“Crafting Live(s): 10 Years of Artists-In-Residence” The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft celebrates its ten-year anniversary with this show, an alumni exhibition of its Artist Residency Program. Approximately 35 former residents participated, creating new works based on their level of artistry today, and the results are impressive. Much of the work on display contains craft elements, like Elaine Bradford’s ubiquitous, crocheted taxidermy (she contributes the stunning Golden Sparkle In His Eye, a horned beast encased in a striped balaclava/sweater), but these “crafts” definitely cross over into contemporary art. Edward Lane McCartney’s Cocktails Anyone…? is an amusing “necklace” made from plastic champagne glasses, brass, copper, steel and sterling chain — it would look ideal around the neck of Lady Gaga. The Imaginary Children, by Bethany Rusen, is a scary trio of elongated, ghostly-white forms that look like big, mutated bones. Another standout is Darryl Lauster’s Runners Up Presidential Plate Series, a set of hand-cast porcelain transferware featuring the portraits of presidential campaign losers from John Breckinridge to John McCain. It’s a collection an irony-loving grandmother could love. Overall, the exhibit is a terrific testimony to the Craft Center’s young, but already substantial, legacy. Through September 3. 4848 Main, 713-529-4848. — TS
