Arts Alive San Antonio

It’s hard to believe that a year has gone by, but it’s time again for the Briscoe Museum’s Night of the Artists exhibition and auction. Like so many other events, it’s a hybrid of in-person and online components, making it more accessible to Western art lovers all over the U.S. and beyond. The main celebration takes place March 27, with the 20^th Anniversary Exhibition Opening and Grand Live Auction, but the online auction has been in progress since March 13 and continues through March 27.

The Night of Artists started 20 years ago as a single night fundraiser for collectors and supporters with the aim to raise funds to establish a museum of Western Art in downtown San Antonio, on the River Walk. It was obviously a success or we wouldn’t have the handsome Briscoe Museum of Western Art that we have today. It now claims that “The West Starts Here” in San Antonio, and we are happy to agree. The Night of Artists is still providing funds but now focusing more on the ongoing programs and year-round exhibitions. Last year, collectors from 18 states and three countries took part in the bidding.

The 2021 Night of Artists features 300 new works, including paintings, sculptures and mixed media, by 78 contemporary Western artists, among them well-known names such as Mark Maggiori, Kim Wiggins, Billy Schenck, Teresa Elliott, George Hallmark, Martin Grelle, Paul Rhymer, Stefan Savides and Mary Ross Ruchholz. Also, Logan Maxwell Hagege, C. Michael Dudash, Tom Browning and Howard Post.

The March 27 in-person event is a dinner and live auction combo, but you can also enjoy a private online version, as well. (It’s kind of complicated!)

Whatever is not sold by the end of the event, will remain on sale at fixed prices, starting March 28. To view the art and all the options go to www.briscoemuseum.org/noa.

Contemporary Art Month is coming to a close at the end of March but you can still vote for your favorite exhibit of the 2021 CAM. The winner gets the People’s Choice Cammie Award. To cast your vote, go to www.contemporaryartmonth.org/peoples-choice-award

Two very promising music events are taking place this weekend. The always excellent Camerata San Antonio continues its “Amplify Season” Sunday, March 28, with “Treasure,” a program featuring two string quartets composed by artists “deeply influenced by the music of their homelands.” We think it’s a great premise as some of those compositions were especially meaningful to those composers and truly heartfelt. Most incorporate folk melodies.

Norwegian folk tunes found their way into Edvard Grieg’s String Quartet in G. Minor, Op.27, which will be on the program, paired with a string quartet by African-American composer, Florence Price, the first black woman to have her work performed by a major U.S. orchestra – the Chicago Symphony. Her composition incorporates melodies “reminiscent of spirituals and the African-American church.” Both works will be performed by Ken Freudigman (cello); Emily Freudigman (viola); Anastasia Parker (violin) and Matthew Zerweck (violin). (Virtual concert; $20 per household at www.cameratasa.org/tickets. For more info: www.cameratasa.org )

Perhaps you have read a while ago our story on Agarita’s Humble Hall concert plans. It’s a brave undertaking that brings classical music to neighborhoods, in outdoor settings for free. The “Humble Hall” is a truck equipped with a special back platform that the musicians can sit on and play. The one coming up this Sunday will take place on the lawn of the San Antonio Housing Authority Park. It will feature music by Bach, Mazzoli, Piazzola, Turina and San Antonio jazz composer Aaron Prado. (5:30 p.m., open to all; performance will last one hour with no intermission.) The Agarita musicians will speak to the audience about the concert and their art in general.

That’s not all, however. Friday, March 26, you can watch the Agarita Chamber Players play in the Spanish Governor’s Palace via a streamed concert of Spanish music. Watch at www.agarita.org.

YOSA, The Youth Orchestras of San Antonio, will present its first live concert since March 2020, Sunday, March 28, at Laurel Heights United Methodist Church. The YOSA Spring Quintet Showcase will feature the organization’s Brass Quintet and its Wind Quintets in a program of chamber music. Although the audience will be limited to performrers’ families, it is still a step in the right direction. The rest of us will have to settle for watching the concert streamed at www.yosa.org/watchlive.

For laughs, head to the Tobin Center Friday night, where Brian Regan, “the funniest stand-up alive” will do his best to prove that he is indeed the funniest. Regan stars in his own Netflix series “Stand Up and Away! With Brian Regan” and he has appeared in prestigious venues in both the U.S. and Europe. He’s also a regular on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. (Tickets: $57.50 – $67.50; tickets@tobincenter.org. Social distancing enforced.)

If you are a fan of Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks, Sam’s Burger Joint has a special treat for you: Nightbird, a tribute band to Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks that strives to recapture “the fire, energy and spirit” of those famed performers. (Saturday, March 27 at 8 p.m.; tickets $25-$175; www.samsburgerjoint.com/calendar)

More places are reopening to the public, albeit with safety measures still in place, including Artpace and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center gallery. Artpace is also opening a new crop of exhibitions showcasing the work of its Spring 2021 Artists-in-Residence: Adrian Aguilera from Mexico but now an Austin resident; Nazafarin Lotfi, from Iran but a Tuscon resident, and the husband-and-wife team from Brooklyn, Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere. From now on, you can visit Artpace by appointment; call 210-212-4900.

The Galeria Guadalupe’s Resurgence Exhibition features the work of artists who “create, as means to remember narratives before 2020 as well as record personal inspiration and crucial artistic expression, during the crisis and shared challenges throughout this pandemic,” said the show’s curator, identified only as Rubio. Participating artists include Celeste DeLuna, Ana Laura Hernandez, Gabe Garcia, Gerardo Q. Garcia, Enrique Martinez, James Supa Medrano, Eva Marengo Sanchez, Anabel Toribio and Jorge Palacios. (Galeria Guadalupe, 723 S. Brazos, 78207; open Tuesday-Thursday, noon to 5 p.n., through Aug. 12; for info call 210-271-3151; www.guadalupeculturalarts.org)