Celebrate the Month of the Arts in Georgetown this October

Celebrate Month of the Arts in Georgetown this October

Sep 21, 2023

Announcing South Main Arts Festival headliner Guy Forsyth

The City of Georgetown is celebrating the Month of the Arts this October with several events for our residents and visiting art lovers.

Oct. 12 | Brown Bag Luncheon: The Importance of Texas Cultural Districts

The City will host the quarterly Arts and Culture Brown Bag Luncheon Oct. 12.

Ernest Luna, Cultural District Program Administrator for the Texas Commission on the Arts, will present on the value of Texas Cultural Districts and the opportunities available to these special districts.

The meeting begins at noon in the Friends Room at the Georgetown Public Library, 402 W. Eighth St. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunch. There will be time after the discussion to share and learn about arts and culture programs happening in the Georgetown Community.

This quarterly professional development presentation is sponsored by the Georgetown Arts and Culture program. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to arts@georgetown.org.

Oct. 19 | Autumn Art Stroll & City project open house

Patrons are invited to engage in arts experiences from 4-8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19, at various locations across the Downtown Georgetown Cultural District. Experiences include artist demonstrations and an artist talk, art exhibits, live music, performing arts, and art shopping opportunities.

During the Art Stroll, the 2023 Georgetown Sculpture Tour award winners will be announced at 7 p.m. in the South Main Arts District, 817 S. Main St.

Members of the public also will be able to learn more about and provide feedback on three projects that are critical to the development of downtown: The Downtown Master Plan, the Austin Avenue Corridor Study, and the Austin Avenue Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridges. Join City staff and consultants from 4 to 7 p.m. in the lobby of the Georgetown Public Library, 402 W. Eighth St.

Residents who attend the open house will also have an opportunity to learn more about the four propositions the City will have on the November 2023 ballot.

Oct. 20 | Haunted Art Night

From 6-9 p.m. Oct. 20, celebrate Haunted Art Night in the South Main Arts District with a Haunted Art House presented by Sonia Colonna-Mathis at Grace Chapel. At 8 p.m., watch a screening of the 1922 silent Dracula film in the South Main Arts District Park accompanied by Central Texas Philharmonic.

Oct. 21 | South Main Arts Festival

Celebrate Georgetown’s second annual South Main Arts Festival dedicated to the fine arts and located in the new South Main Arts District—a project that received Cultural District grant funding from the Texas Commission on the Arts.

The headlining musician will be Guy Forsyth, Texas Commission on the Arts Touring Roster Artist. Forsyth, an award-winning blues musician, will perform from 5-6:30 p.m. in the South Main Arts District. The City’s Arts and Culture program received grant funding from the TCA to bring Forsyth to Georgetown to perform at the festival.

Shop the juried artist booths for a variety of artistic media while viewing the community-led mural painting. Enjoy food trucks, live music, and ribbon dancers throughout the day, as well as children’s art activities and pottery by Cordovan Art School, an outdoor theatrical performance, and more.

For more information about this and other Arts and Culture events, visit our webpage here.

Oct. 19 & 21 | Water conservation events

The City of Georgetown’s Water Conservation team is looking to bring awareness to the importance of water and sustainable watering through two opportunities, planned in conjunction with the arts events.

Ten rain barrels painted by area artists will be displayed at local businesses and City facilities in the downtown area Oct. 10-21 as part of the second annual Painted Rain Barrel Project. The vibrant, painted rain barrels will be up for auction during that week, and people can place bids via a QR code. Proceeds from the auction will go toward water conservation education and outreach efforts in our local school systems.

Additionally, in efforts to spread more awareness and promote community engagement about water conservation, the Water Conservation team will also be hosting its second Imagine a Day Without Water event on Oct. 19.

Water plays a vital role in our daily lives, and this event is designed to bring awareness to what life would be like without water. Downtown businesses will have free swag available, and people can enter a raffle to win a chance for themed giveaways.

Zoee Xiao Artworks

 

Zoee Xiao Artworks

Watercolor paintings

Zoee is a watercolor painter, focusing in a minimalist and impressionist style. Art and nature has been an important part of her life since a young age. She grew up in a beautiful southern town in China and was trained under a sumi-e painter at a young age. After growing up, she moved to the United States to study animation and computer graphics in University of Pennsylvania, and then started working as a gaming software engineer after graduation.
But her love for art continued strongly. She spent years developing her artist career while working as a full time engineer. The eastern and western influence on her moved her to incorporate minimalist eastern aesthetic into colorful western aesthetic. The process of making art also helped her tremendously when dealing with stress and depression from her engineer job. Now she is a full time artist, she wants to channel such healing power to her audience through her art, helping them ease the stress and pain in the modern life.

Jennifer Leigh Warner – Experience Wildlife

 

Experience Wildlife

Photography

My art is meant to inspire hope for the natural world. To get the viewer to care about the animals and places on this planet with the hope that they will want to save these places. People will only care about what they know and save what they care about and if my art can get people to care than we are one step further to saving this planet.

 

BrunkyArt – Fine Art by Jason Wallerstein

 

BrunkyArt – Fine Art by Jason Wallerstein

Acrylics on panel

BrunkyArt offers colorful prints & paintings that celebrate the flora and fauna of the Texas Hill Country by Austin Artist, Jason Wallerstein.  Originally from South Florida, Jason loves to create paintings, murals, linocut and other relief prints, sculptures, costumes & much more with a theme which focuses on his surrounding locale and adventurous encounters. Now residing in Cedar Park, Texas Jason Wallerstein’s artwork is meant to share his love for all things Texas and the outdoors.

Leigh Ann Torres

 

Leigh Ann Torres

Acrylics, charcoal, and graphite

Leigh Ann Torres is an artist living and working in Austin, TX. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art from the University of Texas at Austin. Leigh Ann has shown her work at the Downtowner Gallery and the Georgetown Art Center, and her drawings grace the labels of wines from Wautoma Springs Wines, a boutique winery in Prosser, Washington. Leigh Ann experiments with painting still lives and arrangements that catch her eye, finding beauty and the complexity of that which sits right in front of her.

Max Taylor Studios

 

Max Taylor Studios

Oil Paintings

Max has been dubbed by his closest friends as “the happy painter” for a reason.  He loves what he does, and he loves people.  Max painted in oils at a very young age, Jr. High, and gave it up quickly due to frustration.  At the ripe old age of 69, he took up the brush again and never looked back.  His goal in his paintings is to bring the viewer to an old fond memory or to a place longed for. Max loves to paint what he loves… from the woods and the mountains of Appalachia where he camped with his four sons to the swamplands of Louisiana where he roamed every summer visiting his grandmother.  And of course, he cannot leave out his beloved Texas.  “If the subject means nothing to me, I cannot paint it. It must first be in my heart for it to show up on my canvas.”

Jenny Reacer – Carvel Vintage

 

Jenny Reacer – Carvel Vintage

Mixed Media and Found Objects

Carvel Vintage was born in 2012 after realizing I needed to pull my weight to help the world keep trash out of landfills. I decided to make art that had dual function, sculpture and lighting. As you will view in my online galleries, I will use anything that is considered obsolete or about to be discarded to create my artistic lighting but I prefer to work with metal. My pieces are reasonably priced as I feel everyone should have access to affordable art.

Each piece made is one of a kind. Techniques used are welding, dry joining, soldering, cutting, heating or other manipulation to achieve the desired design. Every step of the making process is completed solely by myself, from cleaning off rust and grease to design to welding and connecting new electrical components. Aside from making and selling, it is my goal to inspire others to “Think Before You Toss” items into the garbage. I also encourage young women(such as my 5 nieces) to have confidence in their abilities to be a creative entrepreneur!

Aaron Porter – Damon Arts

Aaron Porter – Damon Arts

Acrylic Paintings

Aaron grew up drawing prolific piles of characters from his imagination. He and his father Dare would spend hours together exploring the properties of different mediums, from ink to sidewalk chalk, building blocks to fogged up mirrors. Everything held the potential for creative expression, a philosophy that Aaron has kept close as an adult.

After 14 years in New Orleans, showing his work on Jackson Square in the heart of the French Quarter Aaron relocated to Austin, TX in 2022.

Bill O’Meara

 

Bill O’Meara

Mixed Media

“Getting out and exploring this country, especially Texas and the Midwest gives me a window to the past and the things that pull on my heartstrings. Everything has beauty and sometimes just needs a little effort and creativity to make it special again. Through my artwork I blend a modern feel with traditional elements and themes. Paying tribute to our roots reminds us to slow down and helps us reconnect with what matters most.”