5 Houston Art Shows You Need to See — ‘Tis the Season For Creative Joy

The holiday season is a time of joy and celebration, and of course — art. Yes, art. Art can make any season more interesting. Luckily, Houston is still awash in interesting art during the holidays.

Here are five Houston art gallery exhibitions worth catching:

“Dreams, Visions & Desires” at Heidi Vaughan Fine Art

Following a lengthy health battle, sculptor Susan Budge triumphantly returns with an exhibition of nearly 60 works created in just nine months. The celebrated ceramicist works intuitively, with no planning in advance. Budge frequently references themes of motherhood, spirituality and partnership in her otherworldly, surreal forms that vary dramatically in size and scale. From diminutive pieces to staggering totems.

Budge also has several jewelry pieces with her signature eye symbol available for purchase.

Susan Budge’s “Dreams, Visions & Desires” is on view at Heidi Vaughan Fine Art (3510 Lake Street) through Sunday, December 31. Learn more here.

“Wear It Out!” at Hooks-Epstein Gallery

Hooks-Epstein Gallery is hosting an art jewelry invitational featuring the handmade work of nine Houston-based artists. Participating artists include Corey Ackelmire, Victor Beckmann, Tarina Frank, Heidi Gerstacker, René Lee Henry, Jessica Jacobi, Masumi Kataoka, Edward Lane McCartney and Sandie Zilker.

To unite the installation, the gallerist asked each artist to feature a mirror in their work.

McCartney, who is represented by the gallery, wittily incorporates mirrors into dramatically oversized dangling earrings.

Beckmann’s work is particularly engaging. He references social media, emojis and the Internet age. He lightly laser etches smiley faces onto a string of pearls, updating a classic, and directly references an emoji in the brooch, Mom’s Spaghetti.

Ackelmire’s standout piece is The Length of 3 Years: 1,095 Days. Every day for three years, the artist soldered one link onto a chain, which has now grown more than five feet long. The piece can be worn as a layered necklace or displayed as an installation. These pieces truly are wearable art.

“Wear It Out!” is on view at Hooks-Epstein Gallery (2631 Colquitt Street) through Saturday, January 13. An artist talk will be held this Saturday, December 16 at noon at the gallery. Learn more here.

Birds, Tableaux, Mythology and More at Moody Gallery

Three fantastic shows are on view at Houston’s Moody Gallery through this Saturday, December 16.

Upon entry to the gallery, viewers are greeted with “Helen Altman: Birds with Animals & I Have a Story.” Altman continues her focus on steel wire bird sculptures, installed directly on the wall as though each bird is perched there. With these birds, she includes vintage Britains lead animal figurines. She also displays fascinating domed tableaux that are a new direction for her work. These whimsical works include found objects in imaginative scenes.

In the back space, the gallery showcases “Greek Mythologies,” a collection of small paintings from Ellen Tanner. The oil on panel works are incredibly detailed and require close examination to truly appreciate the style, which emulates that of medieval or early Renaissance art. The artist uses decorative tramp art frames that she collected for many of these works.

There is also a fantastic holiday group exhibition on view. Of particular note is the striking work on paper from Sherry Tseng Hill, who is newly represented by the gallery, and a red Jim Love steel sculpture. The oil on board by Sarah Williams displays her unique ability to represent light in nocturnal scenes. In this case, that’s the warm glow of Christmas lights wrapped around a tree.

“Extended Play” at David Shelton Gallery

David Shelton Gallery presents an exhibition of Houston-based artist Robert Hodge’s text-based paintings on reclaimed paper. Hodge creates these works by using found paper from across the city and compressing them into slabs. The texts are powerful and thought provoking while the materiality of the works themselves deliberately reference memory, the passage of time and the everyday.

In Unprecendented Pain, stenciled text is carved into the textured paper. Sections of the paper slab are sewn together with thick thread like stitches.

“Extended Play” is on view at David Shelton Gallery (4411 Montrose Boulevard) through Saturday, January 6. Learn more here.

“Laurie Fendrich and Peter Plagens: New Work” at Texas Gallery

Laurie Fendrich and Peter Plagens have a fantastic two-person show on view at Texas Gallery. The spouses peek into each other’s studios as they work and confer on color. In their third show together, Fendrich’s work is on one side and Plagens’ is on the other. Their separation creates a stronger installation.

Plagens shows mixed media paper collages. In these diptychs, the artist works from the outside in, layering washes of paint. The layers of paint colors act as a halo or glow around the verticality of the central composition of strips of paper and found images. Plagens is also a highly respected art critic. He writes museum exhibition reviews for the Wall Street Journal.

Although the gallery has shown Plagens for more than 50 years, it is the first time they are exhibiting Fendrich’s work. At first glance, Fendrich’s abstract paintings appear strictly modernist, but the rounded forms reference comics from her youth. The bright, energetic small scale paintings seem to burst at the edges with their vibrancy.

“Laurie Fendrich and Peter Plagens: New Work” is on view at Texas Gallery (2012 Peden Street) through Saturday, December 30. Learn more here.

Haley Berkman Karren is an art advisor, appraiser, independent curator and writer. She is also the founder and director of Karren Art Advisory, specializing in modern and contemporary art, photography and digital art.