Rawtown talent on display

Families roaming downtown Rawlins in October may invoke images of a Halloween walk. On October 7, however, there were no tricks and the treats were good fun and good art on display for residents and visitors.

Rawlins Downtown Development Authority hosted the 6th Annual ArtBeat on the first Friday of October, with more than a dozen local artists showcasing their talents. Along with the visual arts, Stillhouse Blues provided music and a handful of food trucks fed hungry attendees during the event.

Kelia McCuddy, a Rawlins native, was stationed at Windswept Goods with her unique ink artwork.

"I've been into art basically my entire life. It started with my grandma always asking for me to draw her a picture for her bridge every time she came over. It just kind of bloomed from there," said McCuddy. "I've just always been into a lot of the stuff that other people just aren't into. My favorite animals are, as I like to classify them, the trash animals. Possums, racoons, skunks. My favorite thing to do in my pastime besides art is to hike and hunt for bones and bleach them. I occasionally work those into my art."

McCuddy said she's always like the odd and unusual. An example of this during the event were several ink drawings of a jackalope. According to McCuddy, the jackalope art was a matter of necessity.

"It's mostly because I have this unyielding need to correct people. The jackalope we usually see is a little bunny with deer antlers. That's not correct. What you need is a jackrabbit with pronghorn horns. That's what makes it a jackalope," said McCuddy. "I couldn't find any mounts that were like that, I couldn't find art that was like that, so I had to make my own and show people 'This is what a jackalope should look like. What you guys made is basically a budeer."

Next to McCuddy, Valencia Sherman displayed her beaded hats, each one a unique piece. Sherman said she just recently became interested in beading hats.

"I actually saw my first beaded hat at a pow-wow a few years ago and I thought 'I could figure that out'," said Sherman. "I've done a lot of beading all my life but this is just something I started very recently."

In fact, said Sherman, she's been beading for just over a year. When she left her job, she took on beading full-time. Since then, she's been trying to use her art to benefit others. She donated a hat to a silent auction to benefit Ukraine and a hat for an auction during a Pride Event in Rawlins this summer.

"I was just looking for any opportunity to get my name out there and help in any way within the community," said Sherman. I'm always open for any type of fundraiser."

A few blocks up, Kayrah Lapp was set up at Bi-Rite Sporting Goods with her ceramic creations. Coffee mugs and paintbrush cups were the predominant wares set out for show.

"I've been doing them for three years now," said Lapp. "I started in college as my college job working at an art studio and the guy there taught me how to make ceramics."

This was the first time Lapp showed her ceramics in Wyoming and Carbon County. She said she works on the projects and then, each month, takes them down to Red Desert Arts to be fired in the kiln.

Another block up, Jarred James was working on a new wood creation with his chainsaw, sending sawdust flying into the air. Just across the street, at Geekish Things, some of his finished pieces were set up for show.

These four artists were just a handful of those who showed their crafts and skills, a total of 10 participating artists, during the 6th Annual ArtBeat. Of the 13 businesses which participated, many hosting artists had at least two artists in their stores, sometimes up to four. In other areas, ArtBeat became interactive, giving attendees the chance to let their own creativity shine through with activities such as making your own wind chime, painting a pumpkin, a found items tile and ceramic painting.

For at least one night, Rawlins became a cultural hub for Carbon County and, according to the Rawlins Downtown Development Authority, it was a success with around 750 people attending the event.