The Line-up: Nine exhibitions to see you through the summer

Escape the heat and spark the mind with these exhibitions.

Anne Siems: Inked

Through July 31, Wally Workman Gallery, 1202 W. Sixth St., wallyworkmangallery.com
German-born Seattle-based artist Anne Siems’ “Inked” is an intimate series displaying exposed female figures marked with tattoos of fables, myths and poems. Their body positions and baldness express a vulnerability not of victimhood but of strength and courage.

Spatial Harmony

Through August 6. ICOSA Gallery, Canopy, 916 Springdale Road, icosacollective.com
A group exhibition featuring current ICOSA members exploring the commonalities and differences found within the 20-member collective

Deeper Roots Than Reason

Through Aug. 8, Contracommon, 12912 Hill Country Blvd. Suite F-140, Bee Cave, contracommon.org
“Deeper Roots Than Reason” explores the magic of seeing, remembering, and imagining a place. It feature works by Catherine Allen, Robert Collier Beam, Thomas Cook, Helen Jones, Madeline Rupard and Lauren Williams.

Dream Job: A collection of proposals for grand ideas

Through August 27, Ivester Contemporary, Canopy, 916 Springdale Road ivestercontemporary.com
A different twist on the summer group show. Ivester Contemporary invited artists to exhibit sketches, maquettes, and digital renderings of the projects and ideas that they would pursue if money, time, knowledge, and space were not obstacles.

Elemental: Three Artists Interpret Form

July 22 through Aug. 21, Georgetown Art Center, 816 Main St., Georgetown, georgetownartcentertx.org
Painter Paul Kolazinski and ceramicists Margaret Henkels and Deborah Otto each approach form from a different angle.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby

July 23 through Dec. 4, Blanton Museum of Art, blantonmuseum.org
Nigerian-born, Los Angeles-based artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby presents four recent paintings on paper, the largest of which, “Still You Bloom in This Land of No Gardens,” depicts the artist holding her young child, enveloped by lush plants and vines. She created this work, she says, to counter the relative absence of representations of loving Black mothers in art, to make “the images I wish to see.” Other paintings on view new works prominently featuring Akunyili Crosby’s distinctive photo-transfer technique using reproductions culled from her own vast image bank of Nigeria-related subjects and people.

Mi Voz Más Clara: René Alvarado

July 30 through Aug. 14, Cloud Tree Studios & Gallery, cloudtreestudiosandgallery.com
Says San Angelo artist René Alvarado “my art narrates my life experiences through figurative surrealism.”

Henry Horenstein: Animilia

July 30 through Aug. 14, Grayduck Gallery, 2213 E. Cesar Chavez, grayduckgallery.com
In his series “Animalia”, photographer and filmmaker Henry Horenstein describes his subjects as “close to perfect for a photographer, especially if they live in zoos and aquariums.” Horenstein says he chooses to look closely and abstractly, “to see my subjects for their inherent beauty, oddness, mystery.”

Painted Cloth: Fashion and Ritual in Colonial Latin America 

Aug. 14, 2022 – Jan. 8, 2023, Blanton Museum of Art, blantonmuseum.org
“Painted Cloth” addresses the social roles of textiles and their visual representations in different media produced in Bolivia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela during the 1600s and 1700s. Beyond emphasizing how aesthetic traditions of European and Indigenous origin were woven together during this period, the exhibition showcases the production, use, and meaning of garments as well as the ways they were experienced both in civil and religious settings.