Five Arty Things to Do for Women's History Month
Celebrating achievements and creativity from Austin's women artists
By Wayne Alan Brenner, Fri., March 4, 2022
Women's History Month marches into our listings with a bright array of creative presentations, glorifying the walls of galleries, resonating across the boards of theatres, filling the spaces of art with a forthrightly female presence. Mind you, that's not so different than many months in this city's cultural scene, but we're glad for the excuse to shout-out these five opportunities toward enriching your life in a woman-wrought way.
Cloud Tree: Earth Shift
Valerie Fowler's newest Texas landscape paintings – including one of the largest she's ever done – are sinuously complex, psychedelically polychrome, and rooted as much in local soil and flora as they are in the vast palette of color the artist wields to mesmerize. Have you seen the world look like this before, Austinite? You'll never forget it once you do. Through March 13. 3411 E. Fifth. Mon.-Fri., noon-6pm; Sat.-Sun., noon-5pm. cloudtreestudiosandgallery.com
Lydia Street Gallery: Elemental Mind
Austin-based artists Jacqueline May and Jana Swec seek connection to something deeper, May using outright symbols, mathematics, and language, while Swec uses landscapes as the symbols themselves. May plays with materials: oil, encaustic, collage, and more recently mosaic; Swec uses acrylic like the master painter she is, creating vistas of provocative significance. Opening reception: Sat., March 5, 6-9pm. 1200 E. 11th #109. lydiastreetgallery.com
Bottle Alley Theatre: Peckin the Crown
This show is what happens when you combine witchcraft, puppetry, psychedelic drugs, and infuse it with imagery from the dark fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. The narrative, written by Chris Fontanes and performed by Bottle Alley Theatre Company at the Vortex, revolves around one of the last remaining members of a coven of witches and her descent into multiple realities, guided by a manipulative demon. Through March 12. Thu.-Sat., 8pm; Sun., 6pm. 2307 Manor Rd., 512/478-5282. $15-35. vortexrep.org
grayDUCK Gallery: Findings
Bethany Johnson's sculptures, reminiscent of geologic formations and seeming like objects from a cabinet of natural curiosities, offer a multilayered meditation on deep time, material metamorphosis, and the anthropogenic landscaping of landfills, quarries, and road cuts. Through March 6. Sat.-Sun., noon-6pm. 2213 E. Cesar Chavez, 512/826-5334. grayduckgallery.com
Deborah Hay: Screening and Conversation
Women & Their Work presents the iconic choreographer Deborah Hay in conversation with archivist and dancer Laurent Pichaud, featuring a preview of Dear Dancer, their film in progress. Pichaud will ask Hay to respond to imagery he's pulled from the archives – which Hay may not have seen for decades – exploring Hay's perspective as an artist and woman living and working in Austin since 1976. Sat., March 5, 11am. 1311 E. Cesar Chavez, 512/477-1064. Free. womenandtheirwork.org
