The Cat Ranch Art Guild

Bollinger County artist’s legacy lives on through local artists

The doorknob on the front door of the Cat Ranch cabin, which was made by Runnels.Mia Pohlman ~ mpohlman@rustmedia.com

The late Bollinger County artist Tom Runnels was known for his welded steel sculptures — some up to six feet in height — as well as his drawings and newspaper columns depicting rural life with biting wit, quirky humor and deep heart. He owed much of the foundation for his art to studying with a Japanese artist while stationed with the Air Force in Japan during the Korean War; it was during his time in the service that he also learned to weld. His clients included private collectors, commercial clients and architects from the Midwest, South and East Coast, as well as South America, Germany, Australia and Japan. He authored two books about stories collected from his life, “Before TV” and “Slipshod But Not Shabby,” before he passed away in 2000 from brain cancer at the Cat Ranch, his home in Marble Hill, Missouri.

The cabin on the Cat Ranch, in Marble Hill, Missouri, where Runnels lived. The cabin is still home and museum to many of Runnels’ original works.Mia Pohlman ~ mpohlman@rustmedia.com

Beloved by those who knew him, it is in his memory that his niece, Jeanie Eddleman, founded the Cat Ranch Art Guild in 2001. The guild is made up of artists from Southeast Missouri who want to promote the arts in the region. It is open to fine artists, as well as to artists who make crafts such as blacksmithing and broom making.

Eddleman herself is an artist whose work focuses primarily on graphite drawings of local buildings and portraits.

“We wanted something for the community,” Eddleman says of why she founded the art guild. “To involve the community, promote the area artists ... We kind of wanted to open it up to a venue of people who don’t have a place to go to be associated with an art group and that could show their work, and we could promote their work.”

It’s no secret the Southeast Missouri region is home to a plethora of artists, many of whom come from Bollinger County. For Darrell Back, who lives at the Cat Ranch and is a Guild board member and groundskeeper even though he doesn’t consider himself an artist, it’s not hard to see why.

“It’s a more peaceful area down here than being up in the city, cooped up in a studio,” he says. “[It’s] just a lot more relaxing down here. I mean, I wake up every morning and I feel like I’m living in a state park. How could you not get inspired?”

The cabin Back lives in was built by Runnels in 1970. Inside, Runnels’ drawings in frames decorate the walls; many of the pieces are ones that were never published, originals that can only be seen at the Cat Ranch. The region’s wildlife — turtles, beavers and black bear, to name a few — are depicted in the frames, as well as scenes from local, everyday life: old men talking outside of the post office, a young man fishing, a blacksmith at work. All of this, displayed along with a letter expressing appreciation from President Ronald Reagan and a photo of Runnels with 51st governor of Missouri, Mel Carnahan. Outside, too, Runnels’ artwork greets the visitor: a six-foot steel sculpture of a man riding a bucking horse and a sign with the words “Cat Ranch” welcome strangers in. Some of Runnels’ other work is displayed at the Bollinger County Museum of Natural History in Marble Hill less than a mile away.

Several celebrities have also spent time at the cabin, including Tony Rafty, world-renowned caricaturist; Mitch Jayne, the bass player in The Dillards’ bluegrass band known for the appearances the band made as the Darling Family on the Andy Griffith Show; and John Wayne’s grandson, John T. Wayne.

Eddleman says people often ask where the name “Cat Ranch” came from; she says it was named that before Runnels purchased the property. There are two stories she has heard: one is that people used to dump their cats at the property. The other is that there were mountain lions in the area. Those old stories are speculation, however; Eddleman says no one really knows how the Cat Ranch got its name.

Regardless of its namesake, one of the Cat Ranch Art Guild’s main events is organizing the annual Cat Ranch Round-Up and Rendezvous during the last full weekend in September. The event includes artist vendors and live music and has grown from three art vendors in 2001 to 22 art vendors in 2019. The guild also meets once a month to network, hear an artist present and give feedback to each other about their work.

“It’s just nice to be around the other artists and get to meet more people in the area, and it’s fun to see what everybody does. I like being a part of the group,” says Barb Bailey, secretary/treasurer of the Cat Ranch Art Guild, illustrator of children’s books and soapmaker. “We share ideas and ask for advice on ‘Hey, what do you think of this picture or painting?,’ whatever we’re doing.”

For Eddleman, it’s about honoring Runnels’ memory while creating new relationships with other artists.

“We’ve got a lot of talented people in our art guild,” she says. “It’s a close group and you can be with other artists, and of course we learn from each other. … I’d like to keep [Runnels’] memory alive so maybe the next generation can see how the past generation lived.”