E.A.S.T.

I did the East Austin Studio Tour this afternoon. Once we got going, I realized that I should have gone by some studios yesterday, as well, but we were busy getting ready for my birthday party last night. We only made it to four places, each of which featured several different artists.

The Bearded Lady screen printing shop was really interesting. I picked up a few free posters and some super cheap t-shirts. The Pump Project Art Complex was loaded with cool artists. Amber Kappes had some great realistic portraits in oils. Another painter, J.Haley, had the greatest picture on his studio door... It was a pic of a painting that read, 'In order to clarify the objective and resolve ambiguity, the painter became a writer.' That was my favorite piece. The words were painted with little attention to composition on top of an abstract painting. Perfect.

My favorite work of the tour was from Debra Broz. She did a lot of pieces with found art books. In one, she went through the entire first half with a pen and covered up all of the words except occurrences of the words 'art' and 'artist'. I didn't have too much time to linger, but I would have liked to talk to her a bit.

Next time, I'll got on Saturday, too.