Kyle Kellams: This is Ozarks at Large. I’m Kyle Kellams. If it’s Wednesday, it’s time to go The Other Way—the feature that includes Becca Martin Brown. Becca, are we going to go the other way again this week?
Becca Martin Brown: Oh yeah, we’re going to go the way all of us have gone at some time.
Kellams: Okay.
Martin Brown: We’re going to talk to John Rankin, who is the curator of the shows that happen at Brews in Eureka Springs, about the new show. But I’m amused because the new show is what it is because he forgot to send out the invites for what he thought it was going to be. And—it happens to all of us.
Kellams: Oh, and, you know, a great interview. And what makes me feel so good about this is it does happen to all of us. And it makes—it makes you feel better when you hear about somebody else doing something like this.
Martin Brown: Not quite schadenfreude, right? It’s just, oh thank God I’m not alone.
Kellams: Exactly. Well, let’s call him and let him tell us more about it.
Kellams: I think I have successfully reached John. John, are you there?
John Rankin: I am here, thank you.
Kellams: Thank you.
Martin Brown: Yeah—hi John!
Rankin: Hi, Becca.
Martin Brown: So I wanted to ask you about the show that’s up right now at Brews—Everything Old Is New Again. I just said in the introduction that it amuses me that you had to punt because the other show didn’t happen. And lo and behold, of course you could pull a show together. So tell me how that happened—and whose work we’ll see this time.
Rankin: Yeah, well, it was kind of my bad. I had planned a show, and then time got away from me, and I realized I didn’t really give artists enough time to do the show that is actually the following show, after this. So, I had to come up with something fast. And I knew artists would always have old work—work that they loved, work that they didn’t want to get rid of, but maybe would want to get rid of now—or work that hasn’t been seen in a while, just to get it out there. And so I titled it Everything Old Is New Again and just asked artists to bring in a piece or two of some of their older work. And that’s how the show came to be.
And it turned out to be a really great show, actually—some really wonderful work.
Martin Brown: So who all will we see showing in it that we might see some of their older work?
Rankin: Well, a perennial favorite of yours and mine—Zeek Taylor, of course. Becky Epp—she’s an upcoming artist that has been doing some great work. We have some work by old standby people, older artists like Drew Gentle. Let’s see—gosh, who else is in the show? Uh, there’s, like, 55 artists involved in the show. So it’s—it’s a big show. And everybody brought in work that they liked, and it’s a very powerful show, I think.
Kellams: Hey John, I wonder if you heard from any of the 55 participating artists that this sort of, um, assignment made them retrospective or look back on their career—or made them examine how they might have changed over time?
Rankin: You know, I didn’t really get that in-depth with any of the artists. They just kind of brought the work in and dropped it off, showed up for the art opening, and ta-da—that was it. A lot of the work has sold, which is always great for the artists. I love that—when work sells for them. They get 100% of any sale that we make, and it helps them out. And it also gets rid of some of the older art that’s been maybe hanging around—that is really good, but just never had a chance to be seen for a while.
Martin Brown: Brews, of course, in Eureka Springs. Our signal goes all over the place, and we’re on in Little Rock in the evenings now—so much of Arkansas. If someone hasn’t been to Brews, how would you describe the venue?
Rankin: Well, it’s a—it’s a very laid-back, very wonderful space. I’m being biased, of course. It’s a craft beer and coffee joint. We actually have a full bar, and we serve food as well. And I’ve been curating art shows at Brews for the last ten years, I think. Every six weeks now, for the past ten years, I’ve been rotating art shows—coming up with different themes, some benefits, just a bunch of different stuff that I kind of conjure up and have fun with.
Martin Brown: And you’ve got another show that’ll start right after this one ends—Aug. 10—which is the show this one was supposed to be. What’s that going to be?
Rankin: Yeah. So the next show is called Eureka! I Found It, and I’ve never done a show with “Eureka” as a theme. So I just invited artists and said, “What inspires you about Eureka Springs? Why did you move here? Why do you stay here? What gets you excited about Eureka Springs, and how has that affected your art?” And so I have no idea what we’re going to find or what artists are going to bring in. But I think it’s an interesting theme, and I think the artists will definitely hit it out of the ballpark again.
Kellams: Well, John, thanks so much for taking time—and congratulations on the next two shows.
Rankin: Oh, thanks so much, Kyle. And thank you, Becca. Love you guys. And yeah—that’s it. That was simple.
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