The new year kicks off with a strong line-up of exhibitions.
Topping this month’s to-do list is PrintAustin. Running Jan. 15 through Feb. 15, the annual celebration of all things fine art printmaking rounds up exhibitions, events, artist talks, printmaking demos and a big print expo show. See the full PrintAustin calendar at printaustin.org/events/#!event-list
VLM (Virginia L. Montgomery), “Pony Cocoon” (video still), 2019, Digital video with sound, 5:05 min, Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Purchase with funds from Beverly Dale, 2020.304 © VLM (Virginia L. Montgomery)VLM (Virginia L. Montgomery)
Exhibition continues through July 9. Blanton Museum of Art, blantonmuseum.org/vlm
VLM (Virginia L. Montgomery) describes herself as an artist who “thinks in symbols.” For over a decade, she has worked as a graphic facilitator for conferences or talks by expert speakers, distilling ideas into words and pictures on giant white boards so that the audience can better absorb the content. In her artistic practice, VLM similarly choreographs symbols and sounds in short dreamlike videos filled with recurrent motifs: dripping honey, butterflies, moths, disembodied long, blond ponytails, and ASMR-like soundtracks of sound recordings of Texas thunderstorms, wind chimes, and dripping water. The videos on view in the Blanton’s Film and Video Gallery are part of the museum’s exhibition “Day Jobs.”
Renee Lai: In The Water You Become
Opening 7 to 10 p.m. Jan. 7. Exhibition continues through Feb. 19. Grayduck Gallery, 2213 E. Cesar Chavez St., grayduckgallery.com
In drawings and paintings, Renae Lai explores the idea of barriers and how they serve as a metaphor for many other things — private property, ownership, belonging, security, fear.
Detail of Jade Walker’s woven artwork. Courtesy Women & Their Work.Jade Walker: Wayfinding
Opening 7 to 0 p.m. Jan. 7. Exhibition continues through Feb 23. Women & Their Work, 1311 E. Cesar Chavez St., womenandtheirwork.org
In a large-scale installation, Austin artist Jade Walker — newly named leader of the Elisabet Ney Museum — uses weaving, rope, tools, notions of signage, and found objects to articulate questions around how we engage with our environment and the effect that this relationship has on our society.
Julia Lucey “Bobcat in California Polypody and American Vetch,? 2015, aquatint etching collage. Courtesy Wally Workman Gallery.Julia Lucey
Jan. 7-29, Wally Workman Gallery, 1202 W. Sixth St., wallyworkmangallery.com
Julia Lucey precisely cuts and layers her intricate aquatint etchings, creating a visually dense narrative. This new series expands her menagerie, exploring ideas of migration and invasive species amongst the plants and animals native to her home state of California. A PrintAustin exhibition.
Karen Kunc, “Rifts of Condensities,” 2016, woodcut. Courtesy Creekside StudioCreekside Studio Salon Show
Jan. 14- Feb. 11, Creekside Studio, Canopy, 916 Springdale Road, creeksidestudioatx.com
This respected fine art press will feature a selection of its artists including Alice Leora Briggs, Veronica Ceci, Karen Kunc, Tracy Mayrello, Julie Speed and Tina Weitz. A PrintAustin exhibition.
Detail of monotype by Kim Kei. Courtesy Flatbed Center for Contemporary PrintmakinSplintered Breath Between the Teeth
Opening 6 to 8 p.m. Jan. 14. Exhibition continues through Feb. 25, Flatbed Center for Contemporary Printmaking, 3701 Drossett Dr., flatbedpress.com
In her practice, Texas-born Los Angeles-based Kim Kei often focuses on the fragility and resilience of the body. Her large-scale abstract monotypes, created at Flatbed while in Kei was in residency during the pandemic. A PrintAustin exhibition.
Roger Shimomura, “Lovers,” 2015, lithograph. Courtesy ICOSALovebroke
Opening 7 to 10 p.m. Jan. 20. Exhibition continues through Feb. 18, ICOSA Collective Gallery, Canopy, 916 Springdale Road
“Lovebroke” spotlights print work by three artists — Annie Bissett, Curlee Raven Holton and Roger Shimomura — who address romance from the perspective of those who have been historically excluded from Hollywood style happy endings. A PrintAustin exhibition.
Christina Moser, “Cancel all future appointments,” 2021, Airbrushed acrylic on panel, 60 x 60”There―Not There: Christina Moser
Jan. 20-Feb. 25, Big Medium, Canopy, 916 Springdale Road, bigmedium.org
Marfa-based artist Christina Moser’s gradient paintings toy with the idea liminality, that ambiguous state of transition between one stage and the next.
Mehdi Darvishi, Detail of “The Extended Night,” mezzotint and etching. Courtesy PrintAustinPrintAustin’s 2023 5×5 Exhibition
Opening: 5 to 7 p.m. Jan. 21. Exhibition continues through Feb. 11, Link & Pin Gallery, 2235 E. Sixth St., linkpinart.com
Five artists from around the country — chosen by Blanton prints and drawings curator Holly Borham — are each represented by five of their works.
Daniel & Marjorie Johnston. Courtesy Lydia Street GalleryDaniel & Marjory Johnston: The What of Whom
Opening 6 to 9 p.m. Jan. 21. Artist talk with Marjory Johnston 3 p.m. Jan. 22. Exhibition continues through March 13. Lydia Street Gallery, 1200 E. 11th St., lydiastreetgallery.com
In the last years before his passing in 2019, artist and musician Daniel Johnston developed an evolving art practice with his sister Marjory, creating collages often overlayed with lyrics from Johnston’s songs. This exhibition includes numerous artworks from their collaborations.
Maria Frati.The Contemporary Print
Jan. 23-March 9, The Art Galleries at Austin Community College, 6101 Highland Campus Dr., printaustin.org
The signature group exhibition of PrintAustin, “The Contemporary Print” is a survey of traditional printmaking techniques and innovative approaches in contemporary printmaking from around the nation. This year’s juror is Detriot-based artist Rashaun Rucker.
