Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Rogers Experimental House
Hosting creatives, builders and teachers from a multitude of disciplines, the Rogers Experimental House nonprofit has established itself as a platform serving the needs of the artistic and artisanal community of Northwest Arkansas. Art exhibitions, lectures, workshops, community groups, photo shoots and even a resident brewer have been hosted in the space as the organizers take advantage of its resources and share their craft with others. Two of the House’s founders, Dayton Castleman and Karen Wagaman, answered these questions for What’s Up! to offer some insight on the House’s purpose and their hopes for its role in community growth.
Q. What is your involvement with Rogers Experimental House?
Dayton — How the House came to be has something to do with the reason my family moved to Northwest Arkansas from Chicago six years ago. We were speculating on regional growth in the art and cultural sectors precipitated by the recent establishment of Crystal Bridges, and we intended from the start to be an active, working part of that upsurge. … It literally started as an extemporaneous street-side conversation among strangers, spurred by kids doing sidewalk chalk drawings, about how a public venue for community art classes would benefit Rogers. … It’s important to note that the Experimental House is a thing, a cultural player, even if we don’t have a building, but having a “house” is an important part of realizing our vision.
Q. What do you hope for the future of the project?
Dayton — Essential to the vision is allowing our community to shape the direction of the Experimental House. I think of it as a hospitable, open-source, cultural petri dish. … What has really grown significantly (and appropriately, considering the conversation that started it) are our community art classes, taught by a variety of local teachers. In this respect, it’s assuming the form of a community art center, which is amazing, but we don’t want it to stop at education alone. We’d like to see the Experimental House flourish as a hub for material resources for artists and craftspeople, as part of a larger network of complimenting maker spaces in Northwest Arkansas.
Q. Describe the identity you feel the Rogers Experimental House has established and what you feel the space offers the community that was lacking before its existence?
Karen — I think it’s a really exciting opportunity for people to try something new that they haven’t tried. It’s affordable for them to take an art class; it’s flexible because we are trying to offer a variety of classes to attract different interests and it’s a big, huge space. So we’ve just found it to be very flexible and an ideal location for creativity to take place. … I think Rogers has a very organic type of growth. It feels very authentic and friendly; we’re very welcoming. So unlike, perhaps, a gallery or a school that might intimidate somebody, I think they find it’s very welcoming to come to the Rogers Experimental House. An open-arms sort of arts community is what they can expect to find here.