Pfun Arts, the longtime Pflugerville art studio at 401 W. Pecan St., is transforming into a full-scale fine art gallery and creative hub, complete with rotating exhibits, an artisan boutique, and an open studio workspace. The expanded venue will celebrate its debut with a grand reopening celebration on October 24 at 7 p.m., billed as the Creepy Crawly Gallery Opening and timed to kick off a seasonal fall exhibition.
The expansion adds a fine art gallery and exhibition space with rotating exhibits, an open studio and creative workspace, and dedicated art education and specialty workshop areas, according to Community Impact. Pfun Arts also plans to open an artisan retail shop and boutique, and the studio is seeking artists to feature in the gallery, with submissions due by September 28. Gallery Director Candace Pruett said the reimagined space aims to build a home for creativity in Pflugerville, with the goal of helping community members learn, giving artists a place to show and sell their work, and creating a spot for neighbors to gather.
Pruett brings her own artistic credentials to the role. She is an Austin-based fine artist and muralist whose work centers on custom fine art and decorative interiors inspired by native Texas wildlife, according to her own site, Candace Pruett Art. She also teaches specialty workshops at Pfun Arts alongside her gallery director duties, per Pfun Arts's own teacher listings. The grand reopening celebration itself will include live musical performances, a live art demonstration, and complimentary refreshments, the studio's event details show.
From Round Rock Art School to Pflugerville Gallery
Pfun Arts wasn't always a gallery in the making. Studio owner Joey Shaw originally founded the operation as an affordable, inclusive art school in Round Rock before relocating it to Pflugerville around 2016, per the same Community Impact report from July 2024. The school was created specifically to give community members of all financial backgrounds access to art instruction and scholarship opportunities, a mission the studio appears to be carrying forward even as it adds a commercial gallery and boutique component.
Pfun Arts shares its 401 W. Pecan St. commercial center with other independent local businesses, including The Book Burrow, Pflugerville's sole independent bookstore, which moved into Suite G in August 2023 after starting out as a pop-up, according to The Book Burrow. Together, the two businesses hint at an informal creative cluster forming along the corridor as Pflugerville's downtown continues to evolve.
A Corridor Under Construction
The gallery's expansion arrives as West Pecan Street itself is being reshaped. Pflugerville adopted a $23.3 million Downtown Streetscape Master Plan at a Sept. 24 meeting, with an estimated $11 million in improvements to Pecan Street, a corridor that carries over 15,000 vehicles a day through central Pflugerville, according to Community Impact's earlier coverage.
The Pflugerville Arts Council has supported cultural programming in the area, including a classical concert series held at First United Methodist Church on Pecan Street, per the Pflugerville Arts Council.
Pflugerville's Population Growth
Pflugerville's population increased from 2020 to 2025 by about 4.3%, which rounds to 4%.
For now, Pfun Arts' next milestone is its own front door. With the September 28 artist submission deadline behind it, the studio is preparing to open its doors for the October 24 celebration, offering Pflugerville residents a look at how a once-modest workshop space has grown into a gallery meant to serve, in Pruett's words, as a home for creativity shared with Central Texas.
