Lance Winter
DRIPPING SPRINGS — Community members of Dripping Springs gathered Sunday, Oct. 18, to create tiles for the Kerr County Love Project.
The project, according to its website, is the creation of a large mosaic through hands-on workshops. For art therapist Wanda Montemayor, those returning participants have become one of the most meaningful parts of it.
Community members throughout the Hill Country have come to make clay tiles for a community mosaic supporting those affected by the Fourth of July floods, said Montemayor. Along the way, some who first arrived needing support have become the people offering it.
“They begin helping others, sharing their experiences and taking ownership of something that belongs to their community,” Montemayor said. “Watching them shine has been incredibly moving.”
That spirit brought Montemayor and volunteers to Whataburger in Dripping Springs Sunday, Oct. 18, where people of all ages were invited to make tiles that will become part of the mural.
The free workshop offered a way to contribute to a project built around the people, history and strengths of a community recovering from loss.
“Every single tile is handmade with a beautiful message, a meaning behind it,” Montemayor said.
An Austin-based art therapist, Montemayor spent 23 years in public education before opening Community Arts, an art therapy group practice. Her work eventually took her to Uvalde, where she helped guide a large-scale healing mural after the tragedy there.
That project took about 13 months, she said, and her connections to the community continue.
The experience also helped establish a path to Kerrville. Montemayor said the National Endowment for the Arts, which helped fund the Uvalde project, recommended her as someone who could assist with an arts response after the tragedy.
Before moving forward, she asked whether the community wanted that kind of project. Their answer became a mosaic intended to acknowledge loss, while also celebrating the community’s identity.
“We’re here because of a hard event,” Montemayor said. “But we actually are rooted in what’s right with the community.”
The design includes 121 birds representing lives lost, she said. Its larger focus draws on local heritage and the things that connect people to the place they call home.
Montemayor has watched that sense of connection develop during repeated workshops, particularly those at Color of Clay in Kerrville.
Early visits sometimes brought difficult emotions to the surface. Simply being present and engaging in the creative process could be hard, she said. But over time, she saw some of those same participants grow more confident, find enjoyment in the work and become leaders within the project.
“To me, that's one of the most powerful parts of this project,” she said. “It's not just about creating a beautiful mosaic; it's about watching people move from receiving support to offering it to others.”
That change does not mean grief has disappeared.
“This work has reminded me that grief can be gentle,” Montemayor said. “We often think of grief as something that has to be heavy and painful, but I've learned that there can also be moments of joy, laughter, creativity and connection, even in the midst of tremendous loss.”
People need time and space to process their experiences in their own way, she said. Sometimes that means tears. Other times, it means making art around a table, sharing stories and finding moments of happiness together.
By the time of the Dripping Springs workshop, the effort had produced more than 30,000 handmade tiles and reached more than 8,000 people, according to Montemayor.
The planned mural consists of 47 panels, most measuring approximately 3 feet by 5 feet. Thirty-three panels had been completed, she said, with installation hoped for in January 2027 at the Hill Country Youth Event Center, known locally as the Ag Barn.
Behind those numbers are teachers, artists and community members who have helped carry the project forward.
Montemayor described a training approach that equips local educators and artists to lead the work. Participating educators come from communities across Kerr County, including Ingram, Center Point, Hunt and Kerrville.
“They’ve been the backbone of this entire project,” she said.
Art teachers, she explained, are especially well positioned to reach children because their classrooms serve students across a campus. Teachers, coaches and mentors also bring relationships that can help support a community after hardship.
Several local art educators have told her the project has been transformative both personally and professionally. Two have written grants to bring similar opportunities into their classrooms, she said.
“This is the community’s mural and we are there to help support them,” Montemayor said.
This philosophy extends to the project’s traveling workshops.
People affected by the floods do not all live in Kerrville, she said. Taking tile-making opportunities to other communities allows more people to participate, including those who want to offer support even if they were not directly affected.
The Dripping Springs event, held at Whataburger on E. U.S. 290, was one such stop. The flier listed Whataburger, the Kendra Scott Foundation and Community Arts as supporters.
All of the project’s workshops are free, Montemayor said.
Two workshops remain, according to Montemayor: one in San Angelo and a final gathering at Color of Clay in Kerrville from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8. She said details for the Kerrville workshop would be posted soon at comarts.us.
For Montemayor, the reason to keep going is found in the people who return, those who find their voices, build confidence and begin helping others do the same.
“Those moments remind me that healing doesn't mean forgetting what happened,” she said. “It means finding ways to carry our grief, while also making room for joy, connection and hope.”
