Art Alliance Austin: Keeping the Scene Thriving

Art Alliance Austin
As marketers, advertisers, and designers it goes without saying that art and visual stimuli are important and essential parts of our job. All too often though, I think it is easy to lose track of the importance of art for art’s sake. The art scene in Austin and central Texas, while growing, has still been lacking over the last few years. Thanks to efforts by Art Alliance Austin since 1956 the art culture is becoming larger than ever here as more and more people are enthralled and motivated to fill the void.

Aristotle once said that “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” That was said thousands of years ago. Yesterday those words were repeated to me over a few cups of coffee by a close friend, Art Alliance Austin member, and local street artist, Gobi. He went on to add “a lot of people nowadays don’t get that, especially as technology continues to surge and run our lives. They see something and judge it by its aesthetic qualities and not by its meaning: traditional art, fashion, even people. Everything is face value and instant gratification in today’s world. It feels like we’ve been losing our traditions and our culture…”

No doubt, to a degree he’s right. Luckily for the central Texas region though, there is something being done about it by a group called Art Alliance Austin. In short the Alliance aims to preserve the culture of art in Austin and central Texas and works to promote the public’s involvement in it. As a member myself, I can attest that because of the Alliance’s efforts, leaps and bounds have been made to get art back on the map in the last few years.

Art Alliance Austin was started in 1956 as The Women’s Art Guild by an enthusiastic group of young women who were anxious to support art in the Austin area and the Laguna Gloria Art Museum. The group was primarily known for throwing Fiesta, a yearly art event which allowed local artists to showcase their work to the public. Originally a small neighborhood gig, tremendous support brought it out of its shell, and it was moved to downtown and was renamed The Austin Fine Arts Festival. Today we know the event as Art City Austin. By 2004 it would rename itself and reestablish its mission statement which now reads:

“Through dynamic collaboration with artists, inclusive engagement of the community, and passionate devotion of our members, Art Alliance Austin is a catalyst for art. We exist to enrich and endow Central Texas’ cultural landscape as well as to promote the participation in visual art”

In the time since then it’s greatly succeeded. Now throwing 4 large events annually that bring in collectors, educators, museums, galleries, and artists from all over the world, Austin has become and is still becoming a cultural hub for art.
Through their persistence and love for art the Alliance has managed to bring us a thriving culture ripe with talent. One such talent is that of my dear friend Gobi.

“If it wasn’t for the Alliance I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing… or at least not as well as I’m doing.” Gobi, whose real name is Matthew, is a graphic designer and programmer from Florida who has been obsessed with computers from a young age. As he grew up he found programs like Photoshop and Corel Paint to be greatly stimulating but never thought to get his
creations out into the public. “It was just a thing I did to entertain myself. I was primarily building websites for small family run stores or writing code for class because I figured that was what I wanted to do with my life. When I wanted to chill out I would open up Photoshop and just draw stuff on my tablet and save it. Sometimes if I liked it enough I would print it out and hang it on my wall.”

His life changed one day when he was caught drawing on his tablet during a lecture by a professor who happened to be a member of the Alliance. “She wasn’t even mad. She just said that’s really interesting stuff, scribbled out a URL and told me I should check it out. I did and my life has been different since.” With the help of his teacher and other Alliance members that he came into contact with, he got to display his art to the public during Art Week Austin in 2006. “It
was crazy,” he says. “I was in this tiny booth with a bunch of prints of my stuff that the Alliance helped me out with, and before I knew it, I had sold them all.”

Matt’s story is one that could be repeated by numerous artists in the Austin area. He has since participated in the last 5 Art City Austin festivals. The Alliance serves artists just as artists serve the Alliance. They enrich the area by helping new artists establish themselves and through their events ensure that the public may take notice of the broad spectrum of talent that surrounds them.

There is so much to be appreciated in our world that is slowly being left behind as technology and instant-gratification take over. We labor on the internet day in and day out trying to bring customers to our businesses and it’s easy to be overwhelmed and take for granted the things that make our lives enjoyable. So, let’s not lose our ability to recognize the inward significance of things like art and the art culture. Let’s side with the Alliance and keep people involved and aware of the rich culture that surrounds them. As influencers on the web with superior access we owe it to ourselves to do that.

“Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life it is without it.”-Robert Motherwell.