Unleash Your Creativity This Spring Break!
Registration is now open for our 2026 Creativity Camp, happening March 9–13 at the Boys and Girls Club of Nacogdoches! Ages 8-15. Each day, campers will dive into hands-on sessions in art, music, theatre, dance, and creative writing—guided by local artists and educators. Camp runs 9am–5pm daily, making it the perfect full-day creative experience. Cost is $225 for the week. Scholarships are available to ensure everyone can join the fun! Ready to make, move, and imagine? Reserve your spot today and let your creativity shine.
The Falling Star Gallery show Passports: New Work by Art Educators will close on Saturday, February 14 with a reception inside the gallery from 2-4pm. The night before, Friday, February 13 @ 5:30pm, there will be an art talk by two of the educators, Luke Russell and Mandy Clay. They will talk about the inspiration for their work. The Art Talk will be at the NAC Annex, 141 Walker Street (behind the brewery), just a couple of blocks from the gallery. Passports now open every Saturday 11-4.
Calling all vendors! We are gearing up for the 2026 Arts Vendor Fairs starting March 28. Check out the schedule in the nearby box and sign up to be a vendor at these popular markets.
February Artist Spotlight – meet Mandy Clay!
Currently teaching art at Nacogdoches High School, Mandy Clay has a long history of creating: ceramics, painting, even her own paintbrushes. She grew up in and around Nac. Her parents split up when she was little. Dad remained in Nac and her mom moved north to New Boston, Texas. “I also had a grandma in Timpson,” said Mandy. Her dad was artistic in his youth, painting and sculpting, but got no support for it at home. “My grandfather burned my father’s art supplies for entertaining such notions, but that never happened to me. I got encouragement. Art has absolutely been a saving grace for me and for my students’ lives.”
This single mom is one of four artists currently featured in “Passports: New Work by Artist Educators” at the Falling Star Gallery, which opened on January 10. Mandy said, “I hated high school and dropped out, but realized quickly that every job I wanted to apply for required at least an associate’s degree. So I knew I had to go back to school.” After getting her GED, Mandy enrolled in community college and ultimately, transferred to SFA where she earned a BFA and MA in art about ten years ago. “I fell in love with art history, the whole arts scene and with the art professors there.” She also credits her faith for guiding her artistic vision while she navigated through personal trauma and the isolation that came with COVID. “My Saviour was in the Word and the Book of Jeremiah,” Mandy said.
Mandy makes ceramics and also paints, and she points out that her art mostly deals with trauma. The show at Falling Star showcases one ceramic piece of hers, a traditional wedding vessel whose handle is broken and repaired with gold in the Japanese tradition of kintsugi. “It’s a way of highlighting the trauma to the piece and making the broken spot beautiful.”
Mandy makes her own paintbrushes with her own hair. “I love king fu movies and I once saw one called Hero where a character had a paintbrush the size of a mop with long bristles of horse hair and he was teaching traditional calligraphy with it. I wondered how to get a paintbrush like that. The art supply websites had nothing, so I decided I needed a haircut and I made my own gigantic brush with the ends of my hair and a shaft of bamboo.” Some of Mandy’s handmade paintbrushes are also on display at Falling Star. Mandy will be part of the Art Talk scheduled for February 13. The show closes on February 14.
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.