art

Museum of the Big Bend’s Expansion Enters the World of Art

November 17, 2023 | By Pam LeBlanc

Step onto the patio that juts from the recently opened expansion of the Museum of the Big Bend in Alpine, and the spiny ridgeline of the Davis Mountains rises in the distance.

Remembering Fort Worth’s Caravan of Dreams

October 27, 2023 | By Joe Nick Patoski

Forty years ago, a most unusual performance and arts space opened its doors in downtown Fort Worth.

Editor’s Note: To the Top

October 24, 2023 | By Emily Roberts Stone

The stories in this Panhandle special issue invalidate the stereotype of the region as a place you drive through on your way to somewhere else.

The Austin Powwow Is a Celebration of Indigenous Heritage and Culture

September 19, 2023 | By ire’ne lara silva

Inside the Neon World of Meow Wolf Grapevine

July 18, 2023 | By Amal Ahmed

Weekend Getaways from Houston: Galveston and Nacogdoches

May 30, 2023 | By Clayton Maxwell

‘Legacy of Love’ Seeks to Unite All in Dallas’ Oak Lawn Neighborhood

January 24, 2023 | By Dina Gachman

It started with a picture in The Dallas Morning News: an empty patch of unruly grass covered by a sign that read YOUR DESIGN HERE.

The Kimbell Art Museum Celebrates 50 Years of Shining Natural Light on International Art

January 24, 2023 | By Fowzia Karimi

The Biggest Hit at the American Windmill Museum Is the Smallest

November 23, 2022 | By Dina Gachman

The tagline for the American Windmill Museum in Lubbock is “Walk Among the Giants,” which is ironic considering some of the most impressive structures on display inside the 66,000-square-foot space are itty-bitty.

You Don’t Need To Go to New York to See the Statue of Liberty

October 27, 2022 | By Michael Hoinski

Best French contribution to American culture? That’s a toughie: french fries or the Statue of Liberty?

What Is the Greatest Piece of Art in Texas?

August 25, 2022 | By Michael Agresta

Exploring Colorful El Paso Through Its Public Artworks

August 25, 2022 | By ire’ne lara silva

Even a short drive through El Paso reveals a city that’s unmistakably …

Editor’s Note: Wandering Eyes

August 25, 2022 | By Emily Roberts Stone

This month’s cover image marks the seventh taken by photographer and artist E. Dan Klepper, who’s been trekking across the state shooting and writing for us since 2010.

A Livingston Craftsman Turns Native Longleaf Pine Into Handmade Baskets

August 25, 2022 | By Julia Jones

Acclaimed Artist Jesse Lott Sculpts the Houston Art Scene and Beyond

August 25, 2022 | By Michael J. Mooney

Jesse Lott’s art studio, on the west side of Houston’s Fifth Ward, …

At ‘Immersive Frida Kahlo,’ Visitors Can See the Famous Mexican Artist In a New Light

April 8, 2022 | By Alex Temblador

As you enter the room and sit down on a chair or cube, you feel Frida Kahlo’s iconic portraits gazing down on you.

Wildflowers Serve as Inspiration for These 6 Texas Artists

February 24, 2022 | By Clayton Maxwell

From bougainvillea in the Rio Grande Valley to false foxglove in Central Texas, these colorful blooms are the muse for paintings and mixed media art

A 1920s Modernist Interpretation of Texas Bluebonnets

February 24, 2022 | By Traces of Texas

Everett Gee Jackson didn’t plan to become an artist. Born in Mexia in 1900, Jackson enrolled at Texas A&M University in 1918 to study architecture.

Artist Sedrick Huckaby’s New ‘Museum’ Aims to Bring Art to Fort Worth’s Polytechnic Heights

January 27, 2022 | By Jonny Auping

Artist Sedrick Huckaby has been hard at work transforming the 120-year-old Fort Worth house of his late grandmother—known affectionately as “Big Momma”—into a collaborative, multipurpose art space.

Musician Terry Allen Explores the Origins of His Work

December 23, 2021 | By Jonny Auping

Archer City Residents Paint the Town for a Purpose

July 29, 2021 | By

A Piece of Lonesome Dove Lore is on Display at the Wittliff Collections

November 26, 2020 | By Clayton Maxwell

Behold the town of Lonesome Dove in its idea phase, before it became the set for the eponymous 1989 miniseries based on the book by Larry McMurtry.

How Post Office Murals Lifted Spirits During the Great Depression

July 30, 2020 | By Robyn Ross

Artist Mark Dion Travels and Discovers Texas in a New Documentary on Amazon Prime

May 27, 2020 | By June Naylor

When the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily closed the doors of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, it also prematurely shuttered the museum’s new exhibit, The Perilous Texas Adventures of Mark Dion. Luckily, a documentary of the same name about the creation of the exhibit is now available to stream on Amazon Prime.

A Beeville Exhibit Features the Old West Paintings of San Antonio Artist Raul Gutierrez

January 24, 2020 | By Gene Fowler

Raul Gutierrez’s Western art reflects his experience in the borderlands.

Artist “Cimi” Alvarado Teaches History Through the Murals of El Segundo Barrio

November 27, 2019 | By Roberto José Andrade Franco

8 Summer Art Exhibits to See Now

July 15, 2019 | By Meara Isenberg

Giant LEGO dinosaurs, superhero-themed paintings, and photographs of famous musicians are currently on exhibit at museums in Texas—but they won’t be for much longer.

Hopscotch, An Immersive Art Exhibit, Announces Permanent San Antonio Space

June 14, 2019 | By Jacqueline Aguirre

Taking over 18,000-square-feet and two stories of Travis Park Plaza in the downtown area, Hopscotch features rooms that will house anything from light installations and adult playscapes to experimental architecture and gamified environments. It’s set to open late 2019/early 2020.

Ullberg’s Oversized Wildlife Sculptures Wow at Retrospective Exhibit in Corpus Christi

May 13, 2019 | By Jesse Sublett III

Size matters—not only in the jungle but in the civilized world and the medium of wildlife sculpture—a truth amply manifested by sculptor Kent Ullberg’s new exhibition at the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi.

My Hometown: Artist Lindy Chambers Finds Inspiration Along the Backroads of Bellville

March 1, 2019 | By Cynthia J. Drake

When Lindy Chambers drives along the backroads of her hometown of Bellville, she often pulls over to take photos of dilapidated trailer homes or to collect the detritus that many people would pass off as junk—later to be resurrected in her artwork. A self-taught oil painter and sculptor known for colorful depictions of country life, Chambers moved from Hockley to this historic seat of Austin County about 20 years ago.

Terry Allen Dishes on Lubbock (And Everything)

February 21, 2019 | By Wes Ferguson

Terry Allen wears many hats, not that you’ll catch him in a Stetson. Twangy as all get out, the pioneering Texas country singer still enjoys a cult following for his first two albums.

Texas Arts and Crafts Fair Returns to the Hill Country After Five-Year Absence

September 4, 2018 | By Julia Jones

The Texas Arts and Crafts Fair, which the legislature deemed the official arts and crafts fair of the Lone Star State in 1995, is returning this fall after five years of absence. The Hill Country Arts Foundation will debut its newly updated Ingram campus to an estimated 5,000 guests in support of more than 150 Texas artists Sept. 28-30.

Experience One of the Best Live Music Scenes in Texas at Houston’s Silver Slipper

September 1, 2018 | By Joe Nick Patoski

In broad daylight, the Silver Slipper is hardly a looker. The compact building 4 miles northeast of downtown Houston is about as long and wide as an eight-lane bowling alley—“indistinct Minimal Traditional,” according to The Handbook of Texas. Three days a week, it’s a bar, short-order eatery, and neighborhood hangout.

Saturday nights, however, the Silver Slipper transforms into something else.

Passionate Chefs Make Boxed Sandwiches A Thing of the Past at These Fort Worth Museums

August 29, 2018 | By June Naylor

When chef Denise Shavandy walks into the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, she often wonders if she’s dreaming. Before she found her way to cooking, Shavandy considered other career paths that might have landed her in a place like this. Fortuitously, her job as executive chef of Café Modern, the museum’s restaurant, involves crafting beautiful food next to some of the most important art anywhere, inside a building created by one of the world’s foremost design talents.

Frank X. Tolbert 2 Interprets ‘Incredible Creations of Nature’ in the Texas Bird Project

August 27, 2018 | By Gene Fowler

The art aficionados at the opening of Frank X. Tolbert 2’s Texas Bird Project exhibition in Austin were clearly enamored with the artist’s prints, paintings, and drawings of the state’s winged and feathered beings. But the birdwatchers who came to meet the Houston artist were absolutely rapt.

7 Ways to Inspire a Love of Art in Your Kids

August 27, 2018 | By Paula Disbrowe

Sometimes it’s all in the packaging: Telling my 8- and 10-year-old children we’re going to spend an entire day looking at art isn’t likely to make their hearts leap—that would require a water slide or afternoon at their favorite arcade.

Find Museum-Quality Art in These 8 Texas Hotels

August 22, 2018 | By

We’ve rounded up eight hotels across Texas where cultural enlightenment is a bonus amenity, and the hospitality extends beyond spas and room service. Best of all, most of these works are on display for everyone, whether staying the night or popping in for a look around.

The Blanco River May Very Well Inspire You to Take Home Local Art When Visiting Wimberley

June 26, 2018 | By Rose L. thayer

“The river was just beautiful,” he says of that first visit. “After driving in through the cypress trees for just a few seconds, I was hooked.” In 2002, Smith began building a house. Now retired, he lives in Wimberley full-time and has turned his hobby of photography into a business. His beloved river is a frequent muse, and his photos teem with intricate lines and captivating use of light and color.

How Houston’s Art Scene Bounced Back from Harvey After the Storm Collided with Its Season Openings

May 23, 2018 | By Heather Brand

Harvey struck when Houston’s world-class arts scene was gearing up for a new season, devastating venues and upending plans. But creativity and courage go hand in hand: “This city came together in a way I’ve never seen,” says Eileen J. Morris, artistic director of the Ensemble Theatre.

A Visit to Marfa Brings Stylish, Otherworldly Experiences in the Tumbleweeds of West Texas

April 25, 2018 | By Michael Corcoran

That’s what attracted renowned Manhattan artist Donald Judd to Marfa in the ’70s. His large-scale installations, which meld sculpture and nature on an old Army base renamed The Chinati Foundation, made this far West Texas town a destination for the international art crowd. But in recent years, “The Capital of Quirkiness” (as CBS’ 60 Minutes dubbed it in 2013) has broadened its appeal to “bucket list” millennials and tourists who might think Donald Judd was Wynonna’s pop. A fascination for Hollywood in recent years, Marfa also enjoys frequent coverage in The New York Times—which ran at least eight stories with a Marfa dateline in the past two years (including four in the paper’s fashion supplement). All this attention has helped convert this tiny town with its own NPR station into the San Francisco of the Texas desert.

Murals add color to San Marcos

March 19, 2018 | By

Riverside town. Campus community. Historic springs. Mermaids and music.
If you thought San Marcos, you thought correctly.

Laguna Gloria

January 20, 2017 | By Martha Deeringer

You could easily get a crick in your neck from looking up at Tom Friedman’s stainless-steel sculpture Looking Up.

Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots

October 20, 2015 | By

Abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) achieved fame in the late 1940s with his distinctive “drip paintings.” At the Dallas Museum of Art, Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots explores what came next: Pollock’s “black paintings,” a series of black enamel and oil paintings on untreated canvas created from 1951 to 1953.

George Catlin’s American Buffalo

May 6, 2015 | By

On five trips to the American frontier in the 1830s, artist and writer George Catlin chronicled American Indians of the Great Plains in hundreds of colorful, detailed paintings.

Audubon’s Beasts

January 14, 2015 | By

The naturalist John James Audubon (1785-1851) is best known for his effort to illustrate and catalog the breadth of America’s bird species. Later in life, he embarked on a similar project for mammals with his book Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, featuring hand-colored prints of creatures like bison, raccoons, and wolves.

Magnetic Art

December 12, 2014 | By Clayton Maxwell

Clearly I am not the only one who yearns to bring a bit of Spain back to Texas.

Viva Luis!

September 11, 2014 | By Gene Fowler

The eyes of five-year-old Luis Jiménez filled with wonder the day in 1945 he stood before the dramatic works of los tres grandes muralistas—Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros—at Mexico City’s Museo de Bellas Artes.

The Bastrop Aesthetic

August 22, 2014 | By June Naylor

Instead of pigeon-holing Bastrop as a place to stop for a piece of pie and a poke around the shops, my husband and I arrive for a weekend visit to take a fresh look at Bastrop as a place for enjoying art and other handcrafted beauty.

In the Creative Moment

July 11, 2014 | By Gene Fowler

The artist, inventor, architect, and teacher Buck Winn first beheld the hills of Wimberley in the late 1930s.

An Interwoven Legacy

July 10, 2014 | By Gene Fowler

Most Texans with deep roots in the state treasure the contributions their ancestors made to its unique history.

San Antonio Artist Captures Latino Community in Public Artworks

January 4, 2012 | By Anthony Head

Driving northbound on I-35 through downtown San Antonio affords a clear view of the city’s Christus Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital, where a nine-story, tiled mural called Spirit of Healing features an image of a young boy holding a dove while an angel watches over him.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Houston’s Menil Collection

December 1, 2010 | By John Davidson

The best treasures are often hidden, and sometimes the best place to hide them is in plain sight.

New Twist On Maya Meaning

October 23, 2010 | By Charles Lohrmann

Fort Worth’s Kimbell Museum stands ready to present significant advances in the collective understanding of and appreciation for Maya art.

Get the Magazine

Save up to 62% off the cover price

Subscribe

Sign Up for Our Newsletters

Sign up for magazine extras, upcoming events, Mercantile specials, subscription offers, and more.