Shrinking Ballot
RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
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In late April, Southern Methodist University’s Meadows Museum announced local artist Erica Felicella as the recipient of its 2025 Moss/Chumley North Texas Artist Award. Given out annually, the award recognizes an outstanding artist who has not only a tenure of work going back at least 10 years but who has also has served as an advocate for visual arts.
Felicella’s own work includes photography and performance art, and she has served as a curator, producer and program developer for other artists.
Felicella is heading into Pride Month with a new performance piece slated for the end of June, so a lot’s been on her mind in recent days. And the news she had won the Moss/Chumley Award certainly had an effect on her.
“When I got the call, I cried. I have such respect for people who have come before me,” she said. “This particular award covers the full expanse of my practice. It’s heavily rooted in my own production of work but also working with the community.
“It’s really such a special honor and it feels rewarding that I’ve been doing the work.”
Felicella came to Dallas 20 years ago from the New England area. In her time here, she’s shown her own multidisciplinary arts and has also played crucial parts in area initiatives such as Art Conspiracy, Aurora and the Dallas Public Library Culture Pass.
“I arrived in North Texas as a young, starry-eyed artist. I have always believed in dedicating oneself to expanding one’s horizons and giving back whenever possible and have sought to balance personal expression with community-focused work,” Felicella stated in the press release for the award announcement.
“To be recognized for both these aspects of my artistic practice in a single award is truly remarkable. North Texas offers vibrant opportunities for growth, and it fills me with great joy to spread my wings here while contributing to this community.”
Originally trained in photography, Felicella’s repertoire has expanded beyond to include performance, endurance art, site-specific installations and new media. Across these differing media and art forms, she explores collective human experiences through personal and resonant themes like memory, grief and vulnerability.
But she addresses social and political themes in her work, as well.
North Texas has been a place where her art has thrived, and, over the years, she’s seen the open doors the area open its arms to other artists, too.
“To have watched it have this major resurgence and flourish over the last 20-plus years is a wild ride,” she said. “I love that there are opportunities to do all kinds of art here because it’s accessible to so many. You can’t ask for more than that.”
She may have come to Dallas starry-eyed, but today, Felicella is a pillar of the North Texas arts community. She has found herself to be a go-to for up-and-coming artists. But that hasn’t stopped her own artistic voyage.
“Any artist who wants to come to me, I always say ‘yes.’ My door is always open,” she said. “It’s weird, since it’s started happening where people want my help and opinion. It humbles the heck out of me that there are generations behind me who want my advice. And yet, I’m also still going to people as well for the same.”
Felicella has also seen the evolution of art in North Texas — particularly when it comes to technology and new media. She’s been working with AURORA, a Dallas-based public arts organization that works at the intersection of art, technology and community.
The AURORA Biennial event — a theme-based evening arts festival last staged in 2024 at Dallas City Hall — and its ongoing AURORA Expanded initiatives are central to AURORA’s mission of positioning Dallas as an international hub for art and technological innovation. Felicella has been on the forefront of cultivating and curating new media and its artists through AURORA.
She has found how North Texas has embraced the art form through the events as well as area universities’ curriculums available.
“There are spaces for new media and Dallas/Fort Worth is a place to be reckoned with for such,” she said.
In a recent series of self-portraits, Felicella crafted a dozen images that speak to mental health and well-being, a theme often found in her work. “I really believe in touching and and having this dialogue about mental health. But then I pepper in images of a different message,” she said.
In one image, she is “wrapped” in the American flag outside the state capital that spoke to voter inequality and voting access. A recent piece was focused on both the lesbian and trans communities. For June, she will premiere a new piece that fits in with Pride while also speaking out against today’s erasure of queer people.
“I’m doing this performance art piece at the end of June at the Keijsers Koning Gallery about the National Park Service and their removal of the T and Q off the website of the Stonewall National Monument, which is infuriating,” Felicella said. “Part of the money that came with the award helps fund this. My work is very abstract, but it’s done with purpose. You can try to erase us all you want, but we will be here.”
Felicella’s performance art piece is part of These Letters Don’t Run — LGBTQ exhibtion at the gallery which runs through June 28. The exhibition also features works by Quinci Baker, imi Dams, Jack Early, Demian DineYazhi, Barbara Hamer, Ted Kincaid and Molly Vaughan.
To learn more about the artist, visit EricaFelicella.com or the show, visit KeijsersKoning.com.
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PRIDE ON DISPALY
If you’re seeking some Pride-infused art in the DFW area, there is no shortage this June. Discover various art events and exhibitions showcasing queer artists during Pride month and beyond June. Immerse yourself in diverse art forms by both local and globally recognized LGBTQ creators.
- Celebrating 40 years of Richard Avedon’s In the American West, The Carter is presenting 40 works from the series accompanied by behind-the-scenes archival material of Avedon’s acclaimed portraits. Commissioned in 1979 by the Carter, the bisexual Avedon spent six years traveling to 189 towns across 17 states documenting his view of the American West through a series of portraits of people he encountered along the way. CarterMuseum.org.
- Queer Dallas artist Armando Sebastian presents ELLES — All About Them: A Celebration of Fluidity, Identity and Visibility for Pride. The exhibit runs June 4-29 in the Ruth Andres Gallery at the Goldmark Cultural Center. “The show honors Latinx queer nonbinary, genderqueer, genderfluid, agender and all trans identities that refuse to be boxed in. It’s a tribute to those whose existence challenges outdated norms and opens up new languages for being seen, felt and understood,” he said on his socials. GoldmarkCulturalCenter.org.
- These Letters Don’t Run — LGBTQ runs through June 28 at Keijsers Koning Gallery. Featuring a collective of artists, this exhibit centers on the National Park Service (NPS) removal of references to “transgender” and “queer” individuals from the official website of the Stonewall National Monument, altering the acronym “LGBTQ” to “LGB.” In response, this exhibition stands as a testament to the resilience and vibrancy of the whole community through personal narratives, artistic expressions and historical accounts. The gallery describes this as “not only a remembrance but also a declaration: We see you, we hear you, and we stand with you.” KeijsersKoning.com.
- Meow Wolf in Grapevine filled its calendar to the brim with some big Pride-specific events for June. It all begins on June 3 and 17 with Drag Bingo Bonanza Extravaganza for all ages. Sip on cocktails, watch a few drag queens and yell “Bingo!” when that final number hits. On June 5 and 19, MW’s Adulti-Verse Pride Nights where guests can explore The Real Unreal after hours, with craft cocktails, immersive soundscapes and a curated lineup of drag queens, DJs and more. Adulti-Verse is for 21 and older only. On June 12, MW hosts Neon Nites: Kings, Queens and Inbetweens for 21 and older. The standalone Pride event will be hosted by Buck Wylde with DJ Jess Baroness on the tables. The event features pop-up acts, live music and some interdimensional surprises. On June 25, The Artist Talk: Voices of Pride welcomes artists Will Heron and Leticia Gomez discussing their creativity while expressing queerness in their works. Finally, MW will host Rainbow Rhythms: A Family Pride Night for all ages. A live DJ sets the tone as guests partake in hands-on artmaking in an affirming space and then engaged with area organizations supporting LGTBQ communities. MeowWolf.com/visit/Grapevine.
- Alex Da Corte: The Whale is the first museum exhibition to survey the gay artist’s long relationship with painting. The exhibition focuses on the past decade of his career with more than 40 paintings, drawings and multimedia pieces that puts painting as a performative act. Through Sept. 7 at The Modern in Fort Worth. TheModern.org.
— Rich Lopez