A bug’s eye view: Shawn Smith’s Ommatidium exhibition
March 10, 2023 Remnant I followed the buzz last Saturday and attended the opening of Austin artist Shawn Smith‘s “Ommatidium” exhibition at grayDUCK Gallery. I’ve followed Shawn’s work with interest for years. For one thing, he and his wife, Ann, are neighbors and friends of ours, and sometimes I get ...
One-of-a-kind design on the 2023 Tribeza Interiors Tour, Part 2
January 26, 2023 I’m so glad Austin’s excellent Tribeza Interiors Tour is back after a 2-year pandemic hiatus. On Sunday’s tour day, I managed to see all 7 of the featured houses, plus squeeze in a picnic lunch courtesy of my touring partner, in the 5 hours allotted to the ...
Color-saturated homes on 2023 Tribeza Interiors Tour, Part 1
January 25, 2023 A pink front door and chromatic rug make a cheerful entry at Genie Norris’s house The quiet season for gardening makes the perfect season to focus on interiors — and to attend Austin’s annual Tribeza Interiors Tour. After a two-year pandemic hiatus, the tour resumed last Sunday, ...
Layers of natural beauty, predators and prey, in Julia Lucey art
January 19, 2023 I’m in love with the enchanting art of California artist Julia Lucey, who’s currently exhibiting her mixed media collages at Austin’s Wally Workman Gallery. I went to see them on Tuesday and stood enraptured before each one, watching as hidden details revealed themselves amid ravishing colors and ...
Cynthia Deegan’s free-spirited, collected home and garden
November 01, 2022 The mossy green doors of Cynthia Deegan’s milagro-spangled garden gate opened to me again a week or so ago, when she generously invited me and Garden Spark speaker Teri Speight to come on over. What a treat to follow up our visit to Lucinda’s garden with Cynthia’s! ...
Lucinda’s Day of the Dead altars, a celebration of departed loved ones
October 30, 2022 Austin icon Lucinda Hutson‘s festive garden is always a joy to visit. But for the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead, she pulls out all the stops in her decorating. Smiling skeletons dangle from trees, gates, umbrellas, and the front porch. At night, purple lights give an ...
Field of Light by Bruce Munro glows at the Wildflower Center
October 12, 2022 Moonrise over Field of Light at the Wildflower Center Silhouetted black trees under a nearly full Hunter’s Moon last Saturday gave a unique Central Texas flavor to British artist Bruce Munro‘s light installation, Field of Light, at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. I’d purchased tickets for ...
Adobe, sky, and bones at Georgia O’Keeffe’s Abiquiu home
September 27, 2022 This time around, I knew to reserve tickets months in advance for a guided tour of Georgia O’Keeffe’s home and studio in Abiquiú, New Mexico, about an hour northwest of Santa Fe. I arrived at midday on August 30th, curious to know what I might learn about ...
Sampling Santa Fe’s colorful art and architecture
September 22, 2022 Santa Fe tops my list as one of the most beautiful cities in America. I love the warm adobe walls that blend with the earth and glow against a bright blue sky; an abundance of public art that speaks to nature and Indigenous culture found all around ...
Doors, gardens, art along Santa Fe’s Canyon Road
September 14, 2022 Santa Fe’s adobe structures seem an extension of the earth itself. Curvy walls in warm, desert hues — tan, soft rose, terracotta — rear up from the gravelly soil to enclose courtyards and residences. Wooden doors, some with slatted windows for a glimpse inside, add mystery and ...
East Austin art safari
August 23, 2022 She Will Have Her Way With You, 2020 I like to share interesting art that I’ve found in my wanderings around Austin. This art excursion occurred back in March, when I explored a few East Austin galleries and public art pieces. Here’s an exhibit I really enjoyed ...
Zilker Garden turns surreal after dark with fantastical neon art
April 25, 2022 Last Friday my husband and I decked ourselves out in floral clothing and headed to Zilker Botanical Garden to attend The Surreal Garden, an interactive neon-art event. I have to say, it was even more fun than I’d imagined. Fantastical neon light sculptures filled the gardens (mainly ...
A collected home with heart at Via Libre garden
December 03, 2021 Known in Abilene for their extensive gardens, designer and artist Cynthia Williams Deegan and her husband, Bobby, picked up and moved to Austin in 2013 to be near their children and grandchildren. Austin has grown more enchanting as a result. As I’ve written previously, Cynthia and Bobby ...
Tour of P. Allen Smith’s home, vegetable garden, and rose garden at Moss Mountain Farm
July 09, 2021 Last month, on a garden-visiting road trip with my mom, I bought tickets for a farm lunch and tour at P. Allen Smith‘s Moss Mountain Farm, about 40 minutes north of Little Rock, Arkansas. Smith is a nationally known TV personality and garden designer, and the half-day ...
Women in American art at Crystal Bridges Museum
July 04, 2021 Roadtripping up to St. Louis last month with my mom, we stopped in Bentonville, Arkansas, to visit the marvelous Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It was my second visit and Mom’s first. When visiting Crystal Bridges with your mom, you must be sure to see Maman ...
The Joy of Nature: David Hockney exhibit at Houston Museum of Fine Arts
June 02, 2021 “How can you be bored with nature? Landscape is infinite, isn’t it?” reads a quote by British landscape artist David Hockney at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and I couldn’t agree more. Influenced by Vincent Van Gogh’s use of color and focus on agricultural landscapes, Hockney ...
