Considering its size, only 3 blocks long, Sutton Street has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to working artists, and several of them are opening their studios to the public for the first time on Saturday, October 11, as part of the Sutton Street Art Walk. Watercolorist William Mayes Flanagan, painters Jan Gosnell, and Anne Jenkins, along with photographer Don House and sculptor Chris Weaver, invite the public to explore this little corner of Fayetteville’s historic district between Washington and Olive Streets, one block north of Dickson. Start at any of the three locations, park your car and stroll to the others. Refreshments will be served. Hours are 10am to 7pm. Find Jan Gosnell and Chris Weaver at 220 Sutton, William Mayes Flanagan and Don House at 319, and Anne Jenkins at 345 (corner of Sutton and Walnut).
The Sutton Street Art Walk was the brainchild of William Mayes Flanagan, who for ten years has been producing his signature watercolors in an attic studio. Well known for his large, moody night scenes of Fayetteville, his work hangs in galleries across the region, but his emphasis on community pushed him to organize the art walk. “ The artist community is so vital to the health of the city at large,” he says, “ and Sutton street is just a concentrated example of what’s going on throughout Fayetteville and the region, and sometimes even artists themselves need to be reminded that we’re here, working away in small rooms and attics and garages – anywhere a studio can be constructed.”
While moody is a term often applied to Flanagan’s work, it is not scary. His scenes of dark buildings with mysteriously lit windows are stories really. One Kansas City art curator called Flanagan a “southern storyteller”, and the late singer songwriter Nick Masullo immortalized the feeling in his song about Flanagan, Bill Paints The Town Blue. So powerful are those stories that Flanagan’s paintings have actually helped save historic buildings from demolition – just part of his emphasis on community.
You may not be surprised to learn that the editorial cartoons appearing in Fayetteville’s Free Weekly newspaper are conceived and drawn by Jan Gosnell, but you would be surprised by his credentials: author, painter, printmaker, instructor, businessman, movie star. O.K., movie star may be an exaggeration, but his paintings appeared in several films, including The Blue And The Gray, and also grace the walls of actors Gregory Peck, Stacey Keach, former president Bill Clinton, former senator David Pryor, and perhaps most complimentary- fellow artists including Donald Roller Wilson.
A graduate of The University of Texas and the University of Arkansas, for nearly forty years, Jan’s award-winning work has been featured in numerous one-man exhibitions and included in the most prestigious competitions in the region.
Sharing space with Jan Gosnell, Chris Weaver has been creating beautiful ceramic and metal sculpture for over twenty-five years. His work has been exhibited nationwide and placed in the permanent collections of numerous foundations and universities. Much of his recent work has centered on the concept of fire , and includes large sculptural and functional pieces. A graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute and New York State College of Ceramics, Chris recently opened the Citizens Bank Gallery in Prairie Grove to highlight contemporary fine art and craft.
The spirituality of painting, and personal satisfaction are concepts that frequently surface when Anne Jenkins speaks of her work. Self taught, working in oils, Anne often paints familiar faces and American icons, always with the goal of portraying facets of the personality and expressions often not seen in public images. There is always the personal experience of the artist wrapped up in the paint on her canvas, and she uses the words liberating, fulfilling, challenged, confident, spiritually evolved, appreciative and totally accepting when describing the finished work. Recently, Anne feels herself being pulled toward more abstract work and looks forward to “mixing up the stew” so to speak.
Photographer Don House has shared space with William Mayes Flanagan for years and collaborated on several projects that brought together the disciplines of painting and photography. Working for over twenty-five years in Fayetteville, House’s photographs have appeared in numerous national publications, one-person exhibitions, juried competitions, and the book Buffalo Creek Chronicles, Diary of a Cattle ranch on the Southern Plains. Still working with traditional film and darkroom techniques, House’s rich silver prints are a testament to the visual power of the medium.
To see more work:
William Mayes Flanagan: www.eurekaspringsartists.com, M2 gallery in Little Rock
Jan Gosnell: www.arkansasartists.com
Anne Jenkins: 479-957-6227
Chris Weaver: 479-846-0899 Citizens Bank Gallery
Don House: www.donhousephotoworks.com, ddp gallery in Fayetteville, M2 gallery in Little Rock.
