\u201cThe Kerr County Love Project is a year-long project that is healing-centered engagement, and it\u2019s different than a memorial,\u201d said Wanda Montemayor<\/a>, an Austin-based art therapist and the project\u2019s clinical director. \u201cIt\u2019s a healing mural, so it\u2019s really about us coming together in the moments that we have together to make this mural. What as an art therapist, I know, is that art goes way deeper than words.\u201d<\/p>\n Mosaic tiles to be painted and put together for a mural honoring the history of Kerr County and the lives lost in the flooding on July 4, 2025. (Spectrum News 1\/Hannah Maguire)<\/p>\n This past summer, more than 130 people died in massive floods that swept the Hill Country and the Guadalupe River. Among the tragic losses were 25 young girls and two teen counselors attending Camp Mystic, a private Christian camp based along the Guadalupe.<\/p>\n Montemayor said it\u2019s important for affected children, parents, teachers and first responders to engage in non-traditional healing such as art therapy. When creating a tile for the mural at a group event, participants can process and share about their experience and struggles.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a process that already proved beneficial in Montemayor\u2019s Uvalde Love Project<\/a>, which began shortly after the town\u2019s tragic school shooting in May 2022 and resulted in a final mural<\/a> at Jardin de Los Heroes Park in August.<\/p>\n Montemayor said the Uvalde Love Project, though not specifically named, even influenced a government report of findings and recommendations that stated community-based non-traditional therapy has tremendous benefits.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen people make the tile, many times they\u2019re just in their own mind. They\u2019re in a place of reflection, they might be talking\u2026 that distress is in the air, but you\u2019re having a positive experience connecting,\u201d Montemayor said. \u201cSome people will be making their tile and they\u2019re not crying, but as soon as they share it, it becomes real. That\u2019s the integration.\u201d<\/p>\n Montemayor also noted a distinction between the Uvalde and Kerr County tragedies that informs the healing process. Uvalde had someone to blame, she said, while the Kerrville area suffered a natural disaster in a place where nature is a draw for people who live there.<\/p>\n \u201cMaking peace with nature after nature devastated you is a hard thing, and so that\u2019s really where we\u2019re seeing some of the unique aspects of this project,\u201d Montemayor said.<\/p>\n While the project hosts tile-making events for all ages, teachers and children are two particularly important groups. Trauma can deeply affect developing minds, and teachers can reach many in the community. Montemayor is currently working to form the project\u2019s team of lead art educators in Kerr County.<\/p>\n \u201cMy second language is to work with art educators,\u201d said Montemayor, who has 23 years of experience in middle school public education. \u201cArt is a really safe place for kids to process their experience, so if we can help these art educators deepen in the community, then we\u2019re just touching so many thousands and thousands of lives.\u201d<\/p>\n In October, with the help of funding from the Kendra Scott Foundation, Montemayor and her project team will install the estimated 750 to 1,000 square foot mural in Louis Hays Park, pending city approval. The piece will highlight Kerrville\u2019s history, from its famous tortilla factory to its distinctive cypress trees to teepees representing the first indigenous tribes who lived there. It also honors Florence Butt, who founded H-E-B in Kerrville, and the Schreiner\u00a0family, who established Kerrville\u2019s first bank and first electric light and power plant.<\/p>\n Some of the mosaic tiles to be featured in the mural honoring the lives lost in the Kerr County floods. (Spectrum News 1\/Hannah Maguire)<\/p>\n Montemayor said Kerr County officials also asked for the Guadalupe River and its camps, which began as tuberculous treatment centers, to be included. In the sky, roughly 130 glass mosaic birds will represent the lives lost in the flood.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really meant to show the resilience and strength of the community and the awesome history,\u201d Montemayor said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Dozens and dozens of slender, football-shaped tiles carry messages of love and strength for Kerr…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3564,14209,132,134,133,5604,3565,30432,14210,223,82,27,1659],"class_list":["post-88684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-app-community","tag-app-human-interest","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-austin-what-you-need-to-know","tag-community-news","tag-hannah-maguire","tag-human-interest","tag-news","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas","tag-texas-floods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mosaic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Kerr_Love_Project_122025.jpeg\")
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