Statewide Arts Competition 

Progressive Reception Oct. 5, 2:00-3:00 then 3:30-5:00 PM 

Every year the people of Georgetown come together to celebrate artists from far and wide during the month of October.

With artwork displayed in downtown Georgetown, viewers can “hop” across the square to enjoy diverse pieces created by artists who live all over the state, from north of Dallas to east of Houston, along the border and places west. 

Georgetown Art Works’s Art Hop begins with a Call for Art open to Texas artists age 16 and over. We encourage all artists to submit their works.

When all the entries are in, they are rated by an independent Jury, and outstanding works in four separate categories are chosen for the exhibit. The very best works of art in each category and across the whole exhibit are awarded cash and other prizes totaling more than $3,000.

Ten-Year Anniversary Exhibit 

Artist Reception: August 19, 4-6 PM

Artist Talk: August 20, 2:00 PM

About The Artist:

The work of Houston-based artist Laura Spector was shown as the inaugural exhibit of the Georgetown Art Center when it opened its doors in October 2013. Aptly labeled as our “Ten Year Anniversary Exhibit”, Laura’s August-September showing at the Art Center will present a sampling of her nationally and internationally acclaimed work.

Laura is perhaps best known for her Museum-Anatomy project which began in 1996, where she collaborated with museum curators in 16 countries searching for hidden, stolen, lost, and destroyed paintings to be re-contextualized in paint onto the human body and made permanent through photography.

Widely honored, Laura is currently an Artist-in-Residence recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation and teaches art at the School of Continuing Studies at Rice University, The High School for Performing and Visual Art, and private studio lessons.

Photographic Interpretations and Personality 

Artist Reception: July 8, 4-6 PM

Artist Talk: July 9, 2:00 PM

About The Artist:

At her core, Sydney Paige Richardson is a creator, a storyteller. Her work focuses on her emotional responses to occurrences in life. Her goal is to create work that explores emotions, bends reality, and creates new worlds. She primarily shoots in her backyard or fields near her house. Using compositing in Photoshop, she moves the subject into worlds she creates by piecing together other photographs she has taken. For her, it’s like building a puzzle that only she knows how to finish. She creates other realms through this conceptual portraiture and adds textures to give each piece a painterly, timeless feel. Her work allows others to dive into a story, reflect on the beauty of emotions, and discover the magical possibilities of where our minds can take us.

Sydney resides in Round Rock with her husband, where they foster and foster-to-adopt teens in the foster care system. They currently have two sassy kids and three slightly oversized cats.

Woven Images Using Paper and Watercolor 

Artist Reception: Jun 3, 4-6 PM

Artist Talk: Jun 4, 2:00 PM

About The Artist:

While most of the work of Cynthia Reid has been in watercolor, she also works with graphite, ink, collage, and most recently, paper weaving, a medium that began as something new for her to explore during the pandemic.

Cynthia’s love of paper weaving—and the possibilities it presented—bloomed as she discovered beautiful handmade papers from around the world. Cynthia especially likes weaving those papers with her own watercolors, as shown here in one of the works that will exhibit at the Art Center.

Born in New York City and raised nearby, Cynthia later moved to Texas where she completed her formal training in art and worked as a high school art teacher before retiring to continue a life of making and teaching art. Her works on paper have been shown nationally and internationally.

Abstract Moments in Time 

Artist Reception: May 6, 4-6 PM

Artist Talk: May 7, 2:00 PM

Empty Spaces is a collection of recent paintings by Georgetown artist, Diane Sandlin. A metaphorical landscape, both internal and external, is explored through her abstract mixed media compositions. Inspired by observations, remembered or imagined, and distilled to their essence, the result is akin to a visual poem or haiku, a place empty of clutter resulting in quiet wholeness.

A quest for truth and meaning has led Diane in her exploration of the ordinary and an appreciation of the beauty right before our eyes. In a style that’s both minimal and energetic, gritty and sensitive, she offers the viewer an opportunity to see more deeply. Reading into her paintings reveals a nuanced play with lines, textures, and translucent layers evoking a storied past. She believes well-composed abstract art is based in truth and then offers interpretations, much like jazz begins with a beat and improvises.

While some are uncomfortable with an empty void (or time), Diane sees it as an opportunity to observe, reflect and find solace, perhaps discovering new meaning in paused moments. In this sense, these interludes are free of constraints and full of possibilities.

Diane paints from the personal – her observations, thoughts, memories – in an open way to appeal to the universal in all of us. An overriding belief is that we are more alike than different and through art, we may find a way to communicate more fully.

About The Artist:

Abstract painter Diane Sandlin’s background has meandered from a creative childhood in a small Texas town to living in picturesque Rhineland Germany, a degree from UT Austin, followed by a corporate career centered in Dallas and San Francisco where she specialized in risk management. 

Returning to Austin, Diane immersed herself in art, first with textiles, which later evolved into the mixed media paintings that will be on display at the Art Center. Her self-directed art education includes ongoing explorations with other artists and teachers and many hours of painting. 

Diane lives and creates in her Georgetown studio, a base from which she continues to participate and learn while honing her craft

Extolling the Allure of the Xeric Botanicals 

Artist Reception: Mar 18, 4-6 PM

Artist Talk: Mar 19, 2:00 PM

About The Artist:

The artwork of Anna Lisa Leal embodies the resplendent patterns of nature and particularly botanicals, which she portrays almost exclusively in soft pastels. For her, the brilliance of the pastel pigments allows her to represent the powerful impact that the colors of nature and its inhabitants have on her soul.

Like almost all her work since 2013, Anna Lisa’s paintings on exhibit at the Art Center will reflect nature’s captivating beauty and her artistic mission to transport nature’s beautiful design to indoor living spaces. 

Frequent subjects of her work, the various floral and animal inhabitants of the Southwest such as Big Bend, New Mexico, and Arizona reflect her Texas heritage growing up on the Texas/Mexico border.

A Retrospective Journey 

Artist Reception: Feb 11, 4-6 PM

Artist Talk: Feb 12, 2:00 PM

Exhibit Statement:

“The old bridge at Rowe Valley was rickety but we had used it before and hauled a trailer full of horses across it. After a while, the county finally repaired it and posted a sign on the bridge that said, ‘Limited Loads.’ We had used it for years, but now I actually thought about the risk, even though the bridge was new. So the bridge became a metaphor for aging, life, beauty, and taking chances, but especially a metaphor for fear. To reach our destination, we have to let go of our fear and try not to think about it so much.”

Artist Statement:

A life lived and viewed through layers of years...

Painting the perception, the responses, the experiences of life.

A simple “putting down” of these on paper or canvas.

The painting sometimes surprises, or saddens, sometimes laughter is evoked.

Dialogue between painter and painting...sometimes a painful partnership,

But always rewarding.

About The Artist:

Born in Duncan, Oklahoma on May 30, 1930, Carol moved to Austin, Texas in 1938, and lived south of the Colorado River where her parents operated a wholesale greenhouse business. This contact with the land nurtured artistic beginnings.

In 1951, Carol married William Young Light. The birth of two sons followed while Carol worked in the applied arts as a floral designer. In 1969, the family moved to a small hilltop farm in Walberg, Texas and Carol began painting. 

In the early 1980s, Carol made a full-time commitment to study, learn and grow as a painter.  Carol is known for her abstract work in mixed media on paper and canvas, handmade paper, and collage. In 2018, Carol’s exhibit “Ebb and Flow: 50 Years of Painting and Drawing”, showed at the Georgetown Public Library.