Bittersweet Ending

Get thee to the MAC immediately before it bids adieu to McKinney Avenue

McKinney Avenue Contemporary's last day at this location is June 27.

Courtesy rendering

After 20 years, the McKinney Avenue Contemporary is departing its blue building in Uptown. June 27 is the last day to see the current exhibitions at 3120 McKinney Ave. and Kitchen Dog Theater’s final production there, The Firestorm. (And it ’s a good one.)

In early 2016, the MAC will have a new home in the Cedars neighborhood, at 1601 S. Ervay St., within walking distance to the DART Cedars station and South Side on Lamar. It’s a move that “further solidifies the Cedars’ status as the city’s newest artistic hub,” writes Kendall Morgan.

“This is not a wake, this is not a sad occasion (bittersweet perhaps); this is a celebration of 20 great years and a new beginning in a new location in the Cedars,” an email from the MAC reads. “We will be a virtual artspace for awhile, while the new physical space is being renovated. What this means, we are defining day by day. But great things are happening and we want all of you to continue to be a part.”

MAC co-founder Claude Albritton told Morgan a move has been in the works since 2006. The Design District was the original plan, but that got put on hold. The new space was “too good an opportunity to pass up,” Albritton says.

Comprising three old brick buildings and metal sheds, the 2.16-acre complex will give the MAC the opportunity to expand its focus while creating a new gathering place for the community. Architect Dan Shipley is remodeling the buildings; the sheds will be demolished to make way for outdoor space.

The new five-building campus will include a wine and beer garden, coffee house and restaurant, theater, building to house environmental nonprofits, and — hopefully — a permanent photographic arts gallery in addition to the main exhibition space.

For those who would like to say goodbye to old blue, there are three exhibits on display through Saturday. In the large gallery, “DeForrest Judd: Paintings”; in the square gallery, “Akirash: Adittu (Puzzle)”; and in the new arts space, “Angela Chestnut: Syn-Aesthetic.” Gallery hours are 11 am-9 pm.

The Firestorm’s final show is June 27 at 8 pm. KDT will perform next season in its interim space, the Green Zone.

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Museum News

2 Dallas museums partner on landmark Roy Lichtenstein acquisition

Courtesy

Roy Lichtenstein

The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) and the Nasher Sculpture Center will present works from the joint acquisition of more than 50 artworks generously gifted by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation in 2024, showing prints, drawings, and sculptures by the groundbreaking American artist at the two neighboring institutions in the Dallas Arts District.

According to a release, the installations will be on view from January 31 to August 16, 2026 at the Nasher and from January 1 to July 5, 2026 at the DMA.

The joint gift made by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation to the DMA and the Nasher in Celebration of the Centennial of Roy Lichtenstein is comprised of a selection of prints, drawings, maquettes, and sculptures by Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997), a leading figure in twentieth-century American art and a pioneer of the Pop Art movement.

The works were specifically selected by the curatorial staff of both institutions and relate to objects already in their respective collections including sculptures, works on paper, and maquettes, along with tools and study objects.

Organized by the Nasher Sculpture Center’s Senior Curator Dr. Catherine Craft, The Nancy and Tim Hanley Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the DMA Ade Omotosho, and The Allen and Kelli Questrom Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings at the DMA Dr. Emily Friedman, the presentation is divided according to each institution’s strengths and will be shown in combination with objects by Lichtenstein already in their respective permanent collections.

At the Nasher, works relating to three sculptures from the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection—Head with Blue Shadow, Peace through Chemistry, and Double Glass—will be accompanied by a selection from the Foundation's gift of more than two dozen drawings and maquettes associated with Lichtenstein’s Brushstroke sculptures.

At the Dallas Museum of Art, the presentation features a set of Brushstroke sculptures carved from wood alongside various prints and studies that reveal the artist’s eclectic imagery.

Events
In addition to the exhibition, the DMA and the Nasher will co-host a Study Day focused on the artist on March 28, 2026, sponsored by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. This scholarly event will bring together a variety of curators, academics, and conservators to discuss Lichtenstein’s studio practice and the fabrication and conservation of his sculptures.

Concluding the Study Day will be a public conversation held at the DMA between Nasher Director Carlos Basualdo and artist Alex Da Corte, regarding Da Corte’s work on the forthcoming Lichtenstein retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

“In bestowing this generous gift, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation established Dallas as a center for the study and display of Lichtenstein’s work,” Basualdo says in a statement. “This collaborative presentation of the gift and the corresponding programming is an important step in the direction of pursuing that goal, deepening the understanding of an artist who remains immensely influential to contemporary art and its relationship with mass media and today’s culture.”

Roy Lichtenstein is made possible by support from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and the Dallas Tourism Public Improvement District (DTPID).

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