40 texashighways.com
G E TAWAY | LUBBOCK
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Murals adorn
buildings in the Lubbock Cultural District;
Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the
Arts leads Lubbock’s artistic renaissance;
paella at La Diosa Cellars; Chad Plunket, di-
rector of the Charles Adams Studio Project;
Will Bannister and the Caldwell Collective
Band perform at the historic Cactus Theater.Saturday
9 A.M.
Throw Your Smock On
Lubbock makes it easy to get
artsy. Sign up for an affordable
print-making class with the able
staff at the Helen DeVitt Jones
Print Studio, one of CASP’s facili-
ties, and walk away with work
worthy of hanging on your wall.
Check the CASP website (casp-
arts.org) for upcoming classes
or arrange your own group les-
son. Nearby, the Louise Hopkins
Underwood Center for the Arts
is a community art hub that, like
CASP, is leading Lubbock’s artis-
tic renaissance. Visit their galler-
ies and check their events calen-
dar; with clay workshops, sound
meditations, and contra dances,
LHUCA helps you get your own
creative juices flowing.
“If you want to make art in
Lubbock, you can do it,” says
Chad Plunket, director of CASP,
affirming the city’s can-do ar-
tistic spirit. “It’s an affordable
town. And so if you have an
idea, well, do it. There are other
people who’ll help you. I think
that LHUCA and CASP are just
examples of that. We now sort
of own a whole downtown city
block that’s dedicated to the
arts. I do think that’s unique to
Lubbock and the West Texas
hard-work mentality—things
can happen here.”NOON
Lunch with La Diosa
A visit to La Diosa Cellars, a bis-
tro in Lubbock’s Depot Entertain-
ment District, is like a visit to the
home of an eccentric aunt—Frida
Kahlo homage decor, bright walls,
fanciful lamps with breasts. This
aunt entertains with tasty Span-
ish tapas and wines from acrossnonprofit that supports local
artists with workshops, stu-
dio space, and an artist-in-resi-
dence program—is central to the
action; food trucks, music, and
performances swirl around the
CASP workshops and studios. In
the gallery of CASP’s founder,
Charles Adams, works such as
the sweeping landscapes by con-
temporary photographer Ash-
ton Thornhill are proof that, as
Adams explains, you can cap-
ture the Texas countryside with-
out always “cowboying it up.” If
your visit doesn’t coincide with
the first Friday of the month, you
can still head over to the Cultural
District’s new Two Docs Brewing
Co. and admire the surround-
ing architecture and whimsical
murals—without FFAT, it will be
much quieter, but you can still
soak in some of the art vibe.9 P.M.
Music to Move You
OK, we know it’s late, but you
can’t come to the hometown of
Buddy Holly and Joe Ely and not
see any live music. When the
much-anticipated 2,200-seat
Buddy Holly Hall of Performing
Arts and Sciences opens in Spring
2020, this high-tech $154 mil-
lion facility will rival any theater
in the country. Meanwhile, spend
a little time on musical sacred
ground on Buddy Holly Avenue
in the Depot Entertainment Dis-
trict. The divey Blue Light Live—
where Lubbock native Amanda
Shires and her husband, Jason
Isbell, played often before they
hit it big—is home to Lubbock’s
best Red Dirt bands, like Flat-
land Cavalry—catch them if you
can. Also on Buddy Holly Avenue,
the historic art deco Cactus The-
ater brings in big Texas talent like
Patty Griffin and Kelly Willis.