Ponying Up

Donkeys a favorite for artist Jaquita Ball

Jaquita Ball’s animal portraits take on a fanciful quality with her choice of colors and shapes. Some of her work will be for sale Saturday at the Winter Market at Meteor Guitar Gallery in Bentonville.
Jaquita Ball’s animal portraits take on a fanciful quality with her choice of colors and shapes. Some of her work will be for sale Saturday at the Winter Market at Meteor Guitar Gallery in Bentonville.

"Painting donkeys evolved out of my political activism in Little Rock," admits Jaquita Ball of one of her favorite subjects to create. "But I also grew up with horses and donkeys, and I just love the animal. They've been around for thousands of years; they've always served man; you always find a burro or a donkey in mythology. I love painting them. And nature just inspires me."

Ball, who has Red Cat Art Studio in Bentonville, is one of 25 vendors -- including bakers, crafters and makers of products such as chocolates, nuts and cheeses -- who will show and sell their work Saturday at the Winter Market at Meteor Guitar Gallery. She's always been an artist, with degrees from the University of Arkansas in studio art and journalism, and was a graphic designer for many years, first in television news and later in public relations and advertising. After returning to Northwest Arkansas, she relates, she slipped away for six months in Santa Fe -- and stayed four years. Having earned a degree in gallery management, she says, she was out of excuses and came home to Northwest Arkansas to create her studio.

FAQ

Winter Market

WHEN — 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday

WHERE — Meteor Guitar Gallery, 128 W. Central Ave. in Bentonville

COST — Free; artwork will be for sale

INFO — Email cody@downtownbenton…

"Moving out to New Mexico for four years gave me a whole new perspective for what 'big sky' really means," she explains. "You could sit and feel the movement of the earth and the sky. That's something I brought back with me. And with my love of abstract, I tried to combine the two."

Ball will have both her animal portraits and her abstracts at the Winter Market, mostly in small sizes -- 5x7 inches to 11x14 inches -- intended for gift giving.

"Art can be very personal," she says. "When you give a piece of original art, that's what has come out of that artist's soul, their head, their hands, their heart. Sometimes I have a very hard time letting go of [a painting] because there is something of me in it. But it's always wonderful when you make that connection with somebody. You know there's something about that piece of art that connected with them -- you may never know what, but there's some kind of story. That's how people connect with art."

-- Becca Martin-Brown

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NAN What's Up on 12/09/2016

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