Outdoor Studio

In mid-summer 1988, Art in Public Places announced an invitational competition, open to any Austin artist, to submit proposals for outdoor artworks. Laurel Butler and Rita Starpattern, along with T. Paul Hernandez (Snake Culvert), were selected from this competition to collaborate with architects to create public art for the new Central Access Television Facility. Directed to ‘think of the land as your palette and create visually interesting forms’, Butler and Starpattern collaborated to design Outdoor Studio, a dramatic pastiche of architectural elements, which creates a plaza and a versatile theatrical set.