Over the past few weeks I have been working on broadening my horizons in the creative world. Besides leaving a desk job for trade work in upholstery, I am making a vow to seek out more art in Austin and expose myself to others’ creative self expression on a more consistent basis.

This was overwhelmingly easy the past two weekends due to the eighth annual East Austin Studio Tour. Colin and I have been doing the tour for the last four years, and this one was luckily broken up into two weekends which helped immensely since now there are over 150 studios on the tour.

One of our first stops was this amazing house on East 2nd Street that is one of our favorites on the tour. This year, one of the guest artists at the house was Monique Capanelli with Articulture Design. “Under the Sea” and “Horny” were my two favorite living wall pieces she had on showcase. (I’m still regretting not purchasing something… perhaps Santa will bring me one!)

Another must-see for us was the Big Medium Studios and other bays on Bolm Road. The diversity in the artists there makes this stop one that you should leave plenty of time for. Here are some of the pieces that really stuck out to me:

Here are some of the other artists I really enjoyed throughout E.A.S.T.

By Sunday night, I was completely exhausted by art and proud that I only purchased two prints…for now… I save the book from each year as a who’s who in budding Austin artists and look for future shows and then contact artists whose work sticks with me after a month.

Future plans for creative escapades in Austin are the Craft Riot presented by Etsy Austin on December 5th and 6th, and the Cherrywood Art Fair happening December 12-13. Hope to see you there!

Related Posts:

1. Inspiration of the Week
2. Upholstery Journal

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1. brian halloran's comment is:

   Im glad the Mozambique painting inspired you. check out the website for more works.
   ps. your right the Articulture Design house on 2nd street was awesome.

   November 24, 2009 - 1:44pm
2. Audrey Gorr's comment is:

   I think the picture showing a face in a woman’s body was disgusting. You may
   call it art? I can’t imagine anyone wanting to own that.

   November 29, 2009 - 11:23am
3. June Shanks (Grammy)'s comment is:

   I’ll be coming by on Sat. 2 to 5. I want to take some info about you to Mason and
   Llano and do some looking around for things you might be interested in.

   Also, I loved your new fabrics that you state you have them exclusive in Austin.
   I hope the fabric companies have changed for the better since I’ve been in the
   business. We often got an exclusive on a fabric promised then went to market
   and it was all over the market. I’ll have to ask Ricci what he remembers about how
   Louis finally got them to actually give the exclusive or tell the truth about everyone
   having it.

   I am planning to get to looking around for you at things you might be interested
   in buying to make beautiful in these little towns around where I live. I’ll do some
   scouting around and then you all could come use my place as a base to roam the
   hills looking for treasures.

   Sunday there was a Home Tour in Llano. It was a fun raiser for theCulture Club
   that they do once a year at Christmas. One of the small houses belonging to a
   doctor and his wife, had incredible old very interesting pieces. I think they said
   she has a shop and buys and sells. Also Lisa Dalwinkle has a large building with
   lots of things that I will check out for you. I’ll need a little further education
   on what you are looking for, but I have a good idea and I know good furniture.

   Blessings to you all for good business, health, and lots of happy. js

   P.S. My dinning room chairs are beautiful and I got them all attached myself.
   I had to hold a flash light to see the holds even tho I had the chair upside down.
   As you all already know, I did get better as I went along, but chair seven and
   eight it was a breeze.

   December 8, 2009 - 5:33am
4. June Shanks (Grammy)'s comment is:

   O.K. I’ve found a chair that matches (the heavy round wood frame) small sofa/love
   seat…..?
   that you showed me in the side room. Mr.Grote’s attic in Mason,Tx. has it. They
   told me it was “the boss’s chair”. He wanted 900.00 for it and it needed re-upholstery (definately) When I told him I was interested inthe chair, but would
   not pay his price, he asked me how much I would give him for it. I told him I would
   have to think about it.

   The chair is across from the front counter of Mason Country Collectibles
   owned by Doris and Oliver Grote, 2 blocks north of court house on Hwy.87 &29,
   424 Ft.McKavitt , Mason, Tx.

   I’ll have to tell you when I went up on the second level of this building I was
   very nervous that I might fall thru the floor. It is a very large space with
   lots of “stuff” packed in narrow aisles.

   There is another place on McKavitt going out of town on the left that had a
   dinning table with four chairs or more, looked interesting to me for $150.
   The table alone looked like worth more than that, although I could not see
   it well against a wall and stuff around it. There might have been more chairs
   with upholstered seats, he said he would call the owner for a price for the
   chairs only.

   Underwood Antique Mall right on the square had a set of 4 Empire Mahogany Chairs $300. PS #4152, upholstered seats. I left your Spruce cars with them.

   Also 4 East Lake Victorian chairs $295 for the set.

   I’m new at looking at furniture like this but several folks I’ve asked about
   antiques tell me that Llano is the best place to look. ????? I think there are
   nine antique stores in Llano.

   December 17, 2009 - 5:43pm
5. brian halloran's comment is:

   I like that sculpture a lot. Someone thought Matisse was wrong in the head and challenged him asking “why did you make that woman blue?” He said “its not a woman, its a painting!” Its not a womans torso its a sculpture.

   December 17, 2009 - 9:51pm

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