Round Top Art Festival featured juried works by local and international artists. (Photo by Kolton King)
Round Top has added a new festival to its ever-growing art scene. The inaugural Round Top Art Festival was held The Compound this fall, luring more than 60 juried artists from local Texas towns and countries around the globe along with live music, a full bar and food trucks.
The festival showcased artists working in nearly every medium imaginable, including photography, sculpture, ceramics, linoleum printmaking, painting, metalworking, and fiber arts. The artists themselves were on hand for the entirety of the event to speak with attendees about their materials, techniques, and inspiration.
Véronique DuPont’s bold and bright contemporary landscape paintings evoke the countryside of her native France. Janvier Ngamije learned basketweaving from his mother as a child in Rwanda. Using natural dyes, sisal fiber and sweetgrass, he weaves ornamental bowls that are as beautiful as they are useful.
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Audrey Caylor, Sandy Parham. (Photo by Kolton King)
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Round Top Art Festival. (Photo by Kolton King)
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Round Top Art Festival. (Photo by Kolton King)
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Jordan Geibel and Paloma. (Photo by Kolton King)
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Lizzie Darwin. (Photo by Kolton King)
Artist Richard Hamilton of Texas Trash & Treasures uses a handheld plasma cutter to make freehand cuts into upcycled and vintage metal vessels. The results are stunning luminaries that can be used both inside and outside the home.
Raylee Schobel – a self-confessed bird-obsessive – got into linocut printing during the pandemic. She carves intricate and very realistic images of birds and nature into linoleum panels which she then prints onto paper and even clothing, adorning upcycled thrift finds with fabric panels printed with her linocut birds.
Julia McLaurin – who calls her work “pop art ceramics” – creates truly delightful pieces: Very realistic doughnuts, ice cream cones, and Pop-Tarts and hugely oversized Lucky Charms cereal bits or Goldfish crackers, the latter two displayed as wall art. Her work is bright, fun, and inspired a lot of smiles.
Alan Jacobs’ creates his Stone Impressions jewelry at his Memphis, Tennessee studio. His breathtaking work features geodes and polished semi-precious stones, many of them uncommon, each one of his pieces unique and beautiful.
Admission was free to the event and a portion of proceeds were donated to ARTS for Rural Texas. Learn more about their mission, here. The Round Top Art Festival will be held twice-yearly in May and November, bringing the finest and most diverse collection of art and artists to town. Stay tuned here for information about the next Round Top Art Fest.