Artists and Artistic Opportunities in the Magnolia Area:
This area of the site links Magnolia Arts to artists and artistic opportunities in the surrounding area. Magnolia has a surprising number of talented people. Magnolia's educational system offers opportunities for artists of all ages to develop their skills. In a time when many schools have shrinking or nonexistent band programs, Magnolia has marching bands at the junior high, high school, and collegiate levels. Southern Arkansas University offers majors in English, graphic art, drama, digital media, and music. A number of skilled local artists offer lessons. Sister organizations in cities like El Dorado, Springhill, and Shreveport sponsor artistic events as well.
Magnolia Artists:
A town the size of Magnolia couldn't possibly have anything going artistically, could it? You might be surprised at the amount of artistic talent to be found in towns like Magnolia. We have, among others, a New York Times bestselling author and a former Miss Arkansas with an amazing amount of musical talent. There are others you may not have had the opportunity to meet. So let's meet some of them.
Vampires in Magnolia?! The citizens of Magnolia are delighted to have author Charlaine Harris living here in our midst. Charlaine's Southern Vampire series of novels is found in bookstores throughout the country and was the inspiration for the HBO series "True Blood." Like the vampires in her stories, Charlaine is pretty low key about the vampiric elements in her life, but on those moonlit nights when she sits down at her word processor, new, dark, and often humorous worlds begin to take shape. Charlaine's success is an inspiration to aspiring authors of all ages. Far from the dark forests and mountain crags of Romania, Charlaine's vampires move in more familiar surroundings like Shreveport and Dallas. Check them out at Charlaine's store on Amazon.com or visit Charlaine's website, www.charlaineharris.com.
Author Charlaine Harris, photo courtesy of Caroline Grayshock.
Once Every Blue Moon? One of the finest painters in the area is Anne Downs, the owner of Blue Moon Studios. Anne has left quite a mark on Magnolia. You may have seen her murals on the walls of the Dairy Queen. You may or may not know that she assisted with the painting of the movie mural at the edge of the square. Anne's studio is packed with paintings of many shapes and sizes. She has also shared her love of art with many of her painting students.

http://www.arkansasarts.com/programs/registry/detail.asp?ID=146

anndowns@sbcglobal.net
Arkansas, Branson, and the World. Magnolia native Beth Anne Rankin has had quite an interesting career path. After being crowned Miss Arkansas in 1995, Beth Anne played piano in Branson, Missouri, as part of Dino Kartsonakis' Christmas Extravaganza then moved to Little Rock to serve on Governor Mike Huckabee's staff. She has since moved her home base back to Magnolia where she teaches piano and twirling when she is not singing, recording album, speaking at various events, ...or even running for political office. Visit www.bethanne.net for more details.
Street entrance to Beth Anne Productions on Town Square
There and Back: An Artist's Journey: Katherine Weiser Caldwell, the founder of Imaginations, began her journey in Magnolia and ventured to Savannah, Georgia, where she received a B.A. in Metals and Jewelry from the internationally-renowned Savannah College of Art and Design. She and her husband studied in south France for a time and then moved to Dallas, Texas. While in Dallas, they found themselves drawn, more and more, to the familiar beauty of home. Now Katherine has opened her own studio where she teaches young people and adults and brings a bit of the flavor Savannah and France and her own creative vision to Magnolia's small town charm.
"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than you." ~Dr. Seuss
More of a Concrete Thinker? Steven Ochs, who teaches ceramics in Southern Arkansas Univeristy's Department of Art and Design has been featured in national magazines and spoken at national conferences about his work in decorative concrete. Columbia County natives have seen his beautiful work at the entrance of Farmer's Bank, at Brinson Hall on the SAU campus, and at Emerson School. See www.imagesinconcrete.com/
Disney Dreams? When Tim Wise was hired to teach management and marketing at Southern Arkansas University, few knew that he also had artistic aspirations in novel writing, comic book art, and filmmaking. The big question was where to begin. Wise bought a Macintosh and loaded it down with graphics and film editing programs and rented a studio on the third floor of a Magnolia town square building. In 2003, he published Intrepid Force, the first of four micropress novels and Chinchuba, a horror novel he published for Michael Casey, another business professor-turned-novelist. Wise continues to work on graphic design projects and is building his expertise in computer-generated special effects for video projects. His studio, dubbed Professor Theophilus' Emporium of Imagination, continues to be a laboratory of dreams, inspiration, and perspiration as well. Visit Wise's website at www.emporiausa.net or visit Amazon.com to read about (and hopefully purchase!) his novels.
The Cosmopolitan Ladies' Club Gallery: Founded and Managed by Angela Lester to showcase her own creations and those of other artists, the gallery is located on the Magnolia, Arkansas, town square where it displays and sells high quality art pieces: paintings, colored glass, and jewlery. The Loft, a luxury guest suite, is located on the floor above.

http://www.cosmopolitanladiesclub.com/
Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia offers majors in English, Studio Art, Graphic Design, Theater, Digital Communications, and Music. SAU's band building is brand new and the recently-added digital communications major offers students a chance to meld their interests in film and music editing on state-of-the-art equipment. Students interested in educational careers might choose an art or music education route. Those interested in opening their own studios and theaters might consider minoring in management or marketing.

The university's continuting education program offers courses in art and drama and a variety of other subjects for students of all ages.

Visit SAU's website at www.saumag.edu for more information.
The Columbia County Library has kept the torch of literacy burning in Columbia County since it first opened its doors in 1929. The location and the technology have changed since those days, but the commitment to the preservation of Columbia County's cultural heritage, literacy and the literary arts continues.
The South Arkansas Arts Council, our sister organization in El Dorado, sponsors programs promoting a variety of artforms. Their outstanding community theater program has featured productions of A Christmas Carol, South Pacific, and M*A*S*H.www.saac-arts.org
The Robinson Film Center is a not-for-profit arts organization based in Shreveport, LA. Their mission, as stated on their website, is" to provide a venue for independent, international, and classic cinema while serving as a resource for film production and media education". In addition to their daily film programming, the Robinson Film Center offers film and media production classes for all ages and provides a variety of resources and facilities to the region’s rapidly-growing film industry.

www.robinsonfilmcenter.org
The Baton Rouge Cartoonist's Society: For cartoonists in Baton Rouge and beyond, the BRCS educates and encourages cartoonists of all skill levels. They sponsor art shows and workshops throughout the year and are active participants in the Red Stick International Animation Festival, a major animation event held annually in Baton Rouge (April 22-25, 2009). If you're a lover of cartoon art, you'll want to check out the fine work of Eric Van Buren, Robert Bienvenu, and the rest of the society's members.

http://www.comicspace.com/brcs/