Chronicles | Midyear 2022
All images by Alexandra Hulsey / embedded with source links.
A R T
Favorites So Far
It's been a while, and I thought reconnecting via another chronicle made sense in the middle of the year. Maybe Sub Rosa is a bi-yearly thing now. Anyways, I'd like to share some of the art I've enjoyed seeing so far. Found in New Orleans Museum of Art this July, Dallas Art Fair in April, and Latino Cultural Center in May.
Some commonalities in these artworks below are that they're fantastical, colorful, shapely, entertaining, and offered me a much-needed pause.
100 W Corsicana
Located in Downtown Corsicana, 100 W Corsicana serves as a prestigious creative residency for rigorously working artists from visual to literary. I visited for the first time in May for 100W x 10YRS, a celebration of the conception of 100 W Corsicana. The building and its surroundings are hauntingly beautiful. It inspired me to continue a project I explored in college, where you ink up a portion of a textured surface, place paper on top, and press into it to make a monoprint.
The application for 2023 residencies closed on September 1st, and I’m eager to see the next cycle of artists.
The residency also has a bookstore called STOREFRONT, where you’ll find literature and artwork by resident participants. I picked up Tatiana Ryckman’s I Don’t Think of You (Until I Do) and, more recently, Seven Samurai Swept Away in a River by Jung Young Moon.
Corsicana reminded me how much I appreciate old buildings and old things, which in a way brings me to our road trip to New Orleans.
New Orleans
I've been to NOLA a lot, in fact, twice this year already, but I visited the New Orleans Museum of Art for the first time in July. It's relatively small, and its curation is one of my favorites I've ever seen! The vibrant modern art galleries displayed household named heartthrobs from Warhol, Modigliani, Kasner, and Miró with many others to have a unique conversation I felt like I was a part of. At the same time, the contemporary gallery focused on new acquisitions of work by BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and female-identifying artists, which was badass in concept and execution. Outside was a massive sculpture garden that placed artwork complementary to the native swampy environment that felt otherworldly.
New Orleans has a lot of dualities to note, like placement/displacement, authenticity/facade, beauty/dismay, and stillness/chaos. I'm glad to have reflected on these this January and July, which felt especially meaningful in the context of 2022, if that makes sense. Some things feel new, some old, and there’s some new/old feelings, plus everything in between.
L O C A L
Dallas Artist Resources
Texas froze again in February, flooding circulated through the city in August, and temperatures reached as high as 109°F. throughout the summer, while the Dallas Climate Action seems over-ambitious for a city with 62 desert infrastructures.
One of the most significant ways individuals can make a change is to stop or cut down on meat and dairy in whatever way they can—also, taking agency on your own money. Consider alternative options for how much plastic accompanies what you're buying, what excess looks like for you, donating instead of throwing away, and research if the companies you shop at show actions against their role in climate change.