The ACTX Top Ten: November 2019

Marcelyn McNeil, Chanting Lobes, 2019, oil on burlap & canvas, 23×19″, courtesy the artist and Conduit Gallery, photography by Emily Loving.

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1) Marcelyn McNeil at Conduit Gallery DALLAS—Dallas-based abstract painter Marcelyn McNeil’s solo show Slow Eddy runs through Nov. 23 at Dallas’s Conduit Gallery, and marks a significant shift in the artist’s work. “I was trying to reeducate myself, learn new things about painting and change my materials,” says McNeil. “I want to move away from this whole biomorphic animated humor in my work. I wanted the paint to be more sensual, softer, more quiet.”
	2) Houston Cinema Arts Festival HOUSTON—Houston Cinema Arts Festival  opens with Trey Shultz’s Waves at the MFAH. Highlights of the festival, which runs Nov. 14-19, include Yuli, a docu-portrait of Cuban superstar dancer Carlos Acosta, Blue Note Records:  Beyond the Notes, A Hidden Life, the latest from the brilliant, sometimes-Austinite, Terrence Malick, Yellow Rose, the story of a young Filipino-American woman “with the voice of an angel” who finds a musical home at Austin’s honky-tonk landmark, the Broken Spoke. Black Rodeo, the 70s documentary that included Muhammad Ali riding a bull, the CineSpace Awards and much more.
	3) Picasso and Performance at McNay SAN ANTONIO—McNay Museum of Art presents Picasso to Hockney: Modern Art on Stage, the largest show ever drawn from the Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts and the first to take up the McNay’s entire banner-exhibition space. Featuring 120 works, from drawings and paintings to puppets, costumes and models of sets, it showcases a host of visual artists transplanting their creativity to the theater. On view through Dec. 29. Alongside Picasso to Hockney, a companion show–Painting for Performance–features five artists, including Georges Rouault and Jeff Koons, through Dec. 8.
	4) Houston Early Music Festival HOUSTON—Houston Early Music Festival, with nine participating music organizations, takes place Nov 7-17 at venues throughout the city. Programs include Mozart and Beethoven presented by Mercury on Nov. 7; Vespro della Beata Vergine presented by the Piping Rock Singers Nov. 8; Charpentier’s Orphée presented by American Baroque Opera Co. Nov 9; Semper Phantasicus presented by Ars Lyrica Nov. 10; Roots presented by Les Touches Nov. 12; Unbridled Elegance presented by La Speranza Nov. 14; Houston Early Music presents Les Délices’ Intoxicated: A Medieval Sensory Experience Nov. 15; and Bach Society Houston presents The Art of the Fugue with Syren Dance Company and Rick Erickson, organ, Nov. 17.
	5) Will Boone at CAMH HOUSTON—Will Boone, gearing up for his solo exhibition at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, The Highway Hex (Nov. 9-Feb. 17), has concocted a body of work inspired in its way by both Leatherface and Stanley Kubrick. Rooted both in transition and horror movies, the exhibition takes its name from the hypnotic state many enter while on long drives across the country. People have been known to space out for hours at a time, entering their own sort of cruise control and losing themselves in the repetitive nature of the scenery, the asphalt that looks the same ahead and behind.
	6) Ballet British Columbia at TITAS DALLAS—TITAS continues its international focus with a performance by the riveting Ballet British Columbia, known for its outstanding versatility, in a program of works by Aszure Barton and Johan Inger,  Nov. 8-9 at Moody Performance Hall.
	7) EAST Austin Studio Tour AUSTIN-EAST, now in its 18th year, continues to cast a wide net for the purpose of inclusivity regarding what art means, what it is, and what it can be. This year, the tour takes place Nov. 16–17 and 23–24 and boasts a roster of just over 800 artists, and more than five dozen organizational partners. Tour attendees can expect to visit traditional and non-traditional studio spaces, such as performances sited in houses, restaurants, and coffee houses.
	8) Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company AUSTIN-Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company premieres a new full-length dance work M O O N with Line Upon Line Percussion, in collaboration with lighting and set designer Stephen Pruitt, Nov. 14-16 at Ground Floor Theatre.
	9) Matthew Bourbon at Kirk Hopper Fine Art DALLAS—Painter Matthew Bourbon presents new works at Kirk Hopper Fine Art in Mind Gathering. Bourbon toggles between various modes of representation using his distinctive palette. On view through Nov. 16.
	10) Bruce Wood Dance in Harvest DALLAS—Bruce Wood Dance presents Harvest, which features the return of the nationally renowned Follow Me by Bruce Wood, the world premiere of the emotionally kinetic In My Your Head by BWD artistic director Joy Bollinger, and a world premiere by 2017 Princess Grace Choreography Awardee and 2019 Jacob’s Pillow Fellowship honoree Bryan Arias, Nov. 15-16 at Moody Performance Hall.