Works family travels nation, settles in Humboldt

In a roll call of the coolest parents, Josh and Jessa Works, the new managers at Humboldt’s Works of Art Studio & Gallery and the adjacent Frame Shop, have to rank near the top.
The young couple, along with their 6-year-old son, Jack, have recently returned to Humboldt after three years living on the road, crisscrossing the country with an impeccably furnished, 27-foot Airstream trailer in tow. They traveled, largely, from one state or national park to another, spending a period of time in every state but three.
Jack, now a kindergartner at Humboldt Elementary School, was only 2 when the Workses traded in their house, their possessions, and the increasing constrictions of domestic life, for a chance to explore the country on a full-time basis. He spent his first years, from 2 to 5, crossing from one painterly landscape into another — there are pictures online of the threesome hunting shells on a white sand beach, bundled up in a mountain forest, casting long shadows at the edge of a desert highway — but recently the Workses decided they wanted to give him an opportunity to go to a real school and to be with kids his own age, an experience which, three months in, Jack is relishing.

JOSH, A Humboldt native, and Jessa, originally from Wichita, met while working at Kansas State University. Josh is a web developer, Jessa a graphic designer. In short order they did the things young couples are expected to do: They fell in love, married; they bought a house; they had a baby; they joined their local homeowner’s association; they tidied their yard and commuted to work and paid their bills and waved to the neighbors, and woke up to do it again the next day.
In time the repetition began to chafe.
Jessa: “We were spending the whole day fixing up our yard. I mean, what are we doing mowing the lawn all day Saturday?”
Josh: “And mortgage payments. Every time we’d have to pay the mortgage, it was just like ‘What’s the opportunity cost for this money? What else could we be doing other than paying for this house?’”
Most people ask these or similar questions eventually. The Workses, though, were willing to pursue an answer.
“We’re both designers, and so we just approached the whole thing like a design project. Strip it down to the bare bones idea and then let’s try to figure out the way that it could work. What would life look like without any assumptions?”
One answer  can be found in the huge catalog of photos on Instagram the couple have compiled over the years. “That’s where we sort of found an audience,” said Josh, who has north of 31,000 followers on the site. “It has all grown organically, with people finding us and enjoying the pictures.”
According to Jessa, social media was integral to their staying connected with like-minded travelers along the way, many of whom the Workses would join for a leg or two of the journey. “We’ve established a really great group of lifelong friends.”
Despite the modern touches, the decision to light out for new territory when life grows hard or boring is an ancient one. Over the years, the Workses have been the subject of national magazine articles and were, this year, featured in a short documentary video produced by a film imprint of Whole Foods.
Still, neither of them is dogmatic about their decision to up sticks. It was the right move for our family, they stress; others will find what works best for them. Josh and Jessa are also the first to acknowledge the details in their lives that made pursuing this dream possible: namely, both had careers in which they could freelance and had a son who wasn’t yet of school-age.
“But it still wasn’t going to work the rest of our lives,” Josh says. “And it was really never meant to.”

BACK IN small-town Kansas Josh and Jessa not only have a close-knit family to help orient them but the added challenge of refashioning a business on the square in Humboldt’s historic downtown.
The Works family’s roots go deep here. Josh’s twice-great-grandfather was one of the town’s earliest settlers. “He settled on what he called the best tract of land in Allen County; cleared it and started farming. And that is the land that my sister, brother and I still live on, my parents live on, and my uncle still farms. It was very comfortable to come back here.”
Over the summer the three took up that same tract of land themselves. They parked their Airstream in a nearby barn and moved into the farmhouse that once belonged to Josh’s grandparents. That house is within a stone’s throw of his parents’ home, which means that Josh will be raising his own son not 300 yards from the house in which he grew up. To go in a moment from the freedom and novelty of the open road to a section of Kansas soil so dense with family history is a contrast not lost on Josh.
But he embraces it. “I love Humboldt. And I love this part of the country, geographically, geologically. I think we have some of the most beautiful sunsets anywhere, having seen a lot of sunsets. That’s one of the lessons we learned while traveling. We never really felt disappointed by any place that we went; there’s always something redeeming about a place.”
Jessa, too, is ready for this adventure of a different sort. She remembers taking road trips with her parents when she was a kid. She would watch from the back seat window: “I would always fantasize ‘What if I lived in this small town or this small town’ — all along the way. And now I’m living it. What about this small town!” she says, pointing out of the gallery’s front window onto Humboldt’s city square.  
The plan for Works of Art is to continue to host the work of resident artist Wes Dewey, as well as a handful of guest artists.
The Frame Shop next door, however, while it will continue to receive orders for custom framing, is currently undergoing renovation. The Workses plan to introduce, in addition to the high-quality custom framing the shop has always provided, more affordable options, too.
“We’re also hoping to have wall art in there,” says Josh. “Pieces that are not original oil painting, but more like print or graphic art, photography, different things. I’d like to start working toward building frames from scratch. I’ve got a lot of raw lumber and woodworking skills, and we have a wood shop, so that seems like the next thing.
“I think in the future we’re open to just seeing how this business goes, growing it in different directions. We’ve toyed with other ideas. Maybe a place that kids can come in and do art projects.”
“We’ve got some ideas for different ways to involve the community,” Jessa says.
Which begs the question: Is there a market for this kind of thing in Allen County?
“Yeah, I think there is a market,” Josh says. “There has proven to be a market for custom framing. Everybody has something they cherish, that they want to do display or protect. As for the other stuff, I don’t know how effective we’ll be at convincing people to put framed artwork on their walls. We’ll try.
“I guess I’m kind of anxious to see, when we re-open, who comes in, who is passionate about art and design. I imagine those people have to be there.”
As with most things, the Workses’ effort in this new endeavor is a collaboration. Jessa is acquainting herself with the books and with the administrative aspects of running a small business while Josh is turning his hand to the bulk of the store’s remodeling. They will both contribute creatively to the inventory of the new Frame Shop once it is up and running.

LATE Wednesday morning the couple was standing among the stacked lumber and half-plastered walls of the current space. An older man, whom the couple recognized, walked in off the street, not to ask about the art, but to see how Josh was coming along with the renovation.
The man was impressed. “It’s turning out all right, isn’t it?” he said. Then he pointed to the high, antique-molded ceiling, across which Josh had strung rows of lights. “I really like that — isn’t that neat? Well, it’s a good atmosphere in here. It sure is.” He looked around at the rest of the construction and turned to Josh. “Boy, it’s a lot of work, though, ain’t it?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Drilling and screwing and trying to level it. Well, you’re getting better every day.”
“That’s true,” Josh said.
“See, that wife of yours,” the man said, nodding to Jessa, “she just gets that old whip out” — the man made a flogging gesture with his arm. “Well, listen, I’d say you’re doing a good job.”
“Thank you.”
“Yeah, you really are. This is really going to look good when you get her all done, buddy.”
“Yeah, keep stopping in,” Josh told the man, “seeing how it all goes.”