Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, TX

Museums and art galleries are a wonderful way to learn about a culture, heritage, and modern times. The Rice University Art Gallery in Houston, Texas is located in the Houston Museum District. However, this art gallery is unlike any other in the United States. It commissions site specific art. Five times each year the gallery will invite an artist. This artist is to design a room sized piece of art that will transform the gallery space. The artists can be students, famous artists, or little known artists. The idea is to give the local community something to look forward to each year, at various times of the year.

Rice Gallery is located at Sewall Hall on 6100 Main Street. Hours of operation are Tuesday through Saturday 11am to 5pm,though the gallery stays open until 7pm on Thursdays and opens Sunday from noon to 5pm. Rice Art Gallery is closed on Mondays. Admission into the gallery is free, and all public are encouraged to attend. For those who are in the Houston area the Rice University Art Gallery can be part of the top destinations one must visit.

This concept was created in 1995, and since then they have had more than 40 different artists and work. Much of the artists works are contemporary art. Each year they draw about 40,000 visitors from around the globe and most particularly from the USA. The concept of the design allows you to move through the art. The building set up is such that you do not mingle with others over a painting, but experience the piece designed.

Since the exhibits change five times a year it is hard to name what one will see on a visit to the gallery. However, for 2010 El Anatsui Gli is on display until March 14th, 2010. El Anatsui is a native of Ghana. The artist resided in Nigeria from 1975 to the present working with wood, ceramics, and paint. Anatsui is a respected artist and teacher of Africa, and ten years ago became known in the USA.

Slated for April to August 2010 is artist Andrea Dezso. The work of art Dezso will be creating is not discussed, nor is there information from the Art Gallery on the artist. An artist from a past exhibit was Wayne White. He created Big Lectric Fan to Keep Me Cool While I Sleep in 2009. As an artistic piece it was certainly interesting. It was an old man's head, lying as if in sleep with a mechanical mouth.

El Anatsui has created a large wall that moves through the space. It looks like sandstone, with doors in parts, but mostly it is the weaving of bottle caps and other objects that makes the artist's rendering something to examine. For a visitor the Rice University Art Gallery is something to see because of the changing art. One may not like what is on display or it may be something that will not leave the mind.