Creative Creatures, local art duo, open new gallery, shop, and studio.

The beginning of the month in San Antonio always entails something exciting.

Every first Friday of the month, there is a variety of free events and shops that pop up at and around the Blue Star Arts Complex.

This upcoming First Friday Dec. 1 from 6 to 11 p.m., local art team Creative Creatures will debut their very own gallery, shop and studio at 1420 S. Alamo space 106 B.

Husband and wife duo Eddy and Karen Rios have pursued their lifelong goal of opening up a creative space to share art with the public.

The long time contributors to the San Antonio arts community and have previously hosted events at Brick at Blue Star.

Karen and Eddy both have backgrounds in art. Karen said “when we teamed together it was apparent that we had our sights on the same goal, for the long haul.”

They developed Creative Creatures in January of 2014, and Karen said “after doing seasonal Creative Creatures events around the city, people took notice and both participants, family, friends and supporters alike would often tell us that opening our own space would be a perfect fit.”

The goal of opening up this space is to provide a place for both seasoned and emerging artists, and the gallery will give artists an opportunity to participate in shows and get their work out to the public.

The space itself is going to be a retail shop carrying work and merchandise of local artists, musicians, photographers and designers including Eddy Rios’ work Taco Boy Designs and Karen Rios’ work Nouveau Nostalgic.

The gallery portion of the space is where they will host monthly group and solo exhibitions which will launch every First Friday.

Some exhibitions will be themed, but there is no limit to the types of art the space will include.

Creative Creatures will be home to a vast variety of art forms including painting, illustration, screen-printing, photography, fashion, sculpture, mixed media, collage, cards, postcards, stickers and patches, just to name a few.

Creative Creatures’ founders have been in the art game for a while now and frequently get asked if they will continue to host their events. Karen Rios said “Yes! It’s something we love doing and have no plan on stopping!”

Karen and Eddy Rios are both active members of the community and hold a mutual strong passion for art.

Because of this, they will now be using the new Creative Creatures location as their own personal studio and have big plans to create new work and get inspired in a place they can call their own.

Within the next year, Creative Creatures has plans for a variety of upcoming exhibitions.

With this space, the founders plan to host mixers, DJ nights, workshops and possible pop-ups to unveil new artists and designers whose work will be carried in their shop.

The past four years of Creative Creatures has led them to success, and this new opening will create more opportunity to further serve the San Antonio creative community.

As Karen Rios said, “The possibilities are endless!”