 CAM COMES
ROUND AGAIN
Don’t miss out on the
month-
long citywide
celebration
of
contemporary art
By LEIGH BALDWIN
So it's 100 degrees, and there's an egg
frying on a downtown sidewalk. No Mr.
Science experiment here; turns out the
egg is made of some exotic acrylic and
has been hyper-realistically "installed."
Before your eyes, the egg gets
scraped up, hung on a wall and, within
moments, sold to a fellow art lover with a
sense of humor. Cutting-edge art?
Humorous happening? Collectors crawling
out of the woodwork? It must be
Contemporary Art Month.
Since 1985, CAM has taken over the
month of July in San Antonio, growing
from a small series of events to bolster an
emerging scene, to a packed powerhouse
of a calendar involving nearly 100
studios and arts institutions and more
than 500 individual local, national and
international artists.Obviously,we can't list
all of 2008's acts, but we can pull out a
few highlights to help with your planning.
For a complete list of CAM events, check
out their excellent, easily navigable Web
site, camsanantonio.org.
While CAM activities and events have
sprawled to almost every sector of the
city, and even beyond (to New Braunfels
with the addition of The Gallery at 764
West), the heart of CAM is the Blue Star
Contemporary Arts Complex. Give yourself
a whole evening, possibly two, to truly
absorb this epicenter of San Antonio's
creative arts scene.
Blue Star will be hosting six major
events, and adjacent spaces Three
Walls, Joan Grona Gallery, Stone Metal
Press, cactus bra SPACE, San Angel Folk
Art, Fiber Artspace, Fred Ash Art &
Stella Haus Art Space, Jump Start
Performance Company (whew, there's
more, but we're out of breath) all have
new exhibits in honor of CAM. And don't
forget, SAY Si's new building is just across
the street.
 Blue Star will host Alex Rubio's
Exodus, comparing images of past religious
doctrines and superstitions with
our contemporary fears of the end of
days. David S. Rubin, the Brown
Foundation curator of contemporary
art at the San Antonio Museum of Art,
will serve as guest curator for Blue Star
23. Titled Playing with Time, the exhibition
includes recent works by area artists
who use time or space as themes in
their work, including Stuart Allen, Justin
Boyd, Rolando Briseño, Nate Cassie and
Chris Sauter.
For CAM, Rubin will reprise his Artist
Conversations series at SAMA every
Tuesday night at 6:30, talking with contemporary
artists Bettie Ward, Vernon
Fisher, Andrew Young and David
Zamora Casas.
We hardly need an excuse to visit the
lovely campus of the Southwest School of
Art & Craft, but if you do, two of South
 Texas' most accomplished artists, Beverly Penn and Constance Lowe, will offer imaginative and enigmatic ways to navigate space in Equivocal Topographies, the SSAC's CAM entry. Compare Lowe's drawings and sewn felt works using images derived from inkblots with Penn's delicate metal castings of roadside weeds and plants. A collection of paintings by Austin-based artist Liz Penniman is also on display.
Tired of looking at gallery walls? Get out and experience your art. Artist Ken Little will reprise his wildly popular Hometown Artists Rodeo at The Cove on July 11. Grab a cold beer and some famous fish tacos and sit back for a surprise. Many of our favorite visual artists have hidden talents — expect musical acts (some good, some winningly awful), comedy, novelty and surreal performance art.
On July 26, bring the family to the fourth annual Dignowity Hill Pushcart Derby, a completely unserious race among artist created travel contraptions and plenty of music, picnicking and good times. Enjoy a walk through the San Antonio Botanical Garden, where new pieces by Susan Budge join James Surls' massive yet graceful steel, wood and bronze sculptures. Budge's Myths, Magic and Mysteries exhibit features colorful large-scale ceramic works.
If you're interested in contemporary art of the wearable kind, on July 9 the Zubiate projects gallery will host a trunk show of Baby Jane Jewelry, one-of-a-kind pieces of vintage postcards set in sterling silver. Catch more of Peter Zubiate's beautiful handcrafted furniture and partner Katie Pell's artwork at the gallery. Also be sure to stop by RC Gallery on July 18 and 19 for contemporary crafts, jewelry and textiles from the Rock Paper Scissors Collective — Jane Bishop, Paula Cox, Georgie Cunningham, Pat Guerrero, Diana Kersey and Rhonda Kuhlman.
With so many high-caliber art experiences to choose from, CAM can make for a very busy month. But our support is so worthwhile. Paula Owen, president of the Southwest School of Art & Craft and a member of the CAM board, emphasizes, "CAM has always been important because it is artist-driven … it has a life of its own that is not dominated by the interests of any institution or individual, which means, of course, that the possibility for unfettered artistic discourse is multiplied."
San Antonio has something very special and unique in this, the nation's only annual month-long citywide celebration of the contemporary arts. So get out there and enjoy it.
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