4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, October 20,2021
Local mom
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
Brittany Reeves had always
been creative and always loved art.
When the COVID-19 pandemic
hit, she needed an outlet to help
herself stay busy, and she turned to
art to do just that.
Now, the Dawson County mom
of two owns and operates a thriv
ing company, Beeloved Art, spe
cializing in hand-drawn portraits
and specially designed ornaments.
Reeves said she started out her
art career with opening a children’s
art studio in Forsyth County sever
al years ago.
“I started up a children’s art stu
dio in Cumming in 2015 and we
were open for a year; it was super
fun and so great but after 6 years of
infertility I finally got pregnant and
got to have my baby boys so I
wound up closing,” Reeves said.
“So I had kind of gotten away
from art for a little bit — it’s not
easy to paint and make time for
yourself when you’re caring for
kiddos — but when COVID hap
pened it was insane and everybody
was freaking out and I just needed
an escape.”
Reeves began making portraits
for her friends, including one por
trait for a friend who had suffered a
miscarriage. The portrait was of
her friend’s whole family and
included the baby that had been
lost, and when Reeves’ friend
shared the portrait it gained popu
larity quickly.
“She shared it and it kind of
went crazy, so people started ask
ing me for those,” Reeves said. “So
I said, ‘okay I’m gonna start this
business and it’s gonna be so great
because I’m gonna be able to help
people with this, something that
I’ve experienced, and these little
portraits offer hope’, so that’s what
designs hand-drawn ornaments and portraits
started it.”
Also in 2020, Reeves said that
she became disappointed that local
Christmas events and activities
were postponed or cancelled due
to the pandemic. Just like before,
she took to art as an outlet for these
feelings.
“I got annoyed because I
couldn’t do all of the fun things
that I wanted to do at Christmas
time in my town, so I said ‘if I
can’t go I’m gonna draw it’,”
Reeves said.
According to Reeves, she got the
idea of making these drawings into
ornament sets from a project that
the Forsyth County commissioners
introduced back in the 90s to cre
ate sets of ornaments highlighting
the local community. Reeves’
grandmother bought her a full set
of the ornaments, and three
decades later she still owns them.
Inspired by these ornaments,
Reeves set out to create her own
version in 2020 spotlighting
Forsyth County landmarks.
Reeves posted the ornaments in
a local Facebook group, and much
to her surprise the post gained pop
ularity immediately.
“Within 24 hours I had like
$6,000 in sales which was crazy,”
Reeves said. “It was awesome.”
Spurred on by the interest of the
community, Reeves set out to cre
ate more hometown ornament sets
for both Dahlonega and for
Dawson County, featuring local
landmarks like Amicalola Falls,
Burt’s Pumpkin Farm and the Pool
Room.
Reeves said the idea behind the
ornaments is to help spark a happy
memory for those who own them.
Her family is eight generations
bom and raised in Forsyth County,
and she has now lived in Dawson
County for several years, so she
has her own memories at all of the
Photo courtesy of Brittany Reeves
Local mom of two, Brittany Reeves, designs, draws and sells
'hometown ornament' sets as part of her business, Beeloved
Art.
landmarks she draws. Because of
this, she loves to hear the memo
ries that other people have too.
“I’ve gotten to talk to so many
people who say ‘we love the same
places that you love’ or ‘we got
engaged here’ or ‘I take my family
here every year’, so it’s really cool
to hear people’s connections with it
that are just as connected as I am,”
Reeves said. “It’s been so fun and
so cool cause all these families
connect with it and it’s been such a
blessing.”
To create the ornaments, Reeves
uses photos she took herself, often
times on her own family adven
tures, and makes an artistic render
ing of the photo in ProCreate on
her iPad. She then transfers her
drawings to ornaments.
Since the creation of the orna
ments, Reeves has sold dozens of
them. She said that, as someone
who loves the North Georgia area
so much, something like the home
town ornaments are hard not to
love.
“Everyone loves them,” Reeves
said. “The people here are so awe
some, and when you put some
thing that they connect with it’s
nice, the memories are special and
it’s nice to be able to offer to
them."
Another service Reeves offers
through Beeloved Art is the cre
ation of custom portraits or custom
ornaments. This can range from
pet portraits to wedding portraits,
and Reeves designs them based off
of photos her clients submit.
“I take custom orders so that’s
been one of my favorite things too;
people will send me their pictures
of their family and I hand-draw
everything,” Reeves said. “I use the
photo as a reference and create
based on their photos, and then I
can make ornaments with that art
too.”
One way Reeves gives back to
the community, and a cause that is
very close to her heart, is to give
away 10 free pregnancy and infant
loss memorial portraits each month
to families that have lost a baby.
“I have two angel babies and an
angel niece, so I do that in a way to
honor my kids,” Reeves said.
“There’s nothing really you can do
or say, but giving them that portrait
allows them to hold on to some
thing where all of their family is
present at the same time, and that
can’t happen this side of Heaven
for them, so it offers some peace
and hope with that.”
Over the next several months,
Reeves will be at several locations
in North Georgia with a booth for
Beeloved Art. This includes
Warbington Farms in Cumming
on Oct. 16, the Mountain
Moonshine Festival in
Dawsonville on Oct. 23 and 24,
Fowler Park in Cumming on Oct.
30, Pine and Pigment in Cumming
on Nov. 6, SAA Christmas Fest in
Cumming on Nov. 20 and 21, and
the Jingle Market in Dawsonville
on Dec. 4.
For more information about
Beeloved Art, go to https ://www.
beelovedart.co/. To reach out to
Reeves or follow her on social
media, go to @beeloved.art on
Instagram, facebook.com/beelove-
dartfb, or email her at brittany@
beelovedart.co.
Are you strong? DCMS band to host unique "TubaToss" fundraiser to
Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
Starting the night of Friday,
Oct. 15, fans at the Dawson
County Tigers football games
might get distracted if they look
over at the track-and-field sand
pit.
Their distraction would be due
to the fact the Dawson County
Middle School band is set to host
a “Tuba Toss” fundraiser during
the first, second and third quarters
of the remaining DCHS home
games.
“We didn’t want to do the same
fundraiser that every other organi
zation is doing right now,” fund
raiser Julie Ann Bryant, mother of
seventh grader Landyn Bryant,
said. “It can all get so boring and
you somehow end up paying $40
for a cheesecake. This should be a
unique and fun way to raise
money for the band.”
For $5 a throw, guests will be
able to attempt to throw an old,
dilapidated tuba across the sand
pit for the Friday night games
against West Hall (Oct. 15),
Lumpkin County (Oct. 29) and
North Hall (Nov. 5).
Each night, the DCMS band
will give out two different gift
certificates to local restaurants to
the person who can throw the
tuba the farthest. The certificates
include $50 to Aunt Dyann’s,
$25 to El Rio’s and $20 to Big
help you prove it
Red’s, Big D’s, Zaxby’s and
Papa’s Place.
All proceeds for the event go
directly to fundraising for the
DCMS band.
“And we want to make sure
everyone knows that no healthy
tuba’s will be harmed in the pro
cess of this fundraiser,” Bryant
said.
The Dawson County Republican Party
is Proud to Present
PREVENTING COMMUNISM
IN AMERICA
Part 2
Hear from our speaker Seanie Zappendorf who
was affected by communism. Well have the State of
the Elections Office with Elections Supervisor Glenda
Ferguson and Dr. Richard Woods on the State of
Education with focus on DEI and CRT.
Candidate Corner: Commissioner of Labor Senator Bruce
Thompson and Candidate for Governor Dr. Kandiss Taylor.
Free Admission - Bring a Friend
Monday, October 25th
6:15 Social/Dinner 6:30 Meeting
Board of Education Professional Development Center
30 Main Street • Dawsonville, Ga 30534
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