Nine artists spent their summer testing out studio space inside a limestone building on East Sixth Street, and now they're handing the keys to a much bigger crowd. EstudioSix, the artist residency and creative workspace tucked into Austin's Old Sixth redevelopment, is welcoming 14 new resident artists on September 1 for its first full six-month fall and spring cycle.
The pilot summer program, which ran through August with nine local artists working in sculpture, photography, painting, public art, installation, and new media, was designed to test workspace layouts, studio utility, and the peer-led critique format before the residency expanded, according to The Austin Chronicle. That trial run culminated in EstudioSix's first public Open Studio event on August 23, which gave visitors their first look inside the space to see works-in-progress, a gallery exhibition, and site-specific installations by the nine summer residents, per CultureMap Austin.
Only one of those summer artists, Matt Rebholz, is staying on as part of the incoming 14-person cohort, the outlet reports. Rebholz, an artist, educator, and graphic novelist, creates landscape paintings based on personally meaningful film stills and will continue his work at another internship even as he returns to EstudioSix.
A Bigger Roster Moves Into a 19th-Century Building
The new fall and spring cycle, which runs six months, brings together Juan Cisneros, Eli Decker, Jeffrey From, Michael Anthony García, Terra Goolsby, Rowan Howe, Elizabeth Maria Hudson, Payton McGowen, Britt Wilder Moseley, Alexandre Pépin, Rebholz, Carlos Rosales-Silva, Ana Treviño, and Alex Trippe. Each resident pays $250 a month, for a total of $1,500 over the residency, following an open-call application process that closed in July and required a $15 submission fee, a portfolio, and a project proposal, according to CultureMap Austin.
In exchange, residents get access to dedicated studio space, an exhibition space, a communal kitchen, common areas, and shared equipment that's accessible round-the-clock. The program also builds in peer mentorship, monthly critiques, and visits from outside artists and curators, plus opportunities for residents to take part in public programs and exhibitions.
The studio occupies a 19th-century limestone building at 612a E. Sixth St., sitting between the original location of music venue Emo's and the former home of Daruma Ramen, which closed in 2020 after seven years in the space, the Chronicle reports. The stretch of East Sixth Street around the building has not yet undergone major commercial renovation, a contrast the outlet notes against the broader redevelopment reshaping the corridor.
Who's Coming and What They're Making
The incoming artists bring a wide range of practices. Agustina Rodriguez, a visual artist, designer, and architect who lectures in interior design at the University of Texas' School of Architecture, explores relationships between people and places through architecture and public art. Ariana Gomez works primarily in photography and installation exploring place, family relationships to land, and memory, and her work is represented in the permanent collection of Austin's Mexic-Arte Museum.
Manik Raj Nakra, a painter who combines Indian iconography, colonial relics, and mythology, was commissioned to paint the facade of the Contemporary Art Museum in downtown Austin. Leah Shirley, who holds an MFA in sculpture and extended media from the University of Texas at Austin, works in sculpture, mosaic, and time-based media. Alexandra Robinson, a professor of art at St. Edward's University, examines identity, place, and belonging in her work.
Jamal Hussain, a new media artist who uses light and patterns drawn from ecosystems, is preparing his third solo show for the Georgetown Arts Center. Sean Ripple, who draws on social media and internet culture, has participated in the Fusebox Festival. Ani Bradberry, who creates sculptural installations using plasma light, is presenting Spectral Field in a solo show at DiverseWorks in Houston.
Founders With National Résumés, a Local Mission
EstudioSix was founded by Australian-born artist Mark Hilton, who previously completed a fellowship at New York's International Studio & Curatorial Program, and is directed by Jordan Nelsen, an arts administrator who previously served as gallery director at Austin nonprofit Women & Their Work and program director at Big Medium, according to CultureMap Austin. The studio was created in partnership with the Old Sixth redevelopment, the multi-property overhaul of East Sixth Street led by Stream Realty Partners.
That Old Sixth project is restoring 31 historic properties along East Sixth Street and bringing new restaurant, retail, music, and arts tenants to the downtown corridor, part of a push to remake a strip long nicknamed “Dirty Sixth.” As Hoodline previously reported, that nickname dates back nearly a century to the 1930s, when frequent flooding from Waller Creek lowered property values and pushed Black, Brown, and immigrant business owners to operate on that end of the street.
Stream Realty, based in Dallas, began acquiring properties on East Sixth Street in 2019 and has accumulated more than 30 properties between Interstate 35 and Congress Avenue, aiming to turn the corridor into an 18-hour mixed-use district built around daytime retail, dining, and arts rather than shot-bar nightlife. The redevelopment has coincided with a wave of local venue closures in late 2025 and 2026, including 30-year shaved ice staple Jim-Jim's Water-Ice, 16-year venue Cielo, Skylark Lounge, and cocktail bar Marlow, and it comes alongside a 2025 city and Austin Police Department decision to reopen East Sixth Street to weekend vehicular traffic after decades of pedestrian-only weekend closures, a change linked to a 25 percent drop in arrests and officer use-of-force reports in the district from 2024 to 2025.
