Dambo troll enchants Austinites at Pease Park

Dambo troll enchants Austinites at Pease Park

March 21, 2024 A friendly troll has taken up residence in Pease Park, and Austin is going troll crazy. Built by Danish recycle artist Thomas Dambo, who dreams up and installs whimsical, wooden trolls at sites all over the world, Malin is Dambo’s latest creation. Commissioned by Pease Park Conservancy ...
Early spring walk at Lady Bird Lake

Early spring walk at Lady Bird Lake

March 01, 2024 The trail around Lady Bird Lake was pink, brown, and blue last weekend. Peach trees were flowering against a bluebird sky. Bald cypresses were biding their time, waiting to be sure all freezes are over. Eager redbuds proclaimed that spring is here. Their pink-and-fuchsia flowers clustered along ...
Evening under the Petals at Blanton Museum

Evening under the Petals at Blanton Museum

July 07, 2023 I’ve been wanting to see the Petals at Austin’s Blanton Museum of Art ever since the flower-shaped shade structures were officially unveiled in May. For one thing, I’m a big fan of shade in Texas. For another, I love public art. The Petals are a grove of ...
Facing history with courage at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice

Facing history with courage at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice

December 13, 2022 During our November road trip from Asheville to Austin, we stopped in Montgomery, Alabama, to visit the remarkable National Memorial for Peace and Justice. The open-air pavilion dedicated to 4,000+ Black victims of lynching wraps a hilltop overlooking downtown Montgomery, near where Jefferson Davis, president of the ...
Exploring Portal Potty and more at Creek Show 2022

Exploring Portal Potty and more at Creek Show 2022

November 20, 2022 A chilly drizzle on Friday couldn’t keep me from seeing Waterloo Greenway’s Creek Show, an “annual display of illuminated art” along the banks of downtown Austin’s Waller Creek. I go every year with family or friends to explore the creative light sculptures. Last year’s Creek Show abandoned ...
Native plant landscaping at ACC Highland Campus, the new home of Central Texas Gardener

Native plant landscaping at ACC Highland Campus, the new home of Central Texas Gardener

October 26, 2022 Teri Speight doing a Central Texas Gardener studio taping Last week, when author Teri Speight was in Austin to give a Garden Spark talk, I accompanied her to a taping at the new Central Texas Gardener studio at Austin PBS. Producer Linda Lehmusvirta had announced CTG’s move ...
Sampling Santa Fe's colorful art and architecture

Sampling Santa Fe’s colorful art and architecture

September 22, 2022 Santa Fe tops my list as one of the most beautiful cities in America. I love the warm adobe walls that blend with the earth and glow against a bright blue sky; an abundance of public art that speaks to nature and Indigenous culture found all around ...
East Austin art safari

East Austin art safari

August 23, 2022 She Will Have Her Way With You, 2020 I like to share interesting art that I’ve found in my wanderings around Austin. This art excursion occurred back in March, when I explored a few East Austin galleries and public art pieces. Here’s an exhibit I really enjoyed ...
Peacocks and giants: Visiting Mayfield Park and Laguna Gloria

Peacocks and giants: Visiting Mayfield Park and Laguna Gloria

April 27, 2022 In early April I visited Mayfield Park for the Trowel & Error gardening talks. Of course if you visit Mayfield Park you’re going to see peacocks. Mayfield Park Two dozen of these beautiful birds — peacocks and peahens — roam the grounds. Unafraid if a little wary, ...
Blue trees in Austin's Pease Park spotlight tree loss around the world

Blue trees in Austin’s Pease Park spotlight tree loss around the world

April 11, 2022 If you’ve visited Kingsbury Commons at Austin’s Pease Park lately, you may have encountered a startling and surprisingly beautiful sight: clusters of trees with Majorelle blue trunks and limbs. The Blue Trees is a temporary environmental art installation by New Zealand artist Konstantin Dimopoulos. It brings our ...
Creek Show 2021 lights up spacious new Waterloo Park

Creek Show 2021 lights up spacious new Waterloo Park

November 17, 2021 After a covid hiatus last year, Waterloo Greenway‘s fantastical Creek Show — light-sculpture installations by local designers — has returned, and it’s better than ever. The illuminated art lights up Austin’s newly overhauled Waterloo Park nightly through November 21. We reserved our free tickets weeks ago (it’s ...
Wheels up! Cadillac Ranch is art for the open road

Wheels up! Cadillac Ranch is art for the open road

August 18, 2021 You’ve seen ’em: a line of 10 classic Caddies bucking like broncos, rear wheels and fins (when they were still intact) pointing skyward, noses deep in the red dirt of a field along Route 66. As we cruised through Amarillo, in the panhandle of West Texas, bound ...
Abundance tiled artwork near Deep Eddy Pool welcomes visitors

Abundance tiled artwork near Deep Eddy Pool welcomes visitors

July 22, 2021 Finding a new piece of public art always brightens my day, and Austin adds more and more artworks to its public spaces all the time. This tiled arch gateway to newly renovated Eiler’s Park, next to Deep Eddy Pool, went up in 2020. Created by Ryah Christensen ...
Swimming at Barton Springs Pool, the ultimate summer cool-down

Swimming at Barton Springs Pool, the ultimate summer cool-down

July 16, 2021 You wouldn’t think I’d have a hard time finding someone to go swimming with me in July in Texas. But when I proposed an excursion to Barton Springs Pool recently, most of my family and friends said no way. Why? After all, Barton Springs Pool is considered ...
Remembering Dred Scott on Juneteenth at Gateway Arch in St. Louis

Remembering Dred Scott on Juneteenth at Gateway Arch in St. Louis

June 19, 2021 Today is Juneteenth, our newest national holiday, which commemorates the end of slavery. Short for June 19th, Juneteenth has long been celebrated by African American communities in Texas. On June 19, 1865, enslaved people in Texas were finally told, two months after the Civil War had ended, ...
Stonehenge II and the serene Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country

Stonehenge II and the serene Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country

June 08, 2021 Cruising through tiny Ingram, Texas, on the way to a river cabin rental over Memorial Day weekend, we spotted something that made us laugh out loud, and then pull over for a closer look. Stonehenge! Or rather, Stonehenge II, the wild-hair creation of two locals with a ...