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Here's the final weekend for Cloud Tree's safety-optimized show of new figurative works by longtime local, Peruvian-born sculptor Alejandra Almuelle, featuring a series that "explores the state of being as a process of becoming." Our own appreciation of sculpture in general is in the process of becoming overwhelmed by the powerful beauty of what Almuelle can do with clay and pigment, and this timely exhibition is another stunning example of why. So make a reservation, put on your best mask, and be sure you don't miss this soul-fortifying opportunity.

This funky home-based gallery is having a show that's all about birds. They've invited more than a dozen artists to submit work in various mediums and now present all of the different avian creations. But – how to do this safely, right now? And how to make it work as an integral part of an exhibition about birds? If you thought the solution would be other than clever and effective, then you don't know Amanda Jones and Chad Hopper. Listen: "There will be select pieces arranged inside the gallery, which will be viewed from outside at two different windows. Each window will have a pair of sanitized binoculars for you to watch the birds. Other pieces will be displayed outside (in our front courtyard) and spaced out in safe distances." This show definitely belongs on your life list, birdlover, so contact the gallery for a reservation soon!

This is a group exhibition by the participants of the 2019 Italian Il Sole Residency at La Romita, Umbria, featuring work by Jo Harvey Allen, Katherine Brimberry, Belinda Casey, Monica Cimino, Suzi Davidoff, Orna Feinstein, Mary Fischer, Elaine Johnson, Charmaine Locke, Erica Stephenson, Sam Schwartz, and Susan Schwartz. A glass of prosecco, we reckon, will be the perfect liquid accompaniment to Friday's Zoomed reception.

It's only because we've been a bit unnerved by this pandemic, probably: That's why the access point here makes us giggle. But damned if one of the best artists in this city, the man whose bright images of urban and forested realisms are forever haunted by ghosts of one kind or another – damned if that John Mulvany hasn't gone and mounted a public show via Google Docs. Once you get over the WHUT factor of that and have clicked to see what's up, you'll be pleasantly surprised: It's not quite as good as being there in the flesh – is anything, ever? – but this solution, room by room and painting by painting, elegantly showcases the artist's new mid-lockdown series of works depicting the deep, spirit-riddled natural world.

Artus Co is "a community of artists and makers at the Arboretum," and they've got a new display of that Matthew Rodriguez's work (you know: from Cheer Up Charlies, and random happy-faced trees, and those kerchief-masked black cats all over town?) and you're invited to stop by and see it inside the current pop-up shop of local creative goodness.

This is an exhibition of oil paintings and mixed media works on paper by Austin artist Valerie Fowler. Over the past eight months – partly during our recent pandemic lockdown – Fowler produced a dynamic body of work that honors the everyday natural landscapes of her local environment. If you recall our review of the artist's previous creations, you'll know we had to coin the term florapsychedelic in attempting to describe the sinuous, serpentine patterns of color with which she renders her lucky subjects. You really should get a look at these astonishing new works, images inspired by scenes from hikes and bike rides along Blunn Creek in Travis Heights, Onion Creek Metropolitan Park, and the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail at Lady Bird Lake. Note: It's a mostly virtual art show displayed on the gallery's website, yes, but you can make an appointment for a private viewing in the physical gallery. Recommended.

Inspired by the Mexican American Cultural Center's annual La Mujer celebration – and by the first feminist of the New World, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz – this online group exhibit is curated by April Garcia and features womxn-identifying and nongender-specific artists whose artwork is tied to activism, feminism, cultural. and gender identity storytelling, environmental protection, and socioeconomic parity.

This virtual exhibition of work by Gigi Grinstad – whose beautiful oil and encaustic creations, you'll recall, brightened several Recspec shows in the Before Times – is available throughout August on the Recspec website. Grinstad's approach to talismans as art "conjures spells for a particular time or place, allowing the viewer to bring these symbols of strength into their own life via intuition and magnetism. These talismans are impermanent, shifting, and they grow and fade like the changing seasons." Note: They'll also lodge quite firmly in your memory, offering Grinstad-wrought anchors of beauty in these uncertain times.