The story below is a preview from our September/October 2024 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Every objet d’art in this couple’s home is a pleasant memory of a lifetime of love and old-fashioned fun.
Taylor Reschka
The morning room, where Judy enjoys her morning coffee and magazines, is full of Ross’s art and art they collected on their travels.
Judy and Ross Arkell met at The Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts as young people full of artistic ideas and passion. Their shared creativity sparked romance, and they married in 1960. They enjoyed 62 years of wedded bliss until Ross passed away in 2022. From Michigan to Virginia, they created and acquired an eclectic collection of art. Their memories live on through their own art, the art of friends and other treasures they spent years collecting.
Taylor Reschka
Making a Living as an Artist
Judy and Ross spent their young married years in Michigan, where Ross worked for General Motors. He was a design sculptor, making full-size models of cars years before they were sold to the public.
This work connected the Arkells with fellow creatives, as many of Ross’s colleagues were originally trained as potters. Working for GM allowed them to transfer their ceramics skills and get their potters’ urge out by moving their hands in similar ways. Judy explains, “A lot of people who work in the manufacturing industry are very creative but need to feed their families.”
Most GM modelers maintained a home studio, and Ross and Judy consequently acquired many pieces of the salt-glaze pottery in their home by shopping at them.
Another perk of Ross’s day job was that it allowed him to gather the scrap wood that was left over from making full-size cars. He hand-carved and glued pieces together to make model vehicles, such as a red car in their dining room he named “Dr. Detroit.” He also made an airplane named “Norwegian Air Stream” with a little doll inside to represent Judy’s partial Norwegian heritage.
The Heart of Their Art
Judy has always enjoyed painting still lifes and making art for art fairs at local schools. Lace pillows, baby clothes and dolls that she made out of scraps and once sold at the fairs now decorate the home. She describes her motivation in creative pursuits as “a desire to create something nice-looking.”
But Judy sees Ross’s approach to art as driven to have a deeper meaning. Ross grew up in Chicago during the Depression and “saw how hard people had it.” She notes that “if you’ve had an easier life, you’re not always so concerned with the underdog.”
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Taylor Reschka
Antique clothing, portraits from the 1900s and folk art decorate the living room.
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Taylor Reschka
The pottery on top of the cabinets is from Ross’s time at GM. The glassware is from antique shops. Judy says, “I bought it because it’s nice looking and I use it for desserts when I have friends over.”
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Taylor Reschka
The dollhouses against the wall of the living room are from the Depression era. They were likely homemade Christmas gifts. The turquoise cat is one of Ross’s sculptures.
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Taylor Reschka
The quilt hanging above the bed is a “crazy quilt” from 1880. It’s made of silk and velvet and features decorative stitching done by hand.
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Taylor Reschka
Because Ross didn’t have an easy childhood himself, he wanted things to be better for other people. One of his core life beliefs was that “people should be kinder to each other.” Time and time again, Judy describes her late husband as “an honorable person” whose art sometimes reflected his tender-heartedness towards the downtrodden.
White Lightning
Taylor Reschka
Other times, as with his shape painting “White Lightning,” Judy says Ross wanted to “just have fun.” (Shape paintings reflect the shape of the object being depicted rather than a regular rectangular or square canvas.) The title of this piece refers to moonshine and its fascinating local legacy.
The star of “White Lightning” is an advertising emblem that harkens back to a time when glamour girls were used in old-fashioned campaigns. Her facial expression is intense, predatory animals are around and behind her, and dusk falls on the Appalachian forest in the background.
Boones Mill was the moonshine capital of the world in the 1920s and 30s. Observers of this piece can consequently easily imagine White Lightning’s plans for the evening; she appears capable of driving backwards down hairpin roads, as some of the gutsier moonshine runners did, to outrun the police.
Judy says Ross was attracted to the idea of “glamorizing” this piece of local history because they knew people in Michigan often crossed the Detroit lake to obtain alcohol from Canada during the Prohibition because alcohol wasn’t outlawed there. Bootlegging was a victimless crime that wasn’t really hurting anyone, and moonshine running made some bootleggers into millionaires during The Great Depression. The wealth generated and essentially harmless nature of the crime made it easy to romanticize.
Want to read more about Ross and Judy Arkell and their treasures, including local artwork they created themselves and antiques they picked up that have storied histories? Check out the latest issue, now on newsstands, or see it for free in our digital guide linked below!
The story above is a preview from our September/October 2024 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!