To truly see an artwork — to slow down and allow ourselves to meet it with both a sense of curiosity and vulnerability — requires as much introspection as it does an appreciation of the artist’s technical mastery.
Be sure to visit the last days of Douglas Galloway’s exhibition at MixHaus Gallery, “The Return: A West Texas Retrospective,” through Sunday, Oct. 26, open noon to 4 p.m. at 716 High St. In Comfort. For details, call 830-995-3750 or go to www.mixhausgallery.
com. Galloway’s mixed-media works originate from vivid memories of visiting his father’s family in Sweetwater, Texas, where the red dirt, endless skies and lonely highways etch themselves into one’s soul.
His work facilitates one’s sensory impressions into a visual language of texture and color: layers of clay and rust, pale or vivid washes of light, and the suggestion of distance that evokes both belonging and isolation.
When standing before his panels, one might feel the wind and heat of that land, and sense its emotional weight — the way a landscape can hold both love and loss, both beauty and ache.
When artists mine their personal histories, they often tap into something collective. Galloway’s return to his West Texas roots becomes a mirror for any of us who have wrestled with the contradictions of home — its tenderness and its loss, its pull and its distance.
Art like this does not tell us what to feel; it opens a space where our own stories rise to meet it.
In personal reflections from Gallery Owner and friend, Cara Hines, “In a chaotic digital world, we often forget what it means to stand face-to-face with an original artwork. The scale, the surface, the subtle variations of light and texture; these cannot be fully experienced on screen.
“When we see art in person, we participate in a quiet dialogue with the artist,” Hines says. “We sense their hand, their breath, their human presence. And we find traces of ourselves in the layers they have left behind.”
Hill Country Council for the Arts annual Stocking Stuffer Program
We are again partnering with the Cibolo Creek Quilters Guild to help make Christmas brighter for the women served by the Kendall County Women’s Shelter and the Hill Country Pregnancy Center. Our goal is to fill 150 stockings created by members of the CCQG.
We look to our community businesses to assist with in-kind donations. Individuals can donate $100 to cover the full cost of creating and stuffing a stocking for the annual stocking giveaway. A list of preferred items is provided at the HCCArts website.
HCCA mission
Now in its 24th year, HCCA’s mission is to support and promote the arts in the Texas Hill Country by enhancing awareness, developing opportunities and encouraging financial support — fostering an inclusive environment for artists and the public, promoting arts education through classes and workshops, and building a thriving, accessible arts culture for the community.
Join. Volunteer. Donate.
Refer to our website often, www.hccart.org; follow us on Facebook, like us on Instagram.
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