Over the past two years, while working on her master’s degree, Elise LaMaster photographed local women and, through the process, got to know each of her subjects on a personal level.
“We’ve gotten to talk, not really interviewing them, but they’ve been able to tell me about themselves,” LaMaster said. “And I noticed there was a trend among all these women and the things I kept hearing.
“They were lonely, and they didn’t have an outlet to make friends.”
She said some felt socially excluded.
“Maybe even churches weren’t exactly right,” LaMaster said. “It was really consistent, and it was essentially every woman I worked with over the course of those two years.”
LaMaster received a master’s degree from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in January and, in the process, started putting together a plan to help alleviate some of the disconnection and stress that women experience.
“I wanted to offer women a third space outside of their work and home where they could meet other women, build friendships, maybe learn new skills or improve their professional situation and work through things,” she said.
LaMaster is the founder and CEO of the Amiee Thompson Gallery and Wellness Center in downtown Benton. The center started hosting events in October.
“Some of my subjects were struggling with addiction, but some of them weren’t,” LaMaster said. “Most were just an average mom or employee, and that’s really why I had to take notice.
“All of these different types of women in very different social and economic situations were dealing with the same social and interpersonal struggles.”
LaMaster said the response to the center has been really positive.
“We offer a lot of different programs, and some people have been really emotional about it, which really reinforces the need,” she said.
“Some of the things that we offer are group therapy for anxiety and depression, and we are starting a grief share next month, because those are things that everyone deals with on some level.”
Group therapy costs $20 a person, but it is led by a licensed counselor, and the money benefits the center and its clients. LaMaster said the center does offer a lot of programs that are free.
“We sort of opened the floor to local women who teach something or are knowledgeable in a certain skill to lead seminars and workshops,” LaMaster said. “I know we are planning on hosting workshops for estate planning and informational seminars on buying property, as well as an introduction to Photoshop, photography or blogging.”
She said the center has had a few events so far, including restorative yoga, which she said is “really good for anxiety.”
Megan Batek teaches yoga at the center.
“It just seemed to align with what I like to do,” Batek said, “because the center is all about helping and inspiring women. … And yoga, if done properly, can help manage stress on a day-to-day basis.”
Batek said she has probably taught 15 to 20 classes so far, but the attendance numbers are not quite where she would like.
“But it has been beneficial,” she said. “Yoga is one of those things, where you feel the after-effect the next day. The clients really enjoy it because they get so relaxed, and it helps calm the mind, allowing them to take care of their bodies.”
The gallery was named after LaMaster’s biological mom, Amiee.
“She lived at the Dorcas House but died after she was struck by a police cruiser after getting off a city bus in 1988,” LaMaster said.
Dorcas House is a domestic-abuse treatment center in Little Rock.
“I hope our center becomes something that could have improved the quality of her life and women like her,” LaMaster said.
LaMaster is originally from Benton, having graduated from Haskell Harmony Grove High School in 2003. She earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and psychology from the
University of Central Arkansas in Conway in 2009.
She has twin 14-year-old boys, Max and Ethan, and she and her wife, Jenna LaMaster, have been married for two years. Jenna is a licensed professional counselor and leads the anxiety and depression group for the center.
“The reason we have a licensed therapist is because we are dealing with issues that deal directly with trauma, and we don’t want to do more harm than good,” Elise said.
Jenna said that being a therapist in Benton, she noticed there is not a support group for women, which is “something that we are missing and need.”
“I really believe in what [Elise] is doing,” Jenna said. “It is something that we need, and we don’t have it. Some of these bigger cities have support groups for women, so we need to catch up with the times and have more support for women besides just work, home or church.
“When she told me about it, it was inspiring. I believed in it, and I wanted to be involved.”
Elise said the center plans to have a support group for the LGBTQ community starting in upcoming months, and “we have started a co-parenting class for people who are divorced.”
“I don’t feel like we have an outlet for women, and it is something that is new,” Jenna said. “People are going to have to get used to it and step out of their comfort zone and really take care of their mental and physical health.
“We have had a lot of women who use this space to promote their passions, and once it catches a spark, it is going to ignite.”
Jenna said the wellness center is critical to have because some women need a place where they are surrounded by other women. She said having that space allows these women to feel safe and heard.
In September, the gallery had its first show, titled Addiction & Art 2019.
“It sort of explored the relationship between mental health and addiction,” Elise said, “which is not exclusive to substances, but relationships, caffeine — really anything that’s addictive.
“A lot of people are addicted to things — its not just an opioid crisis. That’s something we can acknowledge and maybe make less scary and more normal, to increase compassion.”
She said the exhibit featured about 15 to 20 pieces of art and was scheduled in tandem with the Third Thursday events in downtown Benton, “so we got a pretty good crowd with that.”
Elise said a lot of the pieces are for sale unless the artist doesn’t want to sell a work.
“That kind of goes hand in hand with trying to build up the community — let them show their work, be more established and more comfortable,” Elise said.
“Right now, we are up here, part of the Market Street Clinic with other therapists, which works well for now, but we would like to have a space, maybe more wall to work with, have a commercial space that is more accessible,” she said.
The gallery will host a second show at 6 p.m. Thursday that will feature local women artists. The event is free and open to the public.
“A lot of what we do is to support women and improve their quality of life,” she said. “I wanted to do a show that is just women artists so they can submit work that they feel is successful, or maybe they are trying a new medium or a subject that is really special to them.
“It should be a really good show.”
She said submissions for the gallery are still open. For more information, contact LaMaster at (501) 507-7902.
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.