Our favorite downtown, non-profit, Texas-focused, contemporary art center, Arthouse, has been closed since October while they undergo expansions and reservations at their Jones Center location. The gallery is expected to open again in October of this year, but instead of bowing out of Austin's art scene for the duration of construction, the dedicated folks at Arthouse have been busy bringing in speakers (Gary Carrion-Murayari, the co-curator of the 2010 Whitney Biennial, will be in town in April), hosting workshops and teen programs, and even co-producing a series for the much anticipated upcoming Fusebox Festival. For the month of February, Arthouse has launched a micro-giving campaign, I Heart Arthouse, with the goal of receiving 2,000 $5 gifts. The combined effort would raise $10,000 dollars for the museum's exhibitions and educational programing and prove that everyone can be a philanthropist and patron of the arts. All donations can be made online. more ›

Congratulations are in order for the team at OKAY Mountain as they won the coveted PULSE Prize and People’s Choice Award for their site-specific installation, Corner Store, at the 2009 PULSE Contemporary Art Fair, held in Miami December 3 - 6. PULSE is an annual event that celebrates the best of the best in international contemporary art and coincides each year with Art Basel Miami, one of the most established art fairs in the U.S. The PULSE prize is a $2500 cash grant that is awarded to an emerging artist of distinction. more ›

Glasstire is reporting that Art Palace, Arturo Palacio's aptly named East Side gallery, will move to Houston in January. The move will indeed be a significant loss for Austin's contemporary gallery scene - it seems as though we are still recovering from Gallery Lombardi's closure - but acquiring space in gallery row on Houston's Main Street will allow Art Palace to expand and grow. Palacios has signed a lease on a space that used to house Finesilver Gallery in the Spanish revival style Isabella Court building. Meanwhile, Art Palace's Austin gallery recently opened a group show, One on One on One featuring work by Matthew Rodrigez, Sonya Berg, and collaborative works by Michael Sieben and Nathan Green among others. One on One... closes on December 5th. more ›