Warm up to these 8 must-see art exhibitions in Dallas-Fort Worth for June

MUST-SEE ART

Photo courtesy of Arden Bendler Browning

As the lazy days of summer approach, the frenetic pace of art festivals and exhibits quiets down a bit. But that doesn’t mean artists' voices are hushed; they’re coming through loud and clear.

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth digs deep into post-war paintings, Dallas Center for Photography delivers a look at the compelling vision of women in photography, and several group exhibitions explore a range of media and subject matter.

Art lovers ready to welcome (or seek respite from) the warmth of June should put these eight exhibits on their must-see list.

Artist's Retrospective
Lewisville Grand Theatre, through July 8
Works by members of the Visual Art League (VAL) of Lewisville will be on display this month in the art gallery in Lewisville's Grand Theater. Each entry in the show judged by Denton-area artist Laurie Weller represents a self-retrospective of its artist. Since 1978, VAL has provided support and education for member artists, while members have judged student arts shows and taught art classes to senior citizens. Like all VAL events and programming, this exhibition is free and open to the public. And if you're a first-time visitor to this stunning theatre and arts center, you'll immediately understand why local art feels right at home here.

Madeline Donahue: "Art House"
Various Small Fires - Dallas, through July 8
Experiences of pregnancy, birth, motherhood and owning a postpartum body can be exemplars of the complexity of the mother-and-child relationship. Having experienced all of the above, Madeline Donahue explores all of them with oil paintings and colored pencil drawings on paper in this contemporary art solo show.

Robert Motherwell: "Pure Painting"
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, through September 17
Abstract expressionist Robert Motherwell explored political, philosophical, and literary themes in various art forms throughout his life (1915-1991) while communicating as a spokesman for an art movement that wasn't particularly well-understood in its early days. Motherwell was a painter of note from the post-war period, but also showed talent as a collagist, a printmaker, and a draftsman. The Modern was the site for the last retrospective of Motherwell's work during his lifetime, and the museum owns more than 50 of his works. That makes it a perfect fit as a venue for this guest-curated retrospective focusing on his paintings.

"Hold Up Half the Sky"
Dallas Center for Photography (DCP), through-July 1
This photography exhibit is part of DCP's year-long commitment to women in photography. The juried (and judged) show highlights photos that tell a story, from more than 40 female photographers. Prizes have been awarded to Emily Buckley, Pamela Chipman, and Linda Plaisted for first, second, and third place, respectively. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Leonardo Drew: Number 235T
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, June 17-June 30, 2024
Contemporary sculptor Leonardo Drew uses organic material and techniques of oxidation, burning, and decay to create works like the ones that will grace the first floor galleries at the Carter this month. The intricate, large-scale topography of Number 235T was commissioned specifically for this space, and reflects a connectedness that translates effortlessly from art to life.

Arden Bendler Browning: "Off Screen"
Galleri Urbane, June 24-August 12
Arden Bendler Browning's sense of wanderlust inspired both the subject matter and the method for creating the pieces displayed in this show. Many of the multi-media works began as sketches or watercolors made in a moving vehicle with her husband at the wheel and kids in tow in the back seat. First impressions appeared on yupo paper, which is waterproof, and were then layered with an assortment of acrylic paint, acrylic marker, spray paint, acrylic gouached, and fluid acrylic. Some were then adhered to round panels, symbolizing a portal to the place, time, and atmosphere Bendler Browning envisions. Meet the artist at the opening reception on from 5-8 pm Saturday, June 24.

10th Annual Texas Juried Exhibition
ArtSpace111, June 24-August 26
For this show, Texas artists were invited to enter their two- and three-dimensional works in pursuit of a top prize of $10,000 and a solo show. A portion of the entry fees will be donated to the Tarrant Area Food Bank, and at the end of the exhibition all entries (not just those selected for the show) will be displayed online in the gallery's Texas Now Online Showcase. The exhibition is free to attend, and all art on display is available to purchase. Join the artists for an opening reception from 4-7 pm Saturday, June 24.

"Art of Paper"
Laura Rathe Fine Art Gallery, June 24-August 19
This group exhibition promises "sequenced architectural wall reliefs, encaustic sculptures, biomorphic patterns, repurposed ephemera, and rhythmic compositions" demonstrating that creative options are limitless when the medium is paper. Each of the 15 contemporary artists from around the world elevates paper as art with perspectives that delight and inspire. The show is free and open to the public, with an opening reception from 4:30-7:30 pm Saturday, June 24.

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New burger joint in McKinney with chef toppers and full bar is a sizzler

Burger News

McKinney has a new burger joint that is already lighting up the Collin County foodie scene. Called Loyo Burger, it's part of the Local Yocal empire, and is newly opened in downtown McKinney at 216 W. Virginia St. #102, in the space next to Sugarbacon that has had some turnover (it was one a location of the Mad For Chicken chain).

The Local Yocal empire starts with Local Yocal Farm to Market, the artisanal butcher shop founded by rancher Matt Hamilton in McKinney in 2010. That was followed Local Yocal BBQ and Grill, a steakhouse and BBQ restaurant he opened in 2018.

Now comes Loyo - an abbreviation culled from Local Yocal - featuring a chef-driven menu of burgers with bold toppings, and featuring patties made from a blend of Wagyu ground beef, supplied by the butcher shop.

According to the restaurant team, Loyo was inspired by the best selling burger at Local Yocal BBQ & Grill. It's a gourmet cheeseburger with Tillamook cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and sauce - but with ingredients made from scratch including house-made pickles and house-made sauce.

Loyo is similar to "better burger" concepts like Hopdoddy Burger Bar, with a lineup of burger options, most made from beef but also chicken, salmon, and veggie, as follows:

Spicy Vaquero with jalapeño, caramelized onion, tortilla strips, tomato, smashed avocado, ghost pepper jack, and chi mayo
Berry goat with a mixed berry bacon onion jam, goat cheese, and arugula
Cowboy breakfast with bacon, fried egg, smashed tots, American cheese, and charred jalapeno/tomato jam
Wagyu Yaki, with coffee rub, grilled pineapple, Tillamook cheddar, fried onion, arugula, bourbon teriyaki, & Fresno Chile mayo
Crispy chicken thigh sandwich with pickles & Nashville hot sauce
Salmon patty with roasted tomato, capers, kalamata olive, arugula, and dill mayo
Dan burger, a quarter-pound patty with mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, & Duke’s mayo

The name of their veggie burger is amusing: It's called “Necessary Evil” and consists of a housemate patty with avocado, tomato, Bibb lettuce, and crispy onions.

Sides include fries, garlic & sea salt tater tots, sweet potato fries, onion rings, fried pickles, and pork rinds. Fries are hand-cut, not too thick but not too thin, and onion rings are large and crunchy.

To get an idea of how exacting it all is, here's the description for their fried pickles: "Housemade Fried Pickles - Kirby cucumbers pickled in-house, breaded in a scratch-made batter, fried and served with our housemade ranch."

There are also two salads, a house salad and a Greek, with an ice cream sandwich for dessert.

Prices run from $11 to $14 for the burgers, and sides are $3 to $5. They also have a full bar, although a spokesperson says that for now, they have cocktails and beer only; wine is still TK.

It's a handsome space with a rustic vibe featuring wood tables and shiplap on the walls. Service is streamlined: You place your order sy a kiosk and they bring the food to you.

Queens of the Stone Age add 8 dates to winter tour including Dallas

queens of rock

Calling all Teenage Hand Models, Little Sisters, and Carnavoyeurs. Queens of the Stone Age are coming to town.

Joshua Homme and his bandmates have added eight new stops to their “The End is Nero” tour and that includes the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving on December 10.

They'll also stop at the Moody Center in Austin on December 8 and Houston’s 713 Music Hall on Saturday, December 9. British rock band Spiritualized will open.

QOTSA is touring behind its latest album, In Times New Roman. Released in June, the album went to number one in four countries, including six charts in the U.S. — Vinyl, Independent, Alternative, Digital, Rock, and Hard Music album sales charts. Hailed as a return to the band’s hard rocking roots, it deals with such light-hearted subjects as Homme’s divorce from Distillers founder Brody Dale.

The tour launched on August 3 in Michigan and has the band criss-crossing the U.S. before heading to Europe for the month of November.

Judging by intel from the band’s recent stops, fans should expect a setlist that pulls from QOTSA’s entire, 20-plus year history, including fan favorites such as "No One Knows," "Little Sister," and "A Song for the Dead."

Tickets go on sale Friday, September 22 via livenation.com. Various pre-sales are also available.

Newly announced dates for The End is Nero Tour include:

12/05/23 - Phoenix - Arizona Financial Theatre
12/06/23 - El Paso - Abraham Chavez Theatre
12/08/23 - Austin - Moody Center
12/09/23 - Houston - 713 Music Hall
12/10/23 - Irving – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
12/12/23 - Albuquerque - Revel ABQ
12/15/23 - San Diego - Viejas Arena
12/16/23 - Los Angeles - Kia Forum

Dallas choral group Verdigris Ensemble promises multi-sensory new season

Season Announcement

A mere month after announcing the hiring of its new executive director, acclaimed choral group Verdigris Ensemble is lifting the curtain on its seventh season.

It centers on the theme of “Regrowth,” with each multi-sensory performance telling a Texas-based story focused on both challenges and opportunities for environmental justice and community renewal.

To actually walk the walk, every ticket purchased this season will support Texas Trees Foundation’s planting efforts in the state to deliver on the promise of regrowth.

The season opens with The Endangered, a synergistic collaboration between Verdigris Ensemble and Dallas Contemporary Museum of Art.

This vocal and orchestral experience combines with movement and projections to look honestly and compassionately at natural preservation. The work is firmly planted in Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for The Endangered, with a libretto by poet/writer Nathaniel Bellows.

Text from five Dallas poets is set to music by five regional composers. It runs October 27-29, 2023, at Dallas Contemporary.

The second performance series, Beautification, continues at the Dallas Contemporary December 1-3, 2023, and celebrates a unique collaboration inspired by site-specific work with visual artist Bianca Bondi.

Commissioning 8-10 composers, this work weaves together a narrative of Ladybird Johnson’s Highway Beautification Act and the native flowers of Texas. The Act was passed in 1965 and created restrictions on highway billboards that detracted from the natural beauty of Texas landscapes, and seeds of native flowers were distributed to bring native beauty to road travelers.

Projections of individual flowers envelop audience members in an experience much like driving a car on a highway. Iconic audio pieces of Ladybird’s speeches make the program a cohesive experience.

Dust Bowl, the season’s third performance, combines a unique medley of bluegrass band, video projection, and choreographed movement. The work shares stories from the period of the Dust Bowl through previously unexplored mediums and confronts questions of what caused this ecological disaster and what was learned from it.

This fan favorite debuted in 2020 and returns to Dallas in 2024 with an original libretto and added musical material.

The Dust Bowl began in 1931 and lasted for almost a decade, displacing entire populations in the Southern Plains region of the United States. Setting texts from newspaper articles, diaries, and oral accounts of survivors, the work pieces together a period of human struggle, hopefulness, and perseverance in the face of constant catastrophe. It runs February 23-25, 2024, at the Wyly Theatre' Potter Rose Performance Hall.

The season finale, Mis-Lead, is composed by Kirsten Soriano and premieres featuring 16 vocalists and basic percussion instruments found in factories that resonate throughout the production.

In 1934, a lead smelter was opened in West Dallas, resulting in toxic byproducts being dumped into nearby landfills and around people's homes. For over four decades, residents suffered consistent symptoms resulting in chronic diseases and death due to higher-than-normal levels of lead in their bodies.

This artistic piece brings attention to these communities, documenting the facts to prevent similar events in our future, while fostering human connection from all sides of the cultural spectrum. It runs April 5-7, 2024, at the Kalita Humphreys Theater.

Founded in 2017, Verdigris Ensemble is a Dallas-based professional choir dedicated to bringing choral music to the modern audience through creative concert programming, unconventional use of space, and collaboration.

Focusing on story-driven musical narratives, Verdigris Ensemble commissions new works, collaborates with interdisciplinary artists, inspires new audiences, and invests in the next generation of musicians.

Tickets may be purchased at www.verdigrismusic.org. Discount pricing is available for students.

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