EVENTS

Hill Country Art & Wine Festival 2026

Join us May 22 & 23, 2026 at the 14th Annual Hill Country Art & Wine Festival! This event brings together talented artists and renowned Texas wineries setting at Boerne Main Plaza over Memorial Day Weekend. This is a relaxed, fun art and wine experience with the attributes of a major fine art and wine festival. Friday May 22rd will be a ticketed Preview Party, including an auction, wine, and food from 4pm to 8pm. Saturday from 10am to 5pm will be the open Art & Wine Festival.

Kristy McNelly is the Featured Artist

Her painting, “Art of the Pour” is on the official poster.

For More Information Click Here

PAST EVENTS

Thank you for everyone who came out to the Little Big Art Show in Boerne! Thank you to Arlene and Terry on your purchase of Lincoln Breakfast!

Dear Kristy,

Congratulations, 2025 APA Show Artists!

Thank you for entering the 2025 Art of the Plains Annual Show. We are pleased to inform you that your work has been accepted for the American Plains Artists’ Fortieth Annual Juried Exhibit & Sale at the Pearce Museum in Corsicana, Texas.

Teamwork Makes The Dream Work
Oil
24″ x 18″
$2,400

We hope that everyone will attend the opening reception of the APA show and annual meeting on October 16th at 5:00 pm.

Rockport is the place to be for the 4th of July weekend! Hosted by the Rockport Center for the Arts, the Art Festival will be held Saturday and Sunday, July 5–6 at the Festival Grounds near Rockport Beach.

Since its first event 57 years ago, the Rockport Art Festival has become one of the biggest annual art events in the US, with an estimated 10,000 attendees and more than 120 juried artists from across the country participating annually.

“Pipevine Swallowtail Jig”

By Kristy McNelly

30″ x 40″

Oil on Canvas

I became aware of an art show that was to be held at the Patrick Heath Public Library by the Native Plant Society of Texas, Boerne Chapter while attending a Boerne Visual Artists meeting – Exhibition Dates: May 5 – May 27, 2025. “OOH! I thought, that would be an interesting project!” For Science sake. For Arts sake.

Most of my oil paintings start with a photo from a trip, or something that is pretty simple. This painting, on the other hand, required several days of study and conversations with native Texas plant experts prior to putting paint to canvas. Thank you to Suzanne Young, Lee Haile, and LeAnn Sharp for your expert help.

Lets back up to the year 1991. It was my forth year at Michigan State University and I presented my senior seminar “Philosophy of Design” to my professor Brenda Clark on five pages of double spaced TYPED paper. “Truly great designers arrive at their conclusions through observation of nature. Plants and animals overcome problems through adaptations that keep their species from extinction. Nothing seems more amazing than the insects metamorphosis. Man could not create such a work of nature that goes from egg to larvae to pupae then to adult.”

Now let’s observe the life cycle of the Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor).

The swanflower (Aristolochia erecta) is a trailing grass mimic and is the larvae host. It starts as a twisted spear of a bud, then opens up an otherworldly, orchid-like, burgundy bloom with white spots. This Texas native’s bloom is curved like a swan’s neck with an inch long seedpod. The plant’s toxin makes them taste bad to predators. The adult female butterfly lays her eggs on the swanflower stem and once hatched, the catterpillars feed on it.

The caterpillar then forms a chrysalis which hangs on a stem of a nearby bush or tree until it emerges as a butterfly with iridescent blue on top and blue speckled with orange on the flipside. The grape-scented fragrance of the Texas Mountain Laurel attracts the pollinators.

Inaugural Boerne NPSOT Art Show Featuring Local Artists and Native Flora and Fauna: Local artists will display their works inspired by the beauty of native plants, wildlife, and the natural landscape, offering a visual celebration of the region’s ecological wonders. Art works are exhibited in the Gallery Space on the first floor of the Patrick Heath Public Library from May 1 – May 30. The Gallery Space will be open during the library’s regular hours and during our anniversary event.

The Boerne Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT) is thrilled to announce a special event to celebrate its 25th anniversary, to be held on Friday, May 23, 2025, from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM at the Patrick Heath Public Library in Boerne.

KEY WEST ART SHOWS

My husband Chuck and I love Key West! We were married there on Smathers beach and we travel back there every year. This month I became an Associate Member of the Key West Art Center & Gallery. My painting, “Perched at The Fuel Dock”, featuring Garrison Bight Marina will be in two art shows. Echos of the Past and The Associate member annual show.

Key West Art Center & Gallery

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS’ SHOW

March 21 – April 3, 2025

at 310 Front Street, Key West Florida.

The Echos of the Past show will be on display: April 4-6, 2025 – Key West Woman’s Club 319 Duval Street. Then April 7 – 20, 2025 at Key West Art Center at 310 Front Street.

The Key West Women’s Club will be celebrating the 110th Anniversary of the Hellings- Curry House in April 2025. As part of the weekend-long festivities, the Key West Art Center will be co-hosting an art show of contemporary paintings of historical themes and sites throughout Key West as it relates to this celebration ex: Hellings Curry Museum home, Old Firehouse Museum, Key West bight/waterfront, tall sailing ships, fishing, historic people and events, other Curry homes.

Kristy participated in Art of The Cowgirl in Queen Creek, Arizona in January of 2024.

Come see Kristy McNelly with her Art Booth at

Equifest of Kansas

March 21st-23rd, 2025

Salina, Kansas

https://www.equifestofks.com/

Kristy participated in The Midwest Horse Fair in Madison Wisconsin in April of 2024.

Louis Garcia and Kristy McNelly led a group of artists as they painted Tall ships together on July 8, 2023 for the Hill Country Council for the Arts at The AgriCultural Museum & Arts Center.