ACS Hires New Director

Rachel Reynolds has learned to let intuition be her guide.

She moved to Mountain View when she was 9, and spent lots of her spare time hanging out with crafters and musicians in the town square where she learned to play fiddle by ear. The rest of the time she was playing and performing at local theaters, catfish houses, the Folk Center, and anywhere else they’d let her in the door.

When she left Mountain View at the end of her senior year to attend music school in New York City, the radical difference in environment became quickly apparent.

“I lasted about six months. It was so ugly there, and I was used to all the beauty we have here.”

From there, she attended UCA and joined the orchestra where there was a similar experience.

“It didn’t sit too well when the instructors would tell me where to stand and how to position the bow,” she said. “I was an intuitive player just like you’d expect for anyone who pretty much grew up in the square.”

Reynolds has let her intuition guide most of her life since, and she brings a unique sense of purpose and place to her new position as director of the Arkansas Craft School.

See the full story in the Aug. 19, 2020 issue.