Beyond what I could readily see with my eyes, I was impressed to hear how much community outreach MotherShip cofounders Courtney Peterson and Jacqueline (Jackie) Overby had been doing in preparation for the first-ever San Marcos Studio Tour.

“Since November we’ve been reaching out to already established institutions and artists around us to find the people in the tiny pockets that might not have been at events we’ve been to,” said Jackie. “So, there has been a lot of groundwork done to make it known that we aren’t just coming in and not taking into account the artists that were already here doing things. A lot of our efforts have been including local businesses and artists to make them feel more included. All of the feedback we’ve gotten has been insanely supportive. I think that they’re hungry for it. There are art spaces here, but maybe not a unifying scene like with the Austin Studio Tours.”

It was inevitable that Texas State University would come up as we discussed the San Marcos art community.

Jackie remarked “With the university there is a high turnover of the population here and there aren’t a lot of people that stay and develop things. Something that sticks out in my mind is that years ago when I was still in college I was speaking with Rene Perez and he asked me what my plans were for after graduation. I was like ‘I want to go to grad school but I might stick around for a while,’ and he said ‘Yeah, everybody ends up leaving,’ and it was just this thing that stuck with me. I’m was like ‘No, that’s not fair, I want to stay and make something.’”