PRAIRIE GROVE -- The Creative Fix in downtown Prairie Grove offers a collection of items for sale in the front part of the store and a workroom in the back for art projects and art classes.
Owner and artist Temple Moore retired last June after 28 years with Prairie Grove School District. She worked as a second-grade teacher for 16 years and as an art teacher for 12 years.
Less than a month after retiring, Moore and her husband, Charles, opened their new store, located at 136 E. Buchanan St. It is open 12-5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday.
Moore's parents owned the Remember When antique store in Prairie Grove and Moore grew up going to estate sales and auctions and has always loved the business, she said. She also knew she still wanted to teach children. At the same time, Moore said she did not want to move into a new career full-time.
Her new shop gives her the opportunity to meet all three goals, she said.
The front part of the store has vintage and antique items, glassware, furniture, "this and that," Moore said. The couple enjoys going together to estate sales and auctions in search of new items for the store.
Moore uses the back area for her own projects and also to teach classes. She already has taught several classes for children and adults. In December, Moore led classes for children to make Santa Claus and reindeer paintings. Her next project will be a snowman acrylic painting. She advertised the class on Facebook and it already is full.
"I'm trying to do a class once a month for children," Moore said.
Moore's artistic talent comes naturally from both her grandmothers. She remembers one as being very crafty and the other as an artist.
"Between the two, they were always letting me make things," she said.
While Moore creates collages and drawings, she prefers to paint. She likes still-life paintings and has started a farm series. She also likes to paint dog portraits and houses. Many of her paintings are available as limited edition note cards or prints to frame. Some of her paintings are being used as cards published by DaySpring.
As a second-grade teacher, Moore said she continued to paint on the side. Along with her education degree, she also has an art degree. When she was offered a position in Prairie Grove as an elementary art teacher, she was a little hesitant to move out of the classroom but soon found that she loved the new challenge.
"At the elementary school, I was seeing 700 kids a week," she said.
She moved to the middle school as an art teacher 10 years later and said the change was a good one to finish out her educational career.
"Middle school kids did things that amazed me," Moore said. "They cranked out some great art. It helped me with the older kids down here at the shop."
Art in school is important, Moore said, because it helps students become problem solvers.
"If you mess up, you think how can I fix it, how can I change it?" she said. "You keep changing it until it's something you like. To me, that lesson itself is important. It teaches you to take a chance and be creative. No stop sign."
For more information on The Creative Fix or to find out information about upcoming classes, go to the store's Facebook page.
Business on 01/18/2017