Inspiring your Home and Lifestyle
Sponsored Content | Photos provided by The Art Group
The Art Group was founded nearly two decades ago when several Little Rock artists came together to share an art studio. In 2013, the artists officially opened a gallery, The Art Group Gallery, in Pleasant Ridge Shopping Center. Follow along as At Home in Arkansas interviews each of the group’s 17 artists to find out more about their inspirations and processes for creating.
Sponsored Content | Photos provided by The Art Group
The Art Group was founded nearly two decades ago when several Little Rock artists came together to share an art studio. In 2013, the artists officially opened a gallery, The Art Group Gallery, in Pleasant Ridge Shopping Center. Follow along as At Home in Arkansas interviews each of the group’s 17 artists to find out more about their inspirations and processes for creating.
Sponsored Content | Photos provided by The Art Group Gallery
The Art Group was founded nearly two decades ago when several Little Rock artists came together to share an art studio. In 2013, the artists officially opened a gallery, The Art Group Gallery, in Pleasant Ridge Shopping Center. Follow along as At Home in Arkansas interviews each of the group’s 17 artists to find out more about their inspirations and processes for creating.
At Home: Tell us how you first became interested in art.
Louise Harris: I was born in Eloy, Arizona, and moved to Arkansas at the age of 2. My inspiration for art comes from my memories of growing up in a small town in southwest Arkansas. I loved the unusual shapes of trees and flowers and started drawing them at a young age.
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Sponsored Content | Photos provided by The Art Group Gallery
The Art Group was founded nearly two decades ago when several Little Rock artists came together to share an art studio. In 2013, the artists officially opened a gallery, The Art Group Gallery, in Pleasant Ridge Shopping Center. Follow along as At Home in Arkansas interviews each of the group’s 17 artists to find out more about their inspirations and processes for creating.
At Home: Tell us a bit about your background. How did begin painting?
Shirley Anderson: My background is not in art. I have a BS degree in chemistry and math and an MBA. I worked in various labs and retired from a telecommunications company before I started my career in art. I started taking art lessons with 10-year-old kids right before I had the chance to retire and found out that I loved the peace it provided. I lost all concept of time and just immersed myself in the creative process—something that was not my nature as a typical “type A” personality. I have been working with a mentor, Richard McKinley, for the last eleven or twelve years. I really credit my progress in pastels to him. He is a wonderful instructor who says his mission is to make me the best artist I can be.
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Sponsored Content | Photos provided by The Art Group Gallery
The Art Group was founded nearly two decades ago when several Little Rock artists came together to share an art studio. In 2013, the artists officially opened a gallery, The Art Group Gallery, in Pleasant Ridge Shopping Center. Follow along as At Home in Arkansas interviews each of the group’s 17 artists to find out more about their inspirations and processes for creating.
Artist Patricia Wilkes
At Home: What are your earliest memories of creating art?
Patricia Wilkes: Art has always been a part of my being, my makeup—it’s inseparable for me, like breathing. I can’t remember a time when it wasn’t with me. When I was very little, I made tiny storybooks and tea sets, farms with barns and animals, and little sculptures made from blue Play-Doh. My mother saved them, and I still have them! She saw at an early age that I had an artistic ability. In my early years, she enrolled me in art classes in Little Rock and was always my biggest cheerleader.
AH: Tell us a little bit about your background and training.
PW: I was able to attend Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts in St. Louis where I had the benefit of a traditional, academic art education. I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and majored in graphic design. I’m thankful for my freshman year figure drawing professor, Edward Boccia, and for my sophomore and junior year figure structure professor, Barry Schactman, whose instructions I still follow to this day….
Sponsored Content | Photos provided by The Art Group Gallery
The Art Group was founded nearly two decades ago when several Little Rock artists came together to share an art studio. In 2013, the artists officially opened a gallery, The Art Group Gallery, in Pleasant Ridge Shopping Center. Follow along as At Home in Arkansas interviews each of the group’s 17 artists to find out more about their inspirations and processes for creating.
At Home: Tell us a little about yourself. Are you native to Arkansas?
Holly Tilley: I was born in Fort Worth, Texas, but have lived and worked in Arkansas most of my life. After a long career in marketing and advertising, I finally decided to pursue my passion for art full-time. I’m a managing partner at The Art Group Gallery and a member of the Arkansas Arts Center, where a piece of mine titled “Grateful” was recently included in the 61st annual Delta Exhibition. My husband, Jim, and I have two children, Christian and Hannah.
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At Home in Arkansas offers you a look inside the state's most inspiring homes. The magazine features monthly advice from the experts to help you plan your next remodel or redesign, entertain at home, or find Arkansas's best kept secrets. It is your definitive guide to the state's finest homes and gardens, design professionals, fashion and entertaining essentials, and premier shops and showrooms.