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Almost Real Things: Virtual Vacation
Join the moving-and-shaking scene-raisers of Almost Real Things magazine for this at-home art and music experience: a live, interactive variety show featuring 45-plus talented musicians, artists, and performers who've banded together to give you a break from reality. Note: It's free to watch and participate – but to ensure your trip will be extraordinary, you could purchase a Companion Box, full of art souvenirs, excursions, and snacks.Sat., Dec. 19, 6-9pm. Free. -
Arts
Classical Music
Austin Classical Guitar: The Space In Between
In this concert presented by Austin Classical Guitar, Oliver Rajamani will share an unforgettable night of original music live from One World Theatre – with Austin radio icon John Aielli adding his unique voice with poetry to accompany the tapestry of sound.Sat., Nov. 7, 8pm. Donations accepted. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Bale Creek Allen Gallery: Jun Kaneko
Ceramics master Kaneko is increasingly drawn to installations that promote civic interaction, having completed more than 60 public art commissions – including a 250-foot-long tile wall at Aquarium Station in Boston, a three-story wall at the University of Connecticut, and an 88-foot-tall Glass Tower at Omaha's Buffett Cancer Center. (Other large permanent installations can be seen in Osaka, Japan; Kansas City, MO; and at the International Finance Center in Shanghai, China.) Most recently, the artist's been working at the Cuernavaca Raku ceramics studio, experimenting with new glazes and the unpredictability of raku. And now here's a show of his fierce sculptural creations, right there at the BCA outpost in Canopy.Through Nov. 30 -
Arts
Classical Music
Chorus Austin: Stronger, United
Ryan Heller presents a virtual concert of new and previously recorded pieces from Chorus Austin's Chamber Ensemble, featuring selections (a mix of spirituals, pop, folk songs, and more) by Alberto Grau, Rosephanye Powell, Carlos Cordero, and Dr. Roland Carter.Through Nov. 21. Free. -
Arts
Theatre
Conspiracy Play
Less Than Three presents a choose-your-own-adventure sort of experience via Facebook, wherein "the audience, led by Problematic-Patriot, will listen to fringe theorists to figure out who is the liar among them." Interaction and decisions will directly affect the artistic experience and audience members may receive emails or direct messages giving them inside information that may prove vital. Note: Conspiracy Play was conceived in collaboration with artists from Austin, Houston, Dallas, Washington, New York, and Chicago, and built using video game theory, theatrical devising, and improvisational techniques.Through Nov. 7. Thu.-Sat., 8pm. $15. -
Arts
Theatre
Futurx 2020: Entra al Laberinto!
Citizens of Austin! Gather virtually in an interactive online laberinto where audiences can wander from Zoom room to Zoom room to experience Loteria fortune telling, life coaching sessions, burlesque performances, magic rituals, divine tias, DJ sessions, late night rideshares, and more from artists whose Latinidad is queer, trans, feminist, Afrolatinx, and indigenous. Featuring performances by ProyectoTEATRO, Ben Bazan, Florinda Bryant, Gricelda Silva, Teatro Quarantine, Laura de la Fuente, Marina de la Fuente, Marina DeYoe-Pedraza, Krysta Gonzales, Lily Gonzales, Siri Gurudev, Line 720, and more. Note: Robert Faires previews the festival here.Fri.-Sat., 8pm. Through Nov. 21. $15. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Link & Pin: The #Vote Show
In the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election – remember that fucking debacle? – Chad Rea's artistic output "took a dramatic turn from witty typographic prints designed at a leisurely pace to activist paintings and sculptures created with desperate urgency." This new show – curated from more than 300 pieces the artist created during the pathetic, colicky, orange-faced baby's White House occupancy – is a diverse collection designed to surprise, inform, entertain, and ultimately get participants to act before November 3.Through Nov. 8 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Northern-Southern: Baton
This is a group show by relay, begun in July of 2020 as a method of socially distancing a community in the height of the pandemic: Artists took turns alone in the space, each adding to the exhibition. Now, as it nears its close, the exhibition resembles a community in which work converses and overlaps. With Adreon Henry, Vy Ngo, Dawn Okoro, Leon Alesi, Matt Steinke, Sev Coursen, Stella Alesi, and more.Closing reception: Sat., July 24, 3-9pm -
Arts
Visual Arts
Recspec Gallery: Superstitions
The unstoppable Recspec presents a new virtual group show, curated by Laurel Barickman and Katie Cowden, featuring works by Annalise Gratovich, Holly Bobisuthi, Cathy Rylander, Kevin Munoz, Kämy Dobï, Pake Stephens, and more, addressing a theme of, well, listen: "In a year where it feels like Lady Luck has left us, jinxes abound, and a black cat has crossed our collective path, we've turned to rituals and superstitions to change our fortunes. Phrases, charms, and talismans – or numbers and actions to avoid – are deeply ingrained in our minds and habits, and we're looking forward to seeing how this group of artists influences our fate." As are we, reader – and how about you?Through Nov. 7 -
Arts
Books
Texas Book Festival
We told you about the Texas Teen Book Festival last week; now we're championing the 25th annual Texas Book Festival's adult programming. It's a virtual to-do this year, of course, with all manner of events, kicking off with the First Edition Literary Gala (Fri., Nov. 6, 7:30pm), featuring authors Julia Alvarez, Nick Hornby, and Natasha Trethewey, with emcee Michael Ian Black. From there, it's authors and celebrities all the way down, with the likes of Jodi Picoult, Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Mychal Denzel Smith, Cory Doctorow, Ottessa Moshfegh, James Wade, Amanda Eyre Ward, Jonathan Lethem, and many more, dazzling your favorite screen with various magnitudes of literary éclat.Nov. 6-15. $100. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Travis Heights Art Trail
This 18th annual neighborhood art tour is self-guided and takes viewers though the historic Travis Heights neighborhood, with everyone practicing social distancing and the artwork exhibited in open-air spaces. It's always a glorious trail to trek, and this year, no joke, we'll bet you can buy some fine and creative masks along the way.Sat.-Sun., Nov. 7-8, 11am-5pm. Free.
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Arts
Visual Arts
Armadillo World Headquarters 50th Anniversary Exhibition
AusPop presents a celebration of the legendary Armadillo World Headquarters, offering an impressive array of posters, photos, and newspaper clippings with which to immerse yourself in the venue's well-documented history. (No one may know exactly where we're going, these days, but this is – vividly – where we've been.) You can schedule a time in advance to visit the gallery (any Saturday or Sunday) and you've gotta wear a mask, citizen, because this long strange trip is something we're still in the confounding middle of, y'dig?Through Dec. 13 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Art for the People: Where the Bots Begin
Lauren Briére’s art escorts the viewer on a visual journey into outer space, the fun of sports, walks in nature, and various adventures and shenanigans, as Art for the People showcases 200-plus sketches that are the artist's penciled beginnings to creating her whimsical "Robots in Rowboats."Through Jan. 3 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Atelier Dojo: Remote Studios
The local powerhouse of figurative painting, the art school that's the smart school for artists of all kinds, they've got a painting-along-at-home series going to help you keep your skills honed in these socially restrictive times, featuring live costumed models posing on camera and a thriving community of creatives rendering that lovely human biotecture from their separate studios. "Join us for a three-hour costumed-model drawing session. Use any supplies you wish, listen to music, share your work, chat with others. It’s a great way to stay connected with your art community!"Tuesdays, 1:30-4:30pm; Fridays, 6:30-9:30pm; Saturdays, 9:30-12:30pm. $5. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Bee Cave Arts Foundation: Dark Sky Photography
Note: This exhibition is on on display at "The Hive" in the Hill Country Galleria. See website for more.Through Nov. 28. Free.12700 Hill Country Blvd. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Bullock Texas State History Museum: This Light of Ours
This show features images by activist photographers of the Civil Rights Movement, telling a visual story of the struggle against segregation, race-based disenfranchisement, and Jim Crow laws in the 1960s. These photos capture the day-to-day struggles of everyday citizens and their resolve in the face of violence and institutionalized discrimination – with more than a dozen additional images representing activism and protest in Austin's own history.Tuesdays-Sundays. Through Dec. 6 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Camiba Art: Intersecting Stories
Make an appointment to check out the new and classic works of local artist Adreon Henry, is what we're recommending right now. Camiba has curated up a fine exhibition of the man's heavily handworked, woven-vinyl, eroded-screenprint, polychrome creations to dazzle your mind and entice fantasies of having such things displayed on your own walls.Through Nov. 21 -
Arts
Visual Arts
ChingonX Fire: Group Exhibit
Inspired by the Mexican American Cultural Center's annual La Mujer celebration – and by the first feminist of the New World, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz – this online group exhibit is curated by April Garcia and features womxn-identifying and nongender-specific artists whose artwork is tied to activism, feminism, cultural. and gender identity storytelling, environmental protection, and socioeconomic parity.Free. -
Arts
Comedy
ColdTowne Theater
ColdTowne's new brick-and-mortar place is totally open, and who knows what they'll shake this city with next? But one truth remains: ColdTowne is a designated den of gold, baby, sweet comedy gold. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Davis Gallery: Evidence of the Search
The scientists say that the out-of-doors is a good place to avoid those 'ronas that may accrue in crowded, enclosed places, and the scientists know what they're talking about. But did you know that looking at beautiful paintings of the out-of-doors can ward off the weltschmerz that attends a lousy pandemic like what we're all dealing with right now? This reporter swears it's true! Luckily, Davis Gallery is featuring new paintings by Laurel Daniel, whose recent body of work "focuses on well-known surroundings: big skies, colorful Hill Country landscapes, and bountiful florals. The collection includes both smaller plein air paintings finished on location and larger pieces completed in the studio." And you can even book a masked, safely distanced viewing visit with the artist for the show's opening.Through Nov. 25 -
Arts
Visual Arts
EighteenFifteen Gallery: Wresting Place
This exhibition of new works by Amanda Fay and Anton Chavez "calls to attention the struggles involved in the pursuit of The American Dream. The works featured act both as protest and homage to the trials and tribulations faced by the working class and the sociopolitical circumstances that act as obstacles towards upward mobility." See website for details.Through Nov. 261815 Rosewood -
Arts
Visual Arts
Forklift Danceworks: Portraits at Downs Field
It's the culminating piece of Forklift's year-long residency at Downs Field in East Austin: Portraits of the Downs Field community by photographer Cindy Elizabeth, installed at the field for everyone to see. The project explores the importance of Downs Field to the continual flourishing of baseball in Texas, through the past, present, and future.Through Jan. 4 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Georgetown Art Center: Book Passage
Yeah, sometimes we just can't help but pimp – er, we mean promote – this arty bastion that's so up north it makes us think twice as we glance at our long-suffering Isuzu. But, listen, this is a show of reclaimed books that have been altered in extraordinary ways by Janice Anderson and John Sager – via collage, via paint, via outright sculpting of the materials. Anderson is new to us, but we saw a few of Sager's bibliophilic alterations over a decade ago and we're still talking about their beauty even now. Recommended, and definitely worth the trip. (Bonus: Check out the excellent Lark & Owl bookstore while you're there, too.)Through Jan. 3 -
Arts
Visual Arts
House of Mesmerize: Enter the Multiverse
This interactive, gallery-style experience inside Austin's Native Hostel "follows the journey of Mesmer, an artist and amateur tinkerer who discovers a secret: we and our universe are not alone. Mesmer opens up a portal and is swallowed into the Multiverse and its infinite cosmic curiosities." The created environment features 15 unique art installations, with multiple paths and possibilities, and you know there'll be safety protocols to follow, too, to thwart those pesky 'ronas. Note: We'll be looking into this and getting back to you with a full report.Through Dec. 20. Thu.-Sun., 11am-11pm. $25. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Joe/Kamala Yard Art on Bellvue
There, across 14 front yards on Bellvue Avenue: A sign of hope! Signs of hope, actually – the pro-Biden/Harris (or, as the artist puts it, Joe/Kamala) artworks of Austin's David Hefner. It's an excellent opportunity for a lift-up-your-spirits drive-by or walking tour: good stuff, visually, even beyond its message. Also a good excuse – go ahead, do it – to check out that Hefner's website, peruse some of the other works he's done.Mayyyybe through Inauguration Day?Bellvue Avenue, between 42nd & 45th, two blocks west of Lamar -
Arts
Visual Arts
Landmarks: Self-Guided Walking Tour
Use your smartphone to access self-guided tours of the outdoor public art sited by UT's award-winning Landmarks program any time you feel like it. BONUS: There's also a free, docent-led tour starting at Marc Quinn's "Spiral of the Galaxy" (1501 Red River) on Sun., Jan. 8, 11am. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Lora Reynolds Gallery: County Road
This exhibition of new photographs by Bryan Schutmaat is the artist's first presentation at LRG. The Houston native, now Austinite, began making his newest group of black-and-white pictures in the spring of 2020 ("just as pandemic fatigue was beginning to set in") while driving deserted back roads between Austin and Leon County, where his family has a farm. The gallery notes say: "Schutmaat's new body of work calls to mind Emily St. John Mandel's 2014 novel, Station Eleven, set 20 years after a virus wipes out 99% of the human population." (Sure – or perhaps it calls to mind one of these post-apocalyptic tales?) But this is some fine camera-work on display, and we recommend it highly.Through Nov. 7 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Mexic-Arte Museum
Day of the Dead In observance of the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, Mexic-Arte Museum presents the 37th annual Day of the Dead exhibition, paying tribute to the tradition that celebrates the return of the dead, featuring community altars and a special showing of artwork from the Juan Antonio Sandoval Jr. Collection. ELA 25: Intersection: Shock & Relief This annual show, formally known as Young Latinx Artists, celebrates the last 25 years of exhibitions, featuring the work of emerging Latinx artists as curated by Dr. George Vargas and revealing two new murals on the museum’s exterior Fifth Street wall.Through Nov. 22 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Prizer Arts & Letters: People the We
This is a collaborative exhibition by Adrian Aguilera and Betelhem Makonnen, conceived in the wake and continuing aftermath of the Black Lives Matter uprisings that were reignited in May 2020. "Over a series of masked and socially distanced exchanges, mostly in the natural spaces outside both their studios, Aguilera and Makonnen tried to give form to the overwhelming personal and collective emotions of rage, disappointment, exhaustion, and bruised hope that they experienced in the last six months. Cultivating their continuous curiosity about the relationship between symbols and collective identity, transnationality and diaspora perspectives, as well as history's inextricable hold on the present, Aguilera and Makonnen introduce new multimedia work in conversation with existing work to reflect on this (re)current moment in our country." Recommended: Make an appointment for viewing; check out the gallery's front window for a preview.Through Jan. 3 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Stephen L. Clark Gallery: Lance Letscher
An exhibition of new collage works by Austin's own Lance Letscher might be just the thing we need to ground us in these tumultuous times. Or, contrarily, to lift us above the unnerving political fray. That whole thing about art "comforting the afflicted," right? Many of us are trending rather afflicted of late, and the artist's painstaking paper creations will, we insist, mitigate that visually, through graphic reinvention of previous forms, offering a reassuring sense of patterns and meaning to our eyes.Through Dec. 26. Tue.-Sat., 11am-4pm -
Arts
Visual Arts
SUFFRAGE NOW: A 19th Amendment Centennial Exhibition
On August 18, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote. On August 6, 2020, the Elisabet Ney Museum debuted this new show for which women photographers nationwide were invited to share photos that comment on the Centennial of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment. The most eloquent images were chosen and are included in this online exhibition.Through Jan. 31. Free. -
Arts
Books
TBF: Matthew McConaughey in Conversation with Ethan Hawke
Yes, it's the McConaughey and the Hawke, discussing the former's new memoir, Greenlights. The Texas Book festival presents this livestreamed show of Austintatious reminiscing and raconteuring between two affable icons – and the tickets include a copy of the book.Sat., Nov. 7, 4pm. $41. -
Arts
Visual Arts
The Blanton Museum of Art: Expanding Abstraction
In the early 20th century, Western artists began exploring abstract, nonrepresentational forms for the first time. Several decades later, abstraction's practitioners experimented with new materials and techniques: Dripping, pouring, staining, and even slinging paint became common, as did the use of non-traditional media such as acrylic and industrial paints. Artists also ditched the flat, rectangular format to create sculptural texture and dimensionality. Now, can you guess whose corporate collection is particularly strong in such paintings of the 1960s and '70s? If you guessed "The Blanton Museum of Art," then you'll especially want to get an eyeful of this major new show, subtitled "Pushing the Boundaries of Painting in the Americas," organized by the venue's own Carter E. Foster.Through Jan. 10 -
Arts
Visual Arts
The Otto: Towards a New Beauty
New work from Denise Prince! With so much of life seeming to have turned upside-down, the artist's latest in her Captivating, Not Captive series intervenes to turn us towards courage. Safely enjoy this Eastside exhibition of framed photographs from the sidewalk, night or day – with onsite links to video and more.Through Nov. 22. Free.1201 E. Cesar Chavez -
Arts
Visual Arts
Vault Stone Shop: Saints & Intermediaries
All praise! Here is the full exhibition of what Vault Stone Shop featured in their front window this summer: A visual conversation about the role of spiritual intermediaries in our modern society, explored via homage to St. Elmo (the patron saint of sailors and abdominal pain, btw) by seven superlative Austin artists. Yes, you can (safely) view the show in-person via appointment and witness up-close the wholly engaging creations of Elizabeth Chapin, Emma Hadzi Antich, CP Harrison, Meena Matocha, Hayley Morrison, Saul Jerome San Juan, and Meghan Shogan.Through Nov. 29 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Women & Their Work: Brianna McIntyre
"My goal at Women & Their Work," says Brianna McIntyre, "is to experiment with textile waste as a viable, usable, buildable material." Using a previous bent lamination shelf design as a template, she'll create structured forms that show the visual continuity and material evolution of the design.Through Dec. 12 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Wyld Gallery
This is Ray Donley's gallery of art by Native Americans, located in that company of artistic glory called Canopy and resplendent with creations from the original people of our struggling country.Call for appointment -
Arts
Theatre
Zach Theatre: Songs Under The Stars
These "socially distant outdoor concerts, performed on the People's Plaza outside of the Topfer at ZACH," where you sit in "pods" and cabanas under the beautiful Austin sky, are cabaret-like events, see? And Chanel, the star of London’s Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, closes out this series with a tribute to the female vocalists who shaped her (Nov. 5-8. Thu.-Sat., 7:30pm; Sun., 2:30pm).Thursdays-Sundays. Through Nov. 8. $70 for a two-person pod.