We are proud to be co-sponsor for the new music festival NacoPalozza Music Fest and Pub Crawl coming to downtown on Saturday, November 15, 5-11pm. Tickets are available here: https://givebutter.com/kUb8rd.
An innovative date-night activity is coming this November to the NAC Annex – it’s the ART CAFE: Where Creativity Meets Community! Just like a cafe… but with art supplies! Beginning November 9 and continuing Thursdays 5-7 PM & Sundays 2-4 PM. Imagine walking into your favorite cafe, but instead of just ordering coffee, you’re served premium art supplies and endless creative possibilities without the cleanup! Choose your medium and then make a reservation online. One of our talented community artists will be there to offer gentle guidance along the way. Book your spot today and come make art!
Once again we are hosting the Winter Workshop and Holiday Vendor Fair around the square downtown Nac from 10-2 before the Christmas Parade on December 6. We already have 40 vendors signed up and are still accepting vendor applications until we run out of space! Kids activities, food trucks! Make plans to attend!
BLOOM: Flower and the Human Spirit, paintings by Jim Leysath and ceramics by Maggie Leysath continues Saturdays 11-4 through November 29, or by appointment. You don’t want to miss this wonderful artistic collaboration at the Falling Star Gallery. Closing reception Saturday, November 29 1-4pm.
Nacogdoches Arts Collaborative is located inside Williamsburg Plaza, 320 North Street. Falling Star Gallery @ NAC is in Suite 306 and is open Saturdays from 11-4 or by appointment by texting 917-209-1050. We are also an easy walk from downtown at 415 N. Fredonia Street, one block north of the Fredonia Hotel. The NAC Annex is at 141 Walker Avenue behind the Fredonia Brewery.
November Artist Spotlight – Meet Jim Leysath!
Jim Leysath (pronounced “Lye-sick”) is a gifted painter whose talent was undiscovered until he was 60 years old. Jim is a special needs person whose work you may have seen online on Facebook and Instagram as “Jimbo’s Best Life”. He is currently featured, with his sister-in-law and fellow artist Maggie Leysath (profiled in this column in October 2025), in Bloom: Flower & the Human Spirit, running every Saturday at Falling Star Gallery through November 29.
Before the pandemic, Jim was living in a group home in Beaumont, occasionally visiting Maggie and his brother Charlie in Nacogdoches. In 2020, Jim decided he wanted to live here and his family accommodated him. Maggie is a ceramicist with a home studio and when Jim moved in, she was also teaching arts education at SFA. “His arrival dovetailed with my art classes,” she said. Maggie took her brother-in-law under her wing and showed him how to paint. “We are a team,” Jim said, fist-bumping Maggie’s hand. Under her guidance, Jim’s long-hidden talent for painting has blossomed.
Jim’s first works were of Caddo pow-wows. Shaun Roberts, who teaches painting at SFA, offered to critique Jim’s work and encouraged him. A trip to the Art Institute of Chicago inspired Jim to paint cityscapes and the Institute’s Van Gogh collection inspired his flower paintings. Current favorites include sunflowers, marigolds and echinacea. But Jim loves all flowers. Charlie says when the Azalea Garden and the campus are in bloom, “we have to stop and take pictures!” Jim often paints from photos.
Despite his artistic gifts, Jim faces many challenges when he works. He has trouble seeing the difference between positive and negative shapes, so it’s hard for him to tell whether something’s in the background or foreground. Maggie helps him block the image in, outlining objects. She mixes the paint for him and then Jim takes over. He works fast, usually in the morning, often completing a medium-sized painting in an hour. In addition to art classes, he has taken speech class at SFA and has submitted work to SFA’s 12×12 scholarship event. Jim considers himself a loyal Lumberjack.
Here are Jim’s words of encouragement to anyone who wants to paint:
“Don’t give up! That is the first thing.”
“Focus and concentrate.”
“You can always paint over a mistake.”
“Keep learning. I just learned how to do drybrushing.”
Jim’s paintings and his social media pages have created a following for him. Collectors are buying his works. In 2023, his art was shown at the Museum of East Texas in Lufkin. Jim has 11 paintings in Bloom: Flower & the Human Spirit. “And all of them are for sale,” Jim said with a smile.*
* Jim sold NINE out of eleven paintings in the current show at the opening reception!