October 7th, 2023
More Information, Participating Galleries & More
Indian Removal Act I: American Progress by Joe Harjo
Strand Gallery
October 7 – January 7, 2024
Indian Removal Act I: American Progress is the first part of a three-part exhibition series by San Antonio-based artist Joe Harjo that he describes as “delving into the historical and contemporary issues that have profoundly affected Native American communities, our land, our narratives, and our pursuit of prosperous futures.” The title of this body of work derives from the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which forcibly displaced Native nations – including Harjo’s own, the Muscogee Nation – to “unsettled” lands west of the Mississippi River. Through addressing the current misrepresentations, homogenization, and undervaluation of Native culture, the work brings visibility to and emphasizes Native growth, contributions, resourcefulness, adaptability, and existence of Native people within contemporary spaces.
Indian Removal Act I: American Progress focuses on Manifest Destiny, a 19th-century belief held by many Americans that the United States was destined to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. This ideology had a profound and negative impact on Native American people, and Manifest Destiny resulted in land displacement, violent conflicts, loss of cultural heritage, treaty violations, and genocide. The exhibition includes sculptures, video installations, large-scale text pieces, photographs, and textile work that Harjo describes as “speaking against the disappearing and erasing of Native people, our histories, our lives as we live them, and our futures.”
Galveston Arts Center will host the first installation of Harjo’s three-part exhibition series, followed by the second at the Contemporary at Bluestar in San Antonio in Spring of 2024 and the third will be at the Contemporary at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth in Fall of 2024.
1878 Gallery
August 26 – November 12, 2023
Bryan Keith Gardner Bridges, Walls, and Water
Galveston Island is a stubborn piece of land connected to the mainland by a causeway that brings Galveston many of its necessities. From food supplies to tourists, this bridge is the life support system that keeps the island flowing. Bryan Keith Gardner’s exhibition, Bridges, Walls, and Water, caricatures this playground on the Gulf, the bridges that connect it, the walls that keep out the water, and the tourist attractions built to draw visitors in. Gardner’s installation examines the duality of the island as a place of leisure, juxtaposed by the anxiety of the ever-looming threat of water, either from the gulf or the sky.
Click here for more information.
Brown Foundation Gallery
August 26 – November 12, 2023
Lanecia A. Rouse
Betwixt
Betwixt features mixed media collages on paper and canvas by Lanecia A. Rouse that explore liminal spaces and states of being. Derived from the Latin word “limen,” which means “threshold,” a liminal space is the moment between what was and what will be. Rouse’s work incorporates found materials into layered abstractions that explore color, texture, and the patina of time on their surfaces. She compares her process of collecting, layering, constructing, and deconstructing as parallel to her own lived experience. Through these works Rouse patiently navigates moments of disorientation following loss, life transition, death, and anything that births uncertainty by seeking beauty in the disorder. Rouse describes her work as a space composed of the time between the ending of one part of one’s life and the unknown new beginning (job loss, moving, heartbreak, war, physical and emotional deaths). She excavates these layers to reveal a sort of visual poetry, providing ways to dig into an ambiguous terrain.
Click here for more information.
Volunteer Opportunities at GAC:
Galveston Arts Center has plenty of opportunities available for those interested in volunteering and we would love your help! From special events like ArtWalk and community festivals to helping out in the gallery, you can offer your support and earn volunteer hours (which can be exchanged for classes, discounts and ticketed events). See how you can lend a hand:
-ArtWalk
-Special Events such as festivals, farmer’s markets, etc.
-Desk Team/Gallery Monitors
-Weekend Docents
-Street Team
-Handy Work
-Classroom Assistance
-Archives
