The Art of Being An Artist

By WILL HOLCOMB

Charles Kuralt, the famed radio journalist for his CBS segments On the Road, once said, "Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything." Like many small towns, Smithville used to have a highway passing through the heart of the city. Then, in the mid-1980s, Highway 71 was moved, bypassing downtown Smithville, forever changing it.

...a personal narrative detailing my encounters with 6 of Smithville's most respected and infl uencial community artists: Walter Winslett, Wanda Gamble, Robin Lively, Sam Blasco, Judy Paul, and Jo Watts

In the mid-1970s, Walter and Jeri Winslett were part of the artist co-op, Gallery 71, on the corner of Main Street and the busy Hwy 71. Gallery 71 was where painters, woodworkers, potters, toy makers, jewelers, cut glass, and artists of other mediums made their living from the people passing through Smithville as they headed to Austin or Houston via Hwy 71. With a highway passing through Smithville, people stopped, slowed down, and connected with local Smithville artists. Unfortunately, when the route moved, that connection was severed. Five decades later, Smithville is actively rejuvenating the connection. When the highway moved, Smithville lost one type of connection, but, in many ways, it's fi nding a way to create a deeper connection. Now when people exit the highway and enter our town, they enter it with intention. They come here specifi cally for the music, the food, the theatre, and the art, all present in a community that values preserving its small-town charm. That builds a more robust connection because people are coming here for what Smithville is: a unique town growing in a unique way.

One of the fi rst businesses visitors see when they leave the highway and enter downtown Smithville is Mosaic Art & Home, with Stefanie Distefano's enormous, beautiful mosaic of the famed trumpet player and Smithville native Hannibal Lokumbe gracing the side of the building. Mosaic houses the art of many different artists spanning a range of mediums. What makes Mosaic even more remarkable is that the building, once known as Gallery 71, is now owned by the same people who ran the artist coop in the building in the 70s and 80s, Walter and Jeri Winslett.

Walter Winslett

As you walk through Mosaic, admiring the tables full of drawings, pottery, wood carvings, jewelry, or other art, if you take a step back and look at the table, it is most likely you're looking at the creative, one - of - a - kind, work of WalterWinslett. What makes Walter's artwork unique is the source of his materials. If you ask him about the table, you'll hear a very calm, reserved voice say, "Oh, the base is an old fl ywheel from some machine. I found it at the recycling center. I milled the top from a Loblolly pine that burned in the fi re. The pedestal, it's just something I found."

Like so many in the Smithville area, the Winsletts lost their home in the 2011 complex fi re. There's an intrinsic beauty in making art from the burnt trees of a disaster that took so much from so many. It's the Phoenix rising from the ashes, choosing to thrive instead of being destroyed. Whether it is an old storage trunk turned into shelves or an oxen yoke used for the base of a table, reuse is what defi nes Walter's art. It's giving life, fi nding value in items where others saw no value.

That philosophy is even taken one step further. One of his art pieces at Mosaic is a whimsical table where the table legs are carvings of legs (pictured on cover). Some legs have cowboy boots, and others are horse legs. The table was commissioned by a law offi ce in Smithville. When the law offi ce shut down, Walter saw the table on Craigslist, bought it, and gave it a second chance to fi nd a purpose.

When you leave Mosiac, turn left, and walk down Main Street a few buildings, you'll have the opportunity to enter the Lost Pines Artisan Alliance's (LPAA) Art Gallery, hosted in the Samantic Square building. There you can view the art of LPAA members, and when you fi nd the piece that calls to you, you can make it yours with the peace of mind that comes from knowing you supported a local artist. But you won't know that behind the curtain at the rear of the gallery is where more art is created.

Table by Walter Winslet by Walter Winslet Sam Blasco

Sam Blasco, a transplant from New York, bought the building in 2006 and has a unique woodworking shop in the back. Sam's a multifaceted artist. He attended Penn State in the mid 1980s to study fi ne arts. He started in sculpture and painting but then got cast in a theatrical production. After that, he went to his advisor and said he wanted to switch his major to a theatre major. His advisor told him he probably didn't want to switch to a theater major, but neither an art nor a theater degree would do him any good in the real world, so … go for it.

Sam has had original plays produced in New York and just down the street at Playhouse Smithville, where he also graced the stage countless times. He has also competed in and won numerous poetry slams. But it is in his magnifi cent woodworking shop where many hours are spent creating custom furniture.

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with beautiful custom furniture he built in his shop, including beds, dressers, kitchen cabinets, tables, bookshelves, doors, and even crown molding.

Judy Paul

When you leave Sam's shop, go south to the end of Main Street and turn left; in a couple of blocks, you'll come to a large yellow building with beautiful murals of birds, fl owers, dogs, and the iconic Smithville water tower painted on the side. This building was once a lumber yard but has served many purposes since the lumber yard shut down over twenty years ago. In 2016, Judy Paul moved from Austin and bought the building to house her art studio. As you walk into the building, you fi rst see a couch and seating area facing a TV. When she opened the studio, she said, "If I'm here, why not be open?" This fi ts with a word Judy repeatedly used: Connection. To her, art is about building a connection between the artist and the viewer. Her studio, The Lumber Yard, carries the idea of connection. As we talked during the interview, people came and went in a relaxed, comfortable fashion. To Judy, art captures the emotional state of the artist. She says when she creates a piece with love, someone else is always drawn to the emotions captured.

Judy graduated from Lamar University in 1991 with a degree in graphic design and started working at a T-shirt shop as an illustrator in the days before computers. Not long after, the world began to hear about this mystical thing called "the internet ."At the time, few had a grasp of what the internet was. Yet, she and her ex-husband started an internet company in 1994, where her graphic design skills were put to work. They sold the company in 2000, and she was able to move from graphic design to an art form, with which she felt a deeper connection. She loves creating collages by working with mixed media. Under one of her tables in her studio, you can fi nd an overfl owing bin of multicolored paper, pictures, and other printed materials. Once she starts laying down the base, the collage starts becoming its own thing, and she lets it happen, anxious to see what the collage decides what it wants to be.

Judy also likes to step out of her studio to bring something unique to the community. She worked on a community art project to do the mural on the Smithville Community Clinic building.

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Now let's head over to Wanda Gamble's studio on Hudgins Street. As I came to Wanda's house, there was a "Yard of the Month" sign. That set the tone for what I saw next. To Wanda, art is in everything. Her house was magnifi cently restored, with original artwork covering all the walls. Her yard is beautifully landscaped with a rose garden, vegetable garden, and areas meticulously maintained with all the colors of the rainbow. She smiled as she said, "Sometimes it's hard for me to leave here and paint. I love being in the garden and just working with it."

As Wanda and I walked through her house and studio, looking at different paintings, I could see the content look in her eyes and hear the joy in her voice as her thoughts went back to the time when she created the painting. She talked about how she and her husband would take easels out to one of the roads to Ships Lake. When it got too dark to paint, they'd watch the sunset and watch the Perseids meteor showers as they listened to the coyotes howl all around them.

Other pictures perfectly captured the beauty found in common everyday areas so often over-looked. One of her oil paintings was of an alley near her with pink petals covering the ground. She says she loves alleys because, a lot of times, they have native plants that are less manicured.

Robin Lively

Robin Lively

When you head out of town and up Cottletown Road, you see the areas where the complex fi re of 2011 left its mark. You can see the trunks of the dead, burnt trees starting to be hidden as the new Loblolly pines grow and mature. Just like Walter and Jeri Winslett had to rebuild after the fi re, their long-time friends from the Gallery 71 days, Robin Lively and Jim Woodruff had moved forward after the disaster. And, I must say they did it well.

Some people move into the woods and try to control it by clearing out the trees and planting large lawns that must be mowed. Others move into the woods and let the trees, native plants, and contours of the land give them direction on how to move forward. Seeing the beauty in nature and letting that be the canvas you start with is an art form in itself. Robin's art refl ects her love for the beauty found in nature. Her pastels of landscapes, birds, cats, and other animals, with her attention to light and shadows, capture a passion for the everyday beauty that surrounds us.

Robin has always done some type of art, but it wasn't until 2012 that she was able to fully focus on being an artist. To her, art is a way to capture motive and intent and to invoke an emotional response. She feels art should be accessible to everyone.

by Wanda Gamble

semester only drawing her hands and feet. Now, when people look at her art, the hands and feet are one of the fi rst things they notice.

Many years ago, I took my Cub Scout den out to Jo's to let them learn about art from a local artist. The boys watched in fascination as she threw a clump of clay on the wheel, and a pot started forming as her expert hands worked the clay. Hosting the Scouts there was special to us but normal for Jo. She loves teaching classes and nurturing a deeper connection to the world through art. To her, art should invoke emotion. As you look around her studio, you can see what she means. Whether it is her pottery, paintings, silk scarves, and even brass castings, they all refl ect her passion.

Before buying the property in 2000, Jo and her family lived all over the world and experienced art from many different cultures. They moved 42 times in 35 years due to her husband's military career and contracting after leaving the military. She worked on an associate's degree in art in north England and studied art in other places she lived. This has given her a perspective that has enhanced her craft.

These are just a handful of the people who make up Smithville's vibrant art community.

Many of the artists in Smithville recognize and appreciate the supportive atmosphere and the quality of life they have found here. Many chose Smithville because the town offers a unique character and a strong sense of community. Artists have commented that there is a growing audience for all types of creativity,

Jo Watts

The last stop on our tour of local Smithville artists is up the road from Robin to the studio of the 2016 Smithville artist of the year, Jo Watts. As you turn off Old Antioch road to go down Jo's long driveway, you come to her art studio built by her husband and sons.

Jo says she can't remember when she wasn't an artist. Even at age fi ve, she would look at how things go together and how different perspectives change an object. She credits a high school teacher for seeing her ability. The other kids were in the class for a quick credit, but the teacher sent Jo to the back of the room to draw her hands and feet. She spent a whole from eager students in the school district to national commissions for local sculptors to enthusiastic folks who will crochet anything around town. The Richard D. Latham Cultural District partners use art, history, and culture for Economic Development purposes to enhance the quality of life for residents and visitors. Their goals are to utilize the arts, history, and culture of the community involvement in cultural activities; retain and attract artists and arts entrepreneurs to locate their workspaces and sell their artwork in Smithville; encourage the eclectic atmosphere that attracts people to the art galleries, live performance venues, and other cultural and historic amenities that make Smithville a unique place to live, work and visit. Come explore the art and culture of Smithville, www.smithvilleculturaldistrict.com

Canvas art by Jo Watts 512-237-2425 110 american legion rd | smithville, tX 78957

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