Students view artwork at the Senior Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition opening reception Tuesday at the Martin Museum of Art. The students’ senior portfolios will be featured at the Martin Museum through Sunday.
(Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor)

Each year, Baylor hosts the Senior Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition where graduating seniors can display their work.

The event began Tuesday with a reception and will run through Sunday at the Martin Museum of Art in the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center in galleries 1 and 2.

The event is free and is open to the public.

The exhibition is for graduating BFA majors that have an emphasis on graphic design, photography and painting.

The students who will be displaying their work throughout the week are: senior Sarah Craig; senior Victoria Leos; Chandler, Ariz., senior Landis Ware; Brownsville senior Kendra Naranjo; Elgin senior Katy Powell; San Antonio senior Freddy Rosas; Highlands Ranch, Colo., senior Anna Lee Webster and Dallas senior Adrian Garza.

Garza is a graphic design major and will be displaying several of pieces of his work, such as logos, posters, package designs and other items including brochures and informational work.

He said all the seniors in this event have put in a lot of hard work this year in each of their portfolios for the exhibition.

“Putting together a portfolio requires a lot of time and dedication,” he said. “The creation of a portfolio book requires taking a hard look at past projects and re-working them to bring them up to your current level of expertise.”

Garza said his displays are various pieces that are all different in their intended applications.

“I would say that the work overall has an emphasis on visually conveying the client’s intended message,” he said. “Some of the work could have a clean and minimal approach while another could feature more illustration and color.”

Rosas is a BFA major with a concentration in graphic design. He is displaying a portfolio consisting of 10 of his works, which are mostly logos and identity designs incorporated into stationery sets.

He said his hard work has helped him get to this point of his career.

“I like to think I’ve maintained a healthy balance between work and leisure for the past four years,” he said.

After he graduates, Rosas will be moving to the United Kingdom to become a freelance writer.

As for Garza, he plans to move back to Dallas to temporarily work for a photography company that he has been employed by for the past two years.

He said he has an idea of what he wants to work with and where he wants to do it after his current job.

“After that job, I hope to find a graphic design job that deals with interface or poster design where I can also incorporate my photography skills,” he said. “Ideally, I would like to find a job somewhere in California, New York City or Boston, Massachusetts.”

Each senior has his or her own specific concentration, but they can do more than just that. Garza said while he has worked hard on his own skill he has had the opportunity to work on other skills.

“We graduate from the program with a well-rounded skillset,” he said. “I am a graphic design major but I have a major passion for photography and I have had the chance to develop that through the BFA program as well.”

This is photograph by 6-year-old Mary Jane Vorderkunz is one of several photos on display at the Piper Children’s Art Gala.
Matt Hellman | Lariat Photographer

The Baylor and Waco community will find art is a way for people to show off their talent today.

The Baylor Piper Children’s Art Gala and Auction, featuring photographs and paintings by children at the Piper Center for Family Studies and Child Development and other pieces by various Baylor faculty artists, will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. today in the Martin Museum foyer of the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center. The art gala is free and open to the public.

The event will feature a silent auction for the photographs and paintings made by the children, who range in age from 2 months to 5 years old. There will also be art donated by various Baylor faculty artists, such as the ceramic bowls made by professor of art Paul McCoy and glazed by the Piper children.

There will also be activities for children to enjoy, such as printmaking and making their own cards, story time, and a kids’ “Create and Explore” center.

The art gala and silent auction will be put on through a joint effort by Baylor and the Piper Center for Family Studies and Child Development.

“We are a lab school for the department of family and consumer sciences and our specific area is child and family studies,” said Barbara Crosby, director of the Piper Center. “I think the main thing is to support what we’re doing here with our students at Baylor, giving them a premier hands-on experience for what they’re doing in the classroom. It’s so that students will have greater understanding of what quality childcare is and support to families is. That’s very important.”

The Piper Center is the only childcare facility in Waco accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

H. Jennings Sheffield, assistant professor of art in the department of fine arts, is helping organize the event.

She has had two children attend the center. She said her oldest son has recently graduated from the Piper Center and her 3-year-old son is currently attending the center.

“We hope that a lot of people from Baylor will come,” Sheffield said. “It’s just to support the children and for them to get their artwork out there. I also think it’s a great reminder that art is fun, or should be, I guess.”

Sheffield will be organizing the photography to be auctioned. The photography was taken by the Piper children. Sheffield and Virginia Green, associate professor of art in the department of fine arts, will be running the printmaking activities for the gala.

A number of other Baylor faculty members have also donated art pieces to be sold in the silent auction.

“It helps with the activities that we do for children like the fall festival, the Christmas party and then, like this spring, we’re doing a butterfly release,” Crosby said. “We do different activities each day to celebrate children just this one week each year. This week is the week of the child and it culminates in this art gala.”

Crosby and Sheffield said they encourage people of all ages to come have fun.

“Our goal is to make this family friendly so that parents can enjoy and family can enjoy,” Crosby said.

Not only is it designed to entertain all age groups, but it will also provide an opportunity for people to support local artists.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to get art from these professors,” Sheffield said. “It’s a great opportunity to go buy art from your local artists who are showing internationally.”

People with questions about the art gala or about the Piper Center for Family Studies and Child Development can call the center at 254-710-4373.

This piece titled “Baylor Bear” is a work of art by Temple junior Michael McVade. The bear is made of welded steel. The exhibition features artwork from Baylor art students and is free and open to the public. The exhibition began March 28 and will run until April 17 in Gallery 1 and 2 of the Martin Museum of Art.
(Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor)

You don’t have to look very far to find Baylor students going above and beyond. This time, look no further than the art department, where a varied collection of artwork is currently on display.

The Martin Museum of Art is hosting the Baylor Art Student Exhibition, which started on March 28 and will run until April 17 in Gallery 1 and 2. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Karin Gilliam, director of the museum located in the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center, said she is dedicated to the event’s impact and meaning for the involved students.

“This is an amazing opportunity to showcase the artistic talent and the achievements of our students,” Gilliam said. “It’s also a wonderful learning experience for the students because for many of them, it’s the first time they’ve ever entered an exhibition, and certainly a juried exhibition.”

A juried exhibition is where an individual or panel of judges selects the art for the exhibition and select pieces that are recognized.

Divided into the two rooms of the museum, the collection features photographs, various works of sculpture, graphic designs, paintings, drawings and other mediums and even a quilt. The photos and works on canvas line the walls of both rooms and the sculptures sit on pedestals near the center of each room.

All of the artwork was made within the past year by students who have taken at least one art class.

Shelley Owens, a prominent Texan artist who lives and works in Dallas, selected 92 of 200 entries from Baylor art students for the event. The art on display will be available for purchase.

Gilliam said the pieces will be affordable for students, averaging at about $50. She said this is much less than what a normal, professional gallery would offer for its pieces.

The exhibition has also provided the students with an opportunity to learn the process of submitting art.

“They’re learning everything from how to do the application, to how to present their work in a professional manner,” Gilliam said.

The students are also impressed with the high quality of their peers’ works and various types of art pieces.

“I think it’s really great to show how each different medium is being represented,” Rosebud junior Daniel Kleypas said. “We really see the great stuff.”

Kleypas submitted photography and had a series of four photos selected for the exhibition. This series, “Things Fall Apart,” depicts old, dilapidated objects such as a shack and a car with a broken headlight.

In addition to this event, the art department hosted Jesus Moroles, a successful sculptor, who served as a guest juror for the exhibition.

One of his works, “Las Mesas,” stands in front of the Waco Convention Center. It is a tall, narrow piece of art on a stone pedestal.

Moroles presented his lecture, “Creating a Sense of Place,” to the art department March 28.

Juror’s Choice Awards were given to Midland junior Rebekah Campbell, Lubbock senior Amy Gonzales, Hewitt senior Sarah Groman, Leander junior Kendal Kulley, Paradise Valley, Ariz., senior Sam Panter, Elgin senior Katy Powell, Kountze senior Blair Reed and Abilene senior Zakk Washington.

Viewers can also vote on their favorite piece, and the artist with the most votes will be given the People’s Choice Award. The winner will be announced on April 16.

Gilliam said she believes the students will benefit from being judged by such effective and seasoned jurors who understand the process of creation.

“They’re coming in with a very objective, critical eye,” Gilliam said. “[Moroles] will be able to speak to the students about what they look for, as far as criteria and what they expect, as far as what is worthy to get into an exhibition.”

This advice will also reiterate what the art students have been studying and learning during their time at Baylor.

Gilliam said many things Moroles said were familiar to the students because their professors have been saying it throughout their time as art students.

“But there’s nothing like hearing it firsthand from an outside professional artist to really underscore or drive home those points,” Gilliam said.

A mural entitled the “Glorification of St. Francis” in the St. Francis Church on Jefferson Avenue and North Third Street. The walls of the sanctuary are covered by murals created for the church by Spanish artist Pedro Barceló.
Travis Taylor | Lariat Photographer

A block away from the newly renovated Waco Convention Center stands a building that looks like it was plucked straight out of the 1600s. Heavy wooden doors positioned beneath and between the carved likenesses of Catholic saints lead to a cavernous room filled from floor to ceiling with historic and meaningful artwork.

St. Francis on the Brazos Catholic Church was established in Waco in 1924 by the Franciscan missionaries of the Third Order Regular. It was established to minister to the needs of the Mexican, Spanish-speaking population of the Waco area.

The first building established was not the one seen today, but a wooden one, burned down in 1928. The fathers and parishioners of the church then had the idea, according to a pamphlet of the church’s history, to “construct a more efficient and comfortable church.”

The walls of the sanctuary are covered by murals created for the church by Spanish artist Pedro Barceló. Facing the congregation are murals, the “Glorification of St. Francis,” which shows St. Francis’ glorification in Heaven; the “Arrival and Work of the Franciscans in Texas,” which depicts scenes of the arrival, predication and martyrdom of the first Franciscan missionaries in Texas; and The First and Last Stations of the Cross, which are depictions of Jesus’ path to crucifixion.

“Whether celebrated by a community or by individuals,” according to the 2000 edition of the book “Built of Living Stones: Art, Architecture and Worship: Guidelines of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.” The book’s purpose is to assist in the renovation of churches with suggestions such as, “the Stations of the Cross offer a way for the faithful to enter more fully into the passion and death of the Lord and to serve as another manifestation of the pilgrim Church on its homeward journey.”

On March 5, members of St. Francis on the Brazos Catholic Church took part in walking the Stations of the Cross as a part of the Easter season, said Orlando Salas, office manager for the church. Members passed around each station and participate in prayers and petitions. The Stations of the Cross are a part of the Franciscan tradition, Salas said.

“It’s basically just resembling what Jesus went through when he was going through that sorrowful way to crucifixion,” Salas said.

The mural, the “Glorification of St. Francis,” which stands at the front of the sanctuary above the pulpit, shows St. Francis being glorified in Heaven. St. Francis is the patron saint of Salas notes that on the mural one can see the depiction of the pope, angels, nuns, and other figures watching the saint rise into the clouds. Above St. Francis a dove representing the Holy Spirit floats, flanked by Christ and God the Father. At the bottom of the painting is the image of the Waco skyline.

The church’s pamphlet on its history says that Barceló “tried to exalt the city that was to receive his work by capturing it inside his painting of The Glorification of St. Francis right under the clouds.”

Beneath this mural sit three other murals that show the story of the first Franciscan missionaries in the United States. They portray their interaction with Native Americans as they tried to evangelize the native people. The center mural depicts Native Americans attacking missionaries and a church, and the series of the three ends with Native Americans kneeling at a cross, having converted to Christianity.

Concerning any controversy about the three paintings’ topic of Native Americans and how they became Christians, Salas said that he can’t speak for what the artist who painted the murals originally intended. He did note that some people have trouble with the graphic nature of the paintings, though.

“Some people don’t like that it’s actually people killing someone else,” Salas said. “It’s graphic, you know, but in art, it’s telling you the story. It’s speaking for itself.”

Various statues of saints and of Christ stand in small side chapels around the sanctuary, surrounded by ornate wall décor and canopied by blue ceilings with painted yellow stars. At the feet of many saints sit trinkets ranging from Rosary beads to flowers made out of pipe cleaners. An altar dedicated to a particular revered form of the Virgin Mary in Mexican Catholic culture, known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, is honored with bundles of flowers placed at her feet.

The front of the church, called the façade, is a replica of the Mission Church San Jose de Aguayo near San Antonio. Statues of saints surround the heavy wooden doors, and representations of cherub heads and the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary face Waco from the front of the building as well.

“I enjoy coming here,” said Erica Escobedo, a member and secretary for the church. “I think that’s what attracts me to come here. It’s beautiful; it’s very historic.”

Escobedo was baptized and raised in the church, her parents having been members for decades. The art and architecture doesn’t affect her worship, she says, but it is still something she likes.

“In the Christian community’s place of prayer, art evokes and glorifies ‘the transcendent mystery of God, the surpassing invisible beauty of truth and love visible in Christ,’” according to the book “Built of Living Stones.”

On Wednesday, former owner of the Waco Tribune-Herald Clifton Robinson stands with two bronze models of cattle drivers that will eventually join the current bronze cattle drive at Indian Spring Park. Robinson paid approximately one million for the set of three cattle drivers, including the one already in place at the park.
Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor

By Kate McGuire
Staff Writer

Waco history is coming to life for citizens and tourists via the cattle drive statues in front of the Waco Suspension Bridge.

The statues are meant to represent the cattle drive of the Chisholm Trail, which passed through Waco.

The statues, which currently feature 10 cattle and two ranchers, are a work in progress, as more statues are coming.

Clifton Robinson, an alumnus and longtime supporter of Baylor and Waco, has been working on this project since 2004. Robinson said the idea for the sculptures came from a jog he took in downtown Dallas. He said he saw sculptures of 40 cows and three horses and riders, meant to represent a trail ride.

“I thought, ‘Why would Dallas have trail rides if trail rides did not go through Dallas?’ The trail rides all went through Fort Worth,” Robinson said. “We need one in Waco because we were the most famous trail, the Chisholm Trail.”

Robinson approached Doreen Ravenscroft, board member and president of the Waco Arts Center and the director of the Waco Cultural Arts Fest, during a dinner party. She asked Robinson and others to support bringing in local art, but Robinson was thinking of something else entirely — the cattle drive.

“I told her I had a much bigger project in mind,” Robinson said. “When I told her, she nearly passed out.”

And the rest is history—literally.

Robinson said he, Ravenscroft and several others who supported the project took a drive up to Dallas and then Frisco to review the sculptures and other art, and contacted the artist who created the cattle drive in Dallas, Robert Summers, a sculptor and artist of Western and Civil War era pieces.

The sculpture’s design calls for a total of 25 cattle and ranchers of three races — Caucasian, Mexican and African-American — to be represented.

“When I dreamt up this project, I didn’t want to discriminate or leave anybody out since all three races went across that bridge,” Robinson said.

Currently, 10 cattle and two ranchers, the Caucasian and Mexican ranchers who are not meant to represent historical figures, stand by the bridge.

The last rancher is meant to be Holt Collier, an African-American who served as a driver on the trail. Collier, a famous bear hunter, was involved in the origin of the teddy bear with Theodore Roosevelt.

“This man actually was a cowboy on the Chisholm Trail and went across that bridge,” Robinson said. “He will be immortalized more than any of the rest.”

The longhorn statues in the sculpture cost $2,800 and the first rider and horse cost around $333,000. Robinson said, overall, the cost of the whole project reaches just under $2 million.

Members of the community can buy the cattle for $2,800. When a longhorn is sold to an individual, the person can have their own branding put on the back rear of the longhorn. Ranchers are not for sale. Overall, Robinson said, the total cost of the project is just under $2 million. Currently, 12 cattle have been sold, according to Ravenscroft.

The statues are built with a steel and copper framework to prevent damage and protect the statues.

Robinson said the detailing of the sculptures is accurate to the point of making sure the wooly chaps are exactly like they would have been back then.

“The detail is impeccable, the saddles, the outfits, the rifles, the pistols, of course a cow is a cow. The artist has reached this to an infinite degree,” Robinson said.

Although Ravenscroft said the project was scheduled to be finished in 2012, that date has been moved to the end of 2013.

“It’ll be finished when it’s finished,” Ravenscroft said. “We would hope it’ll be 2013, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’ll be 2019.”

Ravenscroft said the pieces will serve to educate the community.

“One of the best things that we were going for was the history lesson that we give people at Waco,” Robinson said. “Here, people can discuss the Chisholm Trail and how it came to Waco.”

When I saw this necklace on Etsy, I immediately wanted one, but I was not going to pay $75 no matter how much it was calling my name. So I Googled the name hoping to find some instructions on how to make one for myself. I found a YouTube video with step-by-step instructions. The YouTube video explains this DIY the best, but I’ve tried my best to write out the steps and include what I did differently.

Tree of Life Necklace (adapted from CamilleSharon’s YouTube tutorial)

What you need:

• 16 gauge wire (5 pieces at 8-9 inches each and one piece at 6 inches)
• 24 gauge wire (one at 8 inches)
• Beads (I just bought a string of beads at a craft store)
• Pliers
• Something circular to form the hoop around (I used a water bottle)

Instructions:

1. Take the 16 gauge wire and make a loop around one end. She uses a pair of round-nose pliers for this but really a regular pair of pliers would do the trick as well. Or you can invest in a set of crafting pliers. I bought my set for about $10 at Hobby Lobby. Shape the rest of the wire into a circle forming your frame. Make a loop going in the opposite direction on the other end of the wire.

2. The next step was actually the trickiest part for me, but you’re going to essentially wire the two ends together. You accomplish this by taking the smaller, six in. piece of wire, threading it through one of the loops you made and twisting it around a couple times. Then you bring the two ends together and twist the wire around both ends a few times. Finally you twist the wire around the other looped end a few times, securing the wire. After that, you can cut off the excess wire.

3. Now you should have a hoop with two loops at the top. Next you’re going to take one of the 16 gauge wire pieces, fold it in half and twist it around the hoop. Twist it a couple times to secure it to the hoop, but don’t over-twist or you’ll break the wire. Then you’re going to string the beads on. This is where I started diverging from the video. Since my hoop was smaller, I didn’t need as many beads as she was using, nor did I use as much wire as she was using. I’ve found that the best way to do this pendant is to put half the wire branches on one side and the other half on the other side, so you don’t have to worry about try to move the branches to the other side of the pendant at the end. You can secure the wires all at once or do the branches one at a time. I typically do the branches one at a time.

4. Next you’re going to add the beads to the branch wires. This can be modified any way you want, but for this necklace, the order I used from left to right is 3-4-4-5-5 with three branches on the left side and two on the right side. This is entirely dependent on the size of your frame and the size of your beads. I like to eyeball it while I’m working on it so there are just enough beads. Also since the branches are divided in two, I split the number of beads further so I ended up stringing the beads 1-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-3.

5. I preferred to do one branch at a time, and from the middle out. So after you string the beads, twist wire to hold the beads in place. Eventually, you’ll have five branches with beads on them.

6. Now you have some more creative freedom. You’re going to twist the excess wires together to form the trunk of the tree until you almost reach the bottom.

7. Then you’re going to fan out the wires and twist them around the bottom of the hoop to form the “roots.” Don’t worry about being too exact because it’s a tree and imperfections add to the beauty of the piece.

8. Finally string a chain through the top loop of the hoop and you’re done.

In her video, she makes a two in diameter pendant. I thought it was a little big for me, so I shaped the hoop smaller to make the pendant smaller. The hoop ends up being the outer frame of the pendant. Therefore I used fewer branch wires and beads than she did in her tutorial.

This project has become one of my go-to projects for unique gifts and the tediousness of twisting the wire, adding the beads, shaping the necklace makes it also ideal when I need something to take my mind off of school and relax a little.

I gave this project a difficulty rating 4.5/5 because of the attention to detail involved in twisting the wires and shaping the pendant.

I found this cute DIY project on Pinterest, though its original source was the blog House of Humble. I was looking for something to decorate my apartment for Valentine’s Day, and to take my mind off the fact that I’d be spending the day at work instead of being romanced, I decided to take on a project. To save myself some money, I adapted the project to incorporate things I already had in the house. I’d give the project a medium difficulty rating. It requires a basic knowledge of sewing, and I recommend being careful with the hot glue gun. Apart from that, it was pretty straightforward.

Materials:

1 glass jar (I used a Ball Mason jar from Hobby Lobby. I got the large size. It’s important to make sure the jar is large enough to fit your hand in).

1 Stick

2 small, feathered birds, small enough to fit in the jar side by side and light enough not to weigh down your stick too much.

Fabric scraps in coordinating colors (I used shades of blue that I had around the house.)

Sewing thread (I used white.)

Faux Spanish moss

Rubber band

Ribbon

Scissors

Saucer

Ball-point pen

Needle

Wire cutters

Directions:

First, take the Spanish moss and chop it into small pieces to simulate grass. Drop the pieces to the bottom of the jar until the entire bottom is covered and you have a layer of chopped Spanish moss about 1/4 inch thick.

Next, prepare the garland that will go on your stick. To make mine, I cut small diamonds out of the fabric scraps, which I folded in half and hemmed together to form upside down triangles. I used small stitches and matched up the sides, alternating fabrics. I sewed the triangles into a garland, leaving about two inches of thread on each side to tie the garland to the stick.

After that, prepare the stick. Make sure the stick is big enough to touch the sides of the jar inside where you want to place it. Cut it if necessary using the wire cutters.

Decide where and how you want to place your birds. I angled mine and had them face each other. Since they came on wire, I simply wrapped the wire around the branch to place them there. If your birds are not wired, I suggest using hot glue.

Finally, to finish the stick, the ends of the garland to each end of the stick. Trim excess thread. I put a dot of glue on top of each place I’d tied the garland to make sure it stays in place.

Next comes the hard part: setting up the stick in the jar. I took one end of the stick and dabbed hot glue on it. I angled the stick to fit the entire thing, as the stick was longer than the mouth of the jar was wide, plus it had the birds and garland attached. I hurriedly stuck the glue-containing end to the wall of the jar. After holding it in place for a few seconds to let the glue dry and ensure a good bond, I gently lifted the other, glueless end to the mouth of the jar and dabbled glue onto it to. I fastened it to the opposite wall of the jar.

Use the saucer to trace a circle onto the fabric. Cut out. You might need to trim a little off the circle so that you don’t have too much fabric. The fabric will cover the lid of the jar.

Screw the lid back onto the jar and use the fabric to cover it. Make sure the fabric is smooth on top. To this end, I placed several dots of glue on the rim of the lid before placing the fabric over it.

Place the rubber band over the fabric and lid. Use the ribbon to hide the rubber band by wrapping it around and tying a bow.

Happy Valentine’s Day, crafters!

Harts ‘N’ Crafts workers prepares for a Valentines Day craft event at the Harts ‘N’ Crafts store on 8th Street and Dutton Avenue on Tuesday, February 12, 2013.
Travis Taylor | Lariat Photographer

By Paula Ann Solis
Contributor

For those still searching for a Valentine’s Day gift, an arts and crafts event being held tonight by local Waco boutique Harts N Crafts may be the answer.

From 7 to 9 p.m., Harts N Crafts, located at 1125 S. Eighth St., next to Common Grounds, will host a Valentine’s Day party complete with free cupcakes and drinks where patrons will also have the opportunity to create handmade gifts for their loved ones.

“We will be offering more male-focused gifts so the ladies can pick up a gift for their guy,” said Jerri Schaeper, the store manager.

The boutique will have wooden letters, symbols and canvases available for patrons to paint and purchase. Prices range from $5 to $50. The store also carries ready-made crafts prepared by Harts N Crafts employees.

The Harts N Crafts boutique, owned by Baylor alumna Alicia Hart who graduated in 2002 with a degree in finance and international business, will also have free gifts available.

Everyone who stops by Harts N Crafts tonight will have the opportunity to design his or her own heart-shaped magnet for free.

Schaeper, a native Wacoan, said while Harts N Crafts hosts Valentine’s Day-themed parties every year, this one will be the best the store has ever had.

This year’s party, themed “All You Need Is Love,” will also mark the exclusive launch of a new clothing line, the Edna Rose Collection.

The chief designer of the new collection, Deanna Nail, is also a Baylor alumna who graduated in 1997 with a double major in marketing and real estate.

“That’s one reason Baylor is very near and dear to me and why we wanted to start the launch here,” Nail said. “The mission of our clothing line is to reach, inspire and empower women of all ages all over through apparel and accessories.”

Nail said part of the proceeds from this collection is donated to ministries such as Serendipity Ministry, a nonprofit, female-empowerment organization.

The Edna Rose Collection will premiere with a line of tank tops, T-shirts and scarves. Nail described the collection as a “comfortable, casual and affordable line.”

The mission of Harts N Crafts, said Schaeper, is also to “empower women while inspiring artists.”

As part of tonight’s event, all TOMS shoes will be on sale for $39, and all other store items will be discounted 15 percent. Any TOMS purchased in the store can also be painted for free.

Also, beginning today, Harts N Crafts will have fresh-cut flowers available for purchase as part of their new partnership with Bloomingals Floral Boutique, another female-owned Waco business.

Nail said later this year, she plans to return and introduce a fall line specifically geared toward game apparel.

“My hope is to teach women here that they can use their money wisely and that as they’re buying apparel they can make an impact and give back at the same time,” Nail said.

Tattoo Art

By Rebecca Fiedler

Reporter

This weekend art will be created, and the canvas of choice for many Wacoans will be their own bodies.

The Immersed In Ink Tattoo & Arts Festival will take place Friday through Sunday at the Waco Convention Center.

The festival will host tattoo artists from across the United States and provide live entertainment.

Patrons of the festival will have the chance to meet and be tattooed by a selection of more than 100 artists, as well as the chance to participate in tattoo contests to show off their ink.

Contest categories range from tattoos of movie images to Oriental style tattoos to black and grey photo realism tattoos, and more.

“Typically you’re into tattoos when you’re going to come to the show, whether you have them or if you’ve been thinking about getting them forever,” said Shane Gutierrez, co-owner of G-Force Productions, which hosts Immersed In Ink.

Cassie Bordner, a Wacoan and tattoo bearer, said she plans on attending the festival.

Bordner attended the festival the last time it was in Waco, before she even had any tattoos, and said she has always been interested in tattoos.

“Everybody who has a tattoo, it’s something that relates to them,” Bordner said. “They don’t just pick a random thing.”

Bordner said she loves traditional tattoos from past eras of tattoo design, such as anchors, pin-up girls and swallows, in styles like that of late tattoo artist Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins. Bordner, herself, bears a large traditional-style tattoo that she is considering entering in a contest at the festival.

“This is my third tattoo,” Bordner said. “I have five tattoos right now. It’s basically the traditional sleeve of Mother Nature, done by Steve Byrne from Rock of Ages in Austin, Texas. I got it because I’m a vegetarian, and I’m close to nature, although I feel like I’m very in-tuned with nature. I love being around nature and respect Mother Earth.”

Tattoos will be judged by how well the tattoo was applied, Gutierrez said, as well as the flow of the placement on the body, how the tattoo healed, and many other criteria.

Gutierrez said the most important criteria is the quality of the tattoo.

Tattoos entered in a contest can be tattoos already inked or those created at the festival by one of the artists. Patrons of the festival will have the chance to view the portfolios of different artists’ works and select an artist to create a tattoo for them.

“We don’t pay TV celebrity artists to come work our show,” Gutierrez said. “We do have quite a slew of great artists that are well known throughout the United States.”

Gutierrez said the artists strive to win awards at these shows. He said there’s fame to be gained within the festival.

“Typically if you’re going to get a tattoo you have to drive all over your city going to 15 shops, trying to figure out who the best one is, and you only have local shops to choose from – you only have the local artists to choose from,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said festival patrons will have a much bigger variety than they would get locally.

“If you come to the tattoo convention, you have over 100 artists from all over the country, top-of-the-line, best of the business, and you can look at their portfolios right there in front of you, so you literally just walk a couple hundred yards at a time and you’ll have looked at over 100 portfolios and talked to 100 artists, and now it’s really easy for you to just decide who you want to do that permanent work of art that’s going to be on your body forever,” Gutierrez said.

Artists at the festival will include local Waco artists Gutierrez said.

“It’s also a great way for local artists to compare their tattooing to the national scene to see where they stand,” Gutierrez said, “So a lot of the local artists will get all their clients to come in and enter into the tattoo contest.”

Many of the festival’s artists are booked up on Saturday and Sunday, Gutierrez said, so it’s best to come early on Friday and figure out which artist you want, set up an appointment, and come back the appointed day.

Tickets for the entire weekend cost $35 and single day tickets cost $20. The price includes the cost of entertainment.

Carol Perry

By Rebecca Fiedler
Reporter

Carol Perry is a Baylor lecturer who does things a little differently.

Perry is a full-time lecturer in journalism, public relations and new media. When she’s not performing her instructional duties, however, she’s connecting with God in a way that many Christians have never even heard of: she’s writing icons.

Iconography is a symbolic style of religious painting, though the creation of an icon is typically referred to as “writing,” not “painting.” Perry said she creates icons through 15th century Russian methodology. Perry majored in art when she was a college student at Texas Christian University and gained an interest in Byzantine art. Her paintings are usually of Christ, the virgin Mary, John the Baptist or one of many saints.

The Rt. Rev. Jeff Fisher, a bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and former director of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Waco, knows Perry through his time spent serving at St. Alban’s, where Perry attends.

“Making an icon is not like painting,” Fisher said. “It’s a spiritual practice where every layer in the making of an icon leads you down a spiritual journey. That’s how Carol experiences it.”

Making an icon is a long process that begins with a layer of gold, Fisher said. People will request Perry to make an icon for them, he said. Perry will talk to them to learn details about their spirituality, praying about that person as she creates the icon, Fisher said.

“We are not trying to interpret what was done,” Perry said of iconographers. “We are trying to honor the tradition and be true to the tradition. Even the process of making the paint – we make our paint the same way they made their paint in the early medieval days. And that’s to honor the tradition they did.”

Baylor lecturer Carol Perry wrote this icon which represents St. Michael.
Curtis Callaway | Lecturer in journalism, public relations and new media

The process of making icons is divided into three different levels, Perry said. The key is going from darkness to light, she said. The first level of painting involves natural light, which represents light before humanity existed. The second level is concerned with man’s light or human understanding. The last level represents spiritual progression toward God’s light, which is what the gold leaf symbolizes.

“It’s a prayerful process,” Perry said. “Sometimes you’re consciously praying as you’re working, and that’s part of the gift to those of us who do the work; the tremendous peace that comes with the work.”

Icons are written with paints made from all natural materials, Perry said.

She makes her own paint, and the ingredients come from all over the world. She gets azurite, a blue shade from Afghanistan. One kind of yellow, called ‘Indian Yellow,’ is made from camel urine. One color of paint even uses mercury.

Iconography, however, is not only a spiritual practice for the creators of it but also for those who enjoy looking at it.

Dr. Blaine McCormick, associate professor in the Hankamer School of Business, has commissioned icons from Perry.

One of those icons, an image of Christ, sits in his office by his computer screen. He calls this his “traveling icon” and has taken it with him to Africa and Central America. McCormick uses this painting for personal devotional practice, he said.

“Moving pictures have come to dominate our lives,” McCormick said. “You see that icon? It never moves. It’s an oasis of quiet there, right by my computer screen, and that icon teaches me every day. It never moves, and it teaches me consistently, and this is due to Carol’s good work.”

McCormick said to work with an icon means to look at it and use it to focus one’s thinking. It’s not about clearing the mind, though – it’s filling the mind with the correct things, he said.

“It’s not like magic,” Fisher said. “It’s just a tool – some people get on their knees to pray, some close their eyes, some say the same phrase over and over again – it’s just a tool that people use to get their mind off of themselves and put their minds onto God.”

Fisher said he sees icon usage as a form of sacrament. What a sacrament means, he explained, is that God speaks to people through material things, such as through bread, wine or the water in baptism.

“Icons allow you to have a different kind of partner in prayer – a different tool, no different than a prayer book,” McCormick said. “And, in its deepest essence, an icon should be a window to heaven.”

McCormick said Perry’s icons have special meaning to him as opposed to a generic printed icon because he knows Perry, who prayed specifically for him while she wrote his icon.

“It’s a real gift to me,” Perry said of icon writing. “It’s the perfect marriage of art and faith.”