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EDITOR’S NOTE
EDITOR’S NOTE
We have covered a lot of subjects over the years—music, theatre, radio. But for some reason “makers” has never made the cut. It’s a term that has increased in prominence over the last few years, but what is a maker? A jeweler? A knitter? A blacksmith? How about all of the above? For our Makers Issue, we decided to cast a broad net. Our primary criterion was the made object needed to have some sort of utilitarian function. That gave us quite a spectrum to work with. From sword making to crochet, we do our best to run the gamut. Sure, we missed some people. It always happens, but I hope we have given you a glimpse into the broad array of talented makers in Arkansas.
shows. Our two featured artists—Jason Jones and Olivia Trimble—have both developed a reputation for their public works from murals to sign painting. We are excited to finally showcase their work. Also, we’d like to thank Kyle Ramsey of Guts + Grit for creating a rad design for this issue. And a shout out to his partner, Joey Nelson, for putting this together. We are very excited to work with these guys. Their name says it all. I highly recommend working with them if you get the chance. As 2017 comes to a close, we’re seeing what a big year it’s been for the arts in Arkansas. We hope the upward momentum continues into 2018, and we will do our best to bridge the gaps of our geographic regions and spread the word about all the great things going on in our state.
We have some other great features in this issue. The Open Mouth Reading Series brings poets from around the nation to Fayetteville. Rockhill Studios is looking to put Arkansas on the filmmaking map by providing the necessary infrastructure for feature films, commercials and television
See you in 2018, KODY FORD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
IDLECLASSMAG.COM @THEIDECLASS
EDITOR & PUBLISHER
COVERS
KODY FORD
JASON JONES OLIVIA TRIMBLE
MANAGING EDITORS
MOLLY RECTOR JENNY VOS DESIGNER
GUTS + GRIT
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CONTRIBUTORS
TERRAH GRAVES DWAIN HEBDA KEVIN KINDER JEREMY MASON MCGRAW
HELEN MARINGER MEREDITH MASHBURN DAVE MORRIS JAMIE SEED SAMANTHA SIGMON DONNA SMITH SANDRA SPOTTS JULIA TRUPP KAT WILSON
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WAXING POETIC
PUBLIC DOMAIN
MINT CONDITION
Open Mouth Reading Series creates community through words.
Jason Jones dazzles and charms with his murals.
Shire Post Mint brings the coins of Westeros and Middle Earth to life.
HIDDEN MONSTERS
GIMME A SIGN
MAKERS WE LOVE
A new video game focuses on a legendary cryptid from South Arkansas.
Sign painter Olivia Trimble gives old walls new life.
We spotlight a variety of makers from across Arkansas.
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PAGES 14 – 15
Sleet City Signs & Murals Always hand paint.
PAGES 22 – 25
PAGES 26 – 29
PAGES 34 - 35
PAGES 40 - 46
ANTIQUES • Art INDUSTRIAL Artisan - made vintage • Upcycled Art, Craft, & DIY Classes in Historic SoMa
@sleetcitywoman Oliviatrimble@gmail.com
1600 Main Street • Little Rock, AR 72206 501•414•8713 www.southmaincreative.com Find us on Instagram & Facebook!
WINTER 2018
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EVENTS NWA Mix Festival & Cocktail Weekend JAN. 11 – JAN. 14, 2018
It looks to be a wild weekend. So drink carefully and be safe! For those who love a good cocktail, fear not—NWA Mix Fest & Cocktail Weekend is returning in 2018. This exciting event is a can’t miss for anyone who loves a tasty drink. It’s sponsored by Barritt’s Ginger Beer, Broker’s Gin, Bacoo Rum, Backyard Mary, COA Tequila, El Yucateco Hot Sauce Official, 360 Vodka and Elijah Craig. Things kick off on Jan. 11 at 6 p.m. at Grand Taverne Restaurant & Lounge in Eureka Springs. The next night at 7 p.m., The Idle Class teams up with Nomad’s in Fayetteville, Bacoo Rum, Barritt’s Ginger Beer and Elijah Craig for Art In A Bottle. Little Rock artist Michael Shaeffer will showcase some of his new works.
On Jan. 13, you’ll need to brace yourselves and call an Uber. The Beerology Brunch runs from 1 to 4 p.m. with 360 Vodka, Backyard Mary and El Yucateco Hot Sauce Official at Nomads. Happier Hours takes place from 4 to 6 p.m. with Broker’s Gin and Barritt’s Ginger Beer at The Chancellor Hotel followed by a Virtual Cocktail Party from 7 to 9 p.m. with COA Tequila, Backyard Mary and Barritt’s Ginger Beer at AXIS Lounge. The final day, Jan. 14, will feature a Pickle Party Brunch from 1 to 2 p.m. with 360 Vodka, Backyard Mary and Barritt’s Ginger Beer at Greenhouse Grille. Then the NWA Mix OFF goes from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Art Ventures NWA with music by Benjamin Del Shreve, followed by an after party that starts at 8 p.m. in The Chancellor Hotel.
Becoming John Marin: Modernist at Work Arkansas Arts Center JAN. 26 – APRIL 22, 2018
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The work of a great American modernist, John Marin (1870– 1953), gets a revelatory new look in an exhibition originating at the Arkansas Arts Center. Opening Jan. 26, Becoming John Marin: Modernist at Work features never-before-exhibited drawings and watercolors owned by the AAC and 33 distinguished Marin works loaned by outstanding public and private collections, illustrating the artist’s evolution as he transformed from intuitive draftsman to innovative watercolorist and etcher. The exhibit affords a unique opportunity to see finished watercolors, etchings and oil paintings reunited with the sketches on which they were based, for the first time outside the artist’s studio.
Marin was one of America’s outstanding modernists, from his 1909 debut exhibition of watercolors at Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 Gallery in New York, until his death in 1953. He is best known for his lively, idiosyncratic watercolors, etchings and oil paintings of gritty urban New York and the natural coast of Maine. Other drawings were experiments in visually fragmenting forms to creative expressive modernist compositions. The exhibition also follows the artist to lesser-known places—the cliffs outside New York City known as the Palisades—and to lesser-known subjects—portraits of friends and family and charming drawings of zoo and circus animals.
The exhibit will feature a fully illustrated catalog and narrative website, edited by Arkansas Arts Center Curator of Drawings and exhibition curator Ann Prentice Wagner, Ph.D.. The website, becomingjohnmarin.com, will feature thorough analysis of Marin’s favorite subjects, from New York’s Woolworth Building to Small Point, Maine. The website will guide viewers through Marin’s life and work, further adding context to the artistic process of this incredible artist.
“Most of his informal drawings and watercolor sketches have rarely been seen outside his studio,” Wagner said. “These very personal images let us travel with Marin through the crowded streets of New York, along the rocky shores of Maine, and into the cluttered creative space of his studio.”
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ARKANSASARTSCENTER.ORG
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t! n e ipm
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WATCH!
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479-444-3433 | faypublic.tv | info@faypublic.tv
Featuring fine art by
BRAD CUSHMAN Little Rock, Arkansas 5815 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501.664.0030 Miami, Florida 305.528.4971
www.boswellmourot.com “Rivercrest I (Looking Northwest)” WINTER 2018
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WAXING POETIC WORDS / JENNY VOS PHOTO / KAT WILSON
The Opem Mouth Reading Series creates community through words.
“Poetry is an art that thrives on community,” says M. D. Myers. “Community is the goal, but it is also the means.”
Myers works alongside fellow co-founders Molly Bess Rector and J. Bailey Hutchinson to coordinate the Open Mouth Reading Series, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that hosts monthly readings in downtown Fayetteville to celebrate poetry and connect local poets with a national network of writers. The community that Open Mouth has built is powerful and diverse. At their events you will find students, professionals, retirees; beginning writers, enthusiasts, and professionals with graduate degrees in literature, gathered to share and celebrate poetry. This diversity is so central to the Open Mouth’s mission that it is built into the structure of their events.
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“Preceding our featured reader,” Hutchinson explains, “we have a round of 10 community members reading a single poem written by them or by someone they love; this breaks down some of the boundaries constructed between ‘expert’ and ‘novice’ writers. It’s important to us that we not only bring contemporary poets to NWA to share their work, but also that we celebrate the beautiful voices and hearts already present in our community.”
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Most folks have likely never been to a literary event that feels as open or as grounded as an Open Mouth reading. There is no pedestal or spotlight. Some readers rise with poems memorised for performance, some read from well-creased pages, some speak with trembling, breaking voices. Whether they are reading their own writing or someone else’s, all are met with joy and appreciation.
“That we try to include our audience in the events themselves I think does a lot,” says Myers. “It’s not just something they go and listen to, it’s something they’re involved in. They’ll bring friends and family, and say, I do this for fun, let me show you!” The series has had an exciting year. They held the inaugural Open Mouth Poetry Festival, a five-day celebration of local and travelling poets, in late October, and hosted The Conversation, a two-day literary festival meditating on issues of race, in March. The road to this point, however, has not always run smooth.
“Understandably,” says Myers, “not every poet is easily able to travel here with no funding. Getting to a place where we can feed, house, offer travel reimbursement, and appropriately pay for their artistic labor has been, and continues to be, a challenge.” But with continuing involvement from their loyal community and an expanding pool of supporters on Patreon and across social media, the team at Open Mouth is looking forward to growing their community even further.
OPEN MOUTH
“We have lots of plans for expanding,” says Hutchinson. “Poetry workshops, writer residencies, a poetry blog, a podcast featuring interviews from readers.” The Open Mouth Reading Series meets the second Sunday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at The Nines in the trailside village in Fayetteville. Events are announced on Facebook and on their website.
OPENMOUTHREADINGS.COM
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There’s no conceivable way a Trump voter could enjoy this music, given an attentive listen.
HIGH LONESOME It’s Midnight, I’m Not Famous Yet
Let’s Talk Figures Records 2018 It’s Arkansas. You probably know at least one fascist, even if you don’t realize it, or hell, even if they don’t realize it themselves. Self-awareness is often in short supply in these strange days. On “She’s In Love With A Fascist”, the standout track from Fayetteville band High Lonesome’s sophomore effort It’s Midnight, I’m Not Famous Yet, singer Martin Bemberg laments the fact that his former partner found love with one such local fascist. These unions of anecdotes and hard left politics are Bemberg’s trademark, and this album is rife with them.
It’s been over three years since the release of the band’s debut LP, Get Some Young. High Lonesome has spent much of the time that’s passed tweaking and perfecting these ten songs with workmanlike precision. Nary a note is out of place, and despite the spare production and arrangement, It’s Midnight, I’m Not Famous Yet sounds rich and full. They manage to pull off the greatest trick of any great threepiece—sounding like a much larger band. This interesting and elusive dichotomy enables the band to accomplish their self-stated goal of giving the listener something to make them dance.
Recorded at the studio of Fayetteville-based label Let’s Talk Figures, It’s Midnight, I’m Not Famous Yet is sure to be a polarizing experience. There’s no conceivable way a Trump voter could enjoy this music, given an attentive listen. That by no means suggests that every Bernie Bro this side of the Mississippi will love this record, either, but anyone with such politics that is also predisposed to enjoying traditional college guitar rock will probably find it to be pleasant, if not outright spectacular.
While the music is at once restrained and elaborate, Bemberg’s bookish lyrics can at times be indulgent and excessive, and may be a deal breaker for some kids who otherwise might bop to this rock. But this is a band that is essentially based on mythologizing the University of Arkansas English Department, so alienating people with hyper-literacy may well be the entire point. If you’re well-read enough to get the many clever references, there’s a lot to enjoy here and it’s worth your time.
The band, which features Bemberg’s highly melodic bass playing, rounded out with Sean Johnson’s Joey-Santiago-cum-Scotty-Moore guitar licks, and Dick Darden’s incredibly task-oriented drumming, is tight as a tick. The killer musicianship is highlighted by the tastefully understated production, courtesy of Let’s Talk Figures in-house producer Willie Krzeszinski and the band.
Lyrical content aside, this record is very poppy. Aside from the delightful dirge “Sin Hymnal” there aren’t any extended instrumental passages and almost all of the songs are in that three minutes or less range. That’s because these songs are built around the lyrics, and they’re delivered with hooks aplenty. Johnson and Darden’s savory backing vocals really help the medicine go down. - Dave Morris
It’s A Mystery BookStore
shindigmusic.net music, news and entertainment for arkansas and the mid-south
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On the Berryville square
Your gently-used bookstore featuring vintage, modern and classic reads!
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WELCOME TO THE SHOW Circus Arts Gain Popularity Across the Natural State
WORDS / KODY FORD PHOTO / JAMIE SEED
For many people, the idea of a circus conjures images of lion tamers and parading elephants, or men being shot out of cannons. Such notions, however, are antiquated cliches. Modern circus arts are a different sort of beast and one that is on the rise in popularity thanks to companies like Cirque Du Soliel. Over the last few years, circus arts have gained a higher regional profile as musicians like Randall Shreve and events like Last Night Fayetteville have featured such performers in their line-ups. Little Rock’s Arkansas Circus Arts is a studio featuring aerialists, stilt walkers, fire performers, hula hoopers, acrobats, jugglers, living statues and more. Founder Camille Rule can do a little bit of everything—hoop spin fire, walk on stilts. “I grew up as a ballet dancer and found circus arts by accident. I started hula hooping and that was the gateway drug to all things circus,” she says. The group has performed for large clients such as Tyson Foods, Toys”R”Us and CARTI. They have produced shows at Wildwood Park for the Arts, Argenta Community Theatre, Robinson Center, and Ron Robinson Theater. Currently they offer adult trainings, children’s classes and summer camps. Rule has a theory for the increased popularity. “Circus arts and pole dance are becoming more popular as a fun and unique way to get fit while expressing yourself, plus it’s cheaper than therapy,” she says. “The event entertainment side is also becoming more popular. Corporate clients want something unique and entertaining for their guests that’s not the same old fundraiser or banquet.” Brittany Paul, of Fayetteville’s Nimbus Circus, first encountered circus arts at a party in Brooklyn. She was working for Greenpeace and getting her Master’s in Environmental Studies, but had grown tired of paperwork. She returned to Arkansas and met Shannon Wallace-Norman, who had trained in Oakland. Together they founded Nimbus Circus and taught aerial dance at Yoga Deza.
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“[Aerial] is movement presented in a way to evoke thought and emotion,” Paul says. During her performances Paul is high in the air, suspended only by flowing pieces of silk. When choreographing a new routine, she starts with music. Some sequence of movements will be more emotional than others so it depends on the energy of the song. She also considers costumes and does dress rehearsals for at least a week during choreography to create a complete vision for the performance. All of these details help her take the art to the next level. Still, once the show starts, she finds herself both physically and mentally vulnerable on the stage. “I feel a bit uncomfortable up there,” she says. “I like to dance a lot by myself and I try to imagine that no one is watching. In that way, I think it also produces a more authentic performance and gets across the emotional theatrics more easily. It’s like I’m doing something I usually do but am allowing myself to be a bit uncomfortable for a greater good, for people to see what’s possible with their emotions and bodies.”
In early 2018, Paul plans to move to New Orleans and work with Alejandro Dubois, who emceed the Sunday Family Sideshow at Coney Island for many years, and they will begin producing shows throughout 2018. As for Rule, she hopes for ACA to perform out of state. Youth outreach and teaching, particularly to underprivileged communities, are also at the top of her agenda. “Our students inspire us to keep growing, learning and teaching,” she says. “Watching someone get a move for the first time or do a trick they thought they’d never accomplish is priceless. The youth and kids inspire us to leave something for the next generation of circus monkeys.”
ARKANSASCIRCUSARTS.COM
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HIDDEN MONSTERS
WORDS / K. SAMANTHA SIGMON
Southern Monsters is a unique, artistic and deeply studied work of interactive fiction about a disabled teen living in South Arkansas in 2005. His social interaction consists of an online forum about bigfoot, and it just so happens that he lives near the area where the legendary Foulke Monster has been seen. Oh, and there’s his cat (based on the game designers’ own cat) and only the player can decide if he receives a sufficient amount of petting. The creative team behind this project are narrative designer Kevin Snow, sound designer Priscilla Snow, and graphic artist Patrick Bonaduce. Last year, Priscilla and Kevin ran a very successful kickstarter campaign: 483 backers pledged $12,169 towards a goal of $8,000 to help bring this project to life. The team hopes to release the game for download this fall. In order to understand the process behind designing this original game, I sat down with Priscilla and Kevin—a couple who are deeply passionate and invested in their creative work.
Behind the Video Game About Arkansas’s Bigfoot Kevin Snow’s first foray into game design was a webcomic he wrote in broken language that used graphics and music to narrate one play through of the game Dwarf Fortress. He worked on this webcomic for three years, and afterward wanted to make his own game. Kevin learned how to code and got Patrick Bonaduce, an online friend who made fan art for the webcomic, on board for the graphics. That project, The Domovoi, was based on a legend about a protective house spirit in Slavic folklore. Kevin has continued to mine his deep interest in folklore. His narratives mix academic training, passionate interest and his own personal experiences dealing with abuse and military trauma. He jokes that while his history professor was grooming him for graduate school, he was using all of his knowledge to create video games. In a way, players of Kevin’s games are getting both a deliberate cultural tutorial and a personal story alongside their search for monsters. Priscilla Snow has a background in music and theatre and is the sound designer for Kevin’s stories. “In theatre there are certain things you don’t have control over, but with video games you have a lot more control over what your audience is hearing. A lot of
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music is very psychological.” She said it can sound “so gross and dark tonally” that she sometimes gets a stomach ache, but it’s interesting to her how much of an effect a sound designer can have on a player. After The Domovoi, their next project was Beneath Floes, and they realized they might as well think of their games as investigating a series of monsters in different cultures, as Kevin said, to ask “why there are monsters in every folklore. To really research and look into and figure out what it is about the story” that makes people keep telling it. Beneath Floes is set in Qikiqtaaluk, an area in rural Canada, in 1962, and the monster is an Inuit human-like creature with green skin who lives in the sea. Concerned about cultural appropriation, Kevin reached out to people from the region who tested and okayed the game ahead of time, and it was officially released in 2015. The inspiration for Southern Monsters came in 2014 when Priscilla’s grandmother told them there was a Bigfoot around her hometown. Kevin quickly became interested in online Bigfoot groups. Kevin and Priscilla explain that the Foulke monster story really starts in the 1940s with the Yeti. Hoaxers throughout the 1950s and 60s attempted to cash in on the Yeti myth with their own regional
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Even though I can get into these spaces, I’m always a little outside of them because I’m not actually a believer. versions. In the early 1960s, the Arkansas version was called the Jonestown monster. The 1972 fictional documentary The Legend of Boggy Creek by cult film director Charles B. Pierce cemented this regional monster as an enduring part of popular culture.
has moved away. Certain sounds are also experimental. There were nightmare sequences for which she made “realistic, but heightened enough sound,” using uncommon instruments like a theremin and water in a metal bowl.
In 2015, as Kevin was dealing with problems related to his disabilities, Southern Monsters was born around a character, Cripplefoot, who is living with his mom in the mid-2000s and struggling with his own disabilities. The game takes place over the course of five days during which time the player tries to find the monster, and part of the game is managing anxiety and PTSD as Cripplefoot tries to go outside. “[He is] recently separated from an abusive father character. He’s in liminal state in his life, where he has trauma, but hasn’t realized that yet so he’s trying to cope, so it’s really confusing for him,” Kevin explained. The main story is being in this lonely teenager’s head. “All of that sounds really depressing, but it’s really not,” Kevin elaborates, “everything I make has this dark humor. Like really grim subjects, but it’s finding humor in reality, essentially.”
Kevin immersed himself in the South Arkansas Bigfoot culture and visited cryptozoologists, self-made experts in trying to prove the existence of folkloric creatures. “It’s interesting being in some of these spaces and wondering, when am I in too deep,” he said. “Even though I can get into these spaces, I’m always a little outside of them because I’m not actually a believer. And I make friends with these people . . . and some of them obviously have distrust that I understand. I’ve been really occupied in the past year finding commonalities with people I seemingly have nothing in common with — this idea of throwing myself into spaces that are just bizarre and I have nothing to do with and finding what the common link is.”
Creating the immersive environment of the game required extensive research in odd places. Priscilla paid attention to the sounds of a house that uses a box fan instead of central air conditioning. She looked at ecology reports in Southern Arkansas. “What kind of animals are common and what sounds do they make and how does this influence your experience being in this location,” were important questions, she said. Priscilla wrote music to populate the online page of a character in the game who is friends with Cripplefoot and
Bonaduce, the graphic artist, does not live in the South, so Priscilla and Kevin would send him pictures of details in homes like the praying hands, duck heads, moon pies...all important details to really capture the world. Uniting a love for culture and research with artistic creativity in many disciplines and a detailed focus on regional folklore, Southern Monsters is a project that gives Arkansas a unique contribution that any player is sure to see.
17 North Block Street Fayetteville, AR 72701 479-966-0623 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK /BlockStreetRecords
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WHAT’LL IT BE?
Arkansas Beer Experts Sound off on Their Favorite In-State Brews
In November 2016, Men’s Journal proclaimed what millions of ale heads, stout aficionados and IPA sippers already knew: there’s never been a better time to be a beer drinker in America. Arkansas is no exception. With more than 30 breweries currently licensed by the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board—and more popping up on the horizon—there are plenty of brews to keep the local beer lover coming back for more.
_ FAYETTEVILLE
With so much experimentation and hand-crafted variety, The Idle Class wanted to know what some of the state’s brewers and beer professionals were drinking when they weren’t drinking their own brands. Here’s what they told us.
FOSSIL COVE BREWING COMPANY Don’t let the young faces working the brewery and taproom fool you; Fossil Cove is one of the fastest-growing breweries in the Northwest Arkansas brewing enclave. Driving that growth is the connection Fossil Cove enjoys with the community of craft beer drinkers, local and otherwise. Tourists sit next to regulars and shirtsleeves next to tattoo sleeves enjoying the brewery’s signature La Brea Brown, Paleo Ale and an intriguing lineup of seasonal beers.
_ LITTLE ROCK
WORDS / DWAIN HEBDA
STONE’S THROW BREWING The little brewery that could, Stone’s Throw nestles into its surroundings like the favorite corner tavern it’s become for its many staunch fans. Despite its small size the taproom is always lively, a beer garden has been added and one of several food trucks is always parked right outside to handle any cravings. Co-owner and brewer Ian Beard has sampled many of the local selections and among his favorites are Ozark’s American Pale Ale and Ready, Set, Gose by Little Rock’s pizza-and-beer institution Damgoode Brews. He also lauded Hot Springs-based Superior Bathhouse Brewery’s Hernando DeSoto Golden Stout, made with local hot spring water “This was probably the first golden stout I ever tasted and I’ve really come to love the style,” he said. “It’s a great beer on its own, but the experience of people watching through the big windows of the bathhouse while sipping on a pint of this tasty brew makes it stand out as a favorite.”
_ HOT SPRINGS
Andrew Blann, Fossil Cove manager, had a hard time narrowing down his list to three, finally settling on Razzle Dazzle Raspberry Porter by Gravity BrewWorks in Big Flat, which he called, “A great porter with well-balanced roasty, chocolate notes. The raspberries shine through and add an interesting character.” He also favored Claire, a dry-hopped saison by Ozark and Damgoode Brews’ Ready, Set Gose, calling the latter a “really nice German sour with hints of salt and citrus, perfect for the hot Arkansas summers.”
SUPERIOR BATHHOUSE BREWERY & DISTILLERY Being the first brewery to open in a national park, the first beer brewed with Hot Springs’ legendary water and one of the few beers produced by a tuba-playing brewer should give Superior Bathhouse all the style points one could want. The one-of-a-kind microbrewery, however, keeps stacking up national notoriety. Superior Bathhouse was recently listed by Men’s Journal as the craft brewery to try in Arkansas. Getting the brewery off the ground in a national park was time-intensive—owner and brewmaster Rose Schweikhart endured a three-year permitting process prior to her first pour in 2015. However, the stylish brewery is now reaping dividends for its patience and enjoys substantial growth while looking for wider distribution. Schweikhart recommends Cream Stout by Ozark. “It’s wonderfully balanced and very drinkable,” she said. “It’s got just enough of everything.” She also likes Little Rockbased Flyway’s Bluewing, an American wheat beer with a bright berry component, and Lost 40’s seasonal hit Nighty-Night for its “big flavor and beautiful color,” adding, “the aging in rye whiskey, bourbon and cabernet barrels makes for a one-of-a kind beer.”
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The name is a nod to the rapidly growing population of Northwest Arkansans who hearken from myriad locales. It could just as easily be a reference to the sea change that’s come to the craft beer market here, which surged after several communities rolled back longstanding laws regarding alcohol. When he’s not brewing and sampling his own recipes, McEnroe fancies a pint of Ozark’s Onyx Coffee Stout or La Brea Brown by Fossil Cove of Fayetteville, raving about the latter “the fruitiness from the Belgian yeast and the addition of coriander give this brown additional complexity.”
Bentonville’s first brewery, Bike Rack was the spawn of a homebrew club. The original taproom was small and perched near a bike trail that fed into both the biking culture here and the brewery’s name. That was then, this is now: Bike Rack ushered in the first quarter of 2017 with a new brewmaster, Josiah Moody of Moody Brews, and acclaimed gigs with several area breweries. The company also moved into a new 7,000-square-foot facility, sharing part of it with the Northwest Arkansas Community College’s Culinary Institute. Here, the brewery serves not only its patrons, but also as parttime classroom for students seeking to learn the finer points of brewing. Among Moody’s favorites is Ozark’s Barrel Aged Double Cream Stout, which he called “elegant” and Rebel Kettle’s Rob Gnarly. He also noted the American Pale Ale at Apple Blossom Brewery of Fayetteville, with whom he’s frequently collaborated. “My everyday beers include saisons, pilsners and American-style pale ales,” he explained. “I think Apple Blossom’s is a great example of the APA style.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF EXPERIENCE
Little Rock’s Rebel Kettle also makes his list with its C-Street IPA Block #3, which he called, “A well-executed IPA. The malt bill is clean allowing the big citrus and fruity hop flavors to steal the show.”
BIKE RACK BREWING COMPANY
FAYETTEVILLE
After college, owner Derrick McEnroe got what many might call a dream job, an analyst position with the local Miller Coors office. But it wasn’t long until he was sampling craft beer and developing a taste for something more. A home brewing kit sealed his fate and within a few years, he and his wife had opened New Province in an 8,000-square-foot Rogers warehouse.
_ BENTONVILLE
_ ROGERS
NEW PROVINCE BREWING COMPANY
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ARTISTS WE LOVE
ARTIST
Brad Cushman juggles the work of curating and overseeing operations at the gallery on the University of Arkansas-Little Rock campus, while continuing to produce new works of his own. He employs a variety of mediums and subject matter, shifting from printmaking to sculpture to painting. The recipient of an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art has worked as Gallery Director and Curator of Exhibitions at UA Little Rock since 2000. What medium are you most comfortable with? Why? I studied painting at Cranbrook Academy of Art. I have created work with paint, photographs, printmaking, and sculpture. It depends on what I am trying to say—I often say give me materials and I will make something then we can decide if it is art or not. What is the relationship each medium has with the others you employ? Do your techniques with one medium influence how you work with the others? Today, I often paint with printmaking ink. This came out of teaching printmaking. I would have my students create calligraphy plates out of mat board or cardboard. They would build up surfaces with glue and other textures before inking the plates. It was a cheap way to introduce printing processes in the classroom. Often the images in the prints were not that interesting but the plates, after being inked 10 - 15 times would look more interesting than the print on paper. I decided to take this process to my canvases and works on paper.
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Brad Cushman WORDS / SANDRA SPOTTS
I use the camera to capture images. I gesso the canvas or paper with a white mat paint. I drawing the image. Then I paint in the negative spaces using a white gloss acrylic underpainting. Once that is dry I begin applying the ink/paint over the surface and wipe off the excess paint. The paint stays in the mat area but wipes away from the gloss acrylic surfaces. I repeat this process severe times and the surfaces become toned. Working in layers the ink applies acts like glazing with paint. You create work that “negotiates the ambiguous spaces between popular culture and fine art.” What did you learn about that relationship? Many artists work with a very specific subject matter and they have a very distinct style that you can identify easily. I work in series and I have a tendency to change things up from one project to the next. Sometimes I work with the poetics of abstractions, and other times I gravitate to narrative works focused on social issues, and I still work with textures and the landscape. Am I a poet or a pamphleteer? It depends on what story I am trying to tell. I don’t think I actually answered your question—I guess I am still in negotiations!
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BRAD CUSHMAN What are the sources of inspiration for you? What direction is your art taking right now? In a recent exhibition, some of the works were inspired by the poem Shadows in the Water by Thomas Traherne, other paintings were inspired by the view of the Arkansas river from my home, and I also included two paintings which could be described as inspired by Mad Magazine and political cartoons. The paintings Black Lagoon and Twister feature caricatures of Donald Trump. Are you a tough curator? I have been curating exhibitions for 27 years and I have looked at a lot of good art and a lot of bad art. A curator is part storyteller and part editor with a discerning eye. Art has to speak for itself outside of the studio and if the ideas are not being communicated clearly then you can’t be afraid to say “no” at times. This might come off as tough but you have an obligation to your audience to bring the best work into the gallery. To what extent does your personal taste influence how you curate? Outsider art and installation art excites me and I have curated exhibitions featuring this type of work. I would like to see even more experimental exhibitions in our community.
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GINA GALLINA
PHOTOS / JEREMY MASON MCGRAW
WORDS / MOLLY RECTOR
Textile artist Gina Rose Gallina thinks it’s unfortunate that people tend to associate her medium, crochet, with grandmas. Not that she sees anything wrong with grandmas—her own grandmother taught her to crochet when she was eight years old—but there have been times when she’s felt a little judged for her obsession with her art form. “Gah, we were having a party and then Gina started crocheting,” she jokes, before indicating that she really does find herself practicing her art in public. “I would hide in my bag and think ugh how can I sneak a row in without anyone knowing? Until I attended my first Vogue Knitting Live in Minneapolis, where everyone, and I mean mean every one—women and men, all ages—were crocheting and knitting freely and proudly.”
The notion of freedom seems to be a point of focus for Gallina, who has noted in several interviews that one of the reasons she loves crochet is that it is both accessible and adaptable as an art form. Some of Gallina’s most impressive works—for example, a huge ball gown inspired by Marie Antoinette—bridge the gap between sculpture and ready-to-wear fashion. She says she takes inspiration from movies, people she sees on the street and vintage photos of her aunt with a groovy fashion sense. “I love to crochet on impulse,” she says, “and I have a great outlet to do this for Cheap Thrills in Fayetteville.” Those who visit Cheap Thrills will find Gallina’s crocheted outfits for sale. They’re bright and colorful—she refers to them as “crazy and wild.” She sees fashion as an important part of shaping our visual experience of the world. “Our bodies are canvases to express ourselves,” she says. Wearing many colors and unusual outfits, Gallina says, is a way not to take ourselves too seriously.
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Indeed, for Gallina, who sees herself as a joker and likes to draw cartoons, crochet offers an opportunity to exercise her sense of humor and her innate desire to create and entertain. That playful spirit is what led her to her art form to begin with. In 2007, while on tour with a band and traveling up to 250 miles a day, Gallina started crocheting as a way to entertain herself. Soon after that, in 2011, when she moved to a cabin with no internet in Eureka Springs, came the moment when, for her, crochet transitioned from simple entertainment to an artistic exercise. She had gotten bored making socks and hats, so she “crocheted a chair, then a taxidermy deer, then a bacon and eggs banner,” she says. Encouraged by the approval of her friends, she kept “going and going, on to lamps, bigger chairs, trees, my entire porch, a giant bananas hat.” “I kept waiting to get bored with it, as I like to do many other things,” Gallina says, but because of the diversity of the medium (and, she admits, be) that moment cause she found a market for her work never came.
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Ten years after she took up a crochet hook to stave off boredom, Gallina is working on a new installation for Vogue Knitting New York City, which will be on display in January. “It’s giving me ants in my pants,” she says with a bit of a wink, “and that’s all I can say about that.” Gallina’s work can also be found in several places around Northwest Arkansas, including a giant Strawberry that is now hanging in the Fayetteville town square commissioned as part of Green Candy Art Action last summer.
@GINAROSEGALLINA
“FAYETTEBERRY” ARTIST, GINA GALLINA
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PUBLIC DOMAIN Jason Jones dazzles and charms with his murals and altered thrift store paintings.
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INTERVIEW / DONNA SMITH PHOTO / KAT WILSON
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To say that public art has increased in Northwest Arkansas over the last few years is a drastic understatement. One of the artists leading the way for this evolution in our communities through his mural work is the great Jason Jones. From being paid for his first mural work with game and VHS rentals, to bringing humor to viewers through his altered thrift store paintings, to scaling the Advertising & Promotion Commission funded mural project near the Town Center in Fayetteville, Jason’s work continues to evolve and thrive. He was kind enough to talk with me about his process, what first drew him to art (pun indeed intended), and the relationships with family and this area that continue to motivate him. What first interested you about art? When did you decide it was something you wanted to pursue? When I was four or five years old, I sat down in front of my parents while they were watching TV. I started to draw a picture of them, really looking and studying their features. I don’t think they were paying much attention to me. When I was done, it was uncanny how much it looked like them. I gave it to my mom, and she just lit up with delight. I think that’s when I decided I wanted to be an artist. Ever since that moment, my family has encouraged me to be creative. Even to this day, my mom is one of my biggest cheerleaders and still gets excited to see what I’m working on. She’s even kept that original portrait drawing after all these years. When did you first become interested in mural work and street art? I was 14 years old when a video store owner asked me to paint a mural on his fence. I rode my bike there each day and painted several movie scenes. He paid me with VHS and video game rentals. It was my first gig, and I was hooked. Which mural has been the most challenging for you, either in subject matter, or execution and why? The Enjoy Local mural on the Fayetteville square was the most challenging. Applying for public funds definitely took me out of my comfort zone. I spent months putting together the proposal, and up to that point, the Fayetteville A&P commission had never given funding directly to an artist for public art. As you can imagine, there were lots of opinions, and being under the spotlight was new to me. Also, the sheer size of the mural was a challenge. It’s a 3,000 square-foot wall, and I had never painted on that scale before. It was a lot of physical work during the hottest month of the year, and to add to it, I’m afraid of heights. Being on a lift all day took some getting used to. By the end of it, I felt like I had climbed a mountain.
I know you have helped several artists complete pieces, most recently working with The Unexpected Project in Fort Smith. As an artist with your own working style and viewpoint, how was it to work with other creators on their works as an assistant of sorts? How did that change or have you reflect on your artistic process when the idea was not necessarily your own? I loved every minute while volunteering for the Unexpected. It’s given me the opportunity to meet some of my idols. I’ve been following some of the artists for years and to meet them and help on their projects is such an honor. Last year I helped Guido van Helten mix paint, and I met with Alexis Diaz. This year, I assisted Doze Green and Felipe Pantone. All of the artists are very kind, and it’s a great opportunity for me to learn new techniques. Each artist works differently, and I’m fascinated by their processes. Probably the biggest influence the experience has had on my own work is that it has given me more desire to paint my own creative ideas and focus less on commissioned client-based ideas. The Unexpected artists have a lot of creative freedom, and this is the direction I hope to go. In many of your works, you use an animal or a robot to feature the (sometimes humorous) conflict of the natural landscape and figures not from that world. When did you first start using this motif and what about those figures do you find the most interesting? As an art student in college, I started doing paintings based on childhood memories. I remembered having a large stuffed Grover doll as a child. At some point, after I became a little older, I realized that he was gone. So, I started a series of paintings with this skinny blue character leaving home and going on all kinds of adventures. He ventured through the woods and creek behind my house and went on to all kinds of environments. Since then, the little blue man has morphed into robots or animals having adventures. I love to show subtle emotions with simple characters, and I try to capture a whimsical, lighthearted essence with them.
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JASON JONES
How does humor factor into your work? I find it very therapeutic. At different times in my life I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety. Focusing on humor and subjects that make me smile keeps me mentally healthy. I also find humor to be a great way to connect with an audience. Even with a serious subject, if I add a touch of humor, people become more relaxed and open to talk about the work, despite their position and beliefs. Who are some other artists that you admire? One of my favorites is Wayne White. I love his sense of humor and style. Onur and Wes 21 are probably my favorite muralists. I’m also a fan of Ana Maria, Alexis Diaz and Nychos, just to name a few street artists. Ben Strawn is a Fayetteville artist that I admire. His work is amazing. If you had to pick a piece that you would call your favorite which would it be and why? Probably the Fresh Air mural that I painted for the Green Candy festival is my favorite. After being an assistant for the Unexpected for the past couple of years, it felt really special to be one of the headline artists at an art festival. I also loved working with the sustainability/conservation theme. There was so much good energy around the event. It was a great experience, and I hope it continues. Finding the right outlets to show work can be a challenge. What advice would you give to artists who would like to have more opportunities for their work to be shown, either outdoor, large-scale pieces, or smaller works?
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With my small works, I’ve had excellent luck with indie craft shows like Wampus Wonderland and The Little Craft Show. There’s usually a big crowd, and I always make good connections. My sales are great, and the entry fees are less than the percentage that a gallery would take. With my larger work, public art is a great way to get exposure. It’s like having a huge billboard advertising your art. Also, while I’m working on a public piece, people stop to talk, so I meet a lot of new people. Sometimes I’ll get local news media coverage. Each time I complete a new public mural, I get a nice bump in followers. I know you just completed a large mural project of a blue octopus in Bentonville. What other works are you currently pursuing, small or large? If you had an unlimited budget, time, etc., is there a certain work or series of works you’d like to create?
To answer the first part, I’ve been working on some possible mural ideas for the Amazeum. After a nice long summer of painting murals, I’m really excited to get back in the studio and make some new altered thrift store art. For the second part of the question, I’ve been wanting to do some collaborative mural work. With unlimited budget and time, I would round up all the artist that I’ve been wanting to work with and start painting all of the large blank walls around town that I’ve been admiring. I’ve enjoyed seeing your from paintings to murals What do you hope happens becomes more popular not here, but for artists as
work in the area grow throughout the years. as Northwest Arkansas only for people moving well?
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Which came first, your large-scale works, or your smaller pieces? Do you prefer working one way over the other? I’ve always worked both large and small. It’s the perfect balance for me. Working on large murals is very rewarding, but after a while it can be physically tiring and creatively limiting when trying to satisfy clients and property owners. Also, there’s often red tape to get through. Switching to the small pieces gives me the chance to have creative freedom and enjoy less stress and pressure in my own space. Though, if I focus too long on just the small pieces, I begin to feel boxed in, and I want something more challenging. That’s when I switch back to the large work. It’s a cycle that I’ve been doing for years. I had a great professor in college tell me that if you could do anything other than art do it because art was hard. If you could do anything else besides art what would it be and why? If I hadn’t become an artist, I believe there’s a good chance that I would have become some type of biologist. I love science. I’ve always been fascinated with
the discovery aspect of it and knowing how things work. While working on my art, I’m usually listening to science podcasts. I know from your Instagram that your son has come to see you create several of your works. What does he think about what you do? As an artist and father, how do you balance life and work? My 9-year-old son Jaysop is great. He’s smart, kind and funny, and I get lots of inspiration from him. When he was born, my wife had the job with the steady income and health insurance, so it made sense that I would be the one to stay at home with him. As a self-employed artist, I was flexible. I found a nice balance of being a father and an artist. I still worked on a few projects, and he would often be right there beside me. We’ve had a lot of fun together, and I feel lucky to have spent so much time with him. He enjoys my art and seems proud of what I do, and I think he’s a great artist too. He overflows with creativity. Sometimes we collaborate on drawings. What has been the best piece of advice you’ve been given on creating work?
ARTISTJASONJONES.COM @ARTISTJASONJONES
We are definitely moving in a good direction. I’d love to see more information available for the general public about the benefits of public art. There’s plenty of research out there showing the positive impacts that public art has on a community. Educating more people about it would make a big difference in the growth of public art in our area.
My wife always reminds me not to worry. This simple advice is so helpful when trying to be creative and make new work. It’s easy to get caught up in the “what ifs” and talk yourself out of trying something new. She also reminds me to keep things simple and create things that make me happy. Don’t worry about the unknown.
10 East Township St. Fayetteville, AR 72701 479-521-2100 M-F 11-6, SAT 10-5 & SUN 12-5
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GIMMIE A SIGN WORDS / TERRAH GRAVES PHOTO / KAT WILSON
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Sign painter Olivia Trimble gives old walls new life.
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Olivia Trimble was slowly descending from atop her perch when she answered the phone for an interview. She could barely be heard over the beeps, hums and rumbles of the one-person lift that carried her down. When the background noises finally stopped, she explained that today, like most days, she was busy painting a sign. This sign just happened to be 35 ft. long and even higher in the air. Huge projects, and high places are risks Trimble takes to do a job she can’t believe she gets the privilege of doing every day.
“It’s just extraordinary. My job is to paint things all day. It never occurred to me that that would be something I get to do with my life.”
Even when her stepdad was creating signs for the Northwest Arkansas community where she grew up, she never saw herself in that role. But, she said, the smells and sights of the different paint colors and brushes soaking in oil never left her. One year for Christmas, she bought her stepdad a recently published sign-painter’s handbook. When it was delivered, Trimble flipped through the pages and unexpectedly saw herself reflected in the artists.
“My stepdad was a clean cut guy. It didn’t occur to me that there were these weird people like me doing [sign painting],” she said. “There was this woman Norma Jeanne Maloney. She did these killer signs and was wearing this cowboy hat and had these muscles and tattoos, and I thought ‘I want to be like her when I grow up.’” Combining her affinity for bold statements from artists like Jenny Holzer, and her history of being surrounded by the art of her stepdad and the Northwest Arkansas community, she decided to dive in. She quickly went from hand-painted, small signs she described as “awful rinky dink Pinterest signs,” to her first real sign painting gig for Onyx Coffee Labs in Fayetteville. From there, her business, Sleet City Signs and Murals began to grow. Today, she has to turn down work—sometimes because she’s too exhausted from the physical demands, but sometimes so she can focus on her philanthropic efforts through her project Repaint Hate, whose first job was to paint over a racial slur in Fayetteville next to the public library, and the Quilt Square Project in Springdale.
“My passion is attempting to make the places we live and work look and feel good,” she explained. Trimble’s work can be seen all over Northwest Arkansas. One of her most recent and notable clients, Experience Fayetteville, hired her for their trademark signage on the Fayetteville square after seeing work with Repaint Hate.
“I was struck by her passion and her activism; Olivia is not afraid to speak her mind and is committed to using her talent to advance causes she believes in. That is a quality Fayetteville celebrates,” Molly Rawn, Executive Director of Experience Fayetteville, said. WINTER 2018
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Olivia’s work can be seen all over Northwest Arkansas. @SleetCitySignwriting
Her other work includes hand painted signage for businesses well-known and in the heart of the area’s cities—Ozark Beer Co., Cannery Market, Smoke and Barrel Tavern, and many more.
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Trimble said another benefit of her job is the community she now belongs to. Made up of artists and creators, the community supports one another in pursuing their passions despite the financial and psychological troubles that come with being a working artist—constant exposure to criticism and judgement included. Working together, the artists can do more, like start the CattyWampus Co-op for a local artists’ twist on the holiday craft show. When she first started painting signs about five years ago, Trimble had no idea she was entering a new stage in her life where she would eventually change the landscape of her community. Or that she’d make a living on a lift. It’s dangerous work at times, the design challenges are scary, but in the end, Trimble believes it’s all worth it.
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Art for Everyone
VL Cox “Murder of Crows” Exhibition, April 2017. Photo credit: GoPointShoot Photography.
Visit the AV*Gallery 101 W M O U N TA I N ST ST E 222 / FAY ETT E V I L L E artventuresnwa.org / 479.871.2722
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THE TINKERERS PHOTOS / MEREDITH MASHBURN
WORDS / JULIA TRUPP
Makerspaces offer hubs for creativity and innovation across the state.
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The art of making has graced the internet for the past decade with various Pinterest boards and trending Buzzfeed Nifty videos dedicated to tinkerers, DIY-lovers and everyone crafty in-between. Arkansas has makers of its own with specific creative makers’ labs and galleries across the region. Eugene Sargent, 51, of NWA Creative Hub, volunteered at local community space NWA Fab Lab, a small workshop that is open to the public and equipped with computer-controlled tools such as milling machines, laser cutters, 3D printers, and body scanners, according to the NWA Fab Lab website. Sargent worked on creating and making these tools available during his time there, and has since moved on to open another Northwest Arkansas-based maker space in the near future once funding is gained and approved. Sargent has been a maker since he was five years old; his artistic mother exposed him early on as a mentor
in woodworking. Throughout his life he has worked in electronics, coding, metalworking and construction, and now has combined them to not only express his own creativity but to make a living. “The exciting thing for me is the challenge of solving a problem within the constraints of available money and time,” Sargent says. “Some of my maker skills were acquired working with or for skilled people, but a lot of what I know I had to find out myself by researching, exploring, and making lots and lots of mistakes.” But what is a maker? As Sargent says, a maker is free of the constraints another label might give them. Instead, they feel unabashed enthusiasm just to be applying creativity to solve a problem.
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“The exciting thing for me is the challenge of solving a problem within the constraints of available money and time.”
“If you apply the label ‘art,’ a certain number of people are immediately intimidated, feel judged, not good enough… Makers are excited about all the new tools, of course, but they also get pleasure exploring other things like sewing and screen-printing. You get extra maker bonus points for sewing some 3D prints and electronics into an outfit!” At the 2014 Makers’ Faire at the White House, President Barack Obama said that he wished he could have been at the meeting where Steve Wozniak revealed the Apple One so he could have invested $100 in Wozniak’s “good idea.” And it was that same Makers’ Faire that Joel Gordon, the executive director for the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub in Little Rock, received an invitation to meet other makerspace founders. “Our goal is to become the resource center of the 21st century. We want to be the next evolution of the museum and library model. We believe that museums provide inspiration. You go to a museum and by the time you leave, you want to be an artist, architect, or astronaut. Libraries and the internet provide information, to learn more about your new inspiration. Makerspaces provide application, the means to accomplish your goals. Museums, libraries and makerspaces. Inspiration. Information. Application,” Gordon says. The Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub was founded in 2013 as three separate entities: The Launch Pad, Art Connection, and The Silvermine. Over time, each name was dropped and fuzed to create one Hub.
Whether making, invention, entrepreneurship, or fabrication, all equate to the art of making through sharing and collaboration. “We discovered that the power of our space wasn’t the tools and resources alone,” Gordon says. “It was the community of makers.” To help the makers of today, the minds at the Hub identified five major challenges that any individual or business faces: tools and materials, infrastructure, where the making happens, a knowledgeable, sharing community, and time. We assume there is never enough time, but time is something you make, Gordon says. The Hub, and other makerspaces alike, provides the first four solutions to the challenges. Makers make the time. “At the risk of sounding like an evangelist for creativity, I believe that our future as a species depends on us all tapping into our creative selves and taking on all problems large and small as if we are explorers of new worlds,” Sargent says. “We are living in a time when all things are possible, and we should try everything.”
EUGENESARGENT.COM NWAFABLAB.COM ARHUB.ORG
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A JOYFUL NOISE Tales from Trees Echo in the Work of Local Instrument Makers
WORDS / KEVIN KINDER PHOTOS / KAT WILSON
Bayard Blain does not claim to understand abstract art. He can appreciate it, he said, but he most easily understands a more practical, functional kind of art. Blain, a Montana native, gave up a career as a touring musician to make guitars.
“You’re making a piece of art that makes art,” he said from his wood shop on a commune in east Fayetteville, where dozens of instruments in various stages of construction sit among thick planks of exotic wood in the shop. Each guitar comes handmade and encapsulates the personality of the player that requested the instrument. Blain likes to watch each client play his or her current instrument before customizing a new one. He watches for cues about the kind of support the musician needs, paying attention to picking style, then he makes a guitar to match.
“I’m an artist. I don’t want to do the same thing twice,” he said. The approach is a tedious one. He completes about ten instruments per year, with the output split between guitars, mandolins, and other string instruments. Blain says he’d like to hire someone to do more of the rote work so he can focus on design, and that he might make twenty guitars a year that way. “This trade has taught me patience,” he said. “If you’re plodding and methodical, you better be doing a good job.” Zach Coger likewise understands the patience involved in making musical instruments. He too quit the touring circuit to focus on crafting handmade instruments. His business, Buffalo Drum Company, drew inspiration from a fact he learned as a drummer based in Northwest Arkansas. No one else in his part of the state worked on drum kits, and the drummers themselves were scared to touch their kits.
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Coger started as a repairman, slowly working toward creating custom drums at a shop behind his home in Fayetteville. He taught himself how to make drums, researching the angles needed to reduce the amount of glue used to hold the pieces together. Glue dampens the sound of a drum, so Coger builds his with precision and tenacity to make sure he uses a lot less glue than commercial kits. He makes drums using lumber he can source locally, like chunks of old hardwood flooring or a set of boards he found in his grandfather’s attic—he’ll make his own custom kit from those boards. When possible, Coger walks his customers through the wood selections. He wants them to understand the tonal qualities of each, and he needs them to know about the location of the tree that produced the wood. Making an instrument becomes an exploration in wood. Perhaps a combination of Osage orange and walnut will yield the resonating box Blain requires. Maybe this piece, carefully cut then forged together with glue and ingenuity,
will hold together when it shakes at a hundred beats per minute, courtesy of the pounding of a metal drummer. The emphasis on wood echoes consistently across the process of making many types of instruments, though the tools, techniques and training vary. Raymond Palmer, a viola player for the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, studied violin-making at the Violin Making School of America in Salt Lake City. He moved to Northwest Arkansas to work under master violin maker Terry Borman of Fayetteville. After finding an overwhelming need for repair work, Palmer shifted his focus away from custom instruments to repair work and sales of student instruments. He opened his first store in Fayetteville, then moved Palmer Violin Shop to downtown Rogers after finding most of his clients came from Benton County. That Palmer switched to selling the work of others, rather than creating custom violins, illustrates a conundrum makers of custom instruments face. Concert-grade violin making is a crowded, competitive field, and the market is limited.
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“There wasn’t really a market for an eight-thousand-dollar violin,” Palmer said. And if there was one, Borman, who has worked out of his home studio in Fayetteville for twelve years, already owned it. Borman has been making violins for forty one years, and his works can fetch many thousands of dollars. Borman says those making instruments now are as good—or better —than the old-world masters. “There are many people who would like to take my position. If I coast, they’ll overtake me,” he said. The competition forces Borman to work as hard at learning his craft as those who play the instruments he makes. In recent years, he has incorporated computed tomography (better known as CT scans) to analyze the shape of an instrument, and ultraviolet lamps to inspect the varnish to the finest detail. His artistry comes with service, too. He hand-delivers each instrument and stays around to adjust the work to the player’s needs after the instrument acclimates to the local climate. Borman’s reputation proceeds him nationally, and he knows of only one of his instruments being used in Arkansas—the rest can be seen in concert halls all over the world.
and sides of a guitar might cost a thousand dollars for the raw materials alone. Blain plunges hour after hour into the construction of each piece. With too high a price, it won’t sell and he won’t draw commissions, but too low a price and he barely recoups the time it took to make it. A musician could, of course, buy a factory-made instrument without personality and pizazz. Thousands of instruments of this type sell each year. Such a guitar, stamped with a name like Taylor or Martin, would lack the painstaking detail carved into the wood while Blain sits at home and watches his family. Perhaps most importantly, it would fail to involve a human element. More than once, a guitar client has visited Blain’s shop and helped sand or cut boards. “I want people to put their hands on things and be a part of it,” Blain said. And he wants them to be used to make joyful noises. There is little abstraction in a guitar or a drum kit. The instrument’s purpose is in the way the musician interacts with the source of the sound. “I want to help people make their art,” Coger said. All while making a little bit of his own.
The guitars crafted by a skilled maker like Blain don’t push the same price as one of Borman’s violins, but there’s a margin as thin as the wood shavings on his floor. Prices of wood continue to climb. For choice boards with beautiful color and tonality, the wood used to make the back
BAYARDGUITARS.COM PALMERVIOLINS.COM
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MINT CONDITION
Springdale’s Shire Post Mint garners an international fan base by making coins for A Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings & Mistborn.
PHOTOS / HELEN MARINGER
WORDS / KODY FORD
Tom Maringer just wanted a penny—a silver penny to be exact—from The Shire, the fictional home of hobbits in The Lord of the Rings books by J.R.R. Tolkien. Such a coin wasn’t easy to come by. In fact, it didn’t exist.
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In 1987, Maringer began reaching out to Tolkien societies and other relevant groups he could find for the coins, but came up short. He said, “People thought it was interesting, but no one knew of anyone [who made them]. I was like ‘Come on, you’ve got to be kidding me. Someone must.’” Since Maringer found no coins, he brainstormed designs. Hobbits didn’t have kings so what what be on the face of the coin? How much would it weigh? What was the texture? These sort of questions stayed with him until 2001 when he mentioned to his friend his desire to make coins. This friend knew someone with an antique coin press that was collecting dust in a garage. A few phone calls later and Maringer was the proud owner of this machine. Now he just had to figure out how to use it. Through trial and error, Maringer developed the silver pennies. He even took some to the premiere of The Fellowship of the Ring in Toronto. Eventually, he connected with engraver and Tolkien scholar Greg Franck-Weiby, who reminded him that hobbits probably wouldn’t have “The Shire” written in English on their currency. It’d say something in their native language, Hobbitish. They went on to collaborate on several pieces of coin-related fan art that followed story canon closely.
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“The people who buy our coins, they’re in the same kind of realm where they want more to the story.” In 2003, Maringer’s passion for coins blossomed into a business, aptly named Shire Post Mint, after he connected with the not-yet-super-famous writer George R.R. Martin, whose novel A Game of Thrones prominently featured coins. Together, he and Martin developed different types of currencies, some of which made it into later A Song of Ice and Fire books. Shire Post does not make the coins for the hit series as HBO creates props in-house; however, they have enjoyed the business from the worldwide fan base. Shire Post Mint is a family affair. Maringer’s son, Woody, serves as his primary coin designer and engraver, while his daughter, Helen, handles sales and marketing. They have licenses with a variety of properties including A Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings, Conan the Barbarian, The Wheel of Time and The Kingkiller Chronicle. Mistborn is one of their current hot properties. A recent Kickstarter campaign netted them $120,000 in advance sales. In 2015, Maringer finally scored the one that started it all when he cut a deal with Middle-earth Enterprises to become the official coin maker for The Lord of the Rings universe. The company currently sell its wares through retailers like Barnes and Noble, at small businesses, and online through their website and Etsy. Helen feels that the coins have a universal, almost nostalgic appeal. She said, “Coins are unique in that everybody in the world knows what coins feel like. Most people I talk to had a coin collection as a kid.” She sees coins as an “immersive collectible rather than a referential collectible.” Tom echoes these sentiments. “The people who buy our coins, they’re in the same kind of realm where they want more to the story,” he said. “They don’t want it to just be a story. They want something tangible from the story they can see and touch. It’s not a t-shirt or a coffee cup with some actor’s face on it. It’s a different level of reality of the world.”
SHIREPOSTMINT.COM
SHIRE POST MINT WINTER 2018
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CONTINUING FOLKS’ WAYS WORDS & PHOTOS / K. SAMANTHA SIGMON
Winslow Organization Ozark Folkways Embraces Creative Community
Like all good stories, the one about Ozark Folkways begins with a journey. I first made my trek on a bitingly windy day in late November. About a 30-minute journey due South of Fayetteville on Old 71 (a highway not many use these days) will take you to the top of Winslow, past names of places that seem like they’re from a smalltown in David Lynch’s mind: Devil’s Den, Grandma’s House Cafe, Sky-Vue Lodge, and, finally, a proud rock building stands out next to a quirky shrine called “Our Lady of the Ozarks.” This is Ozark Folkways--an organization with a mission that has survived because of the spirit and grit of one woman with a vision, Clara Muxen. The tale goes that some 80 plus years before my car sped around the hills, Clara and her brother were taking their elderly mother to Hot Springs to improve her health. When they stopped in Winslow to spend the night, Clara became enamored with the mountain scenery. The Muxens settled down right there and began Catholic services on their property. By the early 1940s, construction started on the building which Clara, a retired educator, called the Craft School of the Ozarks. She hoped to help the poor, isolated population make the most of their traditional skills. However, Clara did not live to complete the building and her mission, passing away in 1966. Sited on ten acres of maple and oak trees, the Arkansas sandstone building remained vacant until it was acquired in the early 1970’s by The Ozark Native Craft Association. In 1994, they became Ozark Folkways, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. The building was remodeled complete with kitchens for cooking classes, an outdoor venue, a kiln, and weaving looms, as well as plenty of classroom space.
Today, this old rock structure remains alive with character. Its small creaking rooms welcome a wanderer to explore. In the front, children drink hot cider while adults bid on artist-decorated Christmas trees. Local artisans casually answer questions in a side room. One labyrinth-hallway leads into another, brimming with local artists’ and craft-peoples’ work: There’s quilts with prizes pinned on them in one back room, an old-timey Ozarks vignette complete with a spinning wheel and old dolls in the other, and, upstairs past the kids’ crafts area, vacant rooms storing old decorations whisper and screech as wind ever-slides past the window panes. Amanda Cothren, interim director, says that “It feels safe and hopeful when the community is gathered at Ozark Folkways. . . . Many of the artists that call the Winslow area home sell their art within the walls. It’s a place for us to gather, to laugh, to make art and craft items and music.” According to Cothren, stand-out programs here include an Indian cooking class, an encaustic workshop, children’s art programs, a class on identifying mushrooms, and every fourth Sunday of the month, Winslow’s own Squirrel Jam band practices, and all are welcome to bring an instrument to play along. Folkways wishes to support Ozark craftsmanship, including the skills and methods known to the Ozark region: “To educate and share our love of the rich history of this area, its settlers, and the techniques of decades-old crafts and the mountain way of life,” Cothren says. “Our hope is . . . that handmade items and art is honored and respected. . . . I see Folkways as a wonderful combination of historic preservation and an opportunity to grow with the talents and needs of the future.”
Folkways wishes to support Ozark craftsmanship, including the skills and methods known to the Ozark region.
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This organization quintessentially celebrates and preserves the small moments--the genuine connections between people. “I’ve had land in Winslow for many years. . . . Ozark Folkways is a source of community for me and a place that represents the history and creativity of the area,” board member Cindy Arsaga said. “Folkways provides a place for people to gather and share ideas, food, creative passions, music, and so much more. I could go on. . . . We really want to make this a place that people in Fayetteville and the surrounding areas consider coming to. I’m excited about what we can offer in the future by way of usable space and production possibilities.”
And thus a story and a journey beginning with Clara Muxten’s continues many decades later, remaining inspirational and relevant because strong women who accomplish a lot with a little is sort of an Ozark tradition. I leave with a feeling of warmth, like I just attended a cozy dinner party. It seems like Ozark Folkways necessarily exists from the seeds of Clara, the soul of the building, the hard work of the organization, the history of a rich craft tradition, and the support of a community of creatives all-together and at the same time.
OZARKFOLKWAYS.ORG
great food and the cheapest drinks in town.
LAST SATURDAY!
Always Free. Always Local. Always Amazing.
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HANDED DOWN WORDS / JENNY VOS
The Generational Chain of Knitting
PHOTOS / MEREDITH MASHBURN & KODY FORD
Ask any knitter how they were introduced to the craft, and you’ll uncover a chain of human connection that crosses generations. Cynthia Parker, proprietress of Hand Held: A Knitting Gallery in Fayetteville, learned to knit from her great-grandmother when she was five. As she grew up, she acquired new skills and techniques from the older woman around her. “A neighbor of mine when we lived in Los Angeles … taught me to knit in the round,” says Parker. “The other woman [who taught me] was a neighbor in New York who actually sold yarn out of her Brownstone. I remember knocking on her door very early in the morning to get help with knitting cables and she answered the door with curlers in her hair, wearing her pajamas and robe and was gracious and patient with me.”
NDED WN
Intergenerational relationships such as Parker’s have been essential in knitting’s preservation and transmission. Knitting’s origin within the domestic sphere produced an oral history that gave rise to distinct regional techniques and variations. As information exchange became more accessible over the centuries these idiosyncrasies have gradually been recorded and shared beyond the communities that gave them rise. Nevertheless, even today some fundamental aspects of a knitter’s technique are still defined by the tradition in which they are instructed.
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Parker is now in a position to foster just such relationships. Not only does she teach the craft herself, but she has shaped her store into a hub for new and experienced knitters to come and share space and knowledge. “People come to the shop and sit and knit at the table every day,” she says. “I have never had a bad teaching experience. There is a moment when the whole thing clicks – that gives me a charge.” Younger knitters, meanwhile, are finding brand new ways to share the craft. “Just from posting my work on social media, I have had a lot of inquiries about the process of learning to knit,” says Carly Garner, a young knitter in Little Rock. “I think knitting is a really incredible thing that appeals to my generation, but most people my age were never taught.” Commercial production has resulted in knitting becoming increasingly abstracted from most people’s daily lives. As it has become unnecessary for people to produce their own knitted clothing, it has also become less likely for young people to be exposed to knitting. Knitters’ instructional lineages have transformed from the tight weave of household communities to a loose net comprised of distant relatives, chance encounters and diligent research. Garner learned to knit the old fashioned way, as a young girl at the knee of her stepmother. But nowadays, when she wants to pick up a new technique, she turns to a distinctly modern form of community. “If there is a new skill I want to master, I hunker down with several [YouTube] videos featuring different techniques to see which way is most efficient and most comfortable.” As this trend away from physical necessity and in-person instruction continues, the appeal and purpose of knitting among new knitters has become similarly intangible. “Knitting has been clinically proven to relieve stress,” says Parker. Garner expresses similar sentiments when speaking of her own knitting. “If I’m sitting, I’m knitting. I don’t like having prolonged periods of inactivity where I feel that I’ve accomplished nothing. I feel my anxiety melt away into my yarn.” Knitting is a vibrant tradition that connects its artisans not only to each other, but also to those who have carried the craft forward before them, and those who will follow after. No matter how society and technology may change the textile landscape, the shape of knitting communities will continue to adapt and to thrive.
HANDHELDKNITTING.COM
I don’t like having prolonged periods of inactivity where I feel that I’ve accomplished nothing. I feel my anxiety melt away into my yarn.
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MAKERS WE LOVE MWHandbuilt Motorcycles
MAKER LOCATION ACTIVE FOR INSTAGRAM
Micah Welsh Fayetteville 5 Years @mwhandbuilt
How did you become a maker? I purchased my first motorcycle, took it to a local shop and was told it would cost more than I’d paid for it to make it run. I was highly disappointed. Fixing it and changing it “cosmetically” on my budget seemed completely out of the question. Then, a friend showed up with a bike he’d built from recycled materials. I was able to get that initial motorcycle running and looking pretty good. Once I realized I could build my own parts and creatively upcycle, I was hooked. What is something people might not expect about being a maker? The constant obsession and attention to detail and design that comes with each motorcycle. And, like any other creative processes, the difficulty in making each one unique, the blocks of becoming a maker, of learning to do something or figuring out how to do something you’ve never done before. And, of course, the fact that ideas and inspiration show up everywhere and at any time.
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Once I realized I could build my own parts and creatively upcycle, I was hooked.
MAKERS INVOLVED: 01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.
Micah Welsh Bang up Betty Dani Ives Parkbound Buttons Reinvented Vintage Eden’s Wake Hobby and Hum Greg Wenderski Flora and Fauuna Bad Ash design Bella Vita Jewelry Terra Studios Southern Girl Soapery Faith Icus DOWER Beard Perfect
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MAKER LOCATION ACTIVE FOR
Bang Up Betty
URL
JEWELRY
IG & TW FACEBOOK
Stacey Bowers North Little Rock 4.5 Years bangupbetty.com @bangupbetty @bangupbettyjewelry
Why do you love what you do?
What is a major challenge you’ve had to overcome?
I love making people laugh. My favorite part of doing this is at shows is, when someone who has never seen my work before comes up to my table. There are a few moments when they’re reading the stamped jewelry, and I don’t know whether they’re going to be offended or laugh out loud. They usually laugh out loud, and I feel like we connect in that moment.
MAKER LOCATION ACTIVE FOR
Needle felting aka
“PAINTING WITH WOOL”
URL INSTAGRAM
What is a major challenge you’ve had to overcome? Over the past two years I’ve worked hard to break out of the “craft” world and to have my medium and techniques be recognized as something more artistic. Being asked to participate in group gallery shows and having my own exhibition at Historic Arkansas Museum earlier this year has helped me feel like I am succeeding at this endeavor.
Parkbound Buttons
BUTTONS & PINS
Dani Ives Rogers 6 Years daniives.com @begoodnatured
Why do you love what you do? I love being able to manipulate fibers in a way that is surprising to most people. But more importantly, my goal is to foster the connection that humans have with animals and the natural world. Being able to use my art and platform to help raise awareness for a species or ecosystem is a great benefit to making. Often I’m creating portraits of animals with which a person or family has had a relationship. Making pieces that offer meaning and healing to these families is incredibly rewarding.
MAKER LOCATION ACTIVE FOR URL IG & TW FACEBOOK
How did you become a maker? I started in the craft scene in 2008 making clay jewelry and accessories for some extra cash, but fell out of love with it because my heart wasn’t in it. My love for Disney had resurfaced from my childhood and I began going to the Disney parks more. I noticed they gave out free pinback buttons for when you were celebrating something on your day in 42
There have been many challenges, but I’d say fear and self-doubt top the list. It’s scary to put your work out there and hope for a good reception, especially when it pushes the envelope or gets a little political, like mine does.
Casey Maute Fayetteville 4 Years parkboundbuttons.com @caseyandthebear @parkboundbuttons the park and I thought it might be fun to make some parody celebrating buttons for everyday occasions, or custom buttons to stand out from the crowd. I created four designs, got them printed and offered the buttons to my then-small Instagram following. Since then, I have grown to 50k+ instagram followers, and have introduced new items such as enamel pins and autograph buttons to my line.
Why do you love what you do? I have always thought of Disney as my happy place, and a lot of my customers feel the same way. I love being able to offer a fun, tangible good that reminds you of that, and makes you feel good.
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MAKER LOCATION ACTIVE FOR
Reinvented Vintage
PAINTED FURNITURE
URL FACEBOOK
How did you become a maker?
What is something people might not expect about being a maker?
By happenstance! I had always been interested in vintage furniture, reuse of items and how we could have fun new things without substantially increasing our environmental footprint. Luckily for me my Dad ran across the opportunity to take over an existing business that has been a great combination of all three!
MAKER LOCATION
Eden’s Wake
PURSES & ACCESSORIES
ACTIVE FOR URL
Why do you love what you do?
Adequately balancing time to make sure all the behind-thescenes tasks get taken care of so the business can run smoothly.
Katie McBride Little Rock 9 Years edenswake.com
Even the creative activities you love most can become monotonous at times. When your financial livelihood is dependent on selling things, it requires you to make a conscious decision to find the right balance in creating for your audience, versus just doing what brings you the most joy. I have a style of purse that is the most popular, and while I like the style and enjoy making it, sometimes I would prefer to spend the day designing completely new products, rather than making more of something I have made thousands of times.
MAKERS
CANDLES & CERAMICS
How easy it is to get stuck in a rut. I spend 80 percent of my time painting for other people, so when it comes time to paint something for myself or the shop it is hard to keep from doing the same thing I always do. Keeping things fresh while also maintaining the quality I’ve become known for can be quite the challenge!
What is a major challenge you’ve had to overcome?
What is something people might not expect about being a maker?
I think what I most love is how meditative and relaxing sewing is for me. A lot of my favorite hobbies require a lot of precision: baking, archery, woodworking. Sewing is another outlet where I am able to healthily channel my need for achieving something close to perfection, which allows me to more easily find balance in the rest of my life.
Hobby & Hum
Annabelle Rector Little Rock 2 Years reinvented-vintage.com @reinventedvintage
LOCATION ACTIVE FOR URL INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK
April Rae Mallord (candlemaker) Nichole Howard (ceramicist) Fayetteville & Fort Smith 1 Year Hobbyandhum.com @HobbyandHum @hobbyandhum
Why do you love what you do?
customers have memories tied to the scents so I get to hear wonderful stories.
April: I love pouring candles because I feel that I am spreading a little light into the world, at a time when we could all use it. Unlike technology, candles are tangible objects - when a customer picks one up to smell it, you can instantly see their love for it, the joy the scent brings. I also love to touch people’s hearts. Many
Nichole: Ceramics rarely makes the spotlight. It’s an electrical insulator, the tile we walk, and the material we eat and drink our meals off of everyday. That quality, of being the underdog, combined with its vast historical and daily significance, is a discord that I connect with.
How do you sell your wares? We sell our soy candles and ceramics through our online store, various craft shows like The Little Craft Show, and wholesale to boutiques and coffee shops throughout North America.
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MAKER
The Sword Casting Guy
LOCATION ACTIVE FOR URL
Greg Wenderski Cave Springs & Austin, TX 3 Years swordcastingguy.com
What is something people might not expect about being a maker? Other than taking blacksmithing classes 20 years ago, I’m mostly self-taught. I learned to build a foundry and melt metal from a library book about casting replacement parts for old cars, which meant I had to adapt a lot of the details and learn a lot from trial and error. The first time I poured molten metal into a vertical mold, it split apart and the
MAKER LOCATION ACTIVE FOR
Flora & Fauuna
JEWELRY
URL INSTAGRAM
metal went running down my driveway, missing my car tire by just a few inches. It turned out I hadn’t accounted for the steam pressure from vaporizing the water in the sand. Scary, but I didn’t make that mistake twice. That kind of learning really appeals to the scientist in me. I think a lot of would-be makers get stuck watching youtube videos instead of learning from their own mistakes, and I think the mistakes can be some of the most valuable parts.
Keely Wake Gohen 10 Years Floraandfauuna.etsy.com @floraandfauuna
Why do you love what you do? I am so lucky to do what I do. It has allowed me to stay home and raise my boys, which is something I will always, always be grateful for. On a deeper level, love doing what I do because it allows me to express myself in ways that I may not be able to do with words. I believe that jewelry is so much more than just an accent. When I am creating a piece, I create it with the intention of it being someone’s personal talisman. I want it to have THAT much power. For centuries, jewelry has carried sacred meaning for so many cultures. It’s so much more than just an accessory. Spiritual adornments to ward off evil, bring fertility, commemorate a union , heal the soul. Heirloom pieces passed down from generation to generation. This is what I channel, when I make each one. I feel SO lucky that I get to channel these things for people.
BadAsh Paint & Design
CUSTOM CABINET & FURNITURE PAINTING FAUX FINISHING
MAKER LOCATION ACTIVE FOR FACEBOOK
Ashley Henry Rogers 12 Years @badashnwa
Why do you love what you do? I love making all things beautiful and unique! Some people get giddy about fashion or cars but for me, my heart flutters over color, furniture, art & design! I LOVE being my own boss and the the flexibility it gives me as a single mom to do what I love and still be around for all the good stuff with my 3 year old. I also love to give. While I may not have the dough to give to all the charities I support, I do donate artwork to every single charity that asks. In that last 5 years I’ve been able to help raise over $30,000 with my donations. That is an amazing feeling as a self-employed individual. 44
What is a major challenge you’ve had to overcome? I’ve had to learn to be very brave. My creative work is what keeps the ship sailing for my daughter and I. A lot of people would never leave the safety of a corporate job and I don’t blame them! I’ve been self-employed again for exactly a year now and sometimes I can’t believe I am really doing it! I put my whole heart into my work and in return the universe never lets me down.
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MAKER
Bella Vita Jewelry
HANDMADE JEWELRY
LOCATION ACTIVE FOR URL INSTAGRAM
Brandy Thomason McNair Rogers 10 Years Bellavitajewelry.net @bellavitajewelry
How did you become a maker? Twenty five or so years ago, I became obsessed with beads and making jewelry. I haven’t stopped since! Jewelry design and construction is my passion. Why do you love what you do? I love being presented with a puzzle or a challenge, whether it is to design a collection for an upcoming season, or to redo Grandmas brooches into something more modern. I love a good challenge! And speaking of a challenge, 3 years ago I opened up our
MAKERS
Terra Studios
LOCATION ACTIVE FOR URL
GLASS ART
Why do you love what you do?
Gary: The process! It’s a feeling – emotion – focus – rhythm of motion – physical – mental all rolled into one process
BATH AND BODY PRODUCTS
How do you sell your wares? I sell through four different channels. I do wholesale trade shows in New York and Atlanta and I am thinking of adding in Dallas and Vegas in 2018. I sell on my website, through my brick and mortar stop, and I do retail art/craft shows.
Duane Dunn & Gary Carter Fayetteville 20 Years Terrastudios.com
What is a major challenge you’ve had to overcome?
Duane: I loves the variety. In a previous job, I was in a windowless office all day and slowly going crazy(ier,) but glass art involves metalworking, electrical, plumbing, chemistry, in short a little bit of everything, plus using your hands.
Southern Girl Soapery
first Brick and Mortar shop in downtown Little Rock. Curating a unique environment with interesting gifts at my shop is my favorite part of having a store front.
Duane: My major challenge has been the effects of aging after 30 years of constant motion. I’ve had to devise different ways of doing things at times. Gary: Perfectionism!
MAKER LOCATION ACTIVE FOR URL
Stephanie Hamling Wonderview 5 Years SouthernGirlSoapery.com
How did you become a maker?
Why do you love what you do?
I was born a maker. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t see a dress, dish, or cosmetic potion and think, “How can I make that? And how can I make it better?” For soaps, specifically, I was allergic to a lot of commercial products. The five-year-old girl that wanted to use the pretty pink bubble bath stuck with me, and, around the age of 18, I started creating my own goodies.
It is so satisfying to see other people enjoy products that I put my all into. I formulate, I design the labels, and I come up with the names. (Heck, I wash the dishes and pack the boxes too.) That human connection, from my hands to yours, is so important and rare our world.
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Faith Guynes
MINIATURE MAKER
LOCATION ACTIVE FOR INSTAGRAM
How did you become a maker?
Why do you love what you do?
What is a major challenge you’ve had to overcome?
I used to paint traditionally but found myself running out of inspiration so I switched to a new hobby that allowed me to be more creative. I started with little modern dollhouses and soon started creating miniature furniture and movie props. From there it kind of became an obsession and now I try to make something new everyday.
Making miniatures allows me to create tiny replicas of literally anything I want. It’s also a fun outlet that gives me the chance to learn new things about the creative process.
Learning how to design objects to be 3D printed. Some things are just too small to be made by hand so I taught myself how to use Sketchup. Through trial and error I’ve made miniature bottles and lab equipment as small as 2mm.
MAKER
Dower
LEATHER GOODS
Mountain Home 2 Years @faith_icus
LOCATION ACTIVE FOR URL INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK
Jack Lloyd Little Rock 5 Years Dower.co @dowerthings @dowerthings
How did you become a maker?
Shortly after, I convinced him to let me start making bags too.
What is a major challenge you’ve had to overcome?
I started working with leather several years ago by assisting the late Joe Brogdon. How combined old leather straps and saddle tack to make very unique, one of a kind, belts. He began developing his own designs and I began to teach myself to hand stitch, so that we could stick with the rustic, handmade feel of his brand.
Why do you love what you do?
Getting the name out there. I think I am still overcoming this one. Luckily, I’ve had pretty great success in Arkansas. Recently, its been a struggle to learn about advertising and figuring out how to crack the regional and national market.
Beard Perfect
ALL NATURAL BEARD PRODUCTS AND APPAREL
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Freedom to do what I want. I am lucky enough to do this for a living through the support of my amazing wife. I’m not gonna lie, it’s not always easy but, it’s a lot more fun than working for someone one else.
MAKER LOCATION ACTIVE FOR URL FACEBOOK IG & TW
Josh Fout North Little Rock 3 Years beardperfect.com @beardperfect @unrulywoolly
How did you become a maker?
Why do you love what you do?
Plato said,” Necessity is the mother of invention.” and it applies perfectly to starting Beard Perfect. I devised to grow a beard and needed some product to keep in looking and smelling good. After researching what beard products were out there, I felt that I could make beard oils and balms that are high quality, all natural, and affordable.
I love doing what I do because I get a chance to help every man have the beard of the dreams. The dream of the 1890s is alive with Beard Perfect.
What is something people might not expect about being a maker? Something that people might not expect about being a maker is needing an interest in business. Most makers have the creative side down, but to be successful and sustainable, learning about how to run a business is imperative.
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THIS ISSUE OF THE IDLE CLASS WAS DESIGNED BY GUTS + GRIT. MAKERS
LOCATION ACTIVE FOR URL INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK
Joey Nelson & Kyle Ramsey Fayetteville 1 Year gutsplusgrit.com @gutsplusgrit @gutsplusgrit
THIS ISSUE OF
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