Temporary art installations illuminate downtown storefronts

Had difficulty deciding whether to tamper with the whimsical excitement of encountering unexpected illuminated art in vacant storefronts. To tour or not to tour?

But the Mister gamely rushed home in his reverse-commute so we could arrive at the 5:30 start time for the opening walk of Cut and Paste, a continuation of Public Art San Antonio’s X Marks the Art series of public art installations. And then we waited. And waited. We considered just walking on our own, but, given the number of people at the weeknight gathering competing with Mardi Gras celebrations, bailing out seemed rude. In defense of PASA, this probably was the planned “reception” time, we just would have preferred to have not rushed and, instead, to have arrived at 6:15.

Finally, 45 minutes later, the art walk got under way.

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Rather than rely on random chance encounters, we were happy we waited for the walk because of the opportunity to hear several of the artists explain the rationale behind their work. As curator, Cruz Ortiz did a spectacular job of assembling a dynamic group of installations.

Visit the website, and follow the X’s around downtown. The displays will be up through May. Or go on the next after-work tour, which actually is billed as lasting an hour so should begin right at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 12, on the riverside plaza, Argo Plaza, at 175 East Houston Street.

Cinematic Overload Ahead

poster designed by Rigoberto Luna

An admission-free screening of films on Main Plaza from 8 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 19, will launch the 16th annual San Antonio Film Festival.    

The first of seven films of varying length to be shown on the outdoor screen that night is “Recuerdo,” the second video piece by San Antonio artist Vincent Valdez.  Produced by the Federal Art Project and the Southwest School of Art and Craft with production supervision by Luis Guizar, the work consists of a San Antonio cityscape and portraits of San Antonians from various backgrounds.  

The film festival will continue from June 23 to 27 at Instituto Cultural de México in HemisFair Park , showcasing independent filmmakers and featuring more than 120 films on three screens over the five-day span.   The offerings come from all over the map and include all types of filmsTickets range from $10 to a $69 package.  

Running less than two minutes, Yoni Goodman’s Closed Zone is among the shortest of the shorts.  

Having spent much time recently with Lynnell Burkett discussing commas (actually the common colon proved our most challenging deviation about punctuation) as we try to get Last Farm Standing on Buttermilk Hill to press, I was drawn to Ken Kimmelman’s animated film, Thomas Comma.   Based on a story by poet Martha Baird, the film is the adventure of a lonely comma, drawn by hand and then “painted” on computer.  According to Baird:  

We’re all of us like commas looking for the right sentence.