A group of Tarrant County-based artists are banding together for a new contemporary exhibition spotlighting collaboration and community.
18 members of the Fort Worth Art Collective are showcasing their painting, sculpture, installation art and other art forms inside the Help Center Gallery at the Arlington Museum of Art.
Fort Worth Art Collective, formed in spring 2013, is a group of established professional artists from multiple disciplines working together to show art across various locations. The group started off hosting single-day pop-up shows in vacant spaces before expanding into longer-run curated shows.
Bernardo Vallarino, lead coordinator with Fort Worth Art Collective, said the goal with the latest exhibition is to invite guests to support local creatives during a time when the Fort Worth art community doesn’t have a central hub to highlight their works, referring to the closure of the Fort Worth Community Arts Center in December 2024.
The community arts center in the city’s Cultural District closed to the public after learning the city-owned building is in need of roughly $30 million in repairs. The community arts center housed galleries, a theater and various arts organizations and artists.
Arts Fort Worth, the organization that managed the building, vacated the facility in June and has since temporarily relocated to the new downtown library branch at 512 W. 4th St. The future of the community arts center remains uncertain.
“This is a bridge for artists to be able to show locally within a museum context,” Vallarino said. “We’re pulling these threads of commonality between the artists.”
The exhibition opens to the public with a reception at 6 p.m. July 18 and runs through Aug. 17. All exhibitions in the Help Center Gallery are free to the public.
What Tarrant County artists are featured in the exhibition?
Ariel Davis
Aubree Dale
Becky Wilkes
Bernardo Vallarino
Bill Barter
Brenda Melgoza Ciardiello
Charles Coldewey
David Mikitka
Ivette Ramos Levy
Jan Ayers Friedman
Julia McLain
Lisa Cunningham
Lou Chapman
Lynne Buchanan
Mike Cunningham
Ron Crouch
Susan Sitzes
Veronica Jaeger
Mexican American artist Brenda Melgoza Ciardiello has been a member of the Fort Worth collective for nearly three years. This is her fifth time participating in one of the group’s exhibitions. Her large-scale art painting “Aquí Allá,” which explores connections to her heritage, will be on display at the Arlington showcase.
Each showcase is unique, Melgoza Ciardiello said, but the upcoming exhibition is special as it provides mutual support and mentorship for the participating artists.
“The collective was able to leverage these regional connections to give us the opportunity to show in a museum, which for some of us is the first time in our careers,” she said. “This gave people the opportunity to bring out work that otherwise may not be shown very often.”
Melgoza Ciardiello hopes guests walk away inspired to support independent artists.
“It’s easy to get caught up in just looking at the same people that you’re interested in all the time, but I think people will see some really interesting practices represented here and hopefully connect with those creatives and support them,” she said.
David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.
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