The Hidden Agenda: Better Together

The next two weeks offer an exciting array of events that might be under your radar — but not for long. There’s more than enough to keep you busy, including exhibition openings at Lawndale Art Center and BOX 13 ArtSpace, screenings of Blue Velvet at River Oaks Theatre, an expo on urban farming, and so much more. 

Monday, February 17

Nour, Ruth Antoinette Rodriguez, Stalina Villarreal and Laura Dykes

Image courtesy of Nameless Sound

Performance — They, Who Sound
Lawndale Art Center

For an evening of innovative performance, head to Lawndale Art Center (4912 Main Street) for the latest installation of They, Who Sound — the long-time experimental music series presented by local nonprofit Nameless Sound — featuring string instrument and improvised poetry duos from cellist Nour (France) and poet Ruth Antoinette Rodriguez (Vermont), and double bassist Laura Dykes (Houston) and poet Stalina Villarreal (Houston). Doors open at 7 for this free performance that runs from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

Tuesday, February 18

Reading — Grown Up Story Time: Best of Season 16
The Continental Club

Be prepared to laugh, cry, and everything in between with a selection of the best stories and readings from the 16th season of Grown Up Story Time at The Continental Club (3714 Main Street). Host Greg Cote presents seven favorites from the latest season of the long-running storytelling series. Doors open at 7 p.m. with the readings kicking off at 8 p.m. Advance tickets are $10, or $10 (cash) at the door, for the 21-and-up show.

Friday, February 21

Screening — Blue Velvet
River Oaks Theatre

In keeping with the celebration of legendary director and creative David Lynch following his recent passing, River Oaks Theatre (2009 West Gray Street) is hosting two screenings of his beloved 1986 surreal drama Blue Velvet, starring Isabella Rossellini, Kyle McLachlan, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern. Screening on Friday at 10:15 p.m. and Monday at 7:15 p.m., you have two chances to catch this iconic film on the big screen.

Sunday, February 23

Urban Farmers Expo
Doshi House

Learn how to grow your own sustainable garden at the Urban Farmers Expo from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Doshi House (3419 Emancipation Avenue). The event features three speakers — Kenneth the Beekeeper, Royal Sumikat, and Archie from Archie’s Gardens — with talks at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m., and Q&A sessions between each talk to give further insight into sustainable gardening practices.

Jazzy Sundays in the Parks Kick-off Party
Discovery Green

Join local music enthusiasts at Discovery Green (1500 McKinney Street) from 5 to 7 p.m. for the kick-off party celebrating the Jazzy Sundays in the Parks series, a months-long celebration of jazz and the Houstonians who preserve the art form. The series boasts events in three of the city’s major parks — Discovery Green, Emancipation Park, and The Water Works in Buffalo Bayou Park — and a lineup of musicians including Robert Glasper, Lady Blackbird, MonoNeon, Kendrick Scott, and many more. Running every Sunday through June 1, the events will also feature pop-up markets with food vendors and locally-crafted items.

Tuesday, February 25

Scissors of Texas / Tijeras de Tejas Collage Meet-Up
Saint Arnold Brewing

Join Scissors of Texas / Tijeras of Tejas, a Houston-based collage group founded by Anastasia Kirages and Chasity Porter, for their monthly meet-up focused on collage making from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Beer Garden & Restaurant at Saint Arnold Brewing Company (2000 Lyons Avenue). Materials will be provided for creating your own collage, so come out and flex your collage-making muscles with local creatives.

Thursday, February 27

Dario S. Bucheli, “Not Without a Cost”

Image courtesy of Lawndale Art Center

Opening Reception — Dario S. Bucheli: Not Without a Cost
Lawndale Art Center

Artist Dario S. Bucheli presents Not Without a Cost, a site-specific painting presented in the Grace G. Cavnar Gallery at Lawndale Art Center (4912 Main Street). “The paintings bring together elements of pre-colonial Mexican codices, with references to contemporary American culture and politics,” Bucheli, a Mexican-born artist working in Beaumont, says in his artist statement. “This interpretive process is also characterized by the desire to understand the present moment within the larger context of American history.” The opening reception for all three of Lawndale’s new exhibitions runs from 6 to 8 p.m. and the exhibitions will be on view through May 3.

Opening Reception — Farima Fooladi: The Fever
Lawndale Art Center

Farima Fooladi’s exhibition, The Fever — displayed in Lawndale’s John M. O’Quinn Gallery — presents a series of new paintings exploring the interplay between architecture, memory, and displacement. The Iranian-born, Houston-based artist received one of Lawndale’s awards for The Big Show in 2024, and was a 2023 Artists on Site resident at the Asia Society Texas Center, where she explored themes of identity, migration, and space in more depth, and her site-specific mural is on view at Asia Society through March 16.

Opening Reception — Carlos Vielma: An infinite picnic
Lawndale Art Center

Showcased in Lawndale’s Cecily E. Horton Gallery, Carlos Vielma’s An Infinite Picnic presents a video installation inspired by “The Million Year Picnic,” the final short story from Ray Bradbury’s post-apocalyptic science fiction The Martian Chronicles. Vielma’s “rural adaptation” of this short story explores themes of migration, colonization, and human existence. A Mexican visual artist with a background in architecture, Vielma is a 2024-2025 fellow of the Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Friday, February 28

Closing Celebration — Bennett Road Exhibition
Freedmen’s Town Visitor Center

Don’t miss your last chance to see Bennett Road — an exhibition of works by Martellus and Michael Bennett — hosted at the Freedmen’s Town Visitor Center (1204 Victor Street) with a celebratory happy hour from 3 to 5 p.m. The exhibition is “a profound exploration of identity, community, and cultural intersections rooted in the African Diaspora, drawing on the rich backgrounds and deep connections both artists have with these themes.” Admission to the event is free, but please RSVP online to attend. 

Opening Reception — Jonas Criscoe: On the Backroads
BOX 13 ArtSpace

BOX 13 ArtSpace (6700 Harrisburg Boulevard) presents a survey of works by Austin-born artist Jonas Criscoe. Looking to the rural backroads of Texas for inspiration, Criscoe explores “the aesthetics of detritus and decay through the lens of surface, material, and form.” The opening reception for all four of BOX 13’s new exhibitions runs from 6 to 9 p.m. and the exhibitions will be on view through March 29.

Alexandria Canchola, “These are Your Golden Years”

Image courtesy of BOX 13 ArtSpace

Opening Reception — Alexandria Canchola: Fruits of Their Labor
BOX 13 ArtSpace

Alexandria Canchola’s exhibition Fruits of Their Labor, presented in the Back BOX Gallery, explores the “contrast between two extraordinary women who shaped [her]” — Canchola’s Cuban grandmother and her Mexican-American aunt. The artist writes: “By examining our distinct yet interconnected lives, this body of work illuminates how their experiences inform my understanding of identity, resilience, and a woman’s place in the world.” 

Opening Reception — Cassie Gnehm: Cosmic Duality
BOX 13 ArtSpace

Exhibited in the Window BOX, San Antonio-based artist Cassie Gnehm’s Cosmic Duality presents two large oil and acrylic paintings “inspired by the hands of the artist holding her children and The Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci.” In these works, Gnehm examines “the profound connections between creation, transformation, and the infinite cosmos, inviting viewers to reflect on the delicate balance of life’s cyclical nature.”

Opening Reception — Mateo Gutiérrez: It’s the End of the World As We Know It
BOX 13 ArtSpace

The works included in artist Mateo Gutiérrez’s exhibition, It’s the End of the World As We Know It — showcased in the Upstairs BOX — use embroidery “to look at the failed state of American society, specifically through the internal and external effects of our violent ways.” Through several large-scale, hand-embroidered artworks, Gutiérrez depicts “images of people coming across the US-Mexico border juxtaposed with images of people in the aftermath of shootings.”

Saturday, March 1

Something Nice Night Market
Lil’ Danny Speedo’s Go Fly a Kite Lounge

Support local artisans with a visit to the Something Nice Night Market, hosted from 7 to 11 p.m. at Lil’ Danny Speedo’s Go Fly a Kite Lounge (823 Dumble Street). The market promises textile art from yarntrash, apparel and accessories from Audly Creative, papercraft art, jewelry, and handbags from Cutzu Collage, and many more, as well as food by Knives in Water.