On 8 Years Of Creative Community Service: Xochi Solis
Generational Austin artist and community leader Xochi Solis served as founding Board President of Future Front Texas for nearly eight years.
Throughout her time at Future Front, Solis contributed to the organization’s name change, established our current advisory and team structures, served as Interim Admin Director in our biggest growth spurts, as well as helped co-found our Residency and VIBE programs.
Throughout Summer 2026, we’ll reflect on Solis’ contributions to Future Front through the debut of her latest exhibition “In the days of various light,” on view now through September 2026 at Future Front’s historic Community Studio on 1900 E 12th.
ON HER TIME AT FUTURE FRONT:
Photo by Yvonne Uwah
What drew you to this board position?
“A commitment to expanding representation and access in the creative sector—especially for women and artists of color—drew me to join and help shape Future Front Texas from its founding days. As a multidisciplinary artist and organizer born & raised in Austin, my ambition has always been to see future generations of Texans and Tejanxs experience more joyous, creative lives, supported by institutions built on equity, visibility, and authentic community. Witnessing the potential impact and reach of #bbatx’s early events as a space for intersectionality and amplified voices, I felt compelled to invest my skills and energy in an organization aligned with my core values: creative leadership, collaborative design, and personal and professional curiosity.
For me, building Future Front Texas was a natural extension of my life’s work—developing connections and advocating for spaces where complex identities and authentic stories can thrive. The process of transforming #bbatx into a nonprofit truly reflected my belief that it takes responsibility, ownership, compassion, consideration, and love to actively create and maintain the inclusive spaces our communities deserve.
Through my civic involvement and years of collective work, I’ve witnessed and contributed to a nurturing, ever-evolving environment where people challenge themselves and grow from every experience. This organization has deepened my understanding of community organizing, moving beyond the boundaries of any single industry, and has given me a fuller creative life in my hometown.”
How has Future Front evolved since your term began in 2018? What are you most proud of?
“Over the years, what kept me engaged and committed was the opportunity to work alongside a passionate, multidimensional team and witness firsthand the meaningful change our programs brought to our creative community. Sustained by a sense of responsibility to this ever-growing community, I stayed because of the real impact Future Front has had: providing visibility, resources, and opportunities for Texas’s independent artists and creatives.
The organization’s evolution—from #bbatx to Future Front—reflected a sincere commitment to inclusion, experimentation, and collective growth, values which continually fueled my motivation to contribute. Additionally, I found personal fulfillment in mentoring new leaders, fostering autonomy among board officers, and ensuring our mission always remained at the center of our work. The relationships built here—with team, board, artists, and allies—have been a continual source of inspiration and renewal proving that shared leadership, creativity, and generosity can reshape cultural life in Texas.”
ABOUT XOCHI SOLIS
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.
PS — Want to get involved with Future Front?
Our programs model the value of local art and creativity in our everyday lives and dreams for the future.
Become a member or donate. You can also explore all of the other ways to join us here.
