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"

Photo courtesy San Antonio Art League

San Antonio arts soar with these 8 June exhibits

State of the Arts

Awaken your artistic muse this summer with these exhibits to inspire and ignite your creativity. Angela Guerra Walley weaves joy into her series of deconstructed quilt dresses at Artpace; a big spotlight shines on the little stages or maquettes at the McNay exhibit, “Big Little Stage"; Alethea Jones woos her viewers with neon colors and fantastical landscapes in “Floating Between Chaos and Peace”; and a group exhibit examines both cultural and social-economic commentary in “I Am Not Your Mexican” at Ruiz-Healy Art. Seize the summer and make it an artful one.

Artpace

“Angela Guerra Walley: We Are Quilted Together” — Now through September 3
Angela Guerra Walley, who is also a local documentary filmmaker and frontwoman for the band Dreambored, says she has come back to a place of “love, joy and comfort” in her art. Her new subject material comforts her as she pays tribute to the lineage of quilt-and-clothing-making women that she comes from. “I’m interested in dresses as symbols of beauty and femininity as a gender-ﬂuid, queer person. I brieﬂy pursued dressmaking, but I realized the most satisfaction I found was in ripping my worn dresses apart at the seams and sewing together textile collages from the pieces.” “We Are Quilted” displays her series of “quilt dresses” made from fabrics that were cut apart, reconﬁgured, and sewn back together.

Un Grito Gallery

“Joao Quiroz: Fluxus” — June 1 through 15
Mexican visual artist Joao Quiroz settled in San Antonio in 2019 and established himself as an urban landscape impressionist. His work is eclectic, outwardly impressionist, and inwardly expressionist, exploring classical art and the avant-garde. Quiroz also has a sense of humor, as witnessed in his painting of the artist Frida Kahlo wearing a Buc-ees t-shirt.

The McNay

"Big Little Stage" — June 1 through February 25, 2024
“Big Little Stage” is an exploration in how designers "present creative visions for stage productions through small-scale and large-scale models called maquettes." A variety of materials are used: "Papier-mâché, fabric, and wood ... as well as sleeker materials like stainless steel and plexiglass." Some of the stage pieces on view include a miniature Hanging Gardens of Babylon (1860), Pablo Picasso’s pastel maquette for Le Tricorne (1919) and a futuristic set by Ralph Koltai for Shakespeare’s Othello (1985).

Sala Diaz

"Alethia Jones: Floating Between Chaos and Peace" — June 2 through 30
In this vibrant exhibit with pieces that look like they were made from collage, Alethia Jones explores her personal mental health through her work. Neon colors and "fantastical landscapes" with "hints of recognizable objects" captivate the viewer. Jones says of her experience, “Like so many people on the planet, I have spent the majority of my life living with mental illness. This body of work exposes the helplessness of one grappling with negative current events, but also suggests that hope does exist, and there is still much beauty to behold in this world.”

Blue Star Contemporary

"Actions for the Earth: Art, Care & Ecology" — June 2 through September 3
18 artists, including Yoko Ono, have created an exhibit that "considers kinship, healing, and restorative interventions as artistic practices and strategies to foster a deeper consciousness of the interconnectedness with the earth." They are putting their concerns about the planet, social inequity, and public health into a creative outpouring. This touring exhibit invites the public to participate in "instruction-based meditation and deep listening among other actions."

Ruiz-Healy Art

“I Am Not Your Mexican" — June 7 through September 9
Featuring works by six different artists, “I Am Not Your Mexican” is a title inspired by James Baldwin’s documentary film “I Am Not Your Negro,” and "is a glimpse into an international macro-cultural phenomenon," according to the gallery's description. Artist Jesse Amado came up with the series name in reference to understanding art that may at first appear to be "highly conceptual or purely abstract." Instead, it prompts visitors to reconsider what belongs in a contemporary canon for this century. Amado’s series is "innovative" in its use of "chicharrón (pork rind) and Styrofoam fast food containers, products with both cultural and social-economic commentary."

San Antonio Art League

"Wax and Wildflowers" — June 11 through August 11
The International Encaustic Artists Annual Juried Exhibition, which is a mouthful to say, simply celebrates layered wax art. The encaustic medium consists of natural bees wax and damar resin (crystallized tree sap), heated or burned. The theme of the all-encaustic exhibit is “Wax and Wildflowers” and invites national, international, and regional encaustic artists to interpret the theme of wildflowers. If you are not familiar with this process, this show is definitely worth discovering.

San Antonio Museum of Art

Photo courtesy San Antonio Art League

Shary Bartlett, Vancouver BC for Wax and Wildflowers at SAALM.

“Still Brewing Art” — June 29 through September 3
Once upon a time, SAMA’s Romanesque style grand brick and stone building was the Lone Star Brewery, the first large, mechanized brewery in Texas. “Still Brewing Art” shares the history of the building with "historic photographs and artwork including belle époque large format brewery posters." In addition, the exhibition will "explore San Antonio’s history as a brewing city and how the San Antonio River fits into the story." The renovated complex reopened in 1981, accompanied by the slogan, “We’re Brewing Art.”

Courtesy Artpace

4 dynamic San Antonio art exhibits to explore this December

State of the Arts

Revel in the arts this month in San Antonio with four distinct and dynamic shows. “L.A. to S.A.” brings together diverse artists to highlight similarities within the Latinx art community, while Jessica Harvey holds a mirror to natural sites in the Texas landscape in “soft earth hard sky” at Sala Diaz. Wherever your whimsy takes you this winter and throughout the holiday season, the arts will be a welcome addition.

Mercury Project

“L.A. to S.A. Presented by Motherling” — Now through December 23
“L.A. to S.A.” brings together a diverse group of artists that highlight the vast similarities within the Latinx art community. These similarities bring with them a feeling of home, familiarity, and comfort. The artists bring these feelings to the surface all while highlighting their own variances in themes and art practices. This exhibition is meant to explore the impact made within the communities, and how these impacts spread beyond each individual city, creating a larger network of ‘comunidad’ throughout the country.

Sala Diaz

“Jessica Harvey: soft earth hard sky” — Now through December 30
In this exhibit, Jessica Harvey holds a mirror to natural sites in the Texas landscape to search for self-reflected back in the sinkholes, waterways, and skies at daybreak. These in-between spaces offer an opportunity for the viewer to see collapse and sickness as a portal in addition to a void. Harvey is an artist and writer whose work explores the fractures of bodies, place, and history. Using photography, video, sound, and archival resources, the images and installations Harvey creates look to the psychology that one attaches to memory and place, putting a particular emphasis on the labor of care. Bone fragments, human hair, heartbeats, and the sounds of daybreak act as inspiration to illustrate the stories and rituals tied to death and living.

Artpace

“María José Crespo: Flaws in negotiation with non-cohesive sand” — Now through January 8
María José Crespo has created an environment that layers human presence, land, and water politics, and an ever-changing territory into a border poem. The voluminous sculptural works of steel, plaster, wood, and glass pay tribute to infrastructure and excess of materials visible along the border due to years of human construction and interaction. The video projection replicates informal communication through reflected light across a large landscape as a dancing flicker. The collage mural combines maps, treaties, photographs, documents, and artistic research strategies to create an alternative narrative of history. Likewise, bar codes, google maps, and even border security chats are among the poetic details in Crespo’s art.

Witte Museum

$Mar\u00eda Jos\u00e9 Crespo$

Courtesy Artpace

María José Crespo''s works are on display at-Artpace.

“Beasley’s Vaqueros of the Brush County” — Now through March 20, 2023
Ricardo Beasley was an artist with the heart of a vaquero and one of the few artists in history who depicted the vaqueros of South Texas. Using pencils, charcoal and ink, Beasley’s drawings depict the details and wild action of the vaquero life from the 1930s through the 1960s. Beasley sketched continuously, capturing images of the landscape, the animals around him and the wild experiences of men born of the hard ranch land in South Texas. Many drawings were done in small tally books used to count cattle, on old grocery sacks, and anything he had to draw on or with. Beasley’s poems are featured in the exhibition alongside his sketches and artifacts from his life and family.

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New San Marcos restaurant ventures through Texan cuisine with South African and Chinese twists

Around the world in 80 dishes

Sometimes you don't have to plan a pricey trip to travel around the world — all you have to do is drive to San Marcos, thanks to the new internationally flavored cuisine at Tarbox & Brown, open now.

Located inside Kissing Tree, a 55+ community (but don't worry, anyone can dine at Tarbox & Brown), the complex's newest signature restaurant boasts a seasonal rotating menu of dishes inspired by executive chef Chanel Beattie's life growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Beijing, China.

Photo by Jane Yun

The menu at Tarbox & Brown is sometimes quaint and Texan, and sometimes a bit more international.

Offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Tarbox & Brown's name is a nod to the historic Brown and Tarbox Stagecoach Line, a crucial method of delivering communications between Austin and San Antonio back in the early 1800s.

“When creating the menu for Tarbox & Brown, I wanted to share dishes people hadn't experienced yet while also including some familiar favorites," said Beattie in a news release. "We’ll have Asian and Texan dishes, and some French-influenced items, as well. I, of course, also want to add some South African flavor. My team has so many recipes and treats for you to try, and we can’t wait for you to try them all."

For example, Beattie's South African Prego rolls — a steak-centric dish with spicy peri-peri sauce, tomatoes, red onions, leafy greens, and freshly baked bread — may broaden some diners' horizons (especially with the extremely reasonable $16 price tag). There will also be more standard burgers, sandwiches, and grilled cheeses on the menu.

Some nice details that sets Tarbox & Brown's menu apart include a complimentary cup of coffee with each order off of the breakfast menu, and affordable lunch options. T&B's serves multiple meal options priced under $20.

More reasonably priced, international meals with a Texas twang include a New Zealand spring rack of lamb served with honey butter rolls ($36); a 12-ounce Maple Bourbon ribeye served up with mashed potatoes and roasted seasonal vegetables ($33); and vegetarian options like an asparagus and mushroom risotto ($20).

The drink menu also follows a merciful pricing structure, with every signature cocktail coming in at $10 or less, including a white wine-based sangria and a tequila-based cocktail called the "Texas Valley Girl" that is essentially a sweetened paloma.

Having previously served as the executive chef at the four-star Michelangelo Hotel in New York City, chef Beattie also brings extensive baking experience to her tenure as Tarbox & Brown.

Tarbox & Brown is located at 201 Kissing Tree Ln., Bldg. 5, in San Marcos. Breakfast is served daily from 7-11 am, followed by a daily lunch service at different times: Saturday through Tuesday from 11 am-6 pm, and Wednesday through Friday from 11 am-4 pm. Right now, dinner service is only Wednesday through Friday, from 5-8 pm.

More information is available at tarboxandbrown.com. Reserve by calling 512-749-1031 and selecting extension 2.

Art Institutes college chain shuts down all campuses, including San Antonio

Education News

In tragic news for higher education, the Art Institutes, a network of colleges in eight cities around the U.S. including Dallas, is shutting down all campuses as of September 30.

The organization announced its closure with short notice on September 22 via an email sent out to staff and students, attributing the close to "external and internal" events over the past 10 years, including COVID-19.

They called the closure the result of "a culmination of events over the past decade, both external and internal to the campus operations. ... The colleges, which already were dealing with the legacy challenges that arose under prior ownership, were unable to absorb the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on schools teaching hands-on and equipment-intensive programs such as culinary arts and fashion design.”

Students were advised to review their contact information on the institute's portal and update mailing addresses if needed, as well as download their student ledger and unofficial transcript.

Academic and financial aid staff will be available on campus through the end of 2023.

"Due to the timing of this decision, The Art Institutes have not had sufficient time to engage with other colleges and universities in their respective markets to sign formal agreements for students to transfer and continue their studies elsewhere," they said in a statement. "The Art Institutes are working with state agencies and The Art Institutes' accrediting agency, Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, to identify appropriate academic transfer opportunities for students affected by this closure."

The closures affect all of the remaining eight campuses:

Miami International University of Art & Design
The Art Institute of Atlanta
The Art Institute of Austin, a branch of The Art Institute of Houston
The Art Institute of Dallas, a branch of Miami International University of Art & Design
The Art Institute of Houston
The Art Institute of San Antonio, a branch of The Art Institute of Houston
The Art Institute of Tampa, a branch of Miami International University of Art & Design
The Art Institute of Virginia Beach, a branch of The Art Institute of Atlanta

Although the announcement was abrupt, the Atlanta campus had been listed for lease on September 5, according to CoStar.

At one point, the organization had dozens of campuses across the U.S., but in recent years had endured instability, including two changes in ownership since 2017 and legal troubles over student loans.

According to Higher Ed Dive, their troubles go back a decade to their former owner, the for-profit Education Management Corp, who closed 15 locations before selling off the rest to the Dream Center Foundation, a faith-based organization that set it up as a nonprofit.

The email further states that "The Art Institute colleges were once were part of one of the largest providers of career education in the U.S. and were an important source of design, media arts, fashion, and culinary professionals to fulfill the needs of the local and national employers who sought out Art Institute graduates. Since its founding, The Art Institutes, individually and collectively, provided an academic experience for students who sought education in academic disciplines based in creativity, innovation, and emerging technology. This closure does not diminish the many and varied contributions that The Art Institutes have made to higher education and the knowledge and skills that alumni have taken into their respective fields of culinary, design, fashion, and media following graduation."

Country's largest hot springs pool complex plans for Dallas debut

Wellness wonderland

San Antonio has its fair share of spas, but no relaxation beats the novelty of kicking back in a different city. Those willing to take a drive for a luxurious weekend always have the Hill Country and Dallas as options, and soon there will be a new wellness spa-amusement park: WorldSprings, a nine-acre outdoor mineral springs experience, will debut in the latter city in spring 2024.

According to a release, it will be WorldSprings' first location in Texas and the largest experience of its kind in the country.

"With pools inspired by the most famous hot springs from around the world, guests can explore WorldSprings’ 45 outdoor soaking pools including cold-plunge pools, Finnish saunas, and a spa which will include wellness therapies as well as a cafe and bar," says the release.

Specific highlights of the experience will include:

The Family Pool, the Dead Sea Float Pool and South Pacific Region mineral pools for all ages
The Asiatic, European, and Americas region mineral pools for those 18 years old and up
More pools, with temperatures that range from warm to hot and from cool to ice cold
The Spa, with a menu of body treatments and massages
The Sanctuary, offering sound baths and yoga, breathwork, and guided meditation classes
Aqua classes, including Aqua Aerobics, Aqua Sculpt, Aqua Yoga and Aqua Float
Performance-enhancing treatments including cryotherapy, hyperbaric chambers, and compression therapy
WorldSprings Café, from which guests can order food and drinks poolside with their smartphones and pay with a wristband

WorldSprings Grandscape The Colony There'll be adults-only pools and family-friendly pools.Rendering courtesy of WorldSprings

The wellness offerings were created by WorldSprings' in-house functional medicine practitioner, Dr. Sara Gottfried, the release says.

Of course, there are not actual hot springs located beneath Grandscape. Each pool will be "meticulously crafted to mirror the mineral content of legendary springs from around the world," explains WorldSprings.

Memberships and three-hour passes will be available, "priced for all to enjoy as a weekly ritual for well-being," they say, although pricing has not yet been disclosed. A limited number of discounted Founding Memberships will be available starting early next year.

”Our ambition is that WorldSprings will democratize wellness by opening locations throughout the country,” says Rob Kramer, managing partner of WorldSprings' owner Off Road Capital, in the release.

The Dallas-area park follows locations in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and a similar concept in La Verkin, Utah, near Zion National Park.

Anticipated opening date is March 2024.

WorldSprings Grandscape A spa will offer massages and body treatments.Rendering courtesy of WorldSprings

WorldSprings Grandscape will be at 3240 Plano Pkwy., The Colony, joining the booming 433-acre center that includes not only shopping and dining but an escape room, immersive entertainment venue, amphitheater, and more.

"Bringing WorldSprings to this ideal location is a remarkable milestone,” says Justin Foley, general manager of the upcoming Grandscape location, in the release. “As general manager, I'm honored and excited to be a part of such an amazing community and to unveil an exclusive outdoor mineral springs experience – a first of its kind destination in Texas."

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