Kristen T.
Yelp
For my first trip to Austin, I wasn't sure where to begin exploring, so I decided to start my day at the Greetings From Austin postcard mural. After seeing it though, I noticed it was painted on the way of an art gallery with a lot of curious figures lurking over the backyard fence. Looking in the windows I could see it was a workshop and gallery showcasing neon signs and metalwork. Even though there were no hours on the door I risked wandering in, and for a moment just wandered around wondering if anyone was there.
Then, I walked to the backyard and was soon greeted by the artist and owner himself, Todd Sanders, and his sweet Westie, Hank, who was "supposed to be a guard dog". Todd's a very nice and gracious man, he chatted with me the whole time I viewed his gallery, and was completely comfortable with me taking photos and looking around even though I didn't have the means or intention to purchase his art. That said, his art is gorgeous! Really timeless pieces with a lot of personality, and mostly at a very large size. These are meant to be statement pieces, and if I had a house or place large enough to house one, I'd do it!
That said, Todd is very accomplished, and has worked in a variety of trades and for awhile was refurbishing older neon signs for people, but says he loved making original pieces and it was his passion, so he put everything else aside and started to focus. And now he's got a successful business and has really famous clients -- one of his signs made up the cover of a Kings of Leon album. Todd was gracious enough to let me take his portrait before a left, and gave me a list of other great curated and creative shops to stop by while I'm in the area. Very cool local artist and biz owner, definitely stop in if you originally only planned to see the mural outside!