Rice University Art Gallery

Great spot in Houston for a free art exhibit! I’ve never heard of Rice Gallery before until I was trolling Instagram and happened to stumble upon some beautiful photos of Intersections by Anila Quayyum Agha. I knew I had to see this amazing work of art in person. Very cozy, quiet and lovely spot. Just walk on in and enjoy!

The current exhibition, Intersections, is quite amazing and well worth a visit. However, the gallery is just one small room. It’s free, however, and so worth a visit whenever there’s a new exhibit.

Absolutely stunning! I went to see «Intersections» by Anila Quayyum Agha. It’s so tranquil and peaceful. Everything seemed to be in balance.
I love that Rice University invite such great artists to show off their work. My boyfriend and I went to check out the new exhibit on display and I was aghast at how amazing it looked. This art will be displayed until December 6. Make sure to check it out if you can! It’s well worth it!
It’s located in the Sewell building and if you don’t know where that is, you can always explore the Rice campus because it is beautiful and there are other art forms around and the architecture itself is worth the view. There are little maps around the campus and there are plenty of students who are willing to help point you in the right direction if you’re lost.
I’ll be coming back here again to check this exhibit out for sure. One time was just not enough.

Low key, my favorite art gallery in Houston. And although I may be partial due to being a rice student… I can definitely attest to the quality over quantity of this art gallery. Featuring only one art installation at a time for several months, the rice art gallery always presents really thought provoking and visually pleasing exhibits where I can’t help but just stand there in awe at the craftsmanship.
Completely free for admission, I don’t understand any human being who wouldn’t want to check it out.

I absolutely love the Rice Gallery. I have enjoyed every exhibit that I have seen there, especially «Unwoven Light» by Sunny Soo Park. The gallery attendants are always welcoming and willing to answer any questions. The exhibits are very interactive, especially the current one (El Ultimo Grito). I love how you can sit in the «garden» and even take a sticker as a memento!
I always look forward to new exhibits at the Rice Gallery and another plus is that the gallery is always free!

Be visually stunned at the Rice University Art Gallery!
I have yet to be disappointed by the incredible art installations at this small gallery that is located in Sewall Hall (on the Rice University Campus.
«The only university art museum in the nation dedicated to site-​specific installation art, Rice Gallery presents temporary, large-​scale environments that visitors can enter and explore.» — from their website.
It may be just three walls with a fourth glass divider, but because each artist specifically designs their work to fit the space, visitors get an incredible, all encompassing experience. I’ve walked around, under, and even on top of the art.
Some of my recent favorites include (check out my photos):
Joel Shapiro’s Untitled. Geometric pieces suspended from above.
Gunilla Klingberg’s The Wheel of Everyday Life. A mandala of your favorites logos that consume the entire gallery.
Sunny Soo Park’s Unwoven Light. Dichroic glass woven into suspended fencing.
The gallery offers an opening reception and artist talk with each exhibition. It’s free and open to the public.
Rice Gallery selects artists whose works are totally engaging. I’ve missed a number of these fantastic exhibits, but don’t plan on missing anymore!
My Tip: Check out the website and get on their mailing list!
My Tip x 2: While you can park close (see website), consider taking a long walk and park West of the Stadium for cheap parking (walk by the James Turrell Skyspace on your way to the Gallery.

I like it! I like it! The Rice Gallery is a free gallery, open to the public. It is a space for artists to do installation pieces. Currently (November 2012), there is a non-​installation piece which is the first time that has happened. Usually when you come here, expect to see huge, larger than life installation pieces from fun colorful cardboard box cities to modern and stark plastic sheets that mimic a mountain.
This gallery actually has several spaces. The main space has a large area that is transformed into huge pieces of art. There is a small room off to the side that is also utilized. in the lobby area, there is a movie that runs and talks about the exhibit as well as an iPad that visitors can look at with information about the art. Then around the corner, there is a movie room that shows short videos about the most recent installations. I sat in that room and watched all 4 short movies and was kicking myself that I hadn’t seen them.
This place is HIGH on my radar now. I have signed up for their email list, and I will get alerts for new installations. This is a great place to stop and show off a little art and culture of our city.
Entrance is free. There is a paid visitor lot across the road at Founder’s court.

You’d never think to look for this gallery. Sure, most universities have art galleries, theatres, and film venues, but I think Rice and its culture often get overlooked. It’s so close to so many other great museums and it’s in the middle of a college campus, that this poor dear of a gem gets forgotten.
Oh, but it’s so sparkly with thought and eye candy.
I’ve only seen a few exhibits here, but that’s really because I just discovered it a year and a half ago. Funny (as in ironic) story; won’t retell it. I’d been unwittingly circling it for about two years, sometimes twice in one go, but I wouldn’t have known. Point is, my journey to it was perspicacious. In fact, the gallery itself was full of whimsy and magic. The exhibit was Sometimes in Dreams I Fly. A little world created by Andrea Dezsö which was viewable only from the front windows. (Here’s a link to her installment’s page:
.)
I’m always inspired and blown away by two galleries in this town. I mean, just full of awe, the kind that leaves a person happy and full of wonder. The Cy Twombley Gallery and the Rice Gallery. Going to the museum shouldn’t be an overwhelming rush of images and concepts. A series of mismatched, hobbled together concepts. It’s so distracting. Too distracting. Keeping it simple with just a few ideas, something or some place to completely envelope the viewer, and accidentally turning them into part of the piece ever so subtly is what art should be about.

I love this gallery even if its the most difficult gallery to find in Houston. There aren’t very many signs and the address doesn’t really help you find it. I always have to get directions by someone at Rice Uni-«Where the hell is the gallery?»
My first trip to Rice gallery was the El Anatsui-​which was amazing.
What I love about this gallery is that it offers something different than the average gallery space. **If you didn’t know-it’s a installation space only for one artist every rotation.
I went through their archives and they’ve had some pretty amazing artists: Yayoi Kusama (1997), Liga Pang (2001), Aurora Robson (2008).

The only single-​room space in the nation devoted to installation art. Like all galleries, it’s hit or miss. But their ratio is very good. Very cool stuff is ocassionally interrupted by stuff of less interest. I can rattle off about 8 very thoughtful, provocative cool pieces (1 piece per exhibit) that I’ve seen in this space. But I can barely recall a single work I’ve seen at the MFA, and the mediocrity-​laden CAM isn’t doing much better.

I came recently on my art/​museum tour around Houston, it was one of my last stops. I had used the metrorail to travel throughout the museum district and back towards my house. I had gotten off the rail and started walking towards this gallery.
It is located in the middle of campus in the Suell? Building. The students on campus were very nice about pointing me in the right direction. When I finally got into the building I really didn’t know what to expect. I saw a big room with the «Big Lectric Fan to Keep Me Cool While I Sleep» exhibit by George Jones. There is a LCD on the side wall which shows the construction of the exhibit. There also is a person that works the desk right in front of the exhibit. She had information about the artist and the exhibit.
You are allowed to enter the room and pull on the rope! The rope opens the mouth. I enjoyed how this gallery was so interactive. You could touch, take pictures, literally be a part of the art.
There is also a 2^nd room in the back that was all blue. Overall, it was a drastic difference from the other places I checked out all day that didn’t allow me to touch or even take pictures. I understand why they didn’t but it was still nice to have one which allows it.
The gallery is completely free.

This gallery tends to do massive single installations by one artist– and because the work stays up a long time, it also tends toward the elaborate and somewhat grandiose! The gallery is located on the 3^rd floor of Sewall Hall (which is what the 1^st floor of this building is called so the people who have offices below it, myself included, won’t have to say their office is in the basement (which it is). The building is close to the Main St/​Sunset Blvd entrance.
The gallery is actually two rooms– a big main room and a smaller, sneakier space off to the back left. It is indeed free, and although the parking lot in front of it isn’t (it’ll run you about $ 2 payable by credit card), if you park in the back lot by the Rice stadium you can hop on the free (no ID needed) shuttle up the loop of campus towards this building, and get a nice scenic ride on a cushy bus out of it.
I like to wander in here and stare at the bizarre displays. RIght now there’s a giant head– part of an exhibit called «Big Lectric Fan to Help me Sleep». If you pull the rope in the foreground of the gallery the man’s mouth opens, and he snores. Around back you can see his dreams– through a little portal (a marionette show).
Right now the back, smaller room looks like the set of a Nickelodeon TV show– all sky blue and white, with ice blocks made of styrofoam. Quite surreal.
I’m not sure there’s another art space quite like it in Houston! Worth the trip four or so times a year when the installation changes!
ETA… Ahem, anyone who doesn’t know that galleries are often one room (and this is two) clearly doesn’t go to galleries. I believe you’re thinking «museum», dude. Sigh.

Gallery, my ass. It’s just one room.

Space for large scale single installations. They do about four installations a year. It’s free and it gives you an excuse to walk around the Rice campus. The pieces are always interesting (e.g., giant robot made of styrofoam packing from computer boxes, pieces of painted, faded old wood that was wetted and sculpted into three dimensional brush strokes). Won’t take up much time since its just one space, but makes a nice stop on a day if you are passing through the area. Even though its on campus, it is open on Saturdays.