Hanging Around Austin

Hanging Around Austin: 5 August art exhibits that will make you cooler

Isn't it great how "August" is also an adjective? It means "majestic" or "inspiring awe or admiration," which suits the shows hanging around Austin this month just fine. Stop by and check them out, experience the majesties and tell your friends later how august they are (accent on the gust).

A Secret Affair: Selections from the Fuhrman Family Collection
The Contemporary Austin – Jones Center, through August 24
Not all weird art is cool and not all cool art is weird, but the pieces up at the Jones Center this month show you that sweet spot where the two come together. These selections from the collection of Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman represent various viewpoints on the human corpus from abject to whimsical, done representationally, symbolically and in full abstract. Come get your eyeballs tickled and your thoughts provoked.

Akiko Kotani: Soft Walls
Women & Their Work, through August 29
Sturdy walls of wood suffused with thousands of feet of flowing knotted plastic have taken over Women & Their Work this summer, thanks to a sculptural installation by eminent fibers artist Akiko Kotani. Kotani chooses to employ what she calls “humble techniques” — crochet, stitching and weaving — to create work of surprising power and profound simplicity that honors generations of women whose handcrafts occupy treasured positions in private collections of a different variety.

All Summer Long
Davis Gallery & Framing, through August 30
The Davis Gallery has created a dynamic art-fair atmosphere with the eclectic summer show, hanging pieces from a wide range of previous creators in a feast for spectators and collectors alike. Anything you buy during special events or regular gallery hours will go home with you that day and be replaced by a new piece, so visit and help curate the show with a purchase. Or stop by for a Meet the Artists mixer on August 9 at 7pm.

Women of the Serie Project & Young Latina Artists 19: Y, Qué?
Mexic-Arte, through September 7
Latinas take a double spotlight at Mexic-Arté this season with an explosion of creative vitality from a range of artistic vocabularies. San Antonio’s Más Rudas Chicana Collective stepped in to hand-select this year’s YLA exhibition, wherein challenging cultural questions are exposed and explored. Serigraph prints from women who have served as artists in residence at Austin’s Serie Project hang in the annex.

Flatbed Summer Selections
Flatbed Press and Gallery, through September 13
Flatbed has been pressing since 1990, and the exhibit currently up at the venerable space displays the breadth and depth of inspiration engendered by the medium and its messengers. Prepare to have etchings, monotypes, lithographs and relief prints visited upon you, courtesy of a select group of internationally and locally known artists. Bring anyone who knows not the depth of contemporary printmaking and they will leave changed.

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Historic Austin museum will close for more than a year for restoration

Photo courtesy of the City of Austin

The Elisabet Ney Museum will close at the end of 2024 and reopen in mid-2026.

Every building needs some maintenance here or there, and the historic Elisabet Ney Museum needs some extra-special care. Formerly the art studio and residence of its namesake, it's been standing since 1892. It'll spend 2025 in relative solitude, as it undergoes renovation for a year and a half with no visitors allowed.

The museum will close to the public December 30, 2024, and open again in the summer of 2026 if all goes according to plan, a news release from the City of Austin shares. It'll be a quiet period compared to the 21,000 people visiting from around the world each year.

According to a museum overview on the city's website, Elisabet Ney, a European portrait sculptor, bought the property and called her new studio Formosa. She worked on sculptures depicting important Texans like Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, and collected works of European contemporaries.

The building at 304 East 44th St. includes 3,700 square feet of museum space, which was converted by Ney's friends after her death in 1907. It retains its unique look that juxtaposes a Neo-Classical main studio from 1892 with a later addition from 1902 including a tower for her husband, Edmund, to write in. It is also on 2.5 acres of land, which has largely been restored to its natural state with native species.

A press release lists these tasks (verbatim) within the scope of the new work, referred to as the Capital Improvement Project (CIP):

Restoration of original exterior wood doors and windows
Upgrades and replacement of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system
Replacement of the exhibit and general lighting systems
Repairs to the roof, masonry, plumbing, and interior finishes.

There will also be work to do outside of the building. Workers will replace the pedestrian bridge across Waller Creek, stabilize a 20,000-square-foot portion of the bank, and make the grounds more accessible by adding new pathways.

Funding comes from several sources, according to a release: "the 2012 Bond, Proposition 14, the Parkland Dedication Fund, the Historic Preservation Fund, Partners in Preservation through the National Trust, and contributions from the Friends of the Elisabet Ney Museum."

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