Lufkin Art Guild Featured Artist Show

through February 2025

The Museum of East Texas is pleased to showcase members of the Lufkin Art Guild in our Rotary Gallery through the winter months. Selected works from artists Patti and Thomas Driver, Victoria Franks, Joyce Jackson, Kathy and Marty Kaylor, and Diana Meade will be displayed for all of our visitors to enjoy. Below is a small sample of what you can expect when you come for a visit as well as the artists' bios, written by the artists themselves.

Thomas Driver / Artist and Musician

 "Thomas Driver is a husband and father of three girls: Angel, Adrianna and Avrea. He was born in Fort Worth, lived in Houston until 1976, and then Lufkin until 1993. Driver moved to Dallas in 1993 as a signed musician with Neveau Records, as part of a local band named Wonderful Life.

Driver has played music his entire life. His last music studio project was with his wife, Patty Wak, in 2021. As the Vice President for Kids Who Rock, he now focuses a lot of his music effort towards kids music and the program his wife has put together.

Driver has created art with his hands his entire life. He grew up in the country with an ‘art teacher mom’ so it seemed inevitable. The Drivers are now 3 generations of Lufkin Art Guild members. The majority of his art, over the years, has been in the homes of clients, over his career as a general contractor.

Art is something the Drivers do as a family during the holidays, here in Lufkin. Collectively they cover many different forms of art and family involvement with Lufkin Art Guild over the years. It has been a very important journey for the family. The friends they have made within this extended family are priceless. Lufkin Art Guild has helped Driver stay connected with the love he has for East Texas and Lufkin!"

Patty Allen-Driver (The Artist also known as Patty Wak)

 "Patty was born with stars in her eyes. She thought that you had to be born into fame to be famous.  From Waco, Texas, Patty did not have many artistic opportunities except for music. Her grandmother played piano in a small church so Patty and her brother were singing in front of a congregation from a very early age. Moving to the country when she was 10 years old did not offer much as far as the arts. With a graduating class of 30 students, an occasional play and Flag Corp were the only high school arts available, so Patty got into sports.  Patty still had a passion for singing at any opportunity, which was mostly at church and Dance Halls with a local country band. 

Photography was a big interest and starting with a 110 camera, Patty could not wait until the day she could get a 35 mm camera and to get into the “dark room” in college, and she did.  Shooting and documenting the Davidian Compound in Waco over the years has been a big interest of Patty’s as she went to school with the kids who lived there, and they rode her bus to the small public school. Patty stays in touch with and adores a school friend who left there years before the horrible fire.

Patty married into an art family. Patty and Thomas Driver have known each other since mid-90’s as friends and eventually fell in love and married in 2010. They have played in bands together since 2009.  The Driver family influenced Patty to paint on canvas for the first time. 

In the Rock n Roll band MADWAK, Patty Wak paints her face with art for every show.  It’s safe to say that before marrying into an artistic family, Patty was painting in some form or fashion. Several artists have done paintings of Patty Wak because of her bizarre face painting and presence on stage.

Patty has been teaching “Performing Arts” since graduating from KD Studio Actors Conservatory in the early 1990’s for Dallas Children’s Theater. Patty has continued to spread the love of “The Arts” of all forms through her Kids Who Rock Organization for the past 10 years. Kids Who Rock is where different kids come to be cool and cool kids come to be different."

Victoria Franks

"Victoria Franks is a Colombian artist who has been living in the United States for 20 years. She started painting with watercolors about ten years ago. Since then, it has been a permanent challenge for her apply technical skills with an eye to detail, vivid colors, and emotions into her paintings.

Victoria has shown her art in several collective shows including locations as varied as Tucson, Arizona; Davie, Florida; Pensacola, Floida; Dallas, Texas in the SWS; and Lufkin. She also had a solo exposition of 50 pieces in Circasia, Colombia in 2019.

Since Victoria moved to Lufkin in 2019, she has participated in the Lufkin Art Guild and she recently joined the SouthWest Watercolor Society and was accepted to display one of her pieces in their show.

Art is company in her solitude 

colors are her inspiration

representing them as she sees them.

Art is my language to communicate with the world."

Joyce Jackson

"Joyce Jackson is a Lufkin native who always wanted to be an "artist." After pursuing the more practical path of earning a living, marrying her love Brad, and raising a few children, she was able to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at SFA--and loved every minute of it!

Appreciating the East Texas scenery, Joyce loves to paint landscapes and small natural details with rich colors and textures, sometimes including materials such as paper, wire, and fabric, while using an Expressionistic or Abstract approach. Another medium she favors is assemblage using found objects or frameworks to provide viewers with a different perspective. Finding most of her inspiration in nature, Joyce hopes that her work will relate to reviewers by making them more aware of our beautiful surroundings.

Ultimately, Joyce's art is intended to inspire viewers to seek their own sense of inspiration. Her hope is that you will find familiar details which are recognizable in your environment."

Marty and Kathy Kaylor

Wildfire Glass Fusion

"Marty and Kathy Kaylor were first exposed to fused glass art by Marty's Mom who began creating fused glass jewelry at the age of 74. She was so excited about her results that she signed up for classes in Portland, Oregon. She lived in the Phoenix area at the time and decided to drive to the classes. She planned to visit Marty and Kathy who were living in Spokane, Washington at the time. Intrigued, we asked her to bring her small kiln and some supplies so she could show us what it was all about.  Once we made our first pieces we were hooked and have never looked back.

We have participated in classes from some of the most respected glass artists in the world to learn new and advanced techniques.  We combine many different processes into our pieces at times to keep our art new and exciting.

We create fused glass art through the process of layering glass then heating it slowly in a kiln until it fuses into one piece.  After the glass has annealed or slowly cooled, we can then shape the glass by placing it on a mold and heating it again to a lower temperature until it "slumps" to take the shape of the mold.  This technique was discovered by the ancient Egyptians and pre-dates glass blowing by several thousand years. 

We make bowls, platters, vases, fountains and bathroom sinks in addition to art pieces and jewelry.  The powder coated stands for our art pieces are custom made for each individual piece.

We also make painted glass pieces using traditional glass painting techniques.  This is done by mixing finely ground glass with a liquid carrier and painting it onto glass and firing it until it becomes fused into the glass.  This process requires multiple firings to avoid colors bleeding into each other.  It results in a stained-glass appearance without the need to lead pieces together.

Other techniques we use include etching and the use of frit (crushed glass).  We apply stencils to the glass, remove areas to be "frosted" then etch those areas with sand blasting equipment.  Frit creates a softer, almost impressionistic appearance when used to create art pieces.

In 2017 we had the honor of assisting Michael Dupille, a world-renowned pioneer in fused glass art, in the installation of a 6' 5" x 12' 5" fused glass mural depicting Manito Park in Hutton Elementary School on Spokane's South Hill.

We hope you enjoy and are inspired by our fused glass art as you incorporate it into your home or business environment."

Diana Meade

 "Diana Meade made her living as an artist for 20 years until she retired and moved back to her hometown of Lufkin.  Ever attracted to quirky, incongruent, or abandoned materials, Diana is inspired by the power of storytelling, even if that story is captured for only a moment in time in her work. She is often seduced by fabric and thread but comes up for air by using paint and paper to remind her that creativity is in our DNA and isn’t limited to one form.  She is active in the Lufkin Art Guild, Lufkin Limners and The Quilt Guild of the Pineywoods. She teaches at the Museum of East Texas Art Camp and writes about creativity at www.dianameade.com"