August 31, 2010
Best-selling crime-fiction writer, Sara Paretsky, talks about Body Work, her latest "V.I. Warshawski" novel. Ms. Paretsky signs copies of the new thriller tomorrow evening at Murder By The Book...
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August 31, 2010
Houston Chamber Choir's founder and Artistic Director, Robert Simpson, talks about some of the highlights of his ensemble's upcoming season, which opens with A Renaissance Feast at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart on September 21st...
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August 30, 2010
Houston Symphony oboist, Anne Leek, talks about recruiting several of her colleagues from the Orchestra, not to mention a choreographer and some dancers, and essentially turning her faculty recital at U.H. into a Greenbriar Consortium concert. And, we hear earlier Greenbriar performances of a couple of the pieces included on Ms. Leek's recital, which is set for tomorrow evening in the Moores Opera House...
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August 30, 2010
We consider the innumerable everyday transactions by which we fulfill our destinies as members of a consumer society, in Mexican artist Gabriel Kuri's new exhibition, Nobody Needs To Know the Price of Your Saab. It opened Friday at the University of Houston̢۪s Blaffer Art Museum...
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August 30, 2010
Maureen Patton, Executive Director of Galveston's Grand 1894 Opera House, tells us about the varied line-up of world-class artists and attractions that will perform in her hall this coming season...
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August 27, 2010
Houston's Foundation for Modern Music presents a two-day event, Life after Katrina, marking the 5th anniversary of the destruction of New Orleans by hurricane and flood. Composer Ted Hearne and film-maker Bill Morrison share with us excerpts from their multi-media piece, Katrina Ballads, which will have its second performance ever, tomorrow evening at the Hobby Center's Zilkha Hall...
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August 27, 2010
Houston Symphony violist, Rita Porfiris, and her colleague from the faculty of the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut, violinist Anton Miller, perform a brand-new piece for us, previewing the Guest Artist Recital they̢۪re presenting Sunday afternoon at the University of Houston̢۪s Moores Opera House...
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August 26, 2010
Director Rebecca French, Technical Director Robert Thoth and playwright Fernando Dovalina describe the eclectic assemblage of cutting-edge theatre, film, music, dance, and visual and performance art that will be on display during the second weekend of the Houston Fringe Festival, presented by FrenetiCore...
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La Fenice, Venice's famed opera house
Gondolas at rest
St.John makes a fashion statement at Carnevale. 
Argyle, 2009, oil on board, 24" x 24" January 19, 2010
When you stare into Sarah Williams' nightscape paintings, it's almost as if your eyes begin to adjust to the night sky -- as if your pupils are actually dilating to let in more light: soft shapes appear (a lamp post or tree in the distance); shadows present themselves on a dark pavement; the horizon seems to shift; and subtle colors emerge from dusk.
Population 4,769 is Sarah Williams' second show and first solo exhibition at the McMurtrey Gallery (on view January 16 - February 13, 2010). I met the artist on Saturday afternoon, just before the Opening. She thoughtfully led me through this body of work, which focuses on scenes from her rural Midwestern roots (hometown: Brookfield, Missouri), along with some Texas locations. Based in Denton, Ms. Williams is a recent MFA graduate of the University of North Texas and currently an adjunct professor at UNT.
Brooks Street, 2009, oil on board, 18" x 18" 
Kirksville, 2009, oil on board, 18" x 30"
"Being raised in a small town and then moving to an urban setting for my education has made me aware of the seemingly mundane, anonymous scenes existing on the periphery that tend to be ignored. Strong emotions can be prompted by place. ... Important aspects to my current work are the feelings related to the atmosphere of the environment depicted. Whether it be the soupy blackness of the sky, a faint glow on the horizon or the wet pavement after the rain, these are very much part of the distinctiveness of a place." (Sarah Williams)
Sarah Williams with Callio, 2009, oil on board, 30" x 30"
I also like this comparison, stated by Robert Jessup: "Her paintings often depict lonely places, the air thick with isolation and dread, like an image by Hopper crossed with a scene from a Cohen brothers' movie."
Indeed, there is a sense of loneliness/anonymity that intersects with the warmth of light and the specificity of location and weather.
In her snowscapes, like Callio, you take in scenes of fresh tracks on packed snow, red bows of Christmastime, evidence of deer season, buildings hiding in long winter shadows and the absence of people (tucked indoors, out of the cold).
When you exhale, you feel you'll see your breath.
Tune in for an interview with artist Sarah Williams in the coming weeks on "The Front Row"!
Images courtesy of the artist & the McMurtrey Gallery
