Make the holiday personal with a gift of art or music
TEXARKANA — Gift giving for anyone smitten by popular entertainment brings a flurry of winter holiday possibilities, given the new books, new music and new movie downloads out there.
Of course, such things can be acquired at all the usual online and big box store suspects for entertainment shopping, but what if you want something more personal, more local and perhaps more meaningful in that way?
Texarkana has several gallery spaces where you can land locally-sourced art, to coin a phrase typically used to praise food with a local connection. Locally-sourced produce tastes good, but locally-sourced paintings look great on your walls, too.
Downtown features several such places: For Arts’ Sake Gift Shop, 1894 Gallery, Joseph Raymond Fine Art and Arts on Broad. What can you find there?
For Arts’ Sake Gift Shop (321 W. Fourth St.), which is located inside the Regional Arts Center downtown, has a lot that will please the art lover, ranging from prints of local artists’ work to jewelry, stationery, books, art supplies, children’s games and other merchandise that has a creative and fun twist to it. Popular items include wooden Russian Santa Claus figures wearing elaborate robes. There are also Niven Morgan and Lux candles. Gift certificates are available, too.
The 1894 Gallery (105 Olive St.) inside the 1894 City Market looks like the kind of spacious, modern gallery you’d find in a bigger city, but it’s in keeping with the renewed spirit of optimism and forward thinking that now permeates downtown. The 1894 Gallery is bursting with art made by local or regional artists, ranging from sculpture to glassware, woodwork to large paintings and even Texarkana-themed gifts.
Joseph Raymond Fine Art (214 E. Broad St.) has a new location downtown. In addition to Raymond’s abstract art, sculptural woodwork by Jon Welborn and “spiritiles” by Atlanta, Georgiabased artist Houston Llew are here. Spiritiles are hot sellers, the gallery owner said, unique and affordable works of fused glass on copper tiles wrapped around wood.
Arts on Broad (223 E. Broad St.) is a newcomer to downtown’s art gallery scene and carries art by a variety of local artists. Retired art teacher Debbie Nicholas and a business partner run this gallery, which features an eclectic array of work from artists like Carrie Slay, Agnes Tirrito, Jenny Stevens, Denise Bolster, Theresa Ables and more. They’re represented with sculpture, pottery, paintings and other sorts of enticing art sure to please the art lover on your gift list.
Near State line Avenue, Joel Wright Art Gallery (125 College Drive) features the art of local painter and tattoo artist Joel Wright, along with jewelry work by his wife Sarah Wright and work by other local, equally unique artists. Wright’s work includes oil and watercolor paintings rendered in an expressive, distinctive and beautiful style.
The gallery includes prints, glass art jewelry and much more.
Nearby, J Brown for the Home (121 College Drive) has a mind-blowing array of interior decorations, including paintings and other varieties of art, in addition to lamps, candles, pillows, furniture, various accessories, rugs, sculpture, frames, flower pots, books, fragrance diffusers, fancy soaps and so much more. You name it, and Jeff Brown likely has it at this one-of-akind shop.
At Texarkana’s Sound Towne (2120 Texas Blvd.), staff have taken care of Texarkana’s audio and visual needs for half a century. If audio-visual gadgetry is what your loved one is looking for at Christmas, consider Sound Towne’s array of flat-screen TVs, soundbars, speakers, home theater systems and even, for that special someone, a security system. They do installations and will bring satellite TV to the home. At Sound Towne, you find knowledgeable staff who care about serving the customer, which is bound to help.
Christopher’s Framing Accessories Gallery (4053 Summerhill Square) and Turner’s Framing, Gifts & Gallery (310 Arkansas Blvd.) both offer personalized, hands-on service.
At Christopher’s, custom frame designer Christopher Allen brings more than 25
years of experience to work at this longtime shop where you may find, for example, frames, artsy gifts, candles, Old World Christmas ornaments, Arkansas Razorback ornaments, Waterford gifts and an agate and marble chopping board, plus work by local artisans and artists alike. Allen’s store slogan is “Turn Moments Into Keepsakes, and a House Into a Home.”
Likewise, Turner’s Framing features, true to its name, custom framing, as well as every sort of collegiate merchandise and gift you can imagine. The shop bills itself as a onestop Razorback shop for all things Arkansas Razorback. You can even get your Razorback-shaped cupcake/ muffin pan here. Other gifts the shop has promoted lately include assorted stone coasters, Bluetooth speakers and earbuds, Lampe Berger scents, Texarkana-themed merchandise and Arthur Court tableware.
If you’re shopping for a musician, two homegrown music stores are Pete’s Music, aka “The Guitar Shop” (108-B Industrial Blvd. in Nash, Texas), and Mic’d Music (3704 Suite B New Boston Road). At Pete’s, get yourself a mandolin package (with the mandolin, gig bag, chord book and tuner), plus gift certificates. At Mic’d, guitars and stringed instruments of all sorts are just awaiting the right hands: acoustics, electrics, basses, violins, ukuleles and mandolins among them. Mic’d carries instruments both used and new.
Does the person on your list need to set aside special time to make art? Consider buying them painting party time at Texarkana’s paint-and-sip studio, Painting with a Twist (2700 Richmond Road). Themed open classes are always on the schedule. Painters can bring snacks, a favorite beverage and enthusiasm for art to these parties