On Analog Art, Austin Music And Third Spaces: Future Front Takes Over TOMO Mags for Women’s History Month
Every year during SXSW, Future Front hosts artists, activists and musicians across the U.S. for International Women's Day and Women's History Month. This year, we celebrated with a day of slow media in one of Austin’s newest third spaces, concept store and magazine shop TOMO mags.
Every year during SXSW, Future Front hosts artists, activists and musicians across the U.S. for International Women's Day and Women's History Month.
This year, we celebrated with a day of slow media in one of Austin’s newest third spaces, concept store and magazine shop TOMO mags. Over an all-day lineup of DJs and a hands-on block-printing workshop, we held candid conversations with Austin-local artists and musicians on their analog practices, vital third spaces and Texas history icons.
Thank you to DJ BAD APPLE,ORYA,JP, Suxxy Puxxy, RIOBAMBA, Hierba MalitaMegz Kelli,Thuỵ Trần, Beth Schindler and Jazz Mills.
As we celebrate ten years of Future Front, we’ll keep exploring analog art-making and community-building practices all year long. Look out for future pop-ups at creative spaces like TOMO mags who have collaborated within our program over the last decade, too.
“Community-building can happen everywhere, all the time, in the formal and informal spaces that we gather together. It’s an invitation to keep showing up joyfully, creatively, and fiercely with and for each other.”
“In this day and age of community becoming a commercialized, marketable buzzword, try to enact small acts within your own pre-existing social circle. Offer a friend who doesn’t have a car to drive them to work. Share your homemade soup from your culture that your coworker hasn’t tried yet. Ask your neighbor to borrow a hand mixer instead of buying a new one that you might only use a few times.”
“In the midst of our creative work, where so much of it happens in a vacuum, it’s refreshing to be reminded that one of the most basic, accessible analog experiences we can always return to is human connection – being able to connect with your community to collaborate, to check in, to just be and share space.”
ENJOY THE VISUAL RECAP.
All photos by Kate Nuelle
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.
Painting Picnics, Clay Villages, Springtime Collage and Sun Print Cyanotypes at Squirrel Fest 2026
Thousands of Austin families joined us for a beautiful day in Austin’s first (and oldest) public park.
On April 11, 2026, we hosted a soft afternoon of all-ages creative workshops, outdoor DJ sets and community vibes during Pease Park’s Squirrel Fest—an annual day to celebrate Spring, Austin’s natural ecosystems and the city’s iconic native squirrel.
Experiences included:
Make A Clay Fairy Village with Tanya Zal
Sun Prints: Cyanotype Printing with Hierba Malita
Nature Painting Picnic with Kayla Kennedy
DIY Recycled Collaging and Friendship Bracelets with Future Front
DJ Sets In The Park with Sonder and HoneyPocket
Hands-on activities, food trucks and pop-ups (like Five O Four and Pickle Envy), plus playtime in the park curated by Pease Park Conservancy and other Squirrel Fest partners
Outdoor film screening of “Zootopia (2016)”
As always, thousands of Austin families joined us for a beautiful day in Austin’s first (and oldest) public park.
Scroll for a visual recap.
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.
On Public Invitation and Community Arts: “Open Call”
Presented by Future Front, Open Call was the 2025 Group Show for Future Front’s Artist Residency.
Presented by Future Front, Open Call was the 2025 Group Show for Future Front’s Artist Residency.
open call (n.) — a public invitation to participate. Creative expression is often an open call for community and connection.
Exploring the art of invitation, gathering and relating to the world, this exhibit features work by contemporary artists living and working in Austin, Texas, including: Laura Clay, Aimèe M. Everett, Rewon Shimray, Kate Nuelle, Victoria Cardenas, Samantha Asencio, Erin Carle, Sarah Bork and Yvonne Uwah.
Continue reading to learn more about the show.
Meet the Artists
Laura Clay
Laura Clay is a Mexican-American artist based in Austin whose practice spans painting, drawing, and ceramics. Working in both abstraction and figuration, she navigates themes of bicultural identity, displacement, and the balance between chaos and order. Her work is characterized by distinct gradients and textures, creating a visual language that explores personal and cultural narratives. A commitment to materiality is central to her process, from creating her own handmade paints to her recent explorations in clay. Laura holds an MFA from the National Art School in Sydney and has exhibited worldwide, with her work held in the Mexic-Arte Museum's permanent collection. She has been featured in publications like Eastside Magazine and is represented by Washington Gallery and The Cathedral ATX. @lauraclayart
Aimée M. Everett
Questioning and communicating life experiences, emotions, and memories through gestureless abstraction, figurative exploration, minimalism, intense color, form, and texture, Aimée M. Everett asks the viewer to revisit recreated memory snapshots as a state of present experience. Drawing inspiration from the rich cultural heritage of New Orleans — where the celebration of the mundane, the dead, and the living coexists with a forward-looking perspective— Everett embraces this tradition throughout her practice. @aimeemeverettart
Samantha Asencio
Samantha Asencio aka Future Vagabond, is an interdisciplinary artist originally from New York. Shortly after graduating from Pratt Institute in 2015, she relocated to Austin, where she continued her sculptural work. Over time, she shifted her focus to embroidery and later founded the brand FV. The work explores themes of the American road trip, draws on historical references, and examines the notion of impermanence. Her practice invites viewers to consider how memory, travel, and time intertwine. @futurevagabond
Yvonne Uwah
Yvonne Uwah is a self-taught photographer living in Austin, Texas. She began using photography out of a deep desire to connect with and acknowledge other people. Because of this, her work primarily focuses on portraiture and what emerges when investing time into relationships. She has exhibited at various galleries in Central Texas. @yvonneshoots
Sarah Bork
Sarah Bork is an Austin-based interdisciplinary artist whose photographic work centers LGBTQ+ experiences of everyday life. With a background in film and performance, Bork has spent over two decades cultivating a socially engaged practice rooted in community portraiture and text. Her current series Girls Gotta Eat is an ongoing photography and oral history project exploring the grocery shopping rituals of drag performers. Bork’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at The Dougherty Arts Center, Austin Public Library, Women and Their Work, Houston Center for Photography, and in a public billboard commission by Art + Action in San Francisco. She credits the Girls Gotta Eat community with helping her better understand her own queerness, and remains committed to collaborative work that bridges social divides and celebrates the radical potential of everyday care. @girlsgottaeat_dragportraits
Make it stand out
Rewon Shimray
Rewon Shimray is a native Austinite and biethnic Asian American who processes her cultural and queer identity through autobiographical paintings. Her compositions blend childhood photographs, popular iconography, and cultural artifacts to narrate her upbringing in white dominant and Christian fundamentalist spaces. Rewon’s paintings offer a site of contemplation, recognition and connection. She earned a BA in Journalism from Baylor University with minors in religion and studio art. Rewon has exhibited work in over a dozen Austin galleries, including her debut solo exhibition in May 2023, titled “SPLIT: Portraits of the AAPI Diaspora.” @artbyrewon
Erin Carle
Erin Carle is a fine artist whose practice is rooted in painting. Her work addresses themes of inadequacy, body standards, and body dissatisfaction, often reframing them in a playful yet unsettling way through surreal imagery. Inspired by personal experiences and observed societal expectations, her work explores how cultural pressures shape the way we see and value ourselves. Brightly colored and intentionally chaotic, her paintings invite viewers to confront discomfort within a vibrant, almost humorous visual language. Erin earned her BFA from Texas State University and has exhibited in both solo and group shows across Texas. She is currently pursuing her MFA at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she is expanding her practice into ceramics, video, and installation. @erincarleart
Victoria Cardenas
Victoria Cardenas AKA Wavy Roller is a self-taught artist residing in Austin, TX. Her primary medium is acrylic on canvas but she also explores different mediums and canvas (lino printing, digital design, paint markers, and pastels). Her art is offered through original paintings, prints, stickers, book marks, totes and she explores, “connection and lack of connection that is around me; with myself and my own trauma, others and nature through dreamy colorful, yet tonal pieces.” @wavyrollerart
Kate Nuelle
Kate Nuelle is an artist born, raised and based in Austin, Texas. By day, they work as a graphic designer, specializing in brand identity and printed material for companies and non-profits related to arts, culture, and media. Their photography and illustration work brings up concerns about privacy, ephemerality, and power through eerie compositions. They have been featured through The Gallery ATX, the Michael and Noémi Neidorff Art Gallery, and ICOSA, as well as published in Verses, Glaze, Seedlings, Power Vacuum and other independent publications. @kate.nuelle
EXPLORE PHOTOS FROM THE EXHIBIT:
All photos by Yvonne Uwah
DID YOU MISS OPEN CALL?
Keep up with what we’re up to at Future Front—from events to membership—here.
Introducing 2026 Broad Studios x Future Front Community Clay Fellows
This fellowship emerged in 2024 as a pay-it-forward project—generously funded by the independent artists behind the women-owned Broad Studios Club House—to make ceramics more financially accessible as an artistic practice and form of creative entrepreneurship.
We're back for another year of clay, community and creative growth—welcoming a new class of fellows to The Broad Studios Club House x Future Front Community Clay Fellowship.
This fellowship emerged in 2024 as a pay-it-forward project—generously funded by the independent artists behind the women-owned Broad Studios Club House—to make ceramics more financially accessible as an artistic practice and form of creative entrepreneurship. In 2026, the program received 170 applications for 12 funded six-week classes.
Selected through a community-led, ranked-choice selection process, we're thrilled to introduce this year's cohort of 12 Community Clay Fellows.
Photo courtesy of Broad Studios Club House
MEET THIS YEAR’S RECIPIENTS:
Make it stand out
Broad Studios Club House x Future Front Community Clay Fellows
Melissa Martinez
Lyra Reign
Jessy Wilson
Carlos Moreno
Sarah Calvin
Taylor Edwards
Kelsey Phelan
Ana Martinez
Kalle Duncan
Rabia Meghani
Megan Baker
Maryam Abdullahi
ABOUT BROAD STUDIOS CLUB HOUSE:
Broad Studios Club House is a team of ceramic/multidisciplinary artists who opened up a ceramics studio and learning space to create a community where artists at every level can feel welcomed, empowered, and inspired. Learn more here.
ABOUT 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 of Austin Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Texas Commission on the Arts, The LINE Hotel Austin, Pease Park Conservancy, Preservation Austin, Zoox, 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.
P.S. WANT TO GET INVOLVED IN FUTURE UPCOMING CALLS?
Check back year-round.
Chúng Mình Collective Raises $3,000 Through Inaugural Cultural Cookbook Launch at Future Front
One-part zine launch and one-part dinner, the night’s proceeds amplified NOURISHED, a collection of diasporic recipes, while fundraising for local immigrant- and refugee-serving organizations.
During our Fall 2025 Season, our Community Studio on 1900 E 12th hosted grassroots organization Chúng Mình Collective’s inaugural cookbook fundraiser.
One-part zine launch and one-part dinner, the night’s proceeds amplified NOURISHED, a collection of diasporic recipes, while fundraising for local immigrant- and refugee-serving organizations. Celebrated by a crowd of 75 visitors and friends, NOURISHED sold 100+ copies in just a few days.
ENJOY THIS VISUAL RECAP.
All photos by Casey Tang (@capturedbytang). Courtesy of chúng mình collective
Curious about Chúng Mình Collective?
Learn more and stay connected here: https://www.instagram.com/chungminhcollective/?hl=en
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.
On Scent As Memory: A Contemporary Art and Olfactory Exhibition
Curated by Carlos Moreno, Scent Fair Austin encouraged an exploration of grief, nature and ritual, encouraging reflections on the community traditions of scent and its connection to movements of resistance.
During our Fall 2025 Season, Future Front hosted Scent Fair, an inaugural artist-led olfactory experience, connecting scent, memory and creative expression.
Curated by Carlos Moreno of Barrio Pop Studio, this guest show partnered with Austin-based artists Nam Joti Kaur Khalsa and Paloma Mayorga to showcase their works Sophia: A Tribute to Grief and haciendo y deshaciendo / doing and undoing. The exhibit also featured an interactive experience and creative workshop, Scents of Memory: An Invitation to Feel, facilitated by Austin-based maker (and former exhibitor at The Front Market) Hannah Jackson of Acquired Taste.
Connecting sense and feeling, Scent Fair Austin encouraged an exploration of grief, nature and ritual, encouraging reflections on the community traditions of scent and its connection to movements of resistance.
ENJOY THIS VISUAL RECAP.
All photos by Jesse Rodriguez. Courtesy of Barrio Pop Studio
Curious about Scent Fair Austin?
Learn more and stay connected here: https://www.instagram.com/scentfairaustin/
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.
Introducing The “Art Tips” Hotline
To celebrate ten years in Austin, text (512) 234-3525 for art tips, creative business advice, Austin recommendations, esoteric grant thoughts and more.
To celebrate ten years in Austin, text us for art tips, creative business advice, local recommendations, esoteric grant thoughts and more.
TEXT — (512) 234-3525
EMAIL — hello@futurefronttexas.org
The line will be open for all of 2026 as we reflect on a decade of The Front Market and The Front Festival—and five years as Future Front.
Submissions will be answered weekly.
We’ll share the best advice for everybody to read, too!
Art Tips is part of Future Front’s commitment to Open Creative Learning.
Through Open Creative Learning, our foundational curriculum and trainings, workshops and professional development programs build public education around creative leadership, creative business and community wellness.
Want to get involved?
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.
2026 Season Calendar And Open Calls
Our 2026 Season honors five years of Future Front and ten years of The Front Market and The Front Festival. Bookmark our big events and open calls for 2026.
Our 2026 Season honors five years of Future Front and ten years of The Front Market and The Front Festival.
As we open for another year and celebrate this milestone, bookmark Future Front’s big event and open calls for 2026.
★ 2026 BIG EVENTS
ACROSS THREE SEASONS, FUTURE FRONT CURATES AND PRODUCES THE FRONT MARKET AND THE FRONT FESTIVAL.
Leading up to these exhibitions, we host seasonal art shows, gatherings and workshops nurturing creative community at our flagship space in historic East Austin on 1900 East 12th.
Event registration opens on a weekly basis at futurefronttexas.org/comethrough (all of these events will be up there soon).
SPRING 2026 SEASON
FEBRUARY 21 — 2026 Open Creative Learning Series Kick-Off
MARCH 2026 — 2026 Season Art Shows Open at 1900 E. 12th.
MARCH 12 — 18 — SXSW x Women’s History Week at 1900 E. 12th
MAY 2 & 3 — The Front Market’s Spring 2026 Season @ Distribution Hall
SUMMER 2026 SEASON
JUNE 25 — Swim Sessions Return!
JUNE 27— Pride Picnic at Pease Park
JULY 16 TO 18— Y’ALL DINNER
JULY 27 — Community Clubs 2026 Season Begins.
LABOR DAY WEEKEND 2026 — The Front Festival
FALL/WINTER 2026 SEASON
NOVEMBER 2026 — The Front Market’s Fall 2026 Season
Mark your calendar now. Make plans to visit. Get involved!
★ 2026 OPEN CALLS
IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO SHARE YOUR CREATIVE WORK, GET INTO OUR OPEN CALLS.
We bring creative and cultural projects by diverse, contemporary Texas artists to the world. Our programs connect more than 500 independent artists, creatives, musicians, filmmakers, makers, craftspeople, designers and more in Texas per year, distributing $1M in commissions since 2014.
SEASONAL CALLS
SPRING 2026 SEASON
JANUARY 22 — The Front Market Spring 2026 Season Applications Open
MARCH 26 — Community Club Host Open Call
APRIL 2026 — Broad Studios x Future Front Ceramics Fellowship Open Call
SUMMER 2026 SEASON
MAY 28 — Community Curator Program Open Call
MAY 28 —The Front Festival's Independent Music and Film Open Call
AUGUST 2026 — The Front Market Fall 2026 Season Applications Open
OPEN YEAR-ROUND
Applications for fiscal sponsorship and 1900 E 12th rentals are open year-round. You can also join membership for complimentary access to all of our events, workshops and learning spaces year-round.
All open calls will be listed as they are made available at futurefronttexas.org/apply.
★ THIS YEAR’S THEME: FIVE YEARS
IN 2025, WE CONDUCTED A CLOSE READ..
Our 2025 programs prompted you to pay close attention, ask questions, consider big ideas and make notes in the proverbial margins. To connect how something came to be to what it feels like now—the ultimate creative process.
IN 2026, WE’RE CELEBRATING FIVE YEARS OF FUTURE FRONT.
It’s been five years since we changed our name and reopened as Future Front.
It’s been ten years since we hosted the first iterations of The Front Market and The Front Festival in 2026.
As a community-led arts organization powered by a tiny staff and 100+ volunteers, we’re lucky to reach these milestones.
So, it’s time to celebrate.
In 2026, expect shows, public exhibitions, workshops, resource guides (and more) that dive in and out of our archives, sharing all we’ve learned over the last decade—and the people and places in Austin that have undeniably shaped us.
Do you want to get involved in 2026?
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.
2025 Impact Report: A Record-Breaking 26,000+ Visitors
From welcoming 26,000 visitors (breaking our previous record of 20,000) to hosting more than 200+ cultural events across three seasons, this year was transformative for Future Front’s staff, team, volunteers, members and creative community.
From welcoming 26,000 visitors (breaking our previous record of 20,000) to hosting more than 200+ cultural events across three seasons, this year was transformative for Future Front’s staff, team, volunteers, members and creative community.
Continue reading for some of 2025’s highlights and takeaways.
3 BIG WINS:
① 26,309 visitors across public markets, festivals & creative workshops
② $180,000+ in direct commissions and contracts to 500+ Austin-local artists and Texas creatives
③ 250+ free arts & creative community exhibitions in Austin, Texas
TOP 10 GROWTH MOMENTS:
No. 1 — Across three seasons of public markets, festivals, shows & community programs in 2025, we welcomed 26,000+ visitors, opening up $180,000 in commissions and contracts for 500+ independent creatives and artists in Texas. Despite changes in the federal and local landscape for arts funding, this was a 40% increase since 2024.
No. 2— We hosted 200+ free creative community gatherings at Future Front on 1900 East 12th—from craft workshops and art shows (like History In The Making, Spilled Fruit and Heavy, Heavy, Heavy) to panels and performances. We were able to continue waiving rental fees for Austin residents nearly 75% of the time.
No. 3 — Through The Front Market’s Spring and Fall Seasons, we exhibited 400+ independent creatives, designers, makers, artists, small business owners and chefs from Texas, generating an estimated $1M in economic support.
No. 4 — The Front Festival had another beautiful year supporting 35 women and LGBTQ+ artists, musicians and filmmakers. Across all four days, the through-line theme for this year’s festival was an experimental blend of contemporary and classic lenses on Texas culture. Each night converged to present a future-forward lineup that ultimately brought 900 guests together across generations.
No. 5 — 127 volunteers, board members, community curators and collaborators joined us throughout the year to contribute 1750+ hours of support Future Front’s programs. (This is the largest number of active volunteers in our history.)
No. 6 — We brought back Community Clubs, which saw 27 different Future Front members curate and host free creative sessions for 500+ community members.
No. 7 — We presented 25+ community partnerships and fiscally sponsored projects for free arts healing and creative education workshops, like Broad Studios’ Clubhouse’s Ceramics Fellowship (which provided 13 Austin residents with free six-week ceramics programs) and Listening Sessions for LA (an artist-led fundraiser by 40+ Austin musicians for the LA wildfires).
No. 8 — We worked with local and national organizations like Highlander Center, SisterSong and more to host interactive art exhibits and community teach-ins on the artistic, cultural and creative impact of justice and democracy. This year’s themes centered Women’s Suffrage, Civil Rights and Texas Voter Education.
No. 9 — We began developing the Future Front Framework, a creative leadership curriculum around community design, public arts, cultural curation, small business education, storytelling and adaptive leadership.
No. 10 — We were recognized for our work by a number of partners, sponsors and grant-makers, including the Texas Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. We continued creative community design projects with Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation, The LINE Hotel Austin, Pease Park, Red River Cultural District, Waterloo Park and more, too.
For a closer look at this year, head to Future Front’s blog & Instagram (@futurefronttexas).
Your attention made this possible.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS, GRANT-MAKERS, DONORS, VOLUNTEERS AND MEMBERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT.
FUTURE FRONT’S 2025 SEASON WAS SUPPORTED IN PART BY:
THANK YOU TO OUR MAGNIFICENT STAFF, BOARD AND ADVISORS, TOO. WE WOULD NOT BE HERE WITHOUT YOU.
FUTURE FRONT IS PROUDLY FOUNDED BY WOMEN AND LGBTQ+ ARTISTS AND CREATIVES IN AUSTIN, TEXAS.
Thank you for nurturing local art and creativity in your everyday life and dreams for the future.
Do you want to get involved in 2026?
Become a member or donate to our end-of-year fundraiser. You can also explore all of the other ways to join us here.
The Front Market Gift Guide (2025)
This year’s Gift Guide is live! We’ve got 100+ recommendations for your holiday shopping, courtesy of The Front Market.
This year’s Gift Guide is live! Keep reading for how to shop—and peek our favorites across each of this year’s gift categories.
NO. 1 — ACCESSORIES
Featured Maker: Luna Chéndi
Luna Chéndi a woman-owned, family-run, sustainably sourced, creative small business, bringing you artistic and unique luxury accessories & home goods.
“With many combined years of working in the fashion, textile design, and fine art industries, the experiences of our designers shaped their dream to create a fulfilling, creative outlet for our ideas and daydreams. “We hope that you find inspiration and happiness in our work, and enjoy joining us through our creative journey.
So, what does chéndi mean? The word chéndi was coined by our Costa Rican grandmother to describe a beautiful orange cat named Pecos Bill who was walking up her New Orleans sidewalk. Over the years, chéndi has been used by our family and friends to describe anything beautiful, cute, or happy—whether that’s a cat or a piece of artwork, a bouquet of flowers, or a knitted sweater. Paired with the word “luna” (or “moon” in Italian and Spanish), we hope that, just like our moon in the night sky, we become a beacon of inspiration, happiness, and peace with our illustrative products!”
Featured Gift: Come Closer Scarf ($225)
NO. 2 — ART
Featured Artist: Elena Marcozzi
From Detroit, Michigan Elena Rodriguez Marcozzi is an American oil painter and fiber artist who beckons viewers into a dreamlike world of texture and color through her wool felt paintings, adorned with whimsical beaded and embroidered embellishments.
The pass two years Elena was based in Austin, Texas, where she found meaning and creative inspiration working as a Teaching Artist alongside artists with disabilities at Imagine Art, a studio collective that furthers her belief in using art to empower and heal. In 2025, she was an Artist in Residence with Future Front Texas.
In 2022, she earned a B.F.A. in Painting from Wayne State University. Following that she was an assistant painter for Detroit based Muralist Elton Monroy Duran of Corpus Art Inc. In 2023, she was an Artist in Residence at the Namingha Institute of the Museum of Northern Arizona.
Looking ahead, Elena aims to pursue graduate studies in Art Therapy, with the ultimate goal of building a career in community arts. Her artistic journey is marked by a deep commitment to both her personal growth and the enrichment of the communities she serves.
Featured Gift: Art Prints & Custom Felts (Contact Artist; Pricing Varies)
NO. 3 — APPAREL
Featured Maker: Future Vagabond
Samantha Asencio (she/her), aka Future Vagabond, is an interdisciplinary artist originally from New York. Shortly after graduating from Pratt Institute in 2015, she relocated to Austin, where she continued her sculptural work. Over time, she shifted her focus to embroidery and later founded the brand FV. The work explores themes of the American road trip, draws on historical references, and examines the notion of impermanence. Her practice invites viewers to consider how memory, travel, and time intertwine.
Featured Gifts: Embroidered Goods ($68 to $280)
NO. 4 — Ceramics
Featured Maker: Barro Babe
Featured Gift: Barro Babe Mugs (Pricing Varies, Contact Artist)
NO. 5 — HOME GOODS
Featured Maker: Barrio Pop Studio
Carlos Moreno is an Austin-based artist, curator, and cultural worker whose practice explores the intersections of scent, memory, community ritual, and material storytelling. What began as a study in the archives of The Andy Warhol Museum became the foundation for a practice that blends scent, story, and cultural memory into experiences of collective care.
Carlos began his museum career in the Director’s Office internship at Artpace nine years ago before completing a fellowship at The Andy Warhol Museum during his undergraduate studies. That early exposure to conceptual art, archival research, and cultural production opened pathways into understanding how objects, materials, and sensory experience can hold—and transmit—memory.
His institutional background includes Artpace San Antonio, SITE Santa Fe, the ICA/Boston, and the Studio Museum in Harlem. Carlos holds a degree in Art History from The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Fine Arts, grounding his practice in research, curation, and cultural stewardship.
Through Barrio Pop Studio, Carlos creates experiences that honor ancestral knowledge, support environmental sustainability, and invite people to encounter art through all their senses. His curatorial vision centers accessibility, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and the belief that art becomes most powerful when it gathers people in community.
Featured Gift: Nopal Candle ($28)
NO. 6 — JEWELRY
Featured Maker: Leslie Lenhart
Leslie Lenhart is an Earth-inspired jewelry brand dedicated to illuminating the beauty found in nature through a thoughtful dialogue between distinctive materials and craft. After years exploring design through a diverse range of products, elements, and techniques all over the world, Leslie started making jewelry in her studio out of a desire to cultivate a more physical connection to her creative process. Her background in patternmaking and embroidery design in fashion led to designing artisanal and craft-led accessories that told stories about their makers.
Leslie developed her own perspective and aesthetic through her travels, sourcing pearls and vintage tokens from local markets, beachcombing shells while sailing with her husband, Ricky, and curating visually compelling stories as a stylist. Now, in her own line inspired by land and sea and where they meet, Leslie Lenhart brings together unexpected and intentional curations of objects that remind us of where we come from, what we value, and where we’re headed.
Featured Gifts: Assorted Jewelry ($30 to $230)
NO. 7 — SELF-CARE
Featured Maker: Melo Goods
“I am a 2019 graduate from the University of Texas at Austin with a BFA in Design. I currently work at an innovation agency called Material+ as an Art Director. I’m a versatile, full-spectrum creative who moves seamlessly from concepting 360° brand campaigns to art directing photography and designing digital assets.My creative practice cross pollinates between creating work that is thoughtful and compelling while intersecting brand, social, digital, and e-commerce— in an elevated, authentic way. With every engagement, I aim to work closely with clients as a creative partner to bring their aspirational brand to life.I am currently building a brand called, Melo. A limited fine line of fragrant goods inspired by nature, travel, and everyday rituals. Mas aqui. On my free days you’ll find me out in Marfa, Texas or secluded beaches of La Paz, MX, playing tennis (kinda good), taking pics of textures, or collaborating with gojema. 🤠”
Featured Gift: Travel Spray ($38)
NO. 8 — FOODS & SIPS
Featured Maker: Hijita
Hijita makes small-batch Mexican chocolate rooted in ancestral wisdom, guided by wellness & equity, and inspired by favorite childhood drinks.
“Our cacao is sourced directly from family farms & co-ops in southern México that are passionate about cultivating heirloom cacao through agroforestry systems. Our first ingredient is always regenerative Mexican cacao, delicately sweetened, and enhanced with thoughtfully sourced botanicals. As hijitas of strong Mexican women, we feel called to deeply understand and take ownership of our cultural legacy.”
Featured Gift: Hijita Drinking Chocolate ($11)
NO. 9 — PETS, PLANTS & PAPER GOODS
Featured Shop: Host Publications
Host Publications is an award-winning, women-led independent publisher located in Austin, Texas. Devoted to our mission to elevate historically marginalized writers, Host Publications publishes radical poetry and fiction by emerging LGBTQ+, BIPOC, intersectional feminist, and immigrant voices.
With every book we publish, stage we set, and event we host, we work to empower our community of writers whose work inspires social transformation and creates a new sense of what is possible in writing.
