AN OPEN-DOOR INVITATION

Artists from around the Dripping Springs area opened their doors this past weekend for the second annual West of Weird Art Tour, sponsored by the Dripping Springs Art League (DSAL). Nearly 40 different artists participated in the event, which invited members of the community to visit their stores or private studios.

“The artists appreciated the connection and sharing with art admirers and buyers alike,” DSAL president Steve Friedman said. “The tour continues to grow as word spreads around the region.”

Artist Lari Rogge, from Goat of Many Colors, was participating for the second year in a row. She’s a retired educator and longtime quilter who decided to branch out into wearable art forms.

“I started weaving almost three years ago, taking lessons with Kathy Utts at the Wimberley Valley Sayori,” Rogge said. “Then I decided I wanted to incorporate this into bag making. I like to use pieces for pockets or sides or different things. I love leather, so I kind of put it together.”

Rogge said she loves weaving because it’s so much quicker than quilting, and then you get to make things out of it, which is its own challenge. She said no two pieces are ever alike, even with the same pattern and colors, because each piece reflects how she felt when she was weaving.

“I love color and texture and the opportunity to use lots of different fibers and yarns together to make something,” Rogge said. “I like getting a whole big crayon box, essentially, of colors together and going to town with it.”

Goat of Many Colors isn’t usually open to the public, but her bags are available on her website. Rogge said she is also happy to open up for people upon request.

“I’m out here most every day during the week working in my studio,” Rogge said. “Having been in education, I like to teach, I love to talk to people, and I’m happy to have people come over.”

Winehouse on Old Fitzhugh Road was also a stop on the West of Weird Art Tour this year, and artist Devon Austin was exhibiting her wares there.

Austin started doing photography when she was 17 years old, and kept it up as a hobby during a 47-year career with a school district. She traveled a lot, and many of her shots are from South Africa, Thailand, Germany, Japan, Spain, Portugal and other places.

“Two summers ago, I found a box of five thousand slides that I had taken,” Devon said. “I just looked at one and then went through all of them, and I said, you know what, I need to do this again.”

So she started combining her art with her photos.

“I just started overlaying other pieces of images that I own on top of each other,” Austin said.

She uses a variety of editing techniques, and she also makes her own frames.

“I try to carry the themes out so that people are not just buying art. They’re buying part of me,” Austin said.

Another stop on the tour was The Shops at Mars Beads, which is located in Oakwood Plaza, on RR 12 just south of 290. Owner Carolyn Roach said she started the store in Mars, Pennsylvania almost 20 years ago, and brought it with her when she moved to Texas 14 years ago.

She’s been in Dripping Springs for about seven years now, and has added two shops to the business - Fourth Rock Records and Two Moons Art Gallery - which are both also Mars-related names. They used to be on 290, but relocated last year and now are located a little off the beaten path - which may be fitting.

“We just like the unusual here,” Roach said. “And we try to support local artists and musicians through our shops, which we feel is important for the community.”

Roach, who is an expert beader, enjoys teaching classes at the shop as well.

“I love working with different artists because I feel like you can learn a new skill from somebody else, and I love to share,” Roach said.

At least once a month, the Shops at Mars Bead also have live music performances, and like the store, the offerings are full of variety.

“Last weekend we had Irish folk music, and the time before that, I had a country guy with a stand up bass,” Roach said. “I’ve had a band from the high school - Black Cat Crossing - that was playing Jimi Hendrix. And I have the Dream Miners, who play post punk kind of stuff. So it’s all over the place.”

DSAL has already set the date for next year’s West of Weird Art Tour. It will be held February 27-28, 2027. For more information on DSAL or its other art events, visit www.artindripping.com.