ACC Participates East Austin Studio Tour
By Christopher Smith
ACC student and faculty artists got to show off at this year’s East Austin Studio Tour. Nearly 40 artists displayed their work at Graphic Glass Studios on East 5th street. The space was provided by former ACC student Reji Thomas.
“I have been extending my space to artisans of all ages, of all walks of life, for as long as I have been here, for the last 30 years,” said Thomas. She explains that she got the idea of providing the space for ACC artists when she was enrolled in classes at the Rio Grande Campus.
“While I was there I noticed that they were having an art sale out on Rio Grande and 12th street and I was like there is no place to park, it’s congested,“ said Thomas. “If you are going to be successful in any kind of artistic anything you need to have your marketing and marketing means being in contact with the public.”
So Thomas decided to hosts the ACC show to give the students a chance to showcase their work.
“The initial idea for having this exhibit was to show off and brag about our Costa Rica study abroad program and our Italy study abroad program and since we had such a nice big space we decided to brag about some of our other star programs which included the steam roller prints,” said Julie Isaacson, Art Studios and Exhibit Specialist at ACC.
Students, work studies, and faculty all got together two weeks before the opening of the gallery to get the space ready for the show. Cobwebs had to be swept out, wiring fixed and walls needed painting.
“We had some of the students help with the build out, with the painting, and getting the space together. So they actually got some experience in what goes into putting up an exhibit,” said Isaacson.
20 year old Ana Gratovich just transferred to the University of Texas after studying art at ACC. This is her fifth show in Austin and she’s had her art on display in New Orleans and just got into a show in Chicago. She says it has been a bit of a change to go from ACC to UT.
“I loved [ACC],” said Gratovich. “It’s a great environment, great community, the teachers are great, it is really intimate. You get to know people well.”
Gratovich and Isaacson were both excited that ACC student and faculty artists got a chance to display their art at a gallery.
“We’ve had an incredible amount of exposure which is good for ACC,” said Isaacson. “That’s been probably the most exciting, bragging about our student work and having a facility to do it.”
