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Animals Pets & their People 2021 Season of the Animal

Animals Honor for Animal Wellbeing Jamee & Robin Suarez

Dance Lone Star Silas Farley

Photography Smoke Signals Irby Pace

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Happenings
New and Now In Art & Performance

The Contemporary Austin / Austin DEBORAH ROBERTS: I'M

This first major Texas museum show for the Austin-based Deborah Roberts explores her portraits of Black children that incorporate collage and other media to consider identity, race, and beauty. Reminiscent of the art of Romare Bearden, the works use photographs and images from magazines, and the internet, remixed with painting, to celebrate some of the country’s most vulnerable young people. A large-scale mural on the exterior of the Jones Center has vinyl figures expressing a Black boy’s joy while, as Roberts puts it, “he tries to make his way into adulthood without being targeted or criminalized.” thecontemporaryaustin.org

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University of Virginia / Charlottesville, Virginia Memorial to Enslaved Laborers

As the country contends with white supremacy embedded in its statuary, the University of Virginia has unveiled a memorial to a violent American history that’s rarely been acknowledged in public monuments. The campus itself was designed by slave owner Thomas Jefferson and thousands of enslaved people worked at the institution. The eyes of one of them—Isabella Gibbons—are engraved by the artist Eto Otitigbe on the sloping exterior wall of two concentric granite rings. Inside the abstract form designed by Höweler + Yoon are carved names when it rains that appear to weep. slavery.virginia.edu

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Thomas Cole National Historic Site / Catskill, New York The Pollinator Pavilion

Only one person at a time can sit in this lavender gazebo at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, but the birds are always welcome. The Pollinator Pavilion by artists Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood is a space as much for people as birds—specifically the ruby-throated hummingbird, which is an essential New York pollinator. Living flora and paintings adorn the wooden structure, which was informed by the fantastic depictions of nature by nineteenth-century artist Martin Johnson Heade and now anticipates Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church and our Contemporary Moment, an exhibition that was rescheduled to spring 2021 due to the pandemic. thomascole.org

Through Fall 2021 Read More

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MissivesCommunication of the Moment

from the artdesk Your Favorite Words April 21, 2021

from the artdesk Waiting in the Wings April 21, 2021

from the artdesk A New Face for Green Box Arts April 21, 2021

from the artdesk In Memory: Roger Mandle April 21, 2021

from the artdesk The Artist's Word February 10, 2021

the book report Shaping the World: Sculpture from Prehistory to Now

the book report Dieter Rams: The Complete Works

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BIG REVEAL! Happy Hour Episode 5: Light & Space with Liz Sullivan from Green Box Arts Festival on Vimeo.

Cannon Fodder Survey

Guns are a leading topic of national discourse right now. Here, we asked professional question asker, pollster Bob Meadow of Lake Research Partners, to pose his nine most important questions regarding firearms in America. We encourage you to ponder these, make notes, and send us your responses.

Question 1 of 9

When current public discussion begins with limiting assault weapons, rather than how are we best kept safe in our homes, schools, and public spaces—are we asking the right questions?

Question 2 of 9

Why are rates of gun violence so much higher in the United States than they are in other developed countries, or even culturally similar countries like Canada or Australia?

Question 3 of 9

Given our heritage and Constitution, can gun violence be reduced by legislation and policing without a fundamental shift in our culture? Why or why not?

Question 4 of 9

Should we be looking for a series of small changes, or one major change, in how we address the question of guns in America? What might the change(s) be?

Question 5 of 9

Should gun violence, as a matter of life and death, be addressed as a public-health issue, the same way we treat drug addiction, communicable diseases, smoking, and obesity?

Question 6 of 9

What do you think of the sentiment that having a good guy with a gun is the best way to stop a bad guy with a gun?

Question 7 of 9

Courts have determined that no constitutional right—even free speech—is absolute when it harms others. Should that logic apply to the availability of guns under the Second Amendment?

Question 8 of 9

Should guns be available for purchase anywhere or from anyone, such as at gun shows or from private owners? Or should guns be available only from licensed and regulated vendors?

Question 9 of 9

What could be the common ground for “pro-gun” and “gun control” advocates to engage in a dialogue to address gun violence constructively and effectively?

Thank You

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ART AND PHOTO CREDITS: 1. SARA RAHBAR America/Flag #54/fag series (2017) Photograph by Arash Yaghmaian, courtesy of the artist 2. JENNY HOLZER, Abuse of Power Comes As No Surprise (1982) Photograph by Lisa Kahane, courtesy of Jenny Holzer/Art Resource 3. BARBARA KRUGER Untitled (We don’t need another hero) (1987) courtesy of the Mary Boone Gallery © Barbara Kruger 4. MATT GOAD Bolt Action Boogie (2007), courtesy of the artist 5. JASPER JOHNS Flag (1967) © Jasper Johns, Licensed by VAGA, New York 6. ANDY WARHOL Guns (1981) © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS) 7. FORD BECKMAN POP TARGET NO. 6 (2012), courtesy of McClain Gallery 8. LAURIE SIMMONS Walking Gun (1991), courtesy of Laurie Simmons and Salon 94, New York 9. CARL FREDRIK REUTERSWÄRD Non-Violence (1985), Photograph by Thomas Koehler/Phototek via Getty Images

Light On

HappeningsNew and Now In Art & Performance

MissivesCommunication of the Moment

Cannon Fodder Survey

Thank You

Happenings
New and Now In Art & Performance