Article Alexandra Bush | Photography Brian Turner
When Molly Roberts opened her Excelsior Springs studio on September 9 of last year, there were 40 people present at the ribbon cutting, welcoming the artist back to her hometown. Roberts opened the Molly Roberts Studio, located at 100 East Broadway, to showcase and sell her paintings and wire art as well as handmade crafts, clothing and accessories.
“This is my home, and when I came home it was wonderful,” Roberts says.
The 800-square-foot studio space depicts an artistic aesthetic that Roberts describes as whimsical and abstract. As she says, “it’s art that makes you smile.” Her acrylic paintings, which she also sells online, are an eclectic mixture of abstract cubism, light-hearted still life and folksy fowl.
“I really feel like my signature paintings are my roosters,” Roberts says. Rightly so, as drawing roosters may have led her to her current path. While owning an antique shop in Warsaw, Mo. for 18 years, Roberts decorated paper merchandise bags with playful drawings of her comical pet rooster, Romeo. Romeo passed away last year, but it was these drawings and Roberts’ recreational painting that caused her father, Joe Morgan, an artist himself, to encourage her to sell her work.
Accompanying her painting is Roberts other creative passion: bead and wirework. She says she found inspiration for this medium after seeing a handmade wire chandelier in Atlanta more than15 years ago. “It completely intrigued me,” she says.
Roberts took the idea and ran with it, creating mobiles and sun catchers out of vintage hardware, tools, seashells and silverware. Her latest offerings are sea creatures composed of copper and shells, which come with a short story written by Roberts, depicting a quirky history of her creatures and giving the new owner tips for its “upbringing.”
“I just keep finding different ways to do bead and wire art,” she says of the medium.
Four months after the opening, Roberts says her native community has embraced her. Since its
opening, Roberts has offered weekly classes on mixed media, painting, wire and beading, and various art projects for children ages six and up.
High demand for the classes, for which allinclusive costs range from $25 to $35, has led to Roberts leasing Studio Two, which will be open as of February 1. This second location at 200 S. Marietta St. will be devoted solely to the art classes, and will raise the maximum number of students to 20. In addition to these regularly scheduled classes, Roberts offers private painting lessons and commissioned paintings from patrons who desire customized versions of her work.
Roberts also handcrafts hats and Crazy Molly Dollies, which she says has been a big hit with her customers, made from various vintage textiles and chenille which Roberts hand-dyes. Beyond her products, the studio sells purses and totes, scarves, and a line of clothing that is handmade by women in Nepal under the Fair Trade Act. “It honestly isn’t work. I can’t wait to get up and go to work in the morning,” Roberts says of running the studio full time.
This dedication is a reflection of her belief that one-on-one interaction between customer and artist is one of the studio’s strongest qualities. Roberts says she couldn’t be happier being back in the Northland, having a growing business, and offering her art to the community.
“I plan on being here many, many years,” she says, “ This is my home town. I love it here.” NL
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