Upcoming events.
Candle Magic: A Botanical Candle-Making Party for Connection, Creativity & Collective Visioning
About the Series
At Barrio Pop Studio, we believe that belonging is more than a feeling—it’s a radical act of co-creation. Belonging Futures is a 7-part series of intimate, ticketed candle-making workshops designed to explore healing, memory, and cultural roots through scent and botanical craft.
Hosted at Monica’s Porch, each 2-hour session is a sensory experience where scent becomes a language of connection. Participants will work with natural materials—coconut soy wax, botanicals, and essential oils—to create their own candles while engaging in reflection, storytelling, and intention-setting rooted in Latinx traditions.
This is more than a craft class. It’s a communal ritual. A celebration of creativity, healing, and futures we imagine together.
The Scent Fair
Thursday, November 14 | 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
The series will culminate in a Scent Fair—a public gathering celebrating the intersection of scent, memory, and art. The fair will showcase three Austin-based contemporary artists working with fragrance and healing in their visual practices. This closing event invites the community to explore scent as a storytelling medium and cultural archive.
Facilitator
Carlos Moreno, founder of Barrio Pop Studio, brings over a decade of experience in arts-based healing, museum education, and candle design. This series is a synthesis of his passions for ritual, fragrance, and cultural memory.
Ticket Info Coming Soon
Supported By
This workshop series is made possible with support from the City of Austin Office of Arts, Culture, Music, and Entertainment. Special thanks to Monica’s Porch for hosting.
Scent Fair Austin
Scent Fair Austin
An Art and Olfaction Experience
Date: Friday, November 14, 2025
Time: 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Location: TBA, Austin, Texas
Admission: Free and open to the public
About the Event
Scent Fair Austin is a one‑night contemporary art and fragrance experience curated by Barrio Pop Studio. This immersive, multisensory gathering explores scent as a tool for storytelling, ancestral memory, and cultural belonging.
Through scent‑based installations, visual art, botanical materials, and ritual, the fair invites attendees to experience olfaction as both medium and message. Rooted in Latinx traditions yet oriented toward new futures, Scent Fair highlights material experimentation and alternative sensory narratives in art.
Featured Artist: Paloma Mayorga
Paloma Mayorga is a Mexican American interdisciplinary artist and curator based in Austin, Texas. Working across photography, video, performance, and installation—and often using her own body as medium—she investigates movement, place, and identity in relation to land and ancestral plant knowledge.
Shaped by road trips between Austin and Mexico City, Mayorga’s practice is grounded in memories of the plants that filled her grandmothers’ gardens, kitchens, and home remedies. Centering Latinx ecofeminist perspectives, she works with transient materials such as gelatin and fresh botanicals to surface “botanical wisdom”: intergenerational knowledge passed down through women for healing and survival.
Her exhibitions include ArtPrize (Grand Rapids), Artpace (San Antonio), The Contemporary Austin, and Big Medium. Awards include the Emerging Artist Award from the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center and Best Visual Artist in the Austin Chronicle Reader’s Poll. In 2022 she inaugurated Yo trabajo con la tierra / I work with the earth, a curatorial project foregrounding ecofeminist art practices.
What to Expect
Scent‑driven installations by Paloma Mayorga
Highlights from the Candle Magic candle‑making workshop series
Custom candles and apothecary goods by Barrio Pop Studio
Botanical artworks and sensory rituals
Community space with music and light refreshments
Event Details
Venue: TBA
Date: Friday, November 14, 2025
Time: 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Admission: Free and open to the public
RSVP: Coming soon
Partners and Supporters
This event is presented by Barrio Pop Studio with support from
City of Austin Office of Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment
Bawi Agua Fresca
Monica’s Porch
About Barrio Pop Studio
Barrio Pop Studio is a Latinx‑owned art and apothecary project blending contemporary art, scent, and culture. Through handmade candles, public programs, and community events, Barrio Pop honors Latinx traditions while pushing the boundaries of sensory expression.