The Idle Class - Collectors Issue V.2

Current Show:

aesthetic a presentation by: Tigersasha

Upcoming Show:

Gallery & Exhibits 114 W Central Ave. Bentonville, AR. 72712 www.fellowhumangallery.com @socius_humano

Photo by Kate Schreckhise

CALL FOR ART SUBMISSIONS Stage 18 Art Gallery, located in the heart of downtown, Fayetteville invites Arkansas curators and artists to submit proposals for 2019 gallery exhibitions. Stage 18 also calls for small works of art for its “Winter Art Exhibition�, a 2-D juried show Dec.4, 2018 through Feb. 2, 2019.

For submission guidelines please go to www.Stage18Live.com/gallery. Email Suzannah Schreckhise at Art@stage18live.com with questions.

18 E. Center St. in Fayetteville

INDEPENDENT VISION

Modern and Contemporary Art from the Martin Muller Collection September 28, 2018 – December 30, 2018 Townsend Wolfe Gallery and Jeanette Edris Rockefeller Gallery Sponsored by:

Brenda Mize Jane McGehee Wilson Independent Vision: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Martin Muller Collection is organized by the Arkansas Arts Center.

9th & Commerce • 501-372-4000 arkansasartscenter.og John Register, American (New York, New York, 1939 – 1996, Malibu, California), Hotel with Four Chairs, 1974, oil on canvas, 45 x 45 inches. Image courtesy of Modernism Inc., San Francisco.

Featuring the work of

ELEANOR DICKINSON Little Rock, Arkansas 5815 Kavanaugh Blvd.

501.664.0030 Miami, Florida 305.528.4971 “Indian Alley”, monoprint and watercolor, 30”x40”

www.boswellmourot.com

EDITOR’S NOTE Artists may create their work out of a deep-seated urge, but they still have bills to pay. Too often, they are asked to give away their work for “exposure” so we decided to spotlight individuals who help those artists buy their supplies and fill their refrigerators: art collectors. They tend to be the unsung heroes of the arts scene.

From the Medici family to J. Paul Getty, people of means have launched and sustanined the careers of many artists. Locally, Alice Walton changed the cultural landscape of Arkansas with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

PUBLISHER Robin Atkinson

One misconception about art collecting is that you need to be a wealthy industrialist or Wall-Street-tycoon to accumulate great pieces. We spoke with a variety of art collectors from many different backgrounds about their passion for art and strategies for collecting. Even if it is just buying a print from at a craft fair, anyone can collect. And shopping local is always better than buying something from Pier One to match your curtains.

ASSISTANT EDITORS Molly Bess Rector Jenny Vos

This issue profiles two phenomenal artists - Sasha Rayevskiy and Justin Tyler Bryant - and features a discussion with Lieven Bertels about The Momentary, the new contemporary art gallery and performing arts center by Crystal Bridges set to open in 2020.

We are also happy to announce our new partnership with Arkansas Arts & Fashion Forum, a nonprofit that also runs NWA Fashion Week and provides educational programming in the region. This new alliance will allow us to grow under the umbrella of a 501(c)(3) organization. You don’t get rich doing an arts magazine these days, so we are excited about being able to fundraise beyond traditional means. Lastly, I would like to welcome our new publisher, Robin Atkinson, and new managing editor, Julia Trupp, to the team.

As always, please support our advertisers and our artists.

See you in the Fall, Kody Ford Editor-in-Chief ed i tori al @id l e c l a s s m a g .c o m

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kody Ford MANAGING EDITOR Julia Trupp GUEST EDITOR Suzannah Schreckhise

DESIGNER Beshanyé Jackson CONTRIBUTORS Heather Canterbury Marsha Lane Foster Kristen Hoover Brandon Markin Meredith Mashburn Andrew McClain Caleb Patton Susan Porter Lauren Rae K. Samantha Sigmon Donna Smith Emma Steinkraus Kat Wilson Leigh Wood COVERS Justin Tyler Bryant Sasha Rayevskiy

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PUBLIC ACCESS / 12 - 13 Fayetteville Public TV empowers citizens to have their voices heard.

THE MOMENTARY / 14 - 15 Crystal Bridges is set to change NWA once again with new performing arts center and gallery.

AN EXPERIENCE / 14 - 15 Melonlight Ballroom’s Experience Black_Apple_AD.pdf 9/11/18 is the perfect Fall 1thriller.

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Zarks Gallery

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EVENTS LITTLE ROCK Independent Vision: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Martin Muller Collection / Arkansas Arts Center Ar k a nsa sArtsCenter.org Sept 28—Dec 30, 2018 The Arkansas Arts Center presents the striking vision of a master collector in Independent Vision: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Martin Muller Collection, on view September 28 through December 30, 2018.

4 LEGS / 2005 Charles Arnoldi / San Francisco Foreground / Martin Muller Photo / Modernism Inc., S.F.

Faculty Biennial & Electrify: VSA Emerging Young Artists / University of Arkansas & Little Rock Windgate Center for Art and Design U A L R . ed u/a r t /g a l l e r i e s Oct 15—Nov 16, 2018 Oct 22—Dec 2, 2018 The Faculty Biennial exhibition will take place on October 15 through November 16, 2018 in the Brad Cushman Gallery, Level 2 of the Windgate Center of Art and Design at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, located at 2801 S. University Ave. A reception will take place on Friday, October 26, 5–7 p.m. The biennial exhibition features work created by full and part-time faculty teaching in the Department of Art and features a variety of media including drawing, mixed media, printmaking, photography, painting, ceramics, graphic design, sculpture, metalwork and furniture design.

From October 22 through December 2 Electrify – VSA Emerging Young Artists, a Kennedy Center touring exhibition, will take place in

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San Francisco-based gallerist and collector Martin Muller curated the exhibition from his personal collection as a tribute to Little Rock—the city where he spent his formative early years in America. During those years, Muller discovered an affinity for post-war American painting in the quiet library of the Arkansas Arts Center.

It was the beginning of a lifelong...

relentless pursuit of new artistic treasures.

The exhibit features 89 works from Muller’s personal collection representing his journey through contemporary art. The works in the exhibition represent a range of artistic expression, from American photographers Diane Arbus and Robert Mapplethorpe, modernist masters Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, pioneers of the Russian avant-garde Kazimir Malevich, Alexander Bogomazov and El Lissitzky and pop artists Andy Warhol, Mel Ramos and Edward Ruscha. The show also includes a diverse array of contemporary works by artists such as Joel Besmar, Damian Elwes and Jean-Charles Blais. Together, these works form a picture of Muller the collector, on a life-long journey for enlightenment through art and literature.

Small Gallery, Level 1, of Windgate.

This traveling exhibition is organized

by VSA Visual Arts Program for the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Every year the VSA have a juried call for art from Emerging Young Artists with disabilities. This show features work by 15 artists: Trinity Kai, Summer Mason, Haley Macherone, Rowan Di Ioia, Becca Schwartz, Jillian Santora, Marieke Davis, Brianna Beck, Rein Brooks, Esther Woo, Taylor Bielecki, Blythe Gurche, Carly Mandel, Kendall Schauder and Kevin Quiles Bonilla.

The Department of Art and Design maintains two art galleries in the Windgate Center that showcase traveling, invitational, solo and group exhibitions, as well as student exhibits by emerging and established artists. Hours for the galleries are Monday–Friday 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.–1 p.m., Sunday 2–5 p.m. during the Fall and Spring, and closed University Holidays. The galleries are free and open to the public.

GEODON Ricky Sikes Mixed Media / 46” x 70”

DANCE OF THE HEYOKA / 1954 Oscar Howe / Yanktonai Dakota Media / Watercolor on Paper Photo / Philbrook Museum of Art

BENTONVILLE Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices: 1950s to Now / Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art CrystalBridges.org Oct 6, 2018—Jan 9, 2019

Contemporary Indigenous art comes front and center in Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices, 1950s to Now—a new, free exhibition organized by Crystal Bridges. Discover new stories as today’s Indigenous artists fill the gallery with exquisite colors, images of community and joy and thoughtprovoking moments of reflection.

The exhibition features over 80 artworks from the 1950s to today, including paintings, photography, video, sculptures, performance art and more, all created by Indigenous US and Canadian artists. Spend some time with Shan Goshorn, an artist who creates social critiques through basket weaving, Spiderwoman Theater, three sisters who challenge heavy topics with

humor and heart, Athena LaTocha, an artist who created a large-scale mural based on her Northwest Arkansas environmental experience, plus many more.

Broaden your definition of contemporary art with a new understanding of Indigenous art.

Free tickets available now.

HOT SPRINGS Hot Water Hills Music & Arts Festival / Hill Wheatley Plaza H o t Wa terH il ls.com L o wKeyArts.org Oct 5 & 6, 2018 Low Key Arts presents the Eighth annual Hot Water Hills Music & Arts Festival on Friday, October 5 and Saturday, October 6. Headlining the festival Friday night are Larkin Poe, supported by the Legendary Shack Shakers’ J.D. Wilkes, Bas Clas, Brian Martin and Modeling. Saturday features headliners Broncho, a pair of international groups—Lola Marsh (Tel Aviv, Israel) and Sea Moya (Germany, by way of Canada)—and support from Miles Francis, Rah

Howard, The Violet Ultras and Spa City Youngbloods.

Hot Water Hills Music & Arts Festival 2018 features artists, vendors, craft demos and workshops, kids activities, food trucks, beer and wine sales and a handful of “art cars” traveling to Arkansas just for the occasion.

Gates open at 4 p.m. on Friday and noon on Saturday. As always, Hot Water Hills takes place in downtown Hot Springs at Hill Wheatley Plaza, located at 629 Central Ave. The event is family-friendly and all ages are welcome.

BRONCHO

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HAUNTED HOUSE

Melonlight Ballroom brings the thrills and chills with Experience ANNA Melonlight.com Words & Photos / Kody Ford Eureka Springs is no stranger to the supernatural. Almost all forms of media have focused on the legends of the town. Its history as a place of healing attracted the wealthy, the wounded, the wanderers and an assortment of hucksters over the years. The most famous of the haunted locales is the 1886 Crescent Hotel, which has served as a resort, a college and a “hospital.”

From 1937–1940, a con man named Norman Baker set up shop at the Crescent, claiming he could cure cancer, and many people entrusted their loved ones to him. Baker kept their money, but their beloved passed. Such stories from that time have even brought shows like Ghost Hunters to the hotel. Thus, the town is a perfect backdrop for attending the play Experience ANNA at the Melonlight Ballroom, located at 2 Pine Street.

In Experience ANNA, Julia and Cody Lonan (Emily and Raymond Ulibarri) have moved into in the historic Crowe Manor in Carroll County, Arkansas, after getting a sweetheart deal on the old property.

The home was once filled with the sound of children’s laughter, the blaring trumpets of 1940’s jazz, and the kind neighborly welcome of Mrs. Annabelle Crowe. But those

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joyful days have long since passed when a series of grisly murders rocked the town. The walls have withered, the farm is overgrown, and the house is empty. Empty, but not quiet. The walls of Crowe Manor whisper the secrets of the past.

Sheriff Caleb Lonan (Jerry Watson), Cody’s brother, is determined to dig up the eerie details of the Crowe Manor murders. But Crowe Manor has plans of its own and the secrets of a violent past will be unearthed only with dire consequences in the present.

For the past three years the group has run a shorter version of Experience ANNA in October. This year they extended the story and have been running the show since May, planning to keep it going through Halloween. They also plan to tour in the Eureka Springs offseason. The ensemble wrote the story together and the final script was penned by Emily Ulibarri, who plays Julia Lonan and directs the production. A play like Experience ANNA has long been her dream.

“Well we’ve always loved scary stories,” Ulibarri said. “I have dreamt about doing a haunted house-type play since the beginning of our business days in Denver, Colorado. I had a vision of the guests following this ethereal girl down a long hallway [and] she suddenly turns off into a doorway and revealed behind her is another girl, who looks exactly like her. That one vision spiraled into reality as we acknowledged my sister and I are often confused for each other and assumed to be twins. That was the

beginning, several creative meetings with our entire ensemble later led to Experience ANNA.” The entire Melonlight Ensemble, currently five strong, all relocated from Denver, Colorado, in 2014. For the last two years, the Melonlight Ballroom has been their full-time venue where they also teach ballroom dance and yoga, host special events like weddings, and perform their own shows. The team trains in partnership dance, stage and street performance, event entertainment and most of all creative and original production.

The Ulibarris met when they were 13-years-old and connected through dance a few years later. Their love of dance is apparent in the few numbers included in the production, which fit the context of the story (rather than serve as a Bollywoodstyle intermission). The lighting and music perfectly accent the suspense and pacing of the performance.

The team has put many long, late nights into cutting music and sound effects, timing the acting to match the completed track and then timing the corresponding lighting cues. Such attention to detail shows throughout the production.

Aside from The Ulibarris and Watson, cast members include Maggie Mae as Anna and Caia Claire as Parker Morrison/Millie Parker. The show runs (almost) every Friday and Saturday from now through October 31 with lots of extra dates near Halloween (25-26, 28-31). Doors open at 7:30 p.m., show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 online.

RECLAIMED

Andy Baugus gives old wood a second life Words / Kristen Hoover Photo / Kat Wilson Andy Baugus knew he always wanted to be a woodworker. His opportunity finally came when he grew tired of hearing the diesel engine of his backhoe after a big wind storm in Arkansas in 1989. Baugus was employed in construction at the time and was supposed to be taking the downed trees to a site off of Happy Hollow Road when he thought, “I’ve heard this damn tractor for 15 years; it’s time to do something else.” Baugus began taking the fallen giants to his Goshen property where he would store them until he had the means necessary to give them a second life.

2nd Life Wood is a collection of handcrafted tables, headboards, and bookcases created from salvaged wood. The collection sits impressively in a showroom built

by Baugus on the same property as his woodshop, which he also built. Caked in sawdust and stacks of table slabs, his workshop is the place where Baugus first learned his craft. During the day he designed,

created and transformed salvaged wood into remarkable handcrafted tables. When he got tired, he retired to his reliable recliner and wood-burning stove to read about different types of wood and their particular natures. He began to favor indigenous hardwood trees from Arkansas like white oaks and learned that cherry is not a “wellbehaved wood”. He lived in that shop working 100 hours a week, experimenting and learning until he ran out of money to do so. “I remember times when I just had absolutely no money. I remember surviving off of popcorn and having to go over to my neighbor’s for a sandwich,” Baugus says.

Now, he boasts a self-sustaining property. When he decided to bring home those first downed trees, he only had an Alaskan chainsaw mill. But with a little help from his father and the bank, he was able to purchase the rest of the tools he needed all at once from an auction.

After that, people started calling Baugus to tell him about dead or fallen trees that they wanted removed. His collection of salvaged wood grew, but his funds remained the same so he started selling his collection. “I wanted to sell the tables from the get-go, but it took years and years. There were times when I would have to work for a

man named Bob Gilmore, mostly building houses and other carpentry jobs for six months at a time. At the end of the six months, I’d go back to the shop and create more, then when the money was gone, I’d just call up Bob Gilmore again,” Baugus said with a laugh. After 15 years of keeping at it, 2nd Life Wood is now steadily growing.

Through a process of trialand-error, Baugus’ collection and carpentry skills improved. Baugus discovered the slabs needed to dry for three years at a time due to the Arkansas humidity. He innovated a system to smooth out worn wood without a thickness planer and still prevent the warping and bowing of the slabs that can sometimes happen when working with wood.

He tested different oils and decided that tongue oil is best. Through these experiments, Baugus learned the best practices to ensure the original beauty of the wood is maintained.

With Baugus’ perseverance in the face of adversity, the 2nd Life Wood collection can be shared with the world. Each piece of furniture is beautifully crafted and unique in its own way. Anyone lucky enough to own a piece of furniture from 2nd Life Wood, has a little piece of Baugus too.

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PUBLIC ACCESS

Fayetteville Public Television provides an outlet for local media producers FayPublic.tv Words / Julia Trupp When Wendy Love Edge, a “disabled survivor of the U.S. healthcare system,” got sick and found herself stuck in a power wheelchair, unable to care for herself —“bulldozed,” she says on 16 pharmaceutical prescriptions, she started weaning but found herself in full withdrawal mode.

After making positive lifestyle changes and finding other natural methods of health such as cannabis, she realized many people like herself couldn’t pay out of pocket for medication, so she started her podcast and television show Bulldozer Health at Fayetteville Public Television to educate people about health, natural treatments, and how to gain access to them.

“I reached out to FPTV in 2014,” Edge says, “Not only could they provide training for our volunteers, but their professional equipment and studio would also be available

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for our use. Through utilizing FPTV for the BHS, the show grew and became more professional looking, and we were able to reach more people with the education we were providing for their health.”

Fayetteville Public Television is not just a programming channel – it’s a digital path for communication.

As the only public resource in the region that provides beginner to advanced classes, professional equipment, and a variety of shows all under one roof, the key is to help people produce content to be seen and heard, says Dan Robinson, operational manager at FPTV. With the knowledge and accommodations of the staff, Edge says with the right tools and expertise, she is confident there will be a great show, which is important for natural health treatment-based Bulldozer Health and her new cannabis education, scienceinfluenced, and activism-based show The Green Zone TV, which debuted recently.

In 2017, the FPTV team successfully advocated to the city to open the resources to all residents of Washington and Benton counties with an annual $50 membership fee, and for Fayetteville residents, the studio resources are free.

Comprehensive video classes

qualify new producers from homeschooled students to retirees to use the equipment and succeed with production goals.

The studio also hosts programs like “Open Mic,” which gives people the opportunity to share their talents, thoughts, or information, with no training required, on a weekly basis, which is great for students, nonprofits, artists, and musicians.

The goal for the organization is to be a window into the culture of Northwest Arkansas, and that covers anything from local events, cooking shows, comedy, music, yoga, and interviews with community leaders.

After all, it’s how local everywhereman Jason Suel of Later with Jason Suel got his start before being picked up by Fox24 News for a new show every Saturday night. Even with the big break on Fox24, FPTV still produces Later, now in its sixth season.

“The goal is to spread the word about this valuable resource so that Northwest Arkansas residents will use it to further tie the communities together,” Doug Bankston, Director of Media Services for the City of Fayetteville says. “Northwest Arkansas is quite lucky to have a city like Fayetteville being fully supportive of the public access resource as the region grows not just up but together.”

DIGGIN’ IT Shindig Music launches new show on FPTV Shindigmusic.net Words / Caleb Patton Remember the golden age of MTV? You’d turn on your massive, boxy monster to hear the newest pop, hip-hop and alt-rock songs played at full blast with dazzling visuals to accompany them. Well Arkansans, such days are no longer in the past, because Shindig Music has just recently launched their newest project, Shindig Music TV. Located in Northwest Arkansas, this small group of driven individuals are creating a scene that no one else is tapping into like they have been in the recent years.

state as well. Robert Locke said that the idea for their new project came about after talking with Dan Robinson about using Fayetteville Public Television as a medium for their work and transforming what was then Fayettesound into the Shindig Music TV that has sprung up now. Robinson has stated, “We are excited to be the broadcast outlet for Shindig Music TV. Arkansas has amazing music videos being

produced, and to have them collected and featured is opening up the bands to new markets. We have people watching all over the state on our YouTube live feed.

We are always happy to find new partnerships and new ways to share the great things happening here.”

Watch them Monday through Friday at 10 p.m. on Fayetteville Public Television.

With artists like Jamie Lou & The Hullabaloo, Terminus, The Squarshers and so many more, it’s not difficult to understand how quickly Shindig is growing across not only NWA, but the rest of the

Frame Fayetteville

800 North College Avenue Fayetteville, AR 72701 479.422.7170 Framing fine art, photography, momentos & more.

17 N BLOCK / FAYETTEVILLE / 100 NW 2nd St #110 / bentonville 479.966.9623 W W W.IDL E C L A SSM A G.C O M

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THE MOMENTARY

Crystal Bridges is set to change NWA once again with new performing arts center and gallery.

Interview / Robin Atkinson Lieven Bertels is the Executive Director of the Momentary, the contemporary art center that is slated to open in February of 2020 in downtown Bentonville. Along with exhibition space, the Momentary will house three dedicated studio spaces for short-to medium-term artist residencies with studio spaces dedicated to traditional, high-tech/ multimedia, and 3D/sculptural art, in addition to public spaces to nurture collaboration. They envision studio and social spaces that provide artistic independence alongside an integrated art experience for guests that creates a holistic mix of art and leisure activities.

Lieven discussed his vision for the Momentary with The Idle Class’ Publisher Robin Atkinson.

RA / Contemporary art in Northwest Arkansas is a big step forward culturally. We had State of the Art at Crystal Bridges, which was Northwest Arkansas’s first foray into contemporary art. But in terms of the larger population here, an actual contemporary art museum is kind of a leap. So what are the strategies that you’ll take on to help people wade into that whole realm?

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LB / We are not going to be a museum, we’re going to be a contemporary art center. What’s the difference? We don’t feel that historical pressure to collect and represent art history. I think that’s very well reflected in the name, we want to be of this moment and we want to look at what is currently happening. We hope to be a small and nimble art center, but to have a backbone in an amazing museum collection. There’s only a handful of contemporary art centers in this country that have that luxury. Some of them have it more as part of their DNA, like [New York City’s] PS1 that can reference MoMA; some of them have a true partnership with nearby institutions like the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, but they are few and far between and to have something like that in the heartland of the US, we think is pretty unique.

What are some of the strategies you plan to employ to help the regional audience to engage in the contemporary conversation?

I think the best approach is to not constantly get hung up on that regional aspect. We see ourselves as part of a national dialogue, which always will reference this place as our anchor point, but we want to aim nationally. That is true in the scope and scale of exhibitions, in the level of artists we want to work with, in the visitation we hope for, and that has been the same for Crystal Bridges, of which we are a satellite project. The current

presentation statistics for Crystal Bridges are positive whatever way you look at them. Half of our visitation is from here and half of the visitation is from an interstate and national audience.

That’s beautiful because it means that for Crystal Bridges’ 600,000 visitors a year, half of those visitors come from the region. Knowing that Northwest Arkansas only has a population of around 500,000 people that means that 1 in 2 people from this region, including babies and elderly, come to the museum at least once a year. So, in terms of serving a community, you can’t do much better. Imagine you were to extrapolate that number to London or New York, that’s insane. That would mean 5 million people a year would go through a metropolitan museum. So that’s very positive, but it also means that we are bringing in an outside audience for the museum with the other half.

Now of course, the Momentary is a smaller project, it’s a little more niche, it’s specifically geared towards contemporary art. But we would hope that kind of ratio will stay the same so we can serve whoever has an appetite for contemporary art. We hope to be a space where people can get an interest in contemporary art as part of a broader visit to the area. We want our visitors to say, “Hey, I can see Crystal Bridges, I can have an amazing dinner, I can stay in a really cool hotel, I can do some shopping, I can discover cool bike trails and I can go to this contemporary

art center!”

How will the Momentary interact with the local art community?

A lot of artists that live in this region are super excited about finally getting the living artists in the limelight. When you say museum, for a lot of people out there, not us in the arts, but for a lot of people in the larger community, art is about dead people. That’s what a museum still reflects for many people. A contemporary art space can actually reflect our community, our identity here in the heartland – whether we talk about Northwest Arkansas, or the wider region, or even nationally – but always with a strong focus on living artists. So it’s about commissioning, it’s about opportunities for the wider community to see how art gets made, who the people are that make art, what their story is, why they find a certain narrative important. We will invest more time and effort in having those touch points with the artists, making sure that when an artist comes here for a major show, people can really understand that these are current artists that tell the stories of our cities and our regions and that actually help us understand the world around us and the times we live in.

I think collecting is a process that not many people in the region are truly familiar with. We do not have art fairs here like Art Basel in Miami or Switzerland. There are no biennials like Prospect New Orleans or PS1 have biennials. So interaction with discrete, purchasable art objects is relatively low. As a curator in your past positions, as festival director, empresario, and now museum director, what has been your interaction with collectors as you helped lead these large scale art endeavors?

One of the things I really like is that idea of the conversation with the living artist in collecting. I don’t think that collecting art is the same as collecting stamps or collecting firearms or collecting sport memorabilia. Though, sport memorabilia, funnily enough, often are about the story as well. You getting that one

(Our full interview with Lieven Bertels is available at idleclassmag.com)

autographed baseball and it’s about you having had the connection with your hero. With art, it’s more layered. You want to have a relationship with a piece, it’s very hard to collect works you don’t actually like. It’s very hard to pretend in your collecting because you grow away from those pieces in your collection, so you will absolutely want to follow your gut feeling in collecting.

But typically you also want to know about the artist behind the work.

So, that’s where I hope something like the Momentary can play a role as a conduit. Of course, we’re only one part in the large jigsaw puzzle in an art ecosystem because, as you mention, biennials can be a part of that, major art fairs can be a part of that, galleries can be a part of that.

Of course our arts sector is different in size from what major cities and metropolitan centers offer, but we have sometimes developed our own way of doing things in this region.

That’s where 21c (Hotel Museum) comes in, that’s where building a relationship with artists when they are

very young comes in, and having a university with a strong arts curriculum would help with growing that.

And the Momentary will be a place for people to engage with that artist conversation?

Yes, we envision a place where visitors will engage with artists. It won’t be a place for passive art consumption. We hope it will also be a meeting place and we take that quite literally. In a museum there’s a certain set of rules and expectations. Typically the museum’s social spaces, like the café are separated from the museum proper: they’re like oil and vinegar. We want to mix that up. We want to allow you to come and work with your laptop in amongst contemporary art. We want you to have a conversation with your friends in amongst the artworks. We want you to come and hang out with your friends, or your family, grab a really great quality coffee, and then have an art fix. I think that’s another one of those unique things that we can offer.

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MAN ABOUT TOWN Runway’s Mike Abb plays a major role in Northwest Arkansas’ everevolving cultural landscape.

IG / @artansasproject Words / Kody Ford Photo / Kat Wilson The cultural landscape of Northwest Arkansas has changed rapidly over the last few years. Heralded by the opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, real estate development and creative organizations and opportunities have blossomed. It feels like every month a new restaurant or venue or even bike trail has opened somewhere in the region. A major part of these changes has come from the business community, an unlikely ally in such a drastic overhaul. Bentonville-based Runway Group—a community-focused organization that works on a wide range of Northwest Arkansas related investments and interests— has played a major role and their Creative Director Mike Abb has served as the boots on the ground for many exciting projects.

Growing up in Bentonville, Abb’s access to arts and culture was limited, often consisting of things his parents introduced him to. But that all changed when the family got cable TV and he discovered MTV in the late ’80s. He quickly immersed himself in hip-hop and DJ culture and began saving his lawn-mowing money to buy speakers, turntables, drum machines and samplers. He still DJs today and contributes as a DJ on Bentonville Community Radio 103.3 FM. He lived in Austin for many years before returning to his hometown as massive development was happening, eventually settling at Runway with the aim of spearheading efforts that reflect the company’s pillars—Recruit, Retain, Inspire, Evolve and Invest.

“Our goals are to recruit great talent to work and create in Arkansas, to retain those people, inspire them, evolve them (through secondary education, programming, and new experiences) and ultimately see them invest in the region,” Abb said. “Investment can come in many forms such as buy a home, volunteer at a nonprofit or buy local. Where I come into the mix is by focusing

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on how to bridge the gap between corporate, civic and creative culture.

This means lots of time meeting with people and learning about what they like, dislike and dream of, and turning that into actionable items.”

Runway has been instrumental in the burgeoning public art scene in Benton and Washington counties with Abb playing a role in recruiting artists and ensuring that projects run smoothly.

“NWA is rapidly becoming known for arts and culture offerings thanks in large part to the Walton Family Foundation investments such as Crystal Bridges, Walton Arts Center, TheatreSquared and so on,” he said. “These investments

are in large part contained in their own walls and campuses. I spend my time trying to bring that creativity and culture out and into public spaces. This has resulted in working diligently with various city and civic entities to open up new canvas spaces to create upon such as parks, trails and sporting facilities. Some of the recent projects I’m most proud of are the skate parks in Bentonville and Rogers where we worked with Bentonville High School’s IGNITE program and Arkansas Arts Academy to paint and graphically overhaul the parks. Both projects completely transformed the look of the parks and was done with minimal capital but maximum effort. That equation is where pride is truly created.”

C

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479-444-3433 | faypublic.tv | info@faypublic.tv W W W.IDL E C L A SSM A G.C O M

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FROM SASHA WITH LOVE

Sasha Rayevskiy draws from his Russian heritage and graffiti roots to create vivid & whimsical works IG / T i g erSa s h a T i g erSasha .c o m Interview / Donna Smith Photos / Meredith Mashburn Several years ago, artist Sasha Rayevskiy and I were roommates.

Coming from Jonesboro and wanting to expand the art scene in the area, Rayevskiy has called Northwest Arkansas home for just a few short years, and it’s amazing to see how much his work has developed in that time. It was my pleasure to catch up with Rayevskiy at Onyx Coffee, the site of his #prententiouscoffeechronicles series, during a very brief break he had from completing murals

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and gearing up for his first solo exhibition in several years. Basically, the things that make him one of the hardest-working and most driven creative minds I’ve ever met.

Could you talk about some recent projects you’ve finished? Do you feel that as you’ve been pursuing your work, your network of people that know you and know your work has grown also? Do you find that more people are coming to you instead of you seeking projects out first? Or is it a mix?

For the past four months it’s been chaos. Yeah, it went from putting everything into my store and not working, to being constantly busy doing commissioned works, working with NWA Fashion Week on panels, and even doing a mural piece for UniLever at the Bentonville Film Festival. I finished a piece for Harry’s in downtown Fort Smith and worked with Jeff Gosey, who runs Peacemaker Festival.

I think as my style has refined and grown, people know I can execute different projects. Working on things digitally, through my stickers and other projects, has given me a way to promote work too. And sometimes, it’s just good timing.

For example, I met a person who wanted me to do some paintings with flowers. While I had wanted to experiment with those forms for years, I just didn’t have a project or that specific thing to try those out on you know? So, it kind of just worked out. I also made [only] two paintings in 2017, and now I’ve got so many different projects that I’ve completed [in 2018]. You just have to be ready to take advantage of those opportunities and meet with people who are interested in your work.

I know for some artists, the idea of creating a mural for a thirty-foot wall can be overwhelming. I’m wondering if you might be the... ...opposite. Many of your works

of late have been on a large scale, but I know you also make standardsized pieces too. How does your process change when thinking about size and scale? Do you enjoy one over the other?

For me, the process isn’t really that different. I mean, I’ve learned efficiency in large scale works, which partially has come from working with my dad, who has experience as a commercial painter. I have a lot of knowledge of different paints and how they can or can’t be applied to different kinds of walls.

Whether it’s a small scale painting or a mural, I like to freehand first and that way, it’s open to changes before the paint goes on.

Murals can be fun because of the recognition and the change in the space and interaction that comes along from working in public. I like to use smaller works for testing out other ideas. As I’ve developed, I’ve found a process that works for me and figuring that out does change how you approach a project, so that you can tackle anything.

Just from knowing you and following you on Instagram (@ tigersasha), it is clear that you have been super busy. It’s not even the halfway point of the year and I bet you have many other things in the works. What are some of the projects or works you’ll be creating for the second half of 2018?

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I am in the process of putting together my first solo show since my last one at the Shed and that should be happening this August (through October) in Bentonville at Fellow Human.

You are on the go constantly! What are some of your favorite areas to see and/ or create art and where would you like to travel in the future?

I really enjoyed going to Art Basel in Miami a few years ago and would love to get more opportunities there—that’s sort of my next stage in planning as I think about expanding my network. I also love Cincinnati, there are so many

interesting things happening there.

It’s just a cool place.

Since living here, what are some of the positive aspects you’ve witnessed in the NWA arts scene and what do you think we could be doing more of or planning more for in the future for artists in the area?

Once I moved to Fayetteville, that was really when I started doing murals. I think Jason Jones and myself were [the two] that I knew of doing work like that. But now Brandon Bullette has [started] creating murals, and of course Matt Miller has been doing them for a while, so seeing others working can cause you to think bigger or think outside of what you’ve typically been doing. I think the inclusion of other makers and creative people is really growing in the area. Other artists are coming out to shows to support each other too.

It will take time to show the value of our local art. But, I can see it’s growing through the increase of local work and thinking about other places in the state too. Like, with Jonesboro, if you look back several years ago and what the scene is like now, it’s awesome. Just like with Little Rock—the whole state really— it’s becoming more of a community for artists.

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A PRESENCE MARKING AN ABSENCE

Artist Justin Tyler Bryant talks fugitive aesthetics, early influences, and what he’s excited about now.

JustinTylerBryant.com Words / Emma Steinkraus The theorist Tina Campt uses the term fugitive to describe images that nimbly deploy absences and vacancies, that challenge us “to see in (them) everyday practices of refusal, resistance, and contestation.” Justin Tyler Bryant puts those ideas into practice. He creates lyrical drawings, paintings, videos, and performances that explore Black history through strategies of erasure and fragmentation. In one series, Bryant photographed his hand holding

up small plein air paintings that fit like puzzle piece into the Southern landscape around them (rice fields, convenience stores, views out the car window). In another series, That Survival Apparatus, cultural figures ranging from Sun Ra to Maya Angelou are carefully rendered below the eyes while the upper portions of their faces dissolve into the white of the paper. Across different bodies of work, Bryant draws attention to what is recorded and what is left invisible. His work serves as a reminder of both the erasure of Black histories and the ways in which invisibility can be a strategy for resilience and survival.

Originally from Stuttgart, Bryant moved to Little Rock after spending the last few years in Baton Rouge. He is an alumnus of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine and Louisiana State University, where he received his MFA in Studio Art this spring.

We spoke about growing up in

Arkansas, Bryant’s influences, and what he’s working on now.

How did you get your start as an artist? Were there particular images, experiences or mentors that were especially formative?

I always have a hard time answering this question because I want to be accurate. But I guess you can say television played a huge part in me being an artist. I would watch cartoons early in the morning and after school. I would often draw while watching those cartoons.

Formally, I think my professors at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock were very critical and still are about my work.

Professors Delita Martin and David Clemons were probably the most helpful when it came to addressing the subject in my work.

Delita has really good taste when it comes to art and I think I learned from the things she liked. David is a really good instructor because he W W W.IDL E C L A SSM A G.C O M

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is the best at getting students to think critically and independently.

Win Bruhl who has retired and was the chair at UALR was great because he considered you an artist as soon as you called yourself one. That was very encouraging to have as a young artist early on. You want people to take you seriously even though you have terrible ideas.

You often use books as material in your work—sometimes quite literally. What is your relationship with literature?

In a general sense, I am interested in the idea of archives and their inability to capture a complete story. I’m adding to this notion of an archive by adding a bit of my own understanding and history. So, the books, themselves, represent the legitimized understanding of these histories and my alterations bring in elements that are not necessarily represented or at least I don’t think they are.

After being exposed to the writings and lectures of Brent Hayes Edwards and Fred Moten, I became interested in fugitive aesthetics which are informed by my own history, specifically the history of African diasporic people. The ways in which they created is intriguing to me. As someone who has inherited that history, I feel obliged to

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interpret it and use it as a material.

This means it is often the subject of my work and also the way that I navigate my understanding of the world.

Maya Angelou’s poem “Mask” is also often used as a centralizing element. It’s a barometer to think about how all these things work. I use poetry often. I try to hijack some of those characteristics we attribute to poetry in my own work. Hopefully conditioning a conversation that is multifaceted and not always understood in a direct way.

Your work often plays with historical art genres like landscape and portraiture—how do you think about your work’s relationship to art history? Are there artists you’ve found influential or exciting?

Well, I’m always trying to bridge the gap between what I’m doing and what other artist have done in the past. It really depends on the project, but I think because I’m always looking into techniques and approaches, past and present, it naturally happens that art history works its way in. I think the best compliment to an artist is if they have relevance historically and currently.

Some artist I look at – Carrie Mae Weems has always been a favorite of mine and I saw her speak at Crystal Bridges last December. When it

comes to her delivery and presence I don’t think there is any other artist that can top her. Ever since I saw her piece “From here I saw what happened and I cried” I have been a fan.

Recently I have been more interested in other disciplines such as Folklore, Anthropology, Africana Studies, and Caribbean Studies. I’m interested in their methodologies as a type of art. Aisha Beliso-De Jesús’ book Electric Santería has been a big influence for me in the last year.

Another mentor of mine, Solimar Otero, is also doing amazing work.

They don’t consider themselves an artist, but the ways in which they look to crossing the boundaries of how institutions think of their own research is inspiring and is something that I want to do as well as an artist.

I am also deeply inspired by some of my peers. Eli Casiano’s recent project Yes We Can Can looks at how social equity can be applied to the practice of painting, by donating the proceeds of paintings of his sister to a scholarship towards women of color. Another friend of mine, Rodneyna Hart, is like the superwoman of art in Baton Rouge.

She curates some of the best projects throughout the Gulf Coast area and is such a hard worker. I could keep going but I’ll stop there.

See Justin’s work at the Historic Arkansas Museum until Nov. 1.

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ASSEMBLAGE These collectors find beauty in non-traditional things.

TONY WALLER Shoe Collector Bentonville / AR Words / Julia Trupp Photo / Meredith Mashburn Some people take their Sunday nights for meal planning and prep.

Others use Sunday to queue up their next binge show on Netflix over a bowl of cereal. Avid collector Tony Waller uses his to plan his outfits for the week. And it all starts from the ground up.

Shoes have had Waller’s heart since he was in high school, using his first paycheck from a summer job on his first of what would later become hundreds of pairs of shoes. Waller’s collection is logged on a specific Excel spreadsheet, with columns labeled for when and where they were purchased, the design, maker, and SKU. The record isn’t only for passionate organization. If something were to happen to him or his house, he will

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have a log of his precious cargo ready for insurance purposes. And whatever isn’t in his closet is in a special storage unit where he can take them out when he’s ready for them.

Waller’s love for shoes isn’t the only fuel for his collection. His life has always been about standing out. Born and raised in Puerto Rico before moving with his parents to Virginia for high school, he knew right away he stood out with his thick Spanish accent and darker skin.

Instead of using energy to blend in, he decided to do the opposite.

Because he chose to stand out from any category or crowd, he also realized he didn’t like people having what he did. Flash-forward to a pair of exclusive Gucci shoes he bought overseas. He loved the colors of the peacock-clad design and they were consistent with the design of other sparkly sneakers he had, but no one he knew or saw had them. Once they hit stores in the United States, he had to find something to take their place.

Collecting runs in the family after all. His mother used to collect ceramic eggs. “It’s something that

stirs inside of you,” Waller says about collecting. “It’s not about how much you spend or your expertise.

People think you have to have an expertise. You don’t. It’s about your passion.” His family is also where he got his sense of style. Although his parents were poor, they never let their economic status affect their family’s fashion. “I may have had a hole in the bottom of my shoe, but they were polished.”

To Waller, shoes can turn a whole day around. “Change a look, change a mood,” he says. His coworkers know if he started his day on the wrong foot when he comes back after lunch with a different pair of shoes on. He bases his look off “who’s speaking” to him that day, and whichever pair makes the cut shapes his whole outfit, including his glasses and neckties.

“There’s nothing worse than seeing a great outfit and a horrible pair of shoes. The shoes make everything,” Waller says.

“Shoes really frame whatever it is you’re wearing - they are the true foundation that make or break everything.”

MARK HUGHES Barbies Eureka Springs / AR Words & Photo / Susan Porter The acrid polyester fumes of Talking PJ Barbie’s scorched mod micro-mini dress didn’t extinguish Mark Hughes’ love of Barbies, but it did influence his collection. When Hughes pressed his mother’s iron to PJ’s dress and it began to melt, he knew something was awry. He’d been ironing Barbie clothes for years, with no problems.

“This was around 1969, when polyester was taking over the fashion industry. I clearly remember standing in the dime store looking at Barbie’s clothes and wondering why they were becoming so crappy when the earlier clothes had linings, zippers and amazing details.

“I’m still all about the details,

whether it’s a Barbie coat from 1962 or a jacket I made last week.”

Hughes designs, sews and sells clothing from his shop, Regalia, on White Street in Eureka Springs. In his sewing room he is surrounded by the most delicious Barbies, which continue to inspire his craft.

He “keeps the schlock” out of his collection by limiting it to only those made before 1973.

“I played with Barbie as a kid— she was a learning tool for me as much as Tinkertoys were to a future architect. I was given a GI Joe astronaut and promptly turned his parachute into a circle skirt.

“She (Barbie) has inspired and launched so many careers over the last 60 years. Too bad so many people are still afraid she might be a bad influence on a child.”

The Barbie influence is not limited to Hughes’ clothing line—which does not look like

of women’s fashion history. From exotic to everyday, high society to handmaiden, the Esse Purse Museum offers visitors a chance to observe women’s history through the lens of purses.

ANITA DAVIS Handbags Little Rock / AR Words / Caleb Patton If you were to travel south down Main Street from the Arkansas River in Little Rock, you’d find yourself surrounded by eclectic places like South on Main, The Root Cafe, and Rock Town Distillery. But right next door to The Root Cafe, in a building originating in the 1940s, you’d discover a stunning display

Anita Davis, owner of the museum, has created stunning, glass encased displays of purses and their contents and is always happy to show visitors around. Now 72, she’s been an avid collector of handbags since the age of 18, and for the past 30 years she’s been building a story around the history of the feminine and believes the purses she’s preserved at Esse Purse Museum are a perfect example of that.

“Much of fashion is art,” she says, “The materials, the style, and the production of the purse, from tooled leather to jeweled straps, can all be considered art.” But because she believes women’s history and fashion history are entwined, she thinks of Esse as more than an art museum. Exploring the museum, you will find Davis has put the history of her book club, the group

Barbie clothes, but is functional and unique. However, the former costume designer does continue to design extravagant costumes to wear during holiday parades and events in Eureka Springs. And with every plastic pony-tailed blonde that comes along, his Barbie collection continues to grow.

that sparked her passion of the feminine, into the display of the purses. You’ll also find that Davis makes sure that her favorites—the quirkier, gaudier pieces, such as her safety pin and smiley face purses— are on full display.

“I’ve always been attracted to things made by women, because there’s a certain inner strength and assertiveness that’s carried within each piece,” Davis told me. In her display of the purses, Anita Davis has managed to pull together the life and history of women’s social ascendance as they placed a firm footing into the ‘world of men’.

As the collection grows, so does her love for the art and the history she’s been able to share with every person who walks through the doors of the Esse Purse Museum.

“It’s the feminine that drives me,” she said, explaining why she believes it was important to start the museum. “It’s what brought me here and I have no intention of stopping the collection anytime soon.”

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ERIN PIERCE Bric-a-brac Little Rock / AR Word / Kristen Hoover Photo / Heather Canterbury In today’s preoccupied world, we don’t think twice about objects like leaves, rocks or plants. Yet we see these things almost everyday. This isn’t true for Arkansas native Erin Pierce, owner and creator of the Organized Chaos Collection.

The collection is appropriately named. Upon first glance at Pierce’s collection, you might gasp at the crowded shelves brimming with animal skulls, vials containing dried bugs and seemingly ancient books.

However when you look closely, the old cameras, bright green terrariums, and vibrant minerals start to feel as if they are exactly where they need to be.

The majority of Pierce’s “chaos” is beautifully arranged and organized in a converted gun cabinet she calls the “Curiosity Cabinet.” To some, the shelves of taxidermied animals, jars of snake skin and children’s toys may seem a little strange, but to Pierce each object holds a different meaning.

Every object displayed reminds her of a friend or adventure she’s had. “I would describe myself as a pack rat

for memories,” Pierce says.

Organized Chaos extends even further than the “Curiosity Cabinet”.

Pierce’s collection ranges from self-made art to abandoned objects others consider trash to found natural relics attractively arranged into shadow boxes. Overlooked matter like sticks, dead bugs, pieces of dried moss, mushrooms, leaves and feathers are ideal for Pierce’s arrangements. “These are surely things people wouldn’t consider worth keeping, let alone displaying, but once I arrange them into a visually striking design they become important and we can see them for their natural beauty, ” Pierce says.

Pierce’s favorite additions to her collection has the hair. At first, Pierce only collected her own cut hair but that changed in college when she started cutting her friend’s hair. After awhile, people started donating their hair just to be a part of the collection. Aside from the hair, the Organized Chaos collection mostly consists of objects found on hiking or floating trips by Pierce and her partner. She hopes to turn her vast rock collection into a rock garden but for now arranges the bulk of them into terrariums.

While Pierce’s collecting habit started as a child, it really came to shape during her education. “I’m PHILLIP EUBANKS Vinyl Aficionado Fayetteville / AR Words / Leigh Wood Photo / Kat Wilson Many know Phillip Eubanks as “Filthy Phil,” the host of KXUA’s Plastic Magic radio show, which aired every Sunday night from 2008 to 2017. But Phil is far from what his moniker would lead you to think— he’s polite, modest, quick to laugh and endlessly curious about music.

During his nine years on the radio, Phil was able to showcase what he described as “Vietnam era rock,” which included anything from Hawkwind to Half Japanese. Everything he played was, more than likely, from his private record collection.

Phil started collecting records as a teenager, back when they were the cheapest music format to come by. His modesty shows as he describes his collection as being “in the hundreds if not thousands”—it’s

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fascinated by history, geology and nature,” says Pierce. “I love shining light on those subjects through my collections and arrangements.

I hope it helps people to look at nature differently and bring value to normally monotonous objects of nature that you pass every day.”

Hopefully Pierce’s thoughtful collection will make us consider our surroundings with a little more gravity.

most certainly in the thousands and growing every day. Still a dedicated crate digger, Phil’s careful not to expose his favorite thrift stores and flea markets. And who can blame him? With vinyl collecting still gaining popularity, finding a gem among the rocks doesn’t come as easily as it once did, but still happens about once a year and that’s enough to keep going.

Just like art on the wall, a record collection speaks volumes about its owner. Phil’s collection speaks to his passion for private press and lo-fi recordings—records made by folks who dragged all their equipment into the living room and pressed record on a four-track. There’s a certain magic that can happen when all the strata of studios, producers and endlessly long boards are cut out of the equation and energy is simply captured in a material form.

That’s the magic Phil’s been chasing, collecting and celebrating his whole life.

KNOW THE ROPES

Chris Sparks & Dallas Estes of Fellow Human Gallery talk about the ins-and-outs of art collecting FellowHumanGallery.com IG / @Socius_Humano Interview / Kody Ford Photo / Lauren Rae Art collecting can seem intimidating.

Considerations such as pursuing it out of passion or investment, where you plan to display the work and, of course, cost of the piece must occur before falling too deep in the rabbit hole.

Lifelong friends Dallas Estes and Chris Sparks, proprietors of Fellow Human in Bentonville, located at 114 W. Central Ave. have been collecting for years., In fact, Sparks’ collection grew so large that he realized he needed to sell some of the works, which led to the gallery’s creation. Fellow Human sells works they have accumulated over the years and shows works

by Arkansas artists such as Sasha Rayevskiy and Brandon Watts.

Our Editor-in-Chief Kody

Ford chatted with them about their passion for collecting and considerations for new collectors.

Why should people collect art?

DE / Curating your own gallery walls is an insanely fun project at home. It’s never ending, I’m constantly tweaking. Loving a piece or an artist, displaying works, and telling the stories behind them is very satisfying. Additionally, bringing a few displays of culture and thought into your home can never a bad thing!

What mistakes did you make early on with collecting?

CS / Not buying from traditionally trusted sources. Early on we ended up with a number of prints that were obviously counterfeited once we had them in hand. There’s often some definite signs of risk, but ultimately, it’s about staying with the vendors and sites the public has agreed are safe. We’ve held onto those fakes as if they were trophies.

A lesson to learn in each of them.

What advice do you have for new collectors?

DE / Buy what you love. Sure, you can simply treat it like an asset, but the very nature of art has an emotional value to it. It’s something

you can appreciate and tell a story about as it becomes a part of your life. As your tastes expand, you’ll naturally find yourself attracted to good financial investments as well. Undiscovered talent is a risk, discovered talent is more guaranteed, both can be loved and valuable.

How can art be an investment?

CS / Well, the global art market is actually more liquid than people probably realize. Mostly due to the rise of online marketplaces. Contemporary Art has really led the market in recent years. It has grown from around $200 million annually in the early 2000s to $1.5 billion in 2017. The root of this trend is in pricing trends and the explosion of the street art segment. 2017 saw an increase of 22 percent in the Contemporary Price Index vs. 2016. This is a very competitive yield versus other long term financial assets. If you want to know more about the trends in the art world, we highly recommend you follow Artprice. com’s annual reports. A lot of actionable information out there. …

We tend to primarily collect street art. This market has utilized scarcity models with continuous but limited print releases. Allowing you to bring home an artist that would otherwise only be available to view in public spaces through murals and other installations.

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LETTER FROM THE GUEST EDITOR IG / Suzannah Schreckhise SuzannahSchreckhise.Art

I knew at a young age lines shapes and colors on a 2-D or 3-D substrate had the power to change my world.

My mother took me to the library as a child and let me pick from the famous works of art we then checked out like a book. Each new work I chose meant our living room would be made over with new energy, colors and ideas. Images of paintings like Van Gogh’s, “Starry Starry Night” would be printed with on thick board impressed with wide brush strokes. A new painting behind my sofa that I could stand on and reach to study closely. I wanted the power to transform whole rooms. The coffee table was my studio. I knew from being exposed to art books, museums and exhibitions that I could execute my copies in my own style and then my own interpretations. That’s when I became an artist.

...art work continued as I later learned the history. I don’t have to understand at first glance the art I collect. I know when I have an immediate attraction. Standing in front of the art I want to buy I reflect by opening and closing my eyes a few times. I ask myself how does it make me feel? Can I imagine in my home? How does it fit with the rest of my collection? Does it transform or further explain something I care about? I then have the life of the piece in my collection to learn why.

The art I make and collect has many layers and stories of, serenity, energy, happiness, pain or just blahhh. I think while a piece of art is in the creators care it is nurtured, protected, prodded, coerced, pleaded with and sometimes forced to behave. A work begins its own life when it leaves the artist. It stands on its own and forms new relationships. The collector makes a choice begins interpreting and forming a relationship with the piece. New and different meaning, interpretation, and feelings evolve.

The story continues and new chapter are formed.

When I picked “Starry, Starry Night” at the tender age of 5 I didn’t know Van Gogh was lonely in an asylum painting the night he found solace in. I did know I was excited by his visual interpretation of the night, stars, sky and the moon. The story and relationship from my temporary childhood...

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Photo by Andrew Kilgore

Interviews for Collectors We Love were conducted by Suzannah Schreckhise, Julia M. Trupp, K. Samantha Sigmon and Kody Ford. Photos were taken by Marsha Lane Foster, Brandon Markin,

Heather Canterbury & Kody Ford.

This is an on-going series for our website IdleClassMag.com. You can read these interviews in full there over the coming months.

Photo by Marsha Lane Foster

DWAYNE THOMAS & DENISE HENDERSON-THOMAS Springdale / AR Walking into the Thomas family home is like stepping into an international gallery and exhibition hall. Ancient pots, contemporary prints, and historically significant pieces adorn the custom niches and alcoves the family custom designed to reserve space for their collection. The Thomas’ house isn’t just a showcase. They live with their art--nothing is in a glass case. Their collection reflects their spirituality and their lives in a welcoming display of how to live life with art, combining their travels with Denise’s career as the Director of Trade for Africa and the Middle East with the World Trade Center Arkansas.

How did collecting come to be a family tradition?

DHT / I had a passionate interest in art. My degree is in fashion, so I studied art history and it was something I loved. I knew what I liked, my mom and my godmother collected art. But it wasn’t until we got married that I really started collecting.

DT / We collected together. We traveled a lot as a married couple, internationally. And that exposed

us to Asian art and culture. We took a long trip to China. You can see throughout our house an African influence, an Asian influence, and then an eclectic mix of things that we enjoyed. My attraction came in art history class as a kid, just this wide-eyed thought that “oh my God, this is awesome, I want to go to the Louvre one day, I want to go to Italy one day.” Collecting was a smart, wise investment. When all of my friends were buying fast cars and cool clothes. I was buying art.

Do you have a favorite? Does the art you collect have a personal connection to you?

DT / (pointing to a piece above the fireplace) It’s an old tile from a monastery, and it has a life. It’s been lived with and used-- you can see the smoke on it from the incense. You can see the age, you can see the serenity in it and there’s something about that -- you can see the lotus flowers everywhere, he’s floating on a cloud. He’s just magnificent to me. So I love that piece.

DT/ My favorite piece is a terracotta piece from the Nok tribe. It’s in really good condition, which is kind of unique. These pieces were buried over time, as areas were invaded people would hide the art because

they were deity pieces or significant religious pieces to them, and they didn’t want it to be captured. They didn’t want their culture lost, even though they couldn’t defend that culture. That piece speaks to me, and similar to what Denise said on this piece (the Buddha), it’s worn and tattered and torn and beaten and abused, so you know there was some sort of significant purpose in its history. I think it captures a lot of what art has the opportunity to do.

It speaks the truth without saying a word.

Do you have advice to young collectors starting out?

DT / Collecting doesn’t have to be expensive. Collect what you love and what makes you happy. Don’t buy for value, don’t buy for any other reason than the simple fact that it makes you happy and that you love it. Those are the pieces that you treasure. Those have significance, those have meaning.

Doesn’t matter if it’s from the flea market or you found it. Some of the most beautiful things you just pick up on the beach.

DT / I think each piece at a time…

DHT / Every single piece has a story.

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KARA BIBB & CLAY FITZPATRICK Little Rock / AR / LFT Why did you start collecting art?

KB / I wanted to design a home aesthetic that was a reflection of me. The idea of going to a department store to buy art was very strange to me. Decorating my walls with funky second hand pieces was fun but eventually I wanted a more curated look.

CF / I had a lot of friends that were artists and I would see them mess up a painting and throw it away.

I would take it out of the trash and keep it. Sooner or later it just became a collection.

Do you own pieces from Arkansas artists? If so, what are your favorites?

Photo by Heather Canterbury

SAMANTHA SIGMON Fayetteville / AR / RGT Did you start collecting by mistake or was it intentional? What was the first piece in your collection?

Probably started collecting by mistake which might be why I can’t remember my first piece. I really credit the old Fayetteville Underground in the basement of the old bank building for having those open studios and shows where I really could see what I liked there, even though at the time I wasn’t even thinking about collecting art.

What is your advice to other collectors who are interested in the local art scene or market?

Anyone can buy art, seriously! A lot of galleries have layaway, so you can make a $50 down payment and pay through online notifications and the work of art is yours. If you find an artist you like, write their name down, meet them, and come to their shows, even if there’s

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KB / My collection is almost exclusively Arkansas artists. The conversation piece is the 8’ x 4’ “Great Escape” by Michael Shaeffer.

My personal favorite is “Defiled” by Miranda Rice Young.

CF / I do. I have an original painting

by Jeff Slack of Fort City Tattoo. He is one of my favorite artists. I have a Michael Church collage that I really like and some original Sally Nixon.

People often mistake art collecting as a sign of wealth. What is your advice to other collectors who are working class/middle class people interested in getting started as collectors?

KB / Establish relationships with the artist. Often times artists are open to price negotiations in ways galleries are not. Research, research, research and take your time.

CF / It takes time. You can’t just go out and have a collection. Know your budget and then talk them down. Just kidding. Just live within your means and find them before they get famous.

nothing you can afford yet. A lot of times as you get to know artists they will work with you on finding something in your price range that is also special to them. It’s sort of a personal transaction, and that’s one of the best things--it comes with a story and people behind it. Usually start with works on paper such as drawings, prints, and photographs.

The only thing is that while those are affordable, proper framing can be really expensive, so keep that in mind or it will just stay in a box.

Also, small sculpture can be affordable and much more powerful than random knick-knacks or clutter.

But please if you see a work at the gallery, go through the gallery; they are showing the work in their space so they need your support as well. Find galleries you like just like finding artists you like and support them. Showing up to an open gallery night is a great first step.

Additionally, a lot of student art is great at the University so go to those sales and you can usually get great art for a great price.

Photo by Marsha Lane Foster

DEMARA TITZER Bella Vista / AR / LFT How many artworks do you own?

Let’s just say over 100 which includes prints and multiples!

What is the main motivation behind your collecting?

The love of original artwork and how it transforms a space eternally and to support artists.

Do you have an immediate connection to a work of art or does it develop over time?

Always an immediate connection.

Would you give any advice to artists on fostering relationships with collectors?

Photo by Marsha Lane Foster

Collectors find artists. Artists that are consistently creating new works, have a unique style, and consistent high level of quality while actively exhibiting their work will get noticed. Many artists are selling straight from Facebook...

CURTIS FINCH Little Rock / AR / RGT

Where do you buy work and what plans do you have for it?

What made you first start collecting?

I have decided to give the AAC this drawing collection over a period of years. Over 100 have been given so far. Drawings do not like light, and so the ones in our home are rotated after being up about a year.

Drawings have been purchased for the most part in galleries in major cities in the United States though many have been purchased at galleries here in Little Rock. I have bought a good many at galleries in London, and, on a trip to Budapest.

I bought about 25 by well known Hungarian artists of the early 20th century.

I first became involved with collecting drawings through the Arkansas Arts Center’s (AAC) Director and Chief Curator Townsend Wolfe who encouraged people in Little Rock to collect drawings by having an annual Collectors Show.

What made you become interested in the work that you now collect?

I became a trustee at the AAC in 1981 and bought a drawing at the collectors’ show. The next year I bought another one or two. I found that I was interested in figurative work and particularly faces. I had gradually become interested in acquiring drawings though I didn’t set out to become a collector. As time went on, I became comfortable in going into a gallery an inquiring about their offerings in the way of drawings.

...every day. They have developed a strong fan base that buy multiples.

When anyone approaches an artist to ask about an artwork or their exhibition they are a potential collector so artists should be prepared to talk to everyone at their artist reception who is engaging with their work. It may not be a sale that night but it’s the start of a relationship.

How and where do you enjoy displaying your art collection at home?

Everywhere! But each artwork has to have the right space that honors it.

I am often re-curating my home to ensure any new work finds its home where it can shine.

Do you arrange your interiors around your art or buy art to match your interiors?

Never. Art is bought then contemplated sometimes for weeks before it is installed. Furniture can be curated as well. There’s a balance to achieve with all in a space.

Portrait of Curtis Finch by John Byrne

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Photo by Brandon Markin

KYLE BOSWELL & DR. JON MOUROT Little Rock / AR / TOP What is your advice to other collectors who are interested in the local art scene or market?

KB / I stated my collections with no direction other than to buy what I like and could afford at various times. My advice is not to overextend yourself financially. You can be as specific as choosing a

particular medium. Such as works on paper or oils on canvas. It depends on the genre you are interested in like representational or abstract.

3D and/or 2D. There is art available to pretty much all interested in collecting. There are several artists in my collection that I am collecting multiples. I started collecting one of the artists I have 20 years ago based on what I could afford of his. I have now worked my way up to 10 pieces ranging in price and size.

Would you give any advice to artists on fostering relationships with collectors KB / Make sure the collector knows where your gallery of representation is. Be willing to meet with a collector when possible. I have many clients [at Boswell Mourot Fine Art] who even want to visit the artist’s studio that they are collecting.

DR. ARCHIE & GARBO HEARNE Little Rock / AR / BTM Why did you start collecting art?

AH / I really like beautiful things.

Things like a rock, a flower, or a painting; things that I can take with me and place in my environment.

Initially I didn’t consider those things to be art. Aesthetics are very important to me.

Photo by Brandon Markin

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GH / We began collecting as a couple shortly after marriage as we were introduced to many different art forms and we made a decision to invest in African American art and raise our children to appreciate art.

We recognized art as an investment, and wanted to raise our children in an environment that represented their culture. We are investing in generational wealth, pride and history.

TARENEH MANNING Springdale / AR / LFT Do you arrange your interiors around your art or buy art to match your interiors?

Yes, my art purchases are intentional. I understand every local art purchase contributes to the local economy and grows the arts ecology. More importantly though, I consider how do I connect with a piece, or how will others, will it live in harmony or create dynamic contrast in its new home?

Photo by Marsha Lane Foster

LISA KRANNICHFELD & JAMIE WALDEN Little Rock / AR / BTM How many artworks do you own?

JW / About 60...for now.

What is the main motivation behind your collecting?

JW / If we see something that we love then it is something we want in our collection. Both art

As I grow as an interior designer and artist, I have become more discerning with my selections. On occasion, there are specific artists I want to include in a collection, but rather than influencing the artist by initiating a commission, I patiently wait for something pure. There is a quiet pleasure knowing that if you allow the time, then a creative piece will pour out of one soul and

and art-collecting are incredibly personal. We don’t care if the... ...artist is internationally renowned or a 16 year old art student, if you connect with the work and love it then it belongs with you. The other guide I like to use is if it’s a piece that you would like to spend time with regularly and you would be disappointed not to be able to see it every day, then that piece belongs with you.

will connect perfectly with another / sometimes it connects with me, sometimes a family member, and sometimes a client. It’s my happiest moment when I connect the right piece with the right person or the right environment. This is truly an alchemical process for me. I waited several years for the perfect Matt Miller piece for our family home.

Even though I find this is the most thrilling way to collect, I unashamedly admit that I will pick art for clients’ homes to go with their decor. I am not snobby about why any of us purchase art, so, for me, that is a completely acceptable thing to do. Yet when a piece truly invokes my inner Muse, I will design an entire space around that particular piece of art. In fact, my new living room was completely inspired by Aimee Papazian’s “Celestial Bodies” ceramic wall installation.

People often mistake art collecting as a sign of wealth. What is your advice to other collectors, who are middle class people interested in getting started as collectors?

LK / Start small. You can even start with limited edition prints if originals are out of financial reach. However, if you can at all pay for the art, do.

Artists are most often working/ middle class too and are too often asked to give away their work for free.

Photo by Heather Canterbury

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STEVEN KAY Fayetteville / AR Why did you start collecting art?

I have loved art since I was a child.

I started collecting because of the emotional experience I had with the paintings. Having original art throughout my home brings joy to my heart. Each piece invokes a memory and allows new emotional experiences based upon the mood of the day.

How many artworks do you own?

I own well over 75 beautiful pieces of original art. From antique sculptures to mid century art, to modern day paintings.

DAVID HASTY Memphis / TN Do you own pieces from Arkansas artists? If so, what are your favorites?

Do you have an immediate connection to a work of art or does it develop over time?

I usually have an immediate connection. Either I feel it or I do not.

How important is it for you to meet up or even build relationships with the artists you collect?

My collecting art is very selfish, it’s based solely on how the pieces make me feel. It has nothing to do

I always love meeting the artist, but it doesn’t impact my desire to collect art. Often times I worry that if the artist encounter isn’t good, then I would cease enjoyment of there work… so I am happy to allow the art to speak for the artist.

Robyn Horn, but I really do not know why. It could be that there are just so very many wonderful artists out there in Arkansas and Tennessee

and other places in the world, but I still think some of these ladies and gentlemen deserve to be a lot more famous than they are.

What is the main motivation behind your collecting?

Photo by Marsha Lane Foster

with the value only the emotion that they bring. Working as an attorney keeps me in a pretty narrow box during the day, and it is wonderful to come home to art that is beautiful and interesting…brightly colored and sometimes just odd.

I have work from at least a half dozen Arkansas artists. I’d say that Dolores Justus (Hot Springs) is my absolute favorite, though I like them all.

While the subjects are still mainly landscapes and paintings of nature, Dolores’ work tends to be a little more abstract than my son’s landscapes. I love the places she selects to paint, her varied color palettes, her expressiveness, and she is an absolutely delightful person. She is incredibly knowledgeable about her own work, all the artists in her gallery and the rest of the art world in general, the amazing artists and some of the famous ones I have as yet been unable to appreciate. We seem to like the same work. I always learn something when we talk.

None of the artists whose work I have been able to acquire are terribly famous, other than perhaps

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Photo by Kody Ford

HUBERT NEAL JR. Bentonville / AR / BTM Why did you start collecting art?

My favorite professor at The Chicago Academy for the Arts gave me one of his prints as a graduation gift.

Do you own pieces from Northwest Arkansas artists?

Yes, I own several pieces, including a piece by Drew Gentle.

What is your advice to other collectors who are interested in the local art scene or Arkansas market?

Visit artists’ studios and speak to them directly. Find out what is unique about the region and what inspires Artists. Collect the work because you like it, instead of trying to predict who is the next star.

How important is it for you to meet up or even build relationships with the artists you collect?

It would be nice to have relationships with all the artist’s you collect, but that’s not always possible. Sometimes, the work is enough.

Photo by Marsha Lane Foster

CHRISTINA HARTMAN Fayetteville / AR / TOP Why did you start collecting art?

I started collecting art after my husband and I bought our current house. It felt wrong to put things on the walls that had no personal meaning to us and our collection of Aerosmith posters was looking a little dated…

Do you own pieces from any Northwest Arkansas artists?

I do. I own some from Christina Mariotti, Leilani Law, and Jan Gosnell.

Photo by Marsha Lane Foster

Do you have an immediate connection to a work of art or does it develop over time?

Both. One example of an immediate connection is Leilani Law’s Big Ideas #3. It features a mother holding four babies in her arms. As a mother of three, I related to the maternal aspects of the painting. But on another layer, I connected with the look on the mother’s face....powerful.

To me, she looks as if she is saying, “Look what I did. I can do anything.” Being a mother inevitably makes you vulnerable, but it also makes you powerful. The powerful part is hard to remember when you are worried about your children, knee-deep in laundry, or at wit’s end.

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