Two local business team up to host a Literary Crafternoon
Fired Up Studio and Friendly City Books teamed up to host an ornament workshop and meet and greet with a Chicago based author.
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Friendly City Books and Fired Up Studio in Columbus hosted a Literary Crafternoon where locals could come and make Christmas ornaments, and meet and greet with Chicago-based author and MUW alum, Beth Kander.
The partnership was fitting as it brought creatives together around two festive themes.
Handpainting ornaments and a book about Hanukkah.
The owner of Friendly City Books, Emily Liner, said art makes one a more well-rounded person.
“I think of art mostly in the literary sense because I work in a bookstore and I’m around books all the time,” Liner said. “And the creative process of writing a book is definitely artistic. But there’s also, of course, visual arts like painting and pottery. So it’s been really rewarding and enjoyable to experience art in other forms as well. It makes you a more well-rounded person.”
Liner said the collaboration was obvious once she came to make something of her own in the studio.
“I came to visit recently and had a great time making my own art,” Liner said. “It was relaxing, it kind of helped me de-stress. And we just thought it’d be really fun to do a joint event that involved a book and something artistic to do.”
The owner of Fired Up Studio, Rosario Carrillo, said community events are important for a small city like Columbus.
“In a small city like this I think it brings the community together by showcasing the differences in people in this town,” Carrillo said.
Liner said the event is a good opportunity for people to come together.
“It’s an opportunity for people to gather, and of course we often gather with family,” Liner said. “It’s also nice to gather with friends and even make some new friends.”
Liner said supporting local events like this are the key to bringing more events to the community.
“It means a lot when people come to support our programs,” Liner said. “It also helps us do more and bring more authors and more artists to Columbus and do bigger scale events like the book festival we did in August.”
Nicole Moczisko, an attendee, said events like this make her hopeful for the future of Columbus.
“It makes me think about hope for the future, and hope for Columbus in general,” Moczisko said. “Because I know people like to say there’s nothing to do, but there’s copious amounts of things to do. And this is a good way to showcase that. We have two businesses getting together and partnering and being able to create an experience for people who maybe who are crafters and not book nerds, or book nerds are not crafters. And it kind of opens people’s eyes in the community to new experiences.”
The event was presented by the Friendly City Books Community Connection which is a special project of the nonprofit CREATE foundation.
