Austin Life · Art & Design

Living with Local Art: An Austin Summer Guide

From the Etch Design Group team

A home that reflects the people who live in it almost always starts with one honest piece of art on the wall. Not a print chosen to match a sofa, but something with a story behind it. Austin makes that easy. Our city has a deep bench of working artists and galleries that welcome first-time collectors as warmly as seasoned ones. As the summer calendar fills up, here is where we are spending our evenings, and how we help clients bring a little of that creative energy home.

Why we design around art, not the other way around

One of the clearest shifts we have seen with our clients is a move away from the blank-slate interior. People want rooms that feel personal, layered, and a little bit like a retreat. Original art is the fastest way to get there. A single canvas can set the mood for an entire room, and it gives a space the kind of warmth that no catalog furniture ever will.

When we plan a project, we like to know early on whether a client collects or wants to start. Lighting, wall color, and even furniture placement all shift when a meaningful piece is part of the picture. The reward is a home that could only belong to one family.

Summer Sanctuary at Davis Gallery

If you want one place to begin, start here. Davis Gallery & Framing has been a fixture of the Austin art community for years, and their annual summer group show is a generous, easy introduction to the gallery's full roster. This year's exhibition, Summer Sanctuary, leans into the idea of art as a cool, quiet refuge from the Texas heat, which is a theme any of us chasing a restful home can appreciate.

The show spans oil and mixed media on canvas, assemblage, and works on salvaged wood, with pieces from Umbreen Ahmad, Laurel Daniel, B Shawn Cox, Brian Phillips, Charles Heppner, Malou Flato, Amy Banner Updegrove, and John Sager. Prices range from accessible small works in the few-hundred-dollar range to larger statement canvases, so it is a friendly room for new collectors and a rewarding one for anyone furnishing a space.

Take the art outside: summer music and movies

Living with local art is not only about what hangs on the wall. It is about being part of the creative life of the city, and summer in Austin practically hands you the invitation. Two of our favorite traditions are free or low cost, family friendly, and a reminder of why people love this town.

Now in its fourth decade, Blues on the Green grew from a small weekday draw at the Arboretum into a Zilker Park institution that welcomes tens of thousands. It has the feel of a big, relaxed neighborhood picnic, and it is one of the surest signs that summer in Austin has officially arrived.

A meaningful date for the fall: The Pink Bow Project

Art can comfort, and it can also move a community to pay attention. We want to make space here for a powerful local installation returning to Austin this November. The Pink Bow Project, founded by artist Karen Hawkins, is a large-scale multimedia work created during National Child Abuse Prevention Month. It uses thousands of pink hair bows and a layered audio component of survivors' voices to give weight to a subject that is too often kept quiet. In 2024 it became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and it is now envisioned as a traveling exhibition.

Starting your own collection

You do not need a large budget or a big house to live with art you love. Begin with one piece that genuinely speaks to you, give it room to breathe, and light it well. From there, a collection grows the way the best homes do, slowly and with intention. If you are curating art as part of a larger project, that is exactly the kind of work we love to do alongside our clients.

Event details are drawn from gallery and venue announcements and are subject to change. Please confirm dates and hours directly with each venue before you go. Davis Gallery & Framing, 837 W. 12th St, Austin, TX 78701, 512-477-4929.