While wandering through the aisles of Southlake’s Central Market, customers’ eyes are drawn to several of the store’s artistic elements. Whether it’s a colorful new chalkboard or a gigantic replica of a piece of produce, there’s a lot to take in. That’s thanks to the in-house art team led by Grapevine painter Whitley Minter. After joining the Southlake Central Market’s art team two years ago, Whitley started creating innovative and dynamic pieces that make an impact, including everything from an enlarged Scoville scale to an oversized 3D burger. But she says it’s those new projects that keep her creative juices flowing.
I WAS ALWAYS . . . drawn to painting. When I was a kid, that’s really what I got for Christmas and birthdays — just lots of arts and crafts. One year, my mom got me a container that you put the different nuts and bolts in from Lowe’s, and she filled it with glue sticks and puff paint and googly eyes. It was my most favorite gift I’ve ever gotten. From a young age, I always wanted to create.
I REALLY DIDN’T THINK . . . it was realistic to pursue art as a career. That’s why I chose to go to school for hair. But what I love about this job is that it specifically does not put you in a box. There’s so much opportunity to explore different mediums and do different things. It really fulfills that need to create on all levels.
EVERY CENTRAL MARKET STORE . . . is different. Your GMs are different. And [Central Market President] Stephen Butt has an expectation of uniqueness for each store. You have to figure out what he’s looking for, which is constantly changing. There is always something new with all our events and the artwork we get sent from division changes.
I HAVE . . . two artists who work for me when we have events. They are really invested and committed. It took us a while to find the right artists for this store, but I’m really happy with our team. I think at most stores each artist specializes in one thing. So I would say my thing is painting. Then we have Shelby who is a really great illustrator. She did something for our beer and wine wall recently. The department came to us and said, “We want you to cartoon our beer and wine team members on these chalkboards on the beer and wine wall.” It was something I could not have done, but Shelby said she could do it. And I was, like, “Yeah, you can.” And Eric is into graphic design, but he can also do things by hand. So he has that mix and is tech-savvy. He is super fast. They all bring so much to the table. Individually, we could not do it all. I definitely need them.
MY FAVORITE PART OF THE JOB...is that we really aren’t limited here. Stephen is an extravagant person, so he really likes for each store to step outside the box. He wants to really see that there are different artists at each store and that we aren’t all shooting for the exact same ideas.
A LOT OF US . . . really like making oversized food items. So there was a large piece of bread that was in the bakery that was like 4 foot by 8 foot. Bread sitting in front of you may not be that interesting, but when you scale it that big, there are so many little details that make it more fun. I had also made a 3D pie piece, which was really my first papier-mâché project I had done. I got to play with different mediums, like I used some clear caulking to glaze my pecans.
WHEN I FIRST STARTED THE JOB . . . I’d get sad when we were replacing these projects because you get attached to everything. But we’ve made hundreds of signs. I couldn’t even guess. We probably make about 20 signs for each event. We have two weeks to make these 20 signs, and do chalkboards and do printer requests, so we really have to figure out how to make it interesting sometimes without always going into immense detail. It’s about the art and doing a good job but also productivity and putting a lot of things out.
PEOPLE ARE CONSTANTLY . . . coming up and talking to us when we are on the floor. And the kids think it’s really cool. I love that, because I have kids, and I love that I’ve found a job that is unique. I want to be, like, you can do what you love and grow up and be really happy with your job.
MY FIANCÉ WORKS . . . at Sur La Table, so we are both big foodies. So that’s literally all we do. We hang out, watch sports and cook food. Our go-to restaurant is Thai Tip. And we like Lava Asian Grill. It’s right by our house. They have really good wings! They tell you, you have to wait 20 minutes for these wings, and we are like yeah, we will wait. Put the order in.