December 2021 & January 2022 Events and Exhibits at SMU's Meadows School of the Arts and Meadows Museum
This winter, SMU Meadows School of the Arts is welcoming back in-person audiences for its events. A few events will be online only or will have livestreaming options, which are noted below. Masks are encouraged in all indoor spaces at SMU. Since changes may happen at any time, please refer to the Meadows events website /Meadows/NewsAndEvents/Calendar for the most up-to-date information.
Theatre: Lysistrata by Aristophanes
Translated by Sarah Ruden
December 1-5, 2021
8 p.m. Wed.-Sat.; 2 p.m. Sat. & Sun.
Margo Jones Theatre – Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus, Dallas (75205)
$14 for adults, $11 for seniors, $8 for students, faculty & staff
An enduring favorite for 2500 years, this classic play is the comic account of one woman’s extraordinary mission to end the Peloponnesian War, as Lysistrata convinces the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands as a means of forcing the men to negotiate a peace. Directed by Associate Professor Sara Romersberger. To buy tickets, visit . For more information, call 214-768-2787.
Meadows Symphony Orchestra: Miller, Shostakovich and Beethoven
Michelle Merrill, Guest Conductor
Christopher Adkins, Cello Soloist
December 3 & 5, 2021
7:30 p.m. Fri.; 2:30 p.m. Sun.
Caruth Auditorium – Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus, Dallas (75205)
The performance on December 5 will be both in-person and livestreamed; to register to watch online, visit .
$14 for adults, $11 for seniors, $8 for students, faculty & staff
The concert opens with Luster (2018) by Jared Miller, a short orchestral work in which the composer explores, recreates and reimagines the sound world of electronic dance music. It will be followed by Shostakovich’s somber, introspective and poignant Concerto No. 2 for cello, featuring Meadows faculty member and Dallas Symphony principal cellist Christopher Adkins as soloist. Rounding out the concert is arguably the world’s most famous symphony, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, whose iconic first four notes lead listeners on a heroic journey from darkness to light. The concert will be conducted by guest artist Michelle Merrill, a Meadows alumna (B.M. and M.M.) and former student of Meadows Symphony conductor Paul Phillips. Merrill is music director of the Coastal Symphony of Georgia and a guest conductor with major orchestras in the U.S. and abroad, from Dallas and Detroit to France and Iceland. To buy tickets, visit . For more information, call 214-768-2787.
Distinguished Music Series: Chamber Music Honors Concert
Saturday, December 4, 2021
7:30 p.m.
Caruth Auditorium – Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus, Dallas (75205)
The performance will be both in-person and livestreamed; to register to watch online, visit .
$14 for adults, $11 for seniors, $8 for students, faculty & staff
This biannual concert features Meadows’ most distinguished, jury-selected chamber music ensembles in dynamic and passionate performance. To buy tickets, visit . For more information, call 214-768-2787.
Meadows Museum Virtual Lecture: FURTHER AFIELD | Dressing the Court of Philip IV
Amanda Wunder, Associate Professor of Early Modern European History, City University of New York (CUNY) – Lehman College
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
12 p.m.
Livestreaming on Zoom; advance registration required.
$5; free for Museum members and SMU students, faculty and staff
The court of Philip IV (1621–1665) is best remembered today for the extreme fashions that were immortalized in the paintings of Diego Velázquez, most memorably in his iconic masterpiece Las Meninas. This talk goes behind the scenes in the Royal Palace to investigate the lives and works of the court artisans—tailors, embroiderers, shoemakers and others—who dressed Philip IV and his family and played a crucial, if long-forgotten, role in shaping court culture in seventeenth-century Spain. To register, visit . For more information, call 214-768-8587 or email meadowsmuseuminfo@smu.edu.
SMU Advertising Portfolio Night
Monday, December 13, 2021
6-9 p.m.
Hughes-Trigg Student Center Ballroom, 3140 Dyer St. on the SMU campus, Dallas 75205
FREE
The Temerlin Advertising Institute (TAI) presents Portfolio Night, an annual celebration of the best work produced by TAI’s creative specialization students. The evening is composed of two main parts: a portfolio review of student work by dozens of ad industry professionals, and a gallery exhibition of work judged by numerous creative professionals in attendance from top advertising agencies in DFW and across the country. Winners are awarded in several “best of” categories, including art direction, copywriting, graphic design, digital advertising and best overall. The December 13 schedule is as follows: opening reception and exhibition viewing, 6-9 p.m.; portfolio review, 7:30-9 p.m.; awards presentation, 9-9:15 p.m. For more information, call 214-768-3090.
Meadows Museum Program: Virtual Connections
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Zoom activity; advance registration required.
FREE
Individuals with early stage dementia, their care partners, and family members are invited to attend this relaxed social gathering over Zoom. Attendees reconnect with friends, explore art from the collection, and enjoy informal, collective activities. Space is limited and advance registration is required. For more information and to register, email museumaccess@smu.edu or call 214-768-2740.
Meadows Museum Gallery Talk: Diversity in Pictures: Prints and Photographs of Mexico from the DeGolyer Library
Anne Peterson, Curator of Photographs, DeGolyer Library
Friday, December 17, 2021
12:15 p.m.
First Floor Galleries – Meadows Museum, 5900 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus, Dallas 75205
FREE; advance registration required at
For more information call 214-768-8587.
Meadows Museum Program: Drawing from the Masters
Sundays: December 19, 2021, and January 16, 2022
1:30-3 p.m.
Meadows Museum, 5900 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus, Dallas 75205
FREE with museum admission: $12 for adults; $10 for seniors; $4 for non-SMU students; FREE for members, children under 12 and SMU faculty, staff and students
Enjoy afternoons of informal drawing instruction as artist Ian O’Brien leads you through the Meadows Museum’s galleries. Each session will provide an opportunity to explore a variety of techniques and improve drawing skills. Designed for adults and students ages 15 and older, and open to all abilities and experience levels. Drawing materials will be available, but participants are encouraged to bring their own sketchpads and pencils. Free with regular museum admission; no advance registration required. Attendance is limited to 20 on a first-come, first-served basis. To purchase tickets, visit . For more information, call 214-768-8587.
Meadows Museum Program: Children’s Drawing from the Masters
Sundays: December 19, 2021, and January 16, 2022
3:30-4 p.m.
Meadows Museum, 5900 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus, Dallas 75205
FREE with museum admission: $12 for adults; $10 for seniors; $4 for non-SMU students; FREE for members, children under 12 and SMU faculty, staff and students
Enjoy afternoons of informal drawing instruction with artist and elementary art teacher Ian O’Brien. Each session provides children ages 5-12 with the opportunity to explore a variety of techniques and improve drawing skills. Drawing materials will be available, but participants are encouraged to bring their own sketchpads and pencils. Free with regular museum admission; advance registration is not required. Attendance is limited to 20 and is on a first-come, first-served basis. This is not a drop-off program; children must be accompanied by at least one adult over the age of 18. To purchase tickets, visit . For more information, call 214-768-8587.
CLOSING: Meadows Museum Exhibition: Canvas & Silk: Historic Fashion from Madrid’s Museo del Traje
Through January 9, 2022
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thurs.; 1-5 p.m. Sun. Closed Mon.
Virginia Meadows Galleries – Meadows Museum, 5900 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus, Dallas (75205)
$12 for adults; $10 for seniors 65+; $4 for non-SMU students; FREE for members, children under 12 and SMU faculty, staff and students; FREE Thurs. after 5 p.m.
For the first time, works in the Meadows collection will be paired with representative examples of the historic dress depicted to shed new light on the relationship between representation and reality, between image and artifact. Loans include jewelry, shoes, accessories and ensembles for men, women and children, the combined installation of which will facilitate rich dialogues between fashion and the fine arts. For more information, call 214-768-8587; to purchase tickets, visit
CLOSING: Meadows Museum Exhibition: Image and Identity: Mexican Fashion in the Modern Period
Through January 9, 2022
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thurs.; 1-5 p.m. Sun. Closed Mon.
Meadows Museum, 5900 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus, Dallas (75205)
FREE
A focused exhibition in the museum’s first-floor galleries explores Mexican fashion through photographs, prints, books and gouaches from the 19th and 20th centuries drawn from the collections of the Meadows Museum and SMU’s DeGolyer Library. For more information call 214-768-8587.
Meadows Museum Lecture: FURTHER AFIELD | Mother, Daughter, Widow and Wife: The Conundrum of Mary in Early Modern Hispanic Art
Charlene Villaseñor Black, Professor of Art History and Chicana/o Studies, UCLA
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
12 p.m.
Livestreaming on Zoom; advance registration required.
$5; free for Museum members and SMU students, faculty and staff
Marian devotion is grounded in a conundrum: Mary is both exemplary and ordinary, superior to all other women and a conventional mother, daughter, widow and wife. Focusing on this paradox in the seventeenth-century Hispanic world, this talk asks: How did sacred artworks serve as visual exemplars of gendered behaviors? How did artists, patrons and devotees negotiate the contradictions at the heart of Marian veneration? To register, visit . For more information, call 214-768-8587 or email meadowsmuseuminfo@smu.edu.
Meadows Museum Virtual Program: Digital Drawing from the Masters
Sunday, January 23, 2022
1:30-3 p.m.
Livestreaming on Zoom; advance registration required.
$5; free for Museum members and SMU students, faculty and staff
Enjoy an afternoon of informal drawing instruction remotely over Zoom as artist Ian M. O’Brien leads you through a work of art in the Meadows Museum’s collection. The session will provide an opportunity to explore a variety of techniques and improve drawing skills. Designed for adults and students ages 13 and older, and open to all abilities and experience levels. To register, visit . For more information, call 214-768-8587 or email meadowsmuseuminfo@smu.edu.
Conversation and Organ Premieres with Stephen Tharp and George Baker
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
7:30 p.m.
Caruth Auditorium – Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus, Dallas (75205)
FREE
Organist-composers Stephen Tharp and George Baker discuss improvisation and unveil Baker’s new Workbook for Organ Improvisation, followed by Tharp performing two world premieres of Baker’s music. For more information, call 972-750-1443.
Meadows Chamber Orchestra Student Conductors’ Concert
January 28 & 30, 2022
7:30 p.m. Fri.; 2:30 p.m. Sun.
Caruth Auditorium – Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus, Dallas (75205)
$14 for adults, $11 for seniors, $8 for students, faculty & staff
This concert features a smaller-scale version of the Meadows Symphony Orchestra, led by two students in the master’s degree program in orchestral conducting, Patricio Gutierrez and Nathan Howard. To buy tickets, visit . For more information, call 214-768-2787.
The Return of Jampact
Sunday, January 30, 2022
7:30 p.m.
Caruth Auditorium – Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus, Dallas (75205)
FREE
Noted hand drummer Jamal Mohamed, director of the Meadows World Music Ensemble, presents a faculty recital featuring a reunion of the group Jampact, with pianist and former Meadows dean Jose Bowen; Point Ensemble director Kim Corbet; guitarist and Meadows Jazz Orchestra director Derrick Horne; and jazz bassist Buddy Mohmed. For more information, call 214-768-2787.
CLOSING: Pollock Gallery Exhibit: SMU Division of Art Faculty Show
Through January 30, 2022
Exhibit hours: 2-5 p.m. Mon., Wed. & Fri. and by appointment
Pollock Gallery – Suite 101, Expressway Tower, 6116 North Central Expressway, Dallas 75206
FREE
The exhibit highlights the diverse talents of 14 current faculty members in the departments of art and creative computation, all of whom exhibit locally, regionally, nationally and/or internationally. The exhibit features 16 works in a variety of media, including drawing, ceramics, photography, painting, video, multimedia installation and more. For more information, call 214-768-4439 or visit .