1. The Menil Collection www.menil.org
Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective, on view thru June 10, is the first retrospective of the artist’s drawings and first major one-person exhibition organized under the umbrella of the Menil Drawing Institute and Study Center. This exhibition, with work from major European and American public and private collections, traces Serra’s investigation of drawing as an activity both independent from and linked to his sculptural practice. Organized chronologically, it addresses significant shifts in concept, materials and scale, and culminates with new large-scale works completed for this presentation.
2. Houston Center for Photography www.hcponline.org
The Power of Now and Other Tales from Home by Julie Blackmon, on view thru April 22. One of her main sources of inspiration in addition to her own life are the paintings by 17th-century Dutch and Flemish genre painters, especially the work of Jan Steen. His use of lighting and humor influenced her to emulate the same mood in many of her photos, but she utilizes digital technology to take her scenes to a new level.
3. The Rothko Chapel www.rothkochapel.org
The Rothko Chapel, founded by John and Dominique de Menil, was dedicated in 1971 as an intimate sanctuary available to people of every belief. A modern meditative environment inspired by the mural canvases of Russian-born, American painter Mark Rothko (1903-1970).
4. Houston Center for Contemporary Craft www.crafthouston.org
Implied Utility, on view April 14. Looking at the work in his show, it’s hard to believe Chris Hedrick hasn’t been carving wood his whole life — the illusion of his pieces is just so good. Using primarily hand tools in the converted garage of his historic Houston Heights home, Hedrick digs into exotic woods to extract amazingly accurate reproductions of everyday objects. This exhibition focuses on his charismatic portrayals of woodworking tools themselves.
5. Lawndale Art Center www.lawndaleartcenter.org
Design Fair 2012: Learn. Shop. Connect, on view April 25-29, the exhibit features vintage modern objects of the 20th century, as well examples of cutting-edge contemporary design. A wide selection of carefully curated items will be available for purchase as part of the Design Fair, including furniture, glass, ceramics, lighting, books, metalwork and fashion.
6. Buffalo Soldiers National Museum www.buffalosoldiermuseum.com
This Museum pays tribute to African-American military history from the Revolutionary War to modern times. During the 1860s, soldiers of the 10th U.S. Calvary were nicknamed “Buffalo Soldiers” for their fierce fighting ability and bravery.
7. Holocaust Museum Houston www.hmh.org
Returning: The Art of Samuel Bak, on view thru August 12. Viewers encounter familiar imagery used in unusual, somewhat surrealistic ways as they are led on an astoundingly complex, beautiful and richly colorful journey to, through and from the Holocaust. Born on Aug. 12, 1933, in Vilna, which is now Vilnius, Lithuania, Bak was recognized from an early age as possessing extraordinary artistic talent. The artist continues to deal with the artistic expression of the destruction and dehumanization, which make up his childhood memories.
8. Children’s Museum of Houston www.cmhouston.org
Cum Yah Gullah, on view thru September 8. Inspiring songs, candid folktales and African heritage preserved, Cum Yah Gullah (translated to mean Come here, Gullah) explores the rich West African culture carried to the US in the 1600s and uncovers the roots of millions of African-Americans today.
9. The Health Museum www.thehealthmuseum.org
Cells: The Universe Inside Us, on view thru August 26. The human body is made up of millions of cells that are constantly working. Cells: The Universe Inside Us gives visitors a chance to see what happens inside their body every day. Walk through a giant cell, perform virtual experiments, make protein shapes with your shadow and more!
10. Houston Museum of Natural Science www.hmns.org
Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, on view thru September 3, showcases more than 300 artifacts retrieved from Titanic’s debris field. Delicate bottles of perfume, china bearing the logo of the White Star Line and many other objects collected from the wreck site offer poignant connections to lives abruptly ended or forever changed by one of the world’s greatest maritime tragedies.
11. Houston Zoo www.houstonzoo.org
They’re baaaacck! Orkin presents DINOSAURS! beginning May 4. These animatronic dinosaurs move, roar and even spit water. Some of the species were once found in Texas, with all but two found in our region.
12. Rice University Art Gallery www.ricegallery.org
Yasuaki Onishi: New Installation, on view April 13. The Art Gallery commissioned Japanese artist Yasuaki Onishi to create a site-specific installation to coincide with the Grand Opening of the Asia Society Texas Center’s new Houston headquarters designed by Yoshio Taniguchi. In his “reverse of volume” installations, Onishi uses the simplest materials – translucent plastic sheeting, strings of black glue and fishing line – to create monumental forms that resemble mountains or clouds floating in space.
13. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston www.mfah.org
Egyptomania, on view thru July 29, explores the Egyptian Revivals of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries through objects from across the MFAH collections, including Georgian garden sphinxes, 19th-century “Aegyptian” furniture and Art Deco perfume bottles with pharaoh-head stoppers. Egyptomania opens during the run of Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs and also marks the 90th anniversary of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb by British archaeologist Howard Carter, which began the revival of the 1920s.
14. Contemporary Arts Museum Houston www.camh.org
The Deconstructive Impulse: Women Artists Reconfigure the Signs of Power, on view thru April 15, examines the crucial role of women artists in the development of deconstructivism in the 1970s and 1980s. The deconstructive impulse was propelled in significant measure by women who, through the appropriation of mass media and commercial images, sought to reveal the mechanisms of power present in popular representations of gender, sex, race and class. The exhibit features photographs, prints, paintings, videos and installations by various artists.
15. The Jung Center oF Houston www.junghouston.org
Founded in 1958, The Jung Center is a nonprofit educational institution dedicated to the continuing education of the human spirit through psychology, the arts and the humanities.
16. Czech Center Museum www.czechcenter.org
The Czech Center Museum Houston works to preserve, record and celebrate the language, scholarship and arts of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Slovakia.
17. John C. Freeman Weather Museum www.wxresearch.org
Explore animal habitats in the Interactive Climate Zone, touch a tornado, learn how to make your own hurricane preparedness kit and be a weather reporter for WRC-TV. The museum houses nine permanent exhibits and offers many exciting programs including weather camps, Boy/Girl Scout badge classes, teacher workshops, birthday parties and weather labs.
