CB to You Mobile Art Lab: West Fork

Energizing Community Through Art!

West Fork, the CB to You Mobile Art Lab is coming to your neighborhood!

Join us this October at the West Fork Public Library for three days of creativity and conversation focused on energizing communities through art. Each day of the visit will feature different activities and artists, as well as pop-up performances throughout the evening and weekend.

From artmaking and Storycircles to artist talks and live studio demonstrations, this traveling celebration of creativity promises to bring a little bit of inspired fun to everyone. Each stop will culminate in a free outdoor concert and community art showcase.

Join us in celebrating your hometown by creating art, stories, and memories together!

Free, no registration required.

Sunday, Oct 3

Artist: Ziba Rajabi

1 – 5 PM: Drop-in Studio and Artist Demo

Artmaking : Printmaking

1 – 3 PM: Pop-up Performance w/ Nikola Radan & Jessica Vansteenburg

2:30 PM: West Fork Library Grand Opening

3 – 4:30 PM: Live Music w/ Chris Cameron, presented by Music Moves

Monday, Oct 4

Artist: Tay Butler

Artmaking: Collage

2 – 7 PM: Drop-in Studio and Artist Demo

TBD: Storytelling

Tuesday, Oct 5

Artist: Trinity Kai

2 – 7 PM: Drop-in Studio and Artist Demo

Artmaking: Cyanotype

5 – 5:45 PM: Storytelling w/ Gaby Treviño, Open Mouth Reading Series

Sunday, October 3

Activities from 1 to 5 PM

Artist of the Day: Ziba Rajabi

Ziba is an Iranian artist whose primary practice is focused on painting, drawing, and fiber-based installation. Her work focuses on merging past memories of her native land, Tehran, and her current life here in Arkansas through abstract forms. You can see more of her work at the temporary exhibition Crystal Bridges at 10.

Ziba will be at the library from 1 to 5 PM and will be introducing a printmaking-influenced activity. Following the art activity, Ziba will lead an artist discussion inspired by her own experiences with community, belonging, and resilience.

An extra pop-up flute and clarinet performance by Nikola Radan and Jessica Vansteenburg will be held indoors from 1 to 3 PM.  Nikola, a flutist, composer, and music producer,  will perform original and arranged music for flute and clarinet. He will feature a guest clarinetist, the amazing Jessica Vansteenburg. The music they will perform is influenced by non-Western musical traditions such as the Hindustani, Andalusian, Middle East, and Balkan traditions.

Then, at 2:30 PM, the Mobile Art Lab will be a part of West Fork Library’s grand opening, including a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly renovated library.

At 3 PM, join us for a live music performance by Chris Cameron, presented by Music Moves.

Chris Cameron has long been a favorite of Arkansas audiences. Blending his guitar virtuosity with genuine, heartfelt vocals, Cameron puts on a show that displays his blues pedigree beautifully.

He won the International Blues Challenge in an unprecedented sweep in 1997. He won both the overall contest and the Albert King Award (now the Gibson Guitar Award) for “Most Promising International Blues Guitarist.” At the time he was 18 years old, the youngest ever IBC winner and the only double crown winner.

What followed was a flurry of high-profile shows with the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Delbert McClinton, James Cotton, and more. Most recently Cameron worked as a guitarist for Los-Angeles based rocker and hit writer, Robert Tepper.

Monday, October 4

Activities from 2 to 8 PM

Artist of the Day: Tay Butler

Tay will be at the library from 2 to 7 PM and will be introducing guests to a collage-based art activity that involves magazines and cardstock at 3 PM. Following the art activity, Tay will lead an artist discussion at 5:15 PM inspired by his own experiences with community, belonging, and resilience.

He works in photography, collage/assemblage, video, music, and sound exhibitions and installations. Tay is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work layers both the present-day and archival Black experience, as well as the histories, realities, and theories that influence those experiences.

Later in the day, we’ll have a guest storyteller presentation—more info coming soon!

Tuesday, October 5

Activities from 2 to 8 PM

Artist of the Day: Trinity Kai

Trinity will be at the library from 2 to 7 PM and will be introducing guests to a cyanotype activity at 3 PM, using light-sensitive prepared paper and community-based objects. Following the art activity, Trinity will lead an artist discussion at 5:15 PM inspired by her own experiences with community, belonging, and resilience.

Trinity creates work using her own personal narrative and examines systems of discrimination that exist within society. She creates through self-portraiture, written language, and materiality to share her experiences and bring viewers into conversations that can be reflective and transformational.

After the artist hours, Gaby Treviño from the Open Mouth Reading Series will be our featured storyteller from 5 to 5:45 PM to cap off the night!

Gabby Treviño is a recent graduate of the University of Arkansas Creative Writing program, receiving her Bachelor’s degree in 2020. Gabby started her writing journey when she was eight years old and has continued to nurture that through coursework and workshopping in smaller, more intimate settings with trusted friends. In her writing, she explores the complicated nature of her identity, the sense of displacement ever so present, and generational healing and nurturing in relation to gender expectations. Maya Angelou is one of her biggest inspirations. She is passionate about equity in the literary arts and hopes to affect change through her work. She was born in Georgia, raised in Arkansas, but her roots are firmly planted in the South Texas/Mexico border. She is working toward publication and is excited for this opportunity to focus on her craft.

Open Mouth Reading Series is a community-based literary organization located in Fayetteville, Arkansas. They have partnered with local organizations to bring engaging and creative events, programming, experiences, exchanges, content, and dialogues to Northwest Arkansas. OM hosts monthly readings and writing workshops as well as many other writing and engagement opportunities for poets and community members. Their featured poets will share readings of their own work while guiding a storytelling circle, encouraging guests through activity prompts and storytelling to participate in writing and sharing stories about their experiences in their own communities.

The CB to You Mobile Art Lab is a traveling pop-up art experience energizing the power of community through art. Featuring regional artists from across Northwest Arkansas, the art lab will be visiting local libraries and festivals around the region to bring artmaking, music, storytelling, and more. Find out more about the program, see a full schedule of stops, and get to know our guest artists here!

The CB to You Mobile Art Lab is presented in partnership with Ziba Rijabi, Markeith Woods, Lakisha Harper Bradley, Trinity Kai, Tay Butler, and Junli Song. Pop-up performances will be performed by Papa Rap’s the fun love drum line, Craig Colorusso’s Lady Bug Cathedral Sessions, and Music Moves. Story sharing events are presented with Ozark Poets and Writers Collective, Open Mouth Reading Series, and the Poetic Justice Collective.