AUSTIN, Texas — Kylee Barnard dyes silk. Ellen Bruxvoort is a fiber artist. Emily Eisenhart paints. Hallie Shafer, Kara Pendl and Genna Williams do ceramic design.
They are the six women that make up Broad Studios, an all-female art collective in East Austin.
"I would say that moving into a studio space with other women, other people, people who you admire and you respect has been just a total game-changer in my own practice," Williams said.
Each woman has her own artistic expression. Barnard, from Silk Diaries, naturally dyes different silk products to inspire women in the workplace.
"When I started the business, I was working full-time as a designer and I was experiencing a lot of imposter syndrome, anxiety and fear and I was looking for a way to comfort myself in times when I was in panic," Barnard said.
Bruxvoort, from Fibrous, wanted to try out fiber arts – and it worked out.
"I quickly fell in love with it, then it sort of, as a lot of maker tales go, turned into my full-time job," she said.
She makes woven goods and fiber accessories.
Shafer, from She Ceramics, studied abroad in Tuscany and ended up falling in love with terracotta and clay.
"I loved it when I was a kid," Shafer said. "I think all kids have that innate love for art and making things with your hands."
Pendl, from Karacotta Ceramics, used to own a software business and did ceramics on the side.
"I had never seen somebody be a full-time artist, so that wasn't something that even occurred to me," she said.
RELATED:
Now, she makes handmade pieces for everyday rituals.
Williams is a ceramic designer that took a ceramics class and fell in love with it.
"I just found myself craving that like, tactile, I don't know, kind-of zen feeling that throwing on the wheel brought me," she said.
And Eisenhart studied cultural anthropology and is very research-focused in the way that she does art. She paints murals or shoes and is art-driven in her graphic design.
"It's been really amazing to be a part of the growth and the excitement around art and opening that up to other people," Eisenhart said.
Broad Studios is a closed working space with retail by appointment, but they do open the space to the public for events, pop-ups and workshops.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: