The Art of the Art Show: New Braunfels event, Art Haus at Pour Haus, has eclectic mixture of artists

The Art of the Art Show: New Braunfels event, Art Haus at Pour Haus, has eclectic mixture of artists

In a nearby historic Texas town sits one of the most unique venues that I've ever seen. With it's swing bar seats to it's indoor and outdoor bar, Pour Haus is a comfy little venue found in New Braunfels, TX. With it's artsy feel and craft brews, it should come as no surprise that this venue would be home to such an awesome art event such as Art Haus at Pour Haus.

Local Artists display their unique artwork at Art Haus at Pour Haus' last monthly event, FeBREWary.

Art Haus at Pour Haus is a monthly event where local artists can display their art of many mediums. I showed up to their latest event, Art Haus FeBREWary, in hopes of finding an artist to feature but much to my excitement, I ended up talking to the artist behind the unique event itself.

Kelsey Huckaby, Art Haus at Pour Haus' founder and organizer

The art at Art Haus at Pour Haus feature an eclectic mixture of mediums.

Homemade jewelry is displayed at this unique art event.

Inspired by friends in Austin and San Marcos who hosted similar events, Kelsey Huckaby, Art Haus at Pour Haus' founder and organizer says she started the event in September 2015. The eclectic mixture of artists is something one can't miss while walking through the venue. There are painters, jewelry designers, and even a booth with homemade essential oils. These events also feature live painting, fire spinning, and music performances.

Predominantly, the artists at Art Haus come from Austin and San Antonio. Kelsey says that these artists are either found by her or find her. The furthest an artist has come from to display at Art Haus was from Victoria, TX but I imagine this amazing event will spread further. 

An artist displays his colorful painted portraits at Art Haus at Pour Haus in New Braunfels, TX.

With over 20 artists in attendance, putting on such a big event like this has always seemed to me like quite the feat to accomplish and Kelsey says that it's been nothing short of a learning experience. "In the beginning it was definitely a lot more chaotic. Every event, I was learning some sort of new lesson and it's gotten easier over time but every time there is something new that I wasn't prepared for".

Homemade essential oils and body care on display at Art Haus at Pour Haus.

Kelsey credits Art Haus for her other work that has recently come her way after people saw what she was doing at Art Haus at Pour Haus. She currently curates a gallery at Texas State at the Gallery of the Common Experience and organizes Art Squared, a monthly downtown art market in San Marcos.

Overall, this event is definitely a must see for any art lovers and a must participate for any artists. I personally can't wait to see the artists at the next event and I hope to see you there too! 

By the way, the capacity of this amazing event was way too hard to gage with photos so I found it necessary to film a quick walkthrough of the event: 

All Art Haus events are from 7pm to 12am once a month at Pour Haus in New Braunfels, TX (386 W San Antonio Street, New Braunfels, TX 78130).

You can find more information on Art Haus at Pour Haus at: https://www.facebook.com/arthausnb/ 

The next Art Haus at Pour Haus event is on March 19th. 

RSVP Here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1670512146582770/ 

For information on displaying your artwork at Art Haus at Pour Haus, please visit: http://kelseyhuckaby.com/events/art_haus 

For more information on Pour Haus in New Braunfels, please visit: http://www.pourhausnb.com/ 

For more information on the Texas State Gallery of the Common Experience, please visit: http://www.txstate.edu/commonexperience/ or https://www.facebook.com/GalleryOfTheCommonExperience/ 

For more information on Art Squared, please visit: http://artsquaredsmtx.com/  or https://www.facebook.com/ArtSquaredSMTX/ 

The Art of Skateboard Art: Decking out with the art of local San Antonio artist Erik Ybarra

The Art of the Skateboard Deck:

Decking out with the art of local San Antonio artist Erik Ybarra

Image Courtesy of The Art of Erik Ybarra, Erik Ybarra.

Ah, the memory of skateboarding through the freshly paved streets in my childhood neighborhood on my brand new board. I had just gone to the local skate shop with my dad and he let me choose which skateboard art I wanted. I remember completely appreciating that awesome artwork and having the hardest time slapping stickers on my board but alas, I'd do it anyway. In this week's edition of Val's Art Voice, local artist Erik Ybarra chats with me about his artwork on the interesting canvas of a skateboard deck.

Erik Ybarra is a local San Antonio artist who's artwork has been featured through independent arts organization, RAW natural born artists. His art features anything from unicorns to friends in ethereal settings. It has a dark yet inviting quality to it. The pieces tend to draw you in and make you want to see more.

Video courtesy of RAWartists Media and The Art of Erik Ybarra, Erik Ybarra. 

When it comes to his pieces Erik says that you'll see him use a multitude of mediums, from acrylics airbrush, mechanical pencils, watercolor, and most recently oil. Erik has been making art for many years. Though, he has used a skateboard deck as his canvas his in the past, he has most recently jumped into it this past summer saying that it's a nice little challenge working with the space limitations plus "people get a kick out of it". And according to Erik, this kick has been had before. "Skateboard art has it's own culture and following... I've seen postings and what not of shows that are exclusively deck art". Erik overall says that the reason he loves doing skateboard art is that he likes that one can make something more than what it actually is by adding customization and uniqueness. 

Custom untitled deck piece by Erik Ybarra, courtesy of The Art of Erik Ybarra.

This interesting concept brings a thought to mind. Most artists squirm at the idea of their art having the potential to be destroyed or altered in some way. How does Erik feel about this? He laughs and says, "I actually get asked that a lot... my answer is once they buy it, it's theirs to do with it what they will. Even though I cringe at the thought of pieces I've done being destroyed or altered in some way, which has happened, I do enjoy that these in a sense become a functional art piece and they take on a whole new life". He adds that it's the nature of skateboards to be potentially destroyed. I can definitely attest to this as I think back to my first skateboard being broken in half. 

Courtesy of The Art of Erik Ybarra, by Erik Ybarra.

Though Erik currently sells most of his artwork on sites such as Vango and Deviant Art, his decks have not yet hit the internet waves. You can find these unique and awesome pieces at his street art shows such as an upcoming Art Haus show happening this next Sunday, February 12th (details at the end of this blog). 

All Images Courtesy of The Art of Erik Ybarra, by Erik Ybarra.

When asked what inspires Erik, he answers with a simple answer; Life. He says that he's inspire by darker themes such as "dealing with duality, relationships, psychology, states of being, and loneliness". He feels that people are naturally drawn to darker things and he's told that as far as his other artwork goes, people love how "chaotic some of the images are with the dripping but very attractive with the faces or figures. Like an imperfect perfection".

You can find The Art of Erik Ybarra at the following links: 

Facebook

Vango

Deviant Art

or at his next art show at Art Haus at Pour Haus on Sunday, February 12th, 2017. 

More details can be found at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/events/401488540196412/

The Art of Tribute: Metallica emulation in the form of San Antonio act, So What

The Art of Tribute: Metallica emulation in the form of

San Antonio act, So What

So What performs at Bond's rock bar on Saturday, January 29th 2017

Art. What is it to you? Being that this is my first blog post on my art blog, I thought that I would challenge myself. I've never seen tribute or cover bands as an art. I've never understood the appeal of a group of musicians standing on stage and singing their favorite band's music to a crowd of other fans alike. I also don't consider myself a Metallica fan so when it came to seeing not only a tribute band but a Metallica one, I was to say the least, challenged at the idea. My plan was to go in, talk to member of the band, snap a few shots, and walk out and enjoy my night elsewhere. I ended up staying much longer than anticipated. Why, you ask? I don't know if it was the pure energy from the fans and packed house or the legit performance by San Antonio act, So What, but whatever it was certainly changed my mind about what I thought about tribute bands in terms of art. 

There always seems to be this confusion between what exactly is a tribute band as opposed to a cover band, one that seems to have differing opinions. I have heard anything from "tribute bands are only for bands who can no longer perform due to a member being deceased" to "tribute bands perform music from bands they love in their own style". I had a long conversation with drummer of So What, Vince Reyna and asked him what he thought. "Cover bands are bands that will play a song in whatever style they feel comfortable playing, such as an electropop band playing a heavy metal song, or a folk singer covering industrial music. A cover band also just learns the songs as basic as possible. A tribute band will learn all the nuances and tiny bits of a specific band. in So What, we are a Metallica tribute so we learn the songs as close the way they perform them as possible to give tribute to their performance". This interesting perspective definitely gives way to my next point to make. 



Is it art? Vince spoke to me about how he, himself learns both studio and live versions of music by Metallica. He says that this emulation of his heroes is no different from a small theatre production doing a play like "Phantom of the Opera" or "Little Shop of Horrors". Vince's point is exactly what changed my mind completely after this assignment. If a small theatre production can be considered the performing arts, why not tribute bands? They put just as much research into their parts as the musicians that they are playing the part of on stage just as any actor/ actress trying to perfect the rendition of a character would. This insight gives fascination to the idea that this performing art of tribute music has segwayed into an almost performance art classification. Vince spoke of how So What members, Eric Flores, Robert Fuentes, Justin Arreola, Mike Lopez, and himself (Vince Reyna) all emulate and play tribute to Metallica band members Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Cliff Burton, and Lars Ulrich on stage mimicking everything from movement and reactions to the audience to how they play their instruments on stage.

A toast to the audience by Robert Fuentes.

The audiences reaction to this has proven to be more than reassuring that their art is certainly being seen and appreciated. Vince speaks about how they have gone from an audience of 10 to packing a venue. "They (the fans) love Metallica as much as we do and we make that connection". This true joining of fans, young and old was very apparent in the extreme mix of audience members at their show this past Saturday. They even invited 15 year old singer of cover band, Violent Revenge, Caitlyn to join them on stage to pay tribute to Metallica in their rendition of the song "Fade to Black". After finding this new perspective on tribute bands, I definitely see how awesome it is to see a band pay tribute to your favorite band who perhaps you've never had the chance to see perform. Vince agrees with this and added that it also forms this bond between all fans in attendance of these shows.

So What invites Caitlyn from band, Violent Revenge to perform on stage at Bond's. 

I can definitely say that after this experience, I feel that my entire perspective on whether or not tribute bands are an art form has altered completely. This art form that has been around for decades is here to stay and I think it's awesome. And what does Metallica think about their tribute bands? I will end with the response that Metallica had for the recent reconciliation over the recent story of an overzealous attorney and his cease and desist letter to Metallica tribute band, Sandman. "Sandman should file the letter in the trash. Keep doing what you’re doing ... we totally support you!".

You can find So What on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/sowhatsanantonio/

About Me

Welcome to my art blog. My name is Valerie Tapia and I’m from San Antonio, TX. This blog explores all forms of art such as music, performing, and visual. This exploration digs even further into various topics from reviews of art shows and performances to interviews with artists to information on art and topics. The exploration is endless!

My background in the art world extends from visual and performing arts to everything else in between. My love of art has continued from childhood up into my adult years:

·      In 2000, I was chosen to participate and study in Say Sí Media Arts program. Thereafter, I was chosen to participate in various San Antonio performance art pieces and art shows.

·      In 2004, I began performing on keyboards and vocals with my now defunct band, Bizarre Musik Machine.

·      In 2006, I began working as a graphic designer in various San Antonio places of business, which began my digital art portfolio, Val Media Arts.

·      In 2008, I began performing with my band Bleep Attack! We most recently played at local San Antonio art festival, Luminaria, in 2013.

·      In 2014, I had the privilege of contributing to KABB and News4SanAntonio’s South By Southwest blog by interviewing musicians and reviewing shows.

Whether you are a lover of various forms of art or an artist yourself, my blog will help you explore the various mediums of art as well as the places to be and see in the art world.

If you have any suggestions for my next art blog, please contact me at typetoval@gmail.com or vtapia1@student.alamo.edu.

For more information on my band, Bleep Attack!, please visit: http://www.facebook.com/bleepattackfanpage

For more information on my digital art portfolio, Val Media Arts, please visit: http://www.valmediaarts.com