“Milk Punch” Welcomes a New Contemporary Gallery to Austin

In a cozy residential stretch of West Sixth, a green gallery beckons from the sidewalk with tall windows that let afternoon light drench the room. Inside, a big bowl of milk punch sits atop a table where visitors gather, sipping the rich cocktail to welcome Austin’s newest contemporary art space, the Connelly Martin gallery. 

“Milk Punch” takes its name from the classic Southern drink, and the metaphor is fitting. Much like its namesake, the show is an unexpected blend of strong, disparate elements that break and blur into something cohesive and intriguing. The work of 13 artists featured in the exhibition spans sculpture, painting, mixed media, and structural forms. Each contributes an individual voice, while resonating with the others. 

This new space, one of two galleries opened by founders Bailey Connelly and Lily Martin across Austin and Sun Valley, Idaho, occupies what was once home to a brief Austin location from renowned Houston gallery Dimmitt Contemporary. Both former Dimmitt staff, the duo took the opportunity to strike out on their own with a dual-location gallery dedicated to narrative-driven and conceptually rich artworks. The pair want Connelly Martin to be welcoming rather than intimidating, where they can cultivate authentic connections between artists, collectors, and audiences.

Much like its complimentary libation, Connelly Martin achieves this communal atmosphere by curating distinct contributors for its opening exhibit. Some of these voices are immediate in their storytelling, while others need time to settle in. 

Andrea Joyce Heimer’s A Few Seconds Before a Bunch of Things Happened at Once in July, Cascade County, Montana evokes the calm just prior to an eruption. The flattened, almost cubist scene shows a suburban street where characters wash a car, lounge in the sun, stand in the garage, and play basketball, with more tiny details throughout. Nothing particularly exciting is happening, but as the title suggests, it will soon. Viewers might find themselves concocting a storyline as they move through the frame, even as a tiny UFO in the background hints at the unexpected.

In Grey Area by Ellie MacGarry, two figures reach toward one another across muted tones and gentle lines. As the cover image for the exhibition, the piece encapsulates unity and partnership: There is tenderness here, an unspoken pull that mirrors the gallery’s own ethos of coming together.

In contrast, Katie Leimbach’s Summer’s Kiss doesn’t initially appear connected to the theme. The square canvas frames a large four-leaf clover with a smaller clover inside. The layers unfurl slowly, revealing rectangles and lines that pull focus to the center of the piece. Underneath the layers of paint, faint lines and colors show through. The intricate choreography of shape and color underscores narrative through form. 

Front and center in the gallery, commanding nearly an entire wall, is Elizabeth Hohimer’s The Large Peace in the Unending Spring. Hohimer hand-dyed the Texas cotton in this woven piece with clay, rust, and flowers collected across West Texas. These homegrown materials conjure the warmth of a Texas evening with unspoken expertise. 

Connelly Martin lays a strong foundation with “Milk Punch.” Each piece in this debut connects to the exhibit’s theme of unity without feeling overly literal. They stand distinct around the gallery’s proverbial punch bowl, forming a cohesive whole while keeping each artist’s voice intact. The curators also achieve their goal of launching an accessible West Sixth art space: Many of these works feel approachable and livable, like pieces that could exist comfortably in a home rather than only within a gallery setting. As always, the breadth of contributors in a group show setting leaves limited room to fully explore each one – though maybe the point is to inspire us to dig into these artists and discover, on our own, all they have to offer. 

This article appears in February 27 • 2026.