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12 | Commentary
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William Makepeace knew it was time
for a change. He was in his forties, get
ting a divorce, and after years in the finan
cial industry, he wanted to work with his
hands. So the ex-Marine and father of two
decided to become a sculptor.
“I hit the reset button,” the 50-year-
old Buclchead artist said one recent after
noon, sitting in his sculpture studio and
surrounded by things he’d made since his
change of direction in 2015. “1100 percent
hit the reset button.”
He believed he could handle his new
direction. He felt it was in his DNA. For
generations, he said, members of his fami
ly had made things: food, shelter, clothing.
His great-great grandfather, great
grandfather and grandfather ran mill-
work companies in North Carolina. When
his ancestor George Makepeace moved his
branch of the family south in the 1830s, he
came because he knew how to run a tex
tile plant. “He was,” Makepeace said, “the
Yankee with the textile know-how.”
“I’ve always been a creative person,”
Makepeace said. “Not necessarily mak
ing art, but just in everyday life, I’ve able
to connect the dots. I pay attention to what’s going on around me and within me. I connect
those feelings... through art.”
From the Marines to mastering art
JOE EARLE
In his studio, William Makepeace is surrounded by artworks he’s made.
Around Town
* * 4 • k • » JM
Joe Earle is editor-
at-large at Reporter
Newspapers and has
lived in metro Atlanta
for over 30 years. He can
he reached atjoeearle@
reportemewspapers.net
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One of the first pieces of sculpture Makepeace made was a wooden paddle. It now hangs
on a wall of his studio at the ACA Sculpture Studio of SCAD, located in Midtown next to the
High Museum.
The paddle doesn’t really look like other pieces he’s made. Several are fabricated from
metal or use everyday objects, such as Coke bottles, to make their points.
But the paddle is personal. It comes with its own backstory. Makepeace made it in mem
ory of a wooden paddle his father had ordered him to make at the family’s millworlc busi
ness when he was about 7. The young boy had gotten in trouble during a family gathering.
Once he finished the paddle, his dad used it to spank him. Makepeace titled his recent piece
“direction.” But it has a second meaning, he said. “People say, ‘You’re up the creek without a
paddle.’ I have a paddle,” he said. “It’s right there.”
He joined the Marines when he was in college. He hadn’t intended to, he said. A room
mate called a recruiting hotline “and volunteered me as a joke.” When a recruiter called,
“we told him it was a joke, but he kept calling me.” Eventually, Makepeace signed up. “I
have always been somewhat spontaneous and the more it was explained to me, the more it
sounded like a good idea,” he said. “So, I just went for it.”
It stuck. He served 24-and-a-half years, most of it in the reserves. He spent six years on
active duty in posts scattered from Iraq to Bolivia to Europe. Many of those years, his regu
lar job was working as a financial advisor. About a year ago, he needed a change and decid
ed to try his hand at art. He signed up for classes at the Savannah College of Art and Design
and is working on a master of fine arts degree in sculpture.
A few months ago, he thought up a way to combine his background in business and the
military with his new interest in making art. Starting this month, he plans to open a tem
porary gallery at American Legion Post 140, located at Chastain Park. He’s calling it an “art
party.”
He’s been a member of the post for 13 years, he said, and thought it seemed like a good
place for Buclchead art fans to see new works by local artists. He’s invited other students
from SCAD and from Kennesaw State to show their works at the legion house.
The gallery will be open on 10 consecutive Wednesdays, starting Jan. 15 and ending
March 18. Anyone who wants to show and sell their works is invited to join via his website
at makeartlovepeace.com. They’re being asked to donate 10 percent of their sales to the le
gion post. “It is open to any artist,” he said. “It’s an open studio.”
What draws an ex-Marine to making art? “To me, it’s first and foremost for pleasure,” he
said. “I enjoy doing this. I enjoy the process. I enjoy making art. It’s process-driven.”
Besides, he comes from a long line of people who make things. He’s settling back into
what he sees as an update on a family tradition.
“I just see my art as a collection of my life experiences, the different buckets you can
draw from,” he said. “Anything I’ve ever done in my life, somehow, in some way, comes
through in the art.”
BH
