Innovative Artists and Their Playful Projects

Imagine transforming the art world with just a dash of augmented reality and a sprinkle of pop culture flair! Join me as I share my thrilling collaborations with creative powerhouses like Mike Sturdivant, the mastermind behind Rock Island Growth Specialists and the innovative Stark Flavor app—designed to boost local businesses. Mike and I have been working magic together by blending technology and art, bringing new dimensions to our creations.

Also featured in this episode is Dave Sherrill from DaveRuinsArt, who adds a playful twist to thrifted pieces with his love for pop culture. From live painting sessions to crafting unique art with a tiny Japanese pencil set, these projects highlight the beauty of supporting and uplifting our vibrant creative community.

Looking forward, I'm buzzing with excitement about our upcoming studio projects and classes.

Every Thursday night in January, you'll find a welcoming space where creativity knows no bounds. Whether you're picking up crocheting, crafting vision boards, or diving into a DIY no-sew cardigan workshop, these sessions promise to inspire and connect. We're also gearing up to introduce you to a talented January artist whose innovative techniques could change the way you view art—and perhaps even fuel your own artistic journey.

Plus, a heads-up about our holiday hours and a continuation of our online "Grabie art Advent Calendar." Stay tuned for more art, inspiration, and community connection!

Mike's visit to Brewtifully 

Chapters

• 0:04 Community Collaboration and Creativity
• 11:24 Studio Projects and Classes Announcement
• 17:00 Upcoming Artist and Art Classes

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Hey everyone, welcome back to a new episode of Brutally Made. I'm so excited to be here again. This has been such a great busy season and I had a lot going on with some collaborations last week Thank you for having me, so I did not get a chance to record and that is the subject of today's episode is collaborating, especially when it comes to some local organizations and other groups that really want to work with you, other groups that really want to work with you. So, and also, instead of doodling today, I'm going to link some of the programs that I'm talking about. I thought that that would be really interesting for you to kind of catch up and watch and introduce those individuals that I got to collaborate with. So let's just kind of dive in.

Speaker 1: 1:08

Today actually is a new episode of Rock Island Growth Specialists, and that is Mike Sturtevant, and he has this really cool program just rolled out I think I'll be the third episode in this series and he visits local organizations and businesses and does what they do at those locations. So he stopped by and got to create a piece of art and talked about the studio and we got to do the augmented reality with his piece and he just showed everyone how magical that was to create a piece of art himself and watch it come to life, and that was so much fun to record with him. He has actually a couple, a couple, no, a few three huge pieces of art in his home that he either won at auctions or commissioned from me to create for him, and that is something you can see when he is on the radio with the local DJs. In the background there's one of the Palace Theater and one of downtown Canton, the Nest and the Canton Sign, and they are all AR. The Canton Sign is a three-dimensional kind of piece that you can stand back and everything is layered and rotates. The Canton Palace Theater the night sky twinkles and goes from day to night and the light twinkles and goes from day to night and the light, the sign, lights up. And then he also owns Alice at the monument. At the McKinley monument, a piece I did for Star Hunger Task Force. He won that in that auction and she roars, turns her head. There's a mother goose land whale balloon that floats up in the air. Just a lot of fun references and little easter eggs in that piece.

Speaker 1: 3:08

So mike has this um great sense of community and loves to promote local organizations and businesses. He operates stark flavor, which is kind of an app or a reward system, so they'll have a tour about ice cream parlors or coffee shops or certain you know location for restaurants, and if you go to each one of those locations and you check in every time you're there, you're in a drawing for like a shirt and things like that. So, um, just really built his reputation on like being Mr Downtown Canton and, um, I love collaborating with him. I've known him for years. We were actually in the NSME class together when we were recognized for marketing and I think that's been oh my gosh, maybe close to a decade ago. It's been a long time that we were in that class together and I've really got to know him since then and I just think that it's so much fun to get to talk to him and see what he's doing and I can't wait for you to see that episode today because it's so cute.

Speaker 1: 4:27

And then another great guy that I got to collaborate with and he came to the studio on Friday the 13th and that is Dave Shirell with Dave Ruins Art. Dave is a phenomenal artist, a local artist, and he takes art that you would find at flea markets or I'm doing air quotes, old hotel art and things that he finds at Goodwill and Salvation Army and he interjects pop culture references and fun movie characters and comic book characters and then his own characters that he makes up into this art. And he has been featured in Newsweek and it went viral because of a Reddit post and he's just so much fun. I have supported Dave in his Arrowhead Good Days. I loved his store when they had it downtown. He and Mel, his wife, and she is a phenomenal crochet artist and if you've ever seen me talk about on my instagram, um, the little chicken nuggets that I have that I've like dressed as pumpkins and stuff she's crocheted those she has my my grands have crocheted toys from her that they love. Just you know, they're both very, very talented.

Speaker 1: 5:51

So so Dave always puts some of his top pieces from the year into a calendar, and so on Friday the 13th he came over to the studio and did a live painting. Someone brought him a really cool canvas and he started painting that live and had his calendars. He did calendar signings. My husband, bri dressed up as a Yeti and had pictures taken with people. It was just so much fun and so Dave did a video, snapped like a one-second picture, of people buying his calendar and shared that across all of his platforms like TikTok and Instagram and Facebook.

Speaker 1: 6:28

And then, while he was there, I had to give him a little set of the little Japanese pencil sets that I have that are mini, teeny tiny, but they're workable. You have a tiny little sharpener, a tiny little eraser they're like on a credit card, they're so tiny and a little sketchbook. And I said, hey, you know, make something really cool with this. So he did and then he posted it and it was super, super cool. Alfred Newman from the Mad Magazine, he drew that with his tiny little pencils and did a phenomenal job. So I'm going to make sure that you see that video, share that here in the show notes too.

Speaker 1: 7:04

And that collaboration was just a lot of fun and, just you know, two local guys really working hard to show what they do, show what they love, make a living doing what they love and supporting other you know areas in their life and I just think that that is so cool when you can collaborate and work together on stuff like that and help boost one another. It was just, you know, I feel honored that they asked me to participate grateful that they asked me to participate, love that I can share my work across their audience and vice versa. Dave's calendars are now for sale in my shop so I can help him sell those. It's just that's what I want. That's just what I love is that support of community and cheering one another on and being like, yeah, I can let people know what you're doing because I'm really proud of you for that, and so that is just, oh, that's what I am all about. I love that aspect of what my studio can offer and we have had some phenomenal days at the studio with classes. Deb just had her class this week and she had never taught before and she did a great job teaching her process and showing the group how to you know use palette knives completely with painting her canvases and you know the paint colors and coordinating them and different ways to get the textures, and it was so good, so much fun, and I just love having the platform and the area and the opportunity to get people to interact creatively in any way, shape or form.

Speaker 1: 8:49

I've put a few new classes and experiences on the calendar for 2025. And I say experiences because I really have a heart for sharing other locations in the community and getting them involved. So one of the experiences is a bus tour and it's a very you know short tour, but we're going to do this once a month. That is my goal is that once a month I would love to get people together. We'll start at Oakwood Square. We'll have breakfast at Samantha's, because I love breakfast. I love having the opportunity to just chat with everyone, unveil the item that we're going to make, the inspiration piece. Then we will take an hour and a half at the first stop and everyone will get to look for supplies to make their treasure. And then the second stop, hour and a half get to find more supplies and you get to visit some places maybe you've never visited before or maybe they're a favorite. But now you're shopping with a group of people that are like looking for stuff and oh, this is what I want mine to look like, or this is the colors I want to use, or this is the materials I'm looking for, and we'll take those items back to the shop. I'll have some lovely grazing trays available for lunch and we'll get to craft together and we're going to make something for ourselves based on the inspiration piece that you'll get to see that day and there'll be all kinds of like little goodies and surprises for the day and it's just crafting together and spending the day together and it'll be so, so much fun. So I love planning that. So that is cool because we'll be on the bus together and just it'll be so much fun. So, yeah, I'm big community. You know, geek, I love sharing some locations, sharing food, sharing time together, sharing being creative.

Speaker 1: 10:44

Another thing that we're doing, trying this out for the month of January, every Thursday is open table Thursdays. So you bring in any project that you're working on. Maybe you got a really cool craft kit for Christmas or the holiday, or for Hanukkah or for Kwanzaa, or just you picked it up for yourself because it was on sale and it's a mini kit, crochet kit. Maybe it's a paint by number and maybe it is an embroidery kit. Maybe you're working on quilting squares, maybe you're, you know, wanting to put together a model. Maybe you got a dollhouse, I don't care what it is. Bring your kit in and then there's a small charge for the food.

Speaker 1: 11:24

I'm going to order pizzas and have snacks and we're all going to work on our projects that we're bringing in and then you can use any of the other extra stuff that I have at the shop to help complete your project. Maybe you need special glue, maybe you need a laser, maybe something needs cut, maybe something got broken and I can laser it out for you. Maybe you need power tools. I've got little saws and drills and heat guns and things like that. So just working on our projects together, guns and things like that. So just working on our projects together that'll be every Thursday night in the month of January and getting to craft together, have some pizza together, just hang out together and enjoy working on this.

Speaker 1: 12:06

Kits that will probably set on a shelf if you don't have the, I guess, goal to sit there and have that every week. Oh, I'm going to take this kit in and I'm going to get this done this month. So I'm going to take this kit in and I'm going to get this done this month. So I'm going to see how that goes and see if I have more open tables the remaining months of the year. I just love having the idea that we're working on. You know our own hopes and dreams and goals and projects, so bring them in. And even if you don't have one, I have kits. You're welcome to purchase one and work on it every Thursday at the shop with us, so that's not a problem too, but I know a lot of people do get those things. I have two or three that I need to work on, so it'll be an opportunity for me to get a chance to work on those along with everyone too. So we have new classes that are coming up.

Speaker 1: 12:58

There's a poll this week on my website or, I'm sorry, on my Facebook page that asked what would you like to have available at the studio to learn? I had a whole list of things and opportunity to add one if it wasn't on the list and I love the feedback that I'm getting and there were so many that wanted like, for example, what was leading yesterday or Wednesday or Tuesday? It was early right like the day after I put the poll on. It was the what do you call it? Crocheting, traditional crocheting and I already have a teacher lined up and she had like four projects she sent to me that she wanted to do, and I'm have a teacher lined up and she had like four projects she sent to me that she wanted to do and I'm like let's do them all, let's get them all on the calendar. So that is coming and I love that. That was the number one request.

Speaker 1: 13:48

So I'm thinking along the same lines that you are, and so I really want to make this a great space for everyone to learn what they want to learn and opportunity to try new things. So I just, in some of the classes I've put on there, I'm super excited about the vision board class is coming up at the beginning of the year. I love doing vision boards. So you actually get your own board. It's a 12 by 16 memo board that you'll hang on the wall and you're going to get your choice of all kinds of little push pins and then we're going to decorate them and we're going to talk about the quadrants that you'll set up and how to manifest those dreams. You know what you're wanting to look for, what you're wanting to add to the board those empowering words and create those visions for yourself. So much fun and that class has been so well received. I mean, every day I sell a new ticket for that and I'm just blown away how many people want to do that with me. So you have your choice between a black frame or a white framed board. And, yeah, sign up, because I'm just super excited about doing that together. So that's a class coming up the beginning of the year.

Speaker 1: 15:01

Another class we're going to do a DIY no sew cardigan with beautiful velvet bows. So bows are huge trend and I love jersey cardigans. I make them all the time for myself, so I thought maybe people would want to do that. You get your choice of a gray, a red, a white or a black and your choice of color of bows and I'll show you how you can really make it your own. You can lace up the sleeves. You can just do bows on the sleeve. You can do a single tie closed. You can do triple however many. It will be so fun, it'll be unique, it'll be you and I'm really excited about that. So that's another class that's on there. We have hand knitting blanket classes. There's more hand knitting, kind of like little accessories coming up. So many more things. Oh, my goodness, Just my. I'm just so excited for 2025.

Speaker 1: 15:59

So I just wanted to share a little bit about what's been going on, encourage you to collaborate with others and utilize your community. Use all the resources that are available to you to organize something fun for you know people that you interact with and share what others are doing there is plenty of room for all of us and make it fun for everyone. So I do hope you're having fun when you come over. That's the goal. I want everyone to enjoy their time when you're at my studio and enjoy our community and learn what we have to offer, and I hope that I'm doing that. That is my passion and my dream and I'm not going to be able to make it without your help. And you're all showing up, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you for doing that. So I just wanted to put those links in. Let you know what's going on.

Speaker 1: 17:00

Excited for our January exhibiting artist, so she's got some really cool techniques and talking her into a class. Fingers are crossed, so, yep, I can't wait to share everything else that's happening. So take care, thanks for listening. I'm hoping to do an episode at the end of the year. So I am not open Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and I am not open New Year's Eve or New Year's Day at the shop, but maybe I'll pop on and you know I continue to share my my gravy art calendar that's been a lot of fun my advent calendar, but uh. But yeah, you'll find me online. Take care, take care everyone. Uh, thanks again for tuning in and I will talk to you all next time. Bye, stay fruitively made.