& ARTS Furly Art displayed around downtown San Marcos

By Cara Cervenka Life and Arts Contributor

San Marcos visitors and residents may have noticed new banners portraying vibrant birds playing musical instruments poised on lamposts around The Square. The birds' creator is Furly Travis aka Furly Art, a local San Martian who is so dedicated to his craft that he considers "art" to be part of his name. Travis' colorful "Furly Birds" as he calls them will be on display downtown for the next three months.

On Jan. 19, Downtown SMTX installed the 2-by4-foot banners along LBJ Drive, Hopkins, Guadalupe and San Antonio Streets. Displayed are two unique designs that illustrate Travis' signature Furly Birds. Travis said the birds appear in the majority of his pieces.

“I usually paint what comes to my mind. And it happens to be a very cartoon, colorful bird place, which was very easy for me to draw as those birds,” Travis said.

Travis has been living and creating art in this San Marcos for twenty years, and many of his pieces are influenced by the city's uniqueness. He wants to create a piece that portrays a Furly Bird holding onto a San Marcos mermaid.

The San Marcos Art League played a big part in helping Travis get his work recognized recently. The organization asked Travis to paint a mural for their walking gallery on LBJ Drive. From there his talent was recognized and he was offered the job to create the street banners.

Travis has aspired to display his art since he began painting at 19 years old. San Martians have embraced Travis and his artwork, some calling him the unofficial mascot of San Marcos. For the past two decades, Travis' art has remained relatively unknown outside of the art community.

The release of the banners will increase support and recognition for his work. His quirky style is what makes his artwork recognizable. Travis said the support he has received so far is a great honor.

“I’m so happy that his stuff is finally coming out into the city because he is a big part of the city. He’s lived here a long time, some people have even talked about calling him the San Marcos mascot which is appropriate because he has been here so long,” Balkman said.

Travis' birds are not only sold as paintings but also as "Burly Yard Birds" which are large paintings of the birds that are then cut out of wood and displayed in people's yards. The pieces are on display in Travis' own yard and he is currently working on an 8-foot-tall Burly Yard Bird.

Travis has also been displaying and selling his art for 15 years at Wake the Dead Coffee House, a local coffee shop in San Marcos known for giving local artists a place to sell their work. He has been friends with Julie Baulkman, the owner of Wake the Dead, since 1994, and in that time Balkman has purchased multiple Travis' pieces for herself and for others.

“I like to support anybody who supports themselves and who is proud of themselves, I want to be proud of them too." Julie Balkman, owner of Wake the Dead said.

Wake the Dead has always been an inviting space for both rookies and established artists like Travis in the community. Last month, Travis' art event, the Furly Art Reception, had Wake the Dead lively and brimming with his artwork. Three separate artists came to display their work at the coffee shop and Travis' art filled the main room. Travis' wife and local musician Molly J. Hayes performed original songs and covers.

It was an opportunity for people to buy Travis' art directly from him and for Travis to celebrate the unveiling of his street banners.

“[The event] just happened that it coincided with the release of the banners," Travis said. "It was just the universe came together and was like, 'yeah dude, let's do this.'"

Travis has always embraced his creativity whether that be in music, art or acting. He was a member of the Happy Trees, a local group, which was his first venture into music. Travis is also his own one-man band called Unsurpassed Prophet. The discography is primarily slacker rock and psychedelic.

“I've always inspired to kind of be known in a way through my music, through my art and through my films,” Travis said.

On the day that the banners were installed, Travis' friends, family and supporters gathered to celebrate and witness the installation. Hayes said she is proud of her husband for his accomplishments and is happy to see his work being appreciated.

“He's painted hundreds, literally hundreds of paintings,” Hayes said. “To get to see the acknowledgment from his community that we both grew up in to see that acknowledgment of his hard work and of his personal style and his creativity it makes me emotional."

To support Furly "Art" Travis, visit http://www. furlyart.net or @furly_travis on Instagram.

From Front Community

Glover agreed to participate because, as an educator, she wants to help make an impact on others and answer questions they may want to ask her about her hair.

"I'd like to not just teach, but I also like to teach about, you know, how history and how society affects us," Glover said. "I want to unpack what my hair journey was, and how to me, texturism can be even stronger than colorism in not just the Black community but the Hispanic community and the Asian community."

Glover said texturism is discrimination against someone — usually for having tightly curled, coarser hair. She experienced a similar feeling when she was three years old, as her mother would put long ponytails in her hair. A few years later, Glover told her mother about feeling like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer wearing fake ponytails and wanting her natural hair. She wanted to know why she had her wear them.

"My mom said, 'because you and your sister were dark-skinned, I knew you would have a harder time in society being seen as beautiful so, I decided if you had long hair, you wouldn't have that problem,'" Glover said. "And it's true. I never got picked on for being dark-skinned."

The experience, however, has sworn off Glover's decision to be seen with fake hair because she wants to make a statement to be seen as beautiful with her own hair. Since then, she has tried different styles with her hair and realized its flexibility through trial and error.

Collaborating with the other panelists has also changed her perception of what groups are affected by this problem. Another panelist, who is Mexican American, has talked about how she feels pressured and still feels pressured to straighten her natural curls to appear more European looking. With this new outlook, Glover believes the panel will also open people's eyes to their histories with hair overlapping.

"We don't have interracial conversations with each other enough, and I think this will help us to start having those conversations with each other to see how much we have in common; how much Western colonialism has affected all of us," Glover said. "In a nutshell, that's going to help us start talking amongst each other more."

Naturally You fits the Common Experience's 2022-2023 theme, Systems Thinking. According to the website, the theme asks students to recognize the systems they live in and understand and change them. By looking at the sociocultural systems about beauty and personal style, Naturally You asks if the systems are healthy, if they are working and if they make people feel welcome.

The Common Experience Leadership Team hopes Naturally You will grow and become an annual event.

"The conversations of people's being and how they feel about themselves and how, you know, they're presenting themselves to the world — it's so key for students, especially as you all are here and then move into the work world," Nielson said.

Naturally You will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Feb. 21 in the LBJ Student Center Grand Ballroom.

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