Give the Gift of Local Art & Music

With this being our year-end Music Issue — and the issue after our post-pandemic Music Awards comeback event — I feel inspired to feature some arts and music gift ideas from local creatives and arts organizations here.

Deck the Walls with Local Art

The art on this week’s cover, which I’ve christened “Welcoming Home the Music Awards,” is by local artist JJ Jonesy. When I saw this piece on Facebook, I knew we had to have it. You see, ever since our aviation-meets-girl-power-themed cover for Best Of 2022 featuring seven kick-ass local ladies, including Flickerstick’s Fatima Thomas, I’ve had a weird fascination with astronaut art and that classic Flickerstick album cover for Welcoming Home the Astronauts. I had to fan-girl a little when Brandin Lea and Fatima did a surprise set at our Music Awards Ceremony this past Sunday. I’m sure she wasn’t weirded out. At all.

As I soon learned, JJ had long painted over the piece I saw online. He recreated it for us and even customized it with a MAF patch on the astronaut’s arm. That’s the beauty of working with a local artist. If you don’t see exactly what you’re looking for, commission the piece you seek. While he is mostly doing commissions these days, he does have finished pieces for sale. For inquiries and to see more of his work, visit @JJJ_Jonesy on IG.

We’ve written a little about Jonesy before. He was once commissioned to paint a controversial mural in River Oaks by the owner of Maven’s Moon Apothecary. Read more about it at FWWeekly.com. Search for “Howling at the Moon.”

For some last-minute artsy shopping, you can also head to the Rock ’n’ Roll Rummage Holiday Extravaganza. From noon to 5pm Sun, Lola’s Fort Worth (2000 W Berry St, LolasFW.com) will be chock full of artists and vintage collectors slinging fun stuff for your delectation. Typically, the jewelry selection is so vast that in 2021 the event was awarded best place to buy jewelry in our annual Best Of edition. Because as a not-so-ancient philosopher once said (over and over), “If you liked it, then you shoulda put a ring on it.”

Hosted by Honeysuckle Rose Vintage (@HoneysuckleRoseVintage), the rummage sale is also a donation site for the Fort Worth HOPE Center (3625 E Loop 820S, 817-451-6288). A food distribution center, HOPE aims to “fight hunger and feed HOPE among low-income families by distributing food throughout North Texas.” The items most needed include baby diapers and wipes, bleach, gloves, infant formula, nonperishable food, paper towels, and toilet paper. Bath and hand soap, deodorant, lotion, mouthwash, razors, and shampoo and conditioner are also in need. Bring what you can.

Spin City

While national shows sometimes still have a physical ticket option, local gigs mostly don’t. If your mom saw Led Zeppelin at the convention center downtown back in the day but lost her ticket stub, or if someone you love wants to memorialize the moment they discovered Celestial L’Amour at a local music showcase, a commemorative ticket from StubForge.com might be the perfect thing.

My favorite MAF moment was in 2018 when we inducted my friends in WARBEAST into the Hall of Fame. By choosing the UPS option, these faux tickets I created will arrive just in time for Christmas. (“Merry Christmas, Jennifer.” “Oh, Jennifer! You shouldn’t have!”) Tickets are $5 apiece, and there are discounts for multiples. There is no cost to test this out on the website. Get creative!

Along with having not-to-miss upcoming shows, most of your favorite local bands have merchandise available for sale and could really use your support. Hit them up this week while there’s still time to meet you in a dark parking lot where such dealings reportedly go down.

One merch item on my list for Santa is the Royal Sons’ Praise & Warships, winner for best album of 2022 in our Music Awards, on gold vinyl for $20 at RoyalSonsTX.com. Another is a $25 T-shirt from folk nominee Jacob Furr that proudly touts a recent bad review. For the record, while “I kept hoping it would get better, but it just kept getting worse” neatly applies to the past several years for most of us, it does not reflect Furr’s music, which is moody, heartfelt, and brilliant. Visit JacobFurr.bandcamp.com.

Another way to get your hands on some handcrafted gifts and local band merchandise is at Morgan Mercantile (121 S Main St, Ste 1, 817-720-6160). Along with being the purveyors of cool in the Fort, they carry band merch for the Texas Gentlemen, including some snazzy socks, the Thieving Birds, Quaker City Night Hawks and several other locals. (Wait, QCNH has an astronaut album cover too? Let the stalking begin!)

If you feel like a road trip, you can catch the Texas Gentlemen on Friday at the Sagebrush in Austin at the inaugural Transdenominational Holiday Spectacular with sets by BRUCE (Carrie Fussell), Croy and the Boys, and some other special guests. There will also be limited-edition tattoos available by Mystery Matter. Show tickets and socks are available at MorganMercantile.com. Guess which costs more?

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Like most locations centered on amusement and education, local nature centers and zoological destinations have gift shops. While you can certainly get lost in souvenirs for tourists, there are some gems to consider as well.

Along with pre-purchasing admission tickets or adopting (i.e., “sponsoring”) animals via FortWorthZoo.org, the gift shops at 1989 Colonial Pkwy (817-759-7300) have a lot to offer. Located in the Savanna area of the Fort Worth Zoo, Safari Traders offers decorative animal masks and hand-beaded jewelry made from recycled zoo paper. Zoo resident Rasha the elephant likes to paint with her trunk, so sometimes her art is available for purchase there, too.

The curated items at museum stores — many sourced from local artisans and small businesses — make for thoughtful, philanthropic gifts. Amon Carter Museum of American Art (3501 Camp Bowie Blvd, 817-989-5007), the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (1600 Gendy St, 817-255-9343), the Kimbell Art Museum (3333 Camp Bowie Blvd, 817-288-3248), the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (3200 Darnell St, 817- 840-2136), the National Cowgirl Museum (1720 Gendy St, 817-509-8980), and the Fort Worth Aviation Museum (3300 Ross Av, 855-733-8627) all participated in Museum Shop Sunday over Thanksgiving weekend and have some great gift choices to consider.

The Modern, for example, sells art prints, home décor items, and artist-inspired delights like the Golden Dragon skateboard for $66 and Andy Warhol stickers for $24. You can even purchase “Aardvark,” a 1992 five-color lithograph by Fort Worth legend Vernon Fisher, for $3,000 if you feel so inclined. If you have that kind of money to “invest in the arts,” the Me-Thinks could use a touring van. Just sayin’.

For a ton of other gift ideas from small and large businesses, local and otherwise, check out our Holidays 2022 issue at FWWeekly.com.