ART NOTES | Alice Lynn Greenwood-Mathé for ArtCentralCarthage at Hyde House | on Facebook and in The Carthage Press and The Carthage Chronicle

Holiday Delights à la Brenda Hayes

BRENDA HAYES | Holiday Boutique Featured Artist

​Looking to put some pizazz and fun in your holiday gifting? Hurry on over to artCentral’s HOLIDAY BOUTIQUE and check out the holiday delights à la Brenda Hayes! Brenda’s creations are pure pleasure—the kind of pleasure that makes your heart happy, enchants you with whimsy and causes you to want an armful to share with the special folks on your gift list!
 
As you will discover when you visit Hyde House, Brenda’s talents seem to have no bounds. Her artistic creed goes like this: “Reuse, reduce, recycle.”  These are her three R’s as she takes parts of the old and bits of the new to make each of her Brenda Hayes originals.  

She finds her art in the ephemera many people throw away—junk mail, packing paper, food boxes.  These cast-aways combined with a little glue and paint and love make wonderful junk journals. So do old sweaters that have served their first purposes then with Brenda’s magic are cut apart and handcrafted back into useable, yet whimsical articles of clothing or accessory. 

 For this year’s BOUTIQUE Brenda has a diverse plethora of pocket-friendly offerings—one-of-a-kind fiber earrings decorated with tiny buttons and beads and wee embellishments; handmade greeting cards for the holidays and many, many other occasions; exquisitely unique journals imbued with Brenda’s book-making skills; charming warm hats and winter scarves lovingly assembled from remnants of upcycled sweaters; jolly little snow folks made with vintage flea market treasures; and joyful floral paintings in an array of intimate sizes to brighten any corner or wall.

​Brenda first caught my attention a number of years ago when I was new to the art world of southwest Missouri. We were both showing our creations at an Art Walk in Joplin. At first sight I fell in love with her and her imaginative art-makings. Fast forward to today and I am still enjoying my initial Brenda enchantment as chill days arrive bringing sweata-weatha which has me going to my closet to select an old favorite—one of four upcycled Brenda sweata-dressas put together with the nimble fingers of the fiber magician that she is. (I even have a hat that pairs perfectly with one of these and another hat that I received for a February birthday and still wear all through every winter.)

​As a small girl child creating was Brenda’s first language while she grew up in her artistic family. Her dad is a professional woodcarver. Her mom, a painter, paints the carvings.  Having the blessing of beginnings nurtured by art-loving role models, Brenda has spent most of her adult life making art and fearlessly trying her hands at new expressions. Today she will take on any alluring artistic challenge that catches her fancy. She is always looking for that next creative adventure. “Mixed” is her favorite media. Color and texture are her go-to inspirations. Brenda has acquired several looms and loves the creative process of experimenting with yarn.
 
Do come see and choose your own the holiday delights à la Brenda Hayes available at the HOLIDAY BOUTIQUE along with the bounty of giftable art created by three other Featured Artists—Debbie Barnett, Kristin Gerard and Jane McCaulley—and all the SMALL WORKS|GREAT WONDERS Silent Auction donations made by artCentral artists!
 
Come find the 5x7 Silent Auction creations that speak to your heart, and place your beginning bids (most start at $10.00) or claim a really special one for the pocket friendly “Buy Now” bid.
 
The 2022 artCentral HOLIDAY BOUTIQUE, underwritten with the gracious support of Old Missouri Bank, is available for viewing, purchasing and bidding in Hyde House during weekend gallery hours, Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m., as well as online 24/7 every day at https://www.facebook.com/ArtcentralCarthage/photos_albums and artcentralcarthage.org.