Wind Way Gallery: When Artists Come Together

There are so many working artists, studios and galleries in Rockport that USA Today has named the town one of the Top Ten Coastal Art Colonies in the Country. And its oldest gallery is the Wind Way.

A bright azure blue awning welcomes you to this warm and intimate gallery in the heart of Rockport’s Arts District.

What makes this gallery special is the breadth of creative work displayed. That’s because the gallery is a collective made up of 10 artists. They manage the space, select the art exhibits, display their
own work and feature guest artists. We met members, June Ainsworth, Sandy Reese, and Greta Watkins, all local artists whose work is displayed in the gallery, and 3 of the 10 L.L.C. members. All members are of-a-like-mind and share the same vision and direction for the gallery, making it a wonderful mélange of different artists, styles, and visual viewpoints. The other members of the gallery include: Angalee DeForest, Sandy Reese, Elsa Mathews, Lisa Millard, Barb Robinson, Genie Mysorski, and Lorrie Harrington.

On display are oil paintings, pastel drawings, acrylics, and watercolors, most depicting the serenity of the local land and seascape, the avian life, and the distinctive horticulture of the area. Ceramics, photographs, and woven art are just some of the other milieu’s showcased here. Every wall is a celebration of coastal life and though small, the gallery packs a large visual punch!

The Wind Way Gallery was started by Anita Diebel in 1997 (Anita now heads her own studio and gallery space just down the road) and is the oldest gallery in Rockport. Work by all 10 gallery members is displayed in the lovely space and the gallery exclusively represents sculptor Kent Ullberg of Rockport, who has a bronze statue showcased in the new Rockport Center for the Arts Sculpture Garden, Merry Time Romance, a 300 pound, 8-foot-tall sculpture of two seahorses.

Every two months members’ art is swapped out, so the walls of the gallery are a constantly evolving mural of paintings, ceramics, textiles, drawings, glass, jewelry, mosaics, and sculpture. Guest artists are oft-times featured too.

For over 20 years, the friendly storefront Wind Way Gallery has enlivened the art scene in Rockport and promoted many of the well known regional landscape artists that are part of the Texas Coastal Bend art movement. The 10 artists’ work has been shown at the Rockport Center for the Arts, in local, regional, and international shows, Plein Air Magazine, and various competitions around the country. A variety of gallery members also teach multiple classes at the Rockport Center for the Arts, including pottery and painting.

From participating in the Art Loop, to the Bountiful Bowl/Clay Expo, the Wind Way Gallery artists have been supporting, displaying, promoting, and creating gorgeous art for more than 20 years. In the immortal words of Henry Ward Beecher, “Every artist dips his brush in his own soul and paints his own nature into his pictures.” This quote captures the cooperative spirit of the oldest group art effort in Rockport, Wind Way Gallery.