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Minimalism at its best — that's how Dallas native Allison Mitchell describes her namesake collection of oversized clutches crafted from luxurious animal skins and hides sourced from around the globe. "I'm a huge fan of using simple shapes and materials to make something spectacular," she says. "I love the challenge, and I think the women who buy the bag for themselves appreciate the elegant subtleties of a minimalist piece." Mitchell — whose mother once designed handbags and sold to Stanley Korshak under the label Sloane Fine Handbags — is a fan of the way Dallas women invest in pieces that last from season to season. Each of her seven signature clutches is handcrafted in the U.S. and has an interior magnetic three-snap closure — sans exposed hardware. For Spring 2015, she introduces two shoulder bags, two bucket bags and two new clutches in neutral leathers and lined with authentic Japanese kimonos. "A friend of mine from Dallas who lives in Nagoya, Japan, finds them," Mitchell says. "They are fascinating and so exquisite." Her bags recently hit the runway in Dallas designer Esé Azénabor's show at New York Fashion Week (the two clicked after meeting at November's Fashion x Dallas event), with all eyes on the Amazonian river fish skin clutch made from sustainably farmed fish. Signature clutches $875; Spring 2015 collection $675 to $2,875, at Elements, Nicole Kwon; allisonmitchell.com. Linden Wilson Twenty + Texas Theatre: Legendary photo dealers Missy and Burt Finger, toast their 20th year this month. Their PDNB Gallery — an acclaimed member of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers — has carved out a spot in the Texas territory for its curatorial curiosity, ranging from the startling macabre investigations of Joel-Peter Witkin (PDNB's opening act in April 1995) to Bill Owens' wry, yet fond Suburbia images. Keith Carter, Vik Muniz, Luis González Palma, Lee Friedlander and Dallas' Misty Keasler are additional talents presented in "20 Years: The Collector" (May 16 – June 20). To see PDNB's greatest hits, check back in May for our online exclusive … Have you visited The Safe Room, Dallas' most unique art space, tucked upstairs inside Oak Cliff's Texas Theatre (a spot forever identified with the apprehension of Oswald)? Do make the trek to see Houston painter Kent Dorn's latest, "Into the Night," edgy investigations into the trope of landscape paintings, which possess a Grimm's Fairy Tales vibe (through May 30). Meet Annabel and Justyna: Speaking of mystical landscapes, head to Kirk Hopper Fine Art for the Annabel Livermore show. You may not be able to catch the symbolist artist, because she is the alter ego of … we're not telling (through May 23) … Also in the hypnotic category is Cydonia Gallery in the Design District. This month, Cydonia (its name is taken from a topological feature on Mars) brings in Polish creative Justyna Gorowska. Her ghostly photos and video are based on late cult fave Francesca Woodman's photographic images (through May 8) … For more from the Design District, including moves of The Pubic Trust and Liliana Bloch Gallery, check these pages next month … Meanwhile, for pics of a very cool street photo project, head to our arts blog online, papercitymag.com, where Dallas-based Magnum Photos grant winner Richard Andrew Sharum's epically scaled images appear, taking over the façades of five downtown buildings, supersized up to 40 by 60 feet (through May 31). #observedallas2015. Now, that's heroic art. Catherine D. Anspon Art Notes O ne of the most eagerly watched art and architecture stories of the past decade reaches its crescendo Friday, May 1. That's when the new punctuation mark of the Meatpacking District, the 85-year-old Whitney Museum of American Art, opens to great fanfare, fulfilling a commitment to embrace expanded audiences — including visitors to the High Line, which spills out at the Whitney's doors; about five million are expected to stroll past annually. The architect is Renzo Piano, who got his start in America and in the museum- designing trade at Houston's Menil Collection. For the Whitney, Piano has conjured a $422 million, 220,000-square-foot building that's triple the museum's previous size. The result is clean and sculptural, with salvaged pine floors — perfect for artists to cut into and one component of the LEED Gold certification (this will be NYC's only museum to be so designated). The Meatpacking neighborhood returns the museum to its downtown roots; remember, Gertrude Whitney established her institution in 1930 in bohemian Greenwich Village as an outgrowth of her studio club for artists. The museum vacated its Madison Avenue home after its Jeff Koons blockbuster closed last fall; it had resided on the Upper East Side since 1966, in an iconic Marcel Breuer Brutalist building that is now being leased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Whitney's new address, 99 Gansevoort Street, is anchored near Chelsea, West Village and Greenwich Village, and boasts views of the Hudson from the eight-story museum's series of outdoor sculpture galleries. With 50,000 square-feet of exhibition space, lattice-like ceilings that invite the suspension of sculpture, two floors instead of one to showcase a permanent collection of the greatest hits of 20th-century American art (Hopper to Johns and Warhol) and the largest column-free gallery of any Manhattan museum, the Whitney promises to be a beacon for the public and a lab for artists. When you go, check out the late Richard Artschwager's grand finale: immersive pop creations, permanently installed in the elevators. Opening exhibition, "America Is Hard to See," culled from the museum's permanent collection, May 1 – September 27 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, whitney.org. Catherine D. Anspon FROM MADISON AVE. TO MEATPACKING: A Whitney for Our Time Visitors to Dallas Arts Week were wowed by the Dallas Contemporary's showing of David Salle's "Debris," an enigmatically titled exhibition that presents 19 canvases alongside a cache of ceramics, all crafted during these last five years (through August 23). While some of that recent work at the DC is available through the artist's Skarstedt gallery in Manhattan, an enticing late 1980s Salle painting comes up on the block Saturday, May 30, at Heritage Auctions' always record-setting Modern and Contemporary Sale in Dallas, culled by the auction house's expert Frank Hettig. The Salle oil and acrylic, painted in the artist's signature cinematic split-screen technique, joins other players including Pop kings Roy Lichtenstein (a cache of works on paper) and Jim Dine (a carved and painted set of Venus sculpture), photorealist Janet Fish (a pair of 1990s canvases, Crystal Ball and Up in Smoke), a haunting de Chirico mixed media, Damien Hirst quoting Warhol in a suite of screen prints depicting The Last Supper, Bay Area figurative painter David Park (a muscular 1938-39 canvas) and a de Kooning drawing of two women rendered in charcoal from 1964. Bidding and more details, fineart.ha.com. Catherine D. Anspon SALLE Forth C ombining soothing spa therapies with cutting-edge technology, the HydraFacial packs a pretty punch — and the Spa & Salon at Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas is the only full-service spa and salon in North Texas to offer this all-in-one powerhouse treatment. In five steps, the facial tackles every skin problem: fine lines and wrinkles, oily skin, dehydrated skin and uneven skin tone, using Vortex Cleaning, Vortex Extraction and Vortex Fusion techniques. The HydraFacial is painless, and rejuvenated and hydrated skin is the immediate result. Post- facial, relax in the spa's sauna, steam room, whirlpool or cold plunge-pool facility. 60-minute HydraFacial $210, 75-minute Ultimate HydraFacial with LED light therapy $255, at the Spa & Salon at Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas, fourseasons.com/dallas. Linden Wilson FACE TIME The new Whitney Museum of American Art TIMOTHY SCHENCK David Salle's Sugar Bowl with Carved Bird, 1988, at Heritage Auctions Minimally INVASIVE Kent Dorn's Shadowland, 2013, at The Safe Room, Texas Theatre Allison Mitchell