The East Austin Studio Tour

November 10-11 and 17-18

EAST is one of my favorite parts of Austin! Artists open their studio doors to the public, and this year — the 17th of the tour — more than 500 artists are participating!

EAST at CRAFT
Here at CRAFT, we have about 15 of our workshop teachers and friends displaying and selling their art. Many of them are also working on projects while they’re here, so you can see the behind-the-scenes of their process.

Our EAST artists

Nefer from Calles Art
Chris from Kaiju Cut and Sew
Sweet Ritual vegan ice cream (trust me, they are ice cream artists)
Abi Mallick
Cara of OneFiveTrading
Jesilyn from Jesilyn Kay Calligraphy
Elena Knapp
Madeline from Snarkily Adorable
Central Texas Pig Rescue (Mordecai and Finn will be here on Sunday!)
Angie Rodges / Ms. Rodgers’ Cool Kicks
Tina with Brave Ceramics
Amy McCullough Mosley of Ink Original Art
Bethany of the Aquariust
Claire from White Rhino Bags
Rachel Walter
Tk Tunchez / Las Ofrendas

And more!

Dulce Vida Tequila and JuiceLand teamed up to make us the freshest cocktails during weekend one of the tour, and DJ EPZ kept us dancing with vintage world music tunes. For the second weekend, Cuvee Coffee will be back on Saturday and Sunday with hot joe, but be forewarned that we’ll probably be out by early afternoon both days. We’ll have cider from Texas Keeper, and our #craftyourcookie / #decorateyourdonut contest continues while fresh baked supplies last each day, with a $50 gift card prize to use at CRAFT. And if you need a break, kick back in a hammock from our East Side neighbors at Kammok, although good luck with the weather! We’ll be warm and cozy with wonderful art and delicious drinks and snacks inside the studio!

Our recommendations for EAST

catalogs

Big Medium, the organization behind this whole great shindig, prints a beautiful show catalog every year. They used to give these out for free at Austin Library branches, but with more than 500 artists and 200 pages, catalogs are now reserved for Big Medium supporters. Join now for $50 to get your 2019 catalog straight to your snailmail mailbox next year, and they’ll also send you the West Austin Studio Tour catalog for the spring show.

the app!

There’s finally an East Austin Studio Tour app, for Android and iPhone! It’s great and easy to use.

the group show

For a shortcut to see lots of art at once, go to the official Group Show (#229 at 1023 Springdale), where each of the participating artists is invited to display one piece. It’s like walking through the catalog in person, and you can decide from there what you want to see more of. Open during tour hours: Saturday and Sunday (11/17 – 11/18), 11am-6pm.

my strategy

You can’t possibly experience all the art, even if you do EAST for all seven hours for all four days. Choose deliberately and remain open to serendipity! I like to intentionally go to a few (just a few stops!) and explore on foot from there. When I’ve exhausted an area, I get back to my bike or car and go to the next stop I’ve chosen.

bring water

Seeing so much art can be a lot of work! You’ll probably be standing and walking quite a bit (wear comfy shoes), so even though it’s cold out, don’t forget to drink water! You can refill bottles with our filtered water here at CRAFT. And if you need snacks, go to one of the EAST business partners like our friends at Vegan Nom and CURCUMA on East Cesar Chavez, Greater Goods on East 5th, Eastciders on Springdale, or our neighbors right next door: Austin Daily Press and the Brewer’s Table. These businesses donate a portion of proceeds from tour weekends to Big Medium, to support the arts in Austin.

Enjoy the show!