They bonded over their mutual love of contemporary art, a mutual friend's birthday and a common childhood experience that surprised them both.

"I really fell in love with art at a young age when my parents used to take me to the Arkansas Arts Center when I was a child," says Mike Davis Gutierrez, to his wife's surprise.

"I never knew that you went there," says Sonia Davis Gutierrez with a laugh. "It's amazing how many things we have in common and how much we are still learning about each other. When we met, we had long conversations about contemporary art. We've become partners in crime, as we say. But we still learn new things."

Although they grew up only a short way away from one another, they did not meet until 2007 at a birthday party.

"It was one of those parties I went to every year," says Sonia. "I was friends with the birthday boy in high school; Mike knew him in college. I first saw him when he was singing death metal karaoke!"

"I couldn't wait to propose to her," Mike says proudly. "I was going to propose to her at Christmas, but I didn't want to freak her out by doing it too soon."

The couple were married less than a year later in a surprise wedding at a fundraiser for the New Design School. The school, founded by Sonia, has been an integral part of the couple's lives, pulling in both artists' expertise and Sonia's love of teaching.

"I was in New York City for my MFA at Parsons when I got interested in teaching," she says. "I kept thinking that we did not have a design school in Arkansas. After 9/11, I realized how important it was to be near my family. I figured, if I can do this in New York, I can do this in Arkansas. So I came back and started the school."

Mike also left Arkansas briefly due to the lack of gallery spaces in which to show his sculptures.

"I went to North Carolina, Durham, for a while," he says. "I was an artist there. But then my brother started having kids. I knew I wanted to be one of those uncles who was there, so I moved back. Then I met Sonia."

The couple will showcase each of their unique forms of art beginning May 1 at the Arts Center of the Ozarks in Springdale. Sonia will present a video installation based on a spiritual dream, and her husband will present several large sculptures made of black Arkansas limestone.

"I'm venturing into something completely different," says Sonia. "I had a dream that was really powerful to me." The dream, in part, involved the priest telling the congregation that anyone could take communion and take as much as they needed, she says, which is contrary to her Catholic beliefs.

"It was so special," she says. "I will be projecting the Catholic church on the walls of the upstairs gallery. I'm really looking forward to seeing the dream come to life in this way."

"My work is a little bit different," jokes Mike. "I work with limestone, which really is more of a dark gray than black, to make sculpture. I've discovered that over time, depending on how much I polish the stone, the color of the stone changes. I will really be playing with that for this show. These sculptures are really dealing with color. I am very consciously choosing the colors through polishing and artificial colorants."

"This is really going to be a new show for us," says Sonia. "I hope when people view my installation, they leave feeling that they have seen something that maybe they hadn't thought about before. Maybe enlightened."

"We really hope that when people leave they will feel the need to come back," says Mike. "Hopefully they will get something out of it but then need to spend more time with the art."

"Northwest Arkansas has really become such an art region," says Sonia. "Everyone seems to be coming into their own. People yearn for and love art. That's why we are both back here."