Art Inspires Art, 15 Years Later

"With every step taken

"we should try

"to extract

"meaning and purpose

"from our life."

So wrote Vol Douglas "Zephyr" Blevins in a poem titled "Steps." Blevins was an artist in nearly every medium imaginable, from words to watercolors to flowers in his mother's garden to homemade cheesecake topped with candied ginger he made himself.

"Z was multi-talented and disciplined, a seeker, spiritual, self-assured but humbled by the wonderment of nature," S.K. Clark-Will of Rogers remembers the friend she calls her "creative soul mate." He was "zany with a sometimes scorching sense of humor, authentic, intolerant of choices or performance he considered ordinary by those he thought extraordinary, fiercely loyal, a word wizard, physically beautiful, brave and forgiving, leaving this world with grace."

Blevins died Dec. 7, 1991, his life cut short by AIDS. It was about a dozen years later that Clark-Will, at the time a member of the Board of Directors of Rogers Little Theater, had an idea.

"Since Z's passing, I had pondered ideas of how to memorialize his illustrious life," she says. "After curating several exhibits in our newly renovated Victory Theater, it was during a reception for the artists that I had the epiphany that the way to honor my friend was to support the arts in his name by means of the gallery."

It was on July 1, 2004, that the gallery at the Victory Theater was renamed the Zephyr Blevins Gallery. Marking the 15th anniversary of that event, the company that is now Arkansas Public Theatre at the Victory will host a rededication ceremony at 4 p.m. July 11, followed by a "Christmas in July" art market from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. as part of the monthly downtown Rogers Art on the Bricks.

"Art makes more art," says Ed McClure, APT's artistic director. "Creativity in any form must be celebrated, elevated and appreciated."

Kaye Cotton, one of the founders of the theater troupe, says it never occurred to them way back in the 1980s that they'd ever have a permanent home, let alone "a beautiful place" like the Victory Theatre. "And when we did, an art gallery just seemed like a natural extension," she says. "It seemed like the perfect thing to do."

Loneta Townsend Blevins, Zephyr's 90-year-old mother, couldn't be more pleased to have another chance to honor her son, who would have turned 65 on July 5.

"He was a wonderful artist, a wonderful writer, just really artistic," she says. "I don't think he was ever as appreciated here for his artwork as he was in other places."

Blevins attended art schools in New Orleans and Boston, showed his work around the country and studied with several well-known artists, all with the goal of establishing a teaching studio in his hometown of Rogers.

"Zephyr Blevins left behind a bounty of expression manifested from every media," Joseph Farmer, APT's executive director quotes from the gallery's 2004 dedication brochure. "That's why we're honoring him July 11 by showing art in as many mediums as we could invite artists, from photographs to watercolors to acrylics to fabric."

NAN What's Up on 07/07/2019