How many sculptures do you pass on the drive down Lohmans Crossing toward the Lake Travis Community Library? The median there holds three bronze wind sculptures by Lyman Whitaker of Utah, called "Double Helix," "Sail" and "Agave." The city bought them in 2013 and 2014 and placed them where, in the words of Lakeway's own fine art collection inventory, "they can be enjoyed by the many passersby."
Starting tomorrow, Lakeway's ArtWALK lets residents into the private side of that same arts scene. Local artists open their home studios and galleries for one weekend, November 6 through 8. The studio tour dates only to 2024. The habit behind it, a volunteer committee building a city art collection one modest purchase at a time, goes back more than twenty years.
Two days of open studios, built on a committee that started in 2004
The City of Lakeway and the Lakeway Arts Committee present ArtWALK together. The City called the first one, held April 19 to 21, 2024, Lakeway's "first-ever" ArtWALK. Organizers expected more than 20 artists and performers, plus over 20 home studios and businesses. The second year moved to fall, with studio tours on October 4 and 5, 2025. This is the third year, and it runs in November.
The committee running it is much older than the event. A City history of the Arts Committee dates its "Art in Public Places" program to 2004. The program covers bronze works on Lakeway Boulevard, at City Hall and at the Justice Center, along with the kinetic sculptures set along city streets. The first acquisition that same year was "Billy," a boy with a butterfly net, placed on Lakeway Boulevard at Top O' The Lake Drive.
The 2024 ArtWALK already tied the two together. One of its listed locations was the Hurst Creek Sculpture Garden at 104 Cross Creek, a public piece of the collection used as a stop on a tour built mostly around private studios.
A collection bought a few thousand dollars at a time
Most of Lakeway's public art did not come from a large commission. Its source is a list of small purchases and gifts. The City's inventory says pieces were acquired "as funds became available, through the City budget process or from donations." The costs below come from that inventory document, whose file name is dated 2018.
| Piece | Artist | Where it sits | Year acquired | Cost listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Billy," Boy with a Butterfly Net | Not listed | Lakeway Blvd at Top O' The Lake Dr | 2004 | $2,000 |
| "A Pair of Herons" | Not listed | City Hall | 2006 | $2,200 |
| "Bald Eagle" | Gift of Lakeway Civic Corp | City Hall | 2006 | $5,500 |
| "Guardian Angel," copper | Lyman Whitaker | Florence Newton Sculpture Garden | 2008 | $884 |
| "Crosswinds," stainless steel | C. Curtis Jeré | City Hall | 2012 | $750 |
| "Double Helix" | Lyman Whitaker | Lohmans Crossing, near the library | 2013 | $3,015 |
| "Sail" | Lyman Whitaker | Lohmans Crossing, near the library | 2014 | $1,354 |
| "Agave" | Lyman Whitaker | Lohmans Crossing, near the library | 2014 | $2,200 |
| "Jewel," copper, steel and glass | Jim LaPaso | Lakeway Blvd | 2015 | $2,800 |
| "Crane" | Not listed | Justice Center | 2016 | $900 |
Only the "Bald Eagle" passes $5,000, and it was a gift. Every other piece in the table cost about what a homeowner might spend on a single piece of patio furniture or a weekend of landscaping. The collection grew because the committee kept buying at that scale for more than a decade.
Some of the most visible pieces were paid for by residents directly. The Florence Newton Sculpture Garden, on Lakeway Boulevard between Rogues Roost Drive and Top O' The Lake Drive, is a memorial funded by her family and friends and produced by the City's Arts and Beautification Committee. The inventory says Florence Newton and her husband Fred moved to Lakeway in 1995, and she volunteered at the City Hall reception desk. The garden's figures include "Tennis Boy," "Girl with Teddy Bear on a Stool," "Girls with Arbor Rope," "Boys Balancing" and Whitaker's copper "Guardian Angel." The inventory also records the family's stated purpose for the garden:
"The objective of the garden is to elicit smiles from onlookers. The family says, 'The spirit of Florence will smile back.'"
The independent Lakeway Arts District's 2026 outdoor art map lists the same memorial bronzes along Lakeway Boulevard, though it spells the name "Frances." It also confirms that the Whitaker kinetic pieces still stand on Lohmans Crossing and on western Lakeway Boulevard.
Where the ArtWALK weekend fits on that map
The weekend starts Friday and runs in three parts:
- Friday, November 6. Artist Open House and a TexARTS performance at TexARTS Theatre & Academy, with a 6 p.m. social and a 7 p.m. performance.
- Saturday, November 7, and Sunday, November 8. Self-guided studio tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at studios across Lakeway.
- Before your first stop. Pick up the official studio map and artist catalog at the Lakeway Heritage Center. Organizers also promised a digital map online.
The City's ArtWALK calendar listing describes the weekend as a tour of "artist galleries, studios and other participating venues throughout Lakeway," with paintings, sculpture and other original work. Artist registration closed October 18. The City listed artist and location details as "coming soon," and organizers said the maps would be available at the Heritage Center and online, so check those for the studio list. As Local Gazette Lakeway reported in September, the registration call was aimed at artists with a local studio in Lakeway.
The pickup spot puts you close to the public collection. The City describes the Heritage Center as the building that houses Lakeway's archives, at the intersection of Lohmans Crossing and Hurst Creek. That is the same corridor as the Whitaker median and the Hurst Creek Sculpture Garden.
A route that covers both collections
These public stops sit in fixed locations, so they can be added to any studio route:
- Hurst Creek Sculpture Garden, near the City Hall trail. The Arts District calls it "a crown jewel of Lakeway's public art scene" with "a rotating collection of works." Its centerpiece is Robert Holmes's bronze "The Game," two figures deep in a chess match, which came to the garden through a local public donation.
- Lohmans Crossing median near the Lake Travis Community Library. "Double Helix," "Sail" and "Agave," the trio the City named "Lakeway in Motion" because the breeze keeps them moving.
- Lakeway Boulevard between Rogues Roost and Top O' The Lake. The Florence Newton Sculpture Garden, with "Billy" and his butterfly net nearby at Top O' The Lake.
- Lakeway Butterfly Park. Jim LaPaso's kinetic "Butterfly," "Daisy" and "Wings," which the Arts District describes as moving with the wind among the wildflowers.
- Dragon Park and the Lakeway Activity Center courtyard. A small bronze dragon at one, and at the other a pair of giant tortoises the Arts District calls "local celebrities for many local kiddos."
The Arts District keeps a 2026 outdoor art map on Google Maps and suggests touring it on foot, by e-bike or by car. Pull it up next to the ArtWALK studio map and the two weekends' worth of stops fit on one screen.
The Activity Center stays busy after the tours close
The Arts Committee's calendar keeps going past Sunday, and most of it happens at the Lakeway Activity Center, 105 Cross Creek, home of the tortoises.
On the first day of studio tours, the City-Wide Indoor Garage Sale runs there on Saturday, November 7, from 8 a.m. to noon, ending two hours after the studios open. The Big Band Bash follows on Monday, November 9, from 7 to 9 p.m. It features the 17-piece Republic of Texas Big Band with David Cummings, is presented by the Lakeway Arts Committee, and is free and open to all ages.
On Wednesday, November 11, at 11 a.m., the City holds its Veterans Day Ceremony at the same building. On Sunday, November 15, from 4 to 5 p.m., Arts in the Afternoon: The Nutcracker Suite has Metamorphosis Dance performing excerpts, presented by the City Arts Committee.
Taken together, that's six event dates in a ten-day stretch, much of it from the same committee that put "Billy" on Lakeway Boulevard in 2004.
If you're planning a move around Lakeway's calendar, or just want to know which corners of the city get the most attention from its arts volunteers, Briana Headley follows these details closely and is happy to talk through them. Let's Connect.
