” The video works also allude to ideas of mortality and the spiritual concept of metaphysical selves entering a new plane. The films were selected from Darmstadt Sezession’s 2021 prize shortlist for our collaborative Projection/Projektion grants and screenings program, and feature the work of Faezeh Nikoozad, Aki Pao-Chen Chiu, Breech Asher Harani, and Fumiko Kikuchi. Fake Plastic Forest features the work of France Dubois, Annette Isham, Işık Kaya, and Leigh Merrill, contemporary photographers and lens-based artists dealing with themes of artifice, truth and fiction, and the theatricality of our interactions with nature.
BSC presents exhibitions with artists from San Antonio and around the world sharing their global perspectives that encourage understanding, empathy, change, and action, fulfilling our mission to inspire, nurture, and innovate. Like most non-collecting contemporary art spaces, BSC contributes fresh insight and perspective on larger issues affecting society and culture by highlighting trends, movements, and conversations happening in art.
BSC was founded for artists by artists in 1986 in a grassroots movement sparked by the cancellation of the first major museum exhibition of contemporary art in San Antonio. Six arts supporters and artists founded Contemporary Art for San Antonio to provide an exhibition venue for artists and the public. With the support of a handful of donors and property developers, the founders, artists, and volunteers converted an abandoned warehouse into a gallery for the first annual Blue Star Exhibition. Over the years, BSC has grown to encompass a professional staff, a robust calendar of onsite and offsite exhibitions, community collaborations, creative youth development programs, international exchange opportunities for artists, and public art projects.
Free Family Saturday at Blue Star Contemporary. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Texas Women for the Arts awards 33 arts organizations with $171K in grants at 16th annual meeting in San Antonio. Photo: google
Texas Women for the Arts, a program of the Texas Cultural Trust (TXCT), has selected 33 arts programs across the state to receive nearly $170,000 in grants at their 16th Annual Meeting that took place on April 25 – 26, 2022 in San Antonio, Texas. Texas Women for the Arts (TWA) is one of TXCT’s statewide giving circle, with nearly 200 members from all over Texas. Through their collective generosity, TWA invests in the arts and arts education with the mission of increasing access to the arts for all Texas children. TWA grant applications for 2023 will open for submission on October 1, 2022 and will close December 1, 2022. For more information on the Texas Cultural Trust and their Texas Women for the Arts program, please visit Texas Cultural Trust. (Texas Cultural Trust, 2022)
“Since its inception in 2005, Texas Women for the Arts has awarded 318 grants, totaling nearly $3.7 million to arts programs across the state of Texas, and we are honored to continue this legacy in 2022.” – Heidi Marquez Smith, Executive Director of Texas Cultural Trust
On Tuesday, April 26, day two of their annual meeting, Texas Women for the Arts granted Leslie D. Blanton the Donna Axum Whitworth Champion of the Arts Award for her continued support, promotion, and generosity for arts and culture in the state of Texas. Blanton currently serves as Chairman of the Governing Council for the Shepherd Society of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. She is a member of the Liberal Arts Development Board and the National Leadership Board of the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas. Blanton is also a long-time member of the Texas Cultural Trust Board of Directors, serving in various capacities including Board Chairman and Co-Chairman of the 2019 Texas Medal of the Arts Awards and is a founding member of Texas Women for the Arts, of which she previously chaired and will chair again in 2022-2023.
The 2022 Texas Women for the Arts Impact Grantees are: • Creative Kids, El Paso • Art Center of Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi • Artpace San Antonio, San Antonio • Hope Stone, Inc., Houston • Rockport Center for the Arts, Rockport • Texas Ballet Theater, Inc., Fort Worth • Ellen Noel Art Museum of the Permian Basin, Odessa • Imagination Fort Worth, Fort Worth • Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Association Inc., Fort Worth • El Paso Symphony Orchestra Assn., Inc., El Paso • Art League Houston, Houston • Harris County Cultural Arts Council, Houston • Victoria Ballet Theatre, Victoria • The Kindness Campaign, Austin • Lubbock Community Theatre, Lubbock • Magik Theatre, San Antonio • Contemporary Art Museum Plainview, Plainview • Jewish Federation of Fort Worth & Tarrant County, Fort Worth • Gillespie County Children’s Foundation, Fredericksburg • Alcorta’s Folklórico Diamante, Inc., Corpus Christi • Zachary Scott Theatre Center, Austin • Amphibian Productions, Inc., Fort Worth • Cypress Creek Fine Arts Association, Spring • Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo • Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview • Kids Excel El Paso, Inc., El Paso • Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi • The Citadelle Art Foundation, Canadian • Amarillo Symphony, Inc., Amarillo • Austin Classical Guitar, Austin • Texas Book Festival, Austin • Young Audiences of Northeast Texas, Tyler • Ballet Austin Incorporated, Austin
Texas Cultural Trust is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and increasing access and awareness for the arts across the state. Programs of the Texas Cultural Trust include the Texas Medal of Arts Awards, Art Can, Texas Young Masters, Texas Women for the Arts, Partners in the Arts, and Arts Access. Texas Cultural Trust efforts are amplified by its partners who are instrumental in the success of leading a cohesive voice for the arts in education, advocacy, and economic impact in Texas, spotlighting the artistic excellence of our state.
Texas Women for the Arts (TWA) is a statewide giving circle and membership program with nearly 200 members from across Texas. Since its inception in 2005, this philanthropic force and champion for the arts in education has awarded 318 grants totaling nearly $3.7 million, impacting nearly 3.5 million Texas children.
A Blue Star Museum partner, SAMA will extend free admission for eligible families for up to five guests. Photo: San Antonio Museum of Art, used with permission.
Kicking off this Memorial Day, active-duty military members (including National Guard and Reserve) and their families of up to five people can enjoy free admission to the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA). As a designated Blue Star Museum, SAMA offers this free admission for service members who present their military ID from Memorial Day through Labor Day each year, so those who cannot make it in May will still have ample opportunity to enjoy all that SAMA has to offer all summer long. More information on SAMA or the Blue Star Museums program is available online. (San Antonio Museum of Art, 2022)
Offer is valid Monday, May 30, 2022 – Monday, September 5, 2022 for active-Duty Military Members and their families.
San Antonio Museum of Art 200 West Jones Avenue San Antonio, TX 78215
The San Antonio Museum of Art serves as a forum to explore and connect with art that spans the world’s geographies, artistic periods, genres, and cultures. Its collection contains nearly 30,000 words representing 5,000 years of history in the historic former Lone Star Brewery on the Museum Reach of San Antonio’s River Walk, the San Antonio Museum of Art is committed to promoting the rich cultural heritage and life of the city. The Museum hosts hundreds of events and public programs each year, including concerts, performances, tours, lectures, symposia, and interactive experiences. As an active civic leader, the Museum is dedicated to enriching the cultural life of the city and the region, and to supporting its creative community.
The Sons of Charlie Russell: Cowboy Artists of America premieres at the Briscoe on May 27 and runs until September 5, 2022. Photo: Briscoe Western Art Museum, used with permission.
A cowboy saddles up his horse, drives cattle from one pasture to another, gets down from his horse, and picks up a paintbrush. He is not doing typical ranch work as he stands in front of an easel, painting a scene inspired by the trail. He is authentically preserving and perpetuating Western life’s culture through fine art. Dedicated cowboy artists are the foundation and the future of Western art, showcased at the Briscoe Western Art Museum May 27 – September 5 with the premiere of The Sons of Charlie Russell: Cowboy Artists of America. (Briscoe Western Art Museum, 2022)
An art form as uniquely American as jazz music, Western art has long defined the American West worldwide. Illustrating the lives, landscape, and wildlife that define the West fueled storied artists like Charles M. Russell, Frederic Remington, Edward Borein, W.R. Leigh, and Frank Tenney Johnson. Together, they then defined the look and style of traditional Western art and inspired the Cowboy Artists of America (CAA).
Spotlighting those founding fathers of Western art alongside the CAA artists who have safeguarded the traditional style of the genre, The Sons of Charlie Russell traces the roots and successive artwork of the Cowboy Artists of America and defines a core set of criteria for what constitutes traditional Western art. Encompassing 70 paintings, sculptures and works on paper dating from 1890 to the present day, the exhibition includes works typically only seen in private collections and never before exhibited together. Displaying the strength and vibrancy of the genre through the masterpieces of 40 artists, The Sons of Charlie Russell offers a rare opportunity to see contemporary art along with historical works.
Curated by Emily Wilson, the Curator of Art for the Briscoe, The Sons of Charlie Russell features works from 17 lenders including the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the Booth Western Art Museum, the Eddie Basha Collection, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and the Sid Richardson Museum, as well as private lenders from Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming, making the exhibition the first and only time these works will be viewed together. Nine of the featured pieces are sourced from the Briscoe’s permanent collection.
Shadows of the West: Interactive Elements Add to the Experience
While visitors may not be able to rope and ride alongside the cowboys and ranch hands often depicted in Western art, thanks to immersive technology in the exhibition, The Sons of Charlie Russell allows visitors to literally add themselves to the scene. Visitors can virtually step into three works featured in the exhibition: “Rawhide Rhapsody by Charlie Dye (1906-1972),” “Texas Cattleman – Oil Man” by George Phippen (1915-1966), and “Pony Tracks and Empty Saddles” by Tom Lovell (1909-1997). Visitors will be able to see themselves as shadow outlines in the paintings, striking poses as they add themselves to the scene and find responsiveness to a few actions – such as strumming a guitar.
To help visitors learn more about Western art, the exhibition’s guide gives visitors the skills to interpret and evaluate works in the genre. After touring the exhibition, visitors can apply their art evaluation skills and vote on which art best illustrates the four categories explored in the guide: originality and uniqueness, technique and application, composition and subject matter, and aesthetic awareness. Different paintings will be featured throughout the exhibition’s run, allowing visitors to evaluate new paintings each month.
Cowboy Artists of America: Riding Together
Author and Western art scholar Byron Price’s book inspired the exhibition’s title, “The Sons of Charlie Russell.” The book commemorates 50 years of the Cowboy Artists of America, a membership organization of individual artists committed to authentically preserving and perpetuating the culture of Western life through art. Members of the CAA work to ensure authentic representations of the life of the West past and present. Many of these accomplished, award-winning artists are cowboys themselves, living the cowboy life as they work their own land and cattle.
The Sons of Charlie Russell Opening Celebration
To mark the exhibition’s opening, the Briscoe is hosting a series of events May 26-28, followed by monthly gallery talks and art demonstrations featuring current CAA members, including the museum’s annual National Day of the Cowboy celebration on July 23.
Opening weekend events include:
The Sons of Charlie Russell: Cowboy Artists of America Exhibition Preview Party
Thursday, May 26, 6p.m. to 8p.m.
Help the Briscoe kick off the summer showcasing the foundation and future of Western art alongside members of the Cowboy Artists of America and Michael Duchemin, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Briscoe. The event includes complimentary beer, wine, specialty cocktails and light bites. Free for Briscoe members and $45 for non-members. In addition to enjoying the exhibition, guests may tour the museum from 5:30p.m. to 7p.m. Tickets are available online.
“The Sons of Charlie Russell: Celebrating Fifty Years of the Cowboy Artists of America” Book Signing with Byron Price
Thursday, May 26, 5:15p.m. to 5:45p.m.
Friday, May 27, 10a.m. to 10:45a.m.
Byron Price will be signing copies of his book “The Sons of Charlie Russell,” the inspiration behind the Briscoe’s exhibition. Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Cowboy Artists of America, Price details the organization’s founding to perpetuate the history, romance, and significance of the American West. The stories of these cowboy artists come alive with essays, photographs and beautiful images of their work. Available for purchase in the Museum Store and online.
An Enduring Desire: Tradition and the Cowboy Artists of America
Lunch and Curator’s Tour
Friday, May 27, 11a.m. to 2p.m.
Join Emily Wilson, the Briscoe’s Curator of Art and the curator of The Sons of Charlie Russell for an in-depth look at the exhibition, detailing how traditional Western art represents an enduring desire for continuity, stability, and a fixed identity of what it means to be an American. Wilson will focus on the ties between CAA artists and historical artists of the American West, examining the artistic choices made by members navigating between cohesion and individuality and tradition and innovation in pursuing the work of creating traditional Western art. The lunch begins at 11a.m., followed by the tour at 1p.m. Tickets are $50 for Briscoe members, $60 for non-members and are available online.
Boots, Chaps, and Cowboy Crafts: Family Art Activities
Saturday, May 28, 10a.m. to 1p.m.
Explore America’s cowboy culture and heritage with hands-on activities available for visitors to celebrate the opening of The Sons of Charlie Russell. Crafts include Make Your Own Spurs, Make Your Own Paper Bag Cowhand and Hands-on-chaps, cowboy hat, and lasso. Included in general museum admission.
Cowboy Creations: Demonstration and Talk with C. Michael Dudash
Saturday, May 28, 10a.m. to 4:30p.m.
A member of Cowboy Artists of America since 2016, C. Michael Dudash trained in the fine arts before working in classic illustration and gaining a prestigious and national reputation. In 2002, he left his illustration work behind and became a full-time painter in the fine art world. Hundreds of collectors and corporations have his paintings in their permanent collections, as well as The Booth Museum, the James Western Art Museum and the Briscoe. Included in museum general admission.
10a.m. to 1p.m. Live Painting Demonstration: Narrative Western Painting
Dudash will demonstrate and discuss the various approaches and painting techniques he uses to create his narrative western paintings. He will teach how to create a successful painting through dynamic design by prioritizing the position of the subjects and elements, effectively posing figures and animals, how to use color and value, making proper landscape choices, and adding “atmosphere and dust” to give a work of art an emotional lift.
2:30p.m. to 4:30p.m.Talk by C. Michael Dudash, “Illustrations’ Influence on Western Art”
Dudash will share illustration examples from the late 1800s to the year 2000 that have influenced Western Art’s biggest names and trends throughout the last 150 years. Understanding this subject will enhance one’s appreciation and enjoyment of the contemporary Western art being created today.
The Sons of Charlie Russell: Cowboy Artists of America is supported in part by Jan McCaleb Elliott, the Eddie Basha Collection, Mr. and Mrs. Marrs McLean Bowman, The Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992, the Klesse Foundation, Jessica Elliott Middleton, Debbie and John T. Montford, Western Art Collector.
Preserving and presenting the art, history and culture of the American West through engaging exhibitions, educational programs and public events reflective of the region’s rich traditions and shared heritage, the Briscoe Western Art Museum is located on the San Antonio River Walk at 210 W. Market Street in the beautifully restored 1930s former San Antonio Public Library building. Named in honor of the late Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe Jr. and his wife, Janey Slaughter Briscoe, the museum includes the three-story Jack Guenther Pavilion, used for event rentals and programs, and the outdoor McNutt Sculpture Garden.
The Summer Night Markets will feature free live music curated by Stable Hall and a wide variety of art, artisan goods, and food from local vendors. Photo: Pearl, used with permission.
If the summer weather makes it too hot to shop during the day, then this series of events is right up your alley. Pearl is excited to announce 2022 Summer Night Markets beginning in May. Guests are invited to spend their summer nights at Pearl while exploring products from local vendors, including San Antonio staples such as Kin Khao and Last Place Burgers, in addition to goods like beautifully handwoven baskets from The Koncierge or the intricate hand-pressed greeting cards from Works of a Quirk. The SummerNight Markets will feature more than 40 vendors each week. (Pearl, 2022
Along with the variety of vendors, guests can also enjoy free live music curated by the highly anticipated Stable Hall group, a new music venue opening at Pearl in Spring 2023. The local artists include The Brothers WayFare, Mariachi Las Coronelas, Noah Harris, Spud Sims, Kathryn Legendre and Juliette McConkey.
May 18 – 5p.m. to 9p.m.
Performance by Mariachi Las Coronelas
June 1 – 5p.m. to 9p.m.
Performance by Noah Harris
June 15 – 5p.m. to 9p.m.
Performance by Spud Sims
July 6 – 5p.m. to 9p.m.
Performance by Kathryn Legendre
July 20 – 5p.m. to 9p.m.
Performance by Juliette McConkey
Pearl is a dynamic neighborhood built around the historic Pearl Brewery, which operated from 1883 to 1999. Located just north of downtown San Antonio on the banks of the San Antonio River, it is home to architecturally significant buildings like the brewhouse and stable—both built in 1894—and numerous plazas. Today, Pearl is home to dozens of unique culinary concepts, one-of-a-kind retail, weekend markets, residential communities, innovative office tenants, the San Antonio campus of the Culinary Institute of America, and the award-winning Hotel Emma. Pearl is a vibrant district where community gathers to play, work, and live; it is a place where things are made and celebrated with purpose and sincerity. We invite all to gather and experience the best of what San Antonio has to offer.
Blue Star Contemporary presents Cosmic Couture open call on First Friday, May 6 and Readings on Loss and Grief on May 7. Photo: Blue Star Contemporary
Blue Star Contemporary (BSC) is pleased to offer two unique public programs which encourage reflection and honor personal history and identity. Cosmic Couture takes places on First Friday, May 6 from 6p.m. to9p.m., the public is invited to wear their best “cosmic couture” or a space-inspired suit to apply for galactic citizenship and receive a MASAporte. (Blue Star Contemporary, 2022)
In BSC’s current exhibitionThreads Bare, artist Luis Valderas presents cosmic couture as a part of his ongoing Project:MASA (MeChicano Alliance of Space Artists). His Alien Skins are articles of clothing that metaphorically represent the outside “skin” that people develop and wear to navigate social and cultural spaces. Cosmic couture is imaginative clothing that can be assembled or created out of anything. Artist Luis Valderas in collaboration with Jojo Dancer Photos will be onsite at BSC taking portraits and issuing MASAportes during First Friday.
On Saturday, May 7 at 3p.m., artist Megan Harrison presents Readings on Loss and Grief. During this intimate reading, Harrison will share her personal writings included in her current solo exhibition, From Your Brow Rise Leaf and Lyre, inviting a collective reflection on loss and grief and connection through these shared life experiences. The writings and exhibition center on Harrison’s loss of her son as an attempt to “find the right combination of words and images that can move matter, reverse time, to find that invisible door through which I must have tumbled.” Registration required. The Project:MASA series (MeChicano Alliance of Space Artists) was co-founded in 2005 by Luis Valderas and Paul Karam in San Antonio, Texas. This series of exhibitions featured latin@ artists from across the nation who use of cosmic and space iconography to comment on Mestizo issues, culture, and/or the Chicano consciousness.
In 2016 The Project:MASA exhibit series was featured in the award winning Chicano Futurist anthology “Altermundos Latin@ Speculative Literature, Film, and Popular Culture” by Cathryn Merla-Watson Ph.D. and Ben Olguin Ph.D. Soon after in 2017 a contingency of the group was featured In Mundos Alternos-Art and Science in the Americas that was part of the Pacific Standard Time LA/LA sponsored by the Getty Foundation. It was curated by Rob Hernández, Assistant Professor of English at UCR; Tyler Stallings, Artistic Director of the Culver Center of the Arts; and Joanna Szupinska-Myers, Senior Curator of Exhibitions at the California Museum of Photography. Kathryn Poindexter, CMP Assistant Curator, as part of the Pacific Standard Time LA/LA. Currently another contingency of the group is being featured in Mundos Alternos-Art and Science in the Americas at the Queens Museum and in Alien Skins-Mundos Alternos at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in SOHO until the end of 2019.
Cosmic Couture. Photo: Blue Star Contemporary, used with permission.
Celebrate with a Family Day on Sunday May 1, 2022. Photo: San Antonio Museum of Art, used with permission.
The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) invites families to celebrate the first day of Asian Pacific Islander American Heritage Month with Chinese Lion Dancers, gallery games, special performances, and delicious food during Family Day on Sunday, May 1, 2022 from 11a.m. to 3p.m. (San Antonio Museum of Art, 2022)
Admission to the fun-filled experience at SAMA is free for residents of Bexar County between 10a.m.–12p.m., and children ages 12 and under are always free. Activities will begin with an opening ceremony.
Scheduled Performances:
Remarks and Opening Ceremony I 11a.m.
Chinese Fan Dancers I 11:20a.m.
Vietnamese Association Dancers I 11:40a.m.
Lion Dancers I Noon and 2p.m.
Dragon Dancers I 12:30p.m. and 1:30p.m.
Mao Dance I 1p.m.
Hawaiian Dancers | 2:30p.m.
Throughout the day, SAMA will offer an array of activities including mock porcelain painting and expressive mask creation; Japanese, Chinese, and Oceania Gallery Games; and interactive calligraphy demonstrations. Visitors who work up an appetite can head to the Sari-Sari Filipino Restaurant and Bakery and Aloha Kitchen food trucks, which will be serving up authentic flavors onsite.
‘The Adventure of Reese Rabbit’ features a fun-loving, energized, life-size bunny named Reese Rabbit. Photo: Hunter Reese, used with permission.
My name is Hunter Reese. I am a young writer who grew up in Southern California loving comic books; my favorites were the ones about superheroes. I am also a big fan of cartoons so I thought I would make some cartoony comics as well. Over the years I have written so many stories and characters and I thought it was time to finally bring them to life. This is the start of many issues of Reese Rabbit comics I plan to write as well as other comic books from multiple genres. “The Adventure of Reese Rabbit” is the first in the series. Read all about the adventures of a fun-loving, energized, life-sized bunny named Reese Rabbit as he travels through his animal-filled world. It is illustrated by Inggit Awalliyah. (Hunter Reese, 2022)
“The Adventure of Reese Rabbit” – This comic book is about an anthropomorphic bunny rabbit named Reese who lives in a carrot-shaped house within a city filled with other anthropomorphic animals. This particular issue focuses on Reese Rabbit and his best friend, Jack Houndsberg, trying to get rid of a rat that has made itself at home in Reese’s house.
Available now through CWS Book Store in paperback form or digital download.
SA Examiner 