Artisans keep lost arts alive

CALICO ROCK — The first floor of a historic stone building on Main Street is filled by the works of artisans whose crafts hearken back to the days before people could drive to a big-box store and buy what they needed.

The Calico Rock Artisans Cooperative fills the first floor of the building, which was constructed in 1902. The Calico Rock Museum is on the second floor.

“The co-op is a bridge to the past,” said Gloria Gushue, executive director of the museum and chairwoman of the co-op’s board of directors. “The skills offered by the artisans on the first floor - pottery, sewing, candle dipping, soap making, woodworking, blacksmithing and quilt making - are reflected in the museum displays upstairs. Everything we sell is handmade in Arkansas.” People enter the 20-foot-tall room through the Calico Rock Visitors Center next door. They emerge onto a small replica of the long-gone Calico Rock landing.

“The impression is of stepping onto the deck of the Ozark Queen steamboat,” Gushue said. “The craft booths are on the ‘lower deck,’ and the museum displays are on the balcony, or ‘upper deck.’”

Gushue said a critical part of theco-op’s success has been to keep the vendors’ costs low. Rent for a 6-foot by 9-foot booth is $10 a month or $5 for a smaller endcap. There is no membership fee. A portion of the sales goes to the co-op. Vendors who volunteer to wait on customers one day a month receive 80 percent of their sales. Other vendors receive 60 percent.

“I’ve been making and selling pottery since 1973,” Pineville artist Harvey Buford said. “I gave demonstrations at Silver Dollar City for eight years and have had gallery showings in Little Rock. The Smithsonian bought five of my pieces.”

Diane Siddons of Siddon Hollow Crafts had been crocheting and selling afghans and sweaters for 30 years. Her husband, Wayne, makes leather holsters, wallets and belts.

“When we lived in Florida, I would tell our friends and coworkers what I made,” Diane said. “Once in a while someone would say, ‘Would you make me one of those?’ When we moved to Pineville in 2008, we heard about the co-op in Calico Rock, and I wanted to be a part of it. When I volunteer at the co-op, I love to find out where visitors are from and to see what crafts other vendors are making.”

Other booths offer jewelry, rustic furniture, macramé, dolls, trellises and more. The wide variety of artwork includes watercolors, acrylics, stained-glass works and photography.

Gushue, who owned and operated Don Quixote’s Restaurant across the street, has wanted to have an artisans cooperative on Main Street since 2007.

“My feeling was, there are a lot of artists out in the woods who could not afford to pay large amounts of money to have booths in craft malls or galleries,” she said.

She approached owners of vacant buildings on Main Street, but none would agree to open a cooperative. Then in June 2010, the Calico Rock Museum Foundation purchased the 1902 Rodman Building at 100 Main St.

“The museum wasn’t ready to move in, but for insurance purposes, the building couldn’t sit empty,” she said. “I told the foundation board this would be the perfect place for an artisans’ cooperative, and they agreed.

“Once the word got out about what we were planning to do, artists started coming out of the woodwork. All we had to do on was clean the building. I laid out the booths with duct tape on the floor.”

That first year, the co-op was a project of the civic group the Calico Rock Organization for Revitalization Efforts, or CORE, which also initially sponsored the museum.

By July 2010, the co-op opened with five vendors: Doris Fountain’s Holiday Crafts, Harvey Buford’s Pottery, Derrall Brown Photography, Siddon Hollow Crafts and Betty Brunson’s paintings. Soon more vendors asked to join. That year, the co-op closed at the end of December so the balcony and the backyard could be renovated for museum exhibits.

“When we reopened in March 2011, the co-op became an independent not-for-profit corporation,” Gushue said. “We have our own board, our own events and ads. We now have 35 vendors.”

One concern was that eventually the museum would take over the first floor to expand its exhibits, but last fall the museum gave the co-op a five-year contract.

“The co-op pays for the museum’s electricity and water,” Gushue said.

“Our customers come mostly from Calico Rock, Mountain View and Mountain Home. Some are residents; some are tourists. Many people who come to see the museum end up purchasing something from the co-op.”

This year, the co-op will hold a craft demonstration one Saturday each month.

These events may include pottery making, basket weaving, stained-glass making, candledipping, spinning and blacksmithing. Demonstrations will also be part of the museum’s Reliving Calico Rock History After the Civil War events on March 17, May 26, Oct. 27 and Dec. 8.

Other co-op demonstrations will be held April 24, June 16, Aug. 11, Sept. 27 and Nov. 17. The co-op’s “Christmas in July” on July 14 will feature Christmas gifts and decorations. All events will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“This year the co-op began taking credit cards,” Gushue said.

“We’re working on being able to sell items through our website. In the future, we’d like to open the basement for fulltime demonstrations.”

All this has been hard work, but for Gushue, it has been a labor of love.

“In all the years I’ve worked with artisans, this is the best group of people. They are like family,” she said. “They help each other and work with each other. There isn’t anybody I can’t turn to and say, ‘I need something,’ and they will answer, ‘How can I help?’”

Gloria Washburn of Calico Rock makes and sells soap, lotion, shampoo and other skincare items as Glory Rose Natural Products.

“I hand-clip the botanicals from my garden and from plants that grow wild,” she said. “I use pine needles, apple, bayberry, rose, clove. I love the co-op. It is about sharing and artistic growth. Most important is that we artisans are keeping the lost arts alive.”

The Calico Rock Artisans Cooperative is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday during the winter months. For more information, contact Gushue at (870) 297-4129 or by email at ggushue@gmail.com, or visit www.calicoartist.com.

Three Rivers, Pages 49 on 02/23/2012

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