Hive Mind Studios is marking its anniversary with an art and music show and something it's calling the "Create Art Car Wash Mural Fest," which is more or less what it sounds like: a monthlong festival of murals painted on a working car wash.
Co-founder Dave Anderson says they're focusing more on the art than on the anniversary. "[It's] more about what we can give to the community through the mural festival," he said. "And the celebration is a way to bring attention to the Mural Festival and this outdoor gallery for people to come see and find their creative spark."
Why a car wash, though? Hive Mind Studios just happens to have a car wash on the premises, because the studio was created on the grounds of a family business.
"My grandfather started a car wash, a self-storage unit, and a mechanic shop on this property before it was even in Austin city limits," Anderson said. "And so I'm multi-generation here from Austin. And since I started running the business a few years ago, we've decided that we want to turn this into a place of inspiration as opposed to just a car wash, just self storage. And so we're trying to expand, starting with the studios and expanding creativity outwards."
Anderson is an artist and not a mechanic, so the shop became studios and a gallery, while the car wash remained a car wash. But soon, it'll be both a car wash and a large-scale outdoor gallery, with murals being painted on all of the available walls.
"We have 13 walls and so there'll be 13 official walls with murals," Anderson said, "and then we have more space throughout the car wash, such as columns and entry ways and different fences and smaller walls that will be open as well for artists to create on."
Ariana Sky Walker, Hive Mind's other co-founder, says they're hoping for some variety from the 13 chosen mural artists. "Hivemind Studios is called this way for a reason," she says. "We are connecting different communities, different cultural layers of Austin to come together and unite in the vision of creating something beautiful."
Anderson says it's simply a way to create more art for members of the community to see and draw inspiration from. "I'm from South Austin, and we actually live a few minutes down the street [from the gallery]," he says. "So this neighborhood [Dove Springs] is dear to me. I've always wanted to see the neighborhood be enlivened with passion and creation. And we have that, in many, many ways. There's great community centers, there's great murals throughout the neighborhood. We just wanted to do our part to really give to that, you know?"
The Hive Immersive Art & Music Show is Oct. 24 and the Car Wash Mural Fest runs from Oct. 24 through Nov. 22.
You can connect with Hive Mind Studios at their website, on Facebook, or on Instagram.
Copyright 2026 KUT News
