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Hundreds of artists, thousands of attendees enjoy a weekend of beauty at the 2023 Fidelity Investments The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival

By: Sean K. Thompson
| Published 04/18/2023

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THE WOODLANDS, TX – The threatened stormy weather faced up against a venerable, popular festival and ended up slinking away, leaving thousands of attendees to the 2023 Fidelity Investments The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival, to relish in moderate weather under sunny skies last weekend.

Featured artist stresses importance of the arts in the community


Live music, refreshments, fine food, children’s activities, and art galore was on display at Town Green Park and all along the Woodlands Waterway. Artists and attendees alike came from all over the nation and – in some cases – the world to partake in the festival.

One such artist was Christine Adele Moore, who set up shop once again from her home base in southwest Florida. “This is one of my favorite festivals ever. You guys in The Woodlands appreciate art in a way that most festivals don’t. There’s a completely different energy here, and I’ll be here every year that they have me,” she said.

Moore was a freelance artist for interior designers for 26 years, and specialized in using different mediums to bring to life the creative visions of her clients. She eventually turned to her own art full time, choosing as her specialty working in acrylic on canvas. One standout art piece was a huge painting she had titled ‘Gimme Shelter.’

“This painting is my take on Hurricane Ian, which I went through in September,” she said. “It’s layers and layers and layers to give that feeling of debris flying around and all the drama that goes with it. Working in layers is fascinating to me. I’ve placed it on display here in the corner instead of side-by-side – which is another proper way it could be hung – because it provides that illusion of needing shelter even more to me. I’m very proud of this piece.”

Woodlands Online also got the opportunity to chat with Cathra-Anne Barker, a New Mexico-based potter who was officially named this year’s Featured Artist.

“This is my 17th year here. I’m like a migratory bird, I love to keep coming here,” she said. “Not only is being named featured artist an honor, but also as a result I have made more money here than I’ve ever made at a show in forever,” she added with a laugh.

Being surrounded by hundreds of booths and tents filled with wall-hangable art of the painting and photograph variety, she was asked about going along a different path and using clay as her artistic expression.

“I chose this medium by accident. I’ve been an artist my entire life, since I was a tiny kid. There was an artists’ co-op in Balboa Park in San Diego – the Potters Guild – and there were some handmade dishes for sale, and next to them a sign advertising a six-week class, and I decided right then and there to make dishes.”

Barker immediately knew she had chosen a path that she was a natural fit for. “I sat down and threw a pot in one sitting – I still have it today in my kitchen – and the owner of the class assumed that I had done many of these before, and I told him that, no, this was my first. He got another hunk of clay and told me to do it again, and I did. It’s enough to make me think about reincarnation – and I know how that sounds, very ‘Santa Fe’ – but I know stuff about this where there’s no reason for me to know; I know about mixing glazes, I used my instincts to glaze things in a way that experts said couldn’t be done, but I was able to do it. I’ve built three kilns. It just rolls off me. I’ve managed to support myself comfortably as a potter my entire life, which to me is stunning.”

Barker appreciates the presence and scope of festivals such as The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival. “For those of us who like being in an interactive circumstance – which is me, I even avoid galleries because I like to interact instead with my audiences – festivals like this are so important,” she said.

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