Kate Kemp

He walked toward me in paint-splattered Docs with a camera slung over one shoulder. "I'm sorry I'm late," he said with a sincere smile, adjusting the strap, "I got sidetracked by the amazing clouds and had to stop to take some pictures."

The night had been a strange one for Dallasites. Sirens were wailing as tornadoes touched down across the metroplex. I was certainly more worried about having to find a tub to hide in than anyone being a few minutes late due to inspiration. Luckily, the storm settled long enough for me to get a glimpse at Kevin Obregon's integral role in growing the Dallas art community.

Oak Cliff resident and co-owner of the Cube Creative, Obregon realized the power of art as a communication tool at a very young age. "One day, my dad drove by a construction site and all I could see were these yellow arms over the top of my car door window. They were kooky looking and I stood up in the seat to see. I couldn't communicate what they were. I could only point. So my dad took a piece of paper out of the glove box and I drew what turned out to be a Ditch Witch - some construction tractor. He kept it on the fridge. It was the first picture I'd used to communicate. I'd always drawn bicycles and rabbits and whatever else, but this was the first time we really communicated on that level. And I pretty much never stopped."

The Che Guevara of the art community, Obregon not only communicates through his own art, he also inspires other artists and art lovers to get involved, demand attention and do whatever it takes to be seen, heard and respected. While some were complaining that Seventh Street in Oak Cliff wasn't much to look at, Obregon was working on a mural project designed to unite artists in order to beautify the dilapidated buildings. Thanks to Obregon's contribution (Octopop) and the work of several other artists, a previously negligible part of Oak Cliff has become a tourist attraction.

The Seventh Street mural project is just a sliver of what Obregon has done to help foster the Dallas art scene. He's also working on two books, Art Conspiracy 6, The Art of Skateboarding, Tree Carving at La Reunion, a collaboration with the Trammel Crow museum, Cliff Walls: a project focusing on encouraging, preserving and documenting murals, and the list goes on. "If I were just doing one thing, I don't think I'd be happy. I need to take challenges."

Obregon sees Dallas as fertile ground for creativity and gives us our own challenge: to keep each other in check so we don't lose our artistic momentum. "There's something magical about the fact that at the same time as being a metropolitan city with lots of glass and class and big hair and glamour, we have a nice counter-balance to that. There's a straight level vibrancy that equates to New York and that musical, hippie, do it yourself revolutionary vibe that most people associate with Austin, but that has become very stale in Austin. It's still very new here and no one is cracking that whip except for us to each other."

Whether he's creating, inspiring or curating art, Kevin is always tapped in to the electrical current pulsing through Dallas. He finds inspiration everywhere, from tornado clouds to warehouse walls. To keep in touch with his latest endeavors, fan The Cube Creative on Facebook.