Art and Innovation in Comfort
ART and INNOVATION in COMFORT, TX: A VISIT to MIXHAUS GALLERY
By Jean Hackett
Cara Hines, owner of MixHaus Gallery in Comfort, Texas – about 45 miles from San Antonio – has a vision. “I hope to set Comfort apart as a destination for the arts and creative visionaries in the spirit of Freethinkers who settled here in the early 19th century.”
Hines, Comfort Chamber of Commerce’s Innovator of the Year, has a plan. In 2019, she acquired the gallery. “I wanted to elevate MixHaus to focus on mixed media, primarily, by Hill Country and other artists with Texas connections,” she states.
“I like to feature two to three artists and allow them to help curate their exhibit, which gives them control over how their art is displayed,” she adds.
The current show, “Are We There Yet?”- which runs through April – and features works by Kristy Darnell Battani, Sharon Kyle, and Hank Lumen, exemplifies her philosophy.
“I found Kristy when I attended Austin Studio Tours and asked her who she’d like to collaborate with, and she suggested Sharon. The two of them added Hank.
Kristy Darnell Battani starts with “outdated printed materials, once commonly available, that reveal something about the past, especially manuals and magazines.”
Battani used three sources for “New Geology Series,” four related collages, including a 1940’s geography map and textbook, along with images of a wrestler and a famous actress from a 1950’s Cuban magazine.
She started by “layering paper and coating it with resin, then adding more layers separated with ink to define foreground and background sealed with wax to avoid a shiny finish.”
This artist is “impressed by how Dada artists responded to chaos yet always included elements of irony.”
“I can feel overwhelmed by the world. So, I make sure my pieces create a narrative calming and complex, never uncomfortable, to create a sense that everything is going to be okay.”
“Color and pattern are chosen to allow the viewer to create meaning though I guide what adds to meaning. And I always add a sense of irony or humor to make you think.”
Sharon Kyle’s mixed media pieces “transform rusted metal, wire, and distress wood- into art that speaks to resilience, memory, and change.” I’m especially drawn to rust because it remind me of life’s stages. Rusted objects have a beautiful patina which started out shiny. My work allows scraps from the past to live on forever,” explains the artist.
“I’m like a bag lady, scavenging objects from sidewalks, forests, junk piles, and rubble which had functions when they were new and I put together objects as if I were planning a dinner party. I want to get them together,” she explains.
“Order Amidst the Rubble” features parts from a player piano along with an old trailer engine part, a plate from an antique doorknob, and a chipped wooden wheel held by a metal axle from a Victorian dresser. Set against a background of asphalt and crumbled rust, the piece is unified by vertical structures, such as wood carved with upright notches or decayed to reveal striped patterns.”
But MIxHaus features more than mixed media. Texas musician Darden Smith contacted Hines about featuring a collection of photographs he took during COVID, when he was unable to perform live, which led to a 2023 exhibit.
Smith also features his songwriters’ workshops in collaboration with Mary Gathier at Comfort’s Hotel Giles, also co-owned by Hines. Google Darden Smith to contact him on social media in order to participate in February 2026, and Hotel Giles to schedule other workshops.
MixHaus has also presented poetry workshops, including one by former Texas Poet Laureate Carrie Fountain, which the Texas Commission on the Arts approached Hines about hosting, along with a reading by the poet.
MixHaus Gallery and Hotel Giles merit a day or weekend trip to Comfort, which also offers a variety of restaurants, boutiques, and wine bars.
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MixHaus Gallery, 714 High Street, PO Box 887, Comfort, TX 78013; 830-995-3750