Canvasssing.

Five Encouraging Signs In The Dallas Art World.

Welcome to Canvassing, our regular 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.

Greetings, Canvasing faithful. I hope you're all staying cozy in this crazy weather we've been facing. Also? I hope you're ready to get caught up on the more-interesting goings-on in the area art world this week and on the events taking place this weekend, as that's what we're going to be talking about today.

Specifically this week, let's focus on some positives. After last week's depressing talk, that's probably a healthy exercise.

1. The Consortium. So, this is a cool bit of collaboration: The MFA students of UTA, UTD and SMU are allv working together and learning from one another in a new class called The Consortium. The class also includes professors from each institution. Better yet: Every month, the public is invited to check out some of their work and engage the students in conversation. This is a pretty amazing development — especially when you consider the oft-competitive nature of higher education. This, folks, is a very good sign for the future health of our art scene.

2. Peter Simek As A Political Writer. I ran into D Magazine art critic Peter Simek at a bar a couple weeks ago, and jokingly told him he should stop writing about art and stick with politics. Maybe I was just reacting to his 1,400-word response to my last Canvassing piece about cultural policy? Maybe. But, seriously, the guy is writing some of the most interesting pieces on local politics that you'll find anywhere in town these days. He really deserves some applause for that. And he deserves your eyeballs, too: Given that we're approaching election season, his his thoughts on the Sam's Club coming to Uptown, the Trinity Toll Road,
and the Continental Pedestrian Bridge are all worthy of your attention.

3. Time Based Art Forms. This month has been a revelation for time-based art forms, and specifically in regards to performance and video mediums. And, perhaps fittingly, the time for us all to appreciate this fact is running out:
The Dallas Medianale at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary and the Alison Starr-curated “In The Room We Discovered An – Other In The Corner,” are about to enter their final weekends. Don't sleep on these events. They represent exactly the type of programming that the City of Dallas needs more of in the future. Hats off to all involved.

4. 3014 Space. I am so happy to see that Eric Trich, formerly of 1111 Studio Gallery and Main House Studio is launching a new space called 3014 Space this weekend. Trich is a talented multi-media artist and technologist. On a personal level, I curated some of my earliest shows — including solo shows by Alfredo Salazar-Caro and Shane Mecklenberger — at his 1111 Studio Gallery in the Design District. It will be interesting to see how 3014 contributes to a scene suddenly awash with hybrid art and music spaces like Black Lodge, Ash Studios and Pariah Arts. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how that all plays out.

5. Individual Arts Funding by the City of Dallas. Is the city finally going to invest in the arts? Probably not on the scale that's needed — not right away, at least. But, still, it's encouraging to see that the city has announced funding for creative projects in the amounts of $1,000 and $5,000. This is game-changer in my eyes, and a wonderful step forward toward the cultural policy needed for this city's arts worlds to thrive. In 2013, Danielle Georgiou, Sara Mokuria, Jessica Martinez and I made an hour-long presentation to the Cultural Affairs Commission advocating for individual arts funding, and we received a lot of support from people like Liz Trosper, Greg Metz, Meg Friess and Heyd Fontenot in the process. Many, many, many other artists and advocates have made similar pitches for decades, too, so it's truly beautiful to see that the Office of Cultural Affairs is starting to create avenues to support the wonderful creatives in this city who are doing the work on the ground. For more information click here.

THURSDAY.
• “Photography Show: Common Exposures” at St. Matthews Cathedral from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• “Terra Incognita” by Adam Reese at RO2 at the Magnolia from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• “A Portrait of Potential: Celebrating 20 years of Creative Solutions by Big Thought,” at Photos Do Not Bend from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

FRIDAY.
• “The Lovin Exhibit Closing Reception” by Art Love Magic at South Side on Lamar from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
• “Intimate Engagements” at Black Lodge from 8 p.m. to midnight.

SATURDAY.
• “The Consortium: Installations and Artist Talks” at 500 Singleton Boulevard from noon to 5 p.m.
• “Complex Movements Creative Collaboration Skillshare” at the South Dallas Cultural Center from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• “Dallas Medianale Finale: Existential Virtuality” curated by Carolyn Sortor at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary 5:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
• “In the room…” curated by Alison Starr at Beefhaus from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

SUNDAY.
• Francisco Moreno Kickstarter Open Studio from noon to 5 p.m.
• Art Monsters Network BBQ at Ash Studios from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.

TUESDAY.
• “#artisapublicgood Call To Action” at Ash Studios from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

WEDNESDAY.
•