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Walking into a party at The Art Lounge awakens every sense.
The smell of fresh flowers perfume the air, the sounds of cello intertwine with the laughter of best friends while the visually stimulating artwork entices the windows to the soul.
But now it is time to say goodbye to the lounge. At least in its current form.
After five years of priceless memories forged within the gallery’s walls, Shelly Hamsa, founder of The Art Lounge, is bidding farewell to South Padre Island, as she has been called to care for her ill father across the country.
She is passing the keys to the beloved space to a familiar face who has left her own mark on The Art Lounge’s legacy, Jen Mulhern, also known as Jenuine Cello, the Island’s iconic cellist and host of the lounge’s staple concert series: The Listening Sessions.
Hamsa is one of many graduates of the Island’s Art Business Incubator program, a course for emerging artists designed to ultimately increase art tourism in the Gulf Coast resort town. She joined during the pandemic, having nothing else to do.
“Nobody knew if we were going to come back to life from that or not,” she said.
Hamsa would in fact resurrect following the pandemic. And she brought the community with her.
After graduating from the program, she rented a space with a handful of other artists that would eventually become all her own. She signed a two-year lease, imagining the Art Lounge as a place where she could “paint pretty pictures,” sell her art, and cultivate a life surrounded by “music and beauty” — her dream — and wanted to help build community around that.
“The vision was always about connecting the community,” she said.
Hamsa set out to curb societal division on the Island, utilizing the healing nature of art and its power to build bridges — something she was familiar with after years of social work.
The Art Lounge was crafted without ego. Hamsa says she started her art-centered movements, communal traditions, and lively gatherings simply because she wanted them to happen, not because she wanted recognition.
“I just thought we needed them, so I did them,” she said.
Hamsa took risks at The Art Lounge. With black walls and larger-than-life contemporary art, it strayed from the expected coastal turquoise and white seaside vibe. She wasn’t sure if it would land with the locals, but in the end, she says she had no trouble selling the gallery’s artwork, even before the doors officially opened.
In 2021, on opening day, Hamsa had no doubts, but had no expectations either. She just wanted to bring people together.
“People would say to me all the time, ‘I literally met all of my friends at your events,’” Hamsa recalled warmly.
While the Art Lounge was born without expectation, time and time again, the size of the crowd blew Hamsa away.
Hamsa’s gatherings were immersive. People adorned costumes to fit the parties’ differing themes, from the Roaring 20s, to abstract concepts, like “blooming.”
She says the suggested dress codes invited people to become art themselves, as they enjoyed the art around them and indulged in the food selection curated to complement the atmosphere.
Hundreds of people would pack into the space, vibing, connecting, and appreciating the work of local artists, including Ivan Benavides, Cristina Piecuch, Angel Loo, and the lounge’s youngest contributor, 13-year-old Emma Garza.
As the final day approaches, Hamsa is overwhelmed with the response pouring from the community who adored her dream-come-true with reverence.
She made the decision to end this chapter of her life and embark on a new one on the first day of July. It was something she’d been considering for months. She was waiting for a big sign.
“But I think there were little signs all along the way,” she said.
Ultimately, what sealed the deal was a phone call with her dad, the night before.
“He said ‘I just need you to come home,’” she recounted solemnly.
With a deep love for her lounge, it was a hard decision, but she says knowing Mulhern and her wife Erika Felicetta will be adopting the space makes things much easier. Hamsa no longer feels as if she’s letting the community down. She knows what she created will continue on, in hands she trusts.
Mulhern and Felicetta will be renaming the space “Co*Lab Lounge.” Their vision is to keep the space’s spirit alive through a continuation of The Listening Sessions as well as other live performances.
They plan to transform the gallery into a boutique event space, catering to a variety of community needs and private events, such as small weddings, birthdays, art openings, rocket launch gatherings, and more.
Doors should reopen this October.
As Hamsa looks back on the legacy her lounge will leave behind, one memory in particular sticks out to her. It was opening night. Mulhern was playing the cello. Hamsa was doing a live pour. Unexpectedly, unplanned, the musician and the artist began to move and create in sync, as if they were the two halves of a symbiotic relationship.
The music flowed with the paint as it poured from Hamsa’s hands. Hamsa’s art took on life according to the rhythm of Jen’s strings. It is something the two, and those who witnessed it, still talk about to this day.
“We don’t know how that happened,” Hamsa recalls. “It just did, and it was magical.”
And like that moment, with unquestioned trust between the creators, The Art Lounge will flow into a new era. It will take on a new life as it moves from the hands of the artist to the guardianship of the cellist.
The space will change. The art will change. Even the name will change.
But the community Hamsa built will remain at its heart, with Mulhern carrying it forward.