TODAY · 10:00am
Regular and Precious
Dougherty Arts Center · South
TODAY · 10:00am
Errant Obsession
Thursday, October 29 at Dougherty Arts Center, Austin
About this event
The exhibit Errant Obsession by artist Faith Chonko is on display at the Julia C. Butridge Gallery October 10 - November 28, 2026. There is an immense power that lies in our collective focus, but what are we actually doing with it? Cycling manias leave us endlessly seeking new makeup techniques and products, maximizing our bodies and faces through ritualistic diets and movements, dissecting the lives of those on a public stage, and tapping into new ways to stoke a stranger’s anger. The all-consuming forces of addiction and obsession can entirely reshape our lives and distract us from deeper purpose when that same energy could be put towards something greater instead. “Errant Obsession” explores this internal struggle, while trying to reveal what transformation and escape from the mental trap may look like. It asks the viewer to surface the undercurrent that lies within and replace their errant obsessions with benevolent ones.
Who's playing
Faith Chonko is the artist. Her work in this show includes collage and acrylic pieces, such as one titled Tear her apart. The show is one of several rotating exhibitions the Dougherty Arts Center runs in the gallery's spaces each year.
What to expect
The exhibit starts from everyday manias: chasing new makeup techniques, ritualistic diets, dissecting the lives of public figures, stoking a stranger's anger. From there it asks what it would take to break out of that mental trap. The aim is to have viewers notice their own undercurrents and swap errant obsessions for benevolent ones. The gallery sits inside a community arts building, so you can walk through at your own pace.
Why go
The Dougherty Arts Center is Austin's oldest community arts venue, in a former Naval and Marine Reserve building near Butler Park and Barton Springs Road. Chonko's show takes on a familiar problem, the pull of attention and compulsion, through hand-made images rather than argument. It fits easily into an afternoon or evening around Barton Springs Road.
Where
Dougherty Arts Center · 1110 Barton Springs Rd. · South, Austin TXDirections
