SOUVENIR exhibition that is one of SXSW’s most Institute. “The decline of music pack- elements of Austin’s music history accessible activities for curious locals aging—CD sales and record sales— from the past 40 years are on display and tourists: the Flatstock poster show. has also been a factor. There’s a desire at a booth hosted by the South Austin Organized by the American Poster to have things that are handmade Popular Culture Center. Institute, Flatstock draws about 80 and personal.” Artist Danny Garrett held court at poster artists to Austin each year dur- Rock poster artwork traces its roots the booth last year, signing copies of ing the SXSW Music Festival. The to the 1960s in San Francisco and Aus- his book Weird yet Strange: Notes from artists come from across the globe to tin, where underground comic-book an Austin Music Artist. Garrett started mingle with peers, market their work artists were recruited to draw post- drawing music posters in 1971 and has to bands and industry types, and ers promoting concerts. At Flatstock, worked with the likes of Willie Nelson, display their screen-printed posters, particularly music posters promoting bands, concerts, and festivals. Strolling through Flatstock feels somewhat like navigating a carnival A Brazos County golf tradition for more midway as barkers pitch their games than 90 years, Travis B. Bryan Municipal and rides. But it’s not the artists them- selves calling out; it’s their splashy Golf Course accommodates golfers of artwork that screams from the walls: every skill and ability. Don’t miss this rock show! Never forget With fun and challenge at every shot, that amazing festival! Check out my crazy colorful design! we invite you to see why our members “These are all real grassroots design- and guests enjoy playing our course ers making artwork basically as close time and time again. to from the soul as you can get in the world of commercial art,” says Mark To learn more please visit: Brickey, a graphic designer from Los Angeles who hosts a podcast called YOU CAN www.bryantx.gov/golf Adventures in Design. “Where you and I are standing right now, this is #SMTXperience the intersection where commercial art and fine art meet.” [ ] Flatstock is free and kid-friendly and features a stage that hosts about six bands each afternoon. Because the Festival season is tuning up this exhibition is located at the heart of the spring on San Marcos’ Downtown Square. conference, thousands of touring mu- April 7-9: Swing On The Square features all things Western Vision with Volume sicians, industry reps, and fans filter Swing – bands, dance contest and a Gospel Brunch with BBQ. The Flatstock poster show at South by Southwest through, providing a glimpse of the energetic, creative, and collaborative April 8: Brew Hop showcases breweries at downtown stops story by Matt Joyce spirit that makes SXSW such a touch- around the square with craft beers and food pairings. stone of popular culture. April 28-29: MR Fest spotlights local and regional indie artists at OU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU’LL FIND AT SOUTH Flatstock also bolsters the funda- multiple venues around the square. CITY OF BRYAN by Southwest, Austin’s annual summit of creative Flatstock mental artistic element of music by industries and popular culture. President Obama is one of honoring handmade artwork. The Second Saturdays: Art Squared Art Market features artisan www.bryantx.gov/visit showed up in 2016 to talk technology and tacos. In SXSW’s screen-printed posters offer balance to booths and live music on the lawn. Y2012, Doritos hosted a party with rapper Snoop Dogg performing most an industry that now reaches its audi- There’s even more to do – just visit TourSanMarcos.com! #BetterInBryan on a stage built to look like a five-story snack vending machine. accessible ence mostly through touchscreens. And in 2007, Twitter famously took flight during the conference. activities “The popularity of gig posters has The cultural stampede can be a bit overwhelming, especially for curious been a reaction to the coldness of digi- TM THE GOOD LIFE, for those who aren’t jetting in on business accounts to network at locals and tal media,” says Terrence Ryan, aka TEXAS STYLE. the festival’s technology, film, and music conventions. But tucked tourists. Lil’ Tuffy, a San Francisco artist and /TourSanMarcos www.TourSanMarcos.com | 512.393.5930 within the Austin Convention Center, there’s an engaging co-president of the American Poster 24 texashighways.com Poster art by Dan Grissom/Biscuit Press MARCH 2017 25 SOUVENIR IN THE GALLERY to a tree-house gathering with friends PORTRAITS Andy McDougall, of British Columbia, and music—a magical adult fairyland OF FREEDOM Canada, will return this year to demonstrate of sorts. screen-printing at SXSW’s Flatstock As it turns out, Grissom had cre- Through April 16, 2017 Poster Show. Below, the Jacknife booth. ated the poster only a couple of weeks Dupree Lobby • Free earlier for a Dallas-based environ- mental charity called RETREET. The Featuring compositions group organizes weekend “Retreets” to drawn from runaway slave plant trees for residents in places that advertisements aggregated have been damaged by natural disas- by the Texas Runaway Slave ters, while taking along their bikes for Project. The path from slavery transportation and recreational rides. to freedom in Texas is Since its founding in 2012, RETREET narrated through a range of has planted trees in Bastrop, Wimber- mediums including drawing, ley, Lancaster, Cleburne, Rowlett, and painting, lithography, and the Possum Kingdom area as well as screen-printing. out of state. Made possible in part by a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. “The popularity of gig posters has been a reaction Smithsonian Aliate to the coldness of digital Open 7 days a week media. There’s a desire Free parking 3333 N. MacArthur Blvd. to have things that are Irving, TX 75062 handmade and personal.” www.IrvingArtsCenter.com Art by Kim Jenkins, SFA Student Grady McGahan, the founder and di- Hopewell’s imaginative artwork re- rector of RETREET, tells me later that flects the incredible diversity on dis- Grissom’s poster captures RETREET’s play among the 55 booths in the con- fundamental values of trees, commu- Crazy Desert Stribling Art vention center. Most of the posters cost nity, inclusion, and fun. “The tree is John Trail Race Extravaganza Steinbeck about $30, and many of the artists also unique in that forest. It has a Beren- March 11th March 24 - 25 sell their artwork on lower-priced col- stain Bears feel to it,” he says. “There’s lectibles like T-shirts, koozies, pins, a nostalgia for me looking at that and stickers. Although most of the image, nostalgia for this new thing that posters promote bands and concerts, I think is a powerful motif that really Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Antone’s, the poster art since the show debuted in you’ll also see artwork related to sports, draws you in: Come and climb this lad- seminal Austin blues club. San Francisco in 2002. In 2016, I met politics, movies, and nature. der, we’re having a great time up here, “The very fact that there still is a gig two artists who took up printmak- That’s what I find at the Biscuit everyone is welcome.” poster scene going on and the fact that ing after discovering it during vis- Press booth featuring the screen prints Now framed and hanging on a wall for more than a dozen years now it’s its to SXSW. One of them was Chris of Austin artist Dan Grissom. Among of my home, the poster evokes a simi- had a place at South by Southwest and Hopewell, a poster artist from Bristol, Grissom’s posters was one depicting lar reaction when I pause for a moment other music conferences, I think that’s England, whose Jacknife studio’s eye- the tranquil scene of a stout, gnarly to focus on it or introduce the scene to incredible,” Garrett says. “Because re- catching work draws on the imagery of tree set in the middle of a deep forest at friends. You truly never know what ally, this whole thing started out with comic-book heroines, beer can labels, dusk. Bicycles lean against the base of you’ll find at South by Southwest. people trying to describe psychedelic and motorcycles. the trunk, and a ladder climbs to a tree music as it was emerging in the mid- “I came to South by Southwest be- house built into the canopy of twist- FLATSTOCK ’60s in San Francisco with art. I think cause I was working in a different ing branches. Warm yellow light glows takes place March 16-18 in that led directly to what me and my branch of music at the time, making from the tree house windows, high- Hall 4 of the Austin Convention Craft Beer Grapes of colleagues did, and it’s still going on.” music videos, and I discovered this,” lighting the silhouettes of people play- Center during the South by Festival Wrath Flatstock itself, which hosts a series Hopewell says. “I fell in love with the ing instruments, dancing, and visiting. Southwest Conference & March 25th March 24 - 25 of poster shows throughout the year whole idea of poster making, so I went I paused as the scene transported me Festivals. Admission is free. in the United States and Europe, has back and bought a printing deck and away from the noisy convention cen- www.sxsw.com/exhibitions/ For more events go to VisitSanAngelo.org certainly had a hand in perpetuating started doing it.” ter and into the forest, riding my bike flatstock.