Applications for this favorite Keller event is Monday, Sep. 10th for the 2018 Keller's Got Talent art show and competition. All genres of art are accepted, oil, acrylic, water based painting; colored pencil, graphite, charcoal drawing; sculpture, ceramics and pottery; jewelry, fiber arts, collage and more. To participate in this annual event, applicants must be 18+ years of age, City of Keller or Keller ISD residents (employed in Keller does not apply). The fee to enter is $20 for the first one or two pieces of art and $10 each for one or two more, totaling four ($40). All entries must be received by Sep. 10, 2018.  The venue for the exhibit, which will run from Oct. 1 - Nov. 20, 2018 is Keller Town Hall, 1100 Bear Creek Pkwy., Keller 76248. First, Second  in categories, and Best in Show will be awarded at a reception on Thursday, Oct. 11th from 7 to 9 pm, all are welcome to attend and share in the talents of Keller's artists, both amateur and professional. For more information please call 817-743-4000, email publicarts@cityofkeller.com or visit our website at www.cityofkeller.com/publicarts. We look forward to sharing your artistic achievements with the community.

Arts take center stage in new Keller festival

A new family-friendly festival celebrating the arts is coming to Old Town Keller thanks to a partnership between the city’s Public Arts Board and the local nonprofit Keller Public Arts Society. The first annual Keller Art Walk scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 14 will honor the artists selected for the city’s new rotating art program and celebrate the recently completed improvements in Old Town Keller.

Earlier this year, the Arts Board initiated the inaugural phase of a rotating art-on-loan program to fill the sculpture pads added during the city’s recent updates to Old Town Keller West. The pads are located along the strolling promenade that runs north-south adjacent to the eclectic restaurants and small businesses in the area.

For Phase I of the program, the Arts Board selected five sculptures for a two-year exhibit; in 2018, they will select and install six additional pieces, also for a two-year exhibit. The staggered phases will bring new pieces to Old Town each year, providing a dynamic and engaging attraction that will help draw interest and foot traffic to the area.

The Keller Art Walk will be a community event with a unique, strolling atmosphere aimed at showcasing the arts in Keller. Patrons will have the opportunity to meet the artists whose work is on display in Old Town and watch plein-aire, or outdoor, artists create captivating paintings along the promenade. Student musicians from Keller ISD and a variety of local vendors and other entertainers will also be featured throughout the event.

Sponsorships and vendor spots are still available. Applications can be found at www.cityofkeller.com/artwalk. For more information, call 817-743-4000 or email publicarts@cityofkeller.com. 

About KPAS: Keller Public Arts Society is a 501(c)3 corporation dedicated to supporting public art in Keller.  Our mission is to provide a platform for on-going support and participation in the preservation and growth of the local artistic community through collaboration with city government and civic organizations, as well as local businesses, clubs and individuals interested in supporting the arts.  Membership is free.

Fresh Flower's & Baked Goods
September 6 - 28, 2016; Monday - Friday, 8 am to 5 pm
Keller Town Hall; 1100 Bear Creek Parkway, Keller, TX 76248
(817) 743-4000; publicarts@cityofkeller.com; www.cityofkeller.com/publicarts

Andrew Stalder and Scott Parker are both Associate Professors of Art at TCCD, Northeast Campus. Their oil paintings provide a detailed look at the intricacies of flowers by Stalder and the delecatability of Parker's baked goods. The viewer will enjoy the combination of subjects, as the eye and palate are both tantalized while viewing.

"Painter, Scott Parker began to paint desserts following the completion of a figure painting that included a shelf with a piece of chocolate pie. He loved painting that pie, especially after spending a month on flesh-tones!  And so, he decided to paint just one, large piece of chocolate cake, thus beginning over-a-year-long period of painting nothing but decadent sweets. His paintings of monumentally-sized desserts that share a lineage with old-masters’ work such as Pieter Claesz’s Banquet paintings, which served to maintain and reveal the power and wealth of those celebrating with great spreads of sumptuous foods. Parker’s work is serious but also meant to bring about the feelings of desire and pleasure rather than a discourse or exhaustive idea, allowing viewers’ reaction to the work to be far more positive than expected. The work usually elicits hunger-desire roles in viewers but also general feelings of great happiness. Parker enjoys delving into how his subjects stand for all that is desirably tempting, and he does eat them all." He received his BFA in Painting at the University of Texas, Arlington and an MFA in Painting at Savannah College of Art and Design.

"Andrew Stalder has been painting for over 25 years. He is a contemporary realist oil painter and his primary source of inspiration is the richly diverse subject matter of flowers – both cultivated and wild. His art is characterized by vibrant colors and dramatic, photorealistic compositions. He has won awards for his talent which he perfected in is studies of painting at the University of Dallas (B.A.) and Ohio University (M.F.A.). A current resident of Bedford, TX, he has displayed his art in many solo and group exhibitions, most recently "Florescence" at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin."

The annual Keller's Got Talent Art Show event is right around the corner. Entries must be submitted between Aug. 5 - Sep. 6, 2016. Entry is open to all artists, 18 years of age or older, and residents of the City of Keller or the Keller ISD area. All art media is permissible, and must be original to the artist. No copyrighted materials or characters please.

The entry fee is $20 for the first 1 or 2 pieces, a third or fourth piece may be submitted at $10 each. Please visit the website to obtain entry forms. (http://www.cityofkeller.com/services/administration/city-manager/public-arts/public-arts-calendar)  Submit your completed entries no later than Sep. 6, 2016 via email to, egergely@cityofkeller.com, standard mail, Keller's Got Talent, P.O. Box 770, Keller, TX 76244, or in person at the reception desk of Keller Town Hall, 1100 Bear Creek Parkway, Keller, 76248.

The show will run from Oct. 5 - 26, with an awards reception on Thursday evening, Oct. 13 from 7 to 9 pm. For more information you may contact Libby at the above email or call 817-743-4018.

"Gazing West" is the combined artistic talents of Dena Hill, James Loveless, Jr., and Edgar Sotelo who embrace the "old west' in their paintings. Each shares their vision of the Cowboys and Indians era and what life must have been like on the open range.

“Honesty and respect are qualities that are so important in the code of honor that the true cowboys and charros uphold.” Edgar Sotelo is diligent about his paintings, that they be only true to life scenes.” Following in the talented footsteps of his great-grandfather, grandfather and father, Edgar began with pencil drawing and has graduated to oil painting. He attends annual workshops by the prestigious Cowboy Artists of America, and goes to west Texas ranches for the spring and fall roundups. “He believes in experiencing what he paints. He does this by attending charreadas in Texas and visiting Texas ranches that allow him to ride along and observe, record, and therefore preserve, the cowboy/charro way of life. Having first-hand experience of this vanishing culture shows in the paintings that Edgar shares with those who want to learn and appreciate the Cowboy’s way of life. www.soteloart.com

Having a career in makeup artistry, Dena Hill grew to love watercolor and oil painting. Growing up in Fort Worth from birth, and remaining here through her adult years, Dena began her drawing and painting career in 2001. Her Texas roots have bread a love for western art subjects. She has studied under watercolor artists, Soon Warren and Ted Nuttall, and oil painters Irma Ward, Anna Rose Bain, Mahto Hogue and Gini Bosco, most recently with renowned artist, Michelle Dunaway.  www.thebrushandmeblogspot.com

Encouragement by his mother to enter art courses and contests, James Loveless was taught by Archie Simmons, a dynamic portrait artist. James was taught discipline and good perspective, shading and observation. He loves to create things with his hands. James opened an art and portrait studio in one of the largest malls in Saint Louis, Missouri where he and his wife worked side-by-side along with their five college-aged kids. “He is working with the Texas Civil War Museum to develop a body of oil paintings that reflect his grandfather’s influence as a cowboy and rancher. His themes portray rich Christian history and life in the old west.” www.JamesLoveless.com/western_art_11.html

Join the Keller Public Arts Board at "An Evening with the Artists" on Thursday, February 11, 2016 from 7 to 9 PM. Along with meeting the artists and sharing their stories, there will be re-inactors from the Stockyards dressed in period attire, and Bar-b-Q to feast upon. Can't be there for the reception, visit Keller Town Hall, 1100 Bear Creek Parkway, Keller TX 76248, between 8 AM and 5 PM, Monday through Friday, February 1 to the 24th. For more information contact (817) 743-4000; publicarts@cityofkeller.com or visit our website, www.cityofkeller.com/publicarts.