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:
Joseph Phillips
Jon Windham
Brian Halloran
Shea Little
Matt Norris' metal bugs
Here are some of the other artists I really enjoyed throughout E.A.S.T.
Glenda Kronke
Eduardo Franz Torso
Vintage Rehab
Jacob Borshard's Studio
David Bjurstrom
Katy Bradshaw David eggs
Vija Mendelson photography
Austin Metal Authority
Roger Foster
Jennifer Balkan
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!
