“It’s a bright spot for me,” Charley Sandage said about a song he wrote being recorded recently on the album The Story We Tell by the bluegrass band Joe Mullins and The Radio Ramblers. Charley wrote the song “Neighbors” for the Simmons family in 1973 and gave them the song. The song was written with the Mountain View music community and the community in general in mind after Charley moved to Mountain View i ...

Above, Kathleen Torres and Amanda Lewis paint rocks in Washington Street Park. Taylar Sherrill was looking for something fun for her family to enjoy over the summer that “didn’t cost an arm and a leg,” when she discovered a game called Fun Rocks. She quickly created a Facebook page for Mountain View Fun Rocks and it now has 1,581 followers. Taylor explains the game consists of painting rocks and placing or ...

The combination of artistic creativity and a compulsive nature led Skip Mathews to create what is virtually his own art form. A coppersmith for 52 years, Skip developed the technique of decorating copper with colors by varying the temperature of the metal using a torch. He has perfected the technique through years of practice and shared it with his wife, Racheal. They will be joining the Off the Beaten Path ...

A spinning demonstration takes place March 16 during a reception at the CornerStone building on the courtsquare in Mountain View. Arkansas Craft School has purchased the building and is moving its operation. See the full story in the March 22, 2017 issue. ...

Lane Berg, a teacher at Timbo School, is a mixed media artist participating for the first year in the Off the Beaten Path Studio Tour set Sept. 16-18. See the full feature story on Berg as well as information about the event in the Sept. 14, 2016 issue. ...

Linda Rawlings retired to Stone County after 21 years of teaching art, 3-D design and photography. Her continuing photography work is inspired by the natural surroundings near her Round Bottom Road home, where she will open her home studio to the public for this year’s Off the Beaten Path Studio Tour. “I am inspired everyday with all that surrounds me here in Mountain View near the White River,” she says. “ ...

Workshops in beekeeping and other practices were conducted May 13-14 during Sustainability Weekend at Tomahawk Creek Farm, sponsored by Arkansas Craft School. See photos and information in the May 18 issue of the Leader. ...

The Arkansas Craft School is emerging for spring with a new director and office location. Phyllis Haynes will serve as interim director while the board of directors conducts a search for a permanent executive director. Haynes has a background in nonprofit management, having served the last 14 years of her career as CEO of the Arkansas Foodbank based in Little Rock. She and her husband, Bud Thurman, have jus ...

Grady Spann of Mountain View has been named as the next director of Arkansas State Parks. He will replace Greg Butts, who will retire Dec. 31 after 42 years with Arkansas State Parks, the last 25 of those as director. Spann is a former superintendent at the Ozark Folk Center State Park and currently serves as a regional supervisor. See story in the Dec. 16 issue. ...

Winners of the Traditional Youth division of the Arkansas Fiddle Championship are pictured following the contest Aug. 21. Winners in three other divisions were also named that day, and winners in the Contemporary divisions were named Aug. 22. All are pictured in the Aug. 26 issue. ...