Past GAC Programs

Austin is home to hundreds of muralists, many of whom got their start doing graffiti, although many others have academic roots in fine arts, printing, graphic design and other similar fields. Yet something has attracted and enticed these artists out of the comfort of their studios and brought them onto the streets, to experiment, explore and inspire the masses. Come join us in viewing examples of murals and graffiti along with current work created during studio sessions at the Arts…

The paintings and drawings in this series are reflections of issues that are prevalent today -- gender inequality, cultural biases, and specific subjects linked to social justice including human trafficking, child marriage, and honor killing.  This exhibition represents Richard Laurent's personal journey to understand cross-cultural criminal traditions. This work represents his efforts as an artist to help turn these "human wrongs" into human rights.

For several years, JR Rapier has been exploring the possible existence of emotional entities by visualizing an emotion on canvas as an earthly being. Through a common philosophy, that feelings are separate from who you are as a human being, Rapier is tapping into her own psyche to illustrate what her feeling might look like if it actually appeared to her as an old friend, a child-self or a strange figure. A Symphony of Entities is about giving emotions a…

The Black Women’s Epoch is a group art exhibition by We Here Collective that explores Black femme history through a multi-media, intersectional lens. Through this exhibition, we hope to emphasize the perspectives and stories of Black American women to show who they are and how they have always been instrumental in shaping our country and our history. In this exhibition, we have included work that displays the continued resistance to systematic racism and sexism. Within this exhibition we also work…

Found presents recent artworks by three area artists.  Each artist relies on random discovery and found materials as a starting point.  Chaussonnet recuts recovered industrial scrap steel, then forges and welds stylized busts, landscapes, and abstract sculptures.  Rolfe is an assemblage artist whose narrative relief sculptures and shadow boxes are composed primarily of reclaimed vintage household furnishings.  Webb faithfully uses acrylics to portray abandoned trash piles left at the curb for bulk collection.

Four artists look beyond the surface and use paper to create paper-constructed worlds. B. Shawn Cox folds and creases paper into textured geometric forms. Donna Lewis creates serene, ordered collages from common materials. Valerie Fowler tells stories with drawings, rolls of paper and a unique presentation device she calls a Crankie. Meena Matai carves webs of paper into 2-D and 3-D forms.

Join us for our last exhibit of 2020, Book Passage, where unwanted books are given a new home in a world where dying books are reborn and venerated. This is new work by award-winning book artists John Sager and Janice Anderson. Anderson weaves complex, exquisite and richly colored mixed media collages from discarded book covers, supporting ephemera and carefully placed related found objects. Sager is an assemblage sculptor who shapes distressed books into evocative, thoughtful and astonishingly elegant constructions.