ARTS PICKS
1. Lunar New Year
To ring in the Lunar New Year, Asia Society Texas Center will celebrate the Year of the Ox with two weeks of free, virtual activities. Digital festivities run Feb. 12-19 and include a storybook reading of “Brandon Makes Jiao Zi” by author Eugenia Chu, handkerchief and fan dance demonstration by Huaxing Performing Arts Group, hand-made noodles how-to by Kuen Noodle House, Chinese calligraphy lesson, history of the Lantern Festival and more. Participants can also purchase Asia Society’s at-home activity kit that comes complete with crafts supplies, a red envelope, stuffed ox and various Asian snacks for a hands-on experience.
Where: Streaming at asiasociety.org/texas/lunar-new-year2021-virtual-celebration.
Amber Elliott
2. Art Crowd: After-Hours Access to the Kinder Building
Have a night out at the museum but make it millennial. Art Crowd, a group of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston members in their 20s and 30s, will take over the new Nancy and Rich Kinder Building on Feb. 12. They’ll have after-hours access to MFAH modern and contemporary works drawn from the collections of Latin American and Latino art, photography, prints, drawings, craft, design and more. Reserve tickets in advance as capacity is limited to allow for social distancing.
When:
6:30 p.m. Feb. 12
Where: Nancy and Rich Kinder Building, 5101 Montrose
Details: $25 (or free for Art Crowd members); mfah.org/ membership/art-crowd
Amber Elliott
3. ‘Fractured Light’ and ‘Afterimage’
Catch two new exhibitions for the admission of one at the Anya Tish Gallery. Veronica Ibargüengoitia, a Mexico City native now based in Houston, makes her Anya Tish Gallery debut with “Fractured Light.” The Glassell School of Arts alum works in oil on canvas to create large-format paintings and three-dimensional objects — both are inspired by photographs of windows she sources from around the globe. And Polish painter Pawel Dutkiewicz unveils four new paintings from his ongoing “Afterimage” series. The latest quartet continues Dutkiewicz’s work with beeswax and paint to create ethereal, subtle shifts in color.
When: Feb. 13 through March 27
Where: Anya Tish Gallery, 4411 Montrose, Suite A
Details: Free, visit anyatishgallery.com for more information.
Amber Elliott
4. ‘Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power’
Shahidul Alam — Bangladeshi photographer, writer, activist and Time magazine Person of the Year 2018 — comes to life at Asia Society Texas Center via “Truth to Power,” the first comprehensive U.S. museum survey of his work and impact. More than 60 images, including portraits, landscapes and scenes of daily Bangladeshi life, illustrate Alam’s goal to reframe Western notions of developing countries.
When: Feb. 13 through July 11
Where: Asia Society Texas Center, 1370 Southmore
Details: Free, visit asiasociety.org for more information.
Amber Elliott
5. ‘Pompeii: The Exhibition’
The Houston Museum of Natural Science this week presents “Pompeii: The Exhibition,” which tells the story of the Roman city destroyed by an eruption by Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The exhibit gives a sense of how a bustling city in the Roman Empire would have operated then, through graphics and more than 150 artifacts that have been found at the site, including statues, mosaics, military gear, bowls, glassware and more.
When: Feb. 12 through Aug. 1 Where: Houston Museum of Natural Science, 5555 Hermann Park Drive
Details: $15; 713-639-4629. hmns.org