These seven performances and installations offer a breath of fresh air to the Austin arts scene this March. Fancy a hint of something ornate? See you at “Fantastically French!” exhibition at the Blanton, which presents prints from the 16th to the 18th century. The Carver Museum presents the first-ever career retrospective of legendary photographer, humanitarian and educator Jamel Shabazz. The Ransom Center examines legendary tome by James Joyce, Ulysses, a landmark work of literary modernism, and the unrecognized role of women in the creation of this masterpiece. And discover an artist’s perspective on life during COVID-19 through vibrant and cheeky monoprints at Flatbed Press. Austin’s art scene is thriving and there’s so much to savor.
Blanton Art Museum
“Fantasticly French!” Design and architecture in prints from the 16th to the 18th century »
March 5-August 14
From arabesques to grotesques and sphinxes to snails, French engravers combined ancient decorative motifs with newly invented patterns to create patterns for everything from jewelry to architectural facades. From the middle of the 16th century to the ornamentation of the royal hunting lodge at Fontainebleau, through the designs of the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, to the motifs of 18th century furnishings, prints are important places of invention and serve as vectors for the multiplication of decorative motifs. through a variety of media. Drawing primarily from Blanton’s vast collections of French prints, this exhibition invites visitors to look closely at exquisite detail, marvel at fantastical forms, and revel in ornate embellishments that celebrate the creativity of the imagination. art through three centuries.
Wally Workman Gallery
“Becky Joye + Lauren Jaben”
March 5-27
Collage artist Lauren Jaben uses found materials to create works that are both contemplative in process and form; meticulous pieces become an interrelated whole. Likewise, in the exuberant quilted structures of Becky Joye, is a metaphor for the varied yet universal human experience amid the ongoing pandemic, representing the simultaneous desire to protect but the irresistible need to connect.
Sculptor’s Museum
“Jamel Shabazz: peace to the queen”
Now until August 15
Legendary photographer, humanitarian and educator, Jamel Shabazz presents his first career retrospective, which spans four decades of the artist’s work and features candid, artful and often intimate portraits of women of color. Brooklyn native Shabazz picked up his first camera at age 15 and began filming his peers. Inspired by photographers Leonard Freed, James Van Der Zee and Gordon Parks, and their fascinating documentation of black culture, he sought to build on the legacy of their work. Using New York City’s public spaces as a backdrop, Shabazz embarked on a journey to document and affirm the dignity of communities devastated by Reaganomics, the War on Drugs and the continued criminalization of the poor.
Harry Ransom Center
“Women and the creation of Joyce’s Ulysses”
Opening March 4
by James Joyce Ulysses, considered a seminal work of literary modernism, was first published on February 2, 1922. This exhibition marks the 100th anniversary of the book’s publication and investigates the important and largely unrecognized role of women in the making of its famous masterpiece. -work. Objects in the James Joyce Collection at the Ransom Center tell the story of the formative role of his family members and, in particular, of four women – Margaret Anderson, Jane Heap, Harriet Shaw Weaver and Sylvia Beach, who were associated with a innovative literary experimentation of the period – all of which helped Joyce’s novel gain notoriety and success. Also at ransom from March 4, Blaeu’s world map. Published by Joan Blaeu in 1648, the massive wall map of the world, Nova totius terrarum orbis tabulais newly preserved and will be presented for the first time.
Cloud Tree Studios & Gallery
“Dreams Carry Water: Lee Barber”
March 25-April 10
Lee Barber creates animal and human figures that collide and transform into landscapes using “dream-like” language. “Starting with clouds of charcoal dust on a panel, I search for clues of images and stories that I can extract and refine. In this way, I interfere with the logical mind, by entering through a side door”, explains the artist. With this work, Barber pays homage to the unknowable and approaches “our daily experience of strangeness and wonder”.
grayDUCK Gallery
“Soomin Jung: When You Call My Name Quietly”
March 26-May 1
“When You Call My Name Quietly” is a series of landscape drawings rendered in gouache, colored pencil and graphite on paper that are both precise and surreal. As the daughter of a retired ROK army colonel, Soomin Jung moved and transferred to new schools frequently, “adapting to new landscapes and atmospheres in various regions and making new friends who were very different from previous places”. It gave him a keen sense of the world around him, of the myriad influences that can distort perception, and landscapes that resist change over time. Each of the drawings in this exhibition is titled from the lines of a message she wrote to her children.
flat press
“The Love and Money Show: Monoprints by Maricela Sanchez”
March 5-April 9
“The Love and Money Show” is an exhibition of monotypes created at Flatbed during the COVID-19 pandemic by Texas-based artist Maricela Sanchez. Sanchez uses her creativity and craftsmanship to break down the barriers between art and everyday life. For the past 35 years, Sanchez has worked as a high-end industrial designer and practiced as a painter, printmaker, sculptor and multimedia artist. This work is a reflection of pandemic and economy news, stimulus checks and countless stories of sadness and hardship. Using the iconic imagery of a $100 bill and repeating patterns of lips in the multi-layered monoprints, Sanchez created his own currency. The result is a vibrant, cheeky and physically and conceptually layered series of large one-designs.
