Some things are more fun times two. Katherine and Ryan Munson expect to prove it when they team up at Columbus’ Market Street Festival as vendors May 7.
The husband-and-wife duo will merge their diverse creativity under the same tent canopy — Katherine with her paintings, and Ryan with a line of soap, lotions and beard balms he’s created.
As a little girl, Katherine was as at home in an art studio as she was in her own room. At the elbow of her father, Mississippi University for Women art professor Larry Feeney, she was a frequent fixture in The W’s art department. She napped during figure drawing, doodled with pens in calligraphy class and read Calvin and Hobbes surrounded by oil painters. When her own college years began, it felt only natural to follow in the footsteps and declare as an art major.
It was after college, however, that uncertainty crept in.
“I took many years away from art because I had had a painful and rather haunting realization that I didn’t truly know myself,” Katherine said candidly. “Every time I sat down to create something, I felt I was standing at the abyss, eyes shut and frantically waving my arms around for something beautiful to find me.”
She traveled extensively during that period, in search of inspiration and calm. One of her journeys took her to the small Chinese island of Putuoshan. It was there she acquired the delicate Buddhist joss papers she uses today in a series she calls nest paintings.
“I call them ‘nests’ because of their intimate, cozy nature and universally familiar content,” explained Katherine, who found her way home to her art. “In each piece I want to evoke a sense of either being at home or one of coming home for the viewer.”
From a child
The Munsons’ daughter Molly Grace, now 4, could be credited with inspiring the concept of these small tile-on-wood artworks. Katherine was walking down a hallway of her “endlessly renovated” home on Southside and discovered Molly playing with broken tiles and scrap wood pulled out of a 1920s pantry. Once mom knew her child was safe, “I noticed how lovely clean and fresh tiles would look mounted on old, rough, worn wood,” she said.
For her current nest series, the artist and graphic designer developed images that reflect her interest in nature and growth. She cuts them from old dress patterns or joss papers to attach to oil-painted tiles.
Katherine doesn’t sew. She imagines the patterns as wild maps to magical places she could one day visit.
“However, due to my ignorance, they’re just arrows and lines on paper, and I find that endlessly amusing.”
The joss papers carry spiritual significance. Also known as ghost or spirit money, they are burned in traditional Chinese deity or ancestor worship, and in traditional Chinese funerals.
“I find it fascinating to create universally relatable images from these esoterically mystical red and gold papers,” said Katherine, who plans to have about 50 of the small paintings and a few larger canvases at the festival. She creates them in a cozy studio attached to the back of the garage. It’s a space Ryan renovated for her — a space of peaceful quiet, a space to create.
Innovative dad
Ryan’s creative space is currently in the dining and living rooms. Scents of orange clove, sweet mint and lavender blend pleasingly there as bottles of blue, red, gold and green capture the sunlight. Little Molly had a hand here, too, in inspiring the products they hold.
“I began making these when Molly was a baby,” Ryan began. “She had dry patches on her back, and after trying a lot of over-the-counter products, she would cry because her skin was sensitive and they would burn her.”
Molly’s father, a financial advisor, set out to find more natural remedies, free from alcohol and other chemicals. He created the body balm that ultimately worked well for Molly.
“From there, I got interested in creating my own beard balm,” he continued. He started with one using frankincense and myrrh, appropriately named Three Kings Blend. That and other beard oil scents, as well as Ryan’s lotion, lip balm and homemade castile soaps will be available at the couple’s booth. Mary Ellen Owings will also offer henna tattoos there.
Market Street
The Munsons’ booth is just one of more than 225 Market Street Festival vendors who will fill 12 blocks downtown from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 7. More than 20 additional vendors will offer food. A free concert the evening of May 6 at the Riverwalk kicks off the festive weekend.
“On May 7, there will be handmade toys, pottery, handmade and embroidered clothing, original art of all kinds, handcrafted wood furniture, jewelry, yard art … just about anything you can imagine!” said festival coordinator Amber Brislin. “No one should go home empty-handed, empty-hearted or hungry.”
The festival is the largest fundraiser for Main Street Columbus, the organization that presents festivals, parades and activities that highlight downtown and encourage new customer traffic for merchants. Drawing annually about 35,000 attendees, the festival plays a critical role in helping finance beautification projects, promotion and revitalization of the historic downtown area, said Barbara Bigelow, director of Main Street Columbus.
“Not only does the festival provide a wonderful family event for our community and visitors, the economic benefits are huge as well,” Bigelow said. “No amount of money, however, can accurately reflect the personal and social benefits this community event offers. Our beautiful, historic downtown is showcased and our unique downtown retailers are seen by thousands of patrons.”
Like fellow participants, the Munsons look forward to being part of the city’s biggest annual celebration.
“It’s a magnificent blessing to be able to make art and live in my beautiful hometown of Columbus, my own personal nest,” said Katherine. “The festival is just one of the wonderful Main Street events I love to take part in that makes our town such an intricate and fun place to live.”
Editor’s note: For festival details, go to marketstreetfestival.com or contact Main Street Columbus, 662-328-6305. Watch The Dispatch for upcoming stories plus a festival schedule in the May 6 edition.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
READER FAVORITES
Related Photos
Katherine Munson’s “nest” paintings reflect an interest in nature and growth. Photo by: Luisa Porter/Dispatch Staff
