6 great exhibits to get your groove on for this July in San Antonio

State of the Arts

Courtesy AnArte Gallery

Prepare to be entertained this July by dazzling exhibits and installations in Alamo City. Delight in intricate and unusual bamboo basket weavings, made from the 19^th century to the present, at SAMA; admire intricate sculptures of paper by Michael Velliquette at Blue Star. Two artists are inspired by colorful blooms (and butterflies): Lucy Peveto with gold leaf and acrylic flower pieces at AnArte, and Rachel Comminos with tufted rug blooms and bursts at Flight Gallery. There is plenty of enchantment to go around.

Un Grito Gallery

Rafael Gutierrez: "Spectral Evidence” — July 6 through 20
Rafael Gutierrez, a graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio, says his work is about being an “artist of color in Contemporary America.” “Spectral Evidence” is a new body of work that he says came together unexpectedly. His drawings, “willed themselves into existence. A bit of degenerate art for you, all ghostly grays and smudged shadow. Blank paper haunted by pencil.” Along with the dark hues, images show hands with missing digits and dancers with missing arms; Gutierrez’s creative process was influenced by the aesthetic of the Dada movement.

Flight Gallery

Rachel Comminos: "Burst and Bloom” — July 6 through 30
Rachel Comminos takes all of her “challenging feelings” and turns them into art; art of the tufted rug variety. She’s a one-person tufted rug production factory and creates “soft, lovable pieces of art.” Her “bursts,” as she calls them, represent portals, blooms, open wounds, and healing. Her tufted rugs are bursting with life and give her the chance to create new blooming versions of herself.

Contemporary at Blue Star

Michael Velliquette: "The Direct Path" — July 7 through September 3
Michael Velliquette creates temple-like architectural structures out of paper. The intricate sculptures were made through repetitive processes that became meditative: things like measuring and cutting. The compositions embrace the ordinary and fragile. For a unique meditative experience, and the possibility to lose yourself in paper, journey on down “The Direct Path.”

AnArte Gallery

Lucy Peveto: "Inside Out, Budding Blooms" — July 12 through August
Lucy Peveto loves butterflies and what they symbolize: the connection between creativity, emotion, and spirituality. High heat and resin chemicals are juxtaposed with delicate, paper-thin butterfly wings and delicate metallic leaf to illustrate the fragilities of physical life. Peveto says she works with patterns "to represent how we may find unexpected light and shadow in life and in art.” The vibrancy of colors and golds used in each stroke evoke joy and a desire to step into each canvas and dance with the butterflies.

San Antonio Museum of Art

“Creative Splendor: Japanese Bamboo Baskets from the Thoma Collection" — July 15 through January 2, 2024
This series curates three groups of baskets as an example of Japanese basket-making from the nineteenth century to the present day. "There are three regions of Japan represented," wrote the museum. "The Kansai region, which encompasses the ancient capital, Kyoto; the Kanto region, which stretches westward from Tokyo; and the southernmost island of Kyushu." The baskets are truly objects of art and one wonders at the dedication involved in making them.

San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum

Black History Film Series — July 26 through November 30
The SAAACAM film series is a yearly event showcasing groundbreaking films of Black historical relevance and culture. July presents “Freedom Riders,” a 2010 documentary about "activists [who] traveled together in small interracial groups and sat wherever they chose on buses and trains to compel equal access to terminal restaurants and waiting rooms" during the Civil Rights Movement. Upcoming film highlights in this series include Thurgood, and Judas and the Black Messiah.

Courtesy AnArte Gallery

"Chasing Away the Clouds' by Lucy Peveto in "Inside Out, Budding Blooms"

Courtesy the Carver Cultural Center

7 sensational exhibits to sample in San Antonio this April

State of the Arts

The elements, clouds, Superman, and the Mexican-American experience are the themes of San Antonio exhibits this April. Discover Puerto Rican artist Raul Rivera in his first solo show at Un Grito Gallery; David Alcantar explores the iconography of Superman at Mercury Project; and Joe Lopez embraces people whose lives are not often in mainstream cultural representation in his show, “Moments.” The arts are spirited in San Antonio this month and ready for exploring.

Un Grito Gallery

“Raul Rivera: Contemplation | Contemplaciones” — April 6 through 20
In this exhibition of acrylic monotypes from Puerto Rico-born, San Antonio-based artist Raul Rivera, his work, often influenced by the landscapes of the Caribbean where he grew up, “responds to the need to dismantle the reality that we observe and highlight the relationship that exists between the elements that forms it.” This is Rivera’s first solo show.

Centro Cultural Aztlan

“Joe Lopez: Momentos en Tiempo/Moments” — April 6 through 27
Joe Lopez, a San Antonio native, captures in this exhibit the everyday lived experiences, identities, relationships, spiritual life, and hard work of people whose lives are not often in mainstream cultural representation. “Although we were looked down on, we were extremely proud of who we were…Mexicanos Americanos/Chicanos. I hope they can see their experiences reflected in my paintings,“ says Lopez in an artist statement.

Ruby City

“Amy Cutler: Past, Present, Progress” — April 6 through February 25, 2024
At the center of this exhibition is surrealist artist Amy Cutler’s interactive, multi-media installation Fossa (2015). Cutler is known for her finely detailed paintings, drawings, and prints of women working at domestic or mysterious tasks in intimate, magical settings, and Fossa creates the experience of walking into one of her works. Also included in the exhibition will be Cutler’s large drawing of the same name, acquired by Ruby City earlier this year, along with a selection of loaned works from two other series. For over two decades, Cutler has created beguiling images that only hint at unknown and open-ended stories, inviting endless interpretations.

Mercury Project

“David Alcantar: The Superman Project "— April 7 through 30
Texas artist David Alcantar’s exhibition is a partial culmination of his research about how societal negotiations surrounding power have defined American heroism, and vice-versa. The iconography of Superman and his association to “Truth, Justice, and the American Way,” is used as a touchstone to investigate how we negotiate and reconcile our desire for salvation and heroism with our flaws and mortality. The project highlights questions about America’s identity, political power, military policy, immigration policy, and its supposed constitution to moral righteousness, to name a few.

Ruiz-Healy Art

“Nate Cassie: A Knife Out Of A Cloud” — April 12 through May 27
The exhibition features ceramics, prints, paintings, and video installation to examine a mixture of rousing and frightening feelings, along with the ever-present sense that one never knows what the future holds for them. Nate Cassie presents an array of objects evoking sentiments of transformation and change. In his body of work, cloud imagery is a hallmark that best captures these concepts. In the artist’s words, “They signify transition, clouds moving across the sky. Depending on what they look like, it is a sign of change in the weather. I feel that analogy applies to contemporary life, our current moment.”

Clamp Light Studios

“Narratives at Play” — April 14 through May 6
“Narratives at Play” features new and recent artworks by three Texas-based artists: Vincent Fink, Stephanie Gonzalez, and Calvin Pressley. Through surrealist imagery and abstraction, there is a sense of human nature and the connection to the natural and subconscious world pervading through each of the artists’ works. Whether it be through an intuitive process or mathematical planning, there is an essence of play and exploration inviting viewers to re-interpret the works with their own sense of curiosity.

The Carver Cultural Community Center

Courtesy the Carver Cultural Center

Find words by Akaimi Davis and Kwanzaa Edwards at the Carver Cultural Center this month.

“Akaimi Davis & Kwanzaa Edwards” — April 20 through May 26
Akaimi Davis and Kwanzaa Edwards display two distinct aesthetics in their work, but both draw inspiration from their personal life to inspire others through their histories and artistry. Davis is known for her bold, graphic lines and strong imagery while Edwards blends personal history with fantasy to create a romanticized understanding and appreciation of all life holds.

Courtesy of the Witte Museum

7 scintillating ways to soak up the arts in San Antonio this month

State of the Arts

March brings some stellar exhibits to Alamo City with themes as varied as women and Latinx artists to dogs, dinosaurs, saints, and the Wild West. The Fronteriza project at Presa House focuses on women artists in Texas contemplating the U.S.-Mexico border through their art; “Alchemy” features Latin American artists demonstrating the magical process of transformation that occurs when art is created. Meanwhile, the Witte introduces viewers to the dinosaurs of the Antarctic, where 200 million years ago these Early Jurassic theropods thrived, while “Night of Artists” at the Briscoe celebrates cowboys. There's so much art to devour, so giddy up and get out there.

Ruiz-Healy Art

“Alchemy: Works on Paper” — Now through April 1
“Alchemy” features Latin American and Texas-based artists, and demonstrates the power of the brushstroke and the seemingly magical process of transformation that occurs in the creation of an artwork. The flexible quality of paper, and its two-dimensional constraints, is manipulated in this way to blur the realms of reality and fantasy. The immediacy of drawing, collage, and photograms find kinship with the multi-step techniques of printmaking and papermaking. In the case of Jesse Amado’s “Machine,” materials such as ink and graphite produce an elaborate three-dimensional drawing, while “A Bailar,” by Cisco Jimenez playfully uses collage to deconstruct the human body.

The Witte Museum

“Antarctic Dinosaurs” — Now through September 10
Visit Antarctica at the Witte: Now one of the most isolated and dangerous environments on Earth, Antarctica was a bountiful, forested habitat where dinosaurs thrived 200 million years ago. “Antarctic Dinosaurs” transports visitors back in time to discover the dinosaurs that ruled these now-fossilized forests. Explore the plants and animals that once flourished in the thick forests of Jurassic Antarctica, then part of the supercontinent Gondwanaland, and learn how the land drifted and changed to become the polar continent we know today. View fossils that reveal Antarctica’s past, alongside large-scale replicas of dinosaur species unique to the continent. Marvel at the 25-foot-long Cryolophosaurus, the largest and most complete Early Jurassic theropod in the world, and a new-to-science juvenile sauropodomorph.

AnArte Gallery

“Sergio Mata: Saint Anthony” — Now through March 30
On June 13, 1691, San Antonio was named after Saint Anthony, the Spanish version of the name. Sergio C Mata, a 31-year-old artist from San Antonio, creates modern colorful portraits of Saint Anthony with titles that reflect the color palette like, “Cantaloupe Anthony,” “Lavender Anthony,” and “Citrine Anthony.” The artist’s intention is that the Saint Anthony’s will “watch over those who live within his city,” Mata says in an artist statement. “My art project will hopefully show the entire world how San Antonio's belief in art and culture is above all miraculous.”

Blue Star Contemporary

“The Dog Show: Hiromi Stringer” — Now through June 4
Almost 30 years ago, Hiromi Stringer was inspired by seeing a Siberian Husky dog on a busy street in Bangkok, and this later informed his work in “Dog Show: Time Traveler Umeyama’s Drawings from the 21st Century.” Intertwined with the various dogs in the gouache and sumi ink on oriental paper paintings is the story of Umeyama, a mediocre scholar who time-travels to various times and places. His base point is the Japan of 170 years ago when the country was under government-enforced national isolation. “There are many parallels between him and myself,” Stringer shares in a statement, “but he is not my alter ego. I use him to see the world more objectively through his subjective view, yet some traces of my subjectivity are not denied in my works.”

Presa House Gallery

“Fronteriza: Aquí y Allá"— Now through April 15
The Fronteriza project focuses on women artists in Texas contemplating the U.S.-Mexico border through their art. The nine participating artists bring a different perspective from uniquely personal experiences depicted in various media and techniques, such as ceramics, fibers, textiles, painting, drawing, photography, video, and performance. As women, the collective approaches art and themes about the border collaboratively; the interconnectedness in their work includes aspects of the female perspective in family history, culture, place, and politics.

The McNay Art Museum

“Womanish: Audacious, Courageous, Willful Art” — Now through July 2
"Womanish” features artwork by women acquired by the McNay from 2010 to the present. The title of this exhibition is inspired by Alice Walker’s essay "Womanist," in which she defines womanish as “usually referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous or willful behavior.” By highlighting the wide variety of ways women express themselves through art, this exhibition aims to celebrate the term “womanish,” which is all too often considered derogatory. The work represented spans over 90 years and includes portraiture, abstraction, landscapes, and more.

Briscoe Western Art Museum

Courtesy of the Witte Museum

Antarctic Dinosaurs at the Witte Museum.

“2023 Night of Artists”— March 26 through May 7
This annual event allows the public to view and purchase over 270 new works of painting, sculpture, and mixed media by 80 of the country’s leading contemporary Western artists. The wide range of artworks reflect the vastness of the great American West: From scenic landscapes and inspired Native Americans, classic cowboys, and dazzling vaqueros, to stunning wildlife and detailed portraiture, “Night of Artists” has something for everyone enthralled with the Wild West.

Courtesy The Carver Cultural Community Center

6 San Antonio exhibits to warm your heart and soul this February

State of the Arts

All you need is art this month in Alamo City with fresh and fearless exhibits: Some will tickle your fancy; others, your psyche. Explore JooYoung Choi’s imaginary world at The Contemporary, or immerse yourself in the history of the Mexican-American War of 1848 with representations from various artists at the Centro Cultural Aztlan. Guy Blair brings San Antonio’s unhoused population into careful focus with painted portraits at the Semmes Gallery, while the San Antonio Museum of Art transports viewers into “Roman Landscapes” providing birds-eye perspectives and fantastical views. There's something for everyone this February.

Centro Cultural Aztlan

“Segundo de Febrero: Chicana/Chicano Reunion” — Now through February 24
February 2 marks the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The landmark treaty ended the Mexican-American War, redistributed the border, and created a new bicultural population. In this exhibition, a group of celebrated artists will explore the impact of broken treaties, new borders, and their effects on Latino, Chicano, and indigenous history and culture.

The Contemporary at Blue Star

“JooYoung Choi: Songs of Resilience from the Tapestry of Faith” — February 3 through May 7
Through painting, video, sculpture, animation, music ,and installation art, multidisciplinary world-builder JooYoung Choi documents the interconnecting narratives of a highly structured, expansive, fictional land she calls the "Cosmic Womb." Her work explores issues of identity, belonging, trauma, and resilience through the sci-fi/fantasy genre. This exhibition introduces the Cosmic Womb multiverse and highlights some of its key characters and narratives. In creating a world that explores loss, healing, and growth based upon a connective web of belief and faith in oneself, Choi expresses human resiliency and the strength that can be found through the power of storytelling.

Centro de Artes

“Soy de Tejas: A Statewide Survey of Latinx Art” — February 9 through July 2
Soy de Tejas presents the works of 40 native Texan and Texas-based contemporary artists who reflect the diverse and beautiful complexity of Latinx identities. The more than 100 artworks forge new connections and explore intersections from a nexus of artists who ambitiously blaze a trail of contemporary artmaking, presenting fresh Latinx perspectives and experiences while amplifying the voices of a segment of Texas' most inspiring established and emerging artists. “The exhibit explores themes ranging from race, class, and gender to migration, mythmaking, displacement, and indigeneity," says curator Rigoberto Luna on the gallery's website. "In contrast, many works center on celebrating joyful customs, culture, and traditions that unite and sustain our communities in the face of a multitude of challenges."

Semmes Gallery - University of the Incarnate Word

“Homeless in San Antonio” — February 17 through March 17
Guy Blair is largely self-taught as an artist in the medium of pastels and watercolor. He always wanted “to do” art but was devoted to his ministry as a priest. For the past 40 years as a Catholic priest, he has ministered to both the deaf and homeless communities. In the past eight years, he has seriously paid attention to his desire to paint. This exhibit is a blending of his service to the homeless as well as his interest in art. “As we walk by homeless people on the streets of San Antonio, most people tend to look through them or judge them as perhaps deserving of the situation they are in,” Blair said in an artist statement. “This attitude allows people to build an emotional barrier, giving them permission not to connect with the homeless as destitute people whose suffering and tears are as real as our own.”

The Carver Cultural Community Center

“Alain Gakwaya"— February 23 through April 14
Alain Gakwaya hails from Rwanda and is a self-described, “activist, artist, and adventurer.” His love for art began in the 3rd grade, when his teacher requested that he draw for his entire class. Specializing in portraiture, Gakwaya paints to tell his story and the stories of his homeland. Though he's now based in San Antonio, he draws inspiration from everyday life in Africa and specifically his home country of Rwanda.

San Antonio Museum of Art

Courtesy of the Carver Cultural Community Center

Alain-Gakwaya's work is coming to the Carver Cultural Community Center this month.

“Roman Landscapes: Visions of Nature and Myth from Rome and Pompeii” — February 24 through May 21
The exhibition features 65 wall paintings, sculptures, mosaics, and cameo glass and silver vessels created in Roman Italy between 100 BC and AD 250. “Roman Landscapes” introduces visitors to the cultural and archaeological contexts of Roman landscapes, beginning with mural paintings and relief sculptures that depict coastal villas and rustic shrines. These works display the imaginary aspects of Roman images of the natural world, connecting the genre’s appearance to the political and social upheaval of the late Republic and early Empire. Fantastical views of Egypt and Greece reflect ancient fascination with these celebrated lands incorporated into the Roman Empire. Mythological paintings then reveal landscape scenes as settings for hazardous encounters between humans and the gods.

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Online home searching platform Compass buys top San Antonio-based brokerage

real estate news

National residential real estate agency Compass has acquired Realty Austin and Realty San Antonio, in a move that will expand its position as the leading national firm and its growth in Texas by more than 600 agents.

Although the sale price was not disclosed in Compass' announcement, the local brokerages completed $5.24 billion sales just in 2022 alone.

Compass added that the Austin and San Antonio leadership will have direct oversight of daily operations as part of the terms of the acquisition. Realty Austin and Realty San Antonio co-founder Yvette Flores maintains that she and her leadership team will strive for a "seamless transition" into the national firm that respects the home-grown culture they have created.

Realty Austin was founded in 2004 by Flores and Jonathan Boatwright, and has grown through the years to become one of the most innovative brokerages in Central Texas and beyond. The company expanded its operations to San Antonio in 2021.

Realty Austin and Realty San Antonio CEO Gabe Richter said in the release that Compass' leading-edge technology will help his agents foster greater successes, particularly in one blossoming San Antonio category: luxury real estate.

"Our agents have consistently set records with remarkable achievements," Richter said in the release. "Now, by aligning with Compass, they gain access to a transformative technology platform that enhances efficiency and elevated resources that empower them to secure even more luxury listings."

Compass was founded in 2012 as the largest real estate brokerage in the U.S., and preserves its stronghold as the No. 1 brokerage in Texas thanks to its milestone acquisition. The national brokerage has already surpassed $10 billion in sales in Texas in 2023, according to the release.

“With this acquisition, we've positioned ourselves as Austin's leading brokerage — our commitment to setting new standards and inspiring innovation for all our exceptional agents remains the top priority while honoring what Realty Austin and Realty San Antonio has built," said Compass Texas President Rachel Hocevar.

Fantastic visuals and original story make The Creator a must-see sci-fi film

Movie Review

In the relatively risk-averse world that is modern Hollywood, getting an original story is a rarity. The vast majority of potentially blockbuster movies these days are ones that have a connection to some kind of existing intellectual property that already has a well-established track record. So anytime something interesting arrives that’s not a sequel/reboot/remake/commercial for a product, it deserves to be celebrated.

And that goes double when it’s done as well as the new sci-fi film, The Creator. The film is set in a post-apocalyptic world in 2065, 30 years after a sentient artificial intelligence detonated a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. Joshua (John David Washington) is an American soldier who for years worked undercover alongside A.I.-enhanced robots, many of which are fitted with clones of human faces, to try to find their reclusive leader, Nirmata, in a part of the world now called New Asia.

A personal tragedy sends him into exile, but he’s recruited back into service by Colonel Howell (Allison Janney) to seek out and destroy a weapon that may turn the tide in the war for good. Turns out the weapon is a robot in the form of a child (Madeleine Yuna Voyles), and when Joshua discovers that fact, he finds it impossible to carry out the mission. Instead, he does everything he can to protect the girl he calls Alphie, with the military hot on his tail all the while.

Written and directed by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One) and co-written by Chris Weitz, the film is astonishing in a number of ways, but mostly for its ability to draw the viewer in visually. The CGI is amazingly believable, making it easy to immerse yourself in the storytelling. From a foreboding super-weapon in the sky called NOMAD to the futuristic landscapes to the whirring metal cylinders that appear to be the brains of the robots, the film is full of fantastic details that make it a feast for the eyes.

The concept of A.I. is increasingly being used as a storytelling tool, and here the filmmakers seem to try to play both sides of the fence. Many people in the film fear its capabilities, especially given the nuclear event. But by literally putting human faces on many of the robots, it becomes more difficult to see them as pure evil, a dilemma that’s at the core of the problem for both Joshua and the audience.

Washington, who’s fast becoming as reliably good as his father, Denzel, is the star of the film, and he does a great job in that role. But stealing the show every second she’s on screen is Voyles, who delivers a debut performance the likes of which hasn’t been seen in many years. She is utterly convincing and heartbreaking as Alphie; while the story may have worked with a lesser actor, she helps take it to completely different level.

Also putting in great work are Janney, who proves herself as badass and fearsome a military leader as any man; Mark Menchaca as her No. 2; Ken Watanabe as an A.I. robot; singer-turned-actor Sturgill Simpson as a friend of Joshua; and Gemma Chan, redeeming herself after the misfire of Eternals.

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

John David Washington in The Creator.

The Creator could’ve earned praise simply by giving us an original sci-fi story. But by accompanying it with awe-inspiring imagery and performances that elevate the story immeasurably, Edwards and his team have made a film that will likely be remembered for years to come.

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The Creator opens in theaters on September 29.

Nola breaks new ground and a Hill Country eatery heads to City Hall in San Antonio food news

NEWS YOU CAN EAT

Editor's note: We get it. It can be difficult to keep up with the fast pace of San Antonio's restaurant and bar scene. We have you covered with our weekly roundup of essential food news.

Openings

The long lines at Nola Brunch & Beignets may soon double. According to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Records, the brunch behemoth is opening a location at 1101 Broadway. The restaurant did not return a request for comment by publication time, but Nola executive chef Melissa Villanueva is listed as the tenant. It's unclear if this is a relocation or a second outpost, but the project is set to wrap up in March 2024. CultureMap will update as we hear more information.

New Braunfels will have a new dining destination when an ambitious redevelopment is completed. According to state filings, Wiggins Hospitality Group — the folks behind McAdoo's Seafood Co. — will renovate the town's former City Hall into a mixed-use building incorporating offices on the ground floor. New Braunfels Historic Landmark Commission records give more details about the unnamed eatery, including plans for a bar and courtyard. Construction is set to wrap up in May 2024.

Other news and notes

San Antonio standout The Jerk Shack will be featured in a new book from national food site Eater. The restaurant — an Eater darling since being named one of the best new restaurants in the country by Hillary Dixler Canavan in 2029 — appropriately contributed a chicken dish.

Favor gave some insight into San Antonio's ordering habits via its first-ever dining report, released September 19. Alamo City requested more orders for barbecue than any other city in the state but surprisingly fell behind Austin in overall taco orders. The delivery app also shared a few tidbits about how San Antonians customize their meals. Locals favor lean brisket, flour tortillas, chorizo, and — controversially — chili with beans. Read all the findings at favordelivery.com.

Not content at only being a Food Network personality, chef Braunda Smith is now set to break the internet. The owner of Lucy Cooper's Ice House will soon be featured on the popular web series America's Best Restaurants. The restaurant confirmed the filming via a Facebook post but did not share when the segment will be aired.

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