Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1542301
N ext Chapter: A move is always an occasion to take stock. In the case of Conduit Gallery, which was founded 42 years ago by doyenne Nancy Whitenack, its next chapter at 1845 East Levee Street (formerly home to Holly Johnson Gallery, which closed after a successful 20-year run) promises to be auspicious. Conduit is known for its independent vision and willingness to take risks; Whitenack blazed the original art trail to the Dallas Design District when the gallery relocated from Deep Ellum to Hi Line Drive in 2002. Over the ensuing two decades, other dealers and the Dallas Contemporary followed. Longtime director Danette Dufilho came on board in 2000, marking 25-plus years now as an intrinsic part of the gallery's presence in the Texas scene. Then there's Conduit's well-regarded curatorial program and stalwart stable of artists, including many with a connection to Texas: Heyd Fontenot of the disarming nude portraits of art-world insiders; collage king Lance Letscher; Jules Buck Jones, who's obsessed with the animal kingdom; ceramicist/performance artist Anthony Sonnenberg; Whitney Biennial-exhibited conceptualist Annette Lawrence; Marcelyn McNeil of the limpid color-field canvases; sculptural master delving into the surreal and absurd Jeff Gibbons; and Ashley Canty's Gerasene Demoniac, 2025, at Kirk Hopper Fine Art. Kirk Hayes' Last Kisses, 2025, at Conduit Gallery. Art Notes By Catherine D. Anspon Ludwig Schwarz, who continues to defy categories in his quest for truth distilled from the spectacle of art. To inaugurate the new space, Whitenack and Dufilho plan a roundup of currently represented creatives, paired with a solo for Fort Worth cult-fave painter Kirk Hayes, a self-taught talent known for trompe l ' o e i l p a i n t i n g s that are alternately wry, deadpan, and reflective of the ambiguity of our time. Whitenack says, "It's a time to refresh and re-engage with our community, and the solo show with Kirk Hayes is a fabulous way to start 2026!" Dufilho adds, "The new location is an opportunity for synergy with another gallery. Cris Worley Fine Arts will be our neighbor, and I adore her program." G r a n d o p e n i n g , Saturday, January 10, 5 to 7 pm; on view through Saturday, February 14. If These Walls Could Talk: Also highly recommended is a Susie Kalil-curated exhibition at Kirk Hopper Fine Art. Nacogdoches artist Ashley Canty makes her gallery debut in a stunning mid- career survey; Canty interweaves domestic history and memory into stitched-together works and collages that take as their point of departure vintage and discarded wallpaper that the artist carefully salvages from homes being remodeled or facing the wrecking ball. The visceral and exquisite exhibition, "Heap of Broken Images," offers a meditation on daily life and the nature of the ephemeral. Canty says, "When something from the past resonates as relevant, it creates an ethereal connection. For me, stitching together the pieces of someone else's home to create something new that will ultimately be displayed in another home, is a beautiful connection to the past, present, and future — a way to bind together time and space." Kalil writes, "These fragmented, searching, and radiant works … leave traces of light that are never quite extinguished from memory, a sense of wonder in the face of the ordinary" January 10 – February 21. 48