HEAT WAVE

100 Under $100
Cindy Lisica Gallery

3 Days Only: July 27 – 29, 2018
Opening: Friday, July 27, 6-8pm

Experience this “heat wave” of cool artists in a 3-days-only weekend event and pop up exhibition, alongside the astounding solo show, Steel Sharpens Steel by Charles Uzzell Edwards a.k.a. Pure Evil.

The opening reception for HEAT WAVE will be on Friday, July 27th, 6-8PM and will feature music, refreshments, art raffle prizes and giveaways! The gallery will be open Saturday and Sunday 11am-5pm.

The 100 pieces of artwork in “HEAT WAVE: 100 under $100” are (you guessed it) all under $100 and by a mix of local and international artists. The show includes original art works, limited editions, photography, mixed media, ceramics, collage, design objects, art toys and more by Cartoonneros (Buenos Aires), Rachel Gardner (Houston), Jan Rattia (Houston/Caracas), Yasuyo Maruyama (Dallas/Tokyo), Jennifer McClish (Houston), Kidrobot, Angel Oloshove (Houston), and Lennox Rees (Austin), among others.

Cindy Lisica Gallery
4411 Montrose, Suite F
Houston, TX 77006

---

Reception Celebrating
Ayomi Yoshida Exhibition

Asia Society Center
July 28, 2018 — January 13, 2019
Preview Reception: Thursday, July 26, 6-8pm
Artist Talk: Ayomi Yoshida: Saturday, July 28, 2-3pm

Join Asia Society Texas Center to celebrate the opening of Ayomi Yoshida.
Artist Ayomi Yoshida focuses on large-scale installations that incorporate prints to achieve a dramatic transformation to the space. In her first solo exhibition in Texas, Yoshida will present paintings and a multimedia installation that responds to Yoshio Taniguchi’s unique architectural design of Asia Society Texas Center. Visit with the artist over drinks and light bites and receive a FREE preview of the exhibition on Thursday July 26 from 6-8pm. Please RSVP.

Building on her family background in woodblock printing, artist Ayomi Yoshida has focused recently on large-scale installations that incorporate prints to achieve dramatic transformations of space. These total environments invite the public to engage with her investigations of time, life cycles in nature, sensory memory, and nostalgia.

Yoshida’s understanding of Yoshio Taniguchi’s architectural practice uniquely situates her to respond to his design of Asia Society Texas Center. This exhibition in the Fayez Sarofim Grand Hall will specifically reference the Water Garden and the recurring connections between interior and exterior spaces, both in our building and classical Japanese architectural traditions.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Ayomi Yoshida (吉田 亜世美 YOSHIDA Ayomi, born 1958) is an artist currently living and working in Tokyo, Japan. She is renowned for her large scale installations that incorporate woodblock prints, video, sound, and sculpture. Her early practice focused on the woodblock printing tradition that her family is known for, including her grandfather, revered printmaker Hiroshi Yoshida, and her parents Hodaka and Chizuko Yoshida. Ayomi belongs to the third generation of woman artists in her family which is rare in Japan, following her mother Chizuko and her grandmother Fujio Yoshida.

After graduating from Wako University, she has transformed the use of woodblock prints as primary materials in installations. Her work has been exhibited at the British Museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and in other venues including international print biennials. One of her largest ongoing commissions has been for the headquarters of Target Corporation, Minneapolis, MN.

Asia Society Center Houston
1370 Southmore Blvd.
Houston, TX 77004
asiasociety.org/texas

---

Jonathan Cowan:
Radiant Void
Mandy Cano Villalobos:
Dust in the Mouth

Through July 28, 2018
Gray Contemporary

 

Two fascinating  exhibitions, Jonathan Cowan: Radiant Void in the Main Gallery, and Mandy Cano Villalobos: Dust in the Mouth in the Second Gallery continue through July 28, 2018.

MAIN GALLERY
Jonathan Cowan: Radiant Void
(above: Double Dark Halo, 2017)
This recent body of work continues with the themes of landscape, geometry and art’s power to evoke feelings of the spiritual in viewers. The drawings are all done in silverpoint which allows for consistent, permanent, sharp lines. Silver, being a precious metal and silverpoint’s connection to the past fit well with the content of the images.
The black paintings are made by staining raw canvas with a thin acrylic and then sewing geometric forms into it.
About the Artist:
Jonathan Cowan (b. 1982, Temple, TX) Lives and works in Boston, MA. He attended The University of Texas at San Antonio where he earned a BFA in 2006. He has participated in numerous exhibitions including shows at Simuvac Projects, Brooklyn, NY; Gray Contemporary, Houston, TX; Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY; The Parlour Bushwick, Brooklyn NY; c2c projects, San Francisco, CA; Ventana 244, Brooklyn, NY; and TSA New York, Brooklyn NY.

SECOND GALLERY
Mandy Cano Villalobos: Dust in the Mouth
(pictured: (L) Cor IV, wood, cloth, metal, 2018, (R) Cor III, 2018)
Dust in the Mouth features works that utilize the hand stitch to chronicle the passage of time. The title of the exhibition references the poetry of Anne Bradstreet, a Puritan settler who, unlike the celebrated male poets of her day, wrote of domestic life and familial relationships. Similar to Bradstreet’s poems, the work stems from gendered experiences of the everyday and an awareness of our ephemeral existence. Menial labor and repetitious chores become meditative rituals that transform the banal into something of sacred value. TheMissive, Bidding and Supplication pieces record prayerful motions in red, black and brown thread. Cor (Latin for “heart”) III and IV are relic-like sculptures piecemeal from rags.
About the Artist:
Mandy Cano Villalobos (b. 1979, Petersburg, VA) is a project-based artist whose practice centers upon concepts of time. Her work has been featured in venues including Van Der Plas Gallery (New York, NY), the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art (Clinton, NY), Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore, MD), the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, (Chicago), The Museum of New Art (Detroit, MI), Hillyer Art Space (Washington, DC) and La Casa Pauly (Puerto Montt, Chile). Cano Villalobos has been an artist in residence at Vermont Studio Center, Post Contemporary, The Wassaic Project, Ragdale, and ACRE. She has also received grants from multiple organizations including the Puffin and Frey Foundations. Her work has been reviewed in The Washington Post, Sculpture Magazine, Hyperallergic, Culturehall, Performa Magazine and Bad-at-Sports, among others. Cano Villalobos received her MFA from The George Washington University in Washington, DC, and currently resides in Grand Rapids, MI.

Gray Contemporary
3508 Lake Street
Houston, TX 77098

---

For Bree the Mural Girl, Life is Drawing Without an Eraser

by Patricia Hudson
Managing Editor of Pinpointe Cypress Magazines

 

How did your love of art come about?
Painting has been my passion since my early years; I’ve been painting since I was 5 years old.  We moved a lot when I was a child. My parents let me paint my room however I wanted. I started painting murals on the walls then.

What formal training have you had?
My formal training included high school and college classes and workshops for the past 18 years.

Where did you go to college?
I received my undergraduate degree, a BS in Pre-Occupational Therapy, from Baylor University, and my Master’s degree in teaching from studies at the University of Texas at Arlington, combined with studies at La Universidad Complutense de Madrid. While in college, I continued to paint art pieces and sell them in small venues, cafes, and boutiques.

What career path did you take next?
I moved to Spain for four years, teaching, while studying the language and the arts.  Upon returning from Spain in 2004, I taught Spanish and Art and continued to sell my art and paint murals for clients.

How did you get started as Bree the Mural Girl?
Over time, my interests gravitated toward teaching others how to paint, as well as continuing to paint murals on large scales. Now, 12 years later, I continue to work as a full-time muralist for my company, BREE the Mural Girl LLC.  In 2016, I opened my first art studio, BRUSH. BRUSH offers painting classes to all ages with a specific emphasis on art therapy for children with special needs.

Bree is well-known for supporting charitable causes. One of her favorites is the Cypress Fairbanks Education Foundation Salute to Heroes, where she is frequently the guest artist.

What is the most enjoyable art project on which you have worked?
The Lone Star Montgomery Cowboy Church; they are fun murals and wonderful people to work with.

What was the most difficult project you have ever undertaken?
The Czech Museum of Houston. It was difficult because of the surface, size and detail of the project.

How did the Boardwalk at Towne Lake project come about?
I met Fred and Susan Caldwell a few years ago, while doing the CyFair Education Foundation Live painting for Salute to Our Heroes. They purchased the live flag painting I did, and then we discussed artwork out at The Boardwalk at Towne Lake. Fred thought of the revolving murals, changing them up every six months or so. There’s a new change soon to come! We also decided to do the play pad area, as well.

What are you working on currently?
The Magnolia Cowboy Church Murals

Does your home reflect your talent?
I have an eclectic home and shop that reflects my personality in so many ways.

Suzanne Vo Gilman, a childhood friend since the sixth grade, recalls growing up with Bree. “I couldn’t believe that her parents let us draw on her bedroom walls! What’s interesting about her is that she’s always been such a free, wild spirit! She always been like that hippie friend, marching to her own beat! We did an art car together a few years ago! Bree is such a cool person! Oh, and my husband gave her the nickname of ‘Sistene,’ in homage to her ceiling murals!”

In what other media do you work?
I do Specialty Faux, decorative paint finishes meant to replicate the look of other surfaces such as brick and wood, and Ceilings.

Just as Michelangelo painted Renaissance art on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Bree has been commissioned to create celestial views, botanical gardens, and even Texas themed ceilings.

Bree’s creations can be found in and around commercial establishments throughout the city in company logos, outdoor facades, and indoor murals. Intrigued by her art, clients entrust their homes to Bree to add Tuscany scenery in residential entry halls, tropical jungles on a patio wall, and decorative lettering in a foyer. Children’s rooms are personalized with whimsical castles, playful animals, chugging steam engines and enchanted woodland forests. Bree’s sports themed projects are emblazoned on game room walls across Houston. Canvas backdrops and painted wooden facades for family or community events reflect her creativity. The talented artist offers selected works for sale in canvas. Painting, staining, and resurfacing furniture are also a part of Bree’s repertoire.

What reaction does Bree typically receive after completing a client’s project?
“Bree is truly an amazing and talented artist. I provide a simple concept and she makes my dreams come through. Her unique ability to connect, invent, depict, and describe to create meaning is absolutely amazing.” comments Gabriela Botalla-Bell.

Client Mark Williams pronounces Bree’s art as “Excellent work! Took my ideas and pulled together a great mural combining all the features I asked of her and threw in some of her own.”

“She’s always been like that hippie friend, marching to her own beat! Such a cool person!” says childhood friend, Suzanne Vo Gilman, on BREE the Mural Girl

BREE The Mural Girl llc

7123 Little Cypress Dr.

Call (409) 599-3975

breethemuralgirl.com

Facebook: BREE The Mural Girl llc