Our Story



The Cuernavaca Arts Cooperative was founded in February of 2014 by Jodi Bade and Maura Schaffer. They wanted to gather artists living and working in the Lake Hills neighborhood (off of Cuernavaca Dr. in western Austin) and invite them to band together to support and inspire one another and to promote the arts in our local community.  Over the course of a year, the group grew tremendously as word spread, and we were surprised to find out how many artists we had living and working here in our idyllic little slice of Austin, TX. We all have been having a great time getting to know one another, and working together toward some shared goals. Some of our accomplishments in our first year are:

• Grew the group to almost 50 artists

• Created a webpage and newsletter

• Formed an official structure, including electing board and several committees to work toward accomplishing the goals of our mission.

• Had our first group pop up show in the Fall of 2014, The Hello Show, and it was a huge success

• Hosted a Summer Art Academy for kids, including sewing, sculpture, naturalist drawing, and watercolor courses.

• Took a group trip to see San Antonio museums

• Hosted artist critique cirles so that we could encourage and help one another in making art

• Held our first long exhibit in Laura's Library, "Of Water and Earth"

• Created two "Slice of Life" collaborative paintings as an ode to the neighborhood

• Held many social and business meetings

• Are on our way toward becoming an official non-profit group

• We have a whole list of future plans that we are currently working on and very excited about. Stay tuned for more to come!