EAST Toast

The East Austin Studio Tour springs up again for another dizzying pair of weekends, Nov. 15-16 and 22-23. We have to accept the fact that we can’t see all of EAST. Aside from the sheer impossibility of visiting 414 venues in four days, packing two weekends with as much art as possible is comparable to going to the bar and having one of everything. May be fun at the time, but you might end up with a massive headache. To spare you that fate, allow us to make a few suggestions for balanced cocktails of quality contemporary art, design, and craft – something you can take your time with, something to sip and savor. Here are our recommendations:

The Old Fashioned

2 parts Scott Saunders‘ retro sci-fi dioramas (#200)

1 part Nimer Aleck‘s tongue-in-cheek “fine art/consumer objects” (#213)

1 part Suzanne Wyss‘ intimidating larger-than-life installations (#225)

Your choice of either 1 ripened Claire Sommers Buck‘s neo-folk hand-hammered jewelry (#174) or Melissa Borrell‘s 3-D printed wearables (#99)

Twist of Lumiere‘s modern-day tintype photography for extra nostalgia (#214)

Classic Martini

1 part sharp industrial furniture design of Clifton Craftwork (#63)

2 parts Joshua Green‘s geometric sculptures (#188)

Shake (or stir) with a dash of the ceramic-based exhibition “Green Zone,” featuring Julie Moon and Rick Mansfield at MASS Gallery (#333)

The Texan Press

1 part zany work from Kong Screen Printing (#196)

1 part Jonathan Rebolloso‘s culturally rich design (#335)

1 part the graffiti-meets-cartoons style of Michael Sieben (#238)

Throw equal parts into a cup and slam it back.

The Dark and Stormy

2 parts Jules Buck Jones with his jagged, abstract mixed media (#21z)

1 part Lucy MacQueen‘s weather-inspired work (#198)

1 part intricate illustrations of Hollis Hammonds (#124)

Stir and pour over ice.

This article appears in November 14 • 2014.