Volume 4 | issue 1 SPRING/SUMMER 2016
Volume 4 | Issue 1 Spring/Summer 2016
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Editor & Publisher Michele Arwood
CREATIVE Director Haile McCollum
Associate Editor Callie Sewell
Production Manager Margret Brinson
Development Manager Mallory Jones
copy Editor Jennifer Westfield
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GRAPHIC DESIGNER Lindsey Strippoli
Photographers Elmore DeMott Siobhan Egan April Tillman Gabor Gabe Hanway Abby Mims Alicia Osborne Daniel Shippey
Writers Alison Abbey Melanie Bowen Sim贸n Sean Dietrich Scott Doyon Andrea Goto Susan Ray Jennifer Westfield
INTERN Catharine Fennell
thomasvillearts.org 600 E. Washington Street Thomasville, GA 229.226.0588 Cover photo by: Siobhan Egan
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contents Spring/Summer 2016 VISIONARY
5 For the Love of Place Nick Purdy, Wild Heaven Craft Beers Scott Doyon, Placemakers
83
ARTIST
9 THE NEW SCHOOL OF OLD SCHOOL Cedric Smith Painter + Photographer
FOODIE
15 GRIT & GRACE Kevin & Gayla Shaw Gayla’s Grits
HEADLINER
19 A GOOD SOUTHERN RIBBIN’ Kevin Russell Shinyribs
25 THOM’S GUIDE
EXPLORER
77 THE ARIOPSIS FELIS Sean Dietrich
5
TASTEMAKER
83 HEART OF THE PROJECT Jackie Ellis Johnson Jackie Ellis Johnson Design
PLACEMAKER
87 LEAVING LEVITTOWN Brian Herrmann Office of Planning City of Thomasville
COLLECTOR
91 DREAM IT—DO IT Jessica Grace Allen & Natalie Kirbo Maiden South
97 Featured Artists
Letter From the Editor
[
Col.li.sion
/ke’liZHen/
noun.
an encounter between particles resulting in an exchange or transformation of energy.
]
You know those times when you meet someone and
As we were editing the stories in this issue, it
BAM! – just like that – you feel like you’re wrapped
became more apparent how common it is for
around Superman and he’s whisking you off to the
creatives to experience transformative collisions. By
moon? You’ve barely made it past the niceties when,
nature, they form a curious, purposeful community
with the mention of a particular person or place,
that seeks out opportunities to connect with others
eyes start to sparkle, ideas start flying and you feel
because they see possibility everywhere: in people,
like the world spins faster with each new word. Fast-
places and empty spaces. With this, our 6th issue
forward and BAM! - again, just like that – you find
of THOM, we’re doubling down on our intention
hours have passed and like you’re standing on the
to introduce you to people who are making their
edge of the world with no idea what’s next, only that
mark on the world because they leaned into a
something remarkable has happened and suddenly
life-changing creative encounter with someone
things that were murky have come completely into
or someplace. Theirs are stories of bumps and
focus. That’s my kind of collision!
crashes that redirected their paths and sent them in
Creative collisions don’t happen often and if you’ve
directions they never imagined.
experienced one, you know how impactful they
With this issue, we’re giving thanks for a close
can be. It’s been an unusual few weeks for me with
encounter with our first-ever presenting partner for
a number of encounters just like that: rapid-fire
THOM, Archbold Hospital. As we celebrate 30 years
collisions that have happened in unlikely places
of enriching our community through the arts, the
when I least expected it. When you crash into people
hospital celebrates a rich, 90-year history of caring
who open your eyes a little wider to something
for our community. As partners, we are working
that’s been sitting in the back of your mind, you’re
together to strengthen what makes Thomasville
left feeling like anything is possible.
special: our people and this place we call home. We
If you search for the definition of collision, you’ll find two very distinct concepts. One involves the exchange or transformation of energy and, if it is a positive exchange, it is a collision that could result
have some exciting projects on the horizon, made possible by this partnership, so be sure to visit our website in the coming weeks to learn more. Enjoy!
in something remarkable just as I have described. The other is a condition of opposition or conflict between two or more people or things. While the latter would send me running for the hills, the first serves as the high-octane fuel for the work we do at
Michele Arwood
the Center and in Thomasville.
Editor + Publisher
3
Instagram Influencers Nine Instagram feeds that keep us inspired and connected
@jasonisbell
@madesouth
@fuzzy_goat
This former Drive-By Trucker and literary-level songwriter posts glimpses into his musical and family life.
Passionate champions of southern goods who are curating everything great about the south and sharing it.
Look no further for a glorious bounty of color inspiration and project ideas.
@southlifesupply
@rebecca_atwood
@lavinlabel
Taking truckloads of spent shotgun shells and making them into a lifestyle brand? Brilliant.
This Brooklyn-based textile designer has a look that’s as relaxed as it is refined.
We love her classic styling and collaborations with @kelliboydphotography.
@hughacheson
@louisefili
@penlandschool
Canadian turned GA boy, this Athens-based chef shares unibrow selfies and food pics.
She’s only one of the best graphic designers in the world. Need we say more?
You can’t get there using your GPS. We follow their feed and wish that we were there.
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Written by Scott Doyon Photographed by April Tillman Gabor
5
Nick Purdy is distracted. We’ve gathered for a
In a way, that’s Purdy’s thing too. So much so that
reminiscence of sorts but he’s got things to do.
Wild Heaven’s slogan, or he would say its mission, is
Inside of an hour, roughly a hundred-fifty people
serve your neighbor. And it’s a mission he’s come to
will be flowing through the door, looking for beer.
realize is not just rooted in action. It’s also rooted in place.
Things need to be presentable.
Rough around the edges As co-founder and president of Wild Heaven Craft
The Wild Heaven brewery is located in an 8,500
Beers, Purdy’s used to the drill. Since opening
square foot, aging industrial building on a crumbling
their doors in June of 2014 after three years of
old street along the CSX rail line, providing an ever-
contract brewing, they’ve drawn upwards of ten
present reminder of faded economic times, when
thousand fans, seeking “the visceral, the real, the
commerce and rail were inextricably intertwined
handmade,” to this scruffy, light industrial outpost
and industry conjured thoughts of local people
on the edge of downtown Avondale Estates, a Tudor
earning a viable living through the manufacture of
style, master-planned Georgia community born in
valuable things.
the 1920’s. Today I’m one of them. It’s an environment that presented the young But while I’m no doubt enjoying the sampling of
start-up with both opportunity and challenge. The
beers Purdy keeps serving me, it’s not the reason
former, of course, was found in the entrepreneurial
I’m here. My thing is community. Not just fostering
advantages of undervalued real estate: broad square
it, which I do vocationally, but observing it:
footage in old structures at low cost. But the latter
studying its dynamics and the factors by which it
was something else: something that transcended
thrives. Or fails to.
the work of renovating the building.
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VISIONARY
twenty years ago when my wife and I, young and broke, moved into the 80 year old house in which we still live. Disinvested and deteriorating, the neighborhood, despite its potent ability to organize, was suffering from all the usual dysfunctions associated with concentrated poverty and limited opportunity, from nuisance crime to serious offenses. But that was then. And it was decidedly not the neighborhood you’d experience were you to visit today. It was a challenge of placemaking.
The more things change “There’s an irony to having a limited number of
Whether or not the current state of the
neighbors here,” says Purdy, “when serving them is
neighborhood — which has turned around in all the
the basis for everything we do. We’re committed
ways we typically mean when using that phrase —
to becoming one of America’s great breweries, but
represents an improvement depends on where you
we’re equally committed to the local. Our investing
sit. For some, there’s the lure of restored homes, safe
here might be a first step towards a renewed
streets, cleaned up parks and thriving commercial
neighborhood, which might contribute in time
services. For others, there’s the squeeze of rapidly
to a healthier town. And that’s something that’ll
rising property values and the taxes that go with them. And still others, drawn by
I set out to bring people together, which created an audience. Nick sought to serve his neighbor, which helped fuel the spirit of fellowship that makes togetherness work.
the neighborhood’s relaxed vibe and quality of life, are finding the prospect of an affordable house or apartment increasingly rare. It’s a recipe for friction. With new investment, new development and new residents comes new ways in which to divide ourselves:
ultimately fold back around to benefit not just us,
newcomers vs. long-timers; affluent professionals
but everyone.”
vs. blue collar service workers; white residents vs.
Welcome to the neighborhood
black; corporateers vs. artists; the young vs. the old.
Oakhurst, my neighborhood, is just a mile or two down the road in Decatur, the next town to the west.
These are common markers of change and yet,
Like Wild Heaven, it’s also adjacent to the CSX rail
despite them, I’ve long remained hopeful that our
line. But its position on the timeline — that basis
default setting, our authentic nature, might prove
by which we chart the rise, fall and renewal of our
the opposite. That we’d ultimately seek instead to
neighborhoods — couldn’t be more different.
reach out. To connect, and remain whole.
Wild Heaven’s present context bears much in
So it was with a certain measure of delight on
common with the Oakhurst I first encountered
a spectacular Sunday afternoon last fall when
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VISIONARY
neighbors all throughout Oakhurst did in fact come
helped advance the other.
together on common ground and in a spirit of fellowship and generosity.
In retrospect, the experience reinforced an idea about community — local community — we all too
And as it turns out, that common ground was music.
often forget. And that’s that each of us, intently focused on our own pursuits, creates value that’s as
The Oakhurst Porchfest
much about what we’re a part of as it is about who
Late last summer, I, and a few others announced
we are.
plans for the Oakhurst Porchfest, a grass roots neighborhood music festival based on a
And when those pursuits intersect? Well, that’s
longstanding annual event in Ithaca, New York.
where the magic happens.
The premise is simple. Over the course of an
Our entrepreneurial, or environmental, or social, or
afternoon, people offer up their porches and yards
artistic endeavors don’t exist in mutually exclusive
to musicians who perform for passers by. Neighbors
silos but, rather, are part of a deeply intertwined
stroll the streets, take in the music and, most
tapestry in which every action has rippling re-
importantly, revel in an opportunity to be together.
actions. And where a generous, openhearted effort to build something for ourselves carries with it
The mechanics are predictable but the outcomes,
enormous potential to elevate others.
not so much. In our case, 130 individual neighbors came forth to host performances and were met
For years, small town boosters have echoed the
in equal numbers by musicians looking to play.
claim that a rising tide lifts all boats. Here in
Come the October event, thousands of people from
Georgia, a rolling wagon may very well do the same.
both inside and outside the neighborhood flooded the streets. Countless connections, from brief introductions to friendly conversations, were made. But perhaps the most curious thing to happen was a moment of intersection when Nick Purdy’s efforts to build a business and my efforts to build community collided in a way I never saw coming: The Wild Heaven Welcome Wagon — a mobile hospitality vehicle, hand-drawn by Nick through the neighborhood, dispensing free beers — or, as he characterizes it, “handing out smiles” — wherever it went.
Wagon tales I set out to bring people together, which created an audience. Nick sought to serve his neighbor, which
NICK PURDY, Wild Heaven Craft Beers
helped fuel the spirit of fellowship that makes
wildheavencraftbeers.com
togetherness work. Somehow both of us, each in the service of our own goals, converged and, in doing so,
SCOTT DOYON, Placemakers placemakers.com 8
Written by Melanie Bowden Sim贸n Photographed by Siobhan Egan
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10
ARTIST
In a meet-up at Savannah staple Back in the Day
It is evident that Philadelphia-born Cedric, who grew
Bakery, painter and photographer Cedric Smith and
up outside of Atlanta and has been in Savannah for
I wriggle into a corner table, just as my eyes land on
10 years now, is an integral part of the city’s fabric.
the mixed media portrait hanging above us.
To note, he was highlighted as such in New York Magazine, curating a portion of the 2015 summer ode
Like an old school Americana welcome sign, the
to the area’s creative set.
blue-dominant portrait features the fresh face of an African-American girl cropped from a vintage photo.
His canvases and photographs, which showcase
In a dress and bonnet, applied with thick strokes of
African-American images in a whimsical play of pop
red acrylic, she sits on an oversized chocolate-iced
culture, southern heritage and flea market-and-eBay
cupcake, with one leg dangling over the side. Banner
grabs, have been critically acclaimed throughout
advertising reads “15 cents Per Cut” and “Today’s
the U.S. and abroad for years. The International Review
Special.”
of African-American Art, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Charlotte Observer and BET News, among many others,
It’s nearly impossible not to smile.
have applauded his distinct body of work since his first solo exhibit in Atlanta in 1998.
“That’s yours, isn’t it?” I ask. His work is also housed in a number of public A sweet flash, similar to that in the feel-good
collections, including those at the Coca-Cola
artwork overlooking us, washes across his face.
Company in Atlanta, the Francis Walker Museum in Thomaston, the Tubman Museum in Macon and the
“They wanted something related to the bakery,”
D.C. Arts Commission in Washington, D.C. Cedric’s
Cedric says, referring to the New York Times
work alongside 31 other living artists in a sprawling
bestselling authors, James Beard Award nominees
exhibit, “Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on
and bakery owners Cheryl and Griffin Day. “They
Slavery,” at the New York Historical Society Museum,
have several of them.”
was lauded by the New York Times and ARTnews.
“I’ve been a collector and a fan for many years,”
But perhaps, most impressive is that self-taught
Cheryl Day later tells me. “What I have always
Cedric grew up unaware that being a professional
responded to is art that has brown faces like my
artist was even “a thing.” In middle school he
own. So that was the first thing that drew me in. But
dabbled in painting, doing backdrops for plays, and
also the nostalgic feel to it. And the Americana, but
later tinkered as a graffiti artist, but “going nowhere.”
having an African-American at the forefront.”
At age 20, he settled in as a barber in Atlanta.
“What is more important? To be worth a lot of money one day or knowing that people genuinely like your work and would like to have it? Kids get to see that framed up on their wall and I’m still conveying the same positive message that I want to get out.” 11
ARTIST
It was during that time he overheard a client describe his studio and thought the man must have been a musician. William Tolliver was, in fact, a renowned artist and invited Cedric to visit his workspace. Later, as Cedric stood in the multi-level, marble-floored settings where William painted, sculpted and lived, he was blown away.
“I feel like I’m rewriting history by saying you could have put nice portrayals of blacks in there and it could be considered Americana.” “He was like a rock star,” recalls Cedric. “When I met William, that was a spark. I didn’t know someone could make a living that way.” As an African-American who lacked formal art training, William encouraged Cedric to pursue his passion professionally. Without hesitation, Cedric quit his job on the spot and began to experiment with various media, infusing elements of his youth. Cedric pulled heavily from rural summers in Thomaston, Georgia, where his grandmother ran a home store and his uncle owned a barbeque juke joint. With a love of all things antique and fascinated by the power of advertising,
12
ARTIST
the junkyard signage he discovered as a kid during
postal stamps, Cedric’s first mixed media series
walks in the woods became a focal point, as did
reconfigured the iconic squares.
the lack of positive African-American portrayals in advertising.
“There was only Martin Luther King,” notes Cedric. “So what about other people? I used ordinary old
To counter Sambo and Pickaninny depictions, he
photographs to show that these people are just
experimented with bright
as important. Maybe it was a
pops of color and ordinary
neighbor who steered you in the
African-American faces set
right direction. Or maybe it was
among southern landscapes.
the mailman. They’re just as important.”
“This painting is Americana,” says Cedric as he points to his
As Cedric’s work became more
wall piece behind us. “I feel
prolific, uncomfortably similar
like I’m rewriting history by
replicas of his work began to
saying you could have put nice
flourish in mega stores across
portrayals of blacks in there
the country. He describes
and it could be considered
giving up painting altogether,
Americana.”
with the exception of a select number of private commissions. His focus switched to magazine
Cedric was also deeply affected by many of his
editorial photo shoots, though he continued to
peers – a spread of talented kids without positive
promote similar messages through his images
community influences or feelings of self worth. Enter
and social media hashtags like #blackgirlsrock,
social and political game changer, hip-hop group
#beautiful, #cottonfields and #southernliving.
Public Enemy, who owned the music charts during that time, and Cedric had a lot to say on canvas after
Inspired by “everything,” Cedric scours blogs and
his chance meeting with William Tolliver.
magazines, particularly fashion or food-related, while his learning process is ongoing and organic.
Riding on a statement by lead rapper Chuck D,
He loves to travel abroad and has an eye on Cuba,
who said that most black heroes don’t appear on
but prefers local drives through country towns to
13
ARTIST
His canvases and photographs, which showcase African-American images in a whimsical play of pop culture, southern heritage and flea market-and-eBay grabs, have been critically acclaimed throughout the U.S. and abroad. find old signs for patterns of natural weathering as a
“We didn’t go to museums,” he remembers. “I always
source of artistic study.
think, ‘what if one person came to my elementary school or high school to talk about art?’”
“I keep looking for a time machine,” he jokes. “Where nothing has been touched.”
In response, Cedric frequently visits schools around the region where he leads workshops, talks art and
Inspired by his photography, Cedric did recently
shares some of his youth’s hardships.
start painting again and has a new studio, small and tidy, with a stylized mix of old and new. A Tybee
“What is more important?” Cedric asks. “To be worth
Island Bait & Tag sign hangs above a low metal box
a lot of money one day or knowing that people
coffee table, covered in a skin throw and topped
genuinely like your work and would like to have
with a Jean-Michel Basquiat book, a bird’s nest,
it? Kids get to see that framed up on their wall and
fresh flowers and a petite bowl of oranges. Across
I’m still conveying the same positive message that I
the room an American flag fills one entire wall and
want to get out.”
vintage Coca-Cola-inspired deli signage hovers over bushels of cotton on the floor nearby. As he brightens “Atlantic Oysters,” a portrait that will go on exhibit in Thomasville for the annual Due
Cedric Smith
South Festival, with sun yellow brush strokes, his
Painter + Photographer
childhood experiences continue to ruffle him.
cedricsmithphotography.com
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Written by
Like so many businesses before it, Gayla’s Grits was born after a long night of
Susan Ray
fun. Kevin Shaw, his then-girlfriend Gayla and cousin Jason were hanging out in the bachelor-pad trailer that the two cousins shared on his farm in Lakeland,
Photographed by
Georgia. They were starving at the end of a raucous night.
Gabe Hanway Since Lakeland is a town of about two stop signs there was no place to go for food. And the refrigerator was empty except for some Texas toast, mozzarella cheese, really old sour cream, and some grits made from the corn on the farm. “We used what we had to make a recipe, and they turned out to be pretty good,” says Kevin. “So Jason said we should call them Gayla’s Grits.” 15
FOODIE
“The success of the grits business kind of slipped up on us,” says Kevin. “Gayla’s Grits came out at a time when everyone started to become more interested in where our food came from.”
When I caught up with Kevin to talk more about Gayla’s Grits and Shaw Farms, he was running on about two hours of sleep. He had been up most of the night repairing the cleaner that’s used on the corn. “Kevin has his hands in just about everything on the farm,” Gayla says of her husband. “He’s very creative and can do just about anything.” 16
FOODIE
their original recipe from that fateful night written on the bag. Many of Gayla’s friends had moved out west so she had the idea to send them a little taste of Georgia. The response they received was so overwhelming that they decided to package and market the grits. “At first we would spend nights in the garage with a big Tupperware container and package them ourselves,” remembers Gayla. That was before they had their four children, so she’s thankful that the business moved out of their home and into the mill. It all began back in the late ‘80s when Kevin’s dad and Uncle Jay Shaw did some hobby farming. “I was
“The success of the business kind of slipped up on
kind of captivated by farming then and worked on
us,” adds Kevin. “Gayla’s Grits came out at a time
the farm until I headed to the University of Georgia
when everyone started to become more interested
with plans to become a doctor,” says Kevin. Those
in where our food came from.” One thing that makes
plans changed when the lure of farming proved too
our product so unique is that the corn is both grown
great to ignore. He came back to Lakeland in 1993
and milled on the property, so it is truly a farm-to-
and bought the farm from his dad and uncle.
table product. And they don’t use any preservatives to retain the flavor of just-picked corn, straight from
There’s a great pleasure that comes from working on
the field. “Gayla’s Grits are kind of like the Vidalia
the land. In those first years Shaw Farms produced
onion of grits,” says Kevin. “The location of where the
an abundance of cotton, peanuts and corn, which
corn is grown has a big impact on the great taste.”
they still grow today. Then, on New Year’s Eve, 1996, Kevin met Gayla. “Gayla and I began hanging out
“There’s a large demand for high-end food products,”
together,” recalls Kevin. “And soon after that we
Kevin adds. “You can eat them 1,000 different ways.”
collaborated on Gayla’s Grits.”
He and Gayla started selling to chefs and it has grown from there.
At first they thought it would be a clever thing to send to family and friends as holiday gifts, with
While the lack of preservatives make Gayla’s Grits
“Kevin has his hands in just about everything on the farm,” Gayla says of her husband. “He’s very creative and can do just about anything.”
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FOODIE
GAYLA’S GRITS ORIGINAL RECIPE
Yields 6 Servings
1 cup Gayla’s Grits
Directions:
1 tablespoon butter
Add butter and salt to boiling water, add Gayla’s Grits
1 teaspoon salt
and boil for 1 minute. Cover and cook on low for 1 hour,
4 cups water
stirring occasionally. Add water as needed for desired
4 ounces sour cream
consistency. Stir in mozzarella and sour cream with grits
4 ounces grated mozzarella cheese
before serving. Salt to taste.
so special, it also brings some challenges. Since they
between Gayla’s Grits and Georgia Olive Farms.
are essentially fresh white corn, they require cold
Kevin just tells them that it’s the same family, only
storage and cannot be left in the heat too long. But
different bank accounts.
Gayla and Kevin both know that with one taste of their unique product, both chefs and consumers are
But it seems that Georgia Olive Farms has hit the
sold on it.
same popularity with chefs as Gayla’s Grits has. The authentic flavor has caught the attention of
With his farm situated in agriculture-rich South
renowned chefs like Charleston’s Sean Brock and
Georgia, in 2008, Kevin felt it would be a good idea
Atlanta’s John Wolf.
to diversify his crop. A lot of people in Georgia were trying blueberries, but that didn’t feel quite right for
Kevin jokes that next he will get into the wine
them. A deal came up with his cousins Jason and
business, but Gayla knows with his entrepreneurial
Sam and their friend Berrien Sutton to grow olive
spirit he’s only half joking. With four kids and two
trees to produce olive oil. “We’re 6 or 7 years into it
farms, their life is plenty busy right now.
and we’ve crushed 3 crops with this mill we’re using now and we’re making some good oil,” says Kevin. The four partners started Georgia Olive Farms across
Kevin & Gayla Shaw
the street from Shaw Farms. With the locations so
Gayla’s Grits
close, people often get confused on the relationship
gaylasgrits.com 18
HEADLINER
Written by Andrea Goto Photographed by Steven Peters & Wyatt McSpadden 19
Any attempt to officially categorize the sounds of Shinyribs usually elicits a wandering list of genres held together more by hyphens than meaning. Kevin “Shinyribs” Russell says it was around the time the economy crashed in 2007 that he needed some extra cash to make payments toward a new family car. But, being on a musician’s salary, he needed a helluva lot more than that—something that went beyond the material and bordered into the existential. As it turned out, Kevin needed a new beginning. He tells the story of how Shinyribs, a former side-project in Houston, has evolved into an 8-piece band sitting in what he calls “the sweet spot” of music making. Shinyribs pushes the creative boundaries of country, rock and rhythm & blues—and has a damn good time doing it in sold-out shows across the Southeast. Kevin’s full-bodied performances are as much vocal as they are physical, with yodels and drawn-out notes that would leave lesser artists coming up for air. Sure, the car makes for a good story, and Kevin has a long playlist of them—like how a transient woman bestowed the moniker “Shinyribs” on him when he gave her some barbeque. Just a few minutes into our conversation, I’m thinking that the 48-year old has had the ‘ribs in him all along—he just needed life to crack him open and pull them out.
Begin Again Kevin spent nearly 20 years as the co-founder and lead singer of the Gourds, the Austin-based alternative country band whose 1998 cover of Snoop Dogg’s “Gin and Juice” garnered national attention and helped secure an energetic, willing-to-travel fan base. But over the years, tensions steadily built around the group’s creative direction and in October of 2013 they played a final marathon show to a sold-out crowd, leaving everything they had on stage and declaring an indefinite hiatus.
20
HEADLINER
Maybe it’s his Southern manners, or out of respect
Just as Kevin was entering his teenage years, an
for the men he worked alongside for two decades,
oil boom relocated the family to Houston and a
but Kevin’s not specific about the exact source of the
different life altogether. “Dad was making beaucoup
tension, although he does imply that the band had
bucks and we were living in this hoity-toity
run its creative course. Regardless, the unraveling
neighborhood,” he says. “That’s where my class
was slow and gradual, like a marriage-gone-stale
consciousness got raised—when we moved from
sure, you could make it work, but what’s really
a working class neighborhood to an upper-class
working when there’s no joy? How do you walk away
Houston suburb—and I was pissed off about it.”
from what seems like a sure thing from a financial standpoint? You just do. Because you have to.
So, Kevin did what any ticked-off, city-dwelling subversive would do in the ‘80s: he started a punk
“I’ve never wanted to play one style of music,” says
rock band. The band changed their name often until
Kevin. “I would go crazy. I have to mix it up and
settling on Malice. They played only one show—at
change it at some point.”
the Humboldt Middle School Valentine’s Day dance.
The need to do something different, to pay for the
“Two of the guys didn’t show up, so it was just
car and maybe even survive the tanking economy,
me and the drummer,” says Kevin. “The place was
brought on a series of events that helped lend
packed and by the time we finished, [it] had cleared
polish to Kevin’s ribs. The need also had its roots in
out. It was the worst show of my life.”
something further back, to a rebellious teenage boy raised in Texas on both sides of the financial divide,
An oil bust sent the family eastward again, this time
who longed to carve out his father’s deferred dream.
to Shreveport, Louisiana, where Kevin would finish
From the Texas Dust
out high school, while passing himself off as 18 to play in clubs with the country punk rock band Picket
Kevin was born in the late 1960’s in the refinery-
Line Coyotes, before eventually forming the Gourds
ridden town of Beaumont, Texas, where his father
with bandmate Jimmy Smith.
followed a conventional route to adulthood, marrying young, starting a family and settling down
Honkytonk Hybrid
to a job at an oil supply company, where he ran the
Southeast Texas, which Kevin describes as a
inventory system.
mishmash of Cajun, redneck and African American influences, has informed his personal and musical
Kevin’s father shared his love of music with his son,
identity as much as it has confused it.
teaching him how to play the guitar. “I think my dad was frustrated because he had some dreams that he
“It’s a weird, mysterious place,” says Kevin. “It’s dark,
never realized because he got married and had kids,”
murky, overgrown, and then there are oil refineries
explains Kevin. “He just didn’t have the same drive
and chemical plants everywhere. It’s a messed up,
that I did about [music].”
magical place. And the same can be said for the
Kevin’s full-bodied performances are as much vocal as they are physical, with yodels and drawn-out notes that would leave lesser artists coming up for air. 21
HEADLINER
people and the culture. It’s hard to figure out. That’s
A Shinyribs performance is equal parts Rat Pack and
part of the confusion about my music. Who am I?
revival. Kevin riffs on his guitar while telling stories.
What is this place I’m from? It makes no
His bandmates, which include bassist Jeff Brown,
damn sense.”
keyboardist Winfield Cheek and Gourds drummer Keith Langford, follow him on his impromptu
Instead of trying to tease out meaning from a place
wanderings.
that resists definition, Kevin plays in the peculiar and dances with dichotomies on tracks like “The Sacred
When fully amped, Kevin intermittently thwacks
& The Profane,” where he declares, “My garden will
and strums his 6-string ukulele, shaking his finger
grow out of the flames” to the blow of a brass horn.
and his hips more like an awkward teenage girl than a grown, goat-bearded man. It’s this pure
“Henry Thoreau said the best writers reflect on
joy in sharing his work—cutouts of the region, his
where they’re from. That’s what a writer is supposed
history and himself—that makes Shinyribs one of
to do,” says Kevin. “To me, that’s what I do.”
the most authentic Americana talents tearing up the Southeast.
Shinyribs marries every influence from zydeco and country to pop and blues into a hybrid sound that
“When we get out of this region and play towns
somehow manages to be seamless and make sense.
that have never seen us, it’s always fun to watch
But any attempt to officially categorize the sounds
faces and people are like, ‘Is this for real? Is this
of Shinyribs usually elicits a wandering list of genres
guy serious?’” says Kevin. “They have questions and
held together more by hyphens than meaning: it’s a
confusion. Then about halfway through it clicks.”
pop-rock, country-soul, swamp-funk, roots-band, if you string together the various descriptive attempts.
Just as this one time begin-again risk has clicked for
“You want to categorize it. It’s how we understand
Kevin. A sweet spot, indeed.
things,” Kevin says. “It’s the logical process you go through, but at some point you just have to put your hands up and say, ‘I don’t know what it is, but I like it.’”
Kevin Russell Shinyribs shinyribs.org 22
Written by Callie Sewell Photographed by Gabe Hanway Joseph Llanes David McClister
Spring in Thomasville is hard to beat – and even harder to beat when there is an actual beat, one that your toes can’t resist tapping to! Thomasville Center for the Arts in partnership with Thomasville National Bank has expanded the fifth annual Due South from one weekend to 12 days – all celebrating art, food and music…and the beats this year are crazy good. This year, the Festival is anchored by two incredible concerts at two distinct venues in the Red Hills region. Grab your lawn chair and join us as we celebrate the authentic connection between land, family and tradition mixed with the sights, sounds and tastes of the new south!
DUE SOUTH 2016 EVENT LINE UP APRIL 20: Brew South at Sweet Grass Dairy Cheese Shop. Kick off Due South at Brew South with live music, Sweetwater 420 brews and first dibs on Due South merchandise. Tickets for all festival events will be raffled off…tables are first come, first served!
APRIL 23: Due South at Studio 209 in downtown Thomasville. Due South’s first weekend concert event opens with Tallahassee’s Fried Turkeys, followed by Knoxville, Tennessee and Grand Ole Opry favorite, The Black Lillies. Get ready for the festival’s first headliner, Shinyribs from Austin. Lead singersongwriter Kevin Russell’s performances are
23
colorful, mixing country and soul with a little
The Futurebirds
swamp-funk tossed in for good measure!
have opened for the Truckers
Additionally, Savannah painter and photographer Cedric Smith will transform the Studio 209 warehouse gallery with work from his latest collection, which blends his unique perspective of southern heritage and Americana.
before, along with other heavy hitters like Widespread Panic and Grace Potter. Their
His critically acclaimed work has been in the New
energetic but
York Historical Society Museum, Atlanta Coca-
alternative country
Cola Company headquarters, Macon’s The Tubman
vibe blends
Museum, Washington’s D.C. Arts Commission
perfectly with Due
and has been featured in the New Yorker, New York
South’s second
Magazine, Art Business News and many more.
headliner, Drive-By
Inspired by the southern farmer, Cedric’s exhibition,
Truckers.
Soul to Soil, will open in conjunction with this year’s
The Truckers have
VIP Party experience…and keep your eyes peeled
owned the stage
for a new piece of public art in the Creative District!
since 1996, with
$10 general admission, VIP experience starts at $150,
legendary vocalists,
coolers not permitted. thomasvillearts.org
songwriters and guitarists Patterson
APRIL 28: Landmarks Porch Party. Landmarks
Hood and Mike
is combining history with bluegrass on the historic
Cooley leading
Hebard House’s front porch during the second week
the charge. Often compared to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Neil
of Due South! Expect to hear banjo beats from the
Young and other southern rockers, the Drive-By
Kenny Hill Band while enjoying southern libations
Truckers sing about the south and
and light fare. $15, thomasvillelandmarks.org.
the duality it entails – both pride & shame.
APRIL 30: Two Brothas & a Sista! Made It Workshop at Studio 209. Sturdy Brothers’ Ben Young and Thomasville Center for the Arts’ Painter-inResidence Emily Arwood are joining forces for a collaborative workshop during Due South’s second weekend. Spaces are limited, so grab yours today! $75, thomasvillearts.org.
The festival’s celebration of music and food continues with a food truck roundup, but be sure to pack your favorite beverage in a cooler because no alcohol will be for sale on site.
$40,
thomasvillearts.org.
MAY 1: Due South at Tall Timbers in Tallahassee.
We can’t wait to celebrate five years
To close out the Festival, Athens powerhouse
with you!
bands, the Futurebirds and Drive-By Truckers, will command the stage with their signature southern sounds overlooking beautiful Lake Iamonia.
DUE SOUTH thomasvillearts.org
24
Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher. - William Wordsworth
411 Gordon Avenue, Thomasville, GA
|
229-226-2565
|
alexandervann.com
THE ARIOPSIS FELIS 77
EXPLORER
Written by Sean Dietrich
When a surgeon cuts you open, it’s hard not to feel like a gutted catfish lying on the garage floor. In fact, that’s what my neurosurgeon said when he inspected his handiwork. “Son,” he remarked. “Your backside looks like a sliced mud cat.”
Paintings by Sean Dietrich
I gave an insincere, morphine-induced smile. He probed my incisions and said, “But don’t worry, now you’re as good as new.” Well, I was anything but “new,” but more like busted crackers in a lunchbox. “I don’t feel new,” I said. He removed his gloves. “Look, you’re lucky to be alive after a car accident like yours. What you need is a vacation, to heal.” He held up his hand. “Now gimme five, catfish.” He slapped my hand, then asked which flavor of sucker I preferred. Sucker? It’s a wonder this quack ever made it through med-school. I chose strawberry. It’s strange what the human mind is able to forget. Over the next week, I don’t remember much. All I recall are medicated memories of infomercials. Along with Julia Child teaching me how to prepare Chicken Cordon Bleu — which as it happens, is remarkably easy. My wife packed our suitcases while I half-slept. Then, she muscled me into the passenger seat of our car, a task she somehow managed singlehanded. We set off for a long drive. A quiet one, on a flat highway. We drove past
78
EXPLORER
marshlands, grass-flats, palmettos, and Gulf
mesmerized with our beach house’s kitchen.
water. The glare through the windshield
It’s all she talked about.
sunburned the whiteness out of my legs. “You wouldn’t believe this!” she called from When my eyes fell shut, I could still visualize
the other room. “This gas stove boils water so
jarring memories from my recent accident. An
fast. God, I love gas stoves, don’t you?”
SUV slamming into my tail. The airbags. My windshield crumbling into crushed ice.
I laid on the chaise lounge in the patio, staring at the Gulf. I didn’t have the energy
When I awoke I was greeted by a big sign.
God gave a throw pillow. So I just grunted.
“Welcome to Port Saint Joe, Florida, The
She went on, “I wish we had a gas stove, don’t
Constitution City.”
you wish that?”
“Wake up, catfish,” my wife said. “We’re here.”
No. What I wished, was that my backside didn’t look like I’d skipped through a briar
79
~
patch without pants on.
After a week’s vacation, my wife was still
When my wife meandered onto the patio, I
EXPLORER
gave my best impersonation of a sleeping corpse. Snoring for effect. “Stop pretending,” she said to me. “I know you’re not asleep. Now turn over, catfish, I need to check those bandages.” She was the most persistent nurse you’ve ever met. Every ten-damned-minutes she rolled me over to examine my hindcheeks. Then, she’d say something like, “Hmmm.” And I would respond with the same moan you often hear from cranky toddlers in heavy diapers. She studied the stitches running from my mid-back to the place where the Good Lord split me. Then she giggled. “Your bruises look funny.” “Funny?” “Yep, it looks like your mother slapped the Holy Spirit out of your bottom.” I yanked my belt upward. “Don’t you have someone else you can harass? I’m trying to be miserable in peace out here.” “Oh no,” she proclaimed. “You’re not wallowing today.” She nodded toward the beach. “Today, you’re going down there.” Without pause, she galloped inside and reemerged like a magician’s assistant. In her hands: two fishing rods and my tackle box. “Ta-da!” And it was then I knew this woman had squarely lost her mind. “Honey, don’t be absurd. I can’t go fishing. I can’t even use the toilet without saying the Lord’s Prayer.”
80
EXPLORER
“Oh hush.” She swatted me with a net.
uninterested in fishing. But my wife knew
“You’re going, and that’s final. I don’t care if
better than that. Everyone did. For Christ’s
I have to drag you down there kicking and
sake, the bumper sticker on my wrecked truck
screaming.”
read, “Thy rod and thy reel comfort me.”
And as it turns out.
I suppose there are worse ways to recover from spinal surgery.
That’s exactly what she had to do. That day, we ate pimento cheese sandwiches In my battered condition, I was unable to
and drank sweet tea until our jaws hurt. And
cast into the Gulf surf. And, since my wife
laughed. We laughed so hard my stitches
wasn’t able to either, she improvised. In the
burned. She held my hand. She said she loved
spirit of teamwork, she swam my baited
me, and I had the gall to believe her. And for
hooks out into the surf like a labrador, while
the first time since my accident, I felt a shred
I sat ashore like somebody’s mixed-up
of simple joy.
grandaddy. Then it happened. Together, we stayed beneath the umbrella all day. At first, I pretended to be wholly
81
The tip of my fishing rod arced downward. My
EXPLORER
reel whizzed so loud it nearly caught fire. And even though there wasn’t a damn thing I could do, I shouted, “Fish!” My wife sprang to her feet, took the rod, and fought against Jonah’s whale while I cheered her on. After ten minutes of struggling, she yanked thirty pounds of hulking ocean life from the water, plopping it onto the sand. Two whiskered catfish looked up at us, clinging to life. “Aw hell,” I said. “They’re only catfish.” “Only catfish?” She nudged one with her foot and bent down for a better look. “Don’t you see? It’s a sign.” “A sign?” “These two are companions. Wherever one goes, the other goes too. Together, through good and bad.” One fish kicked its tail so hard it somersaulted. My wife cut the line, hurled them into the Gulf, and waved farewell. I think I even waved, too. Because, as it turns out, those two creatures were special. They belonged to God, and each other. And well. I’m not talking about the catfish anymore.
SEAN DIETRICH seandietrich.com 82
83
TASTEMAKER
Written by
Jackie Ellis Johnson and I sit down in the back of Fuzzy Goat, the yarn shop
Jennifer Westfield
on West Jackson Street, just as the rain starts working itself into an urgent crescendo. There are few places one might feel cozier during a thunderstorm
Photographed by Gabe Hanway
than in this rustic, colorful space, with its cool vintage crates of yarn bouquets, exposed brick walls, finished projects you want to wear immediately and effusive owner, Cadence Kidwell. I look around the shop and ask Jackie where something like this begins. She managed everything, from resuscitating and restoring the space, to the merchandising, lighting and window displays. I tell her that I love everything about Fuzzy Goat, right down to its kooky, adorable logo. “The brand is really at the heart of every design project,” she says. “With Cadence, we started from ground zero. You begin with a logo and then everything starts coming out of it—a color palette, finishes. Cadence is fun and has so much energy—this just reads like her brain.” The relationships Jackie builds with her clients are paramount to her process. It involves her getting to know them so well, she can extract their very essence and fill a space with it, down to the minutest detail. In other words, she builds you something better than what you might have built for yourself. “When I told Jackie that this run-down building was the one I was buying,” Cadence later tells me, “she rolled up her sleeves and said, ‘We’re going to make this fabulous.’ She took my ridiculous dream of quitting my job to open a yarn shop and made it real. The shop feels completely me and yet I never would have gotten here without her.” As Jackie gives me the list of her innumerable Thomasville projects, it occurs to me how drastically different the retail and restaurant experiences might be if she hadn’t moved back here seven years ago. Jackie has either fully managed 84
TASTEMAKER
After finishing a degree in apparel design and merchandising, she first moved to Washington, DC, with the intention of being a fashion industry buyer. “I hated it,” she says. “All I did was sit at a computer, punch in equations and stare at spreadsheets. The one thing or had a significant hand in the interior design
I got from that degree was the knowledge of what
for Water Lily, Liam’s, Kevin’s, Jonah’s, Live Young
companies need to make money.”
Studio and the original location of Sweet Grass Dairy Cheese Shop. That’s the shortlist.
She took a job with Neiman Marcus, which landed her in Charlotte, and eventually working for a
And they are all so different. Liam’s resembles an
smaller, private retailer. “Working for Neiman’s was a
intimate European bistro, with its dark finishes and
beautiful experience,” she says. “I got to be involved
dedication to culinary decadence that is (literally)
in the huge window displays there, but because
carved into the walls. Jonah’s, on the other hand,
every store has to have something similar, corporate
could be picked up by an imaginary crane and
merchandising is very buttoned up. I learned so
dropped in Nantucket without anyone thinking it
much, but still wanted to have my own creative
was out of place.
expression.”
“Each of these projects is such a labor of love,” she
These years provided her invaluable firsthand
says. “Every brand needs to feel special. There is
merchandising experience, she says. “I got turned
nothing in Fuzzy Goat that is in Live Young, Liam’s
on to how people are attracted to things. It’s almost
or Jonah’s. Kevins’ Thomasville store is such an
like a science directing customers to what you want
important visual for their business, so I have to ask
them to need, what you want them to see.”
myself, ‘What do they want people to experience when they walk through the door?’”
While shifting over to private retail allowed her more of the freedom she wanted, it still wasn’t enough.
Jackie says the kind of creativity that comes with
When her husband Matt suggested that she should
making every project unique is intense. “Each client
try going out on her own, Jackie was 26. It would be
sort of becomes an extension of myself,” she says.
insane, she says, for someone to think they could do
“These people are putting their hearts and their
that successfully.
money into this and I feel like I have to give that same energy.”
At that point, she and Matt were getting ready to move to Charleston when Jackie’s sister called from
When I ask if this career path had been her goal
Thomasville and asked for help with planning her
from the start, she tells me she actually entered
wedding.
the University of Alabama thinking she’d become a fashion designer. That she’d work in retail and
“My sister was in law school,” Jackie says, “and
maybe open her own store.
she asked me, ‘Can I just hire you to do the whole
85
TASTEMAKER
wedding and I’ll just show up?’ So I moved home
somebody stop? You have about four seconds and if
for four months. While I was here, I got to see the
you don’t nail it visually, it’s hard for a new brand to
people I’d grown up with and I started getting hired
get attention.”
to do little things.” Blackberry Patch was already an established brand Her first commission was a window display for
when Jackie was called in. “The first thing we had
Kathy’s Shoes store on Broad Street. “I hadn’t done
to do was look at their logo. I told them, ‘There is
window displays in years,” she says, “and I think
nowhere I can take you when this is where we start.’
that’s all people thought I did, but I was really doing
“They were open to it, so they worked with Fontaine
the interior of these places. You just didn’t see me.”
Maury Brand and Design to redesign their image.”
One thing led to another, she says. Two years later, Matt moved back to Thomasville, where they’ve
The process for Lizzy J.’s shotgun shell jewelry was
since settled and welcomed a daughter, Roslyn, 20
similar. “We did their first booth and now they’re
months, who is currently obsessed with cows.
in Bass Pro. And each booth has gotten bigger and grander.”
“Having a baby completely changed my life,” she says. “Since Rozzie was born, I can’t work into the
Because of the exposure she gets from the shows,
night like I used to. I have to be home by 6:00 and
Jackie has clients all over North America and has
give her that time. In a lot of ways, it’s actually
received requests from people wanting to intern
better because I have this structure that wasn’t
for her. “It’s hilarious,” she says. “They e-mail me
there before.”
thinking I work in New York City.”
Trade show booths comprise another hugely
Why doesn’t she work in New York City? I have to
successful arm of Jackie’s design business.
ask because she obviously could and isn’t that every
Remember when the town was abuzz over
designer’s dream?
Blackberry Patch’s line of fruit syrups becoming one of Oprah’s ‘Favorite Things’? It was Jackie who built
“Family,” she says without missing a beat. “I can’t
the trade show booth that was noticed by Oprah’s
stress enough how I would not be able to do the
reps.
things that I do without Matt and the support of my family.”
“It’s completely visual at those shows,” she says. Out of thousands and thousands of booths, what makes
She is set, she says, living in the town where she grew up, where her parents still live and where she met her husband in June Bailey White’s first grade class at Jerger Elementary. “Thomasville has evolved so much since I was growing up here,” she says. “I am so excited for my daughter to get to experience all it has to offer.”
Jackie Ellis Johnson Jackie Ellis Johnson Design jejohnsondesign.com 86
87
Levittown
Written by
Jennifer Westfield Photographed by Abby Mims
On a brisk, monochrome day in January, city planner Brian Herrmann and I take a stroll down Victoria Place, a quiet lane off of West Jackson Street, nestled on the southern fringes of where the brick-laid thoroughfares of downtown give way to southeast Thomasville’s residential sprawl. It is here that plans for a major urban redevelopment are
LeavinG
beginning to take shape, as measurable strides have been made over the last two years by Brian’s Office of Planning within the City of Thomasville and community partners. With unprecedented levels of public input, they’ve mobilized to develop plans for a major revitalization of the downtown area and environs. At the heart of proposals for the Victoria Park project and the Creative District is Brian’s specialty: zoning codes. These also happen to be at the center of a movement in city planning called new urbanism, of which Brian has long been a practicing proponent. While reading about zoning codes and the corresponding standards for streetscapes, parking placement, frontage types and signage might be about as thrilling as watching paint dry, the experience of an urban epicenter that has been zoned using form-based code is anything but. Chances are you’ve experienced one and didn’t even know it.
88
PLACEMAKER
with historic preservation,” Brian says. “In fifty years, this will all still be here.” The finished Victoria Park will be a so-called traditional neighborhood, employing form-based code so that multiple land uses are in a single area; these neighborhoods are called traditional because they harken back to when everything we needed to live was no further than our legs could carry us. The shift away from traditional zoning began after World War II; the birth of the interstate highway system, low oil prices and super-affordable housing made the suburb the place to live and the automobile the prominent mode of transport. Conventional planning reflected this in its sharp separation of civic spaces and commercial, residential and natural areas. Levittown, New York, became the model of the movement. Fifty years later, Brian says, new urbanism seeks to What Habersham in Beaufort, South Carolina,
depart from the American suburban phase. “Ten-plus
Rosemary Beach on Scenic Route 30A in the
years ago, he says, “most young planners came out of
Florida panhandle, Centennial Place in Atlanta and
school and immediately aligned themselves with the
Birmingham’s Mt. Laurel and Metropolitan Gardens
American Planning Association (APA), the traditional
all have in common is a sense of place that was
oversight organization for the profession. I was
made for walkable, adaptable living.
fortunate enough to gain exposure to the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) while still in school, and
On Victoria Place, there are currently several new
it dramatically altered both my educational and
and rehabbed single-family homes with a unified
professional choices thereafter.”
aesthetic. The wide berth of the lane and the close facades of the homes are already providing a visual
Early in his education, the Cotton District in
draw. “Investors should know that this is good for
Starkville, Mississippi, which is credited as new
economic development and can go hand-in-hand
urbanism’s first development, had a heavy influence
89
PLACEMAKER
I see a Thomasville that celebrates its past and isn’t afraid to showcase the future.
On our walk back down Victoria Place, I ask Brian what the city might look like in 20 years’ time. “The city that I envision,” he says, “is one that respects and gains inspiration from its past—We can build new and creative places that will someday
on Brian; he later joined planning teams in Beaufort
evoke just as much pride as those that we currently
County, Daufuskie Island and Port Royal, South
cherish. I see a Thomasville that celebrates its past
Carolina, where the plans he helped put together
and isn’t afraid to showcase the future.”
received multiple awards. Brian was first brought to Thomasville as a consultant on the Victoria Park project and eventually asked to stay and accept the position of city planner. “Form-based code brings together where we live, learn, shop, play and work, rather than segregating the functions,” he says. “But designing communities is more than just mapping where the residential, commercial and industrial parcels belong. Good design involves greater attention to streetscapes, sidewalks, lighting, parking, the form of the structures in an area and more.” Another facet of his formula, the charrette, is one that he employs whenever he can. Thomasville hosted its first ever charrette in 2014 and for three days, the city gathered the input of local stakeholders, businesses, organizations and the public to draw up plans for a proposed Creative District. A second ever charrette was held in June 2015 for a potential events center at the old Rose’s building.
Brian Herrmann Office of Planning City of Thomasville
90
91
COLLECTOR
Written by Alison Abbey
It is a surprisingly warm winter day in South Georgia—in
Photographed by
Bainbridge, to be exact.
Alicia Osborne
Jessica Grace Allen is rocking a white sleeveless crocheted dress, brown boots and bare legs. We are standing in the middle of Bainbridge’s downtown Square, looking at Maiden South - she and partner Natalie’s labor-of-love retail shop. “When I first moved to Bainbridge,” she says with a reminiscent smile, “I remember looking at this building and saying I want to live there (pointing to the upstairs apartment) and open a shop there.” The second “there” would be today’s Maiden South. “Come on in,” says Natalie with a laugh as she places their outdoor chalkboard sign on the sidewalk. She is six months pregnant, wearing a pink blouse, topped with a delicate Sea + Stone necklace by Tallahassee born jewelry designer Megan Proctor. The sign reads, “Make today ridiculously amazing… (Why not start here?)” It is quickly apparent that both women adhere to this motto, and starting “here” sounds like a fun invitation. Maiden South is a shop steeped in rich Southern tradition, with the tagline “Curators of American Craft” displayed on the store’s front window. Founders Natalie and Jessica opened the Bainbridge space with the goal of fostering creativity and fellowship in their community. With its curated selection of handcrafted goods and Crafty Classes, it’s doing exactly that. “So much of the South’s history is based on the work the women did behind
92
COLLECTOR
“So much of the South’s history is based on the work the women did behind the scenes, and so many of those skills and crafts were passed down through generations of women.” the scenes, and so many of those skills and crafts
And feature them they do. Maiden South’s collection
were passed down through generations of women,”
includes a selection of candles, clothing, art and
Natalie says. “We wanted to create a place where
more, each lovingly handmade in the U.S.
that could be taught. We wanted to encourage those
“Seventy-five percent of our stuff is Southern,” says
skills, foster them and also provide a place where
Jessica. “We support small makers and although
people could come learn them.”
some may not be in the South, they are the pioneer spirit, American-made kind of people that we are
Jessica echoes that Southern sentiment. “We believe
happy to represent.”
that we are strong successful women and we are surrounded by strong successful women, but we
Natalie and Jessica represent that pioneer spirit
also love the domestic arts. They don’t have to work
themselves. The two first met less than two years
against each other. We believe they can co-exist. We
ago, when they came together to talk about a shared
want to encourage people to gather, share stories,
charitable interest. A few hours later, they were
share a skill and we like to feature the things we’re
friends. And partners, in a business that would run
proud of.”
in addition to their fulltime, nine-to-five jobs.
93
“We sat for hours and really connected through our passions, similarities and interests,” Jessica says. “Within six months of meeting, we were planning our business. We both believe in doing and not talking, and we both believe in pursuing things if you want them to happen. I trusted her immediately.” And for all of their shared philosophies, the two differ in ways that create a perfect business balance. Jessica’s background is in retail and her creative power best shines in merchandising the space. Every nook is intentional, thoughtful and pretty. Wooden baby toys rest in a canoe turned upright; witty birthday cards hang from a chicken wire mannequin; vintage books, including a 1967 baby blue Bainbridge phonebook, are tucked around the store like little treasures to discover. “Jessica’s in all the shelves and on all the hangers and in all the windows,” Natalie says. “She’s very much the person who makes everything run smoothly on a day to day basis.” For Natalie’s part, she brings in an array of qualities on almost the opposite end of the spectrum. She is the Chief Compliance Officer at TNB Financial Services in Thomasville. She’s the blogger behind oystersandpearls.net. She’s a beekeeper. She knits. Natalie doesn’t seem heavy left or right brained, but exudes the qualities of each simultaneously. Jessica says, “Natalie embodies the handmade spirit the shop has come to represent. She’s a great maker. She can pretty much make everything we sell and is great with people, so she’s wonderful at building community and a rapport.” For Jessica, a Bainbridge native who spent the first years of her career in Nashville, and Florida transplant Natalie, Maiden South is in many ways a love letter to their community. “I’m not from Bainbridge originally, says Natalie. “I moved here when I got married to my husband and
94
their one-year anniversary. They give back ten percent of their annual profit to local charities. During our time together, people kept walking in the front doors, hoping for the shop to be opened. “We’re like a magnet to the wandering lost spirits in the community here,” says Jessica. “You wouldn’t believe how many people find us who don’t necessarily have a tribe of their own. They’re these creative souls that needed somebody to listen to their stories. We draw people like that in, and I love that.” Natalie and Jessica give people not only a place to gather but also a reason to with Maiden South’s Crafty Classes. The weekly classes have included
“You wouldn’t believe how many people find us who don’t necessarily have a tribe of their own. They’re these creative souls that needed somebody to listen to their stories. We draw people like that in, and I love that.””
lessons in plasma cutting, hand lettering, metal stamping and wood burning. “We wanted to introduce people to new skills,” says Natalie. “Even if they only try it once, it gives them an appreciation for what other people do. We’re hopefully fostering a creative community and encouraging that spirit in Bainbridge.” And beyond. Right now they are focusing on their digital reach. “Our hope is to really grow the online presence,” says Jessica. “While we believe in our community here, we also believe in the greater community out there: people who are really interested in knowing who their maker is and buying items that can make a difference.”
he’s born and raised here. Sometimes people don’t see how many amenities we have right here in
As they have grown, the Maiden South mavens
this sweet, quaint little town and in the southwest
continue to carve out a legacy for their business and
Georgia area,” she adds.” We really wanted Maiden
themselves.
South to be something that helps our little town.” “I hope that one day I will have a kid that knows It does help. So much so that Maiden South
that I didn’t give up on what I wanted to do,” says
expanded in October of 2015, right at the mark of
Natalie, absently placing her hand on her belly.
95
“Hopefully he or she will see that as they grow up,
mission statement, noting that they are inspired by
they can have an idea and not be afraid to make it
Ephesians 2:10. “For we are God’s handiwork, created
happen.”
in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Jessica agrees. “I would hope the lasting impact is, If you dream it, you do it. I would hope [Maiden South]
“Practice what you preach” comes to mind and
would be an encouragement for someone who has
indeed, these two women do.
the spark of an idea, the spark of a chance and that they would just do it,” she says. Doing good, personally, for the Bainbridge community and beyond, is so important to the women that they made it a part of the shop’s
Jessica Grace Allen & Natalie Kirbo Maiden South Maidensouth.com 96
FEATURED Artists SEAN DIETRICH
Southern made the leap to print in fall of 2015
Sean Dietrich is a columnist,
as a quarterly print publication. Siobhan has an
humorist and novelist, known
unhealthy obsession with cheese, reading young
for his commentary on life
adult novels, the New York Yankees and she will
in the American South. His
forever be an Irish dancer. paprikasouthern.com
humor columns and short stories appear in various
APRIL GABOR
publications throughout
April Tillman Gabor was born
the Southeast, including South Magazine, The
and raised in South Georgia.
Bitter Southerner, Tallahassee Democrat and he has
After eleven unbeatable
authored five novels. An avid sailor and fisherman,
years in the Big Apple and a
when he’s not writing, he spends much of his time
few in the City of Angels, she
aboard his sailboat (The S.S. Squirrel), along with his coonhound, Ellie Mae. seandietrich.com
relocated her family back to the Dirty South. Before pursuing photography full-time, April was the Studio Coordinator
SCOTT DOYON
for legendary National Geographic and Magnum
After growing up outside
photographer, Steve McCurry. Her work has been
Washington, D.C., and
represented in many New York galleries and
graduating from Virginia
featured in numerous publications. She currently
Commonwealth University,
resides in Atlanta (Decatur) with her husband, two
Scott Doyon followed the
daughters and beloved rescue pooch, Lulu.
lure of rock and roll —
tadpolestudios.com & apriltillman.com
together with the almost total absence of fortune or notoriety it typically represents — to Atlanta,
ANDREA GOTO
living and performing with a collection of school
Born and raised in the Pacific
buddies. Leveraging his degree, he paid the bills
Northwest, Andrea Goto has
along the way as a niche brand strategist with global
called Savannah home for
agency, J Walter Thompson. He settled in 2002 on
16 years, finally replacing
placemaking and community-building as his sole
“you guys” with “y’all” and
vocational focus. He’s lived in Decatur, Georgia,
“pop” with “Coke.” As a writing
since 1996 with his wife Robin and since 1999, his
professor at the Savannah College of Art and
daughter Ruby. His periodic thoughts on community
Design, regular contributor to Savannah magazine,
can be found at scottdoyon.com.
co-author of Jamie Deen’s first solo cookbook, Good Food, and mother to a native-born child who
Siobhan Egan
insists she’s a “Bulldog,” Andrea can almost pass as
A native of Yonkers, New
Southern—bless her heart. Follow her running blog
York, Siobhan Egan moved to
at andreagoto.net.
Savannah for graduate school in 2005, where she discovered that she enjoyed a non-snow shoveling life and decided to stick around for the foreseeable future. With a background in journalism and photojournalism and her love of fine art, she was excited to bring all of her experiences together with Paprika Southern, founded in 2013 as an online magazine. Paprika 97
TO BECOME A FEATURED ARTIST Illustrators, Photographers, Writers and Graphic Designers Please contact Thomasville Center for the Arts (229) 226-0588 | thom@thomasvillearts.org