Arkwings – Memphis Flyer

“I didn’t call myself an artist until I was 52 years old,” says Jana Wilson, executive director of Arkwings. She’d always been creative, even sold her assemblage art from time to time, but since that wasn’t her full-time gig, she didn’t feel she fit the title of “artist.” That is, until someone at an art show pointed out that just making art meant she was an artist. “And all of a sudden I was like, ‘Whoa, I could have been doing this my entire life.’ It’s my identity.”

Now that Wilson is executive director of Arkwings, she says, “I don’t want people going through life the way I did, and not identifying as whatever creative type of being they are.” After all, for her and for many like her, creativity through the arts is healing. “Nine times out of 10, when you ask an artist why they make art, it always go back to, ‘It makes me feel good,’ or ‘It makes me feel like a whole person.’ And there’s so many people out here who are craving arts engagement, and that’s really the heart and soul of why the arts became part of [Arkwings’] mission statement, which is ‘mind, body, and spirit wellness through the healing power of arts and nature.’”

For its part, Arkwings offers free access, seven days a week, to its Art Yard where guests of all ages can take part in different outdoor creativity stations, such as painting on a mini mural, building fairy houses, adding to the poetry tree, picking seeds or herbs from the community garden, and making music at the “Rhythms of Nature Circle.” Plus, every Wednesday, from 2-5 p.m., guests can tour all of Arkwings’ galleries during their Open Gallery Day.

Currently, Arkwings boasts the “Boys 2 Men: If You Don’t See Black, You Don’t See Me” exhibition, curated by Lurlynn Franklin. The exhibit features art solely by local Black men, ranging in age and style: Earle Augustus, Toonky Berry, Eric Echols, Clyde Johnson Jr., Montrail Johnson, Devin Kirkland-XXIV(k), Hakim Malik, Lester Merriweather, Carl E. Moore, Frankd Robinson, Najee Strickland, Andrew Travis, Larry Walker, Steven Williams, and Shamek Weddle.

In curating the exhibition, Franklin says she wanted to highlight each artist’s individuality. “My dad was a real kind gentleman, and he was profiled. You know, you can just snuff out a person’s life, and that’s it, because somebody decided to attach a label, a stereotype, to it,” she adds. “So the major requirement I’m having for the African-American men who are going to be in the show is, I want you to demonstrate your style. It doesn’t have to be political. You ain’t gotta speak to what the title implies. I just want people to see your skill level and artistry.”

“Boys 2 Men” will be on display at Arkwings through July 22nd and will travel to University of Memphis’ Fogelman Gallery in September. For more information on Arkwings and all its upcoming events, follow the nonprofit on Facebook.

Open Gallery Day, Arkwings, Wednesday, July 5, 2-5 p.m., Free.

“Boys 2 Men: If You Don’t See Black, You Don’t See Me,” Arkwings, on display through July 22.

From Downtown to Whitehaven to Collierville and back, Shelby County’s government wants to make the arts inclusive and accessible to everyone countywide. Recently, the Arts and Culture Nonprofit Subcommittee announced its “Art For All” campaign, a series of free “Neighborhood Art Parties,” with nearly three dozen local arts and culture organizations participating. This Saturday, April 22nd, marks the campaign’s inaugural event, Arkwings’ Caza de Arte (Art Hunt) Latino Art Exhibit and Multi-Cultural Festival.

“Art For All [stems from] the fact that we have a multitude of organizations within Memphis and Shelby County with a variety of wonderful offerings that we want to bring awareness to and uplift,” says Nykesha Cole, whom Mayor Lee Harris appointed as the county’s first-ever arts and culture liaison in 2022. “Prior to me starting in this role and prior to the establishment of the Arts and Culture Subcommittee [fall of 2021], we did not have a collective effort around uplifting organizations within Shelby County’s government.”

By collaborating with organizations like Arkwings, Cole says, “We just hope that [these Neighborhood Art Parties] will grow into truly creating a county where we have access to arts and culture for people regardless of where they are in the county, what neighborhoods they live in, how old they are, what race they are. … Art should be inclusive and accessible.”

For this first Neighborhood Art Party, taking place inside and outside, Arkwings, a nonprofit promoting wellness through arts and nature in Frayser, is seeking to highlight and engage with the Latino community. As such, the festival will feature a Latino art exhibit, artisan vendors, food trucks, art-making stations hosted by local arts organizations, live metal-smithing with the Mobile Memphis Metal Museum, an art hunt with mini masterpieces for attendees to find on the campus and take home, and performances by Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group, New Ballet Ensemble, Opera Memphis, and Danza Mexica Atlachinolli. “It’s gonna be for anyone and everyone who wants to come out and experience a little taste of Latin culture,” Jana Wilson, Arkwings’ executive director, says of the festival.

Bilingual volunteers will serve as interpreters and greeters, and high schoolers at Compass Community School have translated artists’ statements for the exhibit and descriptions of the various activities into Spanish and English. The students and numerous Frayser residents have also helped paint the mini pieces of art that will be scattered across Arkwing’s campus for the art hunt. “It’s gotten so popular that every Wednesday [leading up to the festival] has been an open gallery, and we have residents just popping in to paint mini art,” Wilson says. “And so the support we’ve gotten has made it something where we can really see a meaningful impact even leading up to the event.”

Community members of all ages have volunteered to paint the mini art to be featured in the art hunt. (Credit: Arkwings | Facebook)

“Our mission statement is mind, body, and spirit wellness through the healing power of arts and nature,” Wilson adds. “Research and studies show how it’s great to be out in nature and it’s great to create and engage in self-expression — those things are healing for us. And especially what we’ve been through as a society recently, we need that desperately. If we can offer people the opportunity to create and self-express, then we’re giving them an opportunity for healing, so the festival is a way that we can expose that concept to a massive number of people.”

And that sentiment also ties into the work that the Arts and Culture Nonprofit Subcommittee strives to achieve. “We want everybody to have the opportunity to have access to arts and culture ’cause, truly, when you look at it, that is one of the most vibrant things in society,” Cole says. “And we just wanna make sure that it’s getting its proper showcase and people are getting a chance to experience it in all neighborhoods.”

Following this first event in Frayser, Art For All will partner with the Stax Museum of American Soul Music for its Family Day, celebrating the museum’s 20th anniversary on Saturday, May 13th, 1 p.m.-4 p.m. The event will include free admission to the museum, live performances, art-making activities, and more. Then, on June 25th, the Museum of Science & History will host the Art For All Festival, where dozens of arts and culture organizations will come together to showcase performances and artmaking. More events are to come, so stay up to date with Art For All at 901ArtForAll.com.

Caza de Arte (Art Hunt) Cultural Exhibit & Festival, Arkwings, 2034 James Road, Saturday, April 22nd, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., free.