THE IDLE CLASS
THE OUTDOORS ISSUE
LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHERS Robin Atkinson - Co-Publisher
Going on my fourth issue of The Idle Class as publisher, I’ve learned so much about our arts community in Arkansas. It is vast, dedicated, and more than anything, talented. The job of bringing Arkansas’ only arts magazine to our readers every season is an absolute honor, and it is a labor of love of which I am personally proud. Through my time as a publisher I have sought advice, opinions, and collaboration with artists from across our community. Consistently one woman has been on my recent call list, at the top of my inbox, and at my side as we have grown our presence through The Idle Class. I am honored to announce that Suzannah Schreckhise has joined The Idle Class team as my co-publisher. We’re lucky to have her, and I’m certain our magazine will only benefit from her presence.
LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHERS Suzannah Schreckhise - Co-Publisher
When I was asked to be a publisher by our parent organization Arkansas Arts and Fashion Forum, I was thrilled! As an artist with a business background, The Idle Class was the perfect opportunity for me. Going forward, I hope to share my creative talents and concrete business practices to promote art and culture, increase our presence, and make new partnerships through our creative community here in Arkansas with The Idle Class.
With each new issue released, The Idle Class will now host Issue Release parties to connect with our local creatives and community. Find out details about our Outdoors Issue Release Party on social media. I am happy to work with my co-publisher Robin Atkinson, CEO of Arkansas Arts & Fashion Forum; Kody Ford, the creator and founder of The Idle Class; and Julia Trupp, our new editor, who all bring fresh, young energy to the publication. Together, we are working together to share our enthusiasm for art and culture here in Arkansas through Arkansas’ only arts-focused magazine. I invite anyone who would like to partner with The Idle Class to email me at SuzannahSchreckhise@gmail. com. We are always open to suggestions about celebrating the arts in our state. Until then, enjoy the Outdoors edition of The Idle Class!
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CONTENTS
THE GENIUS OF SITE / PAGES 13-15
PUBLISHERS
Margaret H. Adams Nick Gipson Summer El-Shahawy T.J. Stallbaumer Tuesdae Justis Yani Ko
TABLE OF CONTENTS P. Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain Farm merges form and function with an eye on sustainability and conservation.
GETTING THE GREEN LIGHT / PAGES 18-20
How cannabis activism enhances one local artist’s art, in her writing, as a patient, and as an educator.
HOT DIGGITY DOG / PAGES 23
Even the fur babies of Northwest Arkansas can be stylish with the help of Mt. Oakley Threads.
GROUNDED FIGURES / PAGES 24-25
How one Unexpected muralist gets inspiration from the human urge to make the unexisting exist and celebrate creativity.
Robin Atkinson, Arkansas Arts & Fashion Forum Suzannah Schreckhise
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Julia M. Trupp
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jenny Vos
FOUNDER + EDITOR-AT-LARGE
DESIGNER
Dana Holroyd
COVERS
Kirk Montgomery, “Alien Invasion in Bryant”
Kody Ford
Jenn Terrell, “Drew, 2018”
CONTRIBUTORS
ARTWORK
Andrew McClain Brandon Markin Caroline Bivens Ellen Gibson Kat Wilson Kim Swink
THE NEW
Sky Suites AT
BeaverLakefrontCabins.com/IC • 888-540-5253 (LAKE)
Stuart Lippencott Quintin Ludwick Chad Maupin
In all seriousness, we’re here for one thing: The first ever Outdoors Issue of The Idle Class. You’re about to flip through the sweet, sweet pages of your new visual guide to the Ozarks. This issue is packed with amazing submissions from our community, from essays about finding personal freedom to powerful, gripping and—dare I say—neat nature photos.
Salutations!
The breathtaking, dreamy views we see everyday draw us in. They keep us here, engulfed in what seems like a little secret. Wrapping the folklore around our state are the whispering old trees, the neverending rolling hills, the scenic routes that make us ooh-and-ah with every twist and turn. It’s the art within the state we live in that keeps our souls inspired and alive, and that’s why we’ve designed an entire issue around it. Learning about the great outdoors as a kid is a huge factor in cultivating imagination, whether that comes from your dad telling you stories about the Wolf-Man while eating Hostess snacks in a tent in your backyard, or playing outside until the streetlights came on. When I joined the Girl Scouts in first grade, I had great expectations of becoming Queen of the Wilderness. I’d learn how to tie a rope! Build a campfire! Fish off the dock with my Little Mermaid fishing pole! Run barefoot with wolves! Turned out, the only outdoors-themed event I participated in was going door-to-door selling cookies on the streets of a swampy suburb in Central Florida. Now that was an adventure.
ILLUSTRATION BY BIG BOT DESIGNS
I hope you see the beauty of our connected world within the pages of The Outdoors Issue. Then take it outside when you’re done and make paper boats to float down a creek. Use it as a small picnic blanket. Shade your face during a sweet sunbathing session. Stand it up on its pages to make a tent for bunnies. Channel your inner child and use your imagination. We’re in the Natural State, after all. Your friendly neighborhood editor,
Julia M. Trupp
CHANGES OF HEART
2019 SEASON JUNE 21-JULY 19
Presenting 25+ Performances at Inspiration Point in Eureka Springs and Venues Across Northwest Arkansas PLUS NEW SPECIAL PERFORMANCES Broadway Cabaret at the Fayetteville Town Center – JULY 10 7:30PM Chamber Music Concert at Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel in Bella Vista – JULY 14 2PM
VISIT
opera.org
FOR TICKETS & SCHEDULE INFORMATION
Hwy. 62 West / Eureka Springs, AR / (479) 253-8595
FAYETTEVILLE Fenix Gallery: Our Universe June 6–July 31 fenixfayettevilleart.com As part of the Artosphere celebrations, Fenix Gallery will host an art festival that includes exhibitions, installations, community workshops, staged theater readings, spoken word performances and music ensembles throughout June and July. More information on the festival can be found on the gallery website and Facebook. Death-Ray Illustration + Print Expo June 29 $10–45 gocattywampus.com From the creator of the Cattywampus Co-Op indie craft
show comes a unique, themed expo focusing on illustration, print and pop culture in Northwest Arkansas. Expo attendees will have access to over three dozen illustrators from Northwest Arkansas and the midwest, including Marvel Comics’s Aaron Kuder and John Lucas and indie artists Michael Sweater and Benji Nate among many other accomplished and varied illustrators with diverse styles. Death-Ray will feature a retro video game arcade powered by Arkadia Retrocade, an escape room experience by Escape Room 13, a board game section and a live All-Star Dungeons and Dragons game. Live panels will be hosted by the podcast Look What I Did and feature topics such as the art of storytelling and the business of art as well as a Q&A and lesson with artist John Lucas. The expo will also feature live printing, computer animation tutorials, portfolio reviews and W W W.ID L ECL AS S MAG . CO M 7
a make-your-own-comic area allowing the Death-Ray artists of tomorrow to find a community to grow with. Immerse: Wilson Springs Wilson Springs Preserve, NWA Land Trust Sept 6–8 nwalandtrust.org/applyimmerse The Land Trust has been working for the past seven years to conserve and restore Wilson Springs Preserve, a 121-acre prairie wetland. As part of the opening activities, the planning committee of the Land Trust group is hosting an immersive nature and arts festival. Immerse: Wilson Springs will take place throughout September 2019 and will explore the connection between nature, arts, and the human experience through small- and large-scale temporary art installations, interactive theatre and musical performances, guided and self-led hikes, natural art making activities, plein-air, drawing, and nature photography workshops, wellness sessions, and other immersive activities for all ages. All events will center on the core public benefits of land conservation: clean water, healthy habitats, local food and farms, and access to nature and recreation. More information can be found at https://www.nwalandtrust.org/ applyimmerse.
HOT SPRINGS Northwoods Full Moon Ride June 17, 5:30 p.m. Free Northwoods Full Moon Ride starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Waterworks Trailhead of the spectacular Northwoods Mountain Bike Trail System, 300 Pineland Drive. The event is free and open to mountain bikers of all abilities. Participants must have a working mountain bike, helmet, front light, backup light source, and water. The group rides are scheduled for each month through the end of the year on the night of the full moon. Fay Jones School of Architecture + Design: Design Camp 2019 Garvan Woodland Gardens June 24–28 $325 fayjones.uark.edu It’s another year of Design Camp with the University of Arkansas’s Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. The camp is open every year for students entering 8 TH E OUTD OOR S IS S UE 2 019
ninth through 12th grades. The camp gives incoming students a chance to learn about design professions through hands-on projects, tours, presentations and discussions led by architecture, landscape architecture and interior design faculty at the Fay Jones School. For more information and registration, visit the Fay Jones School website.
LITTLE ROCK Summer Reading Club: A Universe of Stories June 8–July 31 Free cals.beanstack.org During the Summer Reading Club at Central Arkansas Library Systems, Phil “Bad Astronomer” Plait, author of the Bad Astronomy blog and book of the same name, will speak at 7 p.m. June 15 at the Ron Robinson Theater. His event, Strange New Worlds: Is Earth Special, will address one main question: how Earth-like does a planet need to be in order to be like Earth? The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited and will be filled on a first-come-first-served basis. The Foremost Collection of African-American Art Hearne Fine Art Gallery Current ongoing exhibition To celebrate 31 years of the preservation and promotion of African-American fine art, Hearne Fine Art is showcasing contemporary, international, national, regional, and local artists of African descent. With various art forms in this exhibition, the education-based mission of the gallery will be highlighted and celebrated.
BENTONVILLE Distinguished Speaker Series: Titus Kaphar Great Hall, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art June 14, 7–8 p.m. $5–15 CrystalBridges.org For Titus Kaphar, the artist’s role is obvious: to draw back the curtain on ignorance and deception to amplify the voices of those who cannot speak for themselves. In this speaker series event, Kaphar will address renewed engagement with American history, envision new spaces for marginalized or forgotten bodies to enter, and disrupt the evolving fabric of our culture. Join Kaphar—one of the country’s most exciting young painters—on a revealing, intellectually nourishing tour of the issues most in need of amendment. Kaphar’s “The
Cost of Removal” is on display in Crystal Bridges’s contemporary art gallery. Crystal Bridges will host this event in the Great Hall from 7–8 p.m. June 14. Tickets will be sold at $15 for the general public, $12 for members and $5 for students. Guests can register online or by contacting Guest Services at (479) 657-2335. Premiere Campout Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art June 21 $20–50 crystalbridges.org Crystal Bridges will host a campout the night of June 21, filled with s’mores, artmaking, classic campfire tales and acoustic music performances from Melody Pond, Jamie Lou and the Hullabaloo, Bayard Blain, and the Ozark Highballers. Part of the evening will be spent in Color Field, the museum’s new summer exhibition. Ticket prices include the tent site, guided sculpture tours, catered food and a screening of The Wizard of Oz. Tickets are $50 for adults, $40 for members, and $20 for children under 12 years old. More ticket information and camping guidelines can be found on the Crystal Bridges website.
Upcoming Events Steve Miller Band & Marty Stuart
and his Fabulous Superlatives June 16
Trevor Noah June 21
Train & Goo Goo Dolls with Allen Stone June 26
Brad Paisley
with Chris Lane & Riley Green June 27
Young the Giant & Fitz and the Tantrums
Chris Young
with Chris Janson & Jimmie Allen July 19
The Royal Affair Tour
with Yes, ASIA, John Lodge of the Moody Blues & Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy July 21
Third Eye Blind & Jimmy Eat World with RaRa Riot July 25
…and more!
with COIN July 10
EUREKA SPRINGS Opera in the Ozarks 2019 Season June 21–July 19 Opera.org
Buy tickets at 479.443.5600 or amptickets.com
What began in 1950 as a summer music camp has evolved into a mecca for university students and graduates in voice, instrumental music and related arts studies preparing for professional careers. This season’s Sunday matinees will be performed June 30 and July 7 at Inspiration Point with ice cream provided by Big Dipper in downtown Eureka Springs. Members of the orchestra will perform multiple performances of Little Women, La Boheme, The Abduction from the Seraglio and chamber music. The Fayetteville Town Center will host the Broadway Cabaret performance on July 10, and The Basin Park Hotel will host the same performance on July 16. Tickets include light refreshments and a cash bar.
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ART WITHIN NATURE Two special exhibitions feature art within nature at Crystal Bridges American Museum of Art WORDS / JULIA M. TRUPP PHOTOS / CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART It’s been a tremendous year for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Adding to the extensive and impressive list of special exhibitions comes Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment. Curated at Princeton University Art Museum before moving to Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, Nature’s Nation will conclude its tour at Crystal Bridges from May 25 to Sept. 9. The exhibition examines American artists’ impact on shaping environmental awareness and stewardship. It features 100 artworks from 70 pivotal American collections, and it traces 300 years of evolving ideas about the natural world, thus connecting art and nature. “The paintings, sculpture, videos, and photographs in the exhibition tell a story about the complex interconnections between humans and the environment,” says Mindy Besaw, Nature’s Nation curator. “While certainly artists have been active in responding to, and shaping, these attitudes and relationships, all of us have some connection to nature and the environment – this is a universal story… The exhibition, through juxtapositions and labels, interprets the art through the lens of human relationships with nature. Over time, this relationship changes, and so does the artwork.” Color Field is another new exhibition at Crystal Bridges this summer, putting the artwork into nature in the North Forest of the museum grounds. The colorful sculptures in Color Field encourage visitors to engage all senses and explore color through sight and sound.
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM GLENN + BESAW NATURE’S NATION: “THE ARTIST IN HIS MUSEUM, 1822” by Charles Willson Peale “The monumental self-portrait is an icon of American art and rarely travels from its home at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. It has additional meaning and complexity when hanging nearby a rare Chilkat blanket made by a Tlingit artist, also in the early 19th century. Together, these artworks present a range of differing cultural perspectives and attitudes toward nature.” - Besaw
“The idea for Color Field takes inspiration from a midtwentieth century American abstract painting style called color field painting that is well represented in our Contemporary galleries,” says Allison Glenn, curator for Color Field. “Artists that are considered part of this movement were primarily concerned with the power and impact of color, pure abstraction, and the relationship between color and form… In the North Forest, the sun plays the role of light source during the day, while the neon dominates the landscape at night.”
COLOR FIELD: “THE CHARACTER AND SHAPE OF ILLUMINATED
Color Field will be on display June 1 through Sept. 9.
still-life lighting conditions and facial recognition software on
CRYSTALBRIDGES.ORG
THINGS (FACIAL RECOGNITION SOFTWARE)” by Amanda Ross-Ho
It relies on sunlight that projects through circular, glass windows in the form, which cast pigmented shadows. The interplay between light and color can be seen by looking through the windows around the sculpture, but perception will depend on time of day and the sun’s position, like a sundial. - Glenn “HERE” by Sarah Braman This piece references amateur photography manuals that address phones. Both forms comment on image-making that is accessible to everyone. - Glenn
STELLAR NATURA Walton Arts Center brings nature and space together for 10th anniversary of Artosphere WORDS / JULIA M. TRUPP Walton Arts Center is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Artosphere Festival, and this year’s events are going to be out of this world. The Artosphere Festival will feature art and community events inspired by the fragile beauty and never-ending wonders of our universe. The festival has always celebrated art, music, and nature with various exciting performances, but this year the focus on sustainability and environmental awareness is even more prominent. “Sustainability is what this is all about,” says Sallie Zazal, Walton Arts Center learning coordinator. “Our sustainability efforts expand past our (digital) program on the app. We won’t have a program for Botanical Gardens, Roots or Chapel performances, and in Trail Mix, artists will play unplugged, and we encourage riding and carpooling on the trail.”
explores the private motivations of astronauts and the narrative of politics at the time of the moon landing in 1969. This is a chance for the community to provide feedback for the playwrights before premiering the play in Houston next year, Zazal says. “Bella Gaia” is another new event that will be featured at Baum Walker Hall. The award-winning multimedia performance combines projected NASA images of the Earth, data visualizations, and live cultural dance and music on stage. There are overlaid images of smog movement, light pollution, and air traffic to show audiences how to celebrate and fix Earth, Ross says. A champagne anniversary toast will take place afterwards to celebrate the moon landing half a century ago. With over 29 events throughout the two-week festival, including the Chapel Music Series, pop-up concerts, and film screenings, Northwest Arkansas residents will find fun for the whole family across the region. The 10th Annual Artosphere will take place around Northwest Arkansas from June 10 to 29. WALTONARTSCENTER.ORG
As Artosphere’s signature event, Trail Mix will return to the Frisco Trail with live music stops, on-the-fly poetry from Melrose Poetry Bureau, and art-filled activities for all ages. The trek is less than a mile to make an easier time for families, especially because walking and wagonpulling is encouraged so more people can experience the fun. “We have mapped out the solar system, to scale, along the trail and it fits perfectly,” Zazal says. The sun’s location will be at Meadow Street, where a community chalk-art project will be located. The rest of the planets will be spaced out (no pun intended) with cultural origin stories, activities, and kid-friendly fun facts. Amazeum and Community Creative Center will also host spacethemed activities. “A group of us brainstormed 10 years ago to bring the community to nature,” says Jennifer Ross, Walton Arts Center director of programming. “It’s exciting to see what it’s become. This year, it’s not only Artosphere’s 10th anniversary, but it’s also the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, which is where the space theme came from.” A staged reading of “The Moon Project” will take place at 7 p.m. June 19 at 21c Museum Hotel and 7 p.m. June 20 at Arts Center of the Ozarks, as well as a noon performance the next day at Walton Arts Center. The play
ILLUSTRATION COURTESY / QUINTIN LUDWICK
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Arkansas’ Arts + Nature Festival Presented by Walton Arts Center
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1 0 TH AN N UAL AR TOS P H E R E R E TU R N S J U N E 1 0 -2 9 ! Performances inspired by the infinite wonders of the universe and the fragile beauty of our home planet. Visit artospherefestival.org for tickets and complete event listing. Chapel Music Series
Exquisite music played in local chapels and architectural marvels. JUNE 10, 12, 17, 18, 23 | Various NWA Locations | $10-15
Bella Gaia
An immersive multimedia production inspired by astronauts who have seen Earth from space. JUNE 13 | Walton Arts Center $10-20
Artosphere Film Series
FREE Apollo 13, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. and 2001: A Space Odyssey JUNE 25, 28, 29 | Walton Arts Center A Beautiful Planet in IMAX JUNE 15 | Malco Razorback IMAX | $10
Trail Mix
FREE
Explore local trails and enjoy artistic experiences along the way. JUNE 14 | Fayetteville’s Frisco Trail
Artosphere Festival Orchestra
Corrado Rovaris, Music Director Featuring premier musicians from around the world. JUNE 20 | Mozart in the Museum Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art | $45 JUNE 26 | Romantic Masterworks of Mendelssohn & Brahms | Walton Arts Center | $10 JUNE 29 | Artosphere Festival Orchestra Celebrates: The Moon | Walton Arts Center | $15-49
Tickets On Sale Now! Support for Maestro Corrado Rovaris and Dover Quartet provided by Mary Ann & Reed Greenwood. 10x10 concert support provided by 3M/Post-it. AFO concertmaster support provided by Hannah & Greg Lee. 12 T H E OUTDOOR S ISS UE 2 019
DOWNLOAD THE ARTOSPHERE APP!
THE GENIUS OF SITE
P. ALLEN SMITH’S MOSS MOUNTAIN FARM MERGES FORM AND FUNCTION WITH AN EYE ON SUSTAINABILITY AND CONSERVATION
WORDS / KODY FORD PHOTOS / KATHERINE LAUGHLIN, P. ALLEN SMITH Resting upon a hill overlooking the Arkansas River, Moss Mountain Farm serves multiple purposes—a tourist destination, a laboratory for conservation and, ultimately, a home. The estate was developed by P. Allen Smith, the best-selling author and television host. A graduate of Hendrix College and the University of Manchester in England, Smith has devoted his life to championing horticulture, design and sustainability. Moss Mountain Farm is an extension of these goals and principles. Smith built the over 400 acre farm in 2008, upon the 18th century idea of ferme ornée, meaning “ornamented farm,” in which a working farm also paid close attention to aesthetics. Philip Southcote’s Woburn Farm in England was an early example of this. “We have tried to make an Arkansas example of ferme ornée,” Smith said. “[Moss Mountain] is a farm that demonstrates principles of good stewardship and land management, use of resources, water conservation, organic [farming methods] and triesy to show a diversity of planting that is good for pollinators. The idea of form and function, the idea of beauty and utility—that’s really what [ferme ornée] is really about.”
Moss Mountain
“We have tried to show the public [. . .] a mixture of vegetables and flowers arranged in a way that is hopefully visually compelling but at the same time beneficial and helpful,” Smith said.
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Conservation of the land has been a major concern for Smith. Over the last 12 years, Smith and his team have worked to diversify the plant species at Moss Mountain. As a result, they have seen an increase in the number and variety of songbirds, as well as beneficial insects who act as natural pest control. Bees also play a very important role at the farm as natural pollinators. Their presence has played a huge role in how the gardens have flourished. “We plant every year with pollinators in mind,” Smith said. “There’s a crisis out there regarding pollinators worldwide. What’s interesting is that there are 180,000 species of flowers and plants to be pollinated and roughly 1,200 of those are food crops. If you think about it, every third bite of food we eat as humans is the result of pollination. It’s a serious crisis.” While most people do not have acreage on the scale of Moss Mountain, Smith’s principles and methods can be applied to even the smallest of outdoor spaces. “Creating intimate enclosure is a key to designing outdoors,” he said. “What makes you want to be in the space? Thinking about those spaces as one would a room—what does the floor look like, the walls? [. . .] All those questions need to be answered and be within the spirit of the architecture.” If your property has poor soil and lots of rocks, Smith recommends installing raised beds and covering them with plants that cascade off the edge and soften it, perhaps lemon thyme. He suggests mixing herbs and vegetables and flowers to make the beds more interesting and sustainable. Overall, the garden’s design should focus on two things— surprise and delight. “You want that wow moment, that gasp . . . I’m more interested in finding ordinary things and doing extraordinary things with them.”
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POINT A BIKE DOWNHILL After considering how unfair it would be to limit kayaks to river floats only, I’ve decided it’s unfair to limit bikes to a single category. If you want to come off the ground on your bicycle, pray the Railyard will open, and in the meantime drive out to Eureka for that sweet, sweet downhill.
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EXPLORE THE RAZORBACK REGIONAL GREENWAY Whether walking or on your Razor scooter, you should explore the Razorback Regional Greenway this summer. Criss-crossing NWA, this little ribbon of road is car free, which makes it particularly safe and welcoming for, well, everyone else.
7 TEN WAYS TO HAVE FUN OUTSIDE IN ARKANSAS ADVICE / TJ STALLBAUMER
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RIDE A BIKE Northwest Arkansas is consistently ranked as an incredible place to ride a bike, and that’s not a faulty ranking. Purpose-built off-road riding to rival the country’s best meets well-built paved trails that can take you across the region with plenty of stops for beer.
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TAKE A HIKE If you prefer moving more slowly, consider trading the bike for a pair of boots and hit the hiking trail. Whether standing atop a scenic vista, or beneath a shadowy canopy, your feet can take you where few other things can. With extraordinary beauty can come great exercise.
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GO FORTH AND FLOAT Get a raft, a canoe, a kayak, a standup paddleboard, a pool noodle, an inflatable donut or a piece of Styrofoam. Put it in a river or creek. Float down the river or creek.
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KAYAKING DOES NOT ALWAYS EQUAL FLOATING Calling all forms of kayaking river floats would be like sending your Aunt Jenny to ride Rampage on her 86 Schwinn beach cruiser cause “it’s just a bike ride.” If you want some sendy water this summer, hit the kayak park in Siloam Springs and take it up a notch.
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CLIMB Rock climbing in Arkansas deserves more fame than it gets. Get to know Horseshoe Canyon Ranch this Summer and you’ll probably make tons of new friends in the process, since you’re counting on them to not let you come crashing to the earth and an early death.
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HANG A HAMMOCK If you want to look really earthy, you can go hang an Eno hammock somewhere and just sort of swing back and forth. Try Fayetteville’s Wilson Park for maximum exposure to other hammockers.
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DRINK BEER ON A PATIO While this isn’t an aerobic activity, or necessarily physically good for you, it comes highly recommended by the world’s top outdoor enthusiasts because it pairs being outside with drinking beer, and provides a safer activity than downhill mountain biking to bring your dog along.
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SIT SOMEWHERE AND TRY TO BE PRESENT This is the final item on the list because it’s the hardest to have fun doing. Sit somewhere beautiful and challenge yourself to think of nothing beyond where you are. Nature makes an appropriate venue for such attempts at clarity, because it can have the incredible capacity to make us feel small -- not insignificant, but part of something a little greater. Honorable mentions or things I wouldn’t add because I am biased against them, though other people assure me they’re fun: Hunting Fishing Camping (I like to camp but I like other stuff more) Tanning Playing an acoustic guitar somewhere publicly
AARON BLEIDT, IG @artfuloutsider Redbuds, Dogwoods and Cats in Canoes a.k.a. A Day on the Buffalo River, 2019
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G ETT ING THE GR EEN LIGHT How cannabis activism enhances one local artist’s art, in her writing, as a patient, and as an educator. WORDS / YANI KO PHOTO / KAT WILSON Wendy Love Edge pauses thoughtfully, frequently when telling her story, combing through the details of the many lives she’s lived before. She Irish step-danced in front of a bagpipe band up and down the East coast as a teenager. She worked as an occupational therapist for 25 years after graduating from Boston University. She was a spiritual healer at a small shop she owned with her exwife. She was once married to a man. Today, Edge, 54, is an advocate for medical cannabis and plant medicine in Arkansas and serves as the director of Bulldozer Health Inc., a nonprofit organization Edge founded in 2014. Bulldozer Health is dedicated to educating the public about healthcare options and providing access to alternative healthcare. It was while studying to become an occupational therapist at Boston University that Edge observed what she believed to be a troubling connection between the pharmaceutical industry and the medical community. “They added business courses in my junior year that they never had before and I didn’t realize the implications until later,” Edge says. In 2011, more than 20 years into her career as a therapist and area director of a rehabilitation company, Edge was diagnosed with dermatomyositis, an inflammatory disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness and a painful recurring rash. For Edge, the symptoms were severe and debilitating, leading to limited mobility of her limbs and restricting her to a motorized wheelchair. “They told my wife and I that I would die from either the disease or the treatment,” Edge says, explaining that she was already on pharmaceutical drugs for a heart condition, arthritis and cholesterol. In addition to those medications, Edge was prescribed a cocktail of 16 different pharmaceutical drugs ranging from steroids to antidepressants. The list also included opioids for pain. 18 T H E OUTDOOR S ISS UE 2 019
“I believed them when they told me I would die, and that was the main problem, because I just wanted to do whatever they said—‘they’ meaning the medical establishment,” Edge says. She remained on the endless list of drugs, seeing little progress and experiencing various negative side effects. Then, after a meditation session one afternoon in 2013, Edge made a life-altering decision. “I decided that I would wean off as many drugs as I could so I could see what my body could do,” Edge says, adding that she did not realize she was addicted to her prescribed opioids and antidepressants. “I went into full withdrawal, shaking and sweating and really having a difficult time coping. “I had read that when they give you more than two drugs they don’t really know what happens with interactions so on 16 how could they possibly know what’s going on? “I had asked my doctor, ‘What can I come off of?’ and he said, ‘You can’t come off of anything because you have a diagnosis to go with every drug.’ I didn’t want to ask him about it. So, here I am in withdrawal and I’m thinking ‘Well, I can’t go to the doctor.” It was an ordinary afternoon in 2013 at her home in Boston when she called a friend to ask for assistance in getting groceries. Edge and her wife, Angela, her primary care taker, had recently taken time apart to manage personal issues. The friend was unavailable that day so she sent a mutual acquaintance, Sheila, to help with the task. It was Sheila that turned that ordinary afternoon into one that Edge would never forget. “She asked me a question that really saved my life,” Edge says. “She asked me if I had tried cannabis. I was like, ‘Why are you asking me this. I’m trying to come off of drugs. I don’t know what you’re talking about.’” While Edge had experimented with cannabis in high school, she admitted she did not understand that it had medicinal effects at that time. Sheila convinced her to try it as a treatment for her many ailments. “With just a few puffs the withdrawal symptoms went away and the pain was almost down to nothing,” Edge says. “I knew it was my medicine as I took it in. I could feel it.” Edge has since cut her pharmaceutical drugs down to only two prescriptions and credits this to living a generally healthier lifestyle, eating nutritious foods, exercising and regularly using cannabis as medicine.
“I went back to the doctor after I came off of 10 drugs and had lost about 25 pounds and made all these other health changes,” says Edge. “And this was the thing that really irked me. He was very positive, but this is what he said: ‘I wanted to tell you to stop taking some of those drugs but I couldn’t because I could lose my license.’ That’s how much big pharma is selling. It’s backwards. Big pharma is in control of our doctors. It’s not the other way around,” she says. “I made a decision that I can’t recommend to other people,” Edge explains. “I never tell anybody not to take prescribed medications, but I will tell them to look every single one of them up and look at the side effects, look at interactions and ask your doctor to talk to you about it.” Arkansas passed Initiative 6 in 2016, which legalized marijuana for medical use. Doctors can write recommendations for patients with one of 19 qualifying conditions including cancer, glaucoma, arthritis and PTSD. Dr. Tammy Tucker of Dr. Tammy’s Healing Art Centers in Bentonville said that she writes many of her recommendations for qualifying patients who want an alternative to opioids. “They’ve done numerous studies that show [medical cannabis] is a gateway out of opioids and I see that all the time with my patients that are trying to get off medications,” Dr. Tucker says. “What happens with cannabis is the same amount works all the time. You don’t have to keep increasing the amount, unlike opioids. [Patients] constantly have to keep increasing the amounts to get the same effects because the opioid receptors get saturated.” Edge works with doctors to help provide free or lower-cost visits for cannabis recommendations through Bulldozer Health, which is active in Arkansas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. She recently organized a music and art festival, The Green Heart Festival, themed around wellness and plant medicine, held at the Trailside Village in Fayetteville. Edge has told her story all over the country as well as authoring a book about her experiences in coming off of pharmaceutical drugs. She hosts a weekly radio show, The Wendy Love Edge Show with Topher Kogen, that airs on KPSQ. “We talk openly about our personal health journeys, interview various health and wellness professionals, local musicians, and [cover] news concerning cannabis legislation,” says Topher Kogen, Edge’s co-host.“This is a very important issue for me. As someone with various family members with arthritis and other health concerns I W W W.IDL ECL AS S MAG . CO M 19
am in constant confusion on why this plant and its users are demonized on a systematic level.” “The opinions expressed on this show are not necessarily those of this station. Please check with a trusted health advisor before following any medical advice,” reads the opening disclaimer to The Wendy Love Edge Show with Topher Kogen. Hypnotic beats stream quietly before Edge’s soothing yet lively voice chimes in to introduce her upcoming guests. You can almost hear her silvery curls bouncing as she laughs between banter with Kogen.
things and learning that the human spirit really engages and soars when you’re doing something that you love and creating something,.” Edge often found that patients would progress more quickly in their therapy when given art tasks over physical exercises. “Art is a beautiful example of something that can help with the healing process, whether or not you have any talent—it doesn’t matter,” Edge says. “It puts your headspace in a different place so then you can maybe deal with some of your problems more effectively. I think it definitely is a bridge for healing.”
“I MADE A DECISION THAT I CAN’T
The ceilings and pipes in the tiny studio on the Fayetteville square are soundproofed and adorned with sparkling red and purple tapestries, bringing color to the otherwise grey space. Edge and Kogen sit in front of microphones at a wooden desk that takes up most of the room. Soon the cramped studio is filled to the brim as The Trashcan Bandits, a genre-bending quartet join, clarinets and mandolins in tow, to perform songs for the first segment of the show.
RECOMMEND TO
Edge’s cannabis activism is present in many areas of her life—in her art, in her writing, as a patient and as an educator. Her goals for Bulldozer Health in the next year include finding a physical location to sublet to health providers and space to hold classes. She also wants to focus on adding a branch of psychological care to the platform for survivors of sexual abuse.
OTHER PEOPLE.”
Edge finds it important to include musical acts in her lineup of guests. “In the human spirit, I really feel like music, art, wellness and care for the environment all come from the same place,” Edge says. Edge herself is a mixed-media artist and painter, and her wife is a musician. She also danced jazz and tap and taught en pointe until the birth of her first son. Edge is active in the Cannabis Art Guild, a collective of international artists who use the cannabis plant as art material, including hemp canvases and hemp seed oil paints. “I started doing these ‘spirit paintings,’” Edge says, “I put a background on [the canvas] and I put these blobs of paint and I drag a knife through it. When I would drag a knife through it these figures would start appearing. It’s kind of an intuitive painting,” she says. During her training to become an occupational therapist, Edge took multiple art classes including pottery, painting and macrame. “We had to learn how to do those things and also what it takes physically, emotionally, and cognitively to do those kinds of projects,” she explains.“That’s one thing I loved about being a therapist, being able to combine these 20 T H E OUTDOOR S ISS UE 2 019
“If they can’t afford these services then we’ll be able to help them access them,” Edge says, “I’d love to have our own studio too to do our shows so that’s what I’m manifesting now.”
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DIGGING DEEPER INTO DIG CLOTHING
trail for somebody and helping to pay it forward for the next group of people,” Ferguson said. She said the trail building community in Arkansas is small but growing. The company wants to build appreciation for those who build biking trails and to encourage others to get involved.
WORDS / CAROLINE BIVENS PHOTO / KELSEY FERGUSON
B
entonville company DIG Clothing designs apparel for mountain biking and trail building enthusiasts and is setting out to build the region’s trail building community.
Marketing and Production Director Kelsey Ferguson said DIG Clothing was established in 2016 through the trail building company Progressive Trail Design, or PTD. Through PTD, full trail systems are designed for mountain biking and hiking. PTD foreman Josh “Hardy” Clyatt has been with the team for seven years. Clyatt said he grew up riding bikes and making his ‘own trails. “I don’t see myself doing anything else. I’ve been around dirt and machines my whole life and now I’m doing it professionally,” Clyatt said. “I will always ride.”
“THESE AREN’T JUST PROJECTS, THESE ARE FULL PIECES OF ART THAT THESE PEOPLE ARE CREATING
Ferguson PTD workers come from biking and construction backgrounds who are also skilled in sculpting, illustration and artistry. “The number one key to being a successful trail builder is to have an undying passion for what you’re doing,” Ferguson said. Ferguson said DIG Clothing is reaching out to Missouri, Texas, Utah and California. Ferguson said that DIG needs room to grow, and wants to help connect other trail building communities across the nation.
TOGETHER.”
Ferguson said PTD started making outdoor clothing and technical gear to celebrate the growing trail building and mountain biking community. “We want to get you out there and feel safe on your bike … but we can also have this be something that you want to wear out to grab a beer with friends,” Ferguson said. “That blends the idea of outdoor gear.” Ferguson said the company also wanted a local brand presence in Northwest Arkansas so members of the community could help them accomplish their goal of expanding the trail building community. “DIG should be one of those local staples that reminds us to slow down, put in the work, learn the local culture and play a part to maintain and sustain the outdoor recreation within our region,” Ferguson said. DIG Clothing helps fund some of the volunteer trail organizations maintain trails as a way to give back to the community. “DIG is special because it rallies people around the idea of giving back a little bit and getting out there … and breaking
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“It’s grueling physical labor but at the same you are designing and sculpting the earth into these incredibly beautiful works of art,” Ferguson said. “These aren’t just projects, these are full pieces of art that these people are creating together.”
The company is also constructing a lounge in downtown Bentonville called “The HUB Bike Lounge” that sells coffee, beer and DIG apparel. “The HUB” will also rent out bikes and provide information on trails. The company hopes to open the business in September. “The HUB” will incorporate Airship Coffee and beer into a casual lounge with live music, outdoor patio, and workspace into a place where cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts can set out on their adventures.
hot diggity Even NWA’s fur babies can be stylish with the help of Mt. Oakley Threads WORDS / SUMMER EL-SHAHAWY PHOTO COURTESY / MOUNT OAKLEY THREADS After working her tail off, Caitlin Villescas started Mt. Oakley Threads, a business dedicated to keeping our furry friends in fashion, in August 2017. She named her endeavor after her beloved German Shepherd Oakley. “I had struggled with anxiety and the only true place that I ever found my peace and clarity was when I buried myself in the great outdoors,” Villescas said. “But something was missing: a companion and a friend. Oakley waltzed into my life all in good timing and showed me just how great adventures can be if you dive in wholeheartedly.” Through her experience with Oakley and her love for the outdoors, Villescas was inspired to create a brand that represented her passion for adventure. She said by doing this, she hoped to inspire and support others. “I wanted anyone who was struggling on their trail to feel the same joy that I do when I venture about and to always have a best friend to look over at and enjoy the ride,” Villescas said. Mt. Oakley Threads has a storefront in Elm Springs that currently acts as a workshop where customers can come by and see the range of fabrics and supplies that
also appears on her Etsy site. Villescas uses the space to make each of her products to order and is working hard to incorporate a retail space. Villescas thinks it is important to support local small businesses and meaningful brands, and that in particular, Arkansas has the heart that keeps small shops thriving. According to Villescas, there are a couple reasons Mt. Oakley Threads can thrive in NWA. “If you live in Northwest Arkansas, I’d say there are two things on your mind every day: wishing you were outdoors hiking a trail, and ‘I wonder if my dog is thinking about me too.’” The items at Mt. Oakley Threads reflect Villescas’s love of the outdoors. Villescas works in her favorite earth tones, as well as rugged flannel and plaid. Her collars, bandanas and blankets each offer fun styles for furry friends, and she is working to add more adventure essentials to her shop. Villescas said her favorite pieces to make are collars. “Although it’s a detailed task, it’s always so rad to receive a photo of their pet wearing it. The time and love that goes into every item is just as important to me as it is for you.” More information about Mt. Oakley Threads can be found on the store’s Facebook page and Etsy site. FB / MtOakleyThreads etsy.com / shop/MtOakleyThreads
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GROUNDED FIGURES, STUDIES OF LIGHT, COLOR AND ART WORDS / MARGARET H. ADAMS PHOTOS / NICK GIPSON
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he photograph Grounded Figure 1 (2019) shows the familiar sight of an Ozark skyline at sunset. The soft glow of a radio tower and the lights of a small town flicker in the background, soon to become brighter and more prominent as the sunlight fades away. But the image is more dreamscape than landscape. Peculiar yet vital to the photograph is the foregrounded blue and purple geometric figure, clearly out of place in the natural surroundings. Its rigid shape and complimentary colors create a tension with the countryside’s rolling hills and the changing colors of the sunset. And although the flat art object looks superimposed on a pre-existing photograph, it’s not - the abstract form is a physical artwork made of wood and paint by the Fort Smith artist affectionately known as Buffalo.
For the work Grounded Figure 1, Buffalo collaborated with local photographer and videographer Nick Gipson. This photograph is part of a larger series called Grounded Figures, which is a play on words describing the formal relationship between the foreground, background and art figure in the photographs. Further, the serie’s title refers to the natural flow of electricity to ground, highlighting the thematic importance of lighting in the artworks. The duo started working on this experimental project in early December 2018. Buffalo constructs and paints the art objects, and Gipson scopes out a location and shoots the photograph. Buffalo and Gipson’s artwork is meant to entice the audience’s eye, as well as to encourage the viewer to perceive the nuances of colors, light and time in environments they could easily take for granted. “The work is sensory exaltation—a glorification of the creative and perceptive capabilities of the evolutionary marvel which is the eye. Moreover, it’s a celebration of existence,” says Buffalo. The Fort Smith artist, who is known for his street art in skate parks and 2018’s The Unexpected, challenges the institutionalization of art. His works are not meant to hang from a spotless wall or stay perched on a pretty pedestal. Grounded Figures rejects traditional art spaces, like museums and galleries,
and embraces liminal spaces of Northwest Arkansas’s local landscape. These works revel in transitions whether it’s light, time, color space or ritual. Among Buffalo’s many influences James Turrell, Tony Smith, Frank Stella, Carmen Herrera, Felipe Pantone and Carlos Cruz-Diez, who all work closely with color and geometric abstraction. Buffalo and Gipson plan to continue their collaboration, experimenting with photographic techniques and video shots from a drone. According to Gipson, the public can watch their creative experiments through Instagram. In personal opinion, however, Gipson’s work is striking and deserves to be viewed in a medium much larger than a phone screen. Shooting the Grounded Figures series is not an easy feat and the two artists collaborate with each other every step of the way. Gipson, who is an avid hiker, often selects shooting locations based on an artistic concept Buffalo suggests. The photographer considers remote destinations that extol the natural Arkansas landscape, as well as urban environments, like construction sites and city skylines. Lugging these art objects outdoors is not an easy feat, and the creative duo is quick to assert that Grounded Figures is a work in progress. As Gipson and Buffalo review the images taken from their excursions, the two discuss the successes and problems of the photos and videos - The drone shot could’ve been slower. There’s distracting debris in a few shots. The wood paneling showed too much texture in a close up shot. “It’s invigorating. We’re excited to continue the work. It doesn’t always work out the first time and honestly, I’d be upset if it did,” says Buffalo, who asserts that the trial and error process of Grounded Figures is a large part of his creative process. Buffalo explains that working in nature personally reveals more about his art practice, rather than producing works in a studio. “My work is based on a distinctly human urge to make things exist that don’t yet exist. My aim is to construct objects into a coordinated scene which celebrates the creative capabilities all humans possess,” says the artist. This is apparent in Gipson’s photographs, which capture the bizarre insertion of Buffalo’s artificial artworks in the natural landscape. The trial and error of the experimental project Grounded Figures for both Buffalo and Gipson is part of the work. In the end, the project celebrates not only the surrounding natural landscape of Northwest Arkansas, but also humanity’s innate urge to create and seek out new meaning. IG / @buffalawrt / @nbgiphonephotos W W W.IDL ECL AS S MAG . CO M 25
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RIDE ALONG WORDS / MARGARET H. ADAMS PHOTO / RUNWAY NWA Northwest Arkansas is home to a growing bike trail system that reaches over 200 miles. As new riding features emerge and reshape the landscape, the environment transforms and new spaces materialize. Mike Abb, the creative director of Runway NWA, is passionate about invigorating the public spaces in the area, including along the bike trails, to ensure that they serve the community in ways that promote civic pride. These expanding networks of bike trails meander through cities, the countryside and daily life, making them essential real estate for such beautification projects. Located in Bentonville, Runway NWA is a social and corporate outreach program that extends a creative hand to the Northwest Arkansas community by taking on large and small projects to vitalize public areas. Starting in 2016, this program has been responsible for collaborating with local organizations on urban planning and creative projects, such as public art installations and, basketball court renovations. According to Abb, numerous opportunities for beautification projects have opened along the expanding bike trail system, both paved and unpaved. The corridors of the paved city trails, started in 2010, stretch between Rogers, Bentonville and Fayetteville, fostering numerous chances to envision revitalization projects like public murals and creative crosswalks. Abb worked with Experience Fayetteville on a project to transform electrical boxes on Dickson Street into a notification board for the public to post flyers and announcements. The once drab utility boxes now serve a dual purpose through a simple yet effective change. Runway NWA’s list of projects range from smaller modifications to bigger, multi-organizational efforts.
Abb describes the recently finished Arboretum located at the 00-mile marker of the Back 40 Greenway in Blowing Springs Park, Bella Vista. It opened March 18 on Arbor Day. Spearheaded by the local Property Owners Association and the Walton Family Foundation, this project also collaborated with the Bella Vista Bluebird Society, the Northwest Master Naturalists and the Monarch Society. The arboretum includes a pollinator garden, new educational signs and bluebird boxes. Creating an arboretum allows visitors the satisfaction of engaging with and learning about the surrounding environment , as well as finding new ways to care for the greenway. “Excitement for me is watching others enjoy the project,” Abb said. Undoubtedly, an initiative like the Back 40 Arboretum is a legacy project that will continually evolve and give back to the community for years to come. Because many of the projects that Runway NWA collaborates on deal with public spaces, there can be significant legislation and bureaucracy involved. Despite this, Abb encourages those who would like to contribute to beautification projects to seek out volunteer opportunities, start a pollinator garden or simply take notice of spaces that could use improvement, like crosswalks or public signs. For many pedestrians and cyclists, these bike trails are full of potential beautification projects, possibly passed by daily. For Abb, the overarching goal of Runway NWA is to cultivate engagement and civic pride in public spaces. “[The] true win is to take these projects to the people. Public space is for the people,” says Abb. The community is always in need of those who initiate change, and after all, locals are the ones best equipped to identify the needs of their own communities.
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Q & A
RO Z E N B R I D G E INTERVIEW / ANDREW MCCLAIN PHOTO / SCOTT C. WOOD What’s your musical background? Where did you start playing? Tim’s musical background lies in the rebel world of rock and roll. He moved into Arkansas as a young boy from California. Shortly after, he taught himself how to play the guitar left-handed just like Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, and Kurt Cobain. Some of his influences include Rage Against the Machine, Pantera, Chris Cornell, Pink Floyd, and Sublime. Christian’s background lies in the world of classical music. He started playing cello at age 12 through the Georgia public school system, and began private lessons later on. He did not start heavily experimenting with bands until he moved into NWA but he always had a love for using the cello in nontraditional ways. One of his all time favorite bands and role models is the Finnish metal band named Apocalyptica. How did the two of you meet? Where did the name come from? [We] both met through a mutual friend at one of Tim’s show with his former band, Dead Strangs. [Our] encounter seemed to be touched by fate since Tim had been looking to collaborate with a cellist for several years and unable to find one. Meanwhile, Christian was looking for an opportunity to grow and experiment musically in NWA and thus The Jinns was born; the earlier, 3-piece version of Rozenbridge with vocalist Jennifer Baker. Our band name came out of Einstein and Nathan Rosen’s “Rosen Theory”. The theory is about wormholes or the bridge between two different points in space-time. We thought this was a fitting name because of our ability to play a wide range of genres due to our diverse musical background. You guys straddle several genres very well - did you quickly bond over a lot of shared tastes, or do you kind of pull each other in different directions?
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We seem to just pull on each other as we jam out in rehearsals and live shows. There is a mutual understanding and confidence in our individual capacity, so we are always pushing on each other to try new genres or styles as we play. Our sound just happened authentically and organically as we got to know each other more on a musical level. From what I can tell, y’all are pretty active in the NWA scene - where’s your favorite place to play? We have been very fortunate to win over the interest of some big influencers in NWA, such as the Walton Arts Center and Crystal Bridges Museum. Their interest resulted in several neat opportunities like getting to open for famous comedian Jay Leno in March 2019. Despite this, our absolutely favorite spot to play was Two 25 Gallery and Wine Bar runned and owned [owned and operated?] by David and Pam Tipton. Sadly the place closed down last year but there was an irresistible sense of artistic community from the owners and customers that kept us coming back. And it is also because of that community that we were able to fund our first self-titled EP back in 2018. The scope of the music you play seems pretty wide, and from what I can tell, y’all have been gigging pretty hard and your load-in must be relatively easy, so I bet you’ve played a lot of random places - any particularly odd ones? We are definitely able to fit just about anywhere with our current band setup. I would say the oddest spot we have performed in was a hole in the wall bar in Canton, Illinois. We took a special road trip to play for a friend who happened to book us at a bar that was accustomed to either heavy metal or punk - not 100% sure which one - but we felt out of place once we entered due to all the weird looks we were getting. However, by the end of our set, we were able to win over the audience which made us feel great! Do you have an album out? If not, any plans for one? We only have a 4-track EP available at the moment. We have been talking about an album, but no deadline has been set in sight for that yet. You can listen to our music for free on our Soundcloud page. SOUNDCLOUD.COM/ROZENBRIDGE
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JUSTIN BOOTH TURNS TRAVELS INTO NEW POETRY COLLECTION WORDS / KIM SWINK PHOTO / BRANDON MARKIN I was supposed to meet Outlaw Poet Justin Booth for the first time in New York City. I was excited. After all, we had hundreds of mutual friends on social media, and I had been following him for some time. I’d bought all his books. And actually read them. I was fascinated by Justin. Not just his poetry, but the gritty colorful life it conjured: tall tales of homelessness, heroin addiction, crime sprees so outlandish they seem surely embellished for marketing purposes; and his often uncomfortably unguarded bouts of mythologicallevel melancholy, splayed across the internet for public consumption. I began to think Justin might make an interesting subject for a documentary and when I saw he would be in Manhattan for a reading on January 27, 2018, I sent a message asking if my husband and I could take him to dinner. After cautiously confirming that, yes, we did indeed know a lot of the same people, his enthusiastic response went something like, “Yeah, sure.” He’d be arriving by Greyhound bus from Austin and we could meet that night before Puma’s Pandemonium, a quarterly music/poetry event at Bowery Electric on the lower east side. *** Frequently, and un-ironically, Justin Booth will proclaim, “I am the luckiest man,” despite much evidence to the contrary and a hard-lived past most of us can’t even imagine. “The best feeling in the world is being shot at and missed,” he explains, throwing his silver head back with a loud gravelly laugh that makes you laugh, too. “Everything I ever learned about the hustle I learned
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from my father,” he says. Growing up a “PK” (preacher’s kid) outside Black Oak in the ’70s, the son of a High Elder and much-revered traveling pastor of The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Justin learned young how to spin a yarn for maximum effect. “They’re very clannish people, the Mormons, and my dad was a rock star to them.” However, even as a child, Justin was certain that the things his father preached, and both his parents believed, were not true. He began to wonder what else they might be completely wrong about. For instance, maybe drugs and alcohol weren’t bad like he’d been told. Maybe crime does pay. Having mastered the spoken word early, he first put pen to paper in ninth grade to impress the object of his affection: A student teacher who believed his claim that he’d already written hundreds of poems. He rushed home and, borrowing heavily from Jim Morrison and An American Prayer, as well as utilizing an assortment of writing utensils to simulate years of soul-searching creativity, produced a voluminous body of work to present the next day. “I don’t know, maybe everybody starts writing because they want to impress a pretty girl.” By the time he stole a girl half his age out of “Christian rehab,” just two days after he first laid eyes on the 18 year old who became his third wife two weeks later, Justin had perfected the skills he learned watching his father mesmerize and manipulate an audience with words. Skills that served them well when he and his child-bride took off on a grifting tour of southern churches, touching the hearts of enthralled congregants with fabrications of how they’d turned their drug-addicted lives around for Christ. As soon as the plate was passed they’d take the generous donations straight to the nearest dealer. Part Bonnie & Clyde; part heroin-addled Paper Moon charlatans.The last time they saw each other was in the backseat of a cop car on the way to prison. In the last year of his addiction, before his poetry had been translated into three languages, while still living on the sidewalk outside the downtown Little Rock Salvation Army, Justin assembled some of his best poems into a stapled chapbook at Kinko’s. He was selling them on
the street corner for five dollars when a serendipitous encounter helped change the course of his life. “I’d sell four books and go get a bag, sell four and go get a bag.” On that rainy day he only needed to sell one more to score when a local writer/journalist crossed his path. David Koon bought a book and, flipping through it, stopped cold a block later. He caught up with Justin, who was impatient to exchange his twenty dollars for a small bag of heroin, and asked if he could share some of the poems in his Newspaper column. “Which paper?” was the surprisingly haughty response. As if it mattered. Koon wrote several articles about a strange homeless poet in the Arkansas Times that year, which led to Live at the Back Room, a popular literary reading series at Vino’s; and Justin’s own growing sense that maybe he was more than his past. Maybe even a person with value and something to say. *** Seven years and six published collections later, I was supposed to meet Outlaw Poet Justin Booth for the first time in New York City. Instead, we met three months later in Arkansas, through a metal gate at the Lonoke County Jail where he’d become quite the jailhouse celebrity by virtue of a big personality and constant receipt of fan mail from as far away as Ireland and Italy. When I hadn’t heard back from Justin that January evening I figured he’d arrived to much fanfare from all his uber-cool East Village post-punk artist friends and, not yet aware I might immortalize his life on film, blown me off. A few days later, I discovered it wasn’t personal when Puma Pearl (of the Pandemonium) posted, “Has anyone heard from Justin Booth? He never made it to NYC.” There were several days of frantic messages flying across Facebook from friends in Texas, Arkansas and New York before he was located, safe and sound, in custody of the Little Rock Correctional Facility. He had not, as so many feared, fallen off the wagon and disappeared on a bender; or back-slid to his previous outlaw ways. The Outlaw Poet Justin Booth’s past life of crime and irresponsibility had simply caught up to him along a bus route notorious for heroin trafficking and
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frequented by undocumented immigrants. On a routine stop and search of his bus the agents ran his ID. It seems that before meeting David Koon and before a heart attack and quintuple bypass surgery gave him a new lease on life (and the added motivation to get off the streets, off dope and make it as a writer), Justin had failed to appear before more than a few judges, stood up a fair number of parole officers and frequently bailed on bondsmen. After all, when you don’t expect to live through the week, or the night, what’s the point of showing up? Nine months after his dramatic failure to appear at Bowery Electric, Justin Booth, with his parole officer’s permission, took the stage on the lower east side of Manhattan for the September 2018 Puma’s Pandemonium and regaled a cheering audience with poetic tales of a colorful life. The life of an Outlaw Poet. That performance was immortalized on film for an upcoming documentary about his life; and this month his seventh collection, The Luckiest Man by Justin Booth, was published - a book of poems about that time, finally, in New York City. It was worth the wait.
Upcoming Summer Dates June 25 Doug Shields Creator of “Poetize the News” on Community Radio, KPSQ July 30 Talya Boerner Author of coming-of-age novel “The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee” August 27 Graham Gordy Collaborator on the most recent “True Detective” set in Fayetteville
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Summer Reading Club a universe of stories kidstock | june 8
library night at the Travs | july 22
“Strange New Worlds: Is Earth Special?” with astronomer and writer Phil Plait | june 15
SRC celebration | july 27 space cinema Hidden Figures | july 30
register at cals.beanstack.org
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The Key to Freedom ESSAY / ELLEN GIBSON You see, the desire is to leave. To leave, in a sense, everything: electronics, the pile of unneeded clothing, and the “necessities” that aren’t even necessary. The longing is to leave behind the material that is not truly a part of life. The longing is also to part with the places, the people, and the feelings that are no longer needed to live a happy life. We feel as if we are chained to where we are. We feel as if we are prisoners who can see the light of freedom and dream that one day we will be out walking in it. But, in our heads, we know that it will never be. Our heart is yearning for it, but our mind rationalizes. It scopes out and finds everything that is wrong with the dream. “Nope. Too expensive,” it says. “You know you can’t leave behind such and such. What if this, or this, or heaven forbid, THAT goes wrong. What will you do then?“ The mind tries to rationalize fear. The fear of the unknown. And for some strange reason, we let it. We let the fear take over and control our lives. And while we are living in this dread of what may happen, the heart is telling us to screw it all and just take a chance. For who knows what will happen. Why do we not grasp the dream? Why do we fear it so much? Why do we let the unknown control us? The thing we don’t realize, is that we are the ones in control of our future. We are the ones that pave the paths. Life, destiny, or whatever you want to call it, is not something that is independent. We are life. We are destiny. We choose who we want to be, where we want to go, and what we want
to do. Too often we hold on to the comfort of what we have and we are afraid of ever taking that step to make a change. These are the exact things I desire to leave behind. Yes, I want less of the material aspects in my life. I want to become simple in the way I choose to live. I don’t want 50 outfits. I want 10 that I love and will be satisfied with. I don’t want a smart phone so I can constantly be connected to everyone, everywhere, at any given time. I don’t want the world at my technological fingertips. I want to actually feel the earth with my hands. I want to sit on a cliff, see the beauty of nature, and be content and joyful with gazing at a sunrise. I want the soul connection that comes with the feeling of my lover’s skin. I want the happiness that comes with driving with the windows down. I want the freedom of dropping everything and starting a new adventure. Life should be a constant never-ending adventure. It should be what we want it to be. Life does not have to be the crippling ball and chain for which there is no key. We do not have to be enslaved to our work or to the responsibilities which we actually don’t even need to have. Half of what we think we have to be responsible for is some made up thing that we could live perfectly fine without. We just need to realize that there is indeed a key to that ball and chain. We can search and search for it but will never find it until we let go of the fear. And when you have released that fear, you will come to realize the most important thing. You are the key.
PHOTO SUBMISSIONS NEXT PAGE LEFT-RIGHT / TOP-BOTTOM JENN TERRELL CAROLYN GUINZO ROB GORDON MARTY SHUTTER LAUREN RAE CASEY CROCKER STUART LIPPENCOTT TOM RZONCA MARSHA LANE FOSTER JAN PARTIN
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Yellow Rock Trail, Devil’s Den State Park
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Over the last 40 years, Ballet Arkansas has positively impacted the lives of nearly 100,000 Arkansans. A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Ballet Arkansas is proud to be the foremost professional ballet company in the state of Arkansas. Come experience the beauty of Ballet Arkansas!
SUZANNAH SCHRECKHISE V isual Arti st www .S uz an n ah Sch re ckhis e. Art Su zann ah S chre ckh i se @g mai l.c om Fac eb oo k @S u za nn ah Schr eckhi seArt I nsta gr am @ Suz an n ahSc hr eck his e.A rt
PEOPLE ARE THE HEART OF OUR NATION Mixed Media on Panel 36" x 36" 2017 Over 100 skin tones are juxtaposed next to one another, painted on top of currency, in this artwork that calls attention to the importance of inclusivity in the American cultural landscape.
first prize recipient featured in
THE HEART OF A NATION 2019 RAM ANNUAL INVITATIONAL APRIL 5 – JULY 28, 2019 The RA M A nn u al I nvi tati o nal i s a n atio nal c omp eti tive e xh i biti o n th at h as be e n h o ste d by the Fort Smi th Regi o nal Art Muse um si n ce its i nc eptio n in 1 948 (Wit h th e ex ce ptio n o f 20 17 ). The pu rpo se of thi s e xh i bi ti o n i s to e n cou rage and rec og nize p rofes si on al artis ts. In addi ti on , thi s e xh ibi ti on al ign s wit h t he mus eum ’s mi ssi o n to fos ter art ap pre ciat ion i n t he co mmu ni ty. A l l w o rk s wi l l be f or s al e. Al l pr ocee ds w i l l be n efi t RA M’s e duc at io n al p ro grams and th e part ici pat ing ar ti sts. W W W.IDL ECL AS S MAG . CO M 39
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