Over 40 young people took part in the 15th Junior Jacks Theatre Camp. Both closing performances were well attended and enthusiastically received. The partnership with LampLite Theatre was a smashing success and will continue in the future.
Downtown Nacogdoches will host the Old Town Rig Down, scheduled for Friday & Saturday, September 15-16. This 2nd year event has amazing big rig trucks parked all over the brick streets with light shows each evening. A concert will also take place in the park. NAC will be hosting vendors in Mast Hall and displaying photos taken by noted photographer Wendy Floyd, taken at last year’s event. Stop by and sign up to win a prize!
Over 50 vendors have signed up for ArtFest Nacogdoches, Saturday, September 23 from 11am-4pm downtown Nac on the square. There will be live entertainment, food trucks and lots of local artists on display. Vendor and volunteer information can be found on the ArtFest 2023 Facebook page or www.nacartscollab.com. This event is cosponsored by the Nacogdoches Public Library.
The Haden Edwards House is hosting their second gallery show opening Saturday, September 23 from 6-8pm, following ArtFest. This lovely Rulfs-built Victorian Airbnb is located at 106 N. Lanana Street. Artists on display include Michelle Filer, Ruby Woodard, Ryan Talley, Carol Eaton Walsh and Marcia Lyons.
SEPTEMBER ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
Meet artist and teacher Victoria DeBlase!
Victoria is a Nacogdoches artist currently specializing in bookbinding and creating stunning marbled paper with watercolors. You may have seen her journals and her paper for sale at ArtWalk and ArtFest. She laughed when showing the great variety of colors and patterns in her work. “Creating marbled paper, it’s like Christmas. You never know what you’re gonna get!”
This retired art teacher has worked in a variety of media over the years, including but not limited to ceramics, quilting, and puppet making. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Victoria first came to East Texas as a young married mother. She eventually earned her Master’s from SFA with a thesis on art education and taught art in Nac for seven years. But after her children were grown, Victoria found herself single and dreaming of adventure. So she took a job with the Department of Defense, teaching art in schools overseas. She lived abroad for 20 years: Bermuda, Turkey, Germany, Crete and Italy. During her sojourn in Turkey, Victoria was introduced to the techniques for marbling paper. “I learned from Hikmet Berutcugil, a renowned master marbler with a studio in a hotel next to the Topkapi Palace. It was fascinating and I got hooked.” Victoria’s interest in bookbinding arose organically. “Once I had all this fanciful paper, I looked for ways to use it and handmade journals were an obvious choice.”
When asked what makes an artist, Victoria responded, “I think that loving art is the first step to creating it. I think everybody has a creative gift of some kind and sadly, many people bury it or it gets beaten out of them in some way. But there is tremendous pleasure in creating something and even more pleasure when someone admires it and appreciates what you’ve done. I’ve always loved making art. I have to be working on something or producing something to feel like I’ve properly used my day. And at 81, I’m still enjoying that pleasure.”