Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana & Oscar Munoz Tagliabue.
Hi Dana & Oscar, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
We are Oscar and Dana, co-founders of Altar Aqua Studio and husband and wife for 18 years – although sometimes we feel our story may have started many lifetimes ago. We have lived in The Woodlands for the past six years, and Altar Aqua is very much a family business. Our children are also part of the studio, and we feel incredibly fortunate that all four of them have always been close to the arts (two of them are musicians).
Art has also been part of our own lives from the beginning.
Dana – “Thanks to my parents, I grew up surrounded by musicians, painters, sculptors, writers, and constant conversations about creativity and culture”.
Oscar’s connection to art began very early as well. At 18, he started selling fine art to help pay for his architecture studies, so in many ways, art helped fund the education that would later keep him connected to architecture, design, and the visual arts
We lived in Oaxaca, Mexico, for five years, and that experience deeply influenced us. Oaxaca is a place where art and culture are woven into everyday life – through textiles, painting, sculpture, music, food, architecture, traditions, and community. It became a refuge for us, and we wanted to create, in a small way, something inspired by what had helped us heal, evolve, and stay connected to creativity.
That is how Altar Aqua Studio was born.
It is not a gallery, a design studio, or an event space in the traditional sense – and yet, somehow, it is all those things. It is a meeting place where architecture, design, painting, sculpture, textile art, music, theater, poetry, writing, handmade jewelry, crochet, macrame, photography, flower printing, handmade paper, storytelling, culinary arts, and other forms of human creativity can coexist and manifest.
One day there may be a visual arts exhibition; another day, a fundraising event where the community gathers around art and a local cause. The next could be a culinary experience with live music, an artist pop-up, or a quiet morning meeting with a family imagining the home they have always dreamed of building.
Somewhere along the way, the space itself became part of the art. Not only the main studio, but even the bathrooms and kitchen became part of the experience. In fact, the kitchen has become one of the most loved spaces at Altar Aqua – sometimes nobody wants to leave it! People are already asking us to make it bigger so we can welcome more guests and create more culinary experiences. That investment may have to wait a little, but it is in the pipeline.
We also bring artists from Oaxaca to Texas to encourage cultural exchange, inspiration, and new collaborations. We hope that, over time, this bridge can grow in both directions and connect even more communities and creative voices.
More than anything, we hope Altar Aqua can become a refuge for the humanities, a home for the arts, and a bridge between people, disciplines, and cultures – a place where creativity can inspire us, connect us, help us evolve, and sometimes even heal us.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
For us, obstacles and challenges are part of evolution. We see them as steps placed in front of us by God, the Universe, the stars, the spirit – whatever name each of us gives to that force greater than ourselves that gives meaning to life and connects with something deeper in the soul.
With the studio, we have had many challenges, and we continue to have them.
The first was simply making the decision to create it. Then came deciding what we wanted the space to be and how we wanted it to feel. But what we imagine is not necessarily what someone else sees or feels when they walk through the door, and that has been fascinating.
Some people immediately fall in love with the studio. For others, it creates almost a creative short circuit.
We welcome both reactions. To us, that is part of what art is supposed to do: make you feel something. There does not have to be judgment attached to that feeling.
We opened Altar Aqua Studio in December 2025, so we are still in our first year. These early months have required a tremendous amount of work to introduce ourselves to the community and help people understand what we are creating. Interestingly, artists seem to find us almost instinctively.
There are also very practical challenges; this has been a difficult year, economically, for many people and carrying the cost of a physical space while building a new concept is a significant responsibility.
Another challenge has been communicating that art is not limited to the visual arts. Music, food, architecture, textiles, theater, poetry, storytelling, and so many other expressions of creativity belong in that conversation too.
And simply explaining what we are creating has been a challenge in and of itself. Altar Aqua does not fit neatly into one category, and sometimes that makes it difficult to describe in just a few words. It is not only a gallery, a design studio, an event space, or a place for performances and culinary experiences – it is where all of those worlds meet.
Helping people understand that vision has been part of the journey.
Even language is, quite literally, another challenge for us. English is our second language, and we know we will continue learning and developing it for many years. Sometimes we are trying to find the right words not only for the language itself, but for a concept that is still evolving as we create it.
And perhaps that is because Altar Aqua is not a finished concept. It is a living one.
Altar Aqua continues to show us what it wants to become, and our job is not only to lead it, but also to listen carefully, remain open, pay attention to the signs, and allow the path to evolve.
We are learning that this is not really about Oscar and Dana, or even about the Munoz Tagliabue family.
It is bigger than us.
The studio becomes what it is through every person who walks through its doors – every artist, musician, maker, visitor, collaborator, entrepreneur, and member of the community who brings something of themselves into the space.
We may have opened the doors, but Altar Aqua is being co-created by everyone who enters.
That realization has been one of the most beautiful parts of this journey: understanding that sometimes the greatest challenge is not controlling what something becomes but trusting it enough to let it grow beyond you.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Altar Aqua Studio is a multidisciplinary creative studio in The Woodlands where different forms of human expression come together under one roof.
Our studio has two main sides. Through our Design & Construction Studio, we co-create with our clients on remodeling projects, custom homes, and natural-light solutions using skylights and windows. Through our Arts Studio, we co-create and host exhibitions, workshops, culinary experiences, classes, intimate events, and community collaborations. Our studio gallery also features local and international art available for purchase, with a special connection to artists and artisans from Oaxaca, Mexico. We see this as another way to bring different cultures, stories, and creative perspectives into our community.
What sets Altar Aqua apart is the way we connect disciplines that are often treated separately. For us, art, architecture, food, music, and design are all part of how people experience a space. We are especially passionate about creating opportunities for local and international artists, makers, teachers, musicians, chefs, entrepreneurs, and small businesses to share what they do. At its core, Altar Aqua is about co-creation, connection, and expanding access to the arts.
We are intentional about keeping the studio flexible. It can become a gallery one day, a classroom the next, a culinary space, or the setting for an intimate event. At the center of it all is our beautiful kitchen, which has naturally become the heart of many of our gatherings, whether we are meeting with clients, artists, collaborators, or members of the community. It is often where conversations begin, ideas are shared, and new projects take shape.
Brand-wise, we are most proud of creating a space that feels personal, welcoming, and collaborative rather than overly commercial. We want people to come not only to see something beautiful, but to participate, learn, create, and experience something different.
More than anything, we want readers to know that Altar Aqua Studio is not simply a venue, gallery, or design company. It is a creative space where different disciplines, cultures, and people can meet in one place.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
We used to think success was much easier to measure.
Revenue. Growth. Projects. Clients.
Those things still matter. A business has to be financially healthy. We have employees, artists, collaborators, a physical space, and responsibilities that depend on that.
But today, we define success differently.
For us, success is when something continues beyond you.
If an artist exhibits at Altar Aqua and someone discovers their work, that is success.
If a musician performs here and meets someone who opens another door for them, that is success.
If two people who probably would never have met find one another at one of our events and create a friendship, a collaboration, or simply a beautiful memory, that is success.
If someone feels something so deeply during one of our events that they are moved to tears, that is success too.
And then there are moments that still surprise us.
A few months ago, two people met at one of our events. They connected. They fell in love. And this August, they got married.
There is something incredibly moving about knowing that a space you created became the place where two lives unexpectedly crossed – and that from one evening, an entirely new story began.
To us, that is success in one of its most beautiful forms.
And if through this space we can touch even one person’s heart – if someone feels seen, inspired, connected, or finds something here that helps them heal – that is success.
If our children look at what we are building and understand that it is possible to create a life around curiosity, creativity, and courage, that is success too.
And yes, success is also being able to pay the rent. Because a beautiful idea has to learn how to survive.
Perhaps that is the definition that feels most true to us today:
Success is creating something with a soul – and building it strongly enough that its soul can survive.
We don’t know exactly what Altar Aqua will look like five or ten years from now. And strangely, we think that is part of the beauty of it.
Water never asks permission to change its shape. It simply continues finding its way.
We hope we can do the same.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.altaraqua.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/altaraquastudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1KFrviNTkY/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@altaraquastudio?si=SpQ-8EVrM-ILzL0Z
- Other: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/121571113217
