A car wash in Dove Springs is spending the next month as an outdoor art gallery. Hive Mind Studios has selected 13 mural artists to paint the property's walls, columns, entryways and fences as part of the Create Art Car Wash Mural Fest, running October 24 through November 22.
The car wash sits on land where Dave Anderson's grandfather originally started a car wash, self-storage unit and mechanic shop, according to KUT. Anderson, who lives just a few minutes down the street in South Austin, has run the family business for the past few years, the station reports. Hive Mind Studios was created on the site of that family business, with the stated aim of turning the property into a place of inspiration and expanding creativity in the neighborhood.
The studio has set up 13 official walls for murals, and the same KUT report notes organizers are also opening smaller surfaces — columns, entryways and fences — for artists to create on throughout the festival. The festival will turn the working car wash into an outdoor gallery as artists paint.
A Community Project, Not Just a Birthday Party
The mural festival's opening weekend also doubles as Hive Mind Studios' first anniversary, marked by what the studio calls the Hive Immersive Art & Music Show. Per the same KUT account, Anderson has said the festival itself is focused more on community art than on celebrating the studio's anniversary. The two events are overlapping on the calendar, but organizers are drawing a clear line between the mural project and the birthday celebration.
Hive Mind Studios co-founder Ariana Sky Walker told KUT that Hive Mind Studios connects different Austin communities and cultural layers through art.
No Commissions, and a Spot on the Studio Tour
Hive Mind Studios structures its support for artists around a simple pitch: no commissions, meaning artists keep 100% of their sales. The studio is also an official stop on the Austin Studio Tour and offers wall space for rent starting at $15 per linear foot. Beyond the mural fest, the studio's event listing describes a regular schedule of exhibitions, open houses, workshops and collaborative events meant to help artists and visionaries connect.
Converting a working car wash into a mural destination isn't unheard of elsewhere in the country. In Atlanta, the Westside Mural Project turned the Clean Moto Carwash into an outdoor gallery through a collaboration between West End restaurant Lean Draft House and artist-curator Letter 75, according to ArtsATL. That 2018 project kicked off with a three-day painting event involving 14 Atlanta-based artists, each assigned two interior-facing walls measuring 20 feet by 9 feet inside the car wash bays, and one bay was set aside for members of the public to try mural painting alongside the curated artists. The Atlanta project was slated to remain on view through June 2019.
What to Expect in Dove Springs
The mural fest will bring art to the Dove Springs car wash throughout its monthlong run. The studio's Instagram account, @hivemindatx, describes itself as a creative studio and gallery space connecting artists and collectors around original art and music. Whether the finished walls draw comparisons to Atlanta's car-wash-turned-gallery or carve out their own identity, the Dove Springs property will spend the next month doubling as both a functioning car wash and a public art space.
