This April, Austin’s art scene pulses with metamorphosis — whether through the meditative burn of incense, the fragile flight of pollinators, or the bold reimagining of Black queer joy.
At Women and Their Work, Ranran Fan’s Inhale the Interruption turns ancient rituals into contemporary acts of healing, while Dougherty Arts Center showcases Sara Jane Parsons’ Project Pollination, where watercolor still lifes pay homage to the tiny creatures sustaining our food supply.
From Melanie Hickerson’s vibrant Homage to Miracles — a celebration of butterflies as ecological lifelines — to Jacqueline May’s layered braille-and-bead dreamscapes at Lydia Street Gallery, these exhibits invite you to shed old perspectives.
Doughtery Arts Center
Sara Jane Parsons: Project Pollination— Now through April 19
Parsons’ Project Pollination is a captivating series of still-life watercolor paintings that pair foods she regularly enjoys with portraits of their essential pollinators. This project, inspired by her love of food and concern for the environment, highlights the beauty of everyday ingredients while raising awareness of the vital role pollinators play in sustaining ecosystems. Her art is both realistic and deeply personal, inviting viewers to connect with the natural world on an intimate level.
Tara Eales: Perfect Proportions — Now through April 19
Using upcycled materials such as designer fabric offcuts, deconstructed garments, and found objects, Eales transforms discarded items into colorful, whimsical works that celebrate imperfection and individuality. Her work blurs the line between sculpture and fashion, embracing the joy of experimentation and the beauty of imperfection. Through her art, Eales encourages viewers to celebrate creativity, individuality, and the transformative power of upcycled materials.
Davis Gallery
Sydney Yeager: Unfurled — Now through April 26
Yeager's artwork features vibrant, colorful oil-on-linen pieces that blend abstraction with inspiration from both the natural world and artistic traditions. Her sweeping, fluid brushstrokes evoke organic elements, creating bold gestural abstractions that capture the dynamic motion of natural forms. Central to her work is the concept of fragmentation: exploring how independent parts collide to form a whole, only to break apart again, through the interplay of color and form.
Austin Public Library
Moyo Okediji: Beauty and the Beads: Divine Fire and Color in Transatlantic Beaded Art — Now through April 27
Through expressive objects, videos, and photographs, the exhibition explores the evolution of beaded glassmaking. Okediji showcases how beads evolved from traditional three-dimensional tubular designs to the flat, geometric, and figural forms we recognize today. These works show a dynamic interplay of history, tradition, and modernity, with a focus on sustainable practices and the enduring significance of beads in African art.
Lydia Street Gallery
Jacqueline May: New Works— Now through May 4
This exhibition delves into themes of movement, transformation, and the spiritual connection within text, often incorporating reflective and translucent surfaces. May's pieces blend various mediums, including metallic luster, aluminum, sewn beads, and collage. May layers dream-like imagery with text — braille, music, diagrams, and ancient alphabets — adding both visual texture and symbolic meaning.
Melanie Hickerson: Homage to Miracles— Now through May 4
Hickerson’s artwork is bright, colorful, and filled with dynamic, moving elements that celebrate the beauty and importance of insects, particularly butterflies. Her recurring motif of monarch butterflies in flight symbolizes all insects and serves as a reflection on their critical role in human survival and their alarming decline. While her work feels whimsical and lively, it remains grounded in real-world concerns about the environment and the loss of biodiversity.
Women and Their Work
Ranran Fan: Inhale the Interruption— Now through May 8
Through interactive installations and responsive sculptures, Fan’s exhibition explores the intersection of time, memory, and healing. The artist showcases how incense transitions from its traditional Chinese timekeeping function to a contemporary tool for psychological interruption and renewal. The works focus on participatory engagement and the transformative potential of sensory experiences.
Art Galleries at Black Studies
Group Exhibition: Transcendence: A Century of Black Queer Ecstasy, 1924–2024— Now through May 9
This exhibition explores 100 years of visual representations of Black queer ecstasy as a form of transcendence. The works delve into paradoxes such as pleasure and pain, autonomy and dependence, and excess and lack. Transcendence is organized into seven themes: Portraiture, Beyond Figuration, Dance and Movement, Spirituality, Sex and Sensuality, Black Queer Futures, and Altered States, offering insights into Black queer experiences and advocating for a more inclusive future.
Link and Pin Art Space
Carly Weaver: Past Things — April 5 through May 4
This exhibition reveals a more personal side of Weaver, typically known for her grackle paintings. Representing more than 600 hours of drawing work, the exhibition includes detailed drawings and diary entries alongside delicate plaster sculptures. For these pieces, Weaver draws on themes of memory, nostalgia and loss through the lens of 1980s childhood experiences.
