open GALLERY

The Marfa Open Gallery is an historic train depot turned art HQ for our annual festival. The rest of the year it serves as an art gallery, community art center and home for events including musical performances, film screenings, art exhibitions and classes.

open ART FESTIVAL

The Marfa Open Art Festival is a three-week-long annual art event. Artists are invited to Marfa where they’ll create and exhibit work alongside one another, explore Far West Texas, and forge lasting connections.

Open AiR

Marfa Open AiR is an artist in residency program hosted at Marfa Open House. Resident artists will spend anywhere from 1 week to 1 month creating and exhibiting a new body of work.

Marfa Open Gallery

Our gallery and art space features a complete ceramics studio, workshop, studio and event venue are available for local and visiting artists.

The Marfa Open House building was built during WWI and served as the Quartermaster’s Train Depot and much of the historic beauty of the space has been preserved. The house is maintained as a gallery space that includes our Artist in Residence accommodations and is an ideal setting for integrating daily life and the artistic process. There are private guest quarters for artists visiting through Marfa Open AiR and other short-term residencies throughout the year.

All are encouraged to visit, take a tour of the property, and discuss projects and ideas for the space. You’re encouraged to submit a proposal or contact us to find out more.

“One of my favorite things about the festival was getting to meet and collaborate with a wonderful variety of artists from Marfa and abroad. Collaborations were constant, natural
and ever evolving.”

Maya Meissner | Marfa Open 2018 Artist

Marfa Open Art Festival

Each year a selection of artists across a broad variety of mediums are invited to Marfa to participate in the Open Festival. Over three weeks in our remote desert town, artists will create connections and collaborate with one another as they put on showcases of their work. In years past, artists have both arrived with their work and created new work during their stay, allowing for plans to evolve and change as they meet new people, places, and concepts.

Basically, we invite artists to come to Marfa for 3 or 4 weeks to create art across all mediums. Interactive and immersive installations, performances, exhibitions of all shapes and sizes. While they’re here they’ll have full use of our entire space to create new work over the course of their stay.

We also show our support by assisting with any supplies and materials needed to complete the project. At the end of the residency we host an exhibition of the work. In 2016, Marfa Open presented its first festival: an offering of the works of various international photographers in events open to the public. Subsequent years have seen the progression of this idea into a collective experience of growth and creation for both the community of Marfa and the participating artists.

Since 2016 Marfa Open has been able to exhibit local, national and international artists during the course of our 3+ weeks festival held in Marfa, Texas every Fall. We’re actively planning for our 9th annual festival starting on September 22, 2023.

Marfa Open AiR

Marfa Open AiR [Artist in Residence] was conceived as a way to allow the energy of the Open Festival to stay alive all year long. The goal of Open AiR is similar to that of the Open Festival, on a smaller and more individualized scale. Instead of focusing on creative collaboration between a group of artists, Open AiR allows one or two artists to fully explore and produce a specific project or idea with the support of Marfa Open House. Artists in Residency at the Open House will be given full access to our space, full use of our tools, materials and facilities to create and exhibit series of new works.

During a residency, we invite an artist to come to Marfa for 2-4 weeks where they’ll live in a private room in our main gallery space. While they’re here they’ll have access to the space and our facilities to create new work over the course of their stay. In addition to providing private, furnished accommodations, we may assist with supplies and materials needed to complete the project. Depending on the project and our calendar, there may be the option of exhibiting the work.

There are no hard and fast requirements in applying for a residency at Marfa Open. We don’t require any fees to submit or apply. Just be you.

Interested in becoming the next Artist in Residence? Submit a proposal. (We are currently not considering AiR proposals. Please check back at a later date.)