Ark Festival Last year Fort Worth-based artist and Dallas Observer Mastermind Christopher Blay collaborated with bc Workshop to erect an ark in Oak Cliff -- a project meant to bring a neighborhood together. Created as a gathering space and temporary gallery installation, the ark sat on East 10th Street between Noah and Cliff streets, serving as a way for the community to share stories of their neighborhood and its heritage. This year, Blay and bc are rebuilding the ark for another iteration of the Ark Festival at noon Saturday. Blay drew inspiration for the project from the namesake of Noah Street, Noah Penn, who founded Greater El Bethel Baptist Church. The ark is made entirely of materials salvaged from the surrounding 10th Street neighborhood and will help tell the story of "the oldest intact freedman's town in Dallas." Like last year, the festival will stage Iv Amenti's play A Freeman Cries for the Future and will host a pop-up market with local vendors. The ark will remain on display for 40 days and 40 nights. More at bcworkshop.org.
The P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Project If you grew up in Texas, it's likely you knew someone with an inflated idea of patriotism. For a lot of people, pride in one's country is like religion. It's easy to follow along with the narrative blindly. It's this faith that the P.A.T.R.I.O.T Project investigates. In a new exhibition at Beefhaus (833 Exposition Ave.), Kate Jarboe reassmbles U.S. government images, reconstructing them to create a new image of patriotism. In doing so, she hopes to examine "the idea of patriotism as a smokescreen for war and surveillance." It's a complicated issue that is ripe for discussion. See the work in opening reception from 7-10 p.m. Saturday. More at artbeef.blogspot.com.
Mystical Arts of Tibet As part of its month long celebration, 31 Days of Asia, the Crow Collection has once again brought the Monks of Drepung Loseling Monastery to the gallery for a week-long residency during which they are creating a Mandala sand painting. They've been working on it since last weekend, and this weekend they will complete it and then on Sunday they will ceremoniously disperse the sand into White Rock Lake. Tickets to the ceremony are $40 for non-members, but the gallery will be open with the painting on display, along with a number of other activities daily. More at crowcollection.org.
B.F.A. Qualifying Exhibition With graduation just around the corner, a number of this year's batch of BFA candidates are unveiling the work they've created during the span of their education this weekend in an exhibition at the SMU Pollock Gallery. See the work of Katherine Habeck, Andrew Piepenburg, Olga Romanova and Caroline Wilcoxon on display from 6-8 p.m. Saturday.
JMR at {neighborhood} Brooklyn muralist JMR has had quite a year in Dallas with exhibitions at WAAS Gallery, Circuit 12 Contemporary, and now an exhibition at the shop/gallery space in the Bishop Arts District, {neighborhood}. The store recently renovated its collection of furniture and decor, transforming a 56-foot long wall into a gallery space. See the new digs and be there for JMR's unveiling of his new "housewares" line (we've been told he's making decorative plates now). Opening reception will be from 7-10 p.m. Saturday.
