The Heart Of Art

"A lot of my vision for Downtown Bentonville Inc. is that we are a part of an inclusive community, and we are a place where networking, connection and collaboration can happen," Monica Kumar, the organization's director, says in her lilting British accent. "We're really focused on building our events to feel really welcoming and very reflective of our local values and culture while integrating people moving in and bringing things from where they're from."

That sentiment perfectly describes the Bentonville Art & Culinary Festival, which kicks off today with First Friday, continues Saturday with the Farmers Market Farm to Table event and is highlighted June 11-12 by the Art Market, a juried showcase of acrylics, ceramics, fabric, mixed media, oils, pastels, photographs, sculpture, watercolors, woodworking and more featuring more than 40 artists.

Karrie Evenson is one of those artists and is back in the exhibition after an absence of a couple of years. She says it's a test run to see if the show works for her and whether the crowd appreciates the whimsical animal portraits that are her current focus. The images (including the one on our cover) are part of a children's book project that reflects the really important part of Evenson's life -- her daughter, Mavia, who is 9.

The story is about two best friends who are very different, Evenson explains. One wants to be like the other -- and the other explains that all of us are perfect the way we are. It's a book aimed at children like Mavia, who has been engaged in a lifelong fight against neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to form on nerve tissue. That, explains Evenson, means anywhere in her nervous system, including her brain, spinal cord and nerves.

"When she was diagnosed with a brain tumor, it just devastated me," Evenson remembers. "They told me she could live for 10 years, 5 years, 20 years, but it can turn any day. I kind of lost it.

"I had always loved art, always been involved with art, and somewhere I heard something about going back to the original passion you had and doing that to find yourself," she says. "It was strange because I was flipping through the channels, and there was a woman painting on TV. Gail Stoops was an artist in Fayetteville, doing a show through Jones Television called 'Make Your Mark.' I messaged her and asked if I could talk with her about painting. We just bonded instantly. She had lost two children and basically we found common ground in grieving and healing through art."

Evenson ended up hosting her own show, "Karrie on Canvas," and has continued to teach and create art while raising Mavia and her 11-year-old son Maddox. (An older daughter is in college and lives away from home.) Most of her sales take place online, she says, but she's happy her life allows her to be back at a festival.

"Mavia only has one brain tumor left, and it's stable, and one on her hip, which is stable," Evenson says. "She's an awesome student, happy, and she is an artist -- way more of an artist than I am! She draws from the time she wakes up until she goes to bed. Her room doesn't have toys, it has sketch pads!

"I have a huge studio downstairs on the lower level of my home, out toward War Eagle on Beaver Lake," she adds, saying both artists were at work there on the Wednesday morning of this interview. "The only time I really feel peaceful is when I'm painting -- the only time I feel like a normal person."

NAN What's Up on 06/03/2016