Tena Simpson

Ask Tena Simpson where she studied and she’ll laugh. NW Arkansas’s finest folk artist is entirely self-taught, driven by a vivid imagination and a deep love for blues music, vintage cars, and the kind of nostalgic humor that makes you smile before you know why. She paints on drop cloths, cuts plywood with a jigsaw, and builds brightly colored 2D and 3D works from scraps and found objects. Her graphic, cartoon-inflected style draws comparisons to Howard Finster — though Tena would probably say she’s just having fun. That’s always been the point.