A local business owner has used her downtown storefront windows to spread messages of hope to the community since the holiday season last year, and now has commissioned a new piece focused on the pandemic and global protests against police brutality.
"I really wanted to be able to use the window as a way to showcase Arkansas artisans and different Arkansas thoughts because my store is All Things Arkansas," said Lisa Carey, owner.
"And then, of course, you probably shouldn't say the world went to hell in a handbasket, but really that's kind of what happened."
"In a world where we are also struggling, I think as a nation as a whole, how do we honor and support our police officers who are there to protect and to save us? And yet, at the same time, how do we acknowledge that we still have racial inequality in our world, and also support those out there who continue to work on the front lines in the pandemic? All those things were coming together at the same time."
Carey first commissioned local muralist Selah Rodgers late last year. After completing at least three murals for that business and various others in town, Rodgers said Carey reached out to her recently with the idea.
"The second (mural) was going to be basically like encouragement for the COVID-19 that we were going through. It just basically had a message of hope. Now on this one, she messaged me before I did it and she was like, 'Hey, what else should we do?' and I was like, 'I was just thinking the same exact thing with everything going on and all the riots and just so much happening in our community,'" Rodgers said.
Carey's goal was to do something that would help speak out to the community during this difficult time. She and Rodgers say they felt compelled to do something that was going to be motivated for Black Lives Matter but with a twist.
"She really wanted to support the community in a different way, if that makes sense. Not to take away from the Black Lives Matter movement, but to reach out to those (in the community)," Rodgers said.
In just three hours, Rodgers sketched, drew, and painted a mural on both windows of All Things Arkansas. The two window panes break up a quote by Arkansas native and American poet and author Maya Angelou: "We can learn to see each other and see ourselves in each other and recognize that human beings are more alike than we are unalike."
Under the quote are the portraits of two familiar faces in Hot Springs, police Officer 1st Class Sam Spencer, who patrols downtown Hot Springs on his bicycle, and nurse practitioner Laryssa Blunt, who is working in the medical field during the pandemic. Although Rodgers said this is the first time she painted someone she knew on a large-scale mural, she captured both their likenesses very well, Carey said.
"So of the two people featured, one is Sam, our downtown Hot Springs police officer. He is literally there for all of us downtown at any time. We can contact him and he's there to help make sure that we are safe as shop owners and our community as a whole. What a man he is," Carey said.
"The nurse practitioner is Laryssa, she and I actually worked together when I worked over at National Park College. She truly is one of the most beautiful people that I know, in general. Literally to meet her makes you light up, and you want to be a better person. I just thought what two better people that can really encompass all three of these concepts, all at the same time."
As far as community response, Carey said protesters from across the street came into her shop to thank her as Rodgers worked on the mural.
"That actually surprised me. It just wasn't really part of that full mindset at the time, though I certainly could see what they were saying afterward too. I have had some that are happy, I may have had one or two that walked on by and didn't come in but that's their decision to make as well. I just would like for our world, at the end of the day, to be a better place. This is a very small platform that I have that can say truly, I see you (and) I want to be there to support you. I don't know any other way to say that," Carey said.