Julia C. Butridge Gallery
The Julia C. Butridge Gallery is located in the heart of the arts district adjacent to the Long Center and Butler Park at the Dougherty Arts Center, a multi-cultural community arts center providing opportunities for creative expression to citizens for over 41 years. Visitors enjoy an exceptional 2,000 square feet of exhibit space in the main gallery, and an additional 480 square feet in newly renovated gallery space. The natural collision of creative activity at the arts center contributes to the gallery’s longstanding reputation among the arts community as an accessible and nurturing venue and incubator, ideal for emerging and established artists. The gallery is free and open to the public.
On Display
David Cook, Texas Bluebell, Photograph, 2025
Recovering the Lost Words
David Cook, Emily Hansen, Helen Hartman, Danny Martin, Marsha Riti, Emma Schmidt, Anja Thomsen, CJ Williams
On Display: July 6 – August 15, 2026
Artist Reception: Wednesday, July 8, 2026, 7-9 p.m.
Artist Talk: Wednesday, August 12, 2026, 7-9 p.m.
“Recovering the Lost Words” brings together the artwork of eight Texas Master Naturalists to memorialize words from nature that were removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary in recent years. Through photography, illustration, embroidery, stained glass, painting, and mixed media, the exhibition reintroduces these “lost words” to encourage viewers of all ages to rediscover the wonder of the natural world.
Zoee Xiao, On Our Way to See Dada Bear, Acrylic on canvas, 2025
Little Memories
Zoee Xiao
On Display: July 6 – August 15, 2026
Artist Reception: Wednesday, July 8, 2026, 7-9 p.m.
Artist Talk: Wednesday, August 12, 2026, 7-9 p.m.
“Little Memories” is a collection of works inspired by childhood memories shared between the artist Zoee Xiao and her children. Through her whimsical interpretation of childhood, Zoee’s paintings celebrate the beauty of simplicity, the magic in the mundane, and everyday wonder. The exhibition invites viewers to slow down, rediscover childlike curiosity, and appreciate the subtle joys woven into ordinary life.
Artist Website: www.zoeexiao.com
Instagram: @zoeexiao
Darla Barolini, Crush, Acrylic on canvas, 2024
The Classroom
Darla Barolini
On Display: July 6 – August 15, 2026
Artist Reception: Wednesday, July 8, 2026, 7-9 p.m.
Artist Talk: Wednesday, August 12, 2026, 7-9 p.m.
“The Classroom” is an exhibition featuring large-scale paintings and classroom desks exploring education from both educator and student perspectives. Vibrant, expressive paintings depict imagined classroom scenes inspired by the artist’s teaching experience, while the desks blend art history with teenage iconography to create an immersive installation. Together, the works explore themes of connection, community, and growth, contrasted with isolation and apathy, reflecting the classroom's broader societal impact.
Artist Website: www.darlabarolini.com
Instagram: @darlanorma
Upcoming Exhibits
Cristina Velásquez, Photography
Somos Animales Poéticos
Cristina Velásquez
On Display: August 22 – October 3, 2026
Artist Reception: Wednesday, August 26, 2026, 7-9 p.m.
Artist Talk: Wednesday, September 30, 2026, 7-9 p.m.
Somos Animales Poéticos is a solo exhibition and book presentation by Cristina Velásquez, celebrating the Austin launch of her monograph published by Dust Collective in May 2026.
Built from the margins of dominant photographic traditions, the work integrates photographs and literary fragments into a visual language that becomes a personal mythology. Moving across documentary, archival collage, and staged reenactment, her compositions function simultaneously as subjects and backgrounds, following the structure of a weaving where every element is part of a larger body.
Drawing from literature and feminisms from the Global South, the exhibition rethinks photographic discourse from Latin American perspectives. From her position as a Colombian woman, artist, and mother in Austin, Velásquez’s work reclaims subjectivity against erasure—affirming photography as a medium of connection, critical thought, and poetic expression.
Website: www.cristinavelasquez.com
Instagram: @cristinavelsaquezstudio
Quentin Pace, I’m not okay but I’m gone be alright, Acrylic and pastel on canvas, 2026
On and On and On
Quentin Pace
On Display: August 22 – October 3, 2026
Artist Reception: Wednesday, August 26, 2026, 7-9 p.m.
Artist Talk: Wednesday, September 30, 2026, 7-9 p.m.
On and On and On unfolds as a series of abstract meditations, works born from the quiet labor of feeling, remembering, and connecting. Through color, form, and layered symbolism, the pieces trace emotional currents and shared human rhythms. Influenced by pop culture, braided histories, and the vast landscape of the African diaspora — most intimately Southern Black culture — Quentin Pace explores the esoteric depths of our inner world and the complex relationship between our hearts and retrospection.
This exhibition gestures toward the unseen threads that bind us. It asks viewers not only to observe but to recognize themselves, sift through memory and emotion, and sense how their own interior worlds are tethered to the lives of others, echoing on and on and on.
Website: www.quentinpace.com
Instagram: @quebishop
Yamin Li, Chaos & Order, Acrylic painting on linen, 2021
Out of Place
Yamin Li
On Display: August 22 – October 3, 2026
Artist Reception: Wednesday, August 26, 2026, 7-9 p.m.
Artist Talk: Wednesday, September 30, 2026, 7-9 p.m.
Drawing from her experience as an immigrant, Yamin Li explores attachment to and detachment from place through a series of paintings that combine familiar objects such as houses, trees, figures, and toys with seemingly random fragments extracted from everyday surroundings. These psychological habitats and portraits reflect the complexities of navigating between environments and identities. Through the work, viewers are invited to experience, understand, and embrace the challenges of being out of place.
Website: www.yaminli.com
Instagram: @yaminatx