Contextual Assembly
Kettle Art
2650 Main St.
Opening reception 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday
From Corey Godfrey’s soft yarn-focused stones, to Hilda LaFleur’s psychedelic imagery, to Roberta Masciarelli’s recycled constructions, to Amy Seymour’s trippy, imaginary world of clay, Kettle Art’s new group exhibit promises plenty of whimsical, dreamlike media. This is what it’s like when artists collide.
And collide they do, each bringing their own unique dish to the potluck: Godfrey is a Texas-based artist who tends to focus primarily on women as her subjects, using yarn of all things. Brazillian-born Masciarelli creates sculptures with metal and hardware. LaFleur is a self-taught, native Texan whose vibrant paintings are peppered with influence from living in Dallas during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s. Dallasite Seymour’s works offer a playful, mischievous look into her subconscious.
Nasher Gallery Lab: Let’s Taco ’Bout Prints
Nasher Sculpture Center
2001 Flora St.
6 p.m. Thursday (RSVP required)
On the surface, printmaking and tacos don’t appear to have much in common, but who cares because tacos? The Nasher Sculpture Center is teaming up with Adrienne Lichliter for a discussion about her work. Lichliter, who teaches at Navarro College in Corsicana, is known for her — get this — food grease lithography, as well as her signature wood lithography process that she’s shown across the country. In conjunction with Richard Serra: Prints, the evening will explore the concept of shattering the boundaries of prints to head into uncharted (and delicious) territory. Admission is free, but you must RSVP. More info at nashersculpturecenter.com.
Cordelia Bailey: One Last Shot; Dontrius Williams: One More Shot
Fort Works Art
2100 Montgomery St., Fort Worth
6 to 9 p.m. Saturday
At 70, Cordelia Bailey has had a lot of titles in her life: waitress, teacher, PhD graduate, author and even deputy assistant secretary of state. But regardless of how she was making her living, her photography was always a constant.
Bailey's photographic efforts fall into three categories. The first is traditional with minimal editing and darkroom changes. Second are fanciful images, intended to spark emotion and humor. Last are imaginative collages, which are digitally enhanced and created from photographs. These images have texture, ghostly imagery and soft impressions, that make you both desire to touch them and afraid at what you might feel.
These will be shown alongside the black and white photographs of Dontrius Williams in the artist’s first solo show. Williams is a 30-year-old Fort Worth-based self-taught photographer. Originally from High Point, North Carolina, Williams moved to Fort Worth in 2011. He started taking digital photos in 2012 before moving to strictly film in 2014.
Vernon Fisher — The American Landscape (pictured at top)
Talley Dunn Gallery
5020 Tracy St.
Closes Saturday
There is no question about the amount of technical prowess in Vernon Fisher’s work. With titles like "Sea of Uncertainly," "Dark Passage" and "Perilous Life," each image is filled to the brim with color and haunting imagery. It’s hard to tell whether the cartoonish bunny is staring at an oddly placed palm tree or the periodic table next to it. Expect similar scenarios in The American Landscape, Vernon Fisher’s show closing this weekend at Talley Dunn Gallery. At its heart, the iconic Fort Worth artist’s approach to art stems from a lifelong interest in how people make sense of the world. His hallmark blackboard paintings recall grade school lessons, oftentimes replacing sequential logic with discombobulated imagery. Fisher’s works are often peppered with a dash of postmodernism.
Carlos Donjuan: Just Be
H Gallery at Eastfield College
3737 Motley Drive, Mesquite
Ongoing through March 2
In Just Be, Carlos Donjuan ramps up his exploration of differing viewpoints of immigration in America. At the core of Donjuan’s work is his experience immigrating to America from Mexico as a child. The fabric of his upbringing serves as a springboard for his creative identity, as he redefines and recontextualizes terms he heard as a youth into relatable art. His work is deeply personal, oftentimes invoking his family and friends. He confronts fears of not belonging with masked characters, a playful commentary on what it means to be “alien.”