This October the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) unveils a group exhibition featuring sixteen emerging and mid-career artists whose works grapple with the consequences of urban development and expansion. Titled Sprawl and on view from October 4 to January 19, 2014, the exhibition presents both positive and negative perspectives on the divisive topic of city sprawl. Artist Kathryn Clark translates data into colorful layers of fabric in her Foreclosure Quilts, while Norwood Viviano creates three-dimensional glass models based on digital renderings of statistical data representing population shifts in twenty-four American urban centers. Dylan J. Beck’s ceramic piece Yesterday’s Tomorrow juxtaposes sleek modern architecture with more traditional terracotta structures, prompting divergent interpretations: a criticism of construction’s upheaval, or a celebration of the pluralism characterizing contemporary cityscapes.
HCCC encourages further dialogue concerning Houston’s development with its inaugural speaker series and, as a component of artist Carrie Schneider’s project Hear Our Houston, Sprawl incorporates a series of walking tours featuring craft in the city’s suburbs. crafthouston.org
— Sara Spink
