For many in the Lubbock community, the first Friday of every month means heading to the Depot District and taking in the atmosphere of the First Friday Art Trail.
The art trail ends at 8 p.m., but that does not mean art connoisseurs have to go home; at Serios 4 Cereal, the party will just be beginning.
Samuel Morin, better known as Cousin, is the owner of Serios 4 Cereal and said he hopes tonight’s art trail will bring in people that are anxious to see great art, relax, and listen to music.
“We really get to encourage our customers to go out, check out their galleries, and then wind up here,” Cousin said. “Because we are cereal, we are not really anyone’s direct competition, so it’s fun to just put that out there.”
Cousin said since Lubbock’s art community was redistricted, anything south of 19th street no longer qualifies to be an official stop with the art trail.
Serios 4 Cereal is a cereal bar, local hang out and art gallery, Cousin said, and it is a place for people to unwind.
Cousin said the main goal for Serios after the art trail is for people to come in and admire the art in a small, up-and-coming gallery.
“I actually like for a lot of my artists to be novice or amateur artists,” Cousin said. “My goal is to be that first gallery you ever get to hang your piece up in; that gives you wings to go onto your next one.”
Cousin said his main focus is to boost the artists confidence by allowing them to display their art in his restaurant gallery or play their music for his guests.
Paco Estrada and Space Camp will be the musical entertainment tonight, and Cousin said that this is a particularly special evening.
“What’s unique about tonight is that it is my wife and my 10 year anniversary,” Cousin. “I could not think of a better anniversary gift to be honest.”
Cousin said Serios will be featuring art from several different artists tonight, and this will be the last showing in Lubbock for one of his regular artists.
Lyndsey Elida Capps is a regular artist for the cereal bar and six pieces of her work will be displayed this evening.
“I get more recognition there than I have at any other place I have ever displayed,” Capps said. “Serios is so nice, and everyone there is supportive.”
Capps said the work she typically produces is oil on wood and uses different textures and patterns. She said one of the pieces that will be displayed has a special meaning that she did not realize at first.
“Guardians” by Lyndsey Elida Capps
“I got the piece of wood from another artist,” Capps said. “She had written her goals and desires on the back of it, and I did not even notice at first, so it is like I gave her goals wings to fly.”
Capps said she dedicated the piece, “Guardians,” to the artist she got the wood from, and through the months it took to create the piece, she formed a “relationship” with each bird she crafted.
After tonight, Capps said, she plans to move to Dallas and take art lessons. She said she is going to miss Serios and the family atmosphere that it provides. Capps will be at Serios tonight after the art trail to talk about her work.
Another artist that is being featured at tonight’s “after-party,” is Michael Shaw.
“I’ve been painting and drawing for as long as I can remember,” Shaw said.
With bright colors and a pop-art feel, Shaw said he gets his inspiration from tattoos, street art and graffiti on buildings. He even met Cousin while wanting to spray paint his establishment.
“I am happy to hang it here,” Shaw said. “Just the atmosphere, I mean, you go to Austin – you go to other places and see things like this but not in Lubbock.”
Shaw said that Serios is set apart by the unique flair that it has and the way that they treat new artists who are anxious to get their art seen.
Tonight’s viewers can see bright, colorful art that most people can relate to, Shaw said.
“Some of the paintings I do are characters without a face,” Shaw said. “I like to strip away the ethnicity so that anyone can look at it and relate to it.”
Shaw said he will be there tonight and encourages people to check him out on Instagram.
Cousin said tonight the music selections range from spoken word hip-hop to solo acoustic. He said Serios gravitates more toward the college crowd and welcomes Texas Tech University students to come enjoy the art atmosphere and have a bowl of cereal.
Serios is also a BYOB establishment, and Cousin said he encourages his guests who are 21 or older to bring refreshments of their own.
Cousin said he wants to support artists who are looking for a way to get their name out there.
“Like I mentioned, we are not a typical art gallery. We work on basically a two-month rotation, so if an artist comes in here, they get two months, which is two trails where they can be displayed,” Cousin said. “Ultimately, they come in and they bring all of the pieces that they want hung. The second month I will continue to hang the ones that I think garnish the most attention.”
It’s how artists know what styles are being talked about, Cousin said, and it is what keeps them coming back and bringing in more of their art.
Cousin said Serios 4 Cereal will begin the “after party” at 8 p.m. when the art trail concludes.
If you want to know more about Serios, you can find them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
About Erin Willis
