The MAC @ the Mercantile Coffee House
The MAC and Mercantile Coffee House have joined together to offer an alternative arts venue in downtown Dallas to spotlight the best of emerging art and artists. The MAC is pleased to have this new satellite venue to offer new work by new artists.
new exhibition:
Liz London: Seeking Infinity
Opening reception
Thursday, January 26, 2012
6 - 7:30 pm
The artist will be in attendance
exhibition on view
January 19, 2012 through February 25, 2012
upcoming exhibition:
Josh Banks: Subconscious Emanations
March 1 - Mar 31
The opening reception will be on March 1 from 6:00 – 7:30pm
previous exhibitions:
Jerry Skibell: The Sum of its Parts
Opening Reception
December 8, 6 - 7:30pm
on view through January 14
Irby Pace : Sandcastles & Time Machines
opening reception
Saturday, Octobert 29th 6 to 7:30pm
and on view through December 3rd
Pamela Henderson: For Lorn and Stature
opening reception September 22 from 6:00pm to 7:30pm
on view through October 22nd
Julie McLain
Julia McLain, Peace and War, Acrylic, 24"x24", 2007
on view through September 17th
This exhibition at Mercantile Coffee House featured the work of Julia McLain. McLain is a local artist from Dallas, Texas. Mclain's professional background includes work in commercial illustration and store front designs and installations. In the 80's and 90's Mclain exhibited in Lower Greenville and Deep Ellum spaces such as Record Gallery, Stout McCourt, Arcadia Bar & Grill, & 8-O's. More recently she has exhibited at the Bath House Cultural Center and Mary Thomas Gallery in the Design District. Mclain participated in "Botany of Desire", an exhibition curated by Greg Metz at UT Dallas in 2011. Julia defines her work as the movement of Cutism. Being the opposite of cubism, Julia describes this movement as "taking broken matter and re-assembling it into a tangible, safe composition." Recycling from past iconography, she recalls her loss of innocence as a young child. The opening reception with the artist will be Saturday August 13, 2011 from 6:00pm-7:30pm and will be on view through September 10th.
Through the MAC's innovative efforts and artistic advisement, visitors to The Mercantile Coffee House will have the opportunity to view and interact with contemporary art in a non-traditional setting. This initiative is congruent with the MAC mission of supporting experimentation and promoting a visual dialogue between the artist and the viewer. Mercantile Coffee House will exhibit a variety of emerging artists and media, enhancing the setting and experience for visitors.
Patrick Murphy
Push/Pull: Abstract Polaroid Photographs
on view through August 6th
This exhibition at Mercantile Coffee House was titled Push/Pull: Abstract Polaroid Photographs by Patrick Murphy. Patrick Murphy is an artist and musician from Dallas, Texas. While working as a recording engineer in the late 90s, Murphy witnessed the evolution from analog to digital recording techniques. While most were excited about the possibilities of digital sound, he became enamored with its limitations. Murphy’s most recent work with Polaroid photographs builds on his interest in obsolete technologies and mechanical failure. These photographs are all made with the type of instant analog photography popularized in the 1970s—technologies pushed aside in the digital age. Using a variety of techniques and semi-functional instant cameras, the artist spotlights the happy accidents inherent in technology that has been largely abandoned. By manipulating the cameras and film, Murphy blurs the line between photography and painterly abstraction. The opening reception of Push/Pull will be Thursday June 2, 2011 from 6:00pm-7:30pm and will be on view through August 6th.
Through the MAC's innovative efforts and artistic advisement, visitors to The Mercantile Coffee House will have the opportunity to view and interact with contemporary art in a non-traditional setting. This initiative is congruent with the MAC mission of supporting experimentation and promoting a visual dialogue between the artist and the viewer. Mercantile Coffee House will exhibit a variety of emerging artists and media, enhancing the setting and experience for visitors.
When and Where
Monthly at The Mercantile Coffee House
1800 Main Street
previous exhibitions:
CAMILLA COWAN:
MOLA AT MERCANTILE
Sasha Garza
Our March and April exhibition featured artist Sasha Garza. Garza is a photographer living and working in Irving, Texas. The series “Paperclip Safari” is an exploration of her interest in manipulating ordinary objects into something unexpected. The series originated when she found she had some spare time at work. After experimenting with bending and unbending paperclips she eventually began to build complex forms. Garza studied these forms and became aware of the way light and shadows played on them. She was able to capture this by making these photograms. Garza successfully creates an interesting juxtaposition between the crude whimsical quality of the forms and the more serious scientific x-ray like quality. In 2008 Garza received her BFA in Studio Art, Photography and Printmaking, from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. The opening reception with the artist will be on March 17, 2011 from 5:30pm to 7pm. The exhibition has been extended and will be on view through April 23, 2011.
Artist Jennifer Leigh Jones is a painter living and working in Denton, Texas. The series “Reflection” is an exploration of thoughts and feelings about her father’s death in 2004. Each piece serves as a catalyst for her artistic expression. The range of materials delineate the objects from one another as well as time and place. Jones uses the imagery as subtle hints to the larger narrative of her work. The iconography then translates through the viewer and speaks for itself visually. Jones is currently a core drawing administrative assistant at the University of North Texas. The opening reception for the exhibition has been rescheduled becasue fo weather and will be on Thursday, February 17, 2011 from 5:30pm to 7pm. The exhibition will run through March 5, 2011.
SHEILA CUNNINGHAM
This exhibition featured artist Sheila Cunningham. Cunningham is a photographer living and working in Dallas, Texas. She is interested in drawing attention to the environment and the way that knowledge is transmitted in a world of constantly changing technological advancements. This exploration of the decline of books, renewed interest in plants and the nurturing connection between them that offers "food" to the mind and body converge in the photographs of the planted books. The Mercantile Coffee House exhibition will feature seven of these photographic images. The opening reception for the exhibition will be on December 11, 2010 from 5:30pm to 7pm. The exhibition will run through January 8, 2011.
Mercantile Coffee House: Nancy Brown
October, 2010
Reception with the Artist
Saturday, October 23
6:30 - 8:00
Nancy Brown "Interference Blue into Cool Red Violet"
2010, acrylic on canvas, 14 1/8"x34 1/8"
:::About Nancy Brown:::
The October exhibition featured artist Nancy Brown. She believes in the viability of the idea that a painting is first an object. The meaning of her work comes from the processes and techniques used to make it. The way that the work is made resonates in the finished piece. Clearly, in her work, she shares an affinity with the artists associated with post-painterly abstraction.
Brown's ideas come directly from the hands-on experience of making and then observing her investigations into relationships of color and form. The process is both additive and subtractive. She uses the lines of a comb to form grooves in wet paint and simultaneously leave traces of color that mark the surface of the work. The saturation of color is intensified within the grooves as light plays in between rows of increased surface area.
Nancy Brown is a Texas based artist whose work investigates conceptual abstraction via drawing, painting and installation. Brown holds an MFA in studio art obtained in 2006 and is a recipient of the Meadows School of the Arts scholarship for graduate studies at Southern Methodist University. In 2004, Brown earned a BFA in drawing and painting from the College of Visual Art and Design at the University of North Texas.
Brown is a former member of The 500X Gallery; a well-known artist run cooperative. In 2007, the Austin based Open Doors Collective invited Brown to create a large-scale site-specific installation at the Dallas Contemporary for the exhibit Expansion.
Mercantile Coffee House Exhibition: Bernardo Cantu
September, 2010
More about The MAC and Mercantile Coffee House
The McKinney Avenue Contemporary (The MAC) is pleased with our new affiliation with Mercantile Coffee House. As part of the MAC’s newest community outreach program, the MAC has teamed up with Mercantile Coffee House to extend its contemporary artistic vision and educational support to downtown Dallas. This new partnership will promote and support emerging talent with monthly exhibitions throughout the year. Donations from Mercantile Coffee House will benefit artistic programming at the MAC.