SA to HOU | HOU to SA is a two-city art exhibition exchange between Clamp Light Studios & Gallery, an artist-run studio and exhibition space based in San Antonio and Box 13 Artspace, an artist-run studio and exhibition space in Houston. While close to 200 miles separate the two artist groups, the common goal is to support their fellow artists and share their community’s creative output.  The first phase of the exchange features works by Box13 Artspace artists at Clamp Light Studios & Gallery March 10 – April 8, curated by Bianca Alvarez.  Phase two of the exchange features works by current and former Clamp Light resident artists at Box13 Artspace May 13 – June 17, curated by Rosa Ana Orlando.

Curator Statement:

If You Could Read My Mind features artworks—from drawing to video—by twelve Houston-based artists that were produced during the height of the Covid-19 global pandemic. Although created in sequestered studio practices, the selected works collectively explore themes surrounding isolation, introspection, and identity through images of nature and organic or bodily references. However, a tension is palpable. Where images of our physical world may conjure picturesque or idealized scenes; the presentation of these artworks subverts that notion to speak to the relationship between psychological and natural landscapes. Here, those theoretical borders blur to implore reflections on memory, purpose, and belonging, while emphasizing our own resilience when viewed within the context from which these artworks emerged.

Artists include: Peter Broz, Celia Butler, Joshua Caleb, Angel Castelán,  Ahra Cho, Chelsea Clarke, Sandra de la Rosa, Kevin Lopez, Elias Lytton, Venessa Monokian, Sydney Parks, Charles VanMeter

About The Curator:

Bianca Alvarez currently serves the City of San Antonio as Public Art Project Manager in the Department of Arts & Culture. In 2022, Alvarez was selected to represent the City as one of 50 delegates from across the country to participate in Local Government 2030—Lessons for the Future: A Convening of Practitioners with the charge of breaking silos and creating the groundwork for change, focusing on meeting the current and future needs of our communities. Prior to, she worked at the McNay Art Museum in various capacities in both the Curatorial and Development Departments. Alvarez was part of the curatorial team for Transamerica/n: Gender, Identity, Appearance Today (2019), which earned the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) 2020 Curatorial Award for Excellence. She has held adjunct faculty positions at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and Baptist University of the Americas, developing curriculum for and teaching undergraduate art history courses. Alvarez earned her MA in Art History and Criticism and BFA from UTSA.