🗣️🗣️🗣️ CALLING ALL TEXAS ARTISTS! We are excited to announce that the Texas Open Call applications are now open. The Texas Open Call is Artpace’s primary resource for identifying artists who are interested in, and eligible for participation in Artpace’s International Artist-in-Residence program as well as studio visits by curators participating in Artpace’s Curatorial Residency program.
This opportunity is available only to artists currently living and working in Texas.
🔗 To learn more about Texas Open Call or to apply click to the link in our bio!
🗓️ Application period is July 1—September 30, 2024.
⏰ Applications close by 5PM CST on September 30, 2024
📸 This photo is from Sterling Allen’s 2019 Artpace exhibition titled, Housing Edition. @thesterlingallen
𝗠𝗘𝗘𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗦𝗧 | Vincent Valdez blends large, representational paintings—the scale of which recall traditional western paintings, murals, and cinema with contemporary subject matter. He focuses on subjects that explore his observations and experience of life in the twenty-first century. The results are powerful images of American identity that confront injustice and inequity while imbuing his subjects with empathy and humanity. Valdez states, “My aim is to incite public remembrance and to impede distorted realities that I witness, like the social amnesia that surrounds us all.”
A recipient of the Ford and Mellon Foundations Latinx Artist Fellowship (2022), Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant for Painters and Sculptors (2016), as well as residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting (2005), the Vermont Studio Center (2011), the Kunstlerhaus Bethania Berlin Residency (2014), and the Arion Press’ King Residency (2023). Exhibitions and Collections include: The Ford Foundation, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, MASS MoCA, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and The National Portrait Gallery, among others. He lives and works in Houston and Los Angeles.
Slides 1 and 2 are pieces from Valdez’s series titled, “Since 1977”. Artworks from “Since 1977” will be exhibited at Artpace this July, alongside the acclaimed series “Siete Dias/Seven Days”, within the “Undercurrents” exhibition in our Hudson Show Room.
🗓️ Opening Reception: Thursday, July 11, from 6-9PM, with a brief artist talk by Vincent Valdez starting at 6:30 PM.
🔧 Building Maintenance Alert 🔧
Artpace will be closed from May 20, 2024 to July 5, 2024. We’re excited to welcome you all back in July with new programming and exhibition openings.
Stay tuned for updates!
𝗠𝗘𝗘𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗦𝗧 | Justin Korver is an artist, educator, and community organizer living and working in San Antonio, Texas. He is originally from a small town in the northwest corner of Iowa where the plains of home taught him about minimalism. Korver moved to Holland, Michigan to complete his undergraduate work at Hope College. While in Michigan, he was influenced by mid-century design and discovered a passion for hardware stores. After Michigan, Korver moved to Texas to pursue his MFA at the University of Texas at San Antonio where his thesis focused on the critique of the social construction of masculinity.
He is Senior Lecturer of Art at Texas A&M University-San Antonio where he facilitates various courses in the theory and practice of art. His recent exhibitions include the Contemporary at Blue Star, San Antonio, Texas, and grāyDUCK Gallery, San Antonio, Texas. Korver has also participated in artist residencies at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Germany, Casa LÜ, Mexico City, and Rockland Woods, Seattle, Washington.
In addition, Korver is a 2024 City of San Antonio Department of Arts and Culture individual grantee.
🧡 Next Thursday, July 11, we will hear from artist Justin Korver about his remarkable 6’ by 24’ tapestry displayed in our Main Space. The artist talk will begin at 6:30 PM. We can’t wait to see the building filled with talent and energy!
@justincaseyourewondering
Happening at Artpace in July. It is going to be a busy and exciting month here at Artpace! Here is a look at some of the events we have lined up for you all :
📢 July 1 | Texas Open Call will be open for submissions starting July 1, 2024. This open call is for Texas artists who will be considered for Artpace’s 2026 International Artist-in-Residence program.
🎉 July 11 | Join us for the Opening Reception of our latest Main Space exhibition by JustinKorver, “Camouflage: Blaze Orange.” Concurrently, we are proud to present “Undercurrents: Vincent Valdez” in our Hudson Showroom. This double opening reception begins at 6PM, followed by an artist talk at 6:30PM.
🎨 July 13 | Artpace Presents Weekend Workshops: Printing with Gel Plates hosted by print maker @dirtybonesartcollective . Workshops are $30 per person. Artpace members receive discounted rates for each workshop. To purchase tickets visit artpace.org/events
🍽️ July 25 | Join Artpace on Thursday, July 25, to welcome our Spring 2024 International Artists-In-Residence: Celia Eberle, Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, and Julianny Vólquez.
The artists will give a public presentation with images of their practice, discuss their past work, and possibly share plans for their Artpace residency. We ask the public to bring their favorite side dish or dessert for eight persons to share. Doors will open at 6PM, and presentations begin at 6:30PM.
🅿️ Free parking at 513 N Flores
🎟️ Admission to Artpace is always free
“Undercurrents” will mark a decade since Vincent Valdez’s unforgettable Hudson Show Room exhibition, “The Strangest Fruit.” As we prepare to welcome back Valdez on July 11, we are revisiting this powerful body of work from 2014.
The following text was taken from Valdez’s 2014 gallery notes: “The Strangest Fruit is a series of large paintings inspired by the lost/erased history of lynched Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in Texas from the late 1800s to the 1930s. The title is taken from the poem Strange Fruit, made famous by Billie Holiday’s 1930s recording.”
He continues, “I adapted the lyrics to describe a Texas landscape, which sprouts ‘brown bodies’ instead of ‘black bodies.’ The subject of Latino lynchings is almost entirely unknown in the United States...Although this subject is inspired by a specific history, I was more concerned with creating images that speak of the present. These portraits depict the distorted bodies of contemporary young brown males, distinguished by their clothing, hairstyles, skin color, sneakers, age, etc. At first glance, the painted bodies appear to dangle on the canvas. They can also be interpreted as levitated figures, caught somewhere in between life and death, reality and illusion, remembrance and erasure, heaven and hell. They float against an entirely blank background, struggling to remain in focus and straining to exist. They have no history or foundation, no story to be told, no voice to be heard...Like the erased bodies of the past, these present-day individuals face the threat of a similar fate in America, the more that they struggle to truly break free, the tighter the noose will choke.”
🎥 @walleyfilms
📸 @mjmenjivar
🗓️ Undercurrents: Vincent Valdez Opening Reception is on July 11 | 6-9PM. Free and open to the public.
Only 9 days left to apply for Artpace Teen Council! This is an amazing opportunity for the youth of San Antonio to work with artists and administrators, create community-based projects and become advocates for contemporary art.
⭐️ San Antonio students must between 15-18.
⭐️ Deadline for Teen Council applications is June 30!
🔗 Link in our bio to read more about Teen Council
🚨 Reminder! You can help make art happen by purchasing an Artpace membership today. As a non-profit organization, our members make it possible for us to support regional, national, and international artists in creating new works and offer free admission and programming to the public every day of the week.
✨Join or renew your Artpace membership in June and enjoy TWO free months, plus invitations to our exclusive Summer and Fall events! ✨
🔗 Membership starts at just $5/month. Click the link in our bio to learn more about becoming a member.
This Juneteenth we’re spotlighting Artpace Alumna Letitia Huckaby and her powerful 2020 Artpace exhibition, “And Thy Neighb(our).”
Expanding on her photographic techniques, Huckaby photographed 15 subjects, all of whom identify as refugees or immigrants from countries with majority Black populations. The subjects, postured against vintage patterned bedsheets and printed onto cotton fabric, evoke the intertwined histories of colonialism and slavery in North America. The floral fabrics call back to the feed sacks commonly used for transporting flour, sugar, and coffee, repurposed by slaves to make clothing in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The use of wooden embroidery hoops and subtle text indicating each subject’s ethnicity or nationality elevates the individual, portraying them as proud and regal, while the emanating glow behind the figures depicts them as awe-inspiring and divine.
By highlighting the often-overlooked experiences of the African Caribbean diaspora, Huckaby’s work serves as a reminder of their personal identity, experiences, and most of all, their enduring spirit.
@huckabystudios
📸: @beth.marie.d
𝗠𝗘𝗘𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗢𝗥 | We are pleased to introduce guest curator, Zhaira Costiniano! As the guest curator for the Summer 2024 Hudson Show Room exhibition, Costiniano will collaborate with Vincent Valdez to present a comprehensive group show that will expand throughout the Artpace campus. Anchored by the artistic practice of Vincent Valdez, this exhibition expands as pieces by influential artists come into dialogue with Valdez’s work and connect him to individuals, places, and stories. In doing so, Undercurrents simultaneously traces and amplifies the ecology of San Antonio’s prolific Latino and Chicano art scene.
"Undercurrents: Vincent Valdez" is the second collaboration between artist Vincent Valdez and curator Zhaira Costiniano. This exhibition is a major expansion of their initial exhibition at Art League Houston, where Valdez was awarded as the 2023 Texas Artist of the Year.
Zhaira Costiniano (1995, Manila) is an active body in Texas’s cultural landscape where she currently resides. Her background centers on creating and sustaining artist-centered environments, prioritizing indisciplinary and collaborative curatorial approaches. She is interested in the complex dynamics that shape identity and the throughlines that connect individuals, places, and stories. Zhaira is currently the Curator and Exhibition Manager at Art League Houston.
@zhairaaa_
🗓️ Opening reception is Thursday, July 11, 2024. Concurrently, we are proud to present Justin Korver’s exhibition, ‘Camouflage: Blaze Orange’ in our Main Space. This double opening reception begins at 6PM, followed by an artist talk at 6:30PM.
🎉 Congratulations to Artpace Alumna, Jenelle Esparza, for being named one of this year’s recipients of the Latinx Artist Fellowship by @uslaforum !!!
In its third year, this fellowship addresses the systemic lack of support for Latinx artists by awarding $50,000 each to a multigenerational cohort of 15 Latinx visual artists annually, over a five-year commitment. Administered by the US Latinx Art Forum in collaboration with the New York Foundation for the Arts and supported by the Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation, this fellowship is the first significant prize of its kind.
This second slide is from Jenelle’s Summer 2018 Artpace exhibition “Gathering Bones”.
📸 Photo by Jayme Kaye Gershen
@jenelle.esparza@uslaforum
Consider supporting innovative contemporary art by becoming an Artpace member this month! As a non-profit artist residency, Artpace relies on the generous support of individuals to keep its doors open and programs thriving! In return, we offer free year-round programming and provide access to the creative processes of regional, national, and international artists. Join or renew a membership in June to receive TWO free months of membership and invitations to our Summer and Fall Members events.
❤️ Join now starting at $5/month or $60/year.
🔗 Visit /join-support or click the link in our bio!
Photo above is from Jonesy‘s opening reception in 2022 here at Artpace. @jonesyfilms23 ❤️🔥
