Curator Anna Walker on Texas Biennial Art

You may have been reading about different exhibitions around Houston that are participating in the 2011 Texas Biennial.   Our exhibition, Joan Son – Part Geometry, Part Zen: A Personal Exploration through Paper, is part of this event. However, the Texas Biennial is new to Houston and began as an artist-driven event in Austin, Texas, that has grown to include many cities across the state.

The other weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a Contemporary Arts Curators’ Meeting in Austin, co-hosted by the 2011 Texas Biennial and Arthouse at the Jones Center. (The day of panels and discussions was well covered by Kelly Klaasmeyer of Glasstire.) While the Curators’ meeting was productive and engaging, I wanted to take time to share a few images of work I saw over that weekend. Hopefully, you will find your way up to Austin in the coming weeks and be able to see some of these great shows.

Debra Broz is trained in china restoration and has work in the current exhibit, New Art in Austin, at the Austin Museum of Art. Pictured here is lepus loprachoa (cockatoo hare). Other works from her Oddities series include feeding, pictured below.

Debra Broz, lepus loprachoa (cockatoo hare).

Debra Broz, feeding.

On display at the Pump Project Art Complex is work by Gabriel Dawe, as part of the 2011 Texas Biennial. Dawe creates large-scale installations with sewing thread, a material traditionally used in “women’s work,” and had an electrifying piece in the corner of the space. A piece from plexus no. 4 at the Dallas Contemporary is pictured below.

Gabriel Dawe, plexus no. 4.

Also part of the 2011 Texas Biennial, Margarita Cabrera’s project, Florezca, involves selling indigenous Mexican folk art and craft from a repurposed taco truck.  Cabrera works at the intersection of contemporary art and collaborative social projects, and all of the proceeds go back to the artisans to promote fair labor and trade.

Right here in Houston, Box 13 is a place to go to see more great work by artists from the 2011 Texas Biennial. I particularly like the upstairs installation by Laurie Frick, A long walk thru cardboard, pictured below.

Laurie Frick, A long walk thru cardboard.

Anna Walker, Curator

Houston Center for Contemporary Craft