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Arts
Dance
Ventana Ballet: Variations on a Love Theme
Ventana joins forces with Austin Camerata for an evening of love stories shared through classical music and dance.Fri.-Sat., Feb. 9-10, 6:30 & 8:30pm. $27-35. -
Arts
Theatre
Amaging!
Nobody’s suggesting that youth is overrated, but the Eastside’s ever-sizzling Vortex Theatre and World Famous *BOB* unveil a poignant show focused on stories of elders of the queer community. The evening features a cast of five, all over the age of 60, who share 10-minute stories of their personal experiences that invite the audience to discard preconceived ideas of aging. This production is an outgrowth of *BOB*’s Campfire Queer Storytime, hosted monthly at the Vortex, and is sponsored by Rainbow Connections ATX, a program of Family Eldercare. –Wayne Alan BrennerFeb. 9-11. Fri.-Sat., 8pm; Sun., 6pm. $15-37. -
Arts
Theatre
Beetlejuice: The Musical, the Musical, the Musical
Based on Tim Burton’s beloved film, this hilarious musical tells the story of a strange and unusual teenager whose life changes when she meets a recently deceased couple and a demon with a thing for stripes.Feb. 6-11. Tue.-Thu., 7:30pm; Fri., 8pm; Sat., 2 & 8pm; Sun., 1 & 6:30pm. $35 and up. -
Arts
Theatre
Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812
You’re a busy guy; you don’t have time to read all of War and Peace. But you’re also ashamed that you’ve not dug into the hottest Russian novel of 1869! Hark: A solution awaits at the Zach Theatre production of Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, Dave Malloy’s musical adaptation of a 70-page section of Tolstoy’s great tome. Described by the theatre as an “innovative electro-pop opera,” this two-hour-and-thirty-minute love triangle will be available as pay-what-you-will until Feb. 4. Heads-up to queers: Thursday, Feb. 1, is PRIDE night!– James ScottJan. 30-March 3. Wed.-Sat., 7:30pm; Sun., 2:30pm. $25. -
Arts
Visual Arts
PrintAustin’s PrintEXPO
PrintEXPO is PrintAustin’s annual two-day fair – free to attend! – featuring more than 100 artists, galleries, print shops, and university printmaking programs from across the United States. Experience live printmaking demonstrations, witness steamroller printing by Texas A&M Kingsville, participate in hands-on printmaking activities led by area arts educators, and purchase original artwork directly from local and, yes, even international artists. Ah, crafty polychrome exuberance, FTW! Never mind that impending singularity: Now’s the time to get down and ink-dirty with your fellow humans in this creative and material world. –Wayne Alan BrennerFeb. 10-11. Sat., noon-6pm; Sun., noon-5pm. Free. -
Arts
Visual Arts
The American Dream: TV Viewing & Art Party
This local gallery was showcased on The American Dream, and tonight's shindig is a viewing party of the relevant episode, featuring an exhibition of local female artists, accompanied by DJ Lady Wonder spinning vinyl beats, and more.Sat., Feb. 10, 6pm. $20-65. -
Arts
Theatre
The Feud: A Musical Comedy
From Texas Comedies – the company that brought us Murders & Moontowers, Boomtown, Prohibition, and other staged follies – comes this latest spectacle inspired by the notorious Sutton-Taylor Feud, the longest-lasting and deadliest feud in 19th-century Texas.Thu.-Sat., Feb. 1-10, 8pm -
Arts
Theatre
The Library
Do you think gun violence is way out of control in these United States, citizen? Do you want a more effective response than “thoughts and prayers” from politicians? Different Stages knows how public art can help effect change, continuing their current season of theatre with Scott Z. Burns’ drama about the aftermath of a deadly shooting at a high school. Directed by Carl Gonzales and Lacey Cannon Gonzales, featuring performances by Lucky Cantu, Eva McQuade, Beau Paul, Gina Houston, Stan McDowell, Liz Waters, and Jason Park. – Wayne Alan BrennerThrough Feb. 11. Fri.-Sat. & Mon., 7:30pm; Sun., 3pm. $15-35. -
Arts
Theatre
The Mystic’s Valentine: An Enchanted Evening With Belladonna of Sadness (1973/2016)
Immersive event and interactive media creator Ceia G. brings an entrancing event boasting a “blend of cinematic brilliance and mystical allure, designed to captivate your senses and ignite your imagination.” During a screening of Seventies cult anime classic Belladonna of Sadness, you’ll be invited to walk through rooms crafted in the style of the film’s scenes, peruse a market of magical items, and sup upon drinks and food created to suit the night’s tempting tenor. But be warned: This screening isn’t suitable for everyone, so only mature audiences need RSVP. – James ScottSat., Feb. 10 -
Arts
Classical Music
USA vs the UK
Austin Symphony Orchestra draws inspiration from “the special relationship” for an across-the-pond-and-back performance featuring four composers – two American, two British. Austin’s own preeminent pianist, Anton Nel, opens the program with Benjamin Britten’s Piano Concerto, Op. 13. Also on the bill: American Samuel Barber’s aching “Adagio for Strings,” Brit Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music, and American Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, performed in collaboration with Chorus Austin. – Kimberley JonesFri.-Sat., Feb. 9-10
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Arts
Visual Arts
Art & Parks Tour
This sweet opportunity comes to us from the Downtown Austin Alliance, the Pease Park Conservancy, and Ride Bikes Austin – so we know it's a damned good thing indeed. Take the self-guided Art & Parks Tour to explore the best of what Downtown Austin art and parks have to offer through this selection of curated murals, artworks, and green spaces. You can sign up anytime, so click that URL and get ready to learn the most vibrantly visual parts of your city soon – live and in person. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Artworks Gallery: My Pretty Poison
Large, bold, emotionally charged multimedia paintings by Scott Leopold.Through Feb. 17 -
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
Dance
Ballet Austin: Classes
Learn your way to physical grace with a dance class at Ballet Austin. There are so many varieties to choose among – ballet, barre, contemporary dance, hip-hop, tap, cardio dance fitness, Pilates, and more – and all taught by professional instructors. See website for details.$3-7 per class. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Big Medium: No Kings But Us
"The collaborative back-and-forth between artists Robert Hodge and Tim Kerr is as compelling and intriguing for what is on display as for what is not. This exhibition presents the vivid yet amorphous residue of a contested, negotiated, and ultimately collaborative chronicle. It gathers swatches of 20th- and 21st-century history as recounted by artists from different generations and backgrounds, who share as many crossovers as they do variations."Opening reception: Fri., Jan. 12, 8-10pm -
Arts
Comedy
Cap City Comedy Club
That's right: Cap City Comedy Club, the longtime cornerstone of Austin's comedy scene for nearly four decades is at a new venue in the Domain. And here's Valerie Lopez with a closer look at what's in store for the scene via the venue. Click for details! -
Arts
Visual Arts
Carver Museum: Two Births and the Afterlife
You think it’s easy, being somebody’s mother? You think giving birth to another human being doesn’t put your own humanity and purpose under some fierce self-scrutiny? Milwaukee-based artist Aimée M. Everett, in her solo show at the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, uses abstraction, minimalist line-making, saturated colors, and melodic compositions to explore “the profound transformations experienced during childbirth and the subsequent journey of self-discovery into motherhood.” Word – or, more appropriately, image – to your mother. – Wayne Alan BrennerOpening reception: Thu., Jan. 11, 6-8pm -
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
Contracommon: Proof of Life
This exhibition is presented in partnership with PrintAustin and features work from Texas artists Terry Chastain, Thomas Cook, Diego Diaz, Daniela Oliver, and Melissa Slaughter. The artists employ a diverse range of printmaking technique – including screen-printing, cyanotypes, relief prints, monoprints, and intaglio – to express deep relationships between human beings and the earth they inhabit.Opening reception: Sat., Jan. 20, 6-9pm -
Arts
Visual Arts
Cool Day
A two-person exhibition centered on early Aughts-style internet collage opened Jan. 13 and can be seen Fridays and Saturdays through early February. Mia Scarpa’s mixed-media paintings conjure the edge of 2000s chatrooms and 3D-rendered JPEGs, while Grace Horan’s playful sculptures reference childhood friendships and I Spy books. The gallery press release teases, “Their images and objects evoke an ethos of collecting that animates everything from official archives to family photo albums to online image boards. The result of such an experience is a schizophrenic reading of images that hardly make sense together – except in the fact that they do.”– Lina FisherFri. & Sat. through Feb. 10 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Creekside Studio
Creekside Studio is a women-owned printmaking studio and gallery, located in Canopy on the Eastside, specializing in fine art prints pulled by hand using archival materials and matrices: engravings, photogravure etchings, monotypes, woodcuts, copperplate etchings, and linocut.Saturdays, noon-1pm916 Springdale, Bldg 2 #103B -
Arts
Visual Arts
Davis Gallery: RopeTrix
This new body of work by the unstoppable image wrangler B Shawn Cox explores the utility of a cowboy’s lasso intertwined with fetishization of control. The show includes paintings on fabric, paper cuts, folded paper, leather, rope, and lenticular collages. Recommended and likely to make you shout "Yeeee-HAW!" in art-lovin' joy.Opening reception: Sat., Jan. 13, 4-7pm -
Arts
Comedy
East Austin Comedy Club
Founded by comedians Raza Jafri and Andre Ricks, this club that operates out of Tiger Den on the Eastside is the city's only BIPOC-owned comedy venue. -
Arts
Comedy
Fallout Comedy
This hotbed of local performance is carrying on even more than usual, with an eclectic mix of live, mind-rocking comedy from some of Austin's best, all week long. Hey! The place is our cover story, as reported by Valerie Lopez! And, srsly, who would ever disagree with the sentiment of Monday night's Fuck This Week show? Check the website for details. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Flatbed Press: Carrying Things from Home
This is a solo exhibition of Annalise Gratovich's color woodcut series, “Carrying Things from Home," based on matryoshka dolls and the textile patterns from Ukrainian embroidery. Bonus: The artist's most recent collages and woodcuts are also on display in this show.Opening reception: Sat., Jan. 20, 4-6pm -
Arts
Theatre
FronteraFest
Austin’s longest-running and most beloved performance festival returns for its 29th year! This unique collaboration between Hyde Park Theatre and ScriptWorks attracts actors, artists, poets, dancers, and performers of all types throughout Texas and beyond. (Over the past quarter-century, performers have traveled from as far as Chang Ung University in Seoul, South Korea, to perform an adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.) FronteraFest includes two separate components: the Short Fringe (four different performances of 25 minutes each, every night) runs Jan. 16-Feb. 17 at Hyde Park Theatre; and Mi Casa es Su Teatro happens only on Sat., Feb. 10, primarily in private Austin homes. Look for the Short Fringe to thrill you with talented Fest regulars Zell Miller III, Hank Schwemmer, Jennine DOC Kreuger, Tristan Mercado, Janet Maykus and Tom Booker, Teresa Johnson and Gloria C. Adams, Collin Carrothers, Pamela Paek, and the Knuckleball Now.Through Feb. 17. Tue.-Sat., 8pm. $20 and up. -
Arts
Visual Arts
grayDUCK Gallery: Cloud Shadows
This vibrant show is a visual conversation between artists Margaret Meehan and Jade Walker, drawing on years of friendship, shared research, and visual interests.Opening reception: Sat., Jan. 20, 7-10pm -
Arts
Visual Arts
ICOSA: The Contemporary Print
PrintAustin’s annual juried exhibition features national and international artists at ICOSA, showcasing an independent survey of the traditions and innovations of contemporary printmaking – including lithography, relief, intaglio, silk screen, and monotype – juried this year by lithographer Mark Pascale of the Art Institute of Chicago.Opening reception: Fri., Jan. 19, 6-8pm -
Arts
Visual Arts
If The Sky Were Orange: Art In the Time of Climate Change
This two-part exhibition explores the history and contemporary urgency of climate-related issues. Curated by journalist Jeff Goodell, who has written extensively on the topic, it's the first exhibition at the Blanton to explore one topic across several of the museum’s temporary gallery spaces. See our review of the show right here.Through Feb. 11. $8-15. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Ivester Contemporary: Like a Circle, Like the Moon
Tsz Kam’s first solo exhibition with the gallery expresses their own hybrid self-identification by featuring mythological subjects, chimerical. monsters, and decorative motifs from around the world. "Kam’s exposure to the fluorescent, festive streets of Hong Kong and the aesthetics of the nightclub that employed their parents during Kam’s childhood, coupled with an eventual move to Texas, heavily influenced the work in this exhibition." Bonus: Beili Liu's installation, Inheritance, is also featured.Opening reception: Sat., Jan. 20, 7-9pm -
Arts
Visual Arts
Laguna Gloria
This local treasure of a venue, run by those Contemporary Austin folks who also bring us the Jones Center shows Downtown, is all about the outdoors – which is perfect for these trickily navigated times of ours, n'est-ce pas? Recommended: Stop by and breathe in the air, enjoy the lawns and gardens and the many examples of world-class sculpture arrayed across the property, and (as Frankie used to say) r-e-l-a-x.Thu.-Fri., 9am-noon; Sat.-Sun., 9am-3pm -
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
Link & Pin: Anthony Huang
PrintAustin works with Link & Pin each year to create an invitational exhibition. This year, they're presenting works by Chinese artist Anthony Huang that reflect on urban dwellers' contemporary challenges, attributing their mental instability to the incessant exposure to new information. And this? Is ... new information, isn't it? Hmmmm.Opening reception: Sat., Jan. 20, 5-7pm -
Arts
Visual Arts
Loverboy: Portraits on Vinyl by Rick Fleming
Back in 2020, Rick Fleming helped then-presidential hopeful Joe Biden campaign for the top spot by selling tote bags adorned with the politician’s portrait. Now, the local artist turns his attention to more musical inspirations, from Prince and David Bowie to Björk and Taylor Swift. United by his signature full eyes and round nostrils, Fleming’s homages take a more abstract approach to his subjects’ likeness – though accompanying lyrics, like to Queen’s namesake 1976 classic, give each piece away. Visit Springdale’s SAGE Studio Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to see Fleming’s paintings on vinyl discs – or buy one yourself for $200 a pop. – Carys AndersonThrough March 23. free. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Lydia Street Gallery: Sporadic Moments and Cartography Abstracted
Ecuadorian-American artist Sandra C. Fernández uses pages from a 1800s book of crimes and misdemeanors as the foundation for works that explore her realities of exile, dislocation, relocation, and memory; Mindy Johnston's cartographic drawings colorfully represent her experience as a longtime Cap Metro rider.Jan. 13-Feb. 17. Artist reception: Sat., Jan. 27, 6-9pm -
Arts
Visual Arts
Martha's Contemporary: Hokey Pokey + What You See Is What You Get
Here's a two-person exhibition that features painting, installation, videography, and sculpture by Moll Brau and Wes Thompson. It's a deep dive into a pool of loneliness, triumph, and rebirth. It's a forest of mazes where fireflies provide the light. It's a show of creations from a pair of terrific, hardworking local artists and you don't want to miss it. -
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Visual Arts
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Arts
Visual Arts
McLennon Pen Co. Gallery: Art as Object
This is a group show curated by David Futscher, featuring Austin artists Jeffrey From, Lindsey Lascaux, and Peter McRury, and Kansas-based artist Slater Reid Sousley.Opening reception: Fri., Jan. 26, 6-9pm -
Arts
Comedy
Meet Cute
Of course the unstoppable comedy entrepreneurs of ColdTowne are going to leverage romantic synergy with a rom-com show that works lovey-dovey Hollywood tropes for all they’re worth this month, right? This one stars an all-Black cast of seasoned improvisers – Rudy Armstrong, Mykel Jewel, Tauri Laws-Phillips, Christian Lewis, Lex Okeke, Rochelle McConico, Irielle Wesley, and Terrence Yon – bringing the unscripted hijinks to movie-format hilarity, as directed by Jennifer Rosario, each Saturday in February. – Wayne Alan BrennerSaturdays, 8pm. Through Feb. 25 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Mix ‘n’ Mash: Celebrating Austin
Opening this Friday, Feb. 2, is Mexican, Latino, and Latin American art & cultural center Mexic-Arte Museum’s annual mega exhibition/art sale. Mix ’n’ Mash will feature over 200 artists utilizing a 12-by-12-inch Gessobord to explore “the large and small of what makes Austin weird, interesting, timeless, and robust,” according to Mexic-Arte’s website. Each board goes for around $150 each, but buyers are encouraged to buy at least three to create an ATX triptych to impress all your gallery-going friends. – James ScottMondays-Sundays. Through March 3 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Museum of Illusions
Enter the fascinating world of illusions in this new venue that boasts a stunning array of intriguing visual, sensory, and educational experiences among new, unexplored optical wonderments.$20-24.11010 Domain #100 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Northern-Southern Gallery: Endless
This is the new solo exhibition by Austin’s own Donya Stockton – yes, the multitalented woman behind legendary club venues Beerland, Rio Rita, King Bee, and more. So, the show’s about music? No, because this Stockton is also a world-class weaver, and her latest works of handmade basketry (and its stunning deconstructions) incorporate driftwood, Oaxacan seed pods, and copper into her signature serpentine loops of cane and reed, bringing topology itself to its knees in Philip Niemeyer’s excellent Downtown gallery. – Wayne Alan BrennerOpening reception: Sat., Jan. 13, 5-8pm -
Arts
Visual Arts
Old Bakery Gallery: Fantastical Flora
This multimedia exhibition is a comprehensive exploration of the beauty of botanical forms, expressed realistically and in the abstract, featuring the work of local artist Francine Funke.Opening reception: Sat., Jan. 20, 1-4pm. Free. -
Arts
Comedy
South Austin Comedy Club
South Austin’s first dedicated comedy venue is spearheaded by local comics Martin Henn, Andre Ricks, and Raza Jafri, and brings top-notch acts to South Austin every Wednesday through Saturday. Note: The upcoming comics – including nationally touring acts, local sweethearts, and everyone in between – will be listed on Instagram each night.Wed.-Sat., 7:30pm -
Arts
Visual Arts
Stephen L. Clark Gallery: Kate Breakey
This exhibition of new work by Kate Breakey showcases hand-colored photography of the natural world, particularly of Texan and Australian landscapes, animals, and insects. -
Arts
Books
Story Circle Network
Nonprofit organization for women, offering monthly reading and writing circles and more, in North, Central, and South Austin. -
Arts
Comedy
The Creek and the Cave
This snazzy spot for local and national stand-up acts has shows almost every night of the week. -
Arts
Comedy
The Hideout
The diverse lineup of hilarious, always surprising improv shows continues, with Pgraph and Maestro and the Big Bash and more, for the most unexpected delights of in-person entertainment.$10 and up. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Thin Spaces: Seeking Nature’s Ethereal Conduits
This three-person show of visual art at the venerable Dougherty Arts Center suggests ways in which “the natural world can serve as a conduit to a deeper understanding of the ethereal,” divulging liminal places where material and spirit intertwine. Local and simultaneously beyond locale, the layered oil abstractions of Rebecca Bennett, the stunningly manipulated photography of Leslie Kell, and Elena Lipkowski’s digital collages embellished with hand-stitched embroidery shift the gallery’s walls toward wonder and may open your doors of perception into a realm that’s downright seelie. Bonus: Meet the artists there tonight, 7-9pm. – Wayne Alan BrennerFeb. 3-March 9 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Treespell
This excellent gallery on East Cesar Chavez presents a solo exhibition by Elizabeth Chapin, inspired by the myth of the Greek goddess Artemis, who turned the hunter Actaeon into a stag and shot him full of arrows for sneakily watching her as she bathed. In “Treespell,” the Mississippi-born painter explores natural and mythological worlds “to comment on the transformative power of the gaze and the interconnectedness of all living things, incorporating personal, historical, and imaginative elements to wield and subvert notions of viewership and voyeurism.” – Wayne Alan BrennerThrough March 7 -
Arts
Visual Arts
Unchained Art: Struggle & Release
This solo exhibition by Austin-based artist Fernando Palomo invites you to immerse yourself in a transformative dialogue that navigates the tumultuous sea of human sentiment and experience.Opening reception: Thu., Jan. 25, 5-8pm -
Arts
Comedy
Velveeta Room
The legend of Ronnie Velveeta lives on at this storied 'stablishment of a stand-up stage, where some of the country's hottest comics come to make the floorboards quake with laughter every weekend on Dirty Sixth. Brandie Posey: Sat., May 20, 8 & 10pm. Jake Flores: Sat., May 27, 8 & 10pm.$10. -
Arts
Visual Arts
Wally Workman Gallery: Tiempo Sostenido
This is a solo exhibition – an extraordinary solo exhibition, we daresay – by Spanish artist Juan Luís Jardí, who uses a mix of magic realism with influences of Pop Art and surrealism to illustrate the contrast in our lives and the doubts we're faced with as humans.Feb. 3-25 -
Arts
Visual Arts
WPA: Elizabeth Olds
Minneapolis-born and -raised, Elizabeth Olds lived to a sturdy 94 but didn’t get the attention she deserved in her lifetime. The Harry Ransom Center’s new exhibit, which opened Feb. 3 and runs through July 14, aims to rectify that with a first-of-its-kind look back at more than 100 of her prints, paintings, drawings, and illustrations from the 1920s to the 1960s. Of particular note: her depictions of social and political change from her time as a Works Progress Administration printmaker. Want to go deeper? Drop in for one of the daily docent tours. – Kimberley JonesFeb. 3-July 14 -
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
Visual Arts
Yard Dog: Paul Rodriguez
Yard Dog presents the vibrant works of Paul Rodriguez, a printmaker from San Miguel de Allende. "And some very cool new paintings by Harry Underwood."Opening reception: Fri., Jan. 19, 7-9pm