Central Track Contributor
Art Con Preps Its Tenth Affair, But It's Just One Of Many Ways To Get Involved In Dallas Arts.
Welcome to Canvassing, our weekly look at the conversations that surround the Dallas art world. Pull up a chair. Stay with us for a while. The view's pretty nice from here.
Art Conspiracy is one of the Dallas art world's finest grassroots success stories, and this year, the organization, which taps local artists to create art for its annual auction and then turns the proceeds over to deserving area arts charities, is celebrating its ten-year anniversary.
And, once again, this year's festivities, which will take place on Saturday, November 15, at 500 Singleton Boulevard, should prove to be a good time. Deemed Art Con X, it will feature more than 100 local artists, who have each been challenged to stretch their talents and create a piece of collectible art within 24 hours on a piece of signature Art Con 18-inch-by-18-inch wooden board. Completed works will be presented for live auction with prices starting at $20. This year, the event will be raising money for Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico, a local organization that aims to help “young people of all ages and races achieve awareness of the Hispanic heritage that has so influenced and enriched our modern society.” Booty Fade, Son of Stan, The Happy Bullets and DJ CEEPEE round out the night's offerings with live music performances.
You can purchase advance tickets to the good-time, good-cause affair for just $10 right here.
Meanwhile, just one day after Art Con X, the Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas group is joining the local arts-funding movement with its own inaugural CADD FUNd, which promises to award one talented recent (2013 or 2014) or current MFA student at least $2,500 but possibly up to $7,500 in cold hard cash. The MFA requirement, the 100 mile radius qualifier and the $35 admission fee to the celebration of this announcement aside, it's incredibly exciting to see CADD utilize its collective resources to support the work of young artists in North Texas. They've put together a great group of jurors to narrow down the finalists, too: Judy Deaton, chief curator of The Grace Museum; Gabriel Ritter, the Nancy and Tim Hanley assistant curator of contemporary art for the Dallas Museum of Art; and Dr. William Rudolph, the Marie and Hugh Halff curator of American art and Mellon chief for the San Antonio Museum of Art. For artists, the submission deadline for consideration submit is October 1. Get in on that action here.
Continuing with the contest theme, Deep Ellum's Kettle Art is launching a photography contest for anyone interested in taking the definitive image of the Deep Ellum. Sign up this weekend at Kettle, take your image, print it out, drop it off at Kettle Art, get into the exhibition and see if your image is picked by a panel of professional photographer judges to be the winner. For more information on this competitive exhibition, head here.
Also in Deep Ellum and worth knowing about? Two relatively under-the-radar artists, Darius Goodson and Evita Cortez, who have operated an experimental space on Walton Street for almost two years now. Their space, called Black Lodge, focuses on video, performance art and experimental music — and it comes back to life this Friday with performances from Pierre N. Krause and Totonix, plus music by Jackson Wallis. The show is charmingly called “there is 2 much content and i long for death,” and Cortez tells Canvassing that viewers can expect “a night of performance art experimentations/coping mechanisms for 2014.” Learn more here.
Finally, one of the best installation artists in Dallas, Gabriel Dawe, was recently featured on PBS NewsHour's Art Beat, for his installation for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art's “State of the Art” exhibit. Incredibly, Dawe utilized 60 miles of sewing thread to create his installation. Check out the video feature on his work below.
THURSDAY.
• Vinyl Thoughts Art Show 5 at Quixotic World from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
FRIDAY
• Northern Exposure: Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas Visit Addison at The Gallery (Addison) from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• “there is 2 much content and i long for death” at Black Lodge from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.
• “11:11” by Jeff Gibbons at Two Bronze Doors from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
SATURDAY
• “Coffee and Doughnuts” at The Basement Gallery from 7 to 11 p.m.
