Yearly Archives: 2012

LEGO artist back at Clinton Center tonight

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LEGO portrait of President Clinton

Back by popular demand, the Clinton Presidential Center hosts a second appearance by lawyer-turned-artist Nathan Sawaya.  In his remarks, he will relay how his childhood love of LEGOs has transformed into his artistic expression.

Sawaya’s works on display at the Center include buildings, furniture, animals and even “paintings.”

The exhibit “Art of the Brick” continues until February 12.

After the program, guests are invited to tour the exhibit. Sawaya will be signing copies of his book, The Art of the Brick Pictorial, which is available for purchase at the Clinton Museum Store.

Admission is free. Children are welcome. To reserve your seats e-mailing Joy Secuban at jsecuban@clintonfoundation.org or call (501) 370-8000.

Who Needs a Groundhog? The LR Zoo Has Thor!

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THOR

The Little Rock Zoo’s Sloth Bear, Thor, predicted the quick arrival of spring today during a weather prediction ceremony this morning at the Zoo.

Punxsutawney Phil may “hog” most of the attention on Groundhog Day, but Thor is the one to watch.  When presented with two treat boxes- one representing “spring,” the other representing “winter”- Thor sniffed out the “spring” treat box, indicating an early spring for Arkansans.

Zoo General Curator Mark Shaw read Thor’s proclamation aloud after the sloth bear made his prediction, “Here ye, here ye, what do I see?  An early spring is in store for thee.  With the snort of my nose, winter will come to a close, and that sounds good to me.”

Zoo staff welcomed the prediction and said they are eager to start the spring season and invited everyone to visit the best place for family recreation and conservation education, the Little Rock Zoo.

The Little Rock Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).  Look for the AZA logo whenever you visit a zoo or aquarium as your assurance that you are supporting a facility dedicated to providing excellent care for animals, a great experience for you and a better future for all living things.  With its more than 200 accredited members, AZA is a leader in global wildlife conservation and your link to helping animals in their native habitats.  For more information, visit http://www.aza.org.

How Much Ground, Would a Groundhog Hog, If a Groundhog Could Hog Ground?

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We talk about Groundhogs once a year. But how much do we know about them?

Today (Groundhog Day) and Saturday (Groundhog Day +2), the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is offering a program on Groundhogs as part of the Arkansas Wildlife Series.  It will take place at the Witt Stephens Jr. Nature Center in downtown Little Rock at 11am both days.  There is no fee to participate.

Arkansas Wildlife Series: It’s a woodchuck, it’s a whistle pig—it’s a GROUNDHOG! Groundhogs make lousy weatherman but they do play a vital role in nature. Discover more about this true hibernator and take a stroll to his downtown burrow! Celebrate Groundhog month by discovering natural signs of weather forecasting.

As the AG&FC notes, the groundhog makes a lousy weatherman, but it does play a vital role in nature. Celebrate Groundhog Day by learning weather forecasting through natural signs

Anonymous 4 in LR tonight

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The world famous vocal group Anonymous 4 will perform at Christ Episcopal Church on Wednesday, February 1, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Renowned for their unearthly vocal blend and virtuosic ensemble singing, the four women of Anonymous 4 combine historical scholarship with contemporary performance intuition to create their magical sound. The ensemble has performed on major concert series and at festivals throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, including appearances at Tanglewood, Wolftrap, BBC Proms, Edinburgh Festival and the Brisbane Biennial. Enchanted both by their live performances and by their eighteen recordings of medieval, contemporary, and American music, Anonymous 4′s listeners have bought nearly two million copies of the group’s albums on the harmonia mundi label.

All tickets are $20. Tickets may be purchased in advance through the Christ Church Bookstore, (501)537-1698. Tickets will be available the night of the performance. For more information about the group, check out their website.

Mozart, a Moose and a World Premiere

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra River Rhapsodies series continues tonight with Mozart Meets PDQ Bach.

This program includes a world premiere, a trio, a quartet, a quintet, brass, strings and woodwinds.

The evening opens with Mozart’s Quintet in Eb-Major for Horn and Strings, K.407.  That will be followed by a world premiere of Steinmetz’s Trio for Oboes and English Horns.

Schubert’s Quartettsatz in C-minor, D. 703 is next on the program.  The evening concludes with P.D.Q. Bach’s Quartet “Moose.”

The performance is in the Great Hall of the Clinton Presidential Center, starting at 7pm.  For tickets or information, contact the ASO at 666-1761 or the website.

Johannes Möller, award winning classical guitarist, opens Artspree’s 2012 spring semester

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Guitarist Johannes Möller, the 2010 first prize winner of the Guitar Foundation of America’s Concert Artist Competition, opens the spring Artspree stage at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 30, at the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in UALR’s Fine Arts Building.

Tickets are $20 general admission, $80 for the season, $10 for non-UALR students, and free for UALR students. Group discounts are available. For tickets or more information, call the Artspree office at 501-569-8993.

Möller began performing at 13, and his performances now total more than 500 and span the continents of Europe, Asia, and North and South America.

In 2010 he was awarded first prize in the GFA Concert Artist Competition, considered by many to be the most prestigious guitar competition in the world. As part of this prize, he will perform more than 50 concerts throughout the United States, including a Carnegie Hall debut in the Weill Recital Hall, Canada, Mexico, South America, and China.

At the age of 12 as a self-taught composer, Möller experienced an outburst of creativity that resulted in a large quantity of pieces that were performed and recorded with great critical acclaim. A selection of these works was recorded on a CD with some of the top instrumentalists in Sweden when he was 14. In his later teenage years, Möller continued composing, experimenting with various compositional styles and techniques.

Möller earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the Royal College of Music in London where he studied guitar with Gary Ryan and Carlos Bonell and composition with William Mival.

He received a master’s degree from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague where he studied with Zoran Dukic. He also received a scholarship from the Royal Conservatoire that allowed him to study privately with Pavel Steidl in the Czech Republic as well as composition lessons with Dusan Bogdanovic in the United States. He completed a second master’s degree at the Conservatoire in Amsterdam where he studied guitar with Lex Eisenhardt and composition with Richard Ayers.

Sculpture Vulture: pARTy for Peg at HAM

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As a tribute to longtime Historic Arkansas Museum supporter Peg Newton Smith, HAM commissioned Alice Guffey Miller to create a piece of sculpture which sits along the north entrance to the gallery building.  pARTy for Peg depicts four couples dancing to a lively tune which is coming from a fiddle player.

Upon closer examination, one sees that the sculpture is more than just whimsical figures cut from aluminum.  The pedestals upon which the sculptures stand contain found objects which commemorate everyday life in Arkansas from horseshoes to china pieces to flatware to rocks and bricks.  In addition, the concrete bears faint footprints which echo steps which could be made by dancers.  Quotes and sayings are etched into the aluminum base for each sculpture as well.

Connecting the four dancing couples is a weather vane which forms a canopy.  Overseeing everything are birds perched atop a corner of HAM’s gallery building.

Peg Newton Smith was a true Arkansas treasure. She was interested in not only the history of Little Rock and Arkansas, but also in the present and the future. This sculpture, which depicts a historical scene in a more modern way, aptly captures the woman and the joy she radiated.