Don't Pass Glass

FRI 8/20

Glass surrounds us, glass encompasses us; glass keeps us safe from the elements,
and glass allows those of us with weak vision to see clearly. Many spend huge
chunks of their waking hours staring intently into glass screens, both for work
and for pleasure. Most of us don’t think much of glass; we see right through
it. “Glass: An Artist’s Medium” is intent on expanding the role of the clear
stuff in the artistic lexicon. With Cathy Cunningham’s bent neon-tube electric
chair and Tracy Hicks’s jars filled with amphibian parts, a variety of social
and political issues are addressed. Jim Bowman incorporates found objects into
his blown-glass sculpture and David Graeve’s installation involves six video
screens illuminated by filtered light from glass construction blocks. Twelve
artists, all nationally known and all with Texas credentials, are lending their
talents to this exploration of the latent aesthetic qualities dormant within
the glazier’s craft. Clearly these people are onto something. The exhibition
opens at 7 p.m. Friday, August 20. Through Thursday, September 30. 10 a.m. to
6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Arts Alliance
Center at Clear Lake, 2000 NASA Parkway. For information, call 281-335-7777
or visit www.taaccl.org. Free. — Scott
Faingold

Doodle Do
River Oaks Theatre revives Waking Life

Richard Linklater’s Waking Life revolves around a pothead premise:
Are we sleepwalking through our waking state or wake-walking through our dreams?
But this flick is more than just an excuse to light up a fatty. Traveling through
the oneiric world, Wiley Wiggins encounters all kinds of philosophical characters,
including professors, professional actors and all-around nutjobs. He listens
to them discuss life, death, identity, evolution, film, free will, gun control
and — of course — dreams. Linklater filmed the whole thing with a digital
camera and handed the footage over to animators, who then digitally drew on
top of it. All of which makes for a pretty heavy flick — and, we must say,
quite a trippy experience. Light up and tune in at midnight on Friday and Saturday,
August 20 and 21. River Oaks Theatre, 2009 West Gray. For information, call
713-866-8881 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com.
$6. — Keith Plocek

Slippin’ a Mickey

SAT 8/21

Once upon a time, we were kids at Disney World, shaking hands with Mickey Mouse
and wondering why he only had four fingers. Now we’re older and the venerable
mouse is 75. To celebrate his birthday, Disney is dropping six-foot, 700-pound
Mickey statues — decorated by celebrity artists like Tom Hanks and Tony Hawke
— in ten cities nationwide. Houston’s statues will be unveiled this weekend
in Amreit Plaza in the Park with a ceremony featuring Mickey himself, Mayor
Bill White and local artist Kermit Eisenhut, who’ll introduce his Lone Star
Mickey wearing Texas-flag running shorts. “Everyone loves them,” says Eisenhut
of Mickey’s attire. “Even I had a pair of those back when I jogged.” Noon. Saturday,
August 21. On view through Wednesday, October 20. 5150 Buffalo Speedway. For
information, call 713-552-1590. Free. — Steven Devadanam

Tex-Mex Fest

SAT 8/21

Loved for its Spanish-language hybrid of metal and classic rock, Houston band Chango Jackson is the perfect opener for this weekend’s Make Mine Texas Music Festival, a showcase of Texas’s bicultural and bilingual music. Watch for Ruben Vela, headliner Kevin Fowler and, possibly, the occasional tamale being tossed from Chango’s stage. 11 a.m. Saturday, August 21. 8233 Will Clayton Parkway. For information, call 713-692-1935 or visit www.makeminetexas.info. $5 to $8. — Steven Devadanam