Jennifer Gacy

JENNY GACY is an illustrator and concept artist from Austin, Texas.
She creates works of art, logos, and branding for a variety of local businesses, festivals, special events, as well as concept and storyboard art for film and television productions. She is the creator of Hauntwell clothing line, a collection of unusual sigilcraft, and loves getting to see the country as a traveling merchant, multimedia artist/designer and a consummate fan girl. 

At the festival, you'll find her creating custom portraits on tortillas in front of Hell or High Water!

John Howell

John has been a commercial artist for 17 years. He has painted artwork for magazines, advertisements, posters, and children’s books. His illustrations have been published by Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, Capital One Visa, Smart Money Magazine, California Teachers Association, Austin Burrito Co., and others. His gallery work brightens the hallways of hospitals, universities, restaurants, businesses, and private collections.

John is the VP of the Round Rock Arts Council, serves on the board of the Georgetown Art Works (Georgetown Art Center), and owns the Cordovan Art School and Pottery Parlor.

He worked together with Round Rock Arts to develop the Round Rock Chalk Walk which is now entering its 10th year. The Chalk Walk festival is the largest arts festival in Round Rock, and attracted over 40,000 people last year.

John will create chalk art on Myrtle Lane in real time, while visitors are encouraged to observe and ask questions.

POSTCARDS HOME

Helen Chesley, former Liberty Hill resident and artist who is credited with starting the Liberty Hill Public Library in the mid-1970s, recently gifted the City with her collection of hand-sketched notecards that depict historic buildings in our town from the '70s.

Stop by the Liberty Belle's booth to "Send a Postcard Home!" Write a note to a friend or family member on these treasures, and the Belle's will stamp and mail it for you!

Melissa Slight

Melissa Slight was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. Her mother is an artist and taught her everything she knows. Melissa currently lives in Austin where there is never a short supply of creativity and inspiration.

She specializes in Chalk Art but has been making her way through various other mediums as well. She has been doing chalk art for over 9 years and has participated in numerous chalk painting festivals throughout the country. Her main inspiration is the classics. She loves and admires Renaissance art and that inspiration usually makes its way into her work.

Watch Melissa create chalk art on Myrtle Lane, while she works in real time.

Scott Wade

Scott Wade, otherwise known as the Dirty Car Artist, began drawing at an early age. Dirty Car Art wasn't an "aha" moment. It evolved from living on a long, dirt road, where the family cars were always covered with a fine layer of dust. In this case, limestone and clay from the road base- or "caliche" as the locals call it -of Central Texas, where Scott lives. Having such a great canvas, Scott couldn't resist drawing on the windows (particularly the rear window, which gets the most dust), much as you might write "wash me," with a finger drawing a fat line. His early drawings were usually funny faces; his dad was an amateur cartoonist, and Scott developed his own style of cartooning. Eventually though, he became curious; could he expand the visual vocabulary from that fat line? He started experimenting with using a fingernail to get a finer line, the pads of his fingers brushed lightly to create some shading. One day, having finished a popsicle, he took the chewed end of the stick out of his mouth and tried it as a brush. Soon he was trying all his brushes to see what effects they could achieve. He started photographing and emailing the resulting drawings to his friends. One of those emails was forwarded to a local columnist, which resulted in the media wanting to showcase his work, which turned into opportunities to create his special kind of art all over the world!

You can find Scott Wade drawing on Liberty Hill’s favorite “dirty car” at Quick Service Garage.

Stephen Romero

Stephen Romero is a caricature artist with over 20+ years of experience doing all manner of
events. However, what sets Stephen apart from other caricaturists are two services that he now offers that few artists anywhere provide. Crazy fast caricatures(speed drawings that are done in 60 to 90 seconds), and the
strolling option, his ability to roam around an event anddraw.  

It is specifically Stephen's many years of
experience that gave him the confidence to refine these options to the point that he has become the go to artist for events that require a caricaturist to be more adaptable.

TJ Maclaskey

TJ Maclaskey began his career as a self-taught chef and worked his way through private clubs, hotels, casinos and a catering venue. His first award for art was at a culinary competition -- a special judge’s award for a tallow sculpture of two knights battling in full armor. He was then invited into an exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of art. TJ taught himself to sculpt ice and began a path to become a self-employed artist for over 30 years. Thanks to the foresight of his wife, he carved thousands of sculptures along the way to winning multiple gold medals and becoming a master Ice Artist.

Watch TJ “wow” the street during his live ice sculpting demo during Whimsy & Wonder.