I had a chance to sit down with General Director Darren Woods of the Fort Worth Opera last week for a preview of this year’s festival, which kicks off Friday night at the Scott Theatre with Angels in America. Tickets are still available for all four operas. Hope to see you there.
Enjoy cocktails, Cafe Modern cuisine, and the sweet sounds of the Tom Reynolds Trio from 5 to 8 p.m. at this month’s First Friday at The Modern. A docent-led, 20-minute spotlight tour of the galleries starts at 6:30 p.m. The tour is free for Modern members and Star-Telegram Press Pass Holders.
Dinner will be served from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and includes featured specials created by Executive Chef Dena Peterson. For reservations, call 817.840.2174.
In case you missed the ad that’s been running in our sidebar for the last few days, there’s a new independent film series starting up at The Modern tonight.
The series is has been put together by Kinetiq HD, a local production company. One of the guiding forces of the series is local filmmaker Andrew Disney, who screened his short “Frank’s Last Shot” at the Lone Star International Film Festival back in November.
The show starts at 7:30 tonight at The Modern. Get your tickets here, then get your butt out there!
If you’re looking for a respite from the nuttery that is Main Street Arts Festival, here are a couple of options:
Fort Worth Public Art is holding a symposium at McDavid Studio with Cliff Garten and Christopher Janney, two of the people who will be creating the sound and lightscape around and along Lancaster Ave. (Ok, so it’s still art-related, but at least it’s air-conditioned, and it doesn’t cost 13 tickets.)
If you want to get out of downtown altogether, there’s still one more day of University Christian Church’s Earth Day celebration. Jenna and I went over there yesterday, and they’ve got a great setup, with tons of vendors and presentations planned.
I hope to see you out and about!
Don’t forget - tonight is Modern ‘Til Midnight, from 6:00 PM to, well, midnight (hence the name). Music will be many and varied - Yellow Fever, The Theater Fire, Trimble Tech High School Marching Band (directed by Earnest Colvin playing a composition by Patrick Grant), PPT, and Strange Fruit Project. Food and drinks. Admission is $15, or FREE for Modern members.
I’ll be there from about 7:30 or so onwards. Look for the guy in the hat, as usual. Say hi!
Since I know you’re starting to make plans for the weekend, now is the time to clue you in to a couple of cool events around the city.
On Saturday, there’ll be a fundraiser for some folks participating in the BP Houston to Austin MS150 Bike Ride (I don’t know which one, exactly) at the Rahr Brewery from 7-10 PM.
They’ve got a ton of raffle giveaways, and you get free beer! All you have to pony up is $10 at the door, all of which goes to the Lone Star Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Update: (Ryan does a better job selling it than I have in the comments…)
The Fort Worth Community Arts Center will be hosting a reception for their current and incoming batch of local artists on Friday from 6-9PM.
Update (2): Herb e-mailed to let us know that Wayne Horvitz’ Gravitas Quartet will be playing this Friday and Saturday at the Van Cliburn Recital Hall. For tickets and showtimes, hop on over Bass Hall’s website. Looking for more info on Wayne Horvitz’ Gravitas Quartet? Check them out on iTunes.
Update (3):The Texas Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture (the ORIGINAL professional treehuggers) is hosting its Tree Climbing Championship in Trinity Park Friday and Saturday. This looks like a really fun and interesting event! (Fair warning — these guys and gals get up EARLY! All events are scheduled to be finished and the get-together adjourned by 4PM, so don’t be late!)
I’m sure there are a TON more things going on. Is there something I missed? Something you’d like to add? Are you planning an event and want us to mention it here? Send me an e-mail!
Arts Goggle in the Near Southside just gets better every time. This time around, yours truly was situated in both Panther City Bicycles on Magnolia and the Texana Townhomes at Adams & Oleander. I’d intended to bike back and forth between the two all night, but it was so crazy busy at the bike shop that I stayed there all night.
As you can see in the photo above, Panther City Bicycles was jam-packed with people out enjoying a free night of art, photography, sculpture, and music in the Near Southside. Bernie and Jason kept things running smoothly all night as crowd after crowd came through to check out the art (and to enjoy some free Rahr beer). As for myself, I did well, selling three of my photos (thanks, y’all!).
It was also great just to see so many people out walking around the Near Southside. As can be seen in the photo below, the crowds were everywhere. It’s something I look forward to becoming the norm, not the exception, as the Near Southside redevelops with new urban infill and “critical mass” is reached in places like Magnolia Village.
If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, and you’re into art, then our fair city is just gushing with opportunities for you.
Please note that this is NOT intended to be all-inclusive, it’s just a few quick links to things that are uncommon or not very well known.
The first is VDAY in Fort Worth. V-Day is a global movement to end violence against women and girls. The main fundraising event for V-Day is a performance of The Vagina Monologues. This year that’s happening at Martin Hall on the TCU campus. The show is Saturday, and there are two performances, at 3PM and 8PM. Tickets are $15, available at the door.
Stuck is the story of a man who in 2001 was hit by a drunk and stoned driver and lodged in her windshield, then left to die by the woman who hit him. It happened here, but the movie is set in Rhode Island. Cinematical covers the story much better than I could, go on over and check it out.
Stuck is showing at AFI Dallas this weekend, so if you happen to find yourself out east tomorrow night and looking for something to do, that’s an option.
I’ll be at Gallery Night Saturday night (and Arts Goggle tonight!). Come out and meet your neighbors and take in some really cool local art tonight, then meet some more neighbors and take in some really good local and international (there are works by names even I recognize in a few galleries on Camp Bowie) art tomorrow night!
I don’t like tense movies anyway. My life is suspenseful enough.
That’s right - it’s time for another Arts Goggle! For the uninitiated, Arts Goggle is a festival of art, live music, and food & drink that happens a couple of times a year in Fort Worth’s Near Southside. The happenings are centered around Magnolia Avenue, with goings-on also occuring on 8th Avenue and other streets around the district. It’s a lively pedestrian-oriented event that always guarantees a great time and plenty of awesome art, photography, sculpture, and music.
Yours truly will once again be exhibiting my urban Fort Worth photography. I’ll have photos for sale, if you’re so inclined, or just to look at. It’ll be fun, as always. I’m very excited, because I’m going to be in a higher profile location than in previous Arts Goggles. Here’s a hint…
Yep, that’s right - I’ll be exhibiting photos at Panther City Bicycles, right on Magnolia! Heck yeah! So, make sure to attend Arts Goggle this Friday, March 28. The event runs from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM, and there will be art, sculpture, and music aplenty. A great time for all ages. Make sure to stop by Panther City Bicycles and visit yours truly/buy some photography/talk about urban development. I always love chatting with fans of West and Clear and Fort Worthology.
For more info, check out Fort Worth South’s site.
In 1956, the First National Bank commissioned local artist (and member of the Fort Worth Circle) Bror Utter to do a series of watercolor paintings of Fort Worth landmark architecture. Utter worked with bank vice president (and long-time fan) Sam Cantey III to select the structures to be painted, and began painting the first - the old Fort Worth Star-Telegram Building on 8th Street - only days away from the building’s demolition. After Utter completed his works (originally 15 in the commissioned series), the paintings were placed on display in the First National Bank lobby. They proved to be so popular, that the bank sent them on a two-year exhibition tour across twelve Texas cities.
The paintings stayed with First National for many years, finally winding up in the lobby of 500 West 7th, the Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill office tower next to the Electric Building at Burnett Park (Map). When 500 West 7th was purchased by a local Fort Worth group, the paintings were gifted to the Amon Carter Museum (who then created reproductions for the lobby of 500 West 7th to maintain the tradition), and are now on display in the exhibition Fort Worth Landmarks in the 1950s: Watercolors by Bror Utter, which runs through June 15th (admission is free).
The exhibit is fascinating, and the works are wonderful. Rather than talk more about the paintings’ history, though, I thought I’d take a selection of the works and talk a bit about them, and encourage you to head to the Carter to see the whole thing. So, let’s begin, shall we?
