Texas Artist Blasts New Austin Coffee Shop For Not Paying Her For A Mural. Then The Coffee Shop Says It's The

A Texas artist blasted a new Austin coffee shop for allegedly not paying her for a mural she worked on. Then, the coffee shop responded, saying that it has nothing to do with the controversy and pointing to the landlord instead.

TikTok creator Eleanor (@atxwitheleanor) posted a video about the situation on Dec. 12. “Niche Austin drama that just hit my desk, because my face is the first three seconds of the video,” Eleanor says to start the video.

The video that Eleanor is referring to was posted by the Instagram account @stinkypumpkin.512. The Google preview for the reel reads, “Holding A Hole Coffee Accountable for Unpaid Artwork.”

What’s Going on Between Artist and Texas Coffee Shop?

It’s unclear why Eleanor’s face is the first three seconds of the Instagram reel, but it’s possible that @stinkypumpkin.512 was using one of Eleanor’s videos to illustrate what coffee shop she was calling out.

Eleanor explains, “There is A Hole Coffee, which is a new coffee shop that just opened up in Austin. It is in a center. This creator … is posting about her mother, who is an artist who [allegedly] did art for the center and for A Hole Coffee. She is saying that A Hole Coffee never paid her mom for her work.”

But there was a problem when the Instagram user tried to prove her case, Eleanor says.

“However, when she posted her receipts, it shows that the pickleball court—or from what A Hole Coffee is saying the center as a whole, or the landlord—is the one who owes her mom money,” she says.

What Does A Hole Coffee Say About All This?

Eleanor points to an Instagram post from A Hole Coffee that vehemently denies the accusation.

“A Hole Coffee put out a whole post about how they didn’t do it,” she says. “And that it’s the landlord. A Hole Coffee says that they hired their own artist, when this artist says that they did work on A Hole’s part of the building.”

On its Instagram page, A Hole Coffee, which is located in the Webberville District at 2312 Morelos Street, posted about the incident on Dec. 9. The message states, “We’ve noticed comments referencing a situation that is not connected to A Hole Coffee or our team. We want to be clear: We have no involvement in any decisions made by other businesses within the Webberville District.”

“We Were Not Part of That Project In Any Way.”

A follow-up post the next day adds more context about the coffee shop’s side of the situation.

“Paintings created on the property were commissioned by our landlords before A Hole Coffee existed or was open for business,” it reads. “The owners of the property are not the owners of the coffee truck. The artist involved has never worked for A Hole Coffee, has no contract or agreement with A Hole Coffee, and we were not part of that project in any way.”

The statement continues, “While we understand and support artists being paid for their work, we cannot take responsibility for a project we were not involved in. Unfortunately, misinformation has led to our small team of owners and baristas being targeted and harassed. Out of concern for our staff’s well-being, we temporarily turned off comments. This was not an admission of guilt, but a way to protect our team from ongoing defamation and personal attacks.”

Patch Texas contacted Eleanor, Webberville District, and A Hole Coffee via email for comment.

@atxwitheleanor