TEXARKANA, Ark. (KSLA) – Texarkana artist, Element Rose, speaks with Brittney Hazelton about a new nonprofit, Cosmic Crossroads, and her own personal art.
On Nov. 15, a unique immersive creative experience will be held in downtown Texarkana, Arkansas. The event will go from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and will be a full day of activities on East Broad Street.
The entrance area for the event will be hosted by TLC Burger.
Activities:
- Sound camp
- A variety of DJs
- Live music, including blues and rap.
- Bounce houses
- Kid’s dance party
- Candy
- Cadet pins for kids
One of the founding members of the event & nonprofit, an artist who goes by the name Elemental Rose, speaks to ArkLaTex Artistry’s Brittney Hazelton about the Cosmic Crossroads’ mission, the event, and her own personal art.
Newly formed nonprofit, Cosmic Crossroads:
“We hope to provide mentorships for young artists and entrepreneurs, provide a platform for locally owned businesses to be seen and appreciated, and give back to the community that took time to believe in us,” says the Cosmic Crossroads Facebook event page.
Originally from Texarkana, Shanon Rose, Element Rose, moved for her career as a graphic artist to the Dallas area. Now, after returning to take care of her father, Rose is looking to make an impact in the community she grew up in by starting a new nonprofit with other community members.
“The whole idea behind Cosmic Crossroads is that each community is its own cosmos, but Texarkana was founded at the crossroads. So, thats where we meet to celebrate each other, to celebrate the culture of Texarkana, to celebrate the artistic expression, and to celebrate the hidden gems in the area in a safe and welcoming environment,” says Rose.
“The whole goal is, once you get people into enviroments where they have to face each other outside of their normal every day routine, that is when you allow them room to open their eyes to new adventures, to new experiences, and it allows them to maybe think, hmm, I pass judgments in this area where I shouldn’t have,” says Rose.
Cosmic Crossroads aims to broaden people’s minds and experiences, to help unify the community of Texarkana better.
The nonprofit also has found a goal in being a liaison, connecting nonprofits and area businesses, bringing both to the forefront.
Texarkana’s art community issue
“To be gentle, there is not an inclusive art community here in Texarkana,” says Rose. “I appreciate the efforts that have happened here, but I left Texarkana 10 years ago to go to Dallas to be a graphic designer. I came back, and the art community is still in the same position that it was 10 years ago,” says Rose.
Rose says that yes, there have been opportunities for murals and public works. But, when it comes to an actual community connection goes, it’s nonexistent.
“And, this is not just my opinion. We have the art jams that happen once a month, we are going into our fourth one,” says Rose. “But, I’ve had artists tell me it feels very like popular club-like. It seems hard to get in.”
Rose would love to see families to come to the Art Jams, and for the events to be overall more inclusive.
“Yes, the art community is legitimate artists, but it is so much more than that. It’s allowing people room to create, and that is something that is truly missing here,” explains Rose.
Texarkana Regional Arts & Humanities Council (TRAHC) is making more movements this year, according to Rose.
“They are opening pottery classes. They have another building they are offering classes. They are moving some stuff this year. But, you know, we are still in a low-income area. And, there needs to be more outlets for you know, families, expressions, and individuals where they don’t feel like they gotta pay $30 dollars to go this, you know that’s just not within some people’s monthly budget,” explains Rose.
“So, we just want to be able to open the door to the point where it’s like, hey, you don’t have anything in your pocket, that’s fine, you know what, we have these little ceramic things at art jam, just come and paint one of those. Just get it out,” says Rose.
Cosmic Crossroads hopes to change the dynamic of the art community in the city, with the hope, that fewer artists and residents feel the need to leave.
“Being an artist in Texarkana, especially growing up in the 90s and early 2000s, was very isolating,” says Rose.
Everything for the event will have a space explorer-like theme. All of the beautiful graphics for the Cosmic Crossroads event were created by Element Rose and have a fun purple and blue color scheme.
Her main art is definitely graphic design, which also includes video work like animations but she is also a painter.
“I am a branding guru, and that is something that I am very passionate about,” says Rose. “I’ve been doing this for like a decade.”
Rose also says, everything is done by hand.
“Nothing is AI,” Rose makes this point very clearly.
Artistically, she prefers to be seen as a surrealist.
“My biggest influences are René Magritte and Frida Kahlo. René Magritte is extremely underrated in my personal opinion,” says Rose. “Not only was he a surrealist genius, but he was also hilarious.”
Painting is more personal for her, and is a slow process. She says she hasn’t finished a painting in six years, but she has a few in progress now.
“Painting is for your soul, though,” says Rose. Graphic Design, for me personally, and I understand a lot of people do find an outlet in their designs. But, graphic design for me, honestly, is for me too provide a solution for someone else’s problem,” explains Rose.
She actually came up with the name Element Rose during college for her graphic design work.
“The spiel is that element that you are missing. I became one of the elements, like fire and water, rose,” says Rose. “I am the element you have been missing in your company because I am a one-stop shop,” Rose explains. She does everything from logo designs, flyer designs, video edits, photography, and animation.
When she was younger, she had a person teaching her before she met her mentor, but it was very restrictive. That experience causes her to be less loose with canvas, and she doesn’t ‘play’ with it as much.
“I do not touch a canvas unless I think it is something I actually want to execute, you know? Then I put it away for like five years,” says Rose.
One painting she showed during the interview expressed a long journey filled with emotion, pain, and tragedy.
“This one I started when I was 25, I think. She started out as a lion,” explains Rose.
The painting was much different then; it was all red and gold. At the time, Rose felt the painting was simply ‘trying too hard’.
Then, between the ages of 28 to 30, Rose got into what she describes as an emotionally abusive relationship.
“This one was pretty bad. And, it kinda like drained a lot of who I was out of me. I’m gonna be a little honest, more than a little honest. Trigger warning for before I say what I am going to say, for your viewers. This story does include loss of children,” warns Rose.
When she was 30, Rose discovered she had PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome).
“I had been begging for a fertility test since I was 16. And, people would just look at my hips, even women gynecologists, and tell me I was fine,” she explains. “Then at 30, I finally found someone who would test me.”
At that time, she was told that 80% of her pregnancies would end in miscarriages.
“And, six months later, in the middle of this abusive situation, um, me and this man had broken up. I was the most emotionally unhinged I had ever been in my life, and he did not deserve any of that. I couldn’t understand why I was so emotionally unhinged over this guy. And, I found out I had a miscarriage,” says Rose.
It was then she found out that not only would her pregnancies fail, but she was also allergic to being pregnant. Her immune system blew up at this time, she could barely even go outside without breaking out.
So, when she returned to the painting a year and a half ago, and has used her struggle to build it to where it is now.
“I stopped and looked at her for a while because it was very much like, this poor girl. Because I started painting her before I knew about the PCOS, before I knew about any of that stuff. It was almost like looking at a past me,” Rose struggles to hold back tears as she explains.
“It’s a part of my art, and that’s what I want to express. My art is very much an emotional stepping stone for me to be able to work through the things I’ve been through. And, that’s what my art is for me. I don’t paint celebrities. I don’t paint any of this crazy stuff. I got like three or four self-portraits. Because my art, I take a huge note from Freda Kahlo. I know me, and I can represent me and express me. And, if somebody can find the same pain within my pain, then move through it, then I did my job,” says Rose.
“When I pulled her out, I looked at her for like an hour, and I just cried. And I was like, this girl has no idea what she is about to go through. She has no idea how much she is fixing to have to face herself.
The piece evolved from those struggles.
“I painted my pain. I painted my sorrow. And, I painted me, realizing who I actually am,” says Rose.
The figure will have a crown of planets and a third eye; her hair will spread across the canvas to express the end of the evolution. This design and everything were even before the cosmically designed Cosmic Crossroads.
“And, that’s the crazy thing about paintings. They are literally, if you are painting for yourself, and you are painting your existence, they are literally prophecies for where you are going,” says Rose.
“You gotta be able to have control over where your art is going. I’m a really big believer, artists, when we paint, we are not speaking just for ourselves. We are speaking for the universe. That’s why you see some artists that paints a painting similar to mine, that’s because the spirit has the same message for you. And, that’s what the world needs to see from this collective genre of art,” says Rose.
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