Visually Dynamic
After high school, Matt Ballou had an epiphany: “If I didn’t at least try to be an artist, I would regret it,” he says. His art now focuses on visual dynamics and the perception of space and depth. “I’m interested in the way that we see, the way that we understand what’s in front of us, how something looks like a surface, how something looks like space, how something looks like light.”
Matt is a professor at the School of Visual Studies at the University of Missouri at Columbia and has painted eight portraits of Mizzou football players, which have joined the other “All-Americans” located at Faurot Field’s South End Zone Facility. MattBallou.com
A Myriad of Merchants
Laurie and Jason Williams saw a need for trade shows in Joplin and decided to buy an 85,000-square-foot building to host them. Since then, they have added a ballroom event space, and in June of this year they opened Unique Boutiques, a collection of 130 vendors from across Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.
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“Each booth has their own feel and aesthetic, and it looks like you’re walking into a totally different store,” Laurie says. First-time visitors are a treat for Laurie. “You know when it’s first time coming through the doors. You absolutely see it on their face,” she says. “They’re just so excited.” The next addition, Laurie says, will be a cafe. UBJoplin.com
Captivatin Consignment
By Emma Zawacki
Kaleidoscope Consignment & Boutique inPacific offers men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing and accessories, as well as home decor. Owner Christine Slusser purchased the store in 2017, and Julie Flynn joined the team in 2019. According to Julie, it is important to thrift new-to-you items because it takes around “80 gallons of water to make a new cotton shirt.”
The merchandise at Kaleidoscope is never the same twice because its “wholesalers” are community members from the surrounding area who bring goods to the store. Once an item is sold, the consignor receives a percentage of its sale price. ILoveKaleidoscope.com
Soft Surrounding
Fiber artist Arianne Cope, in Verona, raises angora rabbits and sheep, shears them, and spins their wool into yarn. Dye for the yarn is made by extracting color from tree branches or flowers (or, quite often, weeds). “I was driven to have loving relationships with the animals that create the yarn and to foster deep connections to the plants where the colors are coming from,” Arianne says.
Shawls are among her favorite creations. “I am drawn to creating shawls because I can wrap them around myself when I’m hurting; I can wrap them around other people when they’re hurting and spread comfort and healing,” Arianne says. Instagram @WoolenBluebird
Playful Pupperty
By Emma Zawachi
During its 26 years of operation, the Puppetry Arts Institute in Independence has collected puppets from across six continents, which are rotated through free-to-visit exhibits.
The institute offers a puppet-making workshop where you can create your own puppet, get a feel for its personality, and practice performing. It also offers puppet shows for $5. Board treasurer for the institute and puppet educator Nancy Clark, a puppet enthusiast since the age of seven, sometimes performs with her favorite kind of puppet, a marionette. “Puppetry is not just a craft project,” Nancy says. “It is a performance piece.” PuppetryArtsInstitute.org
One Community, One World
Saturday, September 26, marks the 17th year of the Celebration of Nations at Rolla. This year’s theme for the event is Get Your Global Kicks on Route 66, explains Rebecca West, manager of programs, communication, outreach, and engagement for Missouri S&T and director of the Celebration of Nations, “because our parade marches down Pine Street, which is Route 66.”
There will be a huge creative area for kids, Rebecca says. The Kummer Center for STEMEducation will have five tents of STEM activities, anything from robotics to puzzles to gems that kids can dig and find, she adds. Vendors’ offerings will “range between different cultural cuisines and gifts and fun things you wouldn’t find anywhere, like handcrafted items,” Rebecca says. Nations.MST.edu
This article was orginally printed in the September 2026 issue of Missouri Life.
