The Idle Class
HearneFineArt.com
Director: Garbo Hearne
MARJORIE WILLIAMS-SMITH "BLACK FIELDS: Crops Cultivated by Africans Who Were Enslaved— Cotton, Tobacco, Rice, and Sugar"
September 19, 2024 - November 30, 2024 Drawings + Paintings
ARTIST RECEPTION
Friday, October 11, 2024 5:00 pm - 8 :00 pm
ARTIST TALK
Saturday, October 12, 2024 2:00 pm
VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING with MARJORIE WILLIAMS-SMITH
Sunday, November 3, 2024 2:00 pm CST
https://tinyurl.com/BlackFieldsHFAVAT11324
SILVERPOINT DEMONSTRATION
Saturday, November 9, 2024 2:00 pm - EXHIBITION CATALOGUE AVAILABLE
Black Fields: Rice, 2023, Gouache and watercolor on watercolor paper
1/2” x 28 3/8”
All the Arts Events, All in One Place
Check out the CACHE Arts + Culture Calendar to find out about all the best NWA events!
Groundwaves
September 3 + October 1, 2024
The Medium in Springdale THEMEDIUM.ART
Rappers, MCs, beat makers, and hip-hop fans are invited to Groundwaves, CACHE's monthly hip-hop open mic night! Sign up at 5 pm. Performances at 6 pm. Attendance and participation are free.
RedBall project NWA
September 10-15, 2024 NWA-wide REDBALLPROJECT.COM
Considered the longest-running street art work, the RedBall Project — by American artist Kurt Perschke — is a 250-pound, 15-ft, inflatable mobile sculpture and event. Each day, the ball is wedged into a new pedestrian space or architectural feature. The red ball will travel across Northwest Arkansas — spending one full day in Bentonville, Fayetteville, Springdale and Siloam Springs.
NWA Arts Crafts N Drafts
Six-Twelve Coffeehouse and Bar in Fayetteville
September 11 + 25, 2024 INSTAGRAM.COM/SIXTWELVE612
A biweekly meetup group for creatives of any medium. The idea is to bring what you’re working on, and just hang out/build community with your fellow creatives! Sober and LGBTQ friendly, and a judgment-free zone, all skill levels are welcome! Happening every other Wednesday from 6 - 8 pm.
Ra-Ve Cultural Foundation: The Gods of Carnatic
Sept. 12, 2024
The Record in Bentonville RA-VECULTURALFOUNDATION.ORG
The Gods of Carnatic come to Bentonville! Ra-Ve is highly honored to host two of the genuine legends of Carnatic music, Naadha Yogi VV Subrabmanyam on the violin and Trichy Sankaran on the mridangam, with this concert. In a rare appearance to Bentonville, they, along with VVS Murari and K.V. Gopalakrishnan, bring their years of experience and artistry to this concert, one that promises to be a highlight of the 2024 arts season in NWA! Show starts at 6:30 pm.
Hillberry Music Festival
October 2-6, 2024
The Farm Campground in Eureka Springs HILLBERRYFESTIVAL.COM
Railroad Earth & Deadhead Productions are excited to once again bring you Hillberry the Harvest Moon Festival 2024! Taking place 10/2– 10/6/24 at The Farm Campground & Events in Eureka Springs Arkansas featuring two nights of Railroad Earth! Get ready for 5 nights of live music and camping! Expect multiple stages, workshops, activities, and food and craft vendors.
TABLE of CONTENTS CONTRIBUTORS
ART - 8-9
Telling Stories in the Streets: X3MEX builds community through art.
HOLIDAYS - 11
Chuseok in the Heartland: A Korean-American family’s tribute to tradition
HOLIDAYS - 12-13
The Art of Fear: Pinpoint brings Halloween to life during “Nightmare on Block Street”
HOLIDAYS - 16
Illuminating Arkansas: The Ra-Ve Cultural Foundation celebrates Diwali in Northwest Arkansas
HOLIDAYS - 18-19
Winter Lumenland: Garvan Woodlawn Gardens keeps the holidays bright
HOLIDAYS - 25
Tiny But Mighty: Hot Springs hosts The World’s Shortest St. Patty’s Day Parade
HOLIDAYS - 30
Visionary Couture: Designer Rulli Torres on the art of Quinceañera Dresses.
The Holidays Issue
Publisher / Editor-in-Chief Kody Ford
Assistant Editor
Victoria Hernandez
Contributors
Heather Artripe
Rachel Farhat
Lauren Ganim
Dillon Garcia
Addie Jones
Amber Lanning
Julia Mann
Jonathan Smith
Angela Teeter Ashton York Cover
X3MEX
Design Kody Ford
Contact Us
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FORT SMITH
Tammy Harrington: Quiet Moments
Open through December 1, 2024
Fort Smith Regional Art Museum fsram.org
Quiet Moments, a show by the RAM 2023 Invitational Winner Tammy Harrington, will be on view in the Marta Jones Gallery. Harrington’s artwork is influenced by the Chinese folk art of paper cut and is a blending of her interpretations of traditional Chinese designs into personalized figural compositions. She uses symbolic color, pattern and iconography to represent her Chinese American heritage.
BENTONVILLE
Time Loop by Klip Collective: A Forest Light Experience
September 4, 2024, through January 5, 2025
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art crystalbridges.org
Each year, the forest comes alive with lights at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. This winter, patrons are invited to Time Loop by Klip Collective: A Forest Light Experience, a light and sound experience that leans into the passage of time and changing environment, unraveling as a mesmerizing journey through space and time.
Designed exclusively for the museum’s North Forest, this outdoor, site-responsive experience will feature six large-scale installations: Endless Overture, Life Cycle, Repeater, Broken Time Machine, Infinite Wave, and Hereafter. Guests will witness the natural rhythms of the earth brought to life, see themselves fractured across the surface of a broken time machine, marvel together at the movements of the forest in a landscape of light, and more with a custom soundtrack.
LITTLE ROCK
BLACK FIELDS: Crops Cultivated by Africans Who Were Enslaved–Cotton, Tobacco, Rice, and Sugar
September 19, 2024 - November 30, 2024
Hearne Fine Art hearnefineart.com
Marjorie Williams-Smith’s latest show featuring drawings & paintings will take place at Hearne Fine Art in Little Rock this fall. Join her for an artist reception on Friday, October 11 from 5-8 pm. She will host an artist talk on Saturday, October 12 at 2 pm, Virtual Programming on Sunday, November 3; and a Silverpoint Demonstration on Saturday, November 9.
EVENTS STATE around the
HOT SPRINGS
October Exhibit
October 4, 2024 - October 31, 2024 Justus Fine Art Gallery justusfineart.com
The October Exhibit at Justus Fine Art Gallery will showcase work by Dolores Justus, along with work by Stephen Schneider and others. The opening reception will be held on Friday, October 4 from 5-9 p.m.
Inspired by the natural world, Justus’ contemporary landscape paintings lie between abstraction and representation. Whether she is working in oils, acrylics, watercolor, or mixed media, she loosely renders forms and takes license with color to create work grounded in natural rhythms, but with a new way of seeing. Schneider’s paintings are influenced by the natural world and draw inspiration from color harmonies, values, and shape relationships.
PINE BLUFF
Hysteria by Brandi Parker
Open through Dec. 6, 2024
The Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas asc701.org
Brandi Parker’s surrealist style in this multi-media exhibition provides a vehicle to abstract the female experience through linework and color. Visceral and thought-provoking themes of motherhood and the fleeting bonds captured in memory and time offer a beautiful, yet haunting footnote.
on canvas, 30 inches by 30 inches, 2024.
Infinite Wave, 2022, video, light on aluminum sculpture, and audio, by Klip Collective
Brandi Parker, “The Egg Floats as It’s Released into the Empty Abdomen,” acrylic and marker
Tammy Harrington is a printmaker and paper cut artist that imbues the cross-cultural influences of Chinese and American culture into figurative compositions to create an ephemeral space, in a place between reality and the mystical. She was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and currently resides in Russellville. She received a BFA in Printmaking from the University of South Dakota and a MFA in Printmaking from Wichita State University. Harrington is currently a Professor of Art at the University of the Ozarks where she received the Bagwell Outstanding Faculty Award in 2013 and 2018. She has exhibited artwork throughout the region and nationally. She was awarded the 2017 Beaux Arts Award from the River Valley Arts Center and a first place award in the RAM Annual Invitational: Odyssey exhibition.
Her latest show, Tammy Harrington: Quiet Moments, can be seen at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum through December 1.
Your artwork is very intricate in design and process. What’s your typical timeframe for creating a piece?
I do a lot of planning during the creative phase in order to be more efficient during the cutting portion. I still only use an X-acto knife to cut out the images on paper, so you can imagine that it takes quite a bit of time to complete an artwork. I would estimate that for my bigger pieces (image size 28” x 20”), it would take between 25-30 hours, depending on how intricate the patterns are. Once I am cutting, I am in machine mode, executing the design as drawn out. Although I do have the flexibility to make changes in real time.
Besides paper cut and printmaking, are there any other mediums you see yourself working in or find yourself drawn to that you currently are not incorporating into your artwork?
I love to draw, especially in charcoal. That is actually how I started paper cut. I was working on a charcoal drawing of my pregnant profile, and it seemed like the composition was missing something. I had been using the symbols and style of Chinese paper cut in my relief work and thought, why not try papercutting to add to the drawing. It was the perfect touch, and the rest is history.
What other artists inspire you proficiently in building the legacy of your own work?
What do you find most rewarding about the process of printmaking and paper cut?
I found my love of printmaking during undergraduate school at the University of South Dakota. I enjoy the graphic appearance in combination with visual surfaces that only printmaking techniques like intaglio are able to create. It is a mixture of being clean and messy at the same time. Using the knife to cut into paper mimics those crisp and detailed visuals. I enjoy pushing my boundaries to see how delicate I can make these cuts.
I love Frida Kahlo and how she used her art to communicate her experiences and her place in the world. Kehinde Wiley is also inspiring with his use of pattern detail and how his work is so unique in appearance and content. My visual style has developed over the years, and I feel that it reflects my experiences as a Chinese-American woman.
What is the most important thing you hope viewers would experience from your artwork?
I would like the viewer to be drawn in by the pattern and colors, but on further inspection, it will take a bit of time to search out the imagery, especially in the use of the figure. The patterns make it hard to see right away what is going on, but hopefully, it appears after looking a while.
“Shift,” Intaglio print and paper cut, 2023, 28” x 21”
Marjorie Williams-Smith, a native of Washington, DC, received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Howard University in Washington and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She has exhibited her work regionally and nationally and her work is included in private and public collections including the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, and the Historic Arkansas Museum.
Marjorie has received numerous awards for her artwork and was honored to create art for the United States Mint, which served as the design for the Congressional Medal honoring the “Little Rock Nine.” Most recently she was awarded the Arkansas Governor’s Arts Award for an Individual Artist.
Williams’ latest show BLACK FIELDS: Crops Cultivated by Africans Who Were Enslaved— Cotton, Tobacco, Rice, and Sugar can be seen at Hearne Fine Art in Little Rock from Sept. 19 to Nov. 30, 2024.
When did you know you wanted to be an artist?
As a young child, I always liked making pictures. I had coloring books and crayons and, eventually, a little watercolor set. As I got older, I moved up to a paint-by-numbers kit, which included oil paint. This was really fun to work with. By the time I reached high school, I was very interested in various types of art materials. My teacher was very helpful with this and encouraged us to experiment. He also introduced me to African-American artists. It was at this point that I began to think of pursuing art as a possible career choice.
Who were some personal influences on you as a young artist?
Living in Washington, D.C., my parents took us to the National Gallery of Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. I loved the work of Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Rembrandt, and Leonardo da Vinci. In high school, I learned of African American artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, and Charles White. I was in awe of these artists, and they inspired me to learn more.
Who were some professional influences/ inspirations on you as a young artist?
As a young artist at Howard University, I was inspired by my professors: Lois Jones, Jeff Donaldson, Winston Kennedy, and Lilo Asher. They taught us what it meant to be disciplined and committed to doing the work needed to succeed. As an African-American, I was told that it would not be easy to succeed in the art world, but we had to really excel if we wanted to do well.
artists
INTERVIEW / KODY FORD
Why do you like working in silverpoint?
I discovered silverpoint in 1985 when the Arkansas Arts Center (now the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts) hosted an exhibition titled, “The Fine Line: Drawing With Silver in America.” This exhibition showcased work created with various types of metal: silver, gold, copper, and aluminum. I felt that this medium would work well for my drawings of flowers. Once I had the necessary tools, I got started, and I loved it. The colors of the metals can be very delicate and ethereal, which adds such amazing character to the work.
Are there any other mediums you enjoy working with?
I also enjoy working with watercolor and gouache, which is also a water-based medium. I like the ease of creating washes or defined shapes. It is also very immediate, so I must think quickly and move with purpose.
I read that you and your husband are both artists. Does this affect your work in any way?
I would say we both encourage one another and often give critical advice when asked. We both understand the challenges of working on an image over a long period of time, and we know the impact it can have mentally and physically, so we are very supportive of one another.
Black Fields: The Trunk (Or How Enslaved People from West Africa Brought Rice Cultivation to South Carolina and Which Made Enslavers Rich.), 2023, Silverpoint on prepared paper, 9 3/4” x 13 1/4”
TELLING STORIES IN THE STREETS
Mexico-born, Arkansas-raised painter X3MEX builds community through art.
WORDS / KODY FORD
Few artists in Arkansas embody the DIY aesthetic quite like X3MEX. The Mexico-born, Arkansas-raised artist has left his mark on walls, canvases, and culture. His outreach work has exposed many youths from underserved communities to what art has to offer. His company, Dedicated Visual Art Studio, offers affordable services for artists, musicians, community organizations, and more.
His early years were spent in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico before the family moved to Jonesboro. Growing up, creativity was all around him since his father’s side of the family were jewelers, and other family members were makers or musicians. He began drawing in kindergarten, filling sketchbooks over the years and taking art more seriously as he grew older. However, outside of the encouragement of his family, Jonesboro was a cultural desert. As an adolescent, his family took a trip to his grandmother’s home in Mexico, which profoundly impacted his artistic trajectory. There, he found the book Pintura Mural Mexicana featuring three Mexican muralists–David Alfero Siqueiros, Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. He snuck the book into his backpack and took it back home with him.
“I remember just opening the book up and being amazed about what’s in there,” X3MEX said. “I was younger and away from my people, so I was thirsty for that knowledge and the skills and the [cultural] identity I saw while being there and seeing this art and learning about these artists…So, I just soaked it all up–what I saw
in the streets and everything–and it made me want to go out and tell our stories.”
By the time he entered high school, painting with acrylics and spray paint had become his favorite mediums. He eventually found a way to express himself on walls through graffiti.
X3MEX said, “The whole graffiti thing came out more as expression or activism–going out and writing stuff on the walls for protest…And then I started spray painting in different places–more ideas than anything else. So, it’s like you have a responsibility to say something.”
After graduation, he moved to Georgia and attended Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) for a few years before leaving to make his own way in the art world, one that wasn’t so corporate. While his time at SCAD was brief, he did grow significantly as a creative. During this time, he began painting murals to tell the story of being a Mexican immigrant. He also co-founded Movimeinto Hunabku, his art collective, and started organizing DIY events for musicians and artists within the community. The greatest lesson he learned during this time was: “You don’t wait for something to happen. You go out and make it happen. If there’s not a scene for something, just create it yourself.”
X3MEX dropped out of school and started traveling more, getting deeper into painting murals, coordinating community events, screenprinting, and freelance graphic design jobs. He soon moved to Little Rock, where his family had relocated.
In 2012, X3MEX launched Dedicated Art Studio + Gallery in downtown Little Rock, inspired by his experiences in the Savannah DIY scene and subsequent travels. “I always want an excuse to get together and collaborate with other people,” he said. Even before getting a physical location in North Little Rock, Dedicated Studios stayed true to its mission, as X3MEX and his cohorts created murals, graphic design, and screenprinting and hosted shows for punk/hip-hop acts and other bands.
Currently, Dedicated Studio works with the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville and A+ Partners, doing after-school programming twice weekly with fourth and fifth graders in Little Rock. They work with them to make murals, puppets, and other art projects. Many kids are immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries. This gives X3MEX the chance to mentor young people in a way he never received outside of his immediate family growing up in Jonesboro.
“It comes back around because I was that kid–I was a fourth grader that came here without knowing English and then being lost in school,” he said. “It’s cool to plant that seed while they are young, and then they can do whatever they want. We tell them imagination is power. If they can imagine it, they become it. You don’t have to settle for anything. It instills them with pride and self-esteem automatically goes up just by doing art together and empowering them with autonomy and relating with these children, in a way they don’t usually get. Something as simple as pronouncing their name right. So that’s pretty cool.”
His community involvement has also been through helping organize the 7th Street Mural Project in Little Rock. While he was the second artist to contribute a piece on the wall, he soon found himself as one of the curators, recruiting other artists to paint works featuring Daisy Bates, Martin Luther King, Jr., George Floyd and more. Much like his early days as a graffiti artist, X3MEX once again found a way to say something using walls. Not everyone liked what he had to say, and the murals were quickly vandalized with racist graffiti. However, X3MEX and other artists didn’t take this lying down, and they were quickly embraced by the community as they worked unfettered on the walls during the summer of 2020.
“If they’re going to come out and destroy that message of peace and love, we’d have to come back stronger,” X3MEX said. “It was during COVID, so nobody was working. We had all this time to go out there and paint, and it was a protest. So all these different things came together, and that’s what we manifested. It was a beautiful
“You don’t wait for something to happen. You go out and make it happen. If there’s not a scene for something, just create it yourself.” — X3MEX
thing because everybody came together.”
X3MEX cites overcoming obstacles as the force that kept him going all these years. Something he couldn’t do without the community serving as a support system and an inspiration.
“You want new ideas,” he said. “You don’t want to just be stuck doing the same thing, to just be stagnant. You don’t want to be dirty water. You want to be fresh water flowing in the river. The culture is forever changing, techniques, ideas, the people, the music, the movement, everything changes. So, you can’t stay in one place–you gotta grow. And you gotta have community to collaborate to make that happen, you have to be dedicated.”
Photos courtesy of X3MEX.
NURTURING TALENT
How the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts elevates artists
WORDS / RACHEL FARHAT PHOTO / KODY FORD
When asked to list famous artists, most would likely name Van Gogh, Monet, Rembrandt, Picasso, or da Vinci. And while they might mention paintings featuring women, they’re far less likely to recall works created by women. This disparity is precisely what the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (ACNMWA) aims to address.
“Artists need recognition and support. Women artists earn less and are scanted in museum collections,” said ACNMWA President MaryRoss Taylor.
Founded in 1989, the ACNMWA is dedicated to providing Arkansas women-identifying artists with the necessary exposure and resources to gain visibility. The volunteer-run nonprofit organization elevates local artists through grants, awards, internships, and exhibitions, ranging from local to international. The organization grants the Artist Award to an accomplished woman-identifying Arkansan artist each year. The recipient is given $4,000 to use at her discretion, whether for research, supplies, studio time, travel, or personal responsibilities, such as child care.
The ACNMWA is approaching its thirtieth year of Artist Awards. Its 2024 winner, Lisa Krannichfeld, is the latest in a line of talented women who have used the grant for professional gain. She rented studio space, began work on a children’s book and purchased hardware and software to assist with creating mural designs.
“I just recently created two new murals, both in the downtown Little Rock area. I was able to visualize and refine my designs using the hardware and software purchased with this grant. Both are images of dragons but in different styles and color palettes and are located at 1331 West 2nd Street and in the art alley behind 1501
South Main Street,” Krannichfeld said.
In addition to supporting established artists, the ACNMWA invests in emerging talent. Each year, the organization awards a $3,000 stipend to one Arkansas college student for an internship with a museum, gallery or cultural organization. This competitive opportunity enriches the student’s education and provides industry experience and connections.
Alongside these annual funding opportunities, the ACNMWA has featured the work of underrepresented and promising artists through its Women to Watch exhibitions since 2008. These exhibitions are curated by nationally approved Arkansas arts professionals and displayed in Washington, D.C., granting contributors access to creative opportunities and national press connections. The exhibitions are followed by a year-long state-wide tour of all its nominees.
Installation artist Aimée Papazian’s work, “In Which End Up?”, was selected for the 2024 Women to Watch exhibit. She said, “[T]hrough the platform provided by ACNMWA, the work wound up being seen by thousands in the National Museum of Women in the Arts in D.C. and was chosen for the cover of the catalog. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to get the work seen on this scale.”
The ACNMWA plans to continue and expand its efforts to advance Arkansas women in the arts. “Art in Arkansas thrives thanks to the talent, commitment and generosity of Arkansas women. ACNMWA is part of an eminent history of female creators, museum and gallery founders, curators, collectors, advocates and teachers in schools and in communities” Taylor said.
ACNMWA.ORG
A dragon mural by Lisa Krannichfeld at 1331 W. 2nd St. in Little Rock
Chuseok—the most famous traditional holiday in South Korea—is a major mid-autumn harvest festival celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar on the full moon. It takes place over three days in South Korea and one day in North Korea. Chuseok celebrates the year's harvest and the year to come, crediting success to the blessings of ancestors. Two major traditions associated with Chuseok are Charye–a ceremonial honoring of ancestors at home–and Seongmyo, a visit to ancestors' graves, often cleaning up the sites and bringing them their favorite foods as an offering. Korean American Nora B., aka Little Rock musician Princeaus, described Chuseok as "Korean Thanksgiving." However, the practices differ from the American holiday in many ways.
Nora's grandfather grew up in a brutal Japanese occupation and subsequently survived the Korean War. After completing medical school in a bullet-riddled building, he seized the opportunity to immigrate to Canada. When he arrived, he did not bring much. Still, he held tight to traditions and the practice of ancestor worship that plays a part in Korean culture. After marrying a British-Canadian woman, the family continued many traditional practices, including Chuseok.
Like many Indigenous cultures in North America, Koreans have burial mounds. However, the threat to these traditions by developers is significant. Nora's family had to sell their ancestral burial mounds and cremate the remains. The ashes remained on the Korean peninsula, but the headstones were shipped to Arkansas, where they are now arranged on Nora's aunt's farm outside of Little Rock, where the family holds their Chuseok celebration.
Moving the headstones was a significant and stressful event. Nora said, "[The tombstones] are very significant, and we need to do our parts with them, making a new, sacred place for them. Because we've been blessed so much by our ancestors, wherever we bless our ancestors, that's where they reside, there with us."
On the day of their family's Chuseok celebration, Nora's family dresses in hanbok—brightly colored traditional Korean clothing worn on holidays and formal occasions—and makes the trip to their aunt's farm. They set up an altar with photos of ancestors going back four generations and leave them offerings of food and drink such as rice, rice cakes, kimchi, Korean pears, dried fish, Korean rice wine and sometimes Moonpies.
The ceremony begins with the lighting of incense and a series of bows. They pour rice wine and wave it over the incense before placing it in front of each photo on the altar. Later, they pour the rice wine on their ancestors' tombstones so they can drink, too. This process is repeated by each generation of the family, starting from elders to married descendants to their children. Nora, along with their cousins and siblings, are referred to as "the next generation." They go last because it's their job to respect their elders by going last and to understand that they must carry on these traditions.
Nora said, "No matter where our family immigrates, no matter what country our ancestral tombstones are in, we will always be Korean, and their history will always be ours as well. By feasting with our ancestors, we are giving thanks to all that they have done and reminding ourselves where we came from. It's an honor to carry on these ancient traditions.”
Chuseok in the Heartland
A Korean-American family’s tribute to tradition
WORDS / KODY FORD
Top: A Chuseok altar honoring Nora’s ancestors. Bottom: Nora B. wearing traditional Korean clothing called hanbok. Photos courtesy of Nora B.
THE ART OF FEAR
Pinpoint brings Halloween to life during Nightmare on Block Street.
INTERVIEW / LAUREN GANIM + KODY FORD
F
ear is one of the most visceral emotions for humans.
Whether it is the mysteries of the unknown or a fightor-flight adrenaline rush, the effects of fear can be intoxicating. Besides love, few emotions get their own holiday, but October 31 is fear’s time to shine. Since childhood, Bo Counts, proprietor of the bar Pinpoint in Fayetteville, has held a special place in his heart for Halloween.
Inspired by the lack of epic Halloween parties during his college years, Counts took it upon himself to create an immersive Halloween experience, transforming his bar of vintage pinball machines into an extraordinary realm of spooky fun each October. From cocktails to costumes to decor, Nightmare on Block Street gets all the details right. Since its inception in 2020, the event has grown, covering the entire month and even going beyond the walls of Pinpoint. We chatted with Counts about how he creates the must-see immersive Halloween experience of Northwest Arkansas.
What is it about horror movies and Halloween that appeal to the masses?
There’s an adrenaline rush people get from being
scared. Horror movies can deliver that in a significantly safer environment. They also make for excellent group viewing. Horror movies tend to reflect our modern societal fears, and they constantly evolve in some way or another, making the genre approachable to a wide variety of people. Halloween takes a little of that and gives us a reason to get together, pretend to be something different from ourselves, or embrace sides of our personality that we may not put out in public the rest of the year. The dark side of things isn’t always a bad thing after all.
You certainly embrace this during Nightmare on Block Street. Can you walk us through your typical creative process each year?
It’s a year-long process, to be honest. By the time we pack up our holiday season in January, we start thinking of the next year. Thinking of things and always looking for things that can be props or made into set pieces requires constant attention. You can’t just go to the Halloween store and buy everything before we set up. I’m on marketplace every week, patrolling thrift stores, or building things at my shop all year round.
Creating an immersive experience is tough. It’s a slight pet peeve when people call it “decorations.” Decorations are going to a friend’s house that puts fake spider webs on their front porch. We approach this like installation art. It’s lighting, sound, and atmosphere all coming together to put that person in the mindset we want them to have, and making sure it’s sturdy enough to handle all the folks that can’t keep their hands off stuff! As for the design of the areas, it’s a small team. I’ve got a couple of folks that pitch in from year to year, and my mother still helps me with planning and setup. It’s a lot harder than people think, though. Finding people with the creative ability to turn piles of seemingly junk into immersive movie scenes is harder than you’d think!
As for theming and design, I hate doing the same thing twice. Some things hit the cutting room floor and come back in a different form another year. Christmas is easy. It’s tradition, it’s familiar, it’s warm. Halloween is way more tricky. Trends change a lot from year to year. I remember doing a Candyman area the year the new movie came out, thinking it would surely be a hit. Most folks had no idea what it was despite it literally saying “CANDYMAN” over and over on the mirror we installed! Ha! So I have to choose wisely. I like to look for area themes that have broad appeal, maybe currently popular again, and can be translated into an installation piece and tell a story without having to plaster the name of the theme or movie all over the place with cheap props from the Halloween stores.
For example, last year, we did an Addams Family area with all the items you’d find in their living room: taxidermy, swords, family photos, dead roses, etc. Nowhere did it actually say Addams Family, but the moment you’re sitting there, you feel it. I’m working on a new Beetlejuice area this year since the new movie is coming out, so hopefully, it will have an even better impact.
Is there ever a point when decorating that you decide the work is finished? Do you ever move pieces around or add Easter eggs here and there throughout the month?
The event is constantly evolving throughout the month. Some things are for good, others for bad. I may not have a prop or effect figured out for the first week, but I will have it ready later in the month. Alternatively, something I worked hard on may have gotten stolen or broken by someone who failed to read all the “please do not touch” signs everywhere.
There are definitely Easter eggs folks can find if they pay attention to the details. I’ll often include references or minor information in certain areas you can only see if you’re sitting down and looking around. It’s those little details that make it so immersive, in my opinion. I want guests to want to come back multiple times so they can get a feel for all of it, not just come through on a packed Friday night and feel hurried or rushed to glance around and leave. Coming on the weekends is the worst time to go if you plan on really soaking in the experience.
The dark side of things isn't always a bad thing...
- Bo Counts
What have been some of your favorite moments over the years?
The first year we hosted the “Conjuring & Other Sins” show was definitely a highlight for me. It was such an interesting and fun experiment that we may never do it again because it was so intimate and small but also wasn’t very profitable. One part haunted house, one part stage show, one part cocktail tasting—what more could you ask for?
Another great one was the “Boo-tiki Nights” we did one year. It was our first tip-toe into going completely over the top with the drinks and glassware in a sit-down, reservation-style experience. It eventually morphed into our week-long “Lost Souls” event this past April, which we may bring back next year.
Are there any distinct challenges you’ve faced during Nightmare, and how did you combat them?
We’ve had extremely difficult issues handling theft and destruction of props, and it’s never who you’d think. Everyone—and I do mean everyone—feels the pull of stealing a fancy glass from a bar, especially if they are in costume and a few drinks in. The thought, “Who’s gonna notice if this one goes missing?” crosses the mind without thinking about the other 50 people that night who had the same thought. Before you know it, we’ve lost over $3,000 in specialty glassware in a month. Honestly, I’ve caught more people over 30 stealing and
breaking things than I ever have with some of our early 20’s guests.
We try to be constantly present and keep an eye on things as best we can. We hope guests respect the hard work and loads of investment that go into the production without us having to police everyone. As for the fancy glasses, we made a few of them even fancier, but if you want one, you have to buy one.
How collaborative is designing the cocktail menu?
The cocktail menu is a team effort; it’s a monumental task to deliver the number of drinks we make during Nightmare while maintaining the quality and fun we want our guests to experience with our cocktails. The only one that’s made it to every Nightmare is the REDRUM cocktail served in an IV bag. We try not to do the same thing each year, but that one is so popular it always returns. Our butterbeer has also been a major hit and will return this year. People say it’s better than the butterbeer at Universal Studios, so I’ll take that as a compliment!
Are there any teasers you can give for this year’s Nightmare?
I can’t reveal too much currently, except we have a pretty solid plan for this year. The warehouse is already a disaster area from planning! We plan on bringing back some crowd-favorite areas that have been retired for a while (with updates, of course) and creating some new ones we are excited about. Our all-scary pinball lineup is better than ever, with a few new additions that have never been here before. We also plan on having a new limited spooky ceramic cocktail mug folks can buy with an exclusive cocktail for the season. The closer it gets to the season, we will have more special events and partnerships announced over on our website.
Sacred Altars
Celebrating Día de los Muertos in the Natural State
WORDS / VICTORIA HERNANDEZ
As the fall breeze fills the air, the scents of marigolds surround the displays of candles and warm embraces of families coming together to celebrate the lives of their departed loved ones.
Rooted in native Mexican culture, Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a tradition that people celebrate to welcome the souls of loved ones on their annual visit home.
For Mayra Carrillo, who was born in Mexico, her connection to the celebration can be found in the memories she shares of her father. As a little girl, her father would take her to get sugar skulls, a treat used in the Mexican celebrations. So, she began to celebrate after he passed.
Communities celebrate the holiday by dancing, attending festivals, playing music, feasting, and creating altars for loved ones who have died. These altars are filled with various items and food to help guide the souls of the dead.
“So once my father passed away, I kind of started with literally nothing: a picture of him, a candle, I happened to have some postcards from Mexico that had Día de Muertos stuff. I have pictures of my first altar. It was literally nothing, But I wanted to do something to again honor him and continue to bring that connection that he gave me,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo said she prepares for Día de los Muertos throughout the year, including copal, which she uses to purify the air, and items she can keep in the freezer that aren’t available in Arkansas, like sugar skulls.
“So in my travel or so when I go to Mexico I buy copal and bring it over. The marigold flowers that if they’re in season, like at the farmers market, if they have some then I had that, if not, then I have the paper flowers, which is also a way to lead the way for them to come over,” she said. “Pictures, obviously, items, I happen to have items of the people that have passed away.”
For her dad, she has his hanky and M&Ms, and for her friend Ben, she puts out a Coke. Both are smaller than the meals traditionally made for altars in Mexico because she has a dog that could mess with her set-up.
Setting up an altar for Día de los Muertos is different for everyone. For Carrillo, the altar is for close loved ones rather than all her deceased family members. On her personal altar, she has her dad, her friend Ben, and her niece.
Her altar’s makeup continues to grow each year that she celebrates, now with a collection of tubs filled with Día de los Muertos items to use or not use. Each year, she continues to create an altar for Día de los Muertos, knowing her dad would love to see the display she creates for him, filled with pride and satisfaction to honor him in this way.
“I make new things, even have them made for me, and it’s only for me. It’s not like I’m displaying this outside or anywhere else,” she said. “It’s just in my house and I take so much pride into this process. And it’s such a labor of love for me.”
What she adds or doesn’t add is up to her, but also the souls she feels during the holiday.
“Now, this is very superstitious and very much to me doesn’t mean that it happens to everyone. But there’s times that my dad will be like, he, I feel it, but he’s like, you know, ‘add this.’ And so I make sure I add whatever he likes, I feel like he’s, he wants me to his altar,” Carrillo
Photo courtesy of Mayra Corrillo
said. “I can’t remember what he asked for last year, but it was like very specific, I needed this item. And then once I put it on the altar then I was like, okay, he’s happy.”
Carrillo’s celebrations are very personal, whereas X3MEX, owner of Dedicated Visual Art Studio, celebrates Día de los Muertos through community events with the Central Arkansas Library System.
“We make the altars, the entrance archway, some of the props that are our work in the festival, like the puppets and the signs, the movie display. We work with the organizers to create these things,” X3MEX said.
The holiday is very community-based, homey, and nurturing in a way when you celebrate outside your own home, he said.
In downtown Little Rock, the work of the 7th Street Mural Project has surrounded the Día de los Muertos celebrations X3MEX has participated in. “We’ll close the street and put altars out and have paintings and all kinds of things,” he said. “Celebrations and workshops and performers as well.”
X3MEX has seen Día de los Muertos as a way to monetize in the United States and has been inspired to participate to combat that.
“It kind of gets really disgusting so and then you get opportunities to be a participant of it and in a way (you get) to represent your culture. You get a way to get in touch with your roots and represent what you’re doing here and be that voice, so why not. I think it’s important,” X3MEX said. “I think it’s an important thing to do, especially when we’ve been here for so long and some of our roots get lost and some of our traditions get lost.”
John Bell, Jr. Prints & Local Artists’ Works
Photo courtesy of X3MEX
ILLUMINATING ARKANSAS
The Ra-Ve Cultural Foundation brings Diwali to Northwest Arkansas.
WORDS / ADDIE JONES
Once a year, communities gather across India for Diwali, forcing the darkness to surrender and ushering in new beginnings.
Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights, symbolizing the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. In 2024, Diwali will take place Oct. 31-Nov. 1, honoring Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of prosperity and marking the beginning of India’s fiscal year.
The holiday brings together millions of people across the world — from cultures including Hindus, Sikhs and Jains — to decorate, light fireworks, pray, feast and join with family.
Srividya Venkatasubramanya is the founding president and executive director of Ra-Ve Cultural Foundation, which began as a performing arts organization and evolved into sharing diverse experiences and spreading Indian culture in Northwest Arkansas.
Though Venkatasubramanya has lived in the state for more than 15 years, she is originally from Chennai, a city in Southern India. In a meticulously planned ten-minute process, her community would awaken before sunrise each Diwali morning, anoint their hair with oil, eat prepared sweets and savories, and finally, begin bursting fireworks. Though specifics vary across cities and families, the entire nation was out that night visiting family, exchanging food and illuminating the sky.
“It’s just a day of celebrating,” Venkatasubramanya said. “The idea behind Diwali is that it’s supposed to be one of the darkest nights of the year. There are many different stories associated with this festival in many parts of the country. In my part of the country, we believed this was the day the god Krishna slayed a demon called Narakasura.”
Venkatasubramanya has used Ra-Ve as a bridge for bringing Diwali to Arkansas, specifically through an art studio they created to commemorate the festival.
Another India native, Priyanka Pimple, is an economics graduate assistant at the University of Arkansas and president of Friends of India. This organization strives to be the go-to organization for students from India or Southeast Asia, helping them find community and hosting fun and engaging activities. This year is her third living in Arkansas, and she is using her position to bring Indian culture to the university, including aspects of Diwali.
“Diwali has a very religious significance in India,” Pimple said. “It is a welcome party, which is why Diwali is full of light, full of colors.”
Pimple affirmed that during Diwali, fireworks fill the sky. At the university, fireworks take a backseat as Friends of India focuses on food and dance or instrumental performances.
“It’s a big celebration because it’s about the victory of good over evil,” Venkatasubramanya said, “and that is something you celebrate everywhere.”
RECIPE: Ozark Harvest Salads with Cranberry Pecan Croutons & a Spicy Maple Bourbon
Vinaigrette
Looking for a Friendsgiving recipe? You’re in (pot)luck! Chef Heather Artripe, of Ozark Natural Foods, has the perfect fall dish for any gathering.
Directions
• Preheat oven to 425. Drizzle squash with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
• Roast for 20-25 minutes or until tender. Flip halfway through. Let cool.
• Strip the kale leaves from the stems of the kale. Tear or chop them into bite size pieces.
• Place your kale in a large bowl. Set aside.
Prepare your cranberry pecan croutons.
• To make your Cinnamon Sugar Butter. In a small bowl, add your butter, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla, mix to thoroughly incorporate, set aside.
• Preheat oven to 375.
• On each slice of bread, spread 2 tablespoons of the butter mixture, make sure to spread it over the entire piece of bread.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6
Salad
2-3 C diced butternut squash
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 bunches kale, washed and dried
¼ C pecans
¼ C dried cranberries
1-2 shallots, sliced thin
2 - 4 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated Pinch red pepper flakes
Cranberry Pecan Toast Croutons
4 slices Stonemill cranberry pecan bread
8 Tbsp. cinnamon sugar butter
• 1 stick softened unsalted butter
• ½ C brown sugar
• 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Spicy Maple Bourbon Vinaigrette
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. maple syrup
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. bourbon
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp kosher salt
½ C olive oil
Generous pinch red pepper flakes
Prepare your Spicy Apple Cider Vinaigrette.
• In a bowl, add your garlic, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, bourbon, Dijon mustard, black pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes. Whisk to combine.
• While whisking constantly, add a small amount of your olive oil, at first a couple drops at a time, then steady in.
• To your kale, add a couple tablespoons of your dressing to the kale. Massage the kale with your hands until desired softness.
• Pop them in the oven for about 10 - 15 minutes so the bread can slightly toast and the butter mixture can spread throughout the bread. Allow to cool and cut each piece into bite size pieces. You should get around 16.
• Add your butternut squash, pecans, cranberries, shallots, and Parmesan. Drizzle over your dressing. Toss gently to combine. Top with croutons and enjoy!
WINTER LUMENLAND
Hot Springs’ Garvan Woodland Gardens lights up the holiday season.
WORDS / KODY FORD PHOTOS / JULIA MANN
Christmas is the season of lights. But even if you don't feel like going full Clark Griswald and covering your home from roof to foundation, you can still enjoy the fruits of other people's labor. And few do lights quite like Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs. The holidays come alive in their immersive light experience, which runs from the Saturday before Thanksgiving through New Year's Eve. Garvan held its first holiday lights in 2002 to draw a larger audience to the botanical gardens during their slow season. In the first year, they had around 500 visitors; these days, they draw between 70,000 and 80,000 patrons—a third of their total annual visitors. It takes over seven million lights to turn the gardens
into a winter wonderland. Such an undertaking isn't done on the fly; they begin work each year in February, meeting weekly for a few hours. Minnie Hahn, Senior Manager of Design and Display; Bryce Manning, Holiday Lights Lead Supervisor; and Becca Ohman, Interim Executive Director, head up the design team for the holiday lights. Hahn oversees organizational logistics in a graphic format and design of things such as light color, fabric selection and more. During her six-year tenure on the team, they have worked to refine the designs to keep things fresh so people have a different experience each year. They analyzed the show's circulation to organize their spaces into coherent and cohesive galleries, based on
different themes. They incorporate flowers such as mums into the installations when possible, by timing some of their horticulture and living displays to overlap with the holiday light season.
"We have to be creative about what we're doing, what materials we're using,” Hahn said. “We have to think outside the box and meet the needs of our budget. And some of the stuff that we come up with, we all think, 'Oh, I don't know if that's really gonna work, but let's test it.' And we test it, and it's gorgeous—it looks better than we ever would've thought possible. So that is very much in the artistic realm."
The design process lasts until mid-August, when Manning and his team began installing things. He said, "We have a high drive for excellence, for providing the absolute best that we can…Much of our display doesn't come from a box from some manufacturer in another city. The vast majority of our display comes out of the minds of people that work here, and we’ve created the plan, and we've fabricated it here."
Garvan aims to create an immersive light experience. Popular displays include the 40-foot sea serpent—animated with intelligent lighting utilizing RGB fixtures, which, through programming, are capable of producing 16.7 million different shades of color. It can also create patterns, giving the illusion the serpent is moving. The Aquarium features various aquatic life like a hammerhead
shark, a swordfish and a turtle and is filled with Japanese lanterns—a nod to Hot Springs's sister city, Hanamaki, Japan.
James the Train is an interactive experience for children and adults. Riders walk up ramps into the train cab. You can ring the bell and operate the train controls. There are many selfie and family photo spots through the installation of holiday lights. The most popular stop is in the Rose Garden area —a 55-foot animated Christmas tree, which features its own eight-and-a-half-minute soundtrack. The tree is also dressed in over 15,000 RGB lights and can be programmed with text or designs.
Marketing Director Kristin Mangham says the holiday lights have become a tradition for families throughout the region.
"We see people that were coming to see holiday lights whenever they were children are now married with their own children and coming back—and that's what we love," she said. "We want to provide a place where families can get together, enjoy the holiday season, see some beautiful lights while they're here, and experience the garden itself. We have 210 acres of beautiful lake property where people can reconnect with nature, and the lights provide an extra layer for that, too. It's really magical." GARVANGARDENS.COM
"We have a high drive for excellence...The vast majority of our display comes out of the minds of people that work here. We’ve created the plan, and we've fabricated it here." — Bryce Manning, Holiday Lights Lead Supervisor
Latkes and Lights
Connecting with Jewish Identity through Hanukkah Celebrations
WORDS / VICTORIA HERNANDEZ
Coming to college in the Bible Belt from being raised in Hebrew school was definitely a shift for Joa Morelli. However, sharing her culture has helped her find community as a Jewish student at the University of Arkansas.
"Hanukkah is just such a good holiday for bringing people together of all religious and spiritual spectrums. And it's because it's the most basic well-known Jewish holiday, and it falls around Christmas," she said. There's this season of giving, and that, in turn, comes around to the Jews, too."
Rather than bringing back the arts and crafts of painting dreidels or decorating menorah cookies from her youth, Morelli elevated her celebration to another art form: cooking.
Last Hanukkah, Morelli hosted a latke-making party with her friends, which included lighting candles and leading traditional prayer.
In the tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews, the shredded potato pancake was crafted like a hashbrown with egg, salt and flour, paired with dips such as sour cream and applesauce.
To prepare for the season of Hanukkah, Morelli does more than cook. She also enjoys media in addition to refreshing prayer.
Some movies of note include A Rugrats Chanukah special, Fiddler on the Roof and the recent Steven Spielberg movie, The Fablemans. For music, she enjoys "Hanukkah+," a compilation album of Jewish artists performing songs "that are known and loved," she said.
Although the Jewish community in Arkansas is small, Morelli said she has found loving and awesome people here.
"I mean, obviously, lately, it's been a little bit tough," she said. “Starting college here, I never really knew anyone Jewish off the gate. So, I'm still trying to navigate finding Jewish students. More so, I know Jewish faculty members or like Jewish professors and stuff. But the people that aren't Jewish, that are part of different religions like Christianity, I met a couple Muslim people, like they're curious and they're not at all judgmental, which I really, really love."
Morelli said that part of her desire to celebrate her Jewish traditions is rooted in the ability to carry on her religion.
"Unfortunately, traditions can become obsolete or just extinct," she said. “I like the idea of preserving something that has been carried down to me because I don't really have a lot of like heirs, you know [or] anything that I can really pass down, but I do have this.”
RECIPE: The Blackberry 75
Ring in the New Year with this cocktail by Dillon Garcia of Arkansas Mixology Associates
• 1 oz. Rocktown Gin
• 0.75 oz. Pink House Alchemy Blackberry syrup
• 0.5 oz. fresh lemon juice
• Shake and strain into a champagne glass
• Top with champagne
• Sing “Auld Lang Syne” like nobody’s watching (optional)
HEART HARMONIES &
It wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day without love songs. We chatted with Jupiter’s Flytrap about how to write them.
WORDS / RACHEL FARHAT PHOTO / JONATHAN SMITH
R
omantic, platonic, or warped into jealousy– love takes many forms in the discography of Jupiter’s Flytrap, one of Central Arkansas’ most beloved local bands. The four-piece art pop group balances tenderness and sharp self-awareness in their music, blending rock, jazz, and alternative sounds. Their unique sound, ranging from bubbly chiptune synth to forward electric guitar to twinkly, ghostlike softness, escapes easy categorization.
Driven by equal parts heart and mind, songwriter Indi Minett uses these musical elements with facility. We spoke with Minett to explore her strategically structured writing and dynamic, intuitive performance to uncover what goes into crafting a great love song.
Of the love songs you’ve written, which is your favorite?
My favorite love song that I have written is our first single, “Honey Honey…” I wrote the first verse and chorus as a kind of manifestation of the love I wanted to have in my life, even though I wasn’t dating anyone at the time. The song went unfinished for a while until I got into a relationship with my current partner, Ian. This relationship felt like what I had been wishing for in the first verse. I remember how excited I was to tell people about him, unlike my past not-quite relationships that ended quickly and left me with a bad taste in my mouth. That’s where the main line of the chorus, “Honey is the only taste that
your name leaves in my mouth,” comes from – that feeling of being able to share my excitement with my friends and family without having to wonder if he was actually the good person I knew him to be.
Over a year later, we finished the song together, collaborating on the synth solo at the end right before we released the song. “Honey Honey” was truly a journey!
How do you choose the genre and tempo of a love song?
One of my favorite things to do when writing songs is to mismatch the tone of the lyrics with the emotion that the instrumentals create, especially when the lyrics are negative and the instrumentals are happy and upbeat. Our two most recent singles, “D.B.A.S.” and “YOU ARE EVERYTHING” are great examples of this.
“D.B.A.S.” came into existence right after I had a falling out with a close friend. Our bassist wrote the instrumentals for that song and I was working on a totally different melody and lyrics for it. For the whole first half, it sounds so light and dreamy. But if you listen to the lyrics, you can tell I was pretty pissed off while I was writing it. The whole chorus is basically me saying, “You think you can cut me out of your life, but we were so close that I’m still going to see you everywhere.”
For “YOU ARE EVERYTHING…,” I wanted to address my conflicting feelings of admiration and jealousy by getting out all those jealous thoughts in the verses but then turning it into a love song for the chorus. The way that I see it, jealousy is really a form of love! When you can’t stop thinking about how cool, attractive, or successful a person is, it’s SO easy to flip that feeling on its head and be like, “No, I’m not going to let myself resent this person simply because they’re really awesome.” So that’s why I decided the song needed to sound like a party–to celebrate the success of the people doing better than
me and to create a fun environment for me to do so in the process!
What thought goes into creating the song structure?
Most of my songs follow a similar pop structure—intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, or some type of bridge, even more chorus, and outro. This template has proven pretty effective, but there are ways that we try to think outside the box with our songs. Personally, I’m a huge fan of the instrumental chorus. There’s just something about layering a solo or instrumental melody over the top of a chorus that feels like the icing on the cake.
Another thing we love to do is throw in a curveball section. The bridge of “D.B.A.S.” sounds totally different from the rest of the song. In the bridge of a newer live song, “Precious Time,” our drummer Caden raps a Biggie verse into the FarmersOnly.com jingle, and there is a fake-out ending of our newest live song, “Flowers In Antarctica.” We love to catch the audience off guard with stuff like that to keep them engaged!
What are your processes for creating the other parts of your songs, such as beat, harmony, melody, instrumentation, lyrics, or performance?
We typically write our own parts or adapt the part that has already been written to work as well as it can on our given instruments. Our songs are ever-evolving when we play them live because we always want to consider the mood of each show, the flow from one song to another in a setlist, and how we can highlight each of our strengths in a way that catches the audience off guard and (hopefully) leaves them feeling like, “Damn, they just did that!” There are some songs that we never play the same way twice!
IG @JUPITERS.FLYTRAP
LOCAL LOVE Y Y
Our writer Rachel Farhat has curated two Spotify playlists from Arkansas musicians of songs about love and heartbreak. Scan the QR codes to check them out.
Songs of Love Songs of Heartbreak
Revelry in the Ozarks
Mardi Gras parades, balls, and Louisiana flavor in Eureka Springs
WORDS / KODY FORD PHOTO / AMBER LANNING
Mardi Gras is often synonymous with revelry and excess. Based on modern celebrations, one might think only of beads, booze and debauchery. However, there's a lot of creativity behind all the events happening during the season.
In 1833, New Orleans held their first Mardi Gras parade. While the celebration is a significant part of the Crescent City's cultural identity, over the centuries, Mardi Gras has spread throughout the United States, even into the Ozarks. According to Melinda Eskridge, two NOLA families moved to Eureka Springs in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina. They held the first Mardi Gras parade in town, which consisted of two cars driving down Spring Street. But small beginnings lead to big things in a creative hub like Eureka.
Eskridge is the newly elected president of the Krewe of Krazo, which heads many festivities in town. Krazo has around 70 members currently. Preparation for Mardi Gras in Eureka Springs is a group effort beginning in the summer months. The Krewe of Krazo selects members for committees, often recruiting local artists and creatives, to focus on different things, such as decor for the balls or design for the floats.
Nine events, including parades and balls, occur in Eureka Springs during January and February, starting with the King's Day Kickoff at the Crescent Hotel, where Krewe members and the public get their first look at the year’s royal court and king and queen. Mardi Gras season be-
gins in full a few weeks later. The Krewe of Krazo holds a formal Coronation Ball—where the royal court is officially presented—and a Masquerade Ball. While the Coronation Ball is a black-tie affair; the Masquerade Ball is where someone can truly show their creativity through costume. In 2024, the theme was "Decades of Music," and people dressed like Elvis, Madonna, Roy Orbison and other legends.
Another popular event is the Taste of Mardi Gras fundraiser. Krewe of Krazo members make Cajun and NOLA-style dishes such as gumbo and jambalaya. Eskridge even makes Natchitoches meat pies, a staple in her Louisiana hometown. The Krewe sells tickets, and people can vote on their favorites.
It wouldn't be Mardi Gras without parades, of course. Eureka Springs has a daytime and a nighttime parade. The parades typically have seven floats. Local businesses, marching bands and even gymnastics crews participate. Revelers adorned in brightly colored Mardi Gras attire walk in the parade.
"There's a lot of interest in Northwest Arkansas about Mardi Gras and getting involved," Eskridge said. "We have found that people have heard about Mardi Gras from New Orleans, but they don't really know what it's all about. But they're very eager to learn and participate. So, we're glad that we're here and can bring this tradition to Northwest Arkansas."
FACEBOOK.COM/EUREKASPRINGSMARDIGRAS
TINY, BUT MIGHTY
Hot Springs goes big with the annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
WORDS / KODY FORD
Sometimes, smaller is better, and Hot Springs takes this to heart. At least when St. Patrick's Day rolls around. The Irish holiday has long been an excuse for getting drunk, wearing green and pinching people without consent. But the Spa City takes things to the next level with its famous World's Shortest St. Patty's Day Parade.
The annual event began 22 years ago on Bridge Street–a 98-foot-long strip of pavement certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the World's Shortest Street in Everyday Use–after Steve Erickson had the idea to throw a St. Patrick's Day parade there.
These days, the event attracts 30,000 people, although they cannot all fit on Bridge Street. Alexis K. Hampo, Special Events Manager for Visit Hot Springs, says the parade is one of the biggest parties in Arkansas. While the town is packed with visitors, Bridge Street serves as the hub of festivities for the floats and special guests.
Curating the parade is a challenging and creative task. The parade committee only accepts 40 entries into the event. Previous entries have included The World's Largest Potato and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, a diverse selection, to say the least. While the committee handles this portion, Visit Hot Springs recruits celebrities to serve as the Parade Starter and the Grand Marshall. Past celebs include Kevin Bacon, Bo Derek, Cheech Marrin, Ralph Macchio, Gary Busey and more. A parade wouldn't be complete without music–bands such as Mountain Pine Marching Band and Springfield, Missouri, Central High
School female drum and bugle corps, The Kilties.
While the parade is a very short event, Visit Hot Springs spreads out the festivities beforehand with free concerts. Also, they host the Zero K Race–a race fitting for the world's shortest street–that benefits Tri-Lakes CASA, the organization of Court Appointed Special Advocates for foster children in Garland, Hot Spring and Grant Counties.
"So this is a race that's literally the shortest one you could imagine," Hampo said. "People wear amazing costumes. So imagine 500 people running as slowly as possible. We'll give out awards for the slowest runner."
If you like to pucker up, try your hand…or lips in the Blarney Stone Kissing Contest at the stone outside the Hot Springs Convention Center. Also, keep your eyes open for the leprechauns running around town.
"It really is just one of the best parties in all of Arkansas," Hampo said. "And it's all ages, so everybody can just come out and have a good time. It's also completely free to attend. and you're bound to see something you probably haven't seen before, whether it's the world's largest potatoes or our celebrity grand marshal…The costumes that I've seen are just so fantastic. It's definitely worth coming out to, just for the experience to say I was at the World Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade. You know, only about 30,000 people can say that, right?"
SHORTESTSTPATS.COM
Photo courtesy of Visit Hot Springs
FREEDOM, FOOD FAMILY &
AR PBS shines a light on a long-running Juneteenth celebration in southeast Arkansas WORDS / VICTORIA HERNANDEZ
Freedom didn’t come for many Americans on July 4, 1776. Enslaved peoples were kept in bondage for nearly a hundred more years before President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Even then, it still took a while for the word to spread. On June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger ordered the enforcement of the proclamation in Texas. This day of independence came to be known as Juneteenth. It wouldn’t be until June 17, 2021, that President Joe Biden signed a bill declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday, but among Black Americans, the parties started long ago.
In the small town of Wilmar in southeast Arkansas, one of the longest-running annual celebrations of Juneteenth takes place at a community-wide event called June Dinner, dating back to the late 1800s. A recent episode of the Arkansas PBS series Celebrating Arkansas captured the history and relationships that draw people back to Wilmar year after year. Through interviews with the mayor, residents and people with personal connections to Wilmar, Arkansas PBS discovered Juneteenth’s cultural and personal significance to this town.
“Upon looking into it, conducting research, and engaging with the community in Wilmar, a captivating story emerged that we were eager to share about the Juneteenth celebration,” AR PBS outreach producer Casey Sanders revealed. “On its face, the June Dinner is a small-town festival like many others; however, the history of Wilmar’s June Dinner dates back to just after the Union soldiers arrived in Galveston with the news that slavery had been abolished. Wilmar Mayor Toni Perry shared the story, passed down through her family through oral accounts. Her grandfather’s grandfather, Arton Ragland Sr., brought June Dinner back to Wilmar after he had been an enslaved person in Texas. Before returning to Arkansas, he encountered celebratory gatherings to commem-
orate the June date and brought the idea back to his hometown; this tradition has been passed down through his family and the citizens of Wilmar for generations.”
In a clip from the episode, Mayor Perry said, “Everybody got together and brought a dish of their own to this event… to celebrate freedom. It became so popular it continued from its conception up until now. June Dinner was so anticipated that people could hardly contain their excitement as June rolled in cause that’s all they had the whole year long was this one day.”
Perry said early celebrations took place at the “Wilmar Colored School,” of which only the foundation remains today. However, they still hold June Dinner on the spot. She said, “That’s the sacred ground up there. That’s where everyone received their education. That was the only public property Black people had access to, to be allowed to do anything. You can’t move it from there cause it’s too close to everybody’s heart.”
The dinner typically includes townsfolk and visitors from around the nation coming together to bring their own dishes, including Southern classics like baked beans and potato salad. The original dinner celebration has gone beyond just a meal with family. Today, there are family reunions in addition to a parade, floats, contests and pageants throughout the weekend.
Sanders is proud to showcase this piece of living history for AR PBS.
“[J]ust getting a little bit of that oral history down and being able to shine a light on Wilmar, Arkansas, and their story is what I think Arkansas PBS is proud to do—sharing people’s stories. And their story dates back to the very late 1800s. And none of that exists in print. It’s all oral history at this point. And getting some of that history out there is what we’re proud to do,” Sanders said.
Image from Celebrating Arkansas, courtesy of Arkansas PBS
PRIDE 365
Big Gay Market celebrates LGBTQIA+ businesses and makers from June through May
WORDS + PHOTOS / VICTORIA HERNANDEZ
Reaching across College Avenue in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the grooving beats of Chappell Roan can be heard with laughs and chatter on a bright June morning. This is not the first event of its kind. Big Gay Market has spent the last four years trying to support and share the work of queer creatives — and it is only getting bigger.
Amanda Arafat, co-founder of Big Gay Market, is a Palestinian-American creative who ended up in Arkansas after years of living in Egypt. In June 2021, she started attending her first pride events in Northwest Arkansas and consistently bumped into artist and graphic designer Grace Holcomb.
Although the two were frequently at these events in June, there was something off for both of them. They would see large celebrations of pride but without the support of actual queer people.
“Unfortunately, at that time, for whatever reason, the real effectiveness of the pride events that we were seeing and going to was really, really disappointing,” Arafat said. “For example, I won’t say any specific names of venues or anything like that, but we had both been to a really
big, high-budget, well-produced pride event where the proceeds from the event were not being donated to any sort of LGBTQIA+-related entity or anything, but were instead being directed to another good cause, but like under the draw of pride.”
The increase in anti-trans bills, such as SB199, which restricted healthcare for trans youth in the state, in addition to the disappointing events, was another means of inspiration for the organization to form.
“It was so frustrating to have so much energy and so much passion about how wrong all of that was and in an environment at the same time other people were not being celebrated properly during pride. And again, that’s a personal opinion, but that’s just how it felt as a newcomer to NWA and especially as a newcomer to the queer community of NWA. And so that is basically, those things, in combination, were the catalyst for starting Big Gay Market. It just felt like we needed to do something, and we were both creatives,” she said.
Arafat considers herself a culinary creative as a chef and baker. Through her craft, she draws inspiration from Middle Eastern baked goods, combining flavors and aromas from Palestine with familiar, comforting American formats like cookies.
To fulfill their need to do something, they first took action by planning the first DIY backyard market, which over 1,000 people showed up to, Arafat said.
Mackenzie Robinson, owner of Heads & Snails, joined in on the organization’s third pride market and has been attending ever since. She said she came across Big Gay when researching Arkansas before relocating from Utah.
“I was drawn to Big Gay Market because it was so…the name of it is so playful, I think,” Robinson said. “And it’s very big, and it’s gay, and that is so the energy I was looking for at the event. And the more that I got involved with the organizers and the more that I learned of their kind of reasons for doing what they do I just felt like their work was so empowering and fun, but important. I feel like they really toe the line between serious and just letting the community have a good time, you know what I mean.”
The market themes often surround different holiday seasons, accommodating to those within and outside of the community throughout the year. For participants like Robinson, Big Gay
Market has been so encouraging to see how the community shows up throughout the year on different holidays, especially for winter holidays when it feels just very cozy to be still in that queer community space even with what is traditionally a lot of religious holidays, she said.
“Big Gay Market is honestly some of the most connection I have to the queer community,” Robinson said. “It’s the most involved I am with other queer people, and I feel like the friendships I have made… meeting and having relationships with other queer people is kind of how I celebrate pride in that way. Just like all of the different queer people that I know and love in my life.”
Part of the mission of Big Gay Market is to provide a source of pride and support for queer creatives even outside of June’s celebrations of pride month.
“Like clockwork, every June you see this interesting face to corporations where suddenly they’re putting on their gay-friendly face and ignoring the fact that a lot of them have been working against the community the whole rest of the year,” Arafat said. “So for me, and for really us at Big Gay Market, our whole thing is like you should not have to wait for June for a big box store to put out their shitty pride merch made of polyester, that probably disenfranchised someone along the way, to officially show your support and your allyship. Real allyship—really in any community—is showing up for other community members.
It is valuing them as an integrable part, an integrable thread of the quilt of society, and understanding that you don’t need a month or a marketing plot by some corporation to help that individual afford rent, not because in a charitable sense, but in the same way that you would patronize any local maker, local business. We need to celebrate queer-owned business in that same way. We’re extremely underrepresented all the rest of the year that is not June. And so that’s really a huge part of what we’re trying to do at Big Gay. Celebrate Pride 365. You don’t have to wait for June.”
IG @BIGGAYMARKET
“Real allyship...is showing up for other community members. It is valuing them as...an integrable thread of the quilt of society, and understanding that you don’t need a month or a marketing plot by some corporation to help that individual afford rent...”
— Amanda Arafat, co-founder of Big Gay Market
Slug Knives, aka artist Jenna Jones, at her booth during the Big Gay Market in Fayetteville this past June.
VISIONARY COUTURE
Designer Rulli Torres on the Art of Quinceañera Dresses.
WORDS / ASHTON YORK
Aquiceañera party is a valued tradition that goes back several centuries. It is a birthday celebration among Latin American cultures that symbolizes a girl’s transition into adulthood at age 15. Springdale fashion designer Rulli Torres said it is rewarding to help the girls bring their quinceañeras to life, especially in an area where not many dress designers are familiar with the holiday.
“The best part is seeing their reaction and that it’s exactly what they wanted,” Torres said.
Torres said most of his customers already know what they want before they hire him to make a dress. They give him a budget they want for the gown, which he uses to pick fabrics.
Torres then takes the customers’ measurements and creates a mock-up sample to represent the potential dress. Depending on what the customer wants, Torres often combines multiple variations of samples to perfectly match the customer’s vision.
Creating the perfect quinceañera dress involves a lot of drawing out designs so the customer can visualize the dress and tell the designer what they want to change. Torres often communicates back and forth with his customers to alter the dress in various ways to ensure it is a perfect fit.
“A lot of times, they have never had a custom dress
made, so whenever I made a mock-up, they panic a little bit,” Torres said. “They’re like, ‘That’s not the fabric I want.’ And I have to educate the customer that this is just a sample, and you can still make a few changes if you decide to.”
Torres’ mother was a seamstress, so he visited her boutique and bridal stores often as a child, which led him to become interested in the fashion design business. However, the area Torres grew up in prevented him from learning more about fashion design when he was young.
“It was very much like women have certain roles and men have other roles,” he said. “They never wanted me to go anywhere near a sewing machine.”
Several years later, Torres found himself in the fashion design program at the University of Arkansas. He then started his own studio and label in 2011, doing custom designs and taking any idea a customer may have had. Torres said anything even remotely related to fashion has always provided an escape for him.
“Not only is it important for me as part of my culture,” Torres said. “But it’s also rewarding to see somebody that has a vision or a design and help them during the entire process.”
IG @RULLITORRESOFFICIAL
Photos courtesy of Rulli Torres
Monarch No. 1, Carly Dahl, ACNMWA 2023-2025 Juried Artist Registry
ADVOCATING FOR WOMEN IN THE ARTS
ACNMWA is devoted exclusively to the accomplishments of Arkansas women artists and sharing the groundbreaking work of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, located in Washington, D.C. Advocacy for Arkansas women artists is accomplished through programs, like our Juried Artist Registry.
The biennial Juried Artist Registry features work by Arkansas artists who identify as women, selected by an arts professional serving as juror. Artists’ images, artist statements and website links are featured online for a two-year period.
This Registry offers a contemporary look at a range of work and serves as a public resource to connect artists, curators, and collectors, and encourages the creation, exhibition, and promotion of artwork by Arkansas women artists.
