Our cover this month is the deeply personal work of Hot Springs artist, teacher, hair artist, and all-round incredible man, Anthony Tidwell. We’re very grateful he shared it with us and we’re pleased to bring it alive on our February “Heart Month” cover. “My Heart” depicts his heart and soul as he explains…
“I watched kids paint on Cutwell 4 Kids mural walls for years with pure enjoyment. People ask what I do with the plywood walls afterward. They usually get recycled for another paint project or sometimes as material used for carpentry projects like sheds or even someone’s house.
“Among all the ‘I was here’s,’ social media handles, Hello Kitty’s, portraits, and landscapes, I see images (pareidolia). This time, I clearly saw an image of how art saved my life. From that vision, I developed the wall into a more personal art piece (the first, which is signified by the stylized 1 that is on it).
“The main heart represents the love I have for art, while the silhouetted faces mirroring each other are about me looking deeply into myself. The white letters which are the primer under the paint are the thoughts I was feeling. These words are specifically carved into the paint as a way to give a feeling of being incarcerated or trapped in poverty.
“One of the statements in writing is a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. …One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.
“At this time in life, I wanted to scream this feeling out, but instead I went to carving it for this piece. I went to art to express my anger and my passion.”
