5 Art Events for Your Weekend: November 17-20

Courtney Hamilton: Kickin’ the Tire
6 to 8 p.m. Thursday
Eastfield College — H100 Gallery
3737 Motley Drive, Mesquite

How do we decide what is worth keeping and what is disposable? Like most of us, artist Courtney Hamilton’s answer is equal parts aesthetic preferences and fuzzy sentimentality. Influenced by an agrarian background, Hamilton has spent years honing his skills in woodworking, welding and ceramics. His new installation Kickin’ the Tire contemplates the relationship between handmade artisan goods (think Santa Fe) and cheap, mass-produced commodities (think Sam’s Club).

Though craftsmanship is innately evident in his works, his ultimate hope is to spur a conversation about how handiwork and the mechanization of object-making coexist. It’s a hybrid he describes as “new and old, junky and refined.” This is most evident in Hamilton’s kick wheel contraption, the art making tool he built from scratch using a giant truck tire, steel and wood.

Anna Elise Johnson — Inner Workings
5 to 8 p.m. Saturday
Cris Worley Fine Arts
1845 Levee St., Suite No. 110

Anna Elise Johnson’s three-dimensional collages use photographs of political, economic and diplomatic meetings to create small-ish mise-en-scéne containing ambiguous yet striking narratives with characters frozen in time. Delicate mists of spray paint, photography and India ink, suspended in a box of clear acrylic, capture a chaotic stillness between figures that are defined by the void that their absence creates. Is this the past? Is this the present? Is this 2067? It’s hard to tell. Both personally and globally significant themes appear in Johnson’s work; here she explores the impact of our world leaders’ decisions and how to navigate this complex and often frustrating terrain.

Kazz Morishita’s Moonlight Serenade and Fabio Del Re’s Morandi
5 to 8 p.m. Saturday
Photographs: Do Not Bend Gallery
154 Glass St., Suite No. 104

Photographs: Do Not Bend Gallery is set to feature two artists new to the gallery. Moonlight Serenade is a show of photographs by Japanese artist Kazz Morishita. The works use the moon as a philosophical reference, depicting the message that the moon (and its sometimes super self) is a steady, fixed point reflecting light on lives that are constantly in flux. Morandi is a show of works by Brazil-native Fabio Del Re. For this collection, Del Re used mostly analogue methods to meticulously create still-lifes that pay homage to Italian artist Giorgio Morandi’s skillful and transcendent paintings. Admission is free.

Frances Bagley: The Lay of the Land
6 to 8 p.m. Saturday
Kirk Hopper Fine Art
3008 Commerce St.

Sculptor Frances Bagley is about to have at it with her site-specific installation The Lay of the Land. Bagley’s metaphorical structures and objects lay the groundwork for a consideration of focal points, self-reflection and general feelings on the relationship between an individual and the natural habitats in which they exist. Expect serene nuances, geometric magic and jazzed up aesthetics. The exhibit kicks off with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 19. Admission is free.

Zeke Williams: Flagrant (pictured at top)
6 to 8 p.m. Saturday
Erin Cluley Gallery
414 Fabrication St.

In his second solo exhibition with Erin Cluley Gallery, Fort Worth-bred Zeke Williams will exhibit a new cluster of work inspired by the simple act of taking walks with his wife. The works are made with acrylic on canvas, including a mural-size painting that is the artist's largest work to date. Produced in the past year, these works are an ongoing exploration of the artist’s interest in color, forms found in nature, and the use of technology in creating an image. Vivid color gradients are layered with sharp-edged stenciled patterns, for example. While the imagery has evolved from women’s fashion to botanical objects, Williams’ paintings continue to represent the way we view the world through technology.