Narrative Threads: Fiber Art Today at Moody Center. Credit: Patrick Quarm

Houston is home to a diverse, vibrant collection of museums celebrating everything from art and culture to history and science. While these distinguished institutions are open to natives and tourists year-round with a wide collection of permanent displays, temporary exhibitions offer limited-time, unique experiences that are not to be missed. Check out a select number of exhibitions coming to Houston this spring, and be sure to visit each museum’s website to learn about events and exhibitions coming later this year. 

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston 

Where do we go from here? That’s the question that over 100 teen artists across Houston sought to answer in this upcoming exhibition of the same name from the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Encompassing a variety of mediums, from painted collage to abstract sculpture, the works displayed as part of CAMH’s Teen Council’s 13th biennial exhibition reflect the diverse life experiences of its artists and seek to explore the idea that identity is neither stagnant nor singular, but rather is influenced by our responses to varying catalysts in our lives. February 17 through July 2. Learn more 

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 

As part of their national tour, Artemisia Gentileschi’s 17th-century Judith and Holofernes and Kehinde Wiley’s 21st-century Judith and Holofernes are placed in dialogue with one another at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Portrait of Courage exhibition. Spanning time and culture, both works are a depiction of the Old Testament Book of Judith, in which a local Jewish widow saves her town from an approaching Assyrian attack led by General Holofernes. This thought-provoking display will invite visitors to examine their own feelings and experiences with the timeless issues of gender, race, violence, oppression, and social power through this powerful shared narrative. January 25 through April 16. Learn more 

Coming soon to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, None Whatsoever is a celebration of one of the world’s most fascinating religious and artistic traditions, exploring the origins of Zen Buddhism in Japanese painting through ink paintings and calligraphies done by painter-monks. Curated by New Orleans-based collectors Kurt Gitter and Alice Yelen, this exhibition also includes a careful selection of modern and contemporary art influenced by Zen Buddhism features and is equal parts playful and profound. February 19 through May 14. Learn more 

A new gallery opening in March at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will highlight the full extent of the MFAH’s holdings in Islamic art, including a selection from the exquisite collection of Hossein Afshar. Art of the Islamic Worlds will contain hundreds of artworks spanning over 1,000 years from historic Islamic lands, including present-day Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Spain, Syria, and Uzbekistan. With nearly 6,000 square feet of new gallery space, the MFAH has nearly doubled the amount of permanent display space for Islamic art and will feature paintings, ceramics, precious inlaid metal ware, and silk fabrics and carpets that all convey the rich artistic traditions of the Islamic worlds. Opens March 5. Learn more 

Houston Center for Contemporary Craft 

Houston-based multidisciplinary artist Matt Manalo captures his experience living in the United States after immigrating from his home country of the Philippines through a new exhibition at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft: Philippine-Made: The Work of Matt Manalo. Through a display of sculptures made from air-dry clay, bamboo, and plant materials, Manalo takes us on an autobiographical, self-reflective journey that brings visibility and awareness to the Filipinx community while also addressing the racism and colonialism that has persisted following America’s occupation of the Philippines. February 11 through May 13. Learn more 

Holocaust Museum Houston 

Woman, the Spirit of the Universe is an exhibition at the Holocaust Museum Houston featuring the work of Carolyn Marks Johnson, a lawyer and former Harris County senior district judge who has crafted a stunning collection of bronze collars all representing American heroines across multiple generations who have fought for equality. Stitched by hand and later cast in bronze, Johnson has memorialized the likes of Dolores Huerta, Chief Wilma Mankiller, Harriet Tubman, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg and will debut her two newest collars honoring former Houston Mayor Annise Parker and Houston’s first librarian Julia B. Ideson. Johnson’s art is a symbol of the persisting struggle for women’s rights, with the name for the exhibition stemming from the belief that a woman’s spirit is what holds the universe together. January 13 through April 2. Learn more 

Hungarian-Jewish artist Alice Lok Cahana was transported with her family to Auschwitz at the age of 15, before being transferred to the Bergen-Belsen camp. While Cahana was one of the few fortunate enough to be liberated in 1945, her family was not so lucky and joined the thousands of Jews killed during the Holocaust. Believing that her work had to be about the transcendence of the human spirit and a triumph over evil, Cahana’s extensive portfolio of abstract artwork that began after her immigration to Houston in 1957 is an illustration of her experiences during the Holocaust and a tribute to the lives that were lost. The Life and Art of Alice Lok Cahana exhibition at the Holocaust Museum Houston features over a dozen multi-media works and includes a video component showcasing the personal stories and memories of her friends and family. February 3 through April 9. Learn more 

Moody Center for the Arts 

Featuring the work of 22 international artists, Narrative Threads: Fiber Art Today explores the practice of fiber art - fine art that focuses on the manual labor of the artist and the materials, usually natural or synthetic fibers, as part of the works’ significance – and how the next generation of artists is using the medium to initiate important conversations. Textile collages, thread drawings, and outdoor installations, among other works, are utilized as autobiographies and social critiques from the artists, encompassing topics such as identity, gender, race, sexuality, repression, and power. Several of the artists featured at this Moody Center exhibition identify as women, LGBTQ+, and persons of color and are using the fiber art medium to communicate many of these personal and political issues. January 13 through May 13. Learn more 

Menil Collection 

More than twenty works will be on display at the Menil Collection as part of the Art of the Cameroon Grassfields, A Living Heritage in Houston exhibition – a celebration of the Grassfields region of Cameroon that has gained international recognition for its innovative artists. More than 200 independent monarchies (called chefferies) support these artists through their patronage, and intense competition between these rulers has led to the creation of increasingly elaborate, monumental artworks. Blending the historical with the contemporary, this exhibition will include headdresses, prestige hats, masks, royal stools, figural sculptures, and palace architectural elements from various kingdoms, as well as two installations by Douala-based artist Hervé Youmbi - Celestial Thrones (Les trônes célestes) and Bamiléké-Duala Nyatti Ku’ngang Mask. February 17 through July 9. Learn more 

Houston Museum of Natural Science 

Now open at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, King Tut’s Tomb Discovery Experience is a unique event that promises to take visitors back to 1922 with Egyptologist Howard Carter as he discovers and explores King Tut’s Tomb. Covering Tutankhamen’s life, death, and the concept of ancient Egyptian afterlife, this immersive exhibition features the dark tunnels of Tutankhamen’s burial chambers, floor-to-ceiling hieroglyphics, and the golden treasures that he took with him into the afterlife. What makes this latest exhibition truly unique is the forced perspective hallway that creates the illusion of descending deeper into the heart of King Tut’s tomb. Now open. Learn more