Our October 2023 Artist of the Month is Syeira Huerta. If you know Syeira, you know October is their favorite month, because, well, Halloween. Syeira starts planning for Halloween around March. As we are both lovers of Halloween, Syeira and I bonded quickly over this and have even done themed costumes together. We were so close to winning the costume contest one year!

Syeira Huerta has been involved with Art Spark Texas since they were 18 years old. Now they are 30. That is a long history with our organization. And, we have seen Syeira grow so much in their time with us.

Syeira was interested in singing at the time they started at Art Spark Texas. Through our New Media Arts classes Syeira was exposed to visual art, theater, stop motion animation, and music.

What Syeira remembers most about those early years with us was that we were in their life at a time when they needed structure the most. Syeira recalls that our teaching artists, such as Carol and Johnny, were patient and took the time necessary to explain things to them. Purly taught Syeira that anything can be an instrument.

Syeira calls us their “forever art family” because we are able to accommodate their needs, provide a no-judgement zone, and have helped them gain the confidence they needed in their early young adult years to grow as an artist and a person.

As an adult now, Syeira is working on an ASL Certification at Austin Community College and still partakes in Art Spark Texas events. They perform music at our open mic and participate in our art events as a vendor with their greeting card business, Greetings By Shay.

Syeira has always been an eclectic presence around Art Spark Texas. As a student learning new skills. As an artist selling cards. As a teacher running a dance fitness class. As an employee working as a Social Media Ambassador. Definitely part of the Art Spark Texas family! Coming up for Syeira is a vendor event on October 14th. The “What’s this?? Art Sale and Garage Sale?!” starts at 8am and ends at 2pm! The sale theme is Nightmare Before Christmas. Costumes are welcome. Check out Syeira’s social media pages for details. Follow Syeira at @GreetingsByShay on Instagram or GreetingsByShay on Facebook.

This summer saw Texans across the state adjusting their day-to-day lives in an effort to stay safe during the Covid-19 pandemic. The news changed by the minute, which left most of us feeling unsure of what was coming next. It was during this time of change that a few dozen art students embarked on an exploration into the history of this great state. Perhaps it was the idea that the history of Texas, and its people, could serve as a bridge to understanding humanity. That art and history could shed light on previous Texans that had to endure traumatic times and overcome hardships. And just maybe that making art could provide perspective during a time when it was much needed.

On June the 3rd, 2020, our Texas Stories class launched via YouTube and online virtual classes. The 8 part series provided education and built connection between the arts, Texas history, and the participants involved. Throughout June and July students received video art lessons, which were then followed-up with a virtual class where they further explored the topic. Art Spark Instructor Jerry Slayton led the class and was joined by a different guest speaker each week. Each class concluded with time for questions and an opportunity for participants to share their artwork.

Lesson 1 focused on an Austin legend, Elisabet Ney. Elisabet was one of the most prominent commissioned Texas sculptors of the mid 1800s, and her museum, located here in Austin, holds a number of her master works. Special guest, Sarah Porter from the Ney Museum, lead students through Elisabet’s trailblazing biography in which she broke numerous cultural and social norms. One of her social quirks was to fly a flag from her rooftop whenever she was home, so in remembrance of Miss Ney students created their own flag designs.

In Lesson 2 students followed the building techniques of a first peoples of Texas, the Caddo Indians of East Texas. The art lesson involved creating a paper collage by following the steps that the Caddo used to build their homes. Special guest, Rachel Galan, opened our eyes to the rich agricultural history of the Caddo people and the earthen mounds that they constructed for ceremonial purposes. The Caddo Mound State Historic Site is located outside of Nacogdoches, TX and is home to several mound structures for viewing.

Each class in the 8 part series had several highlights but perhaps Lesson 4, The Buffalo Soldiers story, stands out for a number of reasons. Our special guest Private Allen Mack of the Living History Foundation dressed in full period specific uniform and performed an engaging account of what life was like for young African-American soldiers of the 9 and 10th infantry. His passion for the topic incited a wonderful discussion and seemed to excite students to share their bandanna art projects throughout the rest of class.

Then finally, just when we felt the history couldn’t get any richer, Lesson 7 on the Coahuiltecan People of South Texas came around. Guest Speaker, Maria Rocha of the Indigenous Cultures Institute, engaged participants through her wonderful story-telling of the Coahuiltecan Creation Story. For her 15 minute lecture we were all teleported to a time and space long ago, around a fire, where tribal elders shared the origins of the known world. Students shared their picture comic projects, which also followed the creation story. It was truly magical.

If hearing about these Texas Stories has sparked your interest, I strongly encourage you to join us this fall for Texas Stories, Volume 2 classes. It promises to be a fun and engaging series that provides everyone with new artistic tools as well as an education in the history of our area. Registration info can be found in the link below!

Register for Texas Stories Vol. 2

Your safety is of the utmost importance to us. Amid growing concerns of COVID-19, we are monitoring developments related to the virus via the guidelines provided by The City of Austin, Austin Independent School District, and the Centers for Disease Control. The Art Sparks Texas office will remain open for the foreseeable future, but we must make some adjustments in our programming to ensure the wellbeing of our artists and staff.

Update: All classes, events, and services canceled until further notice.

Out of an abundance of caution we have decided to cancel, or postpone, all upcoming classes and events, including the following:

March 14 – Open Mic at Malvern Books
March 16-20, Spring Break Giving Voice class.
March 21 – May 11, Giving Voice mentorship
March 24 – Social Media Internship (may start later in April)
Match 28 – Speaking Advocates class
March 28 – Opening Minds, Opening Doors (may start later in April)
Canceled until further notice – Elements classes
March and April – All Writers’ Circle for Veterans in San Marcos
April 16 – Art in the Park at Fiesta Gardens

If there are any changes to our daily hours of operation, we’ll let you know as soon as possible. In the meantime, we are taking extra precautions with the health of our visitors and artists.

Thank you for being a part of Art Spark Texas. We look forward to seeing you, happy and healthy, at one of our events very soon.

Celia Hughes, Executive Director Art Spark Texas
celia@artsparktx.org

My name is Grace Robins-Somerville, and I’m an intern here at Art Spark Texas. I started about a week ago and wanted to introduce myself and tell you all a little about the work I’ll be doing in the next few weeks.

It’s my first time in Austin, and my first time in Texas. I’m from Brooklyn, New York, and I go to Bennington College in Vermont, where I study literature, political science, and public action. The school has an off-campus winter internship term every year called the Field Work Term, which gives students the opportunity to spend 6-7 weeks at an organization of their choice. It’s a great way to take our education beyond the classroom and get work experience in our field of study. The chance to escape the worst of the Vermont winter is also a plus!

I’m a senior, and for my final Field Work Term, I’ve chosen to come to Austin and work with Art Spark, and I’ve been loving it so far. Four times a week, I help Art Spark educator Jerry Slayton teach video production classes. Right now we’re having students write short stories, either on their own or in small groups, and illustrate their scenes on storyboards. Soon, they’ll be recording audio narration and using iMovie to animate the drawings they’ve created. There’s been a strong focus on both written and visual story structure.

In addition to these stories, the video production interns in these classes will help us make promotional material for Art Spark Texas, specifically working with the organization’s new name and new logo. The Tuesday class has already started preparing to do staff interviews and testimonials for an upcoming video project, so be on the lookout for it on our YouTube page in the coming weeks.

I’m also looking forward to another upcoming project, in which I’ll be consulting with Generation Citizen, a civics-oriented youth program and Art Spark’s down-the-hall neighbor, on a media outreach project, which will culminate in the launch of an Art Spark Texas podcast! I’m so grateful for the opportunity to get involved in breaking ground on this project. There are so many exciting things happening at Art Spark this winter, so be on the lookout for all our upcoming content.

–Grace Robins-Somerville

The first major project was to update each student’s resume to the 21st century by creating a video resume. Students learned media production skills such as lighting, video and audio recording, and how to storyboard a resume for the screen. Then they were charged with the task of shooting and animating eight scenes that would appear in their resume and editing them together. “Through telling the story of their work students seemed to gain confidence in themselves and how they wanted to present themselves to a future employer”, said Slayton.

Amongst the many highlights were a series of promotional videos for a local business, Thunder Beast Craft Soda. Stephen, from Thunder Beast, hired the students to produce two videos for his company in exchange for a root beer brewing demonstration and free soda. “The project presented students with a new and interesting challenge, that of meeting the expectations of a client”, said Slayton. “Each class worked as a collective group to develop a story and visuals that fit the brand of Thunder Beast”. The resultant project showcased the students’ abilities in storyboarding, animation, and text design.

The course final project pushed all students to their maximum capacity as the students worked in groups to create websites. Groups were responsible for creating a hypothetical restaurant, its logo and branding, as well as its menu on their sites. The results may leave you asking, is this for real?

All totaled 30 students invested more than 1,200 hours refining their media arts skills during the class. “The students’ openness to learn new things each and everyday was the catalyst for all their remarkable achievements”, said Slayton.

Here’s a highlights reel of the various projects the students worked on this year:

This VSA program is provided in 2018-2019 under a contract with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.