Collage – Cre8-Space

Cara Heard: Mixed Media Artist

Cara taught herself to paint, built Lush Art to teach others, and then sold her business 11 years later. She’s navigating this transition — mourning Lush Art while looking ahead to reinvent her livelihood. Find out how she’s doing. And how she does it with such wit and grace.

Self-taught artists rarely start a business where they get to teach others. But Cara Heard did. That’s how brave she is.

“I try to avoid fear,” Cara says. “Nothing good ever comes from living in a state of fear. People can get stuck in it.”

Starting a business of any kind takes courage. Cara didn’t just start a business while living amongst people who knew and loved her. Oh, no, she brought her teaching studio Lush Art from North Carolina to Warner Robins, Georgia, when her husband Jon got a job at Perdue in nearby Perry. She didn’t know a soul in middle Georgia.

Not a soul.

Cara wanted to lift souls up, though, so she created Lush Art as a safe space for creativity, experimentation, and growth, and where she enjoyed watching women blossom with confidence in their artistry. Through Lush Art, Cara built a team of instructors who taught adults and children from surrounding towns, and then a few years later moved the team to a 1920 Sears Roebuck Kit Home on Main Street in quaint Perry, Georgia — affectionately called “Perry-dise” by locals. Over the years, her the team and regular clients became family.

“Lush evolved into a vibrant community and a home for people to bring art into their hearts and minds,” Cara says. “While it started under the genre of ‘paint and sip,’ that term began to make me cringe just a year in because Lush Art had become so much more.”

Watching women blossom and celebrating each client was Cara’s barometer of how much her own cup was being filled through her business.

Just one class of regulars, loving their Lush Art experience with Cara (center bottom).

Cara likes change, seeks it out at times, and is resilient when change is pushed upon her. She likes trying new things and is continually learning, even from mistakes.

Running a small business requires that kind of curiosity and flexibility. As the years ticked by and Lush Art settled into class schedules for adults and summer camps for kids, the routine became… well… routine. Maybe even rut-like. The pandemic and its aftermath also seemed to change the dynamic of clients and their expectations.

“To learn something new we must be willing to be beginners again,” Cara says, “And I was seeing that people wanted to be masters right away. They didn’t have the beginner’s mind.”

Now when Cara would ask herself if her cup was being filled or drained, more often the answer was “drained.” Slowly — like the formation of an idea to divorce a spouse — Cara was feeling, but not quite seeing, a need to divorce herself from Lush Art; an acknowledgement that would take time to face fully, and one she couldn’t speak out loud for months.

“I was meeting with my Small Business Administration consultant and discussing my feelings about Lush Art, and she just said to me, ‘Sounds like you don’t want to be here anymore.’ And I repeated what she said, ‘I don’t want to be here anymore.’”

a Cara Heard original mixed media piece.

The first time Cara said those words out loud was the beginning of her current transition: putting her business up for sell, turning it over to a new owner, and figuring out how she wanted to make art and a living.

“They say selling a business is like a death,” Cara says, “And you go through the stages of grief.”

Even though Cara chose to sell her business, it’s her baby, existing because of her drive and hard work, and years tending to all the demands of a small business.

Like most people who identify with their job, Cara identified herself as being Lush Art.

“I’m still in mourning and I have to decide who I am without Lush Art,” Cara says.

Yet, the sell of her business couldn’t have been more perfect. Organic even. Cara sold it to Heather DeLoatch, a friend and long-time Lush Art instructor and manager.

Cara and Heather met years before when Heather was teaching English at Georgia Military College and bartending at Wartown Taphouse in Warner Robins. Heather was responsible for the menu art behind the bar and when Cara, a patron of the bar, saw the art she asked, “who did that?” Heather owned up, causing Cara to instantly say, “You’re going to teach art,” and Heather instantly responding, “No, I’m not.”

Guess who won? Cara convinced Heather to start working as an assistant at Lush Art… and eventually coached her to start teaching. When the manager of Lush Art moved away, Heather took on the management role while continuing to teach.

“After years of managing Lush Art, I felt comfortable doing the business side. When Cara decided to sell the business, my husband and I thought about buying it.”

Heather and her husband own Lumber & Ink, a woodworking shop, and are familiar with the ins and outs of running a small artist-based business, so they decided to buy Lush Art.

“I’ve always said my life is like an I Love Lucy episode,” Cara wrote on Instagram during the transition, “and I’m so thankful to have had Heather be my Ethel all these years. I’m so proud of who [Heather] has become and who she will go on to be.”

Lush Art Studio on Main Street in Perry, Georgia.

Now that Heather has taken over Lush Art, and added “Studio” to the business name, regulars can still find lots of fun and engaging classes at the old Sears house on Main Street. Plus, the studio instructors participate in local events held at unique venues — Main St. Bar in Perry, for example — where they share their love of art with folks from all over middle Georgia.

Over the years, using her collaborative instincts, Cara has coached people into becoming true artists and then coaxed them into becoming assistants and teachers, just as she did with Heather.

Adrianne Jones is another perfect example of Cara’s “proactive” mentoring style. An Air Force IT system Program Lead, Adrianne found painting at Lush Art to be therapeutic. As a self-described Type A personality, she felt challenged by Cara’s art classes where visual abstraction rules.

“Her classes wreaked havoc on my need for patterns, neat lines, and ordered blending,” Adrianne says. “I got into it so much Cara eventually dubbed me Blendy McBlenderson.”

Adrianne learned from Cara to let go and trust the process.

“I’m a HUGE trust-the-process fan,” says Cara. “I’m also a huge proponent of if-it-doesn’t-work, doesn’t-spark-feeling, isn’t-right… I’ll just paint over it.”

Adrianne enjoyed taking Cara’s cues to shut down her analytical brain while creating — without being concerned about the final product.

“I started working at Lush Art kind of on a whim,” Adrianne says. “Cara and I were out for drinks bemoaning the retirement of one of Lush Art’s favorite instructors. Since I’m a fixer, I was offering up a pep talk and said, ‘Cara, you have seven years worth of her paintings. Hire somebody to teach repeats.’ Well, guess who she hired to teach the repeats? Me!”

In her usual way of knowing what others need before they know themselves, Cara began giving Adrianne “assignments” that led to the creation of original artwork.

“Cara knew I loved a challenge and she dared me out of my comfort zone,” Adrianne says.

Adrianne expresses how inspired she is by Cara’s approach to living out loud, displaying emotions authentically, letting others know it’s okay “to be on the struggle bus with something,” showing her creativity by pairing wild colors and patterns in her clothing and art, and having the audacity to pursue “her big, crazy ideas,” all with “a strong dose of sarcasm and excellent sense of humor.”

Lush Art Studio has a new owner who’s building on the Lush Art family Cara started years ago, and continuing to grow the studio from the roots of courage, authenticity, and wildness planted at its inception.

“I’ve tended to meet people when they were going through some deep, dark shit,” Cara says. “And I’ve been thrilled to see people ‘trust the process’ using art to pull them out. And… perhaps a well-placed curse word or phallic joke helped, too.”

Cara, inspired by nature, with her plein air painting.

Self-Taught & Driven

Cara, originally from Greenwood, Arkansas, spent her early career as a hair stylist, having ample opportunities to stretch her creative muscles while listening to her clients and giving them what they wanted. Styling hair may be the most difficult client-based service out there; one wrong snip and the client can be devastated.

Understanding each person’s needs and using artistic precision to cut and color hair taught Cara how to make people happy, one client at a time.

Later, as a stay-at-home Mom with her young son Griffin, Cara missed having that creative outlet and decided to learn to paint, not just to express herself but also as a way to decorate her home without spending tons of money on mass-produced art — which is still a point of contention for her to this day. (See the Appendix below for buying original art in the Macon/Middle Georgia area).

Through experimentation, Cara eventually landed on mixed media as her favorite form of expression.

“I can’t just create, though,” Cara says about her creative process, clearly driven by her need to always be free to explore her way. We might even say Cara has a need to re-wild herself to find her creative groove.

“It’s like a book club,” She says. “If I’m told I have to read a specific book, my brain rebels and wants to do anything other than read that book. Sometimes I can fake it and make it happen but that’s rare and whatever I paint looks forced.”

Wanting to teach others to paint authentically from their gut makes complete sense for Cara, who uses color without hesitation to express her inner wild child. She might be an introvert, but her artwork shouts in brilliant hues.

“I spent a lot of time in my head as a child, have always had a big imagination and have always been a daydreamer. Is it manifesting? Is it a waste of time? Is it a way to relax? Who knows? Before I go to sleep I imagine things I’d like to happen.”

These days, Cara is looking for a balance between making art and making a living. Through Cara Heard Co she offers marketing consulting and content creation, and occasionally she teaches mixed media art (such as at Wesleyan College in Macon where I took her class). Cara also co-manages 478 Creatives, a group of artists, photographers, graphic designers, writers, ceramicists, etc., from all over Middle Georgia who meet monthly in Macon.

Cara and her Co-Manager of 478 Creatives, Erin Hawkins, a Macon-based muralists and graphic designer, each earn a small stipend that covers their management expenses but isn’t enough to support them. That hasn’t stopped Cara and Erin from creating a robust program for 478 Creatives members while pursuing their individual art careers.

“Cara is one of my favorite people to brainstorm with,” Erin says. “Her creative ideas are always inspiring and thought-provoking.”

Erin Hawkins and Cara Heart, Co-Managers of 478 Creatives.

Cara and Erin made a strategic move for their creative group by forming a partnership with the Macon Arts Alliance, providing the Alliance with access to the creative people they want to promote while also giving creatives a way to embed in Macon’s cultural scene.

Layers Upon Layers

Cara considers herself “silly and sarcastic,” but there’s nothing silly about Cara or her concern for others, including animals. Her sarcasm is light and humorous.

She doesn’t hide her emotions or thoughts, which most people appreciate as Cara being authentically Cara. She is kind, a smile at the ready behind her big blue eyes, but she’s also complex, formed of layers like the mixed media art she creates.

“I like layers,” Cara laughs. “The more layers the better. The reason I’ve latched on to mixed media is because there can be so many stories in the layers. I can hide things that only I know are in there. I also set an intention for each piece, or for the owner of the piece… And even after I forget what is hidden, I know the intention was good or powerful. I believe it gives the art energy.”

Not that she’s covering everything up. Cara delights in her clients finding the meaningful symbols she layers into their commissioned art pieces. After all, it was covering up “mistakes” that made Cara love mixed media.

“I started in mixed media by painting over paintings I didn’t love, a way of making lemonade with lemons. Although I’d much rather turn that into a margarita.”

She’s always layering in that humor, too.

The more time spent with Cara, the more layers are revealed:

She knows her values and stands firm in them
She’s a feminist who fiercely defends and promotes women, and imbues her art with patriarchal-busting sentiments to inspire women to change the world
She had the word “meraki” tattooed onto her painting arm because it means to put a little of your soul into everything you create. “I truly believe that,” Cara says.
She encourages everyone to create with abandon and joy, results be damned!
She wants everyone around her to feel triumphant and appreciated
She strove to empower other women to start their own businesses by being a model of entrepreneurship
She’s an Enneagram Seven
She strongly believes we should all decorate our homes with pieces made by local artists, not pieces from chain stores
She knows Maya Angelou was spot on for saying,“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use it, the more you have.”
She believes Elizabeth Gilbert got it right in her book Big Magic by suggesting creative ideas present themselves to us and we must act on them or the ideas will move on to the next creative person
She is guided and inspired by nature and travel, both offering new ways of seeing light and color
She prefers dark roast unsweetened Starbucks Iced Coffee with a splash of milk and pure maple syrup to fuel her creative adventures

Ruth Bader Ginsberg, an example of Cara’s pro-woman artistry.

Cara promotes women in their new and established businesses, hence her membership in The Web, a Macon work-share space designed for local solo-preneurs and small business owners. Cara joined The Web when it was first launched in 2019 and her art is usually on display in the little gallery space at the The Web. (Learn more about The Web and its founders in the appendix.)

The Separation & Turning Point

“I had to separate myself from my environment to see how I felt,” Cara says about her trip to France last year, where she attended a month-long artists’ residency at Château D’Orquevaux. She had been accepted to the residency two years before but could’t get away — she was was caring for her parents as they recovered from a serious RV accident. Luckily, the residency told her to pick an alternate date and she was able to venture to France in April 2024, when she was still running Lush Art.

Cara considers herself lucky to have been accepted into the residency from the large pool of worldwide applicants.

The countryside chateau is near the village of Orquevaux, with a population of 50 souls and no businesses; many locals are employed by the residency.

Surrounded by entrancing french countryside, far away from her life in Georgia, freed from daily concerns like managing a business, preparing meals, and cleaning, Cara was able to focus on creating art in her own private studio, working at any hour — everything she might need was accessible 24/7.

Cara in her resident studio at Château D’Orquevaux.

The beautiful countryside was a major supporting element in Cara’s experience, allowing for long, contemplative hikes.

She found the freedom from day-to-day responsibilities mind-expanding and leaned into forming bonds with her fellow artists, understanding what true collaboration feels like, and reevaluating her life in a meaningful way.

Cara is a collaborator, after all, and her experience in France showed her what would be possible back home among her fellow artists. And once back home, she could see her “daily grind” much more clearly, thus beginning her journey to selling Lush Art.

Cara, far right, with her fellow resident artists in France.

Cara then sold her business to Heather without even knowing what her next steps would be. That’s the resilient part of her spirit, the part that’s ready for new experiences and ready to pivot, like recently taking on the Marketing Strategist role for a new online community that supports the work of Dr. Jerry Lerner, a resiliency expert and author of Unraveled to Unrivaled: Embracing the Four Dimensions of Resilience.

“When Dr. Lerner asked me why I was burnt out with Lush Art,” Cara says, “my response was I felt people were harder to build up and the efforts were too draining. I hope by promoting his work, I will help people feel better in a different way than I could through Lush Art.”

Cara’s Creative Space at Home

Kudos to Cara for managing to fit most of her supplies from Lush Art into her creative space at home. She has organized her space to hold the things she can’t live without from her Lush Art days, and also to house her current works and past pieces.

Her two dogs, Bodhi and Hattie, visit her creative space regularly for head rubs!

Cara’s “Death” Tarot card, in progress, on the easel
(with Hattie and Bodhi visiting).

Cara recently worked on a mixed media piece representing a Tarot Death card for an art show — it has already sold. The Tarot piece dovetails perfectly with the project she worked on while in France, where she used mixed media to represent the Lenormand deck of 36 oracle cards.

Cara’s rendition of the Oracle Clover card, painted in France.

“The Lenormand deck is used for cartomancy and divination, and it differs from the more common Tarot cards,” Cara says. She plans to eventually have her 36 oracle art pieces printed as a card deck.

A sampling of Cara’s 36 Oracle cards painted during her artist residency.

Cara’s creative space always evolves: here’s a recent past rendition with helpful labels.

…and another recent rendition now altered.

478 Creatives

Cara is passionate about facilitating the 478 Creatives group with Erin.

“Connecting people to creativity is at the core of what I do,” Cara says. “I’ve experienced the transformative power of community first hand, which is why I’m dedicated to fostering a welcoming environment for all.”

Started in 2021 by Erin, the 478 Creatives group is on a mission.

“Our mission is to cultivate a thriving ecosystem where creativity flourishes, connections deepen, and artistic endeavors thrive. We believe in the power of creativity to transcend boundaries and unite individuals from all walks of life. Welcoming creatives of every age, background, and skill level, we are committed to providing a supportive space for exploration, growth, and collaboration.”

Cara and Erin do amazing things when coordinating the monthly meetings, bringing in artists to speak and educate, hosting workshops, leading a collaborative group art piece, or just having fun, like they did by playing bingo at historic Grant’s lounge in downtown Macon. Monthly meetings are held at different venues around town, sometimes at the Macon Arts Alliance gallery on First Street or the Alliance’s Mill Hill location.

The Macon Arts Alliance is hosting a show in their gallery this month, kicking off on April 4, and will exclusively exhibit the juried works by creatives in the 478 region. Cara’s work will be on view during the show, which runs through the end of April 2025.

Some time in 2025, the group anticipates holding occasional meetings in Erin’s new studio space in Downtown Macon where she’ll house her Mama Hawk Draws business.

The best part of the meetings is mingling with artists of all mediums, sharing ideas, and collaborating on projects that arise from random conversations.

“Cara has an incredible talent for connecting with people,” Erin says, “and making everyone feel welcome to our 478 Creatives meet-ups. Her mentoring spirit encourages fellow creatives to grow, and her boundless creativity constantly inspires me and my own artwork.”

Cara’s in-progress art piece in the Wesleyan College art class she taught.

Erin and Cara are both talented with a brush and paint and also with digital illustrations. Erin designed the logo for the 478 Creatives group and Cara designs the monthly event invitations.

“After each event,” Cara says, “Erin and I ask each other if our cup is filled or drained. So far, we have both felt filled.”

Goodbye and Hello

“I loved it, I hated it, I lived it, I breathed it,” Cara wrote on Instagram to the people who supported her during her Lush Art years. “It allowed me to grow up, to connect with so many incredible people, to be a stronger person, to be a better artist. It’s bittersweet to say goodbye, you’ve all changed my life. It’s fitting to go out on a full moon.”

These days, Cara is refilling her well, feeling her resilience and being that brave soul who’s courageous enough to follow what she loves while fulfilling family responsibilities.

This transition has been an incubation period where Cara assesses options for her marketing consultancy business and artistic work. Recently, that included making art in anger — a rarity for her, — but essential for helping to digest everything that’s going on in our country right now.

During this transition, Cara’s openness to what the universe might bring has now manifested the largest art commission of her career! Cara is painting 18 unique art pieces to hang in the new Central Georgia Cancer Care facility, designing with powerful colors to inspire patients going through extreme health challenges and to bring a little hope and joy to their families .

“11+ years of hard work,” Cara recently wrote on Instagram, “a shift in passion, and a leap into the unknown… and then, through the power of community, connections, and referrals, my biggest art commission yet. Proof that when you pour into others, the right opportunities find their way back to you.”

Her largest commission ever is also proof that Cara is a talented artist who’s easy to work with and determined to get it right.

One of Cara’s original goals for Lush Art was to build a local creative community. She did that. After selling Lush Art, she continues to build a creative community through 478 Creatives.

As Cara navigates this life transition, using her talents to make a living while pursuing artistic adventures, a big part of her destiny is based on her tendency to gather and inspire people — especially creative people — and to cheer them on to greatness.

Her Self included.

Website: https://www.caraheardco.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1007790463184312/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caraheardco

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cara-heard-a2202812

478 Creatives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/478creatives/

Appendix: Cara Says Buy Original Art!

“There’s something special about being surrounded by original art,” Cara says. “Art that was made with love, with feeling.”

Here are a few options for finding local art made with love and feeling in the Macon/Middle Georgia area:

Macon Arts Alliance Gallery – The Gallery at 486 First Street has a retail shop in addition to the exhibition space. They sell art pieces in all mediums (pottery, paintings, jewelry, photography, sculpture, fabric arts, etc.) made by 300 artists from the Middle Georgia area. (Hours: Tuesday – Friday, 10am-5pm). You can also support the Alliance and it’s work in boosting local artist. They’re celebrating their 40th anniversary with an Art Market on May 17, from 10am to 4pm, at the Mill Hill Community Arts Center. (Tickets are $5 at the door only).

Macon365 – A complete listing of all cultural events around Macon so you know where to go to find original art. They including happenings in Music, Stage, Art & Culture. “Subscribe” on their website to receive their newsletter full of upcoming art shows and other events, large and small.

The Web Workshare – The Art Gallery at the Clubhouse in the Web’s office displays Cara’s artwork on a rotating basis along with art by other local artists — including renowned textile artist Wini McQueen. The Web workshare space is located at the same address as Macon Magazine: 1083 Washington Avenue. Cara joined The Web as a member when it was launched in December 2019 by three Macon businesswomen: Susannah Cox Maddox (Publisher/Editor in Chief of Macon Magazine, Elizabeth Schorr (ES&CO), and Jessica Walden (owner of Rock Candy Tours).

Bohemian Den – This shop at 502 Cherry Street, owned by Scott Mitchell, supports social justice issues, curates fair trade products from around the world, and sells original and prints of artwork by Macon’s best artists, such as Redefiningshe.

Rabbit Hole – This smartly curated home goods and decor shop at 811 Forsyth Street is owned by couple Autumn Van Gunten and artist Cedric Smith who sells his own artwork in the store, along with art from other local artists and creatives from around the world. They also sell some Bitter Southerner apparel. Cedric spoke at a 2024 478 Creatives meeting and is featured in the February/March 2025 issue of Macon Magazine.

First Friday – The first Friday of every month is a great time to visit downtown Macon for live music, good eats, cold brews, and local shopping. Many restaurants, stores, and galleries are open and showing off their latest acquisitions or simply celebrating Macon’s artistic and musical culture. Visit New Town Macon’s Facebook page to see who’s participating in each First Friday, or just show up and be surprised.

Gallery West – Photographer Kirk West has photographed musical artists for decades and was road manager for the Allman Brothers for 20 years. He and his wife bought The Big House that would later become the Allman Brothers Museum. Gallery West, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary, sells Kirk’s photographs and books in the 3rd Street shop in downtown Macon. The Gallery also features artwork, mostly paintings, by local artists like Johnny Mo.

Macon Magazine – The December 2024/January 2025 issue shares their annual “Local-Loving Gift Guide” to various products produced locally, including art pieces. Erin’s glass ornaments from her Mama Hawk Draws company were featured in this recent gift guide!

Artist Gift Market – Every November/December, the Artist Gift Market is held for six weeks and features all types of items made by local artists including pottery, t-shirts, scarves, books, jewelry, home decor, etc. Watch for information about the Artist Gift Market in 2025.

Triangle Arts Macon – They’re hosting an Artist Market on Saturday, April 26, from 11am to 5pm featuring original art, food trucks, a kids zone, demos and open house, and music. 206 Lower Elm Street, Macon, GA 31106.

Paris Street Art

Street art ain’t just stencils anymore… but we still love stencils.

The Bright and The Beautiful

My only disappointment about Paris was missing Banksy by one day. The famous British street artist has been in the City of Love lately posting art that mostly jabs at the French government’s treatment of immigrants.

Before Banksy arrived, my daughter and I enjoyed photographing graffiti in Paris, mostly in Le Marais, and the third and fourth arrondissements. I was intrigued to see not just paint, but also paper collages and plaques used on walls.

Here’s what we found (including a few of Banksy’s latest works captured by photojournalists).

Giant paper collage, perhaps my favorite

Do not dream, fly with your wings — Translation: Don’t dream, fly with your wings

Version 2 — Close-up of plaque from previous photo

Okay, this isn’t street art, but it was on the bathroom door at Duc des Lombard Jazz Club and the French love American Jazz. Plus, it’s written in English

For 18 years, this portrait of John Hamon has been plastered around Paris. It’s the guy’s actual name and his actual photo, taken when he was 19. A bit of a mystery, his portrait has been projected onto the Eiffel tower, Arche de Triomphe and other famous facades. Essentially, he’s playing around with the idea of art being about promotion, rather than skill. His portrait has found its way around the world, so exposure versus talent is definitely a concept to ponder. The octopus is another common graffiti subject in Paris, but with Mona Lisa’s face, it’s irresistible. Notice any resemblance between John Hamon and Mona Lisa?

Not street art, but interesting theatrical notices

Randomly-placed mirror. Translation: Look at you, you are beautiful. Yes, I’m talking to you!

Banksy Paris - Thomas Samson — Banksy’s tender reminder of last year’s terrorist bombing in Paris. Photographer: Thomas Samson/AFP

Banksy Paris - Thomas Samson 2 — Whimsical Banksy. Photographer: Thomas Samson/AFP

180627-banksy-paris-mc-Philippe Lopez — Heart-breaking Banksy. Photographer: Philippe Lopez/AFP

180626-banksy-paris-Philippe Lopez-AFP — Ringing-the-alarm Banksy. Photographer: Philippe Lopez/AFP

New Orleans Artistry

New Orleans is celebrating its 300th birthday this year and the entire city continues to be the ultimate creative space. Dripping with history, NOLA is often thought of as a party town, especially along Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. But there is much, much more to New Orlean’s culture than alcohol.

Foremost, it’s the birthplace of Jazz and hometown of Louis Armstrong and Fats Domino… and Harry Connick, Jr., … and many other amazing musicians from the right and left banks of the Mississippi River.

Though it’s a strong one, Jazz isn’t the only draw to the Crescent City. There’s the food, cajun and creole and stuffed with fresh seafood. And beignets anytime of the day. Yes, BEIGNETS!

Like most grown-up cities, New Orleans also appreciates visual artists. On a recent trip to NOLA, I couldn’t resist visiting the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), both of which allow patrons to photograph their art!

At the Ogden, I was thrilled to find a wing of “Southern Vernacular Art” featuring many oil and collage works by Benny Andrews. I can’t recall where I first saw a painting by Benny Andrews, but I liked his style and subjects and was hooked. When I researched Benny, not only did I find out Benny was from Georgia (like me), but he also attended Fort Valley State College (like me)! While I didn’t graduate from Fort Valley State College, I’m proud to have spent the academic year 1983-1984 at this remarkable historically black college in the heart of Georgia.

Benny was born in Plainview, Georgia, in 1930, and his father, George Andrews, was a sharecropper and a self-taught artist. (Both of my maternal grandparents, and their parents, were sharecroppers in South Georgia). After graduating high school, the first in his family to do so, Benny joined the service and later used his G.I. Bill to study at the the Art Institute of Chicago (the article “240 Minutes at the The Art Institute of Chicago” features a Benny Andrews painting!).

Benny was an activist and advocate for African-American artists. To my delight, the Ogden had several of his collages made using fabric and wallpaper. Some of the collage features are so 3-D, they cast shadows, as do some of the deep frames.

Following are Benny’s collages, plus other works that caught my eye at the Ogden and NOMA. Enjoy!!

Alice, 1966 — Benny Andrews, *Alice*, 1966, oil and collage (Ogden)

Death of the Crow, 1965 — Benny Andrews, *Death of the Crow,* 1965, oil and collage (Ogden)

Benny Andrews, Dottie, 1981, oil and collage (Ogden)

Eudora, 1978 — Benny Andrews, *Eudora*, 1978, oil and collage (Ogden)

Mannerisms, 1961 — Benny Andrews, *Mannerisms*, 1962, oil and collage (Ogden)

Mother Death, 1992 — Benny Andrews, *Mother Death*, 1992, oil and collage (Ogden)

Plower, 1989 — Benny Andrews, 1989, *Plower,* oil and collage (Ogden)

Benny Andrews (title and date unknown), oil and collage (Ogden)

Painted by either George or Benny Andrews (title and date unknown) (Ogden)

George Andrews, The Old Punkey Patch, date unknown, oil on canvas board (Ogden)

Portrait of Benny Andrews, 1976 — John Hardy, *Portrait of Benny Andrews,* 1976, oil on canvas (Ogden)

Acolytes, 1935 — Caroline Durieux (1896-1989), *Acolytes*, 1935 (Ogden)

Abstraction of Chair and Mirror, 1943. — Hans Hofmann, *Abstraction of Chair and Mirror*, 1943, oil on canvas (NOMA)

Asleep at the Table, 1945 — Robert Gwathmey, *Asleep at the Table*, 1945, oil on Canvas (Ogden)

Alma Thomas, Dogwood Display II, 1972, acrylic on canvas. Alma is one of my favorites and her painting *Starry Nights and the Astronauts* is featured in the Chicago Institute of Art article. (NOMA)

Breath, 1959 — Lee Krasner, *Breath*, 1959, oil on Canvas. Lee, a fine artist in her own right, was married to Jackson Pollock from 1945-1956. (NOMA)

Shawne Major, *Eating Cake*, Quilt detail (Ogden)

Far Away Thought, 1892 — John William Godward, *Far Away Thoughts*, 1892, oil on canvas (NOMA)

French Bouquet of China Asters and Sunflowers in Vase, c. 1887 — Gustavo Caillebotte, *French Bouquet of China Asters and Sunflowers in Vase*, c. 1887, oil on canvas (NOMA)

French Landscape at L'Estaque, 1906 — Georges Braque, *French Landscape at L’ Estaque*, 1906, oil on canvas, 20 x 23 1/4 in. (NOMA)

Gild the Lily (Decadence Upon Decadence IX), 2018 — Carlos Rolon, *Gild the Lily: Decadence Upon Decadence*, oil, ink and 24-karat gold leaf on canvas (NOMA)

in the Garden, Giverny — Frederick Frieseke (1900-1995), *In the Garden, Giverny*, oil on canvas

Panarama of baptism on Cane River, 1945 — Clementine Hunter (1886-1988), Panarama of Baptistm on Cane River, oil on window shade, 36″x67″ inches (Ogden)

Persons in the presence of metamorphosis, 1963 — Joan Miro, *Persons in the Presence of Metamorphosis*, 1963, egg tempura on masonite, 19 3/4 x 22 5/8 inches (NOMA)

Portait of a Young Girl, 1935 — Joan Miro, *Portrait of a Young Girl*, 1935, oil with sand on canvas, 41 3/8 x 29 3/8 inches; 49 x 37 inches (framed) (NOMA)

Joan Miro, The Red Disk, 1960, oil on canvas (NOMA)

Giovanni Boldini, Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile, c. 1895, oil on canvas (NOMA). The blurred brushstrokes and aqua accents in the lower left quadrant caught my eye and drew me to this large painting.

Portrait of a Young Woman, 1918 — Amadeus Modigliani, *Portrait of a Young Woman*, 1918, oil on canvas. 24 x 18 inches; 33 x 27 x 3 inches (framed with acrylic glass) (NOMA). Modigliani is one of my all-time favorites!!

Wayne Thiebaud, Salmon Rose, 1966 (NOMA)

Steamer New York, Steaming Upriver, 1989. — Michael Frolich, Steamer New York, STeaming Upriver, 1989, oil on masonite (Ogden)

Eddy Mumma, Untitled c. 1978-1986, oil on board (Ogden)

Struggling Tiger in Hard Times, 1991 — Thornton Dial (1928-2016), *Struggling Tiger in Hard Times*, 1991, oil, tin, carpet and industrial sealing compound on canvas mounted on wood.

Richard Diebenkorn, Woman on Porch, 1958, oil on canvas, 72 x 72 inches (NOMA)

Scrap House, — I ran across this art installation on the street, not in a museum. Artist Sally Heller, Scrap House. One of 20 “Art in Public Places” commissioned by the Art Council of New Orleans. An homage to Hurricane Katrina’s damage.

Artist Aaron Reed — Saw this artist, Aaron Reed from Albany, Georgia, at his booth at this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Christine Hauber, Photographer

Christine is an introvert, and it works very well for her. She’s calm. Centered. No drama. While she relishes her solitude, she doesn’t shy away from being with people. And she gets people. As a portrait photographer, she nails the core of their being in her photographs.

Courageous Christine

In the early 2000s, Christine traveled the byways of America meeting people in villages and communities, documenting their professions by capturing them in their work element. Her book “Working in the USA” is a love letter to working folks, a fascinating study of people ordinary and extraordinary, all the more poignant because she shot each one in black and white.

IMG_3156 (1) — A spread from Christine’s book, “Working in the USA”

I dare you to open her book and try to close it after a few pages. I sure couldn’t. Its width straddled my lap and I turned page after page, unable to stop looking at the next person — a firefighter, a Cajun accordion maker, a gold miner, a shrimper – each with their earnest face surrounded by the tools of their trade. Proud people. Humble people. Dignified.

IMG_3155 (1) — More USA workers photographed by Christine

For an introvert, Christine excelled at traveling in her RV and meeting all kinds of people along the way. She stills lives in that same RV… since 2001. These days, she winters in Scottsdale, Arizona, and summers in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

IMG_3154 (1) — Even more USA workers photographed by Christine from all lower 48 states

From Denver to Daring

Growing up in Denver, Christine enjoyed spending solitary time drawing and coloring when she wasn’t out being “one of the boys” with her two older brothers. From an early age, she was immediately attracted to pencil and charcoal drawings, which formed the basic artistic thread running through her life; producing works in black and white.

Christine also loves animals and had planned to be a veterinarian, until one summer when her mother arranged for her to work on a pig farm in South Dakota. “I realized I didn’t like seeing animals in pain,” Christine says.

These days, she photographs portraits of rescued and protected animals, like donkeys, horses, goats and sheep, and transfers their black and white images onto wood panels that she embellishes with white tissue paper, textures and paint or encaustic.

Christine in her booth at the Arizona Fine Art Expo, transferring a cow print onto canvas

Christine’s animal faces are charming. But photography and mixed media pieces aren’t her only creative outlets. She also cooks. Each winter, she exhibits at the Arizona Fine Art Expo and also runs the Expo Cafe with her assistant, Caroline Kwas, also an exhibiting artist. Together, they prepare breakfast and lunch seven days a week for visitors and resident artists.

Each summer, Christine hosts multiple Art Spas in Santa Fe. While her business partner teaches painting classes, Christine prepares their meals and demonstrates cooking. She focuses on healthy vegetarian foods while explaining the cooking process. In a recent Art Spa, she taught everyone how to create and roll their own spring rolls.

Christine’s Expo gig in Scottsdale goes beyond just showing her art and cooking wholesome foods (which keeps her busy for 80 hours each week). She is also part of the crew that erects the giant u-shaped white tents for the Expo.

The entrance to the Arizona Fine Art Expo

The show launches mid-January and she arrives from Santa Fe in November to get the Expo up and running, along with the show managers and facilities team. When the Expo closed on March 25, Christine spent April leading the crew in dismantling and packing up the massive tent for storage until next year.

During the Expo, Christine stays busy painting, running the cafe and then walking to her RV out back each evening where she continues to make her art.

Many people dream of pulling up roots and following their passion, living an endless summer in mild climates. Christine is doing it, though she admits it’s not as freeing as it might sound. The hours are long, the work hard and the pressure is on to make a living from her art.

“You can do anything for 10 weeks,” Christine laughs. That’s her motto for this year’s Expo.

Christine with her new elk mixed media work

Though her location changes, Christine’s focus on producing art never does. She continually learns from customer feedback, what’s selling and what’s not, to try new things. “I’m always chasing that carrot,” she says, laughing. Making a living from art drives Christine each day to discover new ways to market what she does.

Working in the USA

Christine received her college degree in psychology and worked for a year counseling troubled youth for $6 an hour, which was minimum wage. Working with the kids was fine but after a year, Christine realized her co-workers were the ones with the more severe issues. To compensate for work stress, she took a class on darkroom techniques and promptly fell in love with it.

She also took a couple of pre-med courses for genetic counseling but soon determined speaking with pregnant women about potential baby problems would be too taxing. When her father pointed out how passionate she was about her hobby of photography, and encouraged her to consider turning professional, she took his advice.

Christine chose commercial art photography over her pre-med studies and started her own Portrait studio in Denver. She liked to experiment, to stretch her creative muscles, and worked with infrared film, which plays off of the red spectrum to produce ethereal photos.

For six years, Christine ran her business and also spent two of those years caring for her aged grandmother. Soon, feeling stifled by traditional portraiture and her home life, she longed to follow her creative urges to travel and take pictures.

Always a traveler at heart, Christine had taken solo trips to China, Singapore and Hawaii. She knew her new dream of traveling the U.S. and taking photos was doable, with proper preparation. She talked about her project with a purpose. She dreamed about it. Finally Christine’s dad convinced here there was no time like the present to chase a dream.

Again, she listened to her dad and set her departure date for one year ahead.

Heeding the wanderlust call, Christine bought a 29-foot RV and converted the main bedroom into a compact custom darkroom. In April, she set out to visit all 48 lower U.S. states and photographically document workers of all professions. Her project, called Working in the USA, was a way for Christine to show people in other countries what real Americans look like, as opposed to those seen on TV shows and in movies.

“We’re a nation of diverse people who work hard,” Christine says, “and work is a common theme all over the world. The first thing we ask when meeting someone new is ‘what do you do?’”

For three-and-a-half years, Christine traveled 70,000 miles with her cat Ansel and her dog Gracie. When her travels were over, she worked on producing her book “Working in the USA,” which was published in 2006.

Christine had finally burst out of traditional portrait methods and captured people from all walks of life. Along the way, she learned to avoid tornado alley in May and June, to avoid the north in the winter, to look for free RV lots, to lay low while parking overnight at truck stops and to overcome her natural shyness to approach people and learn their stories. She was traveling before people were actively blogging and before social media provided a platform for instant sharing. She wrote about the people she met, in addition to photographing them, and she still has many stories to tell about the people in her book. I’m looking forward to hearing those stories. And to seeing what Courageous Christine does next.

“There are no excuses to not travel,” Christine says. “Don’t wait for a traveling companion. Don’t wait to pursue any dream. Get out there. You’ll survive.”

Christine should know.

The name of her RV says it all: Dream Catcher.

Photo Gallery

Resources:

Christine’s Blog:

http://www.christinehauber.com/photo-and-travel-journal

Christine’s Website:

www.christinehauber.com

Podcast – Keep Your Day Job: Radical Sabbatical

http://www.keepyourdaydream.com/radical-sabbatical/

Christine’s Book:

https://www.amazon.com/Working-USA-Christine-D-Hauber/dp/0976617013/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440824407&sr=8-1&keywords=working+in+the+USA

Shawna Scarpitti, Collagist/Sculptress

She’s Wild at Art

When I first saw Shawna’s large, bright canvases from a distance, I had to get down there… and fast… even if it meant passing up many other artists’ booths. Up close, her bold, singing work did not disappoint and when Shawna came around the corner with her wild hair barely contained and her stride full of joy, I instantly knew her natural glee perfectly matched her art. And who wouldn’t be drawn to both!

As an undergraduate at Auburn, Shawna was a nude model for painters at the nearby Columbus Museum of Art in Georgia.

“It took some getting used to,” Shawna says, “ but I made $20 an hour, the most I’d ever made.”

Her body isn’t the only thing she’s bared for art.

This past December, Shawna quit her job as an art therapist, packed a van with art supplies and home furnishings, and drove from Jensen Beach, Florida, to Scottsdale, Arizona, to exhibit her tissue paper pieces at the Arizona Fine Art Expo, a 10-week show housed in a giant white, u-shaped tent.

Shawna in her Expo booth, shared with her partner Gregory, a glassblower.

Every year from January to March, more than 100 artists occupy booths at the show and paint, sculpt, make jewelry, etc., in their spaces, sharing their work and techniques with guests seven days a week.

Shawna took a leap of faith to try her hand at being a full-time artist, encouraged by her boyfriend Greg Tomb, a masterful glass blower who has made a living from his art for years by traveling to shows around the country.

So, newish relationship, new “job,” new city, new condo… all at once. Hello, Overwhelm.

“January was a stinker of a month,” Shawna says, laughing. “Setting up a booth with a partner for the first time was stressful as we got used to each other. And traffic at the show was slow, so we naturally worried about money.”

By February, Shawna had made friends throughout the giant tent and she and Greg were grooving as a couple.

“I’m the type who has to be connected with people,” Shawna says. “If I’m making art, I must also be doing something to make a difference in other people’s lives.”

She’s a cheerful and kind spirit who gives and gives of herself. Her artwork, created by gluing colorful tissue paper onto canvases, is an outward sign of her inward joy. Full of happy, bright colors, her pieces cause continuous smiles.

After getting a Master’s degree in art therapy, Shawna has been a nationally board-certified art therapist for 20 years. She honed her skills working with tissue paper while showing clients how to express their emotions through their hands; even if it meant they used only black. The simple act of wanting to switch to a color other than black could signal a big breakthrough for a client.

How does someone help traumatized people day after day without succumbing to trauma themselves? Especially someone like Shawna who is sensitive and attuned to others’ feelings and energy.

“I’ve been lucky to work for companies that offer insurance with mental health benefits for employees, and really good self-care is a must,” Shawna says, with a chuckle. “Plus, helping people freely express in 2- and 3-dimensions while encouraging them to connect to their imaginations and innate creativity is very rewarding.”

Shawna was born in Alliance, Ohio, but grew up in Jensen Beach, Florida, influencing the definite coastal feel in some of her work. From the age of 2, Shawna chose crayons and paint over dolls and TV. Her mother knew, even then, that Shawna was an artist.

Shawna used her therapy training to acclimate to her new nomadic life and the self-contained art community that pops up each winter in the Sonoran desert.

When people show interest in her work, she delights in telling them how she does it. Oftentimes, they want to learn to do it.

“After several women expressed interest in doing tissue paper art, I put up a class sign-up sheet in my booth and it filled up in less than a week!”

Shawna has given several classes during the show in a classroom available to artists for just such activities, and she’s an excellent teacher/coach/cheerleader. I was lucky enough to take her “Tissue Paper Art 101” class and admired how she put everyone at ease about being creative.

“First thing we’re going to do is take off our judgement hat and throw it out of this room,” Shawna says.

Animated, she tosses her imaginary hat like a frisbee and smiles big. Her long hair, extra curly and full, moves when she does, accentuating her vibrant personality.

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The room we’re in has walls but no ceiling, except for the big white tent overhead. We can hear cars on Scottsdale Road, but Shawna can easily be heard telling us about the nature of Bleeding Art tissue paper, the medium for her artwork. When the paper gets wet, colors bleed onto adjacent papers, creating unpredictable patterns.

Shawna then uses a sponge brush to gently apply a mixture of Elmer’s glue and water, adhering the paper to a canvas. Or she might use a bristle brush to smooth it into place. In this beginner’s class, our only objective is to experiment.

In class with Shawna, fellow student Annie and a big mound of tissue paper!

“Cut it or tear,” she says, “there is no wrong way. You’re learning about the paper’s qualities with every piece of tissue you add.”

After working with tissue paper for decades, Shawna has mastered composing images, although she admits controlling how the colors bleed is nearly impossible. Coat hangers hold folds of tissue paper already splashed with water and fully dried. Working when the paper is wet can be difficult, so Shawna always has lots of dried, prepared paper on hand.

Greg’s talent isn’t limited to blowing remarkably beautiful glass bowls. He’s a good carpenter, too, and built Shawna a rolling cart to hold her art supplies, including glitter glue, paints, tiny canvases on wooden easels and all sorts of tiny sparkly notions to add to a completed piece of art. The cart even has a handy rail on one side for displaying her many coat hangers of inspiring papers.

In class, we get very quiet as we experiment with collages of tissue on a thick piece of paper, to get a feel for how to handle the glue, paper and active colors. The moistened foundation papers tend to warp or curl.

“No worries about curling papers,” Shawna assures us. “Once it’s dry, simply put it inside a large coffee table book overnight and it will emerge flat.”

After experimenting, we tackle covering a canvas with tissue. Shawna has several canvas sizes available. I grab a 10-inch square and spot some prepared papers with orange, white, pink and yellow. The brighter the better is my motto. Plus, I have visions of Shawna’s art in my head. Using her prepared paper means my piece of artwork is a collaboration with her.

The piece I made in Shawna’s class using her prepared paper.

Two hours fly by. Shawna finishes our partially-dried artwork with a spray acrylic in either mat or gloss. It also provides UV protection.

I enjoy the class so much, I’m hoping to be able to take her Intermediate course before she packs up and goes back to Florida.

IMG_3087 (1) — One wall of Shawna’s booth holds the smaller items she collages and paints.

Canvases aren’t the only surfaces Shawna covers in tissue paper and paint. She makes one-of-a-kind notecards and decorates the covers on planning calendars and bound journals, turning them into useful works of art. I bought one of her journals to use in a writing workshop my daughter Jaime and I are taking in Paris this June.

“Art is integral to who I am,” Shawna says. “I find a natural flow between creating therapeutic space for the art-making process for others and for myself. I’m in constant connection to my creative core, even when addressing an envelope, cooking or starting a new art project.”

Sculpture is another 3-D art form Shawna relishes as she uses organic materials to evoke the Divine Feminine. “Nature is rarely linear and my sculptures are a celebration of all that is feminine, soulful and passionate,” Shawna says.

As an undergraduate, she dove into sculpting with wood, clay and stone, and sometimes using found objects to create assemblage pieces. In fact, her senior thesis was based on a theme for nine large-scale assemblage sculptures. But when she started working, sculpting took a back seat, even to her collage work.

Two years ago, Shawna’s best friend, Susannah, fell in love with the carved wood, alabaster and marble pieces Shawna had created in early 90s. “Susannah asked me who had done the carvings and she couldn’t stop touching them,” Shawna says. “When I described how I carved them, she nearly flipped because she’s only known my tissue paper collages. She emphatically told me I must, must, must get back into sculpture as soon as possible. In fact, she made me promise I would.”

The Expo, a creative place to the max, is the perfect spot for Shawna to sculpt, paint, and, most importantly, make good on her promise to Susannah.

Shawna is wise to acknowledge her need for being emotionally connected with the people around her. We all have that need to some extent, yet some of us don’t always honor it… and we’re the poorer for it.

A giver, Shawna has created a new life and a new relationship that gives back. She credits Greg with evoking the courage she needed to embark on this current desert adventure. In fact, he convinced her to see the possibility of taking a two-month hiatus from her job last summer and travel to New York where he would rent an apartment, giving Shawna the freedom to produce her large-scale pieces for two art shows in which she and Greg would participate.

Shawna’s employer did not offer anything like a hiatus and she expected a big fat “no.” But when she asked, they said yes!

Greg believed in her work enough to know she could pursue it, and they could share a life on the road as partners in every sense of the word. He also believed in her talent enough to hand-build the large canvases for her work.

“It was amazing and scary to wake up each day and only have to make art,” Shawna says. During those two months, she learned a lot about art, about Greg, about herself and about the public’s reaction to art.

When Greg suggested they both apply to exhibit at the Arizona Fine Art Expo, Shawna saw the stars aligning. That’s when she made the decision to leave her job of nearly four years and dive head first into being a professional artist. These last four months have been eye-opening, frightening and a catalyst for her next stage.

Recently, Shawna scheduled an art therapist job interview for early April back home. “I’m hopeful to go back to work full-time in South Florida,” Shawna says. “I will definitely continue to do my art on the side, and exhibit at shows.”

Greg has a few shows lined up for the remainder of 2018, giving them an opportunity to flex and strengthen their intermittent long-distance relationship with FaceTime and other technological wonders to stay connected.

Shawna sounds at peace with their future. “We have plans to join forces down the road,” she says.

I’ll miss Shawna when she’s back in Florida, but I have no doubts she’ll brighten the lives of her clients through art therapy and retail art therapy.

Shawna’s extraordinary parents, Jim and Melody, taught her to always be kind. She takes kindness one step further and is always loving, even with people she doesn’t know.

On a daily basis, Shawna bares her soul to those who are lucky enough to be near her, and she gives us permission to open our souls and be creative, be vulnerable, be colorful, be loved and see the joy in life.

Shawna shows us how to throw our judgement hats out the window, and we’re the richer for it.

DragonflyDetail — Detail of the dragonfly above.

Education

Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in sculpture from Auburn University.

Master of Arts in Art Therapy from Ursuline College, Cleveland, Ohio.

Resources

http://www.shawnscarpitti.com

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/ShawnaScarpittiFineArt

Pixels – http://pixels.com/profiles/shawna-scarpitti.html

Instagram – @shawnamariescarpitti

Twitter – @seascarp

Photo Gallery

Kit Carson: In-Between

Kit Carson built Camp Cactus, his stone-cottage house in New River, Arizona, in 1993, and created there until 2016. He is now living in a rental house in Prescott, Arizona, while his new home, Cortez Camp, is being built on a lot just four blocks from downtown Prescott. I wanted to see Kit’s temporary creative space in his rental home, so I visited him on Super Bowl Sunday 2018, and wrote the update below. When Cortez Camp is completed later this year, and Kit’s new workshop is outfitted, I’ll return to Prescott and will share here all the delightful artistic touches to be found in his new home and creative space.

A Moveable Menagerie

Kit Carson built Camp Cactus, his stone-cottage house in New River, Arizona, in 1993, and sold it in 2016. He is temporarily renting a house in Prescott, Arizona, while his new home, Cortez Camp, is being built on a lot just four blocks from downtown Prescott. I wanted to see Kit’s temporary creative space in his rental home, so I visited him on Super Bowl Sunday 2018. When Cortez Camp is completed later this year, and Kit’s new workshop is outfitted, I’ll return to Prescott and will share here all the delightful artistic touches to be found in his new home and creative space.

Kit spends day and night focusing his creativity on making jewelry and sculptures. He appears laid-back in his faux leather jacket, cowboy hat and boots, but at 68, Kit hasn’t lost his energetic drive to always be producing… something. A true cowboy at heart, when Kit has ventured from his roots, he always returns to the Arizona desert.

At the age of 16, Kit was deeply influenced by reading The Prophet, which led him to read Thoreau and Whitman. As Kit aged, his Philosopher-Artist sensibilities were honed ever sharper; his wisdom now seeps out in aphorisms, a hobby of his, and he often puts them on his jewelry. For instance, the inside of a bracelet might read, “Don’t fence me in,” or “Life is good.”

Kit likes to say, “Every good artist has a sketchy past.” Ba-dum-bump. His past may be sketchy, but Kit still has his youthful, lanky physique and mischievous eyes.

“Age is an attitude,” Kit says. “The older I get, the younger I am.”

Kit’s Temporary Cre8-Space

Kit’s quaint, aged, 900-square foot rental house is white with brown trim. A white picket fence encloses a charming, tiny front yard. Inside the living room, honey-colored wood floors creak comfortingly as we walk. Metal art hangs on every wall, and antique wooden chairs with tooled leather look as though they’ve been in place for 50 years. His well-loved furnishings fit the house perfectly as vintage suitcases sit under tables and atop shelves.

An acoustic guitar is propped on his desk. “I’ll pick up my guitar at any time and sing a song. Singing makes me stop thinking,” Kit says. Otherwise, his mind is always working (or more like playing), envisioning jewelry pieces or metal sculptures.

Kit’s temporary workshop just off his living room looks like it’s been there since the house was built. He gives me a tour and allows me to video him while he’s engraving a metal bracelet cut from an old can with orange paint on it.

“I make these bracelets, part of my Romantic Rust line, out of old, red tool boxes and license plates, too,” Kit says. “Painted metal from the 70s, or earlier, is best for these pieces. When I use a raw-hide hammer to shape bracelets made from newer painted metal, the paint will chip off.”

Kit’s two essential engraving tools are his vice and nematic engraver. Watch the video below to see how his sophisticated rotating vice and the electric engraver make engraving look easy. It’s not easy. Not at all. Especially creating the intricate scrolls and desert scenes, trademarks of his art. Kit has clearly mastered his engraving technique.

Kit’s workspace is about six feet wide and 11 feet long. Stations for engraving, cutting, assembling and soldering face one wall while on shelves case after case of tiny drawers hold teeny tool pieces and jewelry parts. A window over his main counter provides lots of natural light, but he also has multiple lamps clamped to every work station. The workshop is comfortable and efficient.

A large table in his living room along the front wall holds stones and gems, allowing Kit space to play around with composition of the jewels’ placement on earrings, pendants or bracelets.

Starting Out

When Kit decided to pursue art, his mother, Paula Carson, gave him good advise. “From day one,” she told Kit, “run your art like a business. Know how much you pay for supplies, add in labor costs and never sell for less than what you have in a piece.”

Kit has lived by that guidance and under his means, which meant he was able to produce art and support himself, sometimes barely being able to pay his $60-a-month rent in the early years. But he kept at it, worked on a rickety stool pumping out his handmade, unique designs, growing his business and then shrinking his business to a perfectly manageable size. To this day, Kit continues to reinvent himself and how he markets his art.

In the beginning, he branched out from just making jewelry, which has always been his core, to working with drawings, sign painting, calligraphy on signs and wedding invitations, watercolors, wood and rock sculptures, and engraving for local jewelry stores. “I couldn’t make a living and make art while working for $3 an hour at the bronze factory,” Kit says. “I needed a steady income and I knew I could have constant business by offering several artistic services.”

Kit didn’t know anything about running a business.

“Early on, I sent my jewelry to a gallery and didn’t include anything in the package. No list of items. No pricing,” Kit says. The gallery tracked him down from his return address and called him, asking, “What is this?”

“It’s my jewelry,” Kit replied.

“How much are you selling it for?,” they asked.

“What do you think it’d sell for,” Kit laughs, recalling the conversation.

“I didn’t know. They suggested how much each piece might sell for and I learned a lot by them walking me through the process.”

That gallery, the first one he approached, sold his jewelry.

Jumping into the commercial art world without any guidance meant Kit did some things wrong, and other things right. But he had courage and belief in his art. For 43 consecutive years, he has made a living from his art.

“One job leads to another job,” Kit says, “and I always make time for jobs.” Like when Fender saw his his skull jewelry on his website and contacted him about designing a “DIA DE LOS MUERTOS,” or Day of the Dead, Telecaster guitar for them. Naturally, Kit said yes. Fender collaborated with Kit, and other artists Dan Lawrence, Ron Thorn, Tom Arndt and Chris Flemming to create the most expensive customer guitar Fender ever produced. While some folks wondered if the guitar would sell, Fender ended up making and selling three of them.

Kit lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for 12 years. He got his career going by having the courage to jump smack dab into the middle of the Santa Fe art community where he knew no one. His business took off so well, it eventually earned $250,000 a year. Kit opened an office in Santa Fe and sold his art to 270 stores and galleries across the U.S. He was able to hire several employees to assist in producing his jewelry.

“One day I was in Boston and passed a store,” Kit says. “A bunny pin in the window caught my eye. It was a knock-off of mine. I went inside and told the clerk the pin was a poor-quality knock-off and I wanted them to remove it. The clerk said, ‘Oh, Hi, Mr. Carson. So nice to meet you. That is your pin.’ I was so disappointed in the quality of the work, that it had my name on it, and I hadn’t stopped it from going out the door. I went back to Santa Fe and closed my business. I wanted to be an artist in his studio knowing every piece that goes out is the best I can do.”

Kit firmly believes the two best things he ever did was to go into business big time and to get out of business big time. He had jumped into making art with both feet and little business know-how, yet he managed to have more successes than failures. Luckily, he’s happy to share the following lessons learned with aspiring artists of all mediums:

Quit your job. “Working a job will only take a new artist away from building their skills and their business.”

Don’t get married. “I knew two friends who wanted to work in art at the same time I was starting out and they got their girlfriends pregnant. They married and took other jobs to support their families. Of course, I got married later, too, so I didn’t listen to my own advice.”

Study an artist. Kit says find an artist whose work is of interest and then take weekend workshops with them. “You can learn more in a weekend with an artist than you can in an entire college course,” Kit says. “I’m an open book and will share my techniques with anybody.” Kit learned some jewelry-making techniques in the jewelry program at University of Oregon, Eugene. He also took night classes and weekend workshops.

Believe in yourself. “Artists must believe in themselves. I believed in myself,” Kit says. “That’s why I was able to build a business and stay self-employed. You have to discipline yourself to make a product, and another one. When you have bills to pay, that’s incentive enough to sit down and create.”

Find your voice. “An artist must find the core of their voice and they must have the ability to resolve abstract composition,” Kit says. He developed a voice early on and started engraving his drawings of bunnies, horses and desert scenes onto jewelry. “My jewelry stood out because not many people engraved their sketches into jewelry,” Kit says.

After 10 years in business, Kit was able to hire an assistant and has had several over the years. He trusts his employees and looks for enthusiasm when hiring. “I can teach them skills, but not enthusiasm,” Kit says. “They must also be able to tolerate failing and pushing through. Failures happen all the time, pieces don’t turn out the way we expect, but we keep creating.”

Currently, Sandy operates his website and Etsy shop; Halle in Denver constructs his jewelry from parts he sends her; and Louis, a glass artist from Prescott, works with Kit in his studio.

Growing Up

Kit was born and raised on Champie Ranch, a dude ranch, near Castle Hot Springs and Lake Pleasant, northwest of Phoenix, Arizona. His dad had given flying lessons during WWII and had spotted the ranch from the air. Growing up, Kit’s family didn’t have a phone, but they did have electricity and a radio, on which Kit as a six-year-old first heard Elvis Presley.

At the height of Gunsmoke’s popularity on TV, James Arnez, who played Sheriff Matt Dillon, brought his family to stay at Champie Ranch for a couple of weeks. Kit and his three brothers enjoyed swimming with “Matt Dillon,” and when James Arnez showed them his six-shooter, Kit was more interested in the gun’s engraving than he was the gun. Admiring the scroll work was a precursor to Kit’s fascination with the Arts & Crafts Movement and his love of Art Nouveau design lines.

When the Carsons divorced, 10-year-old Kit and his brothers moved from Champie Ranch to Prescott with their mother. To ease the transition after his parents’ divorce, Kit would retreat to his room and paint model cars and sketch. By the age of 12, Kit knew he wanted to be an artist.

“My mother taught us self-discipline,” Kit says. “If we wore out our jeans, she wouldn’t replace them. She would tell us to get a paper route and buy our own jeans. I had two paper routes delivering in the morning and afternoon. It was 1963 and I was the only Seventh grader with $20 in his pocket.”

Kit’s mother was also creative. Although she worked full-time, she took up weaving as a hobby and made quite a few rugs, some of which Kit sill owns. To this day, the local college manages the Paula Carson Scholarship Fund for Weavers.

Kit’s brothers still live in Prescott. His twin, Steve, uses large earth-moving equipment to coax nature back to its natural setting after man has messed things up. Steve is a cowboy. His other brother Tom is a building contractor, one of the best in Prescott, of course, and his other brother Johnny is a cowboy.

Sculpting

For his sculpture, Kit uses found objects, mostly rusted metal parts of all descriptions which make up his Library of Visual Solutions. Kit brought 10 tons of his metal “Library” to Prescott and sold about 40 tons before moving from Camp Cactus in New River.

Cortez Camp Library of Visual Solutions at Kit’s new home now under construction

When sculpting metal, he will search through his “library” and select pieces that complement each other, welding them together to create a pleasing composition of angles and geometrics. As an artist who has learned to focus intensely, Kit honed his ability to quickly select and arrange pieces. His eye is trained and his mind revels in moving pieces around and around until he lands on the perfect composition.

Two smaller sculptures pictured below hang in the rental’s living room and illustrate his use of repeated angles or other design motifs.

Before moving from Camp Cactus, Kit constructed a massive metal sculpture that looked like a giant earth-moving machine. It was about 30 feet long, 10 feet wide and 8 feet high. He sold it to one of his collectors. Not all of his sculptures are gigantic, however, and not all are completely metal. They come in all shapes and sizes.

The day of my visit, Kit is monitoring the construction of a rock sculpture, a bench commissioned by a client and constructed from rocks on the client’s land. Kit selected two large stones, one for the base and one to sit atop it as a back, and directed the crew on where to place them. Because big machinery wouldn’t fit on the rocky hilltop, the rock bench crew manually moved two massive rocks with levers, straps and cable.

As we’re photographing his workspace in the rental home, Kit receives a call; the rocks are in place and ready for his review. We jump into my MINI and drive over. “Everything in Prescott is only a 5-minute minute drive away,” Kit says.

We promptly arrive and Kit sits on the bench, posing with the happy men who built the bench using their brute strength and power provided by Red Bull. Kit approves the rock placement.

“I’ll add stones around the bottom,” Kit says, “and place soil, pine needles and sticks to make it look as though the bench has been here a million years.”

We drive back to town for lunch and Kit says, “I’m glad to see those guys so happy about the rock bench. They figured it out as they went along.”

These are the same men who moved the 1914 house off of Kit’s Prescott lot on Cortez Street, clearing the way for him to build his new home, Cortez Camp, which will be much like Camp Cactus back in New River; about 1,300 square feet of artistic touches, including metal pieces here and there, inside and out, and a big shop in the back.

Kit lived at Camp Cactus in New River on the edge of Tonto National Forest for 25 years and when he stood on his front porch looking out, all he saw were mountains and Saguaros, nothing man-made.

“I became a bit too isolated there,” Kit says, part of the reason he decided to sell Camp Cactus and move to Prescott where his three brothers live.

Kit-House — Camp Cactus in New River, Arizona

“Camp Cactus is my largest piece of art yet,” Kit says. Thinking of it as an art piece is the only way Kit could bring himself to sell the home he crafted with his own hands. As with every other piece of art he’s made, Kit signed Camp Cactus by engraving a silver plate with the following words and attaching it to a wall inside the house:

“This home was conceived in my heart, designed in my mind, and built with my hands as a work of art. It remains my masterpiece. Kit Carson.”

“I’ll always miss the house, and the view, but I’ve integrated those memories and only want to remember how good it was,” Kit says.

Cortez Camp is his newest work of art/future living space. Strict building codes in Prescott mean Kit has to hire certified welders to put up his rusted porch poles instead of doing it himself. That’s a bummer for someone who welds all the time. Luckily, Kit’s brother Tom lives next door and is the building contractor for Cortez Camp.

Cortez Camp under construction as seen from Cortez Street

Kit walks through his future bedroom at Cortez Camp

Kit stands in his future workshop; his house is in the background

Tips and Tricks

Making a living at art isn’t just about making art. It requires adapting to customers’ changing tastes and active marketing. Over the years, Kit incorporated a few sensible tactics into his marketing repertoire.

“I was in Neiman’s one day and saw a consultant advising a customer on what colors worked best with her skin and hair. It occurred to me that I needed to know those things so I can advise my clients. And that’s what I do. I make the jewelry about them.”

Kit has attracted a number of serious collectors who buy his jewelry and home decor items. But he can no longer depend on his collectors to show up at art shows and buy enough jewelry to make it worth his while. Lately, he’s hit on a mutually-beneficial arrangement where he visits his collectors in their homes as they host a lunch or breakfast for friends. Kit enjoys spending time with his clients and hearing what works and doesn’t work with his jewelry, and they enjoy having an artist in their home, as a friend.

After 43 years of ups and downs, Kit is still the artist who branches out and takes jobs when offered. He still makes art from his heart, lives below his means and has an uncommon piece-of-mind.

Kit crafts his life like he crafts a well-designed piece of jewelry. And it sparkles.

Video Gallery

Photo Gallery

References

Kit’s jewelry website: https://www.kitcarsonjewelry.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

Kit’s Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/market/kit_carson_jewelry

For an in-depth look at how Kit created his stone home in New River, be sure to read Candy Moulton’s online article, Camp Cactus: Kit Carson’s artist retreat near Cave Creek, Arizona: https://truewestmagazine.com/cactus-camp/

To hear Kit’s own explanation of the design and building materials/elements used in creating Camp Cactus, watch his Sotheby’s video: https://privateclientgroupagents.com/videos/cactus-camp/

PBS’ Craft in America featuring Kit: http://www.craftinamerica.org/artists/kit-carson/. Kit’s page on the Craft in America website has several videos explaining his work and philosophy.