Light-diffusing Petals and Ellsworth Kelly at Blanton Museum
Light-filtering, tulip-shaped structures called the Petals shade the plaza at the Blanton Museum, home to Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin chapel.… Read More
Blue trees in Austin’s Pease Park spotlight tree loss around the world
The Blue Trees by Konstantin Dimopoulos brings our attention to the crises of deforestation and climate change by transforming local trees with a harmless temporary color that slowly washes away.… Read More
Creek Show 2021 lights up spacious new Waterloo Park
Creek Show is back and better than ever at downtown Austin’s Waterloo Park. The inventive light installation runs through November 21.… Read More
Wheels up! Cadillac Ranch is art for the open road
At Cadillac Ranch a line of 10 classic Caddies buck like broncos, rear wheels pointing skyward, noses deep in a field along Route 66.… Read More
Fun stuff at Austin nurseries this spring
In my mad rush from nursery to nursery this spring, I’ve spotted a lot of funny and eye-catching decor. Let me share it with you!… Read More
Exploring Austin’s Sparky Park mosaic wall
At Austin’s Sparky Park, craggy walls of limestone and blue glass display mosaics of seashells, petrified wood, and other found objects. It’s a place to spark the imagination.… Read More
Octopus joins fantastical creatures at Mueller parks
A giant purple octopus wraps its tentacles around the restrooms at brand-new Jessie Andrews Park in Austin’s Mueller development.… Read More
Kempelen’s Owls and more public art in downtown Austin
If you’re looking for something fun to do with family over the holidays, why not burn a few calories while checking out the fun public art in downtown Austin?… Read More
Sculpture worth visiting at Rice University
Rice University is my alma mater, and if the weather’s nice when I’m in Houston I’ll often take a walk around campus. It’s not all for nostalgia’s sake, though. Rather, Rice has really upped its sculpture and art collection game in recent years, and much of it is open to the public. Take the James Turrell Twilight Epiphany Skyspace, which rises like a grassy Mayan pyramid at the end of a sycamore allee. A thin white rectangular roof floats over the mound like a hovering UFO.… Read More
Ganador the lucha libre grackle is ready to wrestle
The Austin artist whose grackles I absolutely adore is Christy Stallop, especially her lucha libre series. Yes, her grackles wear Mexican wrestler masks! Recently she branched out from painting on wood panels to sculpting a larger-than-life grackle, a project for which she won a TEMPO grant. … Read More
Sculptural light installations glow along Austin’s Waller Creek during 5th annual Creek Show
November 19, 2018 Last Saturday, on the final day of Creek Show 2018, hundreds of tents floated sinuously above downtown Austin’s Waller Creek, glowing orange and purple like fairy lights. To reach the start of this temporary art exhibition sponsored … Read More
Explore Fortlandia at the Wildflower Center
October 25, 2018 Your secret hideout awaits! That’s the tagline for Fortlandia, an exhibit of play forts on display — and available for play — at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center now through February 2019. I visited on a … Read More
Houston, capital of Southern-cool art?
August 24, 2018 Detail of Dixie Friend Gay’s mosaic Wild Wonderland in Houston’s Midtown Park Speeding away from the sleepy South Carolina town I grew up in, I rolled into megatropolis Houston at the nadir of the mid-1980s oil crash. … Read More
Ellsworth Kelly’s “Austin” brightens University of Texas campus
March 07, 2018 Resembling squares of lime, cherry, berry blue, and grape Jell-O, the glass-block windows of artist Ellsworth Kelly’s new artwork, Austin, are colorful, playful, and flat-out fun. You kind of want to slurp them up, or stick your … Read More