Galeria Perdida, Michoacan, Mexico and Gabriel Architects, Houston are sponsoring Towards a New Architecture , a project curated by Julie Spielman in which fourteen artists, architects and writers will intervene an old house that is about to be renovated. Participants include Evan apRoberts , Seann Brackin, Alyssa Brackin, Anita Bunn, Brad Eberhard , Meredith Goldsmith, Andres Janacua, Bianca Kolonusz-Partee, Thomas Kolonusz-Partee, Andrea Liu, Robert Morris, Steve Roden, Jorge Andrés Rodriguez , and Jeff Williams. The opening is this afternoon, from 3-6 at 1100 Milford Ave, Houston.
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To be fair, neither windchimes nor soap were for sale at the 2007 Austin Fine Art Fair. There was actually some good art there; see my post about it: http://samsanford.blogspot.com/2007/04/austin-fine-arts-festival-picks.html
In recent meetings with Art Alliance Austin (formerly The Austin Fine Arts Alliance) I have been encouraged by their motivation to expand the vision of the Fine Arts Festival beyond the traditional art fair model that has previously been the role of the festival for the community.
Art Alliance Austin has been in discussions with a range of artists, designers, and architects to determine the most effective ways of expanding the relevance of the festival and to provide a greater opportunity for a broader range of artists to participate in the festival.
As a participant in the discussion on how to improve the festival and how to expand the role of Art Alliance Austin to best serve Austin’s creative community, I have found the Alliance to be genuinely interested in building a strong and meaningful arts festival. Does this mean “Down with Soap and Wiindchimes!”? Maybe not, but I think the Alliance is asking if there is a way to incorporate the wide range of craft artisans who’s work has been celebrated in the festival in the past, while also building opportunities to showcase new work that is challenging, inspiring, and original.
I agree that claims like “the best juried independent and emerging artists” puts AAA at risk of scrutiny, but certainly we should wait to see what’s delivered this year as a result of the Aliance’s makeover before calling the festival a “waste of time”.
Ian Cion
October 2007
The web site and all the press lately is talking about how the festival is moving away from your typical street festival and becoming more dynamic. I’m looking forward to more visual installations by local Austin artists like Mathew Rodriguez, Luke Savisky, and Becca Ward.The AIA partnership will be interesting to see too. I’m excited by the passion and drive behind the organization’s plan to re-invent the festival. I hope this review challenges the event producers to keep coming up with new ideas and collaborations that will have the Bayou City Art Festival eating dust…or turkey legs and funnel cakes.