The work of an artist who was inspired by the Ozarks' natural beauty throughout his life and career is now inspiring others to create. The first James Yale Legacy Project Creative Storytelling Invitational has Yale's painting "Rayaak" as its prompt.
"James Yale, my husband, was a master artist, and what makes him an extraordinary master artist is that he was self-taught."
Charlotte Buchanan Yale was in the Anthony and Susan Hui News Studio last week on Earth Day to discuss the first Creative Storytelling Invitational. She says it was appropriate. We scheduled our conversation on Earth Day because the Ozark beauty was one of James Yale's great inspirations.
"Next to his grandmother. From one to six, he'd sit on her lap and she had those gorgeous books of fantasy and fairies and illustrated Bibles, and you can see that in his work of modern mythology and all of that. But he also — his struggle was that he had multiple sclerosis for 35 years and painted these masterpieces in the throes of that."
His love of nature and his love of art inspired Yale to carry a magnifying glass with him so he could peer deeply into the natural world around him. The James Yale Legacy Project is designed to honor the art and legacy of James, who died in August 2023, and it's designed to inspire others to create.
"You know, people have forgotten him because at some point he can't be out there hitting all the art galleries and openings and like, hello, I'm James Yale, you know, and he probably wouldn't have done that anyway because he was a humble artist. So he was forgotten."
The James Yale Legacy Project, now in its third year, has used some of his core beliefs as stimulus for outreach. One project matched master artists of a certain age with high school creatives for mentoring, and an eventual multi-generational show that included work by Yale seen for the first time in years at the museum in downtown Springdale.
"He believed in the master's apprentice way of learning. He believed young artists should learn from professional artists — learn the business, the skills, the intrigue, all of that, because that's how he learned. And so we created Generational Journeys, where James was the master artist, and no one had seen his work in 16 years in public, for professional artists and 12 high school students. And it was glorious. It was very glorious."
Charlotte Buchanan Yale says this year's iteration of the Legacy Project outreach, the Creative Storytelling Invitational, is also heavily influenced by the artist's firm opinion that his art belonged to those who saw it as much as it belonged to him.
"What he really wanted people to do is to slow down, because most artwork in a museum or gallery gets maybe three seconds of your time. So he never explained his artwork, and he wanted you to use your imagination to fall into that painting and to create your own fantasies and stories and dreams out of it — but not just for his. For all artwork, but not just for artists, for nature."
The Creative Storytelling Invitational is open to poets, writers of fiction, songwriters, playwrights, essayists, graphic artists, almost anyone creatively inspired. That seems fitting for an invitational carrying the name of a self-taught artist. The muse for the creativity is a single painting of Yale's titled "Rayaak." The image is of a young woman in an Ozark creek next to a unicorn, and this work, it turns out, was inspired by somebody's vision.
Charlotte Buchanan Yale says after her husband's death, she was contacted by a woman, Cheryl Welch. Welch told Charlotte that after her father died, she had a dream with a distinct image — but an image that friends and family couldn't quite comprehend. Then, when Cheryl Welch visited Eureka Springs, she saw James Yale's work in a gallery and instantly knew he was the artist to capture the image from her dream.
"Whoever's at the gallery said, well, he's not painting anymore because of his MS. But I'll give you his number and I'm going to tell you he'll interview you because he won't just paint anything. And so she came and told James her story, and he loved it. And the Barbara Walters moment where Cheryl and I cried when I did the interview — she — I said, you brought him back to life to paint for 15 more years because of you."
A reproduction of "Rayaak" can be found at jamesyale.com. First prize in the Storytelling Invitational is $500. Second and third prizes are $250 and $100. All three top awardees and three other finalists will be invited to perform their original work at The Medium later this summer. They'll also all receive a print of "Rayaak." Submissions will be accepted through Aug. 1.
And Charlotte Buchanan Yale says there is plenty to be inspired by in this painting.
"The crazy part is that there's no mythological person named Rayaak. This is Cheryl Welch's dream. And when she talked to James, she explained it to him. She said, there's this young maiden, you know, that represents that we're just — we're not here forever. And then there's this unicorn — he dappled it, it's not this white, you know, rainbow flying thing — and that's the head of all mythology, of the creatures of mythology. And then there's the dogwoods of spring, that is kind of our Christ consciousness coming out in it too. So there's all these hidden things that I wouldn't have seen in a tiny little poster, but there's like a Celtic cross carved in the rock, there's a kingfisher. And Cheryl said, you know, James, there are also redbuds. He said, Cheryl, there are no redbuds at that time. She said, well, in my dream there was. And so he put them in there. And so they're just the tiniest coming on of spring."
More details about the James Yale Legacy Project's first Creative Storytelling Invitational can be found at jamesyale.com.
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