Art in Dallas
Art in the Meadows School asks students to have something to say and to have the discipline to say it. The Division of Art’s Pollock Gallery features student and faculty exhibitions and brings to SMU numerous exhibitions focused around intense learning. The Meadows Museum at SMU not only boasts Velázquez, Picasso, El Greco, Goya and Murillo in its permanent collection but features several international exhibitions each year. Dallas is a leading national art center with excellent museums and contemporary art galleries. The density of the Dallas art community gives students opportunities to see significant works of art and where they might lead.
Museums
The Amon Carter Museum of American Art is located across from the Ft. Worth Modern and Kimbell. This museum is housed in a recently expanded Philip Johnson building, and has one of the world’s best collections of American photography and a very strong collection of American paintings and sculpture. Offering an array of exhibitions, publications, and programs, the Amon Carter seeks to connect visitors with masterworks of American art.
The Crow Museum of Asian Art, founded by Margaret and Trammell Crow, inspires and promotes learning and dialogue about the arts and cultures of Asia through exhibitions, the research and preservation of our collections, artistic and educational programming, and visitor experience and engagement.
The Dallas Museum of Art is a major museum that houses a large collection from diverse cultures and many centuries. Located in the Arts District, it offers numerous opportunities to the community through events, collections and exhibitions. Other opportunities such as internships and artist awards are a few other unique programs offered through the DMA to young, upcoming artists.
The Kimbell Art Museum, housed in Louis Kahn’s seminal building and Renzo Piano’s addition, offers a small but outstanding collection of European, Asian, Latin American and African Art, as well as traveling exhibitions.
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, created by architect Tadao Ando, shows an impressive collection of post-1945 paintings, sculptures, photographs and video art. Besides its notable exhibitions and collection, it offers an engaging lecture series providing a wonderful opportunity to local students.
The Nasher Sculpture Center, designed by Renzo Piano, houses a wonderful collection of modern and contemporary sculpture, as well as traveling exhibitions. Also well known for its beautiful sculpture garden, the Nasher is an outstanding Dallas resource.
Galleries (non-profit)
The Dallas Contemporary is a non-collecting institution whose aim is to present new and challenging ideas from regional, national and international artists.
500X is Texas’ oldest, artist-run, cooperative gallery. Established in 1978, 500X provides one of the best exhibition spaces to up and coming artists in the city of Dallas.
The Fort Worth Community Arts Center provides venues for artists and curators for exhibitions, performances, and events.
The Green Family Art Foundation (GFAF) is a non-profit foundation based in Dallas, Texas. Founded in 2021, the GFAF’s mission is to provide a venue for, make grants to museums for the benefit of, and educate others about contemporary artists, with programming free and open to the public.
The Latino Cultural Center promotes Latino art and culture with a 300 seat theater, a gallery, sculpture courtyards, a multipurpose room and a plaza for outdoor events.
The Power Station is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to providing a platform for ambitious contemporary art projects in Dallas, housed in a 1920 Power & Light building.
Site 131 is a nonprofit art space that spotlights the concept of pairing – presenting new art from America and abroad side-by-side with new works by Texas artists.
The South Dallas Cultural Center provides programs in the performing, literary, and visual arts with an emphasis on the African contribution to world culture with a 110-seat black box theatre, a multi-arts studio, a visual arts gallery, a dance studio, a two-dimensional arts studio, and a full-service audio recording studio.
Sweet Pass Sculpture Park is an artist run, DIY exhibition space located on a one-acre lot in West Dallas. Its programming highlights emerging and mid-career artists in an outdoor setting.
The Warehouse is a project initiated by Howard and Cindy Rachofsky and the late Vernon Faulconer to make their collections available to curators, scholars, critics, and students, and to open new dialogues about postwar Modern and contemporary art. At the heart of the project is an adapted industrial building on 14105 Inwood Road in Dallas, containing art storage facilities, an extensive library, and 18,000 square feet of flexible exhibition space.
Galleries (commercial)
Barry Whistler Gallery, established in 1985, primarily focuses on Texas artists exhibiting and selling contemporary paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and photography as well as installation and performance works.
Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas (CADD) is a non-profit organization that was formed in 2007 for the purpose of promoting contemporary art in Dallas, including a dozen art dealers.
Events
AURORA is a Dallas-based public arts organization working at the intersection of art, technology and community that presents works by the most visionary artists of our time. Through the AURORA Biennial exhibition, AURORA Expanded program and AURORA Artist Relief Fund, the organization engages with both regional and international audiences alike.
The Dallas Art Fair offers collectors, arts professionals, and the public the opportunity to engage with a rich selection of modern and contemporary artworks presented by leading national and international galleries.
The Dallas Pottery Invitational began in 2008 to widen public knowledge about the breadth and depth of functional ceramics today. Hosted each spring in the Empire Room in the Design District, the three-day event features a dozen or more artists and local partners who showcase their wares and products.
Residencies
100 West Corsicana grants artists and writers space to create work in an historic building repurposed for studio space. Large scale, light filled rooms are provided alongside complete living accommodations and wood shop access to produce work in two or three dimension, installation, or writing. 100W maintains a close connection with Dallas art culture less than an hour away from downtown Corsicana, where faded vestiges of the nineteenth century oil boom make it quintessentially Texas.