CHILDLIKE CREATIVITY

Etch A Sketch inspires Lake Highlands artist’s work

Story by ELISSA CHUDWIN | Photo by BRIAN MASCHINO

Monte Martin never imagined that hours he spent fidgeting with an Etch A Sketch as a child would be the inspiration behind his work as an adult.

The iconic drawing toy, which French scientist Andre Cassagnes developed in the late 1950s, was Martin’s favorite pastime. Out of habit, the Lake Highlands resident still scribbles geometric lines onto scrap paper and tissue.

Now he’s transformed the doodles into geometric art featured at The Lookout, an apartment complex at the Lake Highlands Town Center.

Each piece is made with drop material, or leftover wood, from other projects. Using the leftovers, from oak and pine to cherry and walnut, gives each piece its own history and adds dimension to the work, Martin says.

“The hardest part is building the form,” he says. “The fun part starts from there.”

Martin constantly is immersed in quirky projects at Martin & Martin Design, a visual arts company he launched in 2006 that focuses on visual displays, lighting and art.

A massive warehouse is tucked away behind the Northwest Dallas business’ offices. The space is covered with piles of metal and wood and unfinished art projects scattered on tables. Another room is dedicated to creating museum display cases; artifacts in cardboard boxes are stacked on floor-to-ceiling shelves.

On a weekend in early March, Martin adds the finishing touches to the Etch A Sketch pieces, when he’s not rearranging African relics for a collector’s exhibition.

The seemingly random business is an amalgamation of Martin’s previous careers.

The native Midwesterner attended Iowa State and planned to be an architect, but quickly realized it wasn’t his calling.

“I didn’t care about the math of keeping a building up,” he says. “I just want to make the building pretty.”

So he majored in art instead and moved overseas after graduating. Martin landed a job at a museum, a career he continued to pursue after he returned to the United States. After a three-year stint at Fort Worth Modern, Martin opted to start his own business, one that combined all of his interests.

Now his creative streak, and a piece of his childhood, is visible here in Lake Highlands.

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Christmas All The Time

Kringle was the Evans family’s best gift that Christmas, 2011. Mrs. Evans worked at an East Texas school back then, when she noticed the friendly feline cruising campus. The creature with mint-green eyes and a downy, if inadequately warm, coat of fluff craved attention and marveled when scraps of food fell at her snow-white paws now and again. The schoolteacher summoned her husband, Gaines Evans, to retrieve the tabby and save her from the often-brutal outdoor elements. “She asked that I ‘relocate her’, ” he recalls. Gaines, however, was smitten. So he relocated her right back to the Gaines homestead. “I fell under her spell, and she has not been neglected since,” he says. That’s seven winters now spent with the Evanses in their cozy Lake Highlands abode; they relocated, too. Holidays loomed that first chilly day, when Gaines picked up the cat. Christmas jingles filled the atmosphere, so he called the kitty Kringle, as in “Old Kris.” It stuck, so a smidgen of yuletide cheer perpetually slinks around the grounds year round—toying with string, gazing out windows, eating on schedule and remaining blissfully temperate, no matter the weather.

Up Front Events

Out & About

MAY 5

DOG DAYZ OF DALLAS

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with this dog-friendly festival complete with contests, food trucks, scavenger hunts and pet vendors.

Flag Pole Hill, 805 Doran Circle, dallasdoglife.com, free

MAY 6

SUNDAYS AT THE PARK

Memphis Soul serenades attendees while local businesses dole out treats. The event starts at 5 p.m. Watercrest Park, 7070 Skillman St., free

MAY 6

PEEP THE COOPS

Experience an urban chicken coop tour through North and East Dallas, featuring innovative coops, expert advice and a local market with food, artisans, booths and entertainment for the whole family, benefitting Moss Haven Farm.

Tour begins at Moss Haven Farm, 9202 Moss Farm Lane, apeepatthecoops.org, $10

MAY 9 -26

‘THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN’

The play by Eric Coble tells the tale of Alexandra, an elderly artist who is battling her family over where she will spend her remaining years.

Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Drive, 214.670.8749, dallasculture.org

May 20

WHITE ROCK EAST GARDEN TOUR

Enjoy spring blooms during this selfguided tour through neighborhood gardens. Take in work from local artists along the way and visit a plant sale at Alex Sanger Elementary.

Various locations, 214.821.1860, whiterockgardentour.org, $10-$12

UNTIL MAY 12

‘SWEENEY TODD’

See a comical portrayal of the revenge-seeking Sweeney Todd and his zany accomplice Mrs. Lovett. Participation and popcorn tossing is encouraged during the performance.

Pocket Sandwich Theatre, 5400 E. Mockingbird Lane, pocketsandwich. com,$12-$16

MAY 28

CAMP SWEENEY FESTIVAL

Test your speed in a 5k or 1k, jump around in a bounce house or have your face painted at Camp Sweeney’s Play for the Day Festival. The organization has partnered with the Lake Highlands Public Improvement District once again to raise money to serve kids with diabetes. Lake Highlands Town Center, 7100 Wildcat Way, campsweeney.org, $35 for 5k, otherwise free