While honing her technical training and creative endeavors in New York, she began weaving as a practice to connect with her late mother. She found the artisanal process to be meditative and a way to heal from her loss. Her graduate collection showcased her first woven piece--a testament to how an experimental outlet became a path to peace.
As Meredith was sharing this, her words really struck a chord within me personally. As someone who is also close with my mother, I deeply felt the pain of Meredith's loss while simultaneously feeling the surprising joy of healing and remembrance she found while weaving. Perhaps this is the gift Meredith shares with us through her art. “I want to be someone who not only makes people feel good about themselves, but also celebrated and heard. I hope that when people experience my pieces they feel safe and that my work can feel like a grounded place for them” she shares.
“I want the viewer to know that the curves symbolize the various maternal relationships [we may have]. Whether that be a close bond or a tumultuous relationship - the curves represent the ebbs and flows. The slashes represent challenges, enveloped with the softness of the material. I’m thrilled for people to come into Gifted and be able to reflect on their own maternal relationships [while experiencing my pieces].”
Unsurprisingly, Meredith’s thoughtfulness extends beyond a positive relationship those have with their mothers. It was moving to hear her speak about how some may experience trauma or turmoil when it comes to a relationship with their maternal figures--and her art reflects this. For an artist whose life’s goal is to make people feel seen and heard, viewing her pieces makes me feel just that. There are many nuances represented in her work-- large and small, that captivates my attention. While looking at her collection, my mind drifts from my mother, to texture, to pain, to healing, to finally, my own reflection as a mother. What kind of salve can a piece like this represent for my own child? Will art help heal my own child when she experiences turmoil in her own life? Thoughts dance through my mind as my eyes trail through the various calming colors and textures Meredith’s pieces so clearly showcase. What I discover is that this sort of self-reflection and interaction with her art was perhaps a part of Meredith’s master plan. This collection, titled Envelop, does just that to my experience while viewing her art.
“The fibers [were chosen] with intent. They are natural fibers. I incorporated primarily wool, wool blends, and cotton. The dyes that I used are made for natural fibers [and come from various natural resources such as sawdust and avocados]. Whether it's fine art or clothing, [if my pieces] in a 100 years just don't feel relevant anymore, I want them to return to the earth or to be reimagined. I also think that there's something about the tactile nature of natural fibers that is more scrumptious [than synthetic fibers].” With or without knowing, Meredith designed an experience where I was able to see the correlation of how natural fibers allowed me to think deeply about the most natural and organic relationships in my own life.
In my opinion, what is most exciting about Meredith’s work in Gifted’s space, is how her pieces invoke a child-like wonder grounded in the reality of loss. Her weavings bring a whimsical element inside the shop, while also giving the viewer a reason to pause and reflect--something I personally don’t do enough. Her art brings a beautiful energy, the very same one that Meredith affectionately remembers in her mother. It is a timely tribute as we approach Mother’s Day.
But in the end, it’s Meredith's inclusive view on “motherhood” that really lingers with me after I leave the space, “these pieces are for those with mothers, those wrestling with their mothers, those who never knew their mothers, those who lost mothers, and for those who found this love elsewhere. We honor maternal love in its various forms.”
Meredith Noles’ work will be available for purchase and viewing online, and inside Gifted until the end of Spring. You can follow her journey on Instragram at @edithleigh as well as see other works on her website meredithnoles.com.
Our project’s goal was to highlight the beauty of their business, and share them with our customers. Jazmin’s gift to them was her beautiful photography of each owner in their element. Jazmin told me, “I just want them to see themselves how I see them,” a meaningful sentiment said by someone whose craft is to recognize beauty behind a lens.
What started as a project to lift up Black-owned small businesses in Fort Worth, ended up being a tour of inspiration for me personally. So much of 2020 brought me down, and if we’ve chatted recently, you’ll know that I’m still processing through all of the pain and setback last year brought. But while visiting with these business owners, I felt encouraged, inspired, and impressed. They were smiling, laughing, dreaming, and they weren’t letting the world bring them down. I drew from them an incredible amount of strength and resilience every small business owner needs. I am still developing my own.
What rang true for all businesses that we visited is the realization of how precious they are for our city. The unsung heroes and propagators of our city’s growth. How gifted each one of them are.
No matter where you are, I hope you’ll find the special gems in your city and support them over large chains. What you’ll see is that through your support, you allow them to dream and build a better city for the both of you. How often do we get to be a part of something that great?
When I pulled into the driveway of Smokeaholics, a man in the car next to me started shaking his head at me while smiling. He didn’t know I was there to meet with the owners and was signaling that I had come too late and all of their food was already sold out.
Jazmin told me that this was normal for this restaurant. You have to know when to go and pray that you’re lucky enough to get a plate. I haven’t eaten meat since 2007, so I only knew of this establishment through people’s raving reviews.
The pitmaster and owner Derrick smokes all of the meat himself, and has been cooking since he was 12--helping his grandfather smoke meat. His wife runs the front of house and much of the kitchen duties. Daughters, nieces, aunts, sisters...the whole family was in on helping with the business, and you can feel their love spread throughout the restaurant. Customers dropping by while we were there were treated like friends and family. Even the local sheriff came by to check if Derrick had anything left for the day and was treated like family as well. His restaurant felt like a place of belonging.
Business Hours / Info
Open Wednesday—Saturday 11am-'til sold out / 1417 Evans Ave, Fort Worth, TX 76104 / https://www.smoke-a-holicsbbq.com/ / Instagram
Jefferson is a smart entrepreneur. He took a skill and service that every business needs and turned that into his own business--glass cleaning. Honestly, I never knew that a glass and window cleaning business existed for small businesses like Gifted. I’ve seen glass cleaners on scaffolding for large corporations and skyscraper buildings, but I assumed that since my business was small, I’d just have to clean those windows myself.
His business is doing great, but as with any small business going through growth he seemed to be at a crossroads. How can he scale his business up? Can he afford employees and structure? When will he be able to step away from the physical work of glass cleaning and focus on ownership and his own hobbies—photography, traveling?
Really what I saw in him is the American dream. I don’t know his whole story, but Jefferson is smart, he’s handsome, he’s kind, and he’s hardworking. He found a way to carve out a corner for himself in this world. This is hard to do for any entrepreneur or person, but Jefferson does this with ease, and might I add, some swag (have you seen how he flips the squeegee in Jazmin’s video, oh and those Jordans tho). He is undeniably someone who you can’t help but want to support and see make it big in the world.
Business Hours / Info
https://www.davisglassco.com/ / Instagram
If you scroll through Da Crab Trap’s feed, you’ll be able to spot our shop’s dear twins, Jazmin and Jeanette, in some of the earliest photos on Daisey and Terrence’s feed. Jazmin and Jeanette were early supporters of Da Crab Trap and introduced this delicious business to the rest of our team.
Daisey and Terrance left their hometown of Georgia to start a restaurant in Fort Worth, after visiting for a weekend and falling in love with the city. They started small through Facebook Marketplace, and pretty quickly, their customers became repeat customers who started spreading the word about their food. Eventually they were able to buy out a space that was previously a Cici’s restaurant, and this is where they operate today.
Beyond mouth-watering seafood, what you’ll experience while enjoying Daisey and Terrance’s food is love. When you ask Daisey what her secret ingredient is, she’ll say the same. As we watched Daisey and Terrence get ready for service for the day, we couldn’t help but smile the whole time. Terrance makes sure the vibe is just right and goes behind his DJ booth to get some beats poppin, and Daisey goes straight to making sure the chairs are set up just right and the kitchen is in order.
What I love the most about Daisey and Terrence is their passion. When you visit with them, you can see how much they love what they do. They’re smiling when they’re cooking crab. They’re smiling when they’re dousing their dishes with their special sauce. They’re smiling when they ring you up at the register. You can see that their business is their joy. I couldn’t help but be a bit envious. So much of my experience has left me with more furrowed brows and sleepless nights than I care to mention. But a key takeaway for me was to protect my joy. Who knew their seafood would really end up being food for my soul.
Business Hours / Info
Open Tuesday—Thursday 1pm—8pm Friday—Saturday 1pm—9pm / 3431 Altamesa Blvd #166, Fort Worth, TX 76133 / Facebook Instagram
The first time I walked into The Dock Bookshop, I felt like I walked into a hole-in-the-wall paradise for anyone who loves to read about Black and African culture and history--or for anyone who loves to read. Organized much like any other book store, by genre, I found the shop’s intimate curation to be both diverse in genre and product assortment.
Not only can you find new fiction novels such as “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett and non-fiction bestsellers such as “How To Be An Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi, but you can also find a large array of children’s books with Black main characters, books on religion, books on African-American history, and even traditional African dresses.
What particularly drew my attention was the famous people throughout history, whose laminated photos were hanging from the ceiling watching over the shop. Billie Holiday, Tupac Shakur, Mohammad Ali, Kobe Bryant...and so many more Greats. You feel the weight of their accomplishments and wonder what their untold stories are, what history forgot to tell us.
“Maybe the books will tell us,” I told myself, as I started to create my own stack of books to take home.
The Dock Bookshop is truly what I consider a gem and resource to our city that we need to protect. I hope the next time you think about buying a book, you’ll consider giving The Dock Bookshop a visit.
Business Hours / Info
Open Sunday 1pm—5pm Monday—Thursday 1pm—7pm Friday—Saturday 11am—7pm / 6637 Meadowbrook Dr, Fort Worth, TX 76112 / https://www.thedockbookshop.com/ / Instagram
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Upon first meeting Katie, it’s easy to understand how important her family is to her and the influence they have in her life as an artist. With a home studio and two children, one can comfortably jump to the conclusion that finding balance as an artist and mother is difficult for Katie. However, during our visit to her home-studio, we witnessed how easily she incorporates her art into her children’s life—allowing their creativity to blossom right alongside her own. For her children, watching their mother painting is as natural as watching their mother cook. In this way, she has figured out a way to intertwine her work as an abstract artist with her role as a stay-at-home mother with much grace. So much so, that her newest body of work is inspired by a parenting tactic she used on her daughter. A lie.
When Katie’s daughter Ruby was 5, she started having nightmares about monsters under her bed. So she spent many nights convincing Ruby that monsters were not real and that she would be okay. Katie shares,
However, the monsters Katie started to see out in the world were much different than the ones Ruby feared were under her bed. They were real world monsters—racism, bigotry, hatred, oppression, violence...and the list goes on. Things that can really keep a mother with children up at night.
“[My paintings] represent life. They represent the constant noise of hatred and oppression, the inner struggle between right and wrong, the unwillingness to see and truly hear other people, and all the lies we choose to believe. They represent the brokenness in the world.”
Flamingo Spitting Out Gum - Mixed media on canvas, 2020
Yet, as the artist notes, there is beauty in the loudness and chaos of her work. “There are bright, bold colors that complement one another. There are lines that are naive and playful. There are subtle textures and quietness in the details.” And just as her motherly love shields her children from the darkness of the world’s scary monsters, her painting’s quiet moments envelop us with the feeling of calm and gentle reflection.
“I want the viewers to get close to my paintings, to feel the tension between loud and quiet, chaos and peace, weakness and strength. I want the viewers to find beauty in the brokenness and feel empowered by it."
Feeling empowered by brokenness is something that really struck a chord with us. This year, we’ve personally experienced brokenness in the form of debilitating depression, self-isolation, and an inability to see beyond to the light at the end of a tunnel. Maybe you have experienced that yourself. Yet in Katie’s paintings, we see that instead of fighting the emotions that come along with brokenness, we can choose to embrace it and expose it to those parts of ourselves that really shine.
Love, compassion, forgiveness, and kindness. Her paintings give us a visual understanding that our brokenness isn’t so ugly after all...that combined with our best selves, it’s beautiful and freeing.
If this year has taught us anything, it is that dormant emotions and biases don’t stay dormant forever. Life happens and gives them a reason to awaken from their slumber. For some, this year has revealed to us our own monsters that live within and the uncomfortable reckoning we have had to make with them, or are still making with them.
We hope that regardless of where you are in life, you’ll find yourself reflected in one of Katie’s paintings and her message— whether you’re the calm neutrals laying back and holding the whole painting together, or you’re the paint strokes of uncertain lines off to the side. Katie’s paintings help us remember our own monsters, and the monsters out in the world.
Katie McKay Jones is a painter residing in Fort Worth, Texas. She graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with an emphasis in Painting and Printmaking.
Click here to purchase Katie's original paintings exclusively at our shop.
]]>Our personal space is a direct reflection of our emotions and our state of mind. Ultimately, though, your space should be the safest place for you and your family. For some, updating your space might bring to mind a huge shopping trip. On the contrary, creating your family’s sanctuary should not always require buying a lot of new things.
We’ve put together a short list of steps you can take to update and clean your space for your family’s well being and your peace of mind.
How will you know what you will need to refresh your space when there is clutter in your home? Start small. Declutter in sections, like starting with a set of drawers, a cabinet, or a closet. Move across your home with intention -- it’s not a race!
Be thoughtful about which items you can reuse and which are unusable. Purging items that you don’t need will free you from clutter and will help you grow into an intentional consumer. The next time you go shopping for a piece of art or an item of clothing, you will know exactly why you’re buying it and how it will contribute meaningfully to your sanctuary.
Detoxifying your home from harmful chemicals can feel like a daunting task because it is so hard to know where to start.
Many companies use marketing tactics to make us think their products are “safe” or “earth-friendly” solutions to household cleaners. Other companies sell products that are unapologetically chemically-rich and rely on generations of brand recognition (i.e., “Grandma used this brand, so it should be okay...right?”).
Even once you are aware of these subversive tactics, it can still be difficult to know where to begin in switching over to healthful and conscientious cleaning options. In order to help, we have curated an exclusive Starter Kit with cleaning essentials that are both natural and eco-friendly, ensuring that your home is safe from harsh chemicals and lingering germs.
We suggest you begin with the Kitchen recipe on the bottle. Why? Studies show that the germiest room in our homes is the kitchen. Surprisingly, the kitchen tends to contain the highest concentrations of both Salmonella and E. coli -- concentrations even higher than those found in bathrooms!
Salmonella and E. coli are considered dangerous because they can cause severe symptoms like stomach cramps, fever, diarrhea, and vomiting. People typically ingest these bacteria from eating undercooked meats, eggs, or dairy; however, you can also come into contact with the bacteria from an unclean surface or from not washing your hands thoroughly after handling a contaminated item. Because these bacteria are found on ingestible items, using harsh chemicals to remove them is equally as dangerous for our bodies, especially if you have little ones around.
This is why we believe natural cleaning solutions are the safest route to take when eliminating dangerous bacteria, viruses, and allergens in our homes. Simple ingredients like vinegar, vodka, and essential oils have been shown to kill these harmful bacteria just as well as store-bought cleaners -- without the effects of toxic synthetic chemicals.
Our favorite essential oils to use for cleaning are Tea Tree and Lemon, both of which are included in our Starter Kit.
The Vitruvi Lemon Essential Oil we’ve included in our Starter Kit is created by cold-pressing lemon rinds and extracting their naturally-occurring oils. The result is an incredibly potent oil that smells amazing and is useful in cutting grease and cleansing surfaces like glass, tile, porcelain, stainless steel, and grout. Add 10-12 drops of Lemon Essential Oil to your cleaning solutions, add 5-7 drops to your dishcloths for wiping down your counters and tabletops daily, or add 5 drops to a large bowl of water for rinsing and disinfecting your produce before consuming.
Outside of the kitchen, add 5-7 drops of the Vitruvi Tea Tree Essential Oil to your laundry detergent to kill bacteria during the wash cycle. Then add 5-7 drops of Lemon or Lavender Essential Oil to the Echoview Wool Dryer Balls included in the Starter Kit to give your clothing a light, refreshing scent for the drying cycle.
Another great use for these fragrant essential oils is to combine them in our Vitruvi Stone Diffuser to naturally purify the air in different rooms of your home. We love all of the multi-use properties of these two oils. They are the perfect combination to get you started.
The final step of turning your space into a sanctuary is to think about how you want to feel when you get home. Creating a sanctuary includes curating your space for aesthetic value. Take note of how you want to mindfully add beauty to your living space.
Begin with one room, considering its intended use. Ask yourself questions like the following:
After you decide on how to best use the space, consider how you would like the space to look and feel. With a critical and intentional eye, consider how you can decorate to help the space function in the way you need it to. While in the space, ask yourself questions like the following:
Keeping a running list of your home's needs will help you shop with intention and see products in a new light. The goal is to prevent buying throwaway pieces on impulse and to encourage you to make deliberate choices about what a space needs instead.
We hope you will be able to devote some of your extra time at home to making your space the sanctuary you need it to be.
Stay safe and healthy, dear friends.
xx Gifted Gals
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