Great conversations can take place over great food. That's the motivation behind the series Table Talks at The Medium in downtown Springdale. The community gathering includes a free meal prepared by a local chef and a pair of artists in conversation. That conversation, prompted by a different theme every time, is the third for the series this year, and the talks will continue through September. Tomorrow night's session features Paige Dirksen and Lucas Spivey. Paige is a muralist, printmaker and art educator. Luke describes himself as a writer, builder and teacher. Yesterday, Luke and series host Amber Perrodin discussed the concept of Table Talk with me via Zoom. Amber, who is the artist and community manager at The Medium, says this isn't a new idea, but it is an important one.
Amber Perrodin: It's basically a community event where the community is invited to come in, share a meal, learn from a couple of local artists, hear their stories, and then just hang out and interact with those artists and then meet new people. We also offer a free meal that comes along with it.
Kyle Kellams: Why is the meal important to this series?
Perrodin: I think we're all sort of familiar with the cliche of food brings us together, and it's such a beautiful universal language that we all understand and we're all hungry. So it's a really important opportunity for us to bring the community together in a new way. The Medium traditionally does not program a lot of events. We're an accessible venue for other creatives to come in and use the space. So this is one of our dear and near to the heart programs that we offer to the community. And it was important to us that we offer a meal to bring people together, inform them of what we do here at The Medium and then give them an opportunity to learn from some local artists.
Kellams: Luke, have you thought about what you will say to the community that's gathered for this dinner?
Lucas Spivey: I got it all planned out, down to the second. The thing is, my favorite medium of all time has got to be the PowerPoint. So you give me a microphone and a little clicker, and I'm in heaven. I started working on this talk as soon as I was invited and it's changed a few times, but Amber knows I can yap and I like to take people on a journey. I love telling stories and I have some grand arching metaphors that I will unload on the audience, but I will also make sure to have a couple chuckles and a couple cries in there. And then I always try to land the plane on something that is inspiring for people, like good takeaways, things that they can apply to their life. So I've thought it out. But I'm also a big fan of spontaneity, so I might just get up there and riff for a while too.
Kellams: The crux of this one is kind of like for artists who are creating, how you're figuring out doing it as an artist while you're figuring it out — something to that endeavor. Do you think that you can offer some inspiration to people who want to be a working artist?
Spivey: Unfortunately, I can, because my life was not a straight line at all. So I can definitely offer some consolation to people who may be frustrated, feeling a lack of progress. Or for folks who maybe measure themselves in a way that measuring is totally non-applicable. And I know what it's like to throw myself fully with all my heart and all my passion into what I really believe in, and have that not work out at all — in fact, sometimes blow up completely in my face and have it end up much more beautiful because it failed. And I think that's a great thing to talk about for folks. Because I really think life is very interesting when you go after something like your creativity, whatever that is. If you're an artist, writer, designer, performer, maker, whatever you are, if you go after it and it doesn't work out, I think that's just as interesting. I think that's just as worthy. So I like this topic a lot. I think it really helps people just step calmly and bravely into their calling without worrying about mistakes. I think mistakes are actually the most interesting part of being creative. So yeah, I think I'm ready to talk about it, and I think people will take away something good from it.
Kellams: Amber, I've been to a couple of the table talks and each time I've gone, the artists have been from different disciplines, sometimes dramatically different disciplines. What's the idea behind that?
Perrodin: I'm glad you noticed that, Kyle. It is important to us that we combine two sort of almost unlikely artistic disciplines or mediums, just so that it can give a nice, varied perspective on the realities of being an artist. In the past we've had a boxer and filmmaker speak alongside a muralist. We've also had people working in fine arts and then people working in handicrafts. And much like Lucas was mentioning, people are coming at this from varied backgrounds. So we have a good time sort of curating the list of artists and their different backgrounds that come to the table and then giving them the same topic. The topic for this month is "It's Not a Straight Line: The Unpredictable Life of Being an Artist." Paige Dirksen, Lucas Spivey — we gave them both that topic and they will both approach that however they want to. We tell them they have about 20 minutes to speak on that topic, and then we open it up for the community to ask questions. And I always say that community dialogue in the end is sort of the nectar of the program. Yes, the food is good and the presentations are great, but it's really interesting to hear how people cling to the stories that are being shared and are taking notes and asking really thoughtful questions in the end. So that part is one of my favorite parts of the whole program.
Kellams: Where is the food coming from this time?
Perrodin: Each month, we're really excited and honored to not only work with local artists, but also local eateries. It's important to us that we're always giving back to the creative community. So this year we've partnered with Spring Kitchen in Springdale, which is a communal kitchen space that works under a membership model. We reached out to them — they're working with mostly food trucks who are trying to get into the catering business but need a larger kitchen to work within. They had some members that they were excited to share with us. So this month for Table Talks, we will have Margaret's Flavor Company. Each month it'll be a different member from the Spring Kitchen group. We're excited to work with them. I have the menu in front of me — it's really beautiful. We're always conscious of vegetarian and vegan options as well, so people can come depending on what your eating preferences is. We have options for that.
Spivey: Amber is a fantastic host who can gear the conversation towards things that are really, really important and also have it done in a lighthearted way. And I really respect and admire that about Amber. Some folks want to come to something that's lighthearted, some folks want to come to something that's a little more serious, and I think Amber does a good job curating it and steering the conversation so it includes a little bit of both.
Luke Spivey will be one of two creative people speaking at tomorrow's iteration of Table Talk, taking place at The Medium in downtown Springdale. He'll be joined by Paige Dirksen. We also heard from Amber Perrodin, host of the Table Talk series and arts and community manager at The Medium.
Please note that tomorrow's dinner, while free, is now at capacity with pre-registration numbers. However, there is always a waitlist because people sometimes have to alter their plans and drop out. Registration will open soon for the July Table Talk, featuring Rachel Mills and Ambrosia Johnson. The topic for July will be "Despite It All: How to Keep Showing Up and Making It Work in Turbulent Times." Information about the entire series, registration, availability for July and the wait list for tomorrow night can all be found at themedium.art.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
