Brick and Mortar Studio Space | Alpena Mercantile

An exciting development is on the horizon! I’ll soon have some Wild Ozark brick and mortar studio space, and in a high tourist traffic zone (relatively speaking, for our neck of the woods).

Brick and Mortar Studio Opportunity

Alpena, Arkansas is about an hour from where we live, so I’ll only be able to make the trip out there on Saturdays. But I’ll be there all day every Saturday that I can. Right now the building is empty and looks pretty rough, but that will improve.

It’s going to be a shared space, meaning the whole building isn’t going to be my studio. I don’t need that much space, anyway. The rest of it will be shared with other makers, market farmers, and creative types. We’re calling it Alpena Mercantile. I’m organizing the venture for the whole store, so there’s some work involved to get all of this set up.

Here’s some images of how it looks right now – pretty cold and empty, but lots of character and potential.

Our Vision

My daughter owns the building and wanted an outlet to have a CSA pickup for her farm meat and produce. So that’s what she’ll use some of the space in the back for. I wanted studio space, but can’t afford to buy or rent my own. And that leads to an opportunity for collaboration! I’m the manager of all things related to the market and building use, and the front left corner in all of that glorious light is my new brick and mortar studio space 🙂

Tourist Attraction

This location is a great place to attract tourists. The traffic is already there because tourists heading to Branson, Jasper, Ponca, and any of the Buffalo River put-in points often pass on this route. There is a chainsaw artist with a studio at the other end of the downtown strip (called the Alpena Pass). The buildings are interesting and tourists often want to see inside, but not many are open anymore. There’s a lot of history behind this little town, too. The train used to stop here, and the buildings beyond ours are high off the road on what used to be a concrete loading/unloading dock for the train.

It’ll be nice to bring one part of it back to life. I can’t wait to invite all of my friends, collectors, and the tourists passing by in to see the Ozark pigments in action.

When?

If you want the first look at the new Wild Ozark brick and mortar studio, come by on March 18. I’ll be there from 9am to 4pm, working on getting it set up. We’re also having a public meeting for community members and interested vendors from 9 – 12, and might even have refreshments and snacks. Everyone is welcome to stop in and see what we’re up to!

Follow and Like

The FB page is here:

Alpena Mercantile

I don’t have time to maintain another website right now, so all of the Alpena Mercantile information is being shared to the Facebook page. Eventually I’ll make a website for it, but not now. I’ll update my own studio space news here on the Wild Ozark website and will send out monthly schedule for plans at the brick and mortar studio to my newsletter subscribers.

Stop in and say hello if you’re passing through on a Saturday this spring, summer, or fall! We’ll probably close for winter months, but who knows?

Map to Brick and Mortar Studio at Alpena Mercantile

If you are interested in a set of my paints for yourself, check out my online shop to see what’s available. I usually make extra when I make my own.
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Author/Artist Info
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Madison Woods is a self-taught artist who moved to the Ozarks from south Louisiana in 2005. In 2018 she began experimenting with watercolor painting, using her local pigments. She calls them Paleo Paints. In 2023 she began her journey into the world of oil painting with those same pigments. Her paintings of the Ozark-inspired scenes feature exclusively the lightfast pigments foraged from Madison county, Arkansas. Her inspiration is nature – the beauty, and the inherent cycle of life and death, destruction and regeneration.

Her online portfolio is at www.PaleoPaints.com.

Click here to join her mailing list.

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