It’s the start of my whirlwind tour of the Dallas Arts District. Improbably, in all the years I have lived in Houston (23) and all the time I have been an arts writer in Texas (5), I had never been to Dallas. I am here now as a first time arts tourist, eager to absorb the wonders of a new place, open to every experience that might come my way.
“Stepping into this exhibition truly feels like you’re embarking on a journey through time,” says Dr. Nicole R. Myers, Dallas Museum of Art’s interim chief curator and The Barbara Thomas Lemmon senior curator of European Art.
In 1980, two years after Teatro Dallas was founded by Cora Cardona and Jeff Hurst, only 9.9% of Dallas’s 904,078 residents ticked the newly added box for “Hispanic.”
It’s no exaggeration to say that Spirit Lodge: Mississippian Art from Spiro, on view at the DMA March 13-Aug. 7, could be the last time a show of this magnitude comes around, at least in our lifetime.
North Texas has a new ballet company, but don’t expect a production of Swan Lake or The Nutcracker. “I love those ballets; I’ve performed them as a professional,” says Diana Crowder, Artistic Director and Founder of Pegasus Contemporary Ballet.
In September, Nelson’s wish came true: She curated the DMA’s new exhibition, Naudline Pierre: What Could Be Has Not Yet Appeared, on view through May 15, 2022.