XL Fall Arts Preview

Visual Arts: A maturing scene, led by the Blanton

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Come February, when the new Blanton Museum of Art opens its doors at the south end of the University of Texas campus, Austin will boast its first major art museum. And the Blanton's impressive collections -- from Rembrandt to Picasso to Siqueiros -- will finally be on display on grand scale.

Of course, other signs of the maturity of Austin's visual scene shine on this season. Arthouse will award its first Texas Prize, at $30,000 the largest regional art award in the country. And the Austin Museum of Art once again sets the definition of what's new and what's cool with the much-anticipated second iteration of "New Art Austin: 22 To Watch." Mexic-Arte Museum pays homage to long-time Austin artist Fidencio Duran while the galleries at Texas State University-San Marcos have also emerged as regional hotspot for contemporary art. Finally, the Ransom Center rounds things out with a rare showing of an important Ansel Adams portfolio.

And if you are looking for commercial and cooperative art galleries on this list, we devote a special XL issue in November to art you can purchase, just in time for the holiday shopping season.
-- Jeanne Claire van Ryzin

ARTHOUSE AT THE JONES CENTER
700 Congress Ave. 453-5312.
www.arthousetexas.org

'Arthouse Texas Prize 2005: Eileen Maxson, Robyn O'Neil, Robert A. Pruitt and Ludwig Schwarz,' through Nov. 13
'New Video, New Europe,' Nov. 22-Dec. 30
'Dario Robleto and Jeremy Blake: The Gospel of Lead,' Jan. 14-Feb. 26
'Francesca Fuchs and Thomas Glassford: Out of the Ordinary,' March 11-April 16
'Ahead of Their Time 2006,' April 22-May 7
'5 x 7,' May 20-June 4
'New American Talent: The Twenty-first Exhibition,' June 17-Aug. 20

AUSTIN MUSEUM OF ART
823 Congress Ave. 495-9224.
www.amoa.org

'New Art In Austin: 22 to Watch,' through Oct. 30
'Light from the Sky: A Tom Lea Retrospective, 1907-2001,' Nov. 12-Jan. 15
'The Art of Dr. Seuss,' Nov. 12-Jan. 15
'Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Würth Museum Collection,' Jan. 28-April 30
'Over + Over: Passion for Process,' May 13--Aug. 6
'Lu Ann Barrow,' Aug. 19--Nov. 15

AUSTIN MUSEUM OF ART -- LAGUNA GLORIA
3809 W. 35th St. 458-8191.
www.amoa.org

'At the Water's Edge,' Oct. 12--Sept. 25

BLANTON MUSEUM OF ART
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at Congress Avenue 471-7234.
www.blantonmuseum.org.

'Dream Space,' Feb. 12--May 28
'New Now Next: The Contemporary Blanton,' Feb. 12--Aug. 13
'Highlights from the Prints and Drawings Collection,' Feb. 12-May 7
'A Passionate Pursuit: Japanese Prints from the James A. Michener Collection,' June 23-Aug. 13

BULLOCK TEXAS STATE HISTORY MUSEUM
1800 N. Congress Ave. 936-8746.
www.thestoryoftexas.com

'The Face of Texas: Photographs by Michael O'Brien,' Oct. 1-Jan. 8

JULIA BUTRIDGE GALLERY, DOUGHERTY ARTS CENTER
1101 Barton Springs Road. 397-1469.
www.ci.austin.tx.us/dougherty

Multiple Originals IX: Women Printmakers of Austin,' Oct. 5-30
'Birds of a Feather: New Works by Sharon Smith & Barry George,' Nov. 3-29
'Contained: New Works by Kat Dewees & Colleen Sommers,' Dec. 3-29

CREATIVE RESEARCH LABORATORY, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
2832 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 322-2099.
uts.cc.utexas.edu/~crlab/

'Construction,' through Sept. 30;
'Framework,' Oct. 6-29
Visual Art Studies Exhibit, Nov. 4-26

GALLERY I & II, TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY-SAN MARCOS
Sessions and Comanche streets. (512) 245-2664

'William Betts: Paintings,' through Oct. 6
'Leslie Dill: Speak and Be Spoken To,' Sept. 27--Oct. 27
'Sixth Annual Alumni Invitational,' Oct. 10--25
'Figuratively Speaking: Cig Harvey & Tom Sale,' Nov. 1--22
'PITH: Sharon Engelstein & Katherine Taylor,' Nov. 1-22
'Senior Thesis Exhibition, Nov. 28--Dec. 9
Department of Art & Design Faculty Exhibition, Jan. 23--Feb. 9
'Mildred Howard: In the Line of Fire /Crossings,' Feb. 14--March 24
All Student Juried Exhibition, April 3--14
Senior Thesis Exhibition, April 17--May 5

MEXIC-ARTE MUSEUM
419 Congress Ave. 480-9373.
www.mexic-artemuseum.org

'Painted Memory: Fidencio Durán,' and 'Prints from the De Soto Workshop: Recent Acquisitions,' Friday-Nov. 6
'Collecting Latino Art' and 'A Gift to the Museum: Nativities from Local Collections,' Nov. 18-Dec. 31
'Alberto Castro Lenero: A Retrospective,' and 'José Clemente Orozco: Graphic Work,' Jan. 20-March 19
'Totally Cool Totally Art,' Feb. 13-28
'The Language of Threads: History Museum of Monterrey,' March 31-June 25
'YLA 11: the Annual Young Latino Artists Exhibition' and 'Serie Print Project No. 12,' July 14-Sept. 3

RANSOM CENTER
21st and Guadalupe streets, University of Texas campus. 471-8944.
www.hrc.utexas.edu

'Ansel Adams: A Legacy,' through Jan. 1
'The Image Wrought: Historical Photographic Approaches in the Digital Age,' Jan. 31-July 23
'Technologies Of Writing: From Cuneiform to Cyberspace,' Jan. 31-July 23

SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY FINE ARTS GALLERY
1001 E. University Ave., Georgetown. (512) 863-1504.
ssfa.southwestern.edu

'Cuba Plástica: Recent Art from Cuba,' through Oct. 23
'Surface: Wood Fired Ceramics,' Nov. 1-Dec. 9
'Wave of Light,' Jan. 26-March 2
Annual Student Art Show, April 24-May 5

ST. EDWARD'S UNIVERSITY
3001 S. Congress Ave. 448-8685.

'John Cobb/Recent Work,' through Oct. 2
'Electrified: Richard Zakin,' Oct. 13-Nov. 6
'A Prayer For Clean Water,' Nov. 11-Dec. 4
Photocommunications Faculty Exhibit, Jan. 27-Feb. 19
Senior Photocommunications Exhibit, March 3-26
Annual Senior Art Exhibit, April 7-30
Annual Senior Graphic Design Exhibit, May 5-13

TEXAS FOLKLIFE RESOURCES
George Washington Carver Museum & Cultural Center, 1165 Angelina St. 441-9255.
www.texasfolklife.org.

'Down in Houston: Documenting a Blues Community,' through Oct. 31

UMLAUF SCULPTURE GARDEN & MUSEUM
605 Robert E. Lee Road. 445-5582.
www.umlaufsculpture.org

'Modernist: Six from the University of Texas,' Oct. 1-Dec. 30

WITTLIFF GALLERY OF SOUTHWESTERN & MEXICAN PHOTOGRAPHY
Alkek Library, Texas State University-San Marcos. (512) 245-231.
www.wg.txstate.edu

'Testigos de la Historia/Witnesses to History: Modern & Contemporary Documentary Photographers of Mexico,' through Feb. 12
'New Photographs by Bill Wittliff: La Vida Brinca/Life Jumps,' Feb. 18-Sept. 7
'Wittliff Gallery 10th Anniversary Exhibit,' through Nov. 2

WOMEN & THEIR WORK
1710 Lavaca St. 477.1086.
www.womenandtheirwork.org

'Red Hot Red Dot,' Friday-Oct. 1
'Lynn Richardson,' Oct. 8-Nov. 12
'Stitch in Time,' Nov. 19-Dec. 23
'Liz Ward,' Jan. 7-Feb. 11
'Angela Fraleigh,' Feb. 16-March 25
'Hana Hillerova,' March 30-May 6
'Alia Hasan-Khan,' May 11-June 17
'Candace Briceño: Mixed Media Paintings,' June 22- July 29
'Heather Johnson,' Aug. 3- Sept. 9