09/13/2026
When Sarah Rushing came to me with the idea for a Student Art Contest and Local Artist Exhibition, I immediately loved it. I also knew what a massive undertaking it would be, and at that point, I was already feeling pretty overwhelmed with everything we had planned.
I told Sarah, “If you can own it, we’ll do everything we can to support you.”
Sarah didn’t just own it, she took off running full sprint. Sarah rallied our local libraries and schools, organized an incredible team of volunteers, and helped bring in more than 250 pieces of student artwork from young artists across Real and Uvalde County.
Then we roped in Lee Adami and Linda Adami to help bring the Local Artist Exhibition to life. Thank you, Glen Ivey, for giving Lee that extra nudge to say yes to this big crazy idea. 😂
Lee has called countless local artists, met with many of them face-to-face, pitched the idea, thought through which artwork belongs where, and truly become the curator of this exhibition.
Communities flourish when people have an idea, raise their hand, and are willing to put in the work to make it happen. Sarah and Lee took two ideas and completely ran with them, and what they’ve created is so much bigger than anything any one person could have done on their own.
I’m so grateful for Sarah, Lee, Linda, our libraries, schools, volunteers, artists, judges, and everyone who has poured their time into this.
Come see what they’ve created during the Leakey Art Walk on September 25 from 3–6 PM. ❤️
