Flocking Brilliant | Margo Mayer

Eureka Springs has long been a refuge for the misfits, the dreamers, and the wild ones who color outside the lines.

This town is a quilt stitched together with patchwork perspectives, and it’s the black sheep among us ... those who dare to be different, who make this community truly radiant.

In this blog-series, Flocking Brilliant, I would like to take time out to explore the role of these unconventional spirits in our lives and why we should attract them, inspire them, and, most importantly, celebrate them.

Note: the introductory blog post for the Flocking Brilliant series is here.

Oh, flock! Let's face it, society loves a well-groomed group of sheeple. Rules, expectations, and tidy social scripts keeping things predictable. Blah-Blah-Blah.

Predictability never changed the world. It is the rebellious, the audacious, and the (often) misunderstood who redefine norms, push boundaries, and ultimately foster progress.

In a place like Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where creative expression is currency and authenticity is law, black sheep are not only welcomed but revered. They challenge our thinking, ignite new ideas, and remind us that belonging is not about conformity but about showing up as our unfiltered selves.

Margo Mayer

Margo, on the move . . .

Oh Margo! Everyone, and I do mean everyone, knows Margo. The woman is a powerhouse of local energy and joy. She can hold down 4 jobs, meet you for a cocktail, watch your dog and walk to Hart's grocery and back in a single day.

The locals all know her, and the visitors all know her but what people may not know is that Margo is quite the accomplished artist.

Since her early years in the Northeast (Pittsburgh) where she discovered herself and her talents, she has been expressing her art for the world. Her downtown Eureka Springs apartment is modest in size but elaborate in design with the wall-to-wall-to-wall-to-wall pictures of her work and the work she loves and loves to curate.

Margo Mayer

The best way I could describe my experience in Margo's art apartment is this - introspection with a side of grace, a dollop of pain, and mountains of joy smoldering in love. She enjoys painting from within. She harnesses the work from where it grows and evolves within her, and she channels it to the world through the canvas. Some of her pieces had me so mesmerized that I stood in place, stunned to silence while I took it all in.

She's a woman of mystery, that Margo.

I never expected to see this side of her, and when I did, it all made sense. Her spirit is so very Eureka, and her disposition is so loving. There's nothing Margo wouldn't do. She's a doer. She loves to socialize and connect with other beautiful spirits. She's comfortable in her skin and she's so very graceful.

In the years I have come to know her, I've learned that this grace comes from that time in her life when she studied dance. She loves dance. If you ask her about that chapter in her life when she was dancing, be prepared to watch her light up. Every time Margo and I discuss dance (I, too, studied dance) her joy brims to the top of her spirit, her vibration heightens and her eyes glow. It's as if she is back in the studio at that moment, as she is explaining the art form to me, with her perfectly selected words pouring from her joy-filled heart as she tells me what dance means to her.

Margo

Margo allowed me to take these pictures of the work hanging in her apartment. It was remarkable to see all that she has accomplished. This art archive that she has created is most certainly uniquely Eurekan.

Here, in the heart of Eureka Springs, where mist curls over limestone rooftops and color seeps into every crevice of life, there lives an artist named Margo Mayer, whose creative pulse beats with both the grit of Pittsburgh and the grace of the Ozarks. Once a city soul shaped by steel and skyline, Margo brought with her the boldness of urban brushstrokes and married it with the whispering spirit of these curvy mountain streets. Her art, much like the woman herself, feels both grounded and ethereal.

In her corner of the world, often dappled with late-afternoon light and the scent of turpentine, Margo finds a wall in her home to soak in the laughter of locals, the glint of rain on winding streets, and the soul of a town that welcomes dreamers like her. Welcome home, Margo! You, my dear friend, are the true spirit of Eureka Springs, Arkansas in every way that comes to mind. It is clear to us all that you love this town, and it is our hope that in your heart, you know that this town, and everyone in it, loves you, too.

You're flocking brilliant!❤️