A Solo Show at the Grand: Yoonsoo Nam Brings New Work to the Visual Art League's Downtown Gallery

A Local Gallery That Has Made Itself at Home in a Downtown Theater

When the Visual Art League of Lewisville moved its gallery into the Lewisville Grand Theater back in 2011, it made a particular kind of bet — that pairing visual art with a working performing arts venue at 100 N. Charles St. would make both things more alive. Fifteen years on, the arrangement still holds, and the fall 2026 season opens with a solo exhibition by artist Yoonsoo Nam, on view September 1 through 5 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day.

For a gallery tucked inside a building that also contains a 300-seat proscenium theater, a black box, a recital hall, classrooms, and a courtyard performance space, the VAL’s exhibition calendar has always had to compete for foot traffic with whatever is happening on stage. That competition turns out to be an advantage. People who come for a performance wander into the gallery. People who come for the gallery discover the performance schedule. The Nam show lands in that opening week of September when Lewisville is still shaking off summer and the building’s programming is ramping back toward full speed.

Who Is Yoonsoo Nam

The exhibition is a solo show, which means the gallery at the Grand belongs entirely to Nam’s vision for the duration of the run. Solo exhibitions at the VAL represent a distinct commitment by the organization — rather than a group survey where any single artist’s work might occupy one wall among many, a solo show asks the viewer to spend time inside a single artistic perspective from the moment they walk in.

The VAL has long described its gallery program as existing for community enrichment in the arts, a phrase that can sound generic until you are standing in a repurposed theater lobby in a mid-sized North Texas city looking at work that would not be out of place in a dedicated fine art venue. The Nam exhibition is that kind of programming — gallery-quality work brought directly into a building that Lewisville residents already use for other reasons, lowering the threshold for anyone who might not otherwise seek out an art show on a Tuesday morning.

Five Days, No Admission, Walk Right In

The show runs Tuesday, September 1 through Saturday, September 5. Hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. There is no admission charge, which has been consistent with the VAL’s public-access philosophy throughout its history at the Grand. You do not need to be a member of the organization, a student of art, or someone who already knows Yoonsoo Nam’s work. The address is 100 N. Charles St. in Old Town Lewisville, within easy walking distance of Wayne Ferguson Plaza and the shops and restaurants that line that part of downtown.

For anyone who has not been inside the Grand Theater recently, the building is worth a visit on its own terms. The gallery space sits within a facility designed to serve multiple creative functions simultaneously, and on any given weekday morning in early September, you might find the lobby quiet enough to spend real time with the work — the kind of unhurried attention that a solo exhibition rewards.

The VAL’s Longer Presence in the Building

The Visual Art League of Lewisville is one of those community arts organizations that operates steadily without generating a lot of headline noise. It produces multiple exhibitions throughout the year, supports local artists, and has maintained its gallery presence inside the Grand for more than a decade. The Acoustic Friday Jams that VAL members host in the same building every Friday evening from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. — open to musicians of any level playing any acoustic instrument — give a sense of the organization’s broader commitment to the Grand as a gathering space rather than just a display space.

The Nam solo show fits into that pattern. It is not a blockbuster event designed to draw visitors from outside Denton County. It is a well-organized community arts opportunity happening in a building that Lewisville built and maintains precisely for this kind of programming. Five days, open hours, no cost to walk in.

Planning Your Visit

If you are thinking about going, the practical details are straightforward. The exhibition opens Tuesday morning, September 1, and closes at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 5 — making it a short run by gallery standards, which gives it a certain urgency. Midweek mornings tend to offer the most space and quiet inside a gallery of this size. The Grand Theater at 100 N. Charles St. has parking nearby and is accessible from the surrounding blocks of Old Town.

The VAL’s calendar through the rest of September continues at the same venue, and the ongoing Friday evening jams mean the building stays active well after the Nam show closes. For a first visit to the Grand’s gallery — or a return after some time away — the first week of September offers a focused, low-pressure reason to walk through the door.