Open University
Dallas Contemporary is honored to announce the launch of the Dallas Contemporary North Texas Graduate Student Program exhibition, Open University, on view now - 09 March 2025. A new annual initiative, the DC NTX Graduate Student Program facilitates generative mentorship and institutional connections between North Texas MFA students in their final year of graduate work and a renowned visiting curator, resulting in an exhibition at Dallas Contemporary. Matthew Higgs, Director and Chief Curator of White Columns, will inaugurate the mentorship program. The program also offers an annual prize to a student in the exhibition and establishes an annual curatorial fellowship to a student pursuing a Master’s degree in art history focused on contemporary art.
Funded with foundational 5-year support from Ann and John McReynolds.
EJ Hill + Martin Gonzales: Velvet Faith
Velvet Faith, curated by Emily Edwards, features artists EJ Hill and Martin Gonzales and includes works created on-site during their month-long residency, alongside new sculptures and paintings.
Velvet Faith explores the dynamics of community, emphasizing trust and faith as foundational elements. The show serves as a trust fall for both artists, who come together to create new work in a collaborative process, embracing the unknown of what emerges. In this exploration, they investigate how creating artwork can help assert and reclaim space typically denied to certain groups and individuals, highlighting the crucial importance of feeling worthy in a world that often refuses to see them fully. Their practices reflect a deep need to engage with the world. Despite their differing backgrounds—Hill’s rooted in durational performance and Gonzales’ in sculpture—their practices converge in a shared desire to honor improvisation as a tool within survival and liberation frameworks.
This exhibition invites viewers to come home—whatever or wherever that might be. Together, Hill and Gonzales celebrate the hard work of being soft, the power of living one’s truth, and the journey toward self-determination.