If you give a mouse a paintbrush

Little Rock based artist works to combine nostalgia and self-discovery

Picture this: It’s Sunday morning in your childhood home, the sound of bacon sizzling is floating in from the kitchen and with it the smooth sounds of your mom’s favorite genre of music. Mixed in with the savory scent of fat popping in the pan is the sharp smell of lemon pledge, or lavender fabuloso, or good old fashioned bleach. Before the sleep is cleared from your eyes, you’re ushered out of bed and into the living room where you’re handed a broom and lightly chastised for sleeping so late. It’s only 10 A.M. 

For so many of us, these are the sounds, smells, sights and rituals of our childhoods. For Little Rock artist Brandy Lucas, it is also the inspiration for her creations. Brandy has been a professional multidisciplinary artist and art educator for the last eight years, but if you ask her, art has been in her life for so long that they might as well be common law married. In the last eight years, she has used her art as reflection for the important moments in her life, a pain-stakingly dedicated record of all the milestones big or small. 

"Teddy P & Pine Soul" - Mixed Media on Paper. 9x12'' - 2025

Besides taking inspiration from the cleaning routines of Sundays, Brandy also takes it from her city. She describes the city as nurturing, a place where slowing down and finding a sliver of calm in the never-ending storm we’re all experiencing is entirely possible. For her, travel only serves to make the heart grow fonder. Having the ability to run into old and new friends alike no matter where you are in Little Rock helps her feel more connected with her community, which in turn helps her put down roots. This appreciation for community is obvious in her work, which often depicts common items like scissors or hair curlers. It’s art that touches the parts of us we are all too busy growing up to remember. It’s like trading stories with your best friend from grade school. 

In fact, Brandy values connections with her peers so much that one of the things she is looking forward to the most is rediscovering the reason she began to make art in the first place through the unconventional environment that The Loom has to offer. She believes that the art you create is the most authentic place you can be express yourself and that so often artists of color feel they have to wear a mask to  fit in, so during her exhibit at The Loom: Interlinked, she hopes to find collaboration with other creative souls who are doing just that – expressing themselves to the fullest extent without censorship.

The pieces she is bringing to The Loom are all about slowing down and finding common ground with viewers. One in particular, titled The Hairbobox is about sitting still for an impossibly long time to have your hair braided, a piece which is both about time ticking by slowly and the bittersweet memory of being both excited for your new look and the desperate need to stand up again – a memory that many young women  can relate to. Her work leaves its viewers with the realization  that none of us are as different from our neighbors as we think.

"Da Hairobox" - Acrylic on Canvas - 40x20" - 2025

For the future,  Brandy hopes to continue teaching and helping people work out their creative muscles. In her words, “I always try to remind people that being creative is a birthright. We all have it. And so, whatever it is, whether it’s music, writing, even down to doing your hair – things we might not think are creative – you just kind of have to slow down long enough and come up with it.” 

To check out more of Brandy’s work you can take a look at her Instagram @beeyoustudios.llc. On February 21st, select works of hers will be on display at The Loom: Interlinked.