What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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HOW HAVE YOUR PLANS CHANGED? Help us better understand... Please help us by taking this online survey to determine what news you are seeking, what's most important now, what we can do better, and what your current shopping plans are. We will use the survey results to deliver community news that is most important to you along with helping local businesses get some ideas on what you need. $1,000 will be awarded by Pulse Research to one respondent. Thank You! The survey is available at: www.pulsepoll.com 4 WHAT'S UP! APRIL 5-11, 2020 Knox Continued From Page 3 "Confidence" by Blakely Knox acknowledges a good day in her fight for mental health. (Courtesy Photo) Knox thought she was struggling with depression, but she was finally diagnosed with Bipolar II. This piece of her art is titled "Manic." (Courtesy Photo) "Poise" my diagnosis until Natalie Freeman [owner of the Freckled Hen Farmhouse in Fayetteville] suggested I create a series based off a larger piece I had made a couple years back." "Visual art has been a part of my life for quite awhile now, but I had no plans of depicting my disorder through art until this opportunity. I had a painting that I made when I knew I wasn't feeling quite right but had absolutely no idea what was going on with me. I told another friend about the opportunity but shared my reservations about opening up my story. He convinced me to dive head first into it and paint different moods I experience." So Knox went back to the proverbial drawing board — and to a studio in her apartment. "The paintings truly create themselves," she says. "I don't confine myself to anything before starting a piece. Instead I allow it to transform as I go. I start with a blank canvas, I then add texture with the use of glass bead gels and coarse gels. I choose a background color, and once that's in place, I start meshing colors together to create a mood. "Oftentimes with mental illness, you can feel as if you have to put on a million different faces to get you through a day," Knox explains. "This is where the faces in my pieces come in. After I have the base colors and faces painted, I then use gold/silver leaf for detail. The paintings themselves are an expression of different moods that I experience day to day. "After I feel a painting is finished, I attach a mood to it," she adds. "Color is such a strong inspiration for me. I love using color to express moods and emotions. I don't plan color schemes out before I start painting, but instead I let myself just go with it and truly paint what I feel in that moment. "Art has been my livelihood and way of expression for awhile now," Knox says, "but this series has gotten me back into painting, which I'm thankful for. It's definitely made me want to be a voice for mental illness and continue the conversation throughout my life. "I want people to become more comfortable talking about their mental health. It's such a common thing people struggle with, so instead of attaching negative stigmas to it, we should all be more open to talking about it. Talking about it is the only way people will get the help and support they truly need." COVER STORY "Removed" "Restless."