Glasstire

William Sarradet and Nicholas Frank discuss some of their favorite books they read in 2025, including literature on American history, craft, films, and more. "I had been reading a lot of postcolonial nonfiction and got a bit bogged down in that, emotionally... so I thought I should read some fiction, but most of what I found ended up being the kind of heavyweight postcolonial content I had been tr...

Jessica Fuentes and Nicholas Frank discuss the art of writing obituaries for Glasstire and the generational shifts we are witnessing as young leaders step into new roles across Texas. “Rainy Knudson, the founder of Glasstire, told me, ‘I think that when we lose somebody in an art community, it's just a passage to the next generation. In the larger sense, the more of these you experience, the more...

Jessica Fuentes, William Sarradet, and Nicholas Frank discuss their recent visit to the Rio Grande Valley, including stops in Laredo, San Ygnacio, McAllen, Harlingen, and Brownsville. “One of the things that often marks our time in the Valley — and similar regions — is that the communities there are so tightly knit and welcoming. Every time we go to the Panhandle, to East Texas, to West Texas, to...

William Sarradet speaks with Mallory Prucha, Associate Professor of Costume Design at Texas Tech University, about garment design, textiles, and teaching in the Texas Panhandle. “Right now the American theater is trying to figure out what it's doing, but in the process…we’re seeing experimentation. Oftentimes, I’ll expand my students' horizons to think about things like working at Meow Wolf, that’...

Jessica Fuentes and Nicholas Frank discuss art on view in Marfa during Chinati Weekend and some of the people and places that make up the region's art scene. “Marfa is a small town, and the people who make that space home end up being a close-knit group of people... when you make a choice to live in a small town, you are also embracing a different lifestyle, something that is truly rooted in commu...

Brandon Zech, Jessica Fuentes, and Nicholas Frank discuss takeaways from the Art Papers Art Writing + Publishing Symposium and issues in the field of arts writing. “We focus on the larger impact of the field of art criticism whenever an art critic gets cuts from their post but the reality of the situation is that one person is able to impact not just an artistic community but an arts-interested pu...

Brandon Zech, William Sarradet, and Nicholas Frank share insights and reflections from the inaugural Houston edition of the Untitled Art fair. “We are proud of Houston, but it can be kind of a hard place to visit. I was impressed by Untitled's programming in the way that the fair was trying to act as a host for people both in the city and for people coming from out of town.” Related readings: http...

Jessica Fuentes speaks with artist and gallerist Nancy Douthey about tarot as storytelling, visual art, and creative future building. ”Looking at the complexity of those cards was like looking at a painting and creating a story... Working with the interior story that I had for it could be a mirror or a reflection, helping me move through my own pain.” Related readings link: https://glasstire.com/2...

Brandon Zech, William Sarradet, and Nicholas Frank answer Glasstire readers' questions about pricing art, working with galleries, and exhibiting in alternative spaces. “Showing up to everything you can is the first step… talk to the galleries who show work that you like, ask them questions about their program, and learn what they’re interested in. It’s really about continuous engagement with peopl...

William Sarradet talks with Dallas-based fashion designer Ashley Lee about fashion, textile works, and how to approach craft schools across Texas. "The lines between art, design, and crafts get quite blurry these days. I tend to think of fashion more as a design form. It can be a craft — there are definitely elements of craft in it — but overall, I view it more as a design form." See related readi...

Jessica Fuentes speaks with Glasstire's recently appointed News Editor Nicholas Frank about growing up in Milwaukee, his artistic practice, and his writing career. “I felt right at home here... [Milwaukee and San Antonio are both] cities where the major redevelopments in the city are based on old German breweries. Both cities hinge their downtown redevelopment on the River Walk... they are both lo...

William Sarradet speaks with Jhonny Langer, a paint conservator and object restoration artist living in Galveston, about the history of the city and paint conservation on the Gulf Coast. “I’m starting to step back and look at what I’ve done over a period of time and realize that it is interesting. Before it was just a job, and now it is fascinating.” See related readings here: https://glasstire.co...

Jessica Fuentes and William Sarradet discuss summer exhibitions that are on view or opening later this season throughout Texas. “A Houston show I was very excited about was the “Tomashi Jackson: Across the Universe“ show that just opened at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. It's a midcareer survey, and it includes several bodies of work by Jackson, and they are all so powerful and compelling.”...

Brandon Zech and Jessica Fuentes talk about artistic legacies, including Damien Hirst's posthumous paintings, artists who have launched work into space, and artist foundations. “A lot of artists consider what happens with their body of work — with this momentum they’ve created during their lifetime — after their death. But, historically, people haven’t thought about the continuation of art making...

William Sarradet speaks with artist, lecturer, and Glasstire contributor Renee Lai about the inaugural Friends Fair and the Affordable Art Fair in Austin. “Every room that I went into, I looked in the bathroom first... I got my impression from each booth by what was going on in the bathroom. The more outrageous or custom or funny the bathroom was, the more it predisposed me to whatever else was in...

Jessica Fuentes speaks with art educator and author Laura Evans about her recently published book, “The Atlas of Art Crime: Thefts, Vandalism, and Forgeries.” “I remember learning about the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner theft… and then going to visit the museum in grad school and confronting those empty frames, where those works of art were stolen from, was really sobering. Seeing these holes, the...

William Sarradet speaks with Dallas artist Hava Toobian about the art, culture, and manuscripts they encountered during their recent trip to Ireland. “I didn’t know what to expect in a national contemporary art museum for the Republic of Ireland, and it was beautiful. It was an astute mixture of contemporary mediums and works in a historical building.” See related readings here: https://glasstire....

Jessica Fuentes, William Sarradet, and Brandon Zech discuss the trends they found at the 2025 Dallas Art Fair and the Dallas Invitational. "It stuck out to me thematically that there seemed to be a lot of landscapes and interiors — interiors of houses, some still lives. Overall the work felt a little more conservative to me than the Dallas Art Fair normally feels. Dallas is generally the most adve...

Jessica Fuentes and William Sarradet discuss recent news stories in Texas, including the controversy surrounding Sally Mann's work, the destruction of artwork installed at the Austin Convention Center, and the closure of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. "The Modern (Art Museum of Fort Worth) had a notification at the entrance stating that the exhibition (Diaries of Home) contained mature co...

William Sarradet talks with gallerist Bart Keijsers Koning about the Dallas scene and the role galleries play in the art ecosystem. "An artist going directly from studio to museum is problematic because the language hasn't had a chance to encounter an audience and see what is clear, what isn't working and kind of fine tuning it. The museum's responsibility is to represent and clarify history, cult...

Jessica Fuentes and Gabriel Martinez talk about the book Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma and some of the cultural creatives who have committed monstrous crimes. "There aren't good celebrities and bad celebrities. They're all just people. There is a spectrum of behaviors with people. There's nobody that's purely good, and there are maybe a few people who are purely evil, but it's rare. It's kind of ridic...

Jessica Fuentes and William Sarradet discuss the role artists play in enacting political change in their industry and beyond. "What do we expect out of artists in these critiques? Do we expect the artist to make the change? — to be productive in forcing change? or is bringing awareness enough?" See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2025/02/23/art-dirt-political-expression-in-the-arts If...

William Sarradet and Gabriel Martinez discuss two films from the late 70s whose protagonists embark on slow journeys and a third film that stages "Hamlet" inside "Grand Theft Auto." "I was completely awestruck. I was really grateful to see that yes it is true that you can make fictional film that is relatable and doesn't have to rely so much on artifice to be interesting or entertaining." See rela...

Jessica Fuentes, Gabriel Martinez, and Brandon Zech discuss the different types of immersive art spaces and the historical work that paved the way. "I've realized that the spaces that really affect me are the ones that put me into a weird situation and take me out of wherever I am, take me out of my body a little bit, and make me have to negotiate. But not everyone is gonna want something that cha...

William Sarradet talks with artist and educator Dr. Estelle Voisin-Fonteneau about the loss of Eros, the architecture of sacred spaces, and the written language of patriarchal societies. "I'm very interested in the idea of the sacred within the profane. The profane comes from the word profanum which is the space before the temple and that is where most of the rituals took place. It wasn't in the t...