Upcoming Events and Exhibitions

Paint a Pet
Workshop with Dawn Black
Thursday, April 8, 2010
6–8 PM

Paint your favorite pet in watercolor and gouache with Lawndale Artist Studio Program participant Dawn Black!  Learn how to transfer your pet's image onto a piece of watercolor paper and how to paint it using water-based paints. This program is free of charge and for all ages and all skill levels.  Please bring a few photos of your pet.

Workshop is limited to 15 participants. Please register by emailing dnance@lawndaleartcenter.org or calling (713) 528-5858.

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GET OUT! OF THE CLOSET!
Screening at Lawndale Art Center
presented by B & G & Lightfoot Productions and Zenfilm
Friday, April 9, 2010
8 PM

A breakthrough in reality television, “Get Out! Of The Closet!” follows host Natty Ice as she crosses the country helping those struggling with their sexuality in a direct, no-nonsense, in-your-face fashion. She dishes out truth sticks – sticks made out of THE TRUTH - to each and every Closet CaseTM that she meets, inspiring them to lead a brand new life full of exciting opportunities. Natty emphasizes (through an intervention-style confrontation) that there’s no reason to live your life full of shame, or more importantly, full of shame-rage. Each person that appears on the show is given carte blanche access to the life they could have – opportunities to say yes to themselves, to fussy meals and tight, expensive clothing – to explore themselves, their own bodies, and the bodies of strangers who share the same sex. If you, a loved one or even a casual acquaintance needs to GET OUT! And OUT OF THE CLOSET!, the bold new reality show is for you!

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11th Annual Midtown Visions Cultural Arts Tour
Saturday, April 10, 2010
12 –5 PM

Midtown artist's studios, galleries, complexes and collectives will be open for you to purchase artwork from the artist's studios and view compelling installations, mixed media and performances. Come enjoy some of Houston's most creative visual and performing arts environments and be a part of Midtown's growing art community! Stop by Lawndale and visit with current Lawndale Artist Studio Program participants Dawn Black, Nick Meriwether and David Waddell. For more information on this event, please visit www.midtownvisions.com.

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Art Car Parade Trophy Making Workshop
Saturday, April 10, 2010
1–4 PM

On Saturday afternoon, April 10, from 1–4 PM, come to Lawndale and make a one-of-a-kind work of art to be awarded to prize-winning art cars in the 2010 Art Car Parade. Rain or shine—come join us and support Houston’s Art Car Parade—the first and largest Art Car Parade in the world!

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April 21 – April 25, 2010

O'Quinn, Cavnar and Mezzanine Galleries

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May7–June 12, 2010
Opening Reception Friday, May 7, 2010 from 6:30–8:30 PM
Artist Talks at 6 PM

Lawndale Artist Studio Program Exhibition
| Dawn Black, Nick Meriwether & David Waddell

John M. O’Quinn Gallery

The Lawndale Artist Studio Program is part of Lawndale’s ongoing commitment to support the creation of contemporary art by Gulf Coast area artists. With an emphasis on emerging practices, the program provides three artists with studio space on the third floor of the Lawndale Art Center at 4912 Main Street in the heart of Houston’s Museum District. This exhibition features residents for the fourth year of the Lawndale Artist Studio Program, Dawn Black, Nick Meriwether and David Waddell.

Dawn Black’s drawings question the nuances of identity politics and cultural norms by depicting scenes of meticulously drawn (in gouache, watercolor, and ink) figures that have been culled from the Internet and various periodicals. The intrinsic narratives created by the figure’s groupings are intended to be layered and ambiguous, thus allowing the viewer to seriously consider the relationships depicted. While a resident at Lawndale, Black has been working on a series of works that examine both acts of violence and society's response to these abuses.

Nick Meriwether presents a collection of work created while in residency at Lawndale. This new work spans a variety of themes and mediums. While in residence, Meriwether focused heavily on experimentation. Circuits and motors were valued as equal to the paintbrush. The result is a cloud of ideas expressed through sculptural forms such as unaccommodating robotics, shotgun blasts, spray paint and truck hitch testicles among other surprises.

David Waddell presents his expanding world of creatures through new iPod pieces, wall drawings and collaged specimen studies.  Waddell extracts components from printed material in our popular culture. Images are regenerated  and brought to life through digital means. These cultural creatures camouflage into our modern landscape and mechanically perform human actions and natural deeds.

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Dawn Black


Nick Meriwether


David Waddell

Spoiler | Ann Wood

Mezzanine Gallery

Since becoming one of the many unfortunate victims of Hurricane Ike, Ann Wood has been making pieces that are loosely about objects or events that can “get you” or “spoil” your day. A subtle undercurrent in her newest work has also been the idea of the food chain and how danger is relative: a bird is wonderful to look at unless of course you are a worm. While nature has always informed Wood’s work, the idea of the food chain, looming danger in seemingly innocent situations, and the uneasiness that comes with that knowledge has begun to take on new meaning and increasing importance because of her own new-found sense of vulnerability.

Spoiler is a site-specific installation in the Mezzanine Gallery. Ann Wood creates most of her work using thread, foam, rubber, and fake objects like insects, hunting decoys, fruits, and flowers. The ideas of scrapbooking, sewing, “women’s work,” and nurturing are important for Wood and give the piece a quirky sense of humor.

“With Spoiler I am thinking about how ants, in their quickness to rebuild, represent ambition and drive...if you destroy their hill they begin to rebuild immediately. I am also thinking about ‘ants in the pants’ and how that silly, light-hearted saying is used to signify a general sense of uneasiness. And of course, the cliché of ants spoiling a picnic is an obvious reference. The word spoiler is also used to describe an ending that has been prematurely given away. That’s important, too, as this installation includes a lot of clues as to the “ending” before you reach the Mezzanine Gallery.” –Ann Wood

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The Stand | Lily Cox-Richard

Grace R. Cavnar Gallery

Lily Cox-Richard is interested in the historic and commemorative roles of sculpture, from public monument to personal grave marker. Her current work explores the power of icons and objects, and how this power shifts with time, context, and readability. The Stand is an exhibition of new work exploring the props used in neo-classical sculpture to shore up both structure and allegory. In Hiram Powers' 1872 marble The Last of the Tribes, a Native American woman flees western civilization. As she runs, the edges of her skirt flip as they brush past a tree stump. In Lily’s sculptures, these props and trappings are freed from their roles of symbol and support and reinvested with new visibility and presence.

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Farming of the Future (Now is The Only Thing That is Real)
| Malcom Smith

Mary E. Bawden Scuplture Garden

Aquaponics is a high-density food production arrangement that produces both plant matter and fish in one system with an absolute minimum of water usage.

Very little power is required to operate the Aquaponic system. The lower part of the system houses the fish that create the fertilizer for the plants. The plants are contained in what is called a “grow bed” which sits above the fish tank. A single water pump propels nutrient rich water from the fish tank to the grow bed(s). Plants become a natural filter as they absorb nourishment from fish waste, reducing or eliminating the water's toxicity for the aquatic life while the water fills the plant container. Once the plant container is full a device known as an “auto siphon” drains sparkling water effortlessly back to the fish tank using only the power of gravity. No external power is needed for the auto siphon to operate.

The water, now clean, is returned to the marine animal environment and the cycle continues. Aquaponic systems do not discharge or exchange water. The systems rely on the natural relationship between the aquatic animals and the plants to maintain the environment. Water is only added to replace water loss from absorption by the plants, and evaporation into the air.

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Also on view

Snack Projects | featuring Rachel Hecker
May 7 –June 12 , 2010

Snack Projects is a miniature and portable art space, a “gallery” measuring 11” x 20” x 13”, organized by artists Michael Guidry and Robert Ruello. Snack Projects will feature the work of both local and regional artists throughout the 2009-2010 exhibition season at Lawndale Art Center.


snackprojects.com

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Altered Realities
Curated by David Waddell
Friday, May 14, 2010
6–8 PM

Saturday, May 15, 2010
2–4 PM

David Waddell, media artist, Director of Media Studies at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and Lawndale Artist Studio Program participant, curates a video screening in two parts. The first part will include work from HSPVA’s digital lab. The second part will be an eclectic group of artists selected from around the United States.

Waddell’s videos have been screened in Washington, D.C., Chicago and San Francisco. His iPod work has been on display at Fotofest in the Fall 2008 and at Gavin Brown Enterprise, in 2007. He curated the show “Play” at Commerce Street Art Warehouse in 2007 and was included in Aurora Picture Show’s Extreme Shorts (2009).

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Audio Transmission for Beginners
Workshop with Nick Meriwether
Thursday, May 20, 2010
6–8 PM

Make a contact microphone with Lawndale Artists Studio Program participant Nick Meriwether. In this class you will learn the basics of electronics. You will also learn the fundamentals of soldering while creating your very own contact microphone*. Plus you will learn how to transmit sound through a laser beam!

It is easier than you might think. This class is for anyone with an interest. You do not have to have ANY experience or prior knowledge to be successful.

Registration for this class is required as seating is limited. Please register by emailing dnance@lawndaleartcenter.org or calling (713) 528-5858. There is a $10 equipment fee for the class, which includes all of the materials you will need and allow you to take home the contact mic you make in class.

*(A contact microphone is a mic that is designed to transmit audio vibrations through solid objects.)

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July 9–August 7, 2010

The Big Show

John M. O’Quinn Gallery, Grace R. Cavnar Gallery
and Mezzanine Gallery

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August 2010-May 2011

2010-2011 Exhibition Season

Lawndale Art Center's 2010-2011 exhibition season will include artists Boozefox, Curt Gambetta, Deb Karpman & Kimberly Hennessy, Robert Jackson Harrington, Tobiah Mundt and Rachelle Vasquez.

Exhibitions at Lawndale are selected by Lawndale's Programming Committee. If you are interested in proposing an exhibition for our 2010-2011 exhibition season, please visit our proposals page to learn more about submitting an exhibition proposal.

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