Play With Clay, Collage & Charcoal
Slow into summer. Inspired by ten years of open creative learning at Future Front, head to The LINE Hotel Austin during our second-annual Downtown Creative Retreat for a day of play, taught by local artists:
Four mini creative skill-swapping workshops, from drawing to clay-making
Time to learn from (and connect with) other artists and creative types in your community
Low-pressure, camp-style creative retreat vibes
The day’s clay, collage and mindful drawing workshops will be led by Tanya Zal, Brittany Bosco and Xochi Solis. Workshops run every 1.5 hours at 11 AM, 12:30 PM, 2 PM and 3:30 PM.
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WHAT TO EXPECT
11 AM to 12:30 PM ★ Play With Clay
12:30 to 2 PM ★Play With Collage
2 to 3:30 PM ★Play With Charcoal
3:30 to 5 PM ★Play With Clay
HOW TO ATTEND
Each workshop is only $20, thanks to support from Future Front's members, donors, sponsors and partners.
If you’re a Future Front member, this event is free for you and your guests.
REGISTER NOW:
*If you are a Future Front member, this event is included with your membership. Head to members.futurefronttexas.org or futurefrontmembership.squarespace.com to access member rates for event tickets, applications & other perks at anytime.
MEET GUEST INSTRUCTORS
Xochi Solis, Visual Artist
XOCHI SOLIS (b. 1981) is an Austin, TX-based mixed media artist and cultural strategist with over 20 years of experience. Her creative practice consistently aims to build spaces—physical, intellectual, and emotional—that explore her relationship to land, culture of place, and personal history.
Her works include collaged paintings that explore color, texture, and shape through paint, collected paper ephemera, hand-dyed and marbled paper, plastics, and found images from books and magazines. Through a practiced process of layering materials, incorporating the visual depth and illusions of photographic surfaces, Solis reflects on the visual complexities in her environment—both natural and cultural. Her work communicates a nuanced narrative about time, place, and sensation while grappling with how to represent an environment where her heritage, body, and dreams for the future co-exist.
While her practice remains rooted in mixed media, she thrives on collaborative creativity. This ethos is reflected in her participation in numerous artist residencies across the United States and Mexico, where she both nurtures and is nurtured by fellow artists. These experiences have strengthened her commitment to community-building through art, bridging her studio practice with her passion for creating innovative, collective spaces. Notably, she has been invited to the prestigious Pocoapoco Residency in Oaxaca, Mexico (Spring 2026), a gathering of international and local artists dedicated to collaboration and dialogue. In summer 2021, she participated in the pilot residency program at WRONG Marfa in Marfa, TX. Earlier, in 2016, Solis was an artist-in-residence at Pele Prints in St. Louis, MO, where she developed a series of monoprints combining her painting and collage techniques with printmaking. Her exploration of printmaking continued through collaborations with Shoestring Press in Brooklyn, NY, in 2017 and 2018.
Solis is featured among thirty artists in Collage: Contemporary Artists Hunt and Gather, Cut and Paste, Mash Up and Transform (Chronicle Books, 2014) and among forty-five artists in A BIG IMPORTANT ART BOOK (NOW WITH WOMEN): Profiles of Unstoppable Female Artists--and Projects to Help You Become One (Running Press, 2018).
Recent exhibitions include LAYERS: The Art of Contemporary Collage at Decker Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD (2025); Contemporary Ex-Votos: Devotion Beyond Medium at New Mexico State University Art Museum, Las Cruces; Gallery 400, Chicago; and Barrick Museum of Art, Las Vegas (2022–24); Rooted by Invisible Means at Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, TX (2020); Remedies for a Generation at Uprise Art (2020); Crawl into the Shapes the Shadow Takes at WRONG Gallery, Marfa, TX (2018); and Mi Tierra: Contemporary Artists Explore Place at Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (2017).
Solis has served as a founding member of multiple influential community arts organization in Austin, Texas, most recently contributing eight years as Board President to Future Front Texas. Beyond her visual art practice, she also performs as a vinyl DJ under the name Mira Mira, with a focus on preserving and performing Tejanx culture.
Brittany Bosco, Multidisciplinary Artist and Ceramicist
Brittany Bosco is an alternative musician, multidisciplinary artist, cultural strategist, and worldbuilder whose work spans sound, ceramics, and immersive storytelling. She first rose to prominence in music with a bold alternative style that blurred genres and redefined what it meant to create without boundaries. Building on that foundation, she founded SLUG Global, a creative collective at the intersection of culture, imagination, and community, and Palette.xyz, an experience studio and innovation lab that explores ceramics, retro technology, and communal dining as portals for connection. Today, her practice expands through outdoor storytelling, experiential design, and worldbuilding rooted in Black imagination and futurism. Whether on stage, in the studio, or through installations and workshops, Brittany creates spaces that center inclusivity, joy, and discovery inspiring people to connect, heal, and belong.
@palette.xyz
Tanya, Ceramicist
Tanya Zal (she/her) is an Austin, Texas-based artist interested in practicing deeper care- with ourselves, others, and the things around us. Her ceramics are a playful celebration of the creative process, an anchor to joy, and an invitation toward curiosity. Originally from upstate NY, where she completed her BFA in 2010, Tanya has spent the last decade working in art nonprofit, community organizing, and reproductive justice spaces. She is a current Curatorial Advisor at Future Front Texas and a member of MASS Gallery.
@heartofgoo
PLAN YOUR VISIT
VENUE LOCATION + ACCESSIBILITY — All sessions will be held at The Line Hotel Austin, which is located at 111 E Cesar Chavez St, Austin, Texas 78701. The venue is wheelchair-accessible and workshops will be on the second floor.
PARKING —We highly encourage utilizing rideshare or carpooling as there is limited valet parking available onsite. This venue is easily accessible by Austin public transportation, too.
OUR COMMUNITY SAFETY GUIDELINES —
All Future Front staff, volunteers and guests will be required to practice mutual respect, as well as demonstrate an alignment with Future Front’s code of conduct and values: futurefronttexas.org/values.
Capacity is limited to reduce crowding of any kind and all events will be held in primarily outdoor and open-air spaces or have access to proper ventilations and well-maintained A/C systems.
At Future Front events, all guests are expected to follow Austin-local health and safety guidelines for gatherings, as well as practice consideration with the consumption of tobacco, alcohol and any other legal, mind-altering or dangerous substances and objects. This includes:
As Future Front strives to be a good neighbor, we also discourage the use of tobacco products on the property of nearby businesses and residences, to improve air quality, throughout our events.
Tobacco use and electronic smoking device use are not permitted at any time within Future Front properties and event spaces at least 15 ft from entrances, exits, operational windows, or ventilation system intake vents.
Littering of tobacco-related products on the grounds or parking lots is also prohibited.
Concealed or open weapons and firearms (including handguns) are not allowed at any Future Front venues.
AVAILABLE LANGUAGES — ASL interpreters can be provided upon request. Si necesita traducción al español para participar en este evento, envíenos un correo electrónico a hello@futurefronttexas.org.
GOT QUESTIONS? Shoot us a note at hello@futurefronttexas.org. We're happy to help and will get back to you!
BEHIND FUTURE FRONT
Homegrown in Austin, Future Front is an award-winning cultural space and public exhibition series—with women and LGBTQ+ creatives at the front.
As a 501c3 arts and culture nonprofit, we produce two annual community-led exhibitions, The Front Market and The Front Festival, platforming independent artists and creatives across disciplines in Texas. Beyond our flagship exhibitions, we host seasonal shows and workshops at our creative space in East Austin, welcoming 20,000+ visitors per year.
Through these programs and a diverse network of partnerships, we invite the public (including you) to dream of a future where local art and creativity thrive in Texas—where we see ourselves and our cultures reflected in our communities.
FUTURE FRONT IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY an Elevate Grant from the Austin Arts, Music, Culture and Entertainment, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Texas Commission on the Arts, The LINE Hotel Austin, Pease Park Conservancy, Preservation Austin, Movability, ART FOR ALL, Partiful, Moontower Rentals, Distribution Hall, Miscellaneous Rentals, Thirstday Tequila, the Red River Cultural District, Topo Chico, as well as Future Front’s donors and members.