Monthly Archives: November 2013

Robotics focus of exhibit at Museum of Discovery

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In science fiction, robots look like R2D2. In stores, they look like vacuum cleaners and robotic pets. On Saturday, October 12, visitors at the Museum of Discovery will see what robots look like in real life when the brand-new Robots and Us exhibit makes its debut. The exhibit will give visitors a lighthearted look at modeling artificial life after humans.

“Robotics is a growing field of research and an activity increasingly being undertaken by high school and college students around the world, including right here in Arkansas,” said Kelley Bass, CEO of the Museum of Discovery. “The museum is happy to have this very engaging, relevant exhibit for our visitors to explore and enjoy. We are glad to give our loyal fans another very compelling reason to visit us.”

Robots and Us encourages museum visitors of all ages to compare sci-fi fantasies of robots with today’s technical realities and to explore why it’s so hard to build robots to be like humans. Enjoy directing light-sensitive robots through mazes in the Robot Arena; experimenting with walking machines in the Leg Lab to learn how simple changes in anatomy can affect how they walk and handle obstacles; interacting with Lena, a computer-generated character and learning to race and outwit the Robot Arm.

Robots and Us will remain at the Museum of Discovery through January 26.

Museum of Discovery’s mission is to ignite a passion for science, technology and math in a dynamic, interactive environment.

Museum Information
Hours of Operation: Tuesday – Saturday: 9 am – 5 pm; Sunday: 1-5 pm; Closed Mondays except major holidays and in summer.
Admission: $10 adults; $8 ages 1-12; free under 1; members free
Phone Number: 501.396.7050
Website: www.museumofdiscovery.org

Artists’ Self Portraits the Focus of Exhibit at Arkansas Arts Center

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Ian Ingram, (American, Atlanta, Georgia, 1974 – ), Easter Island, 2011, charcoal, pastel, silver leaf on paper, 82 1/2 in. x 51 in., Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection: Purchased with a gift from Jackye and Curtis Finch, Jr., in honor of Helen Porter and James T. Dyke

This exhibition is organized by the Arkansas Arts Center and sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Merritt Dyke and Metropolitan National Bank. The surface quirks and deeper truths of the self emerge in the self-portrait, these are the subjects of the exhibition Face to Face. The artist invites the viewer to share what he or she has discovered in the mirror, and far more.

Long-time Arkansas Arts Center supporters Jackye and Curtis Finch, Jr., are fascinated by these visual exposes. They are engaged in assembling one of America’s great collections of graphic self-portraiture, which they are gradually transferring to the Arkansas Arts Center. Their keen portrait collecting eyes search for works from across America and Europe, and throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. From the walls of New York galleries to the back alleys of Budapest, the Finches find amazing revelations of individuals.

Guest Curator Brad Cushman of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has assembled these striking self-images into pairs, encouraging contemplation of what unites and divides each pairing. In bringing the works together, he allows us to explore both what is universally human and what is utterly individual.

This exhibition is sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Merritt Dyke and Metropolitan National Bank.

It runs through February 9, 2014 at the Arkansas Arts Center.

EXPECTATIONS on Tuesday night at “Tales from the South”

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talesfromsouthThe Tuesday, November 19 edition of  ”Tales from the South” is Expectations. It will feature stories by Bill Worthen, Jennifer Winningham, and Roger Poole. Music is by Brad Williams and blues guitarist Mark Simpson

“Tales From the South” is a radio show created and produced by 2013 Governor’s Arts Award recipient Paula Martin Morell, who is also the show’s host. The show is taped live on Tuesday. The night is a cross between a house concert and a reading/show, with incredible food and great company. Tickets must be purchased before the show, as shows are usually standing-room only.

“Tales from the South” is a showcase of writers reading their own true stories. While the show itself is unrehearsed, the literary memoirs have been worked on for weeks leading up to the readings. Stories range from funny to touching, from everyday occurrences to life-altering tragedies.

The program takes place at Starving Artist Café.  Dinner is served from 5pm to 6:30pm, the show starts at 7pm.  Admission is $7.50, not including dinner.

You MUST purchase your ticket before the show

Previous episodes of “Tales from the South” air on KUAR Public Radio on Thursdays at 7pm.  Tonight’s episode will air on December 5.

Sculpture Vulture: Korean War Memorial Plaza

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In honor of Veteran’s Day taking place this month, the Sculpture Vulture today features the Korean War Monument in MacArthur Park.

The Arkansas Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated on June 25, 2007, the 57th anniversary date of the beginning of the Korean War.  Located in MacArthur Park, the Memorial Plaza features a 3′ tall black granite pentagon bearing the emblems of the five military branches; a nearly 12′ by 12′ frosted gray granite entryway; and three larger than life-size bronze statues stand in the center of the plaza.

Three larger than life-size bronze statues are the central focus of the Arkansas Korean War Veterans Memorial Plaza.  One statue is a combat soldier representing the fighting that took place in South Korea.  The second statue honors the brave sacrifices that Combat Medics and Navy Corpsmen made to save the lives of others during this conflict.  The third statue features two Korean children representing the suffering of the Korean people during the war and the future generations of Koreans that have rebuilt that nation. The statues were designed and constructed by Light and Time Design Studio and Art Foundry located in Royal, Arkansas.

Encircling the statues are eight 3′ wide x 6′ tall black granite tablets. The tablets, weighing in excess of 3,000 pounds each, are engraved with the names of the 461 Arkansas servicemen and women killed in action, a description of Korean War events and a map of Korea.

The memorial plaza stands to the east of the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in MacArthur Park.  Though not affiliated with the museum directly, they share a common connection to both Douglas MacArthur and the role Arkansans played in the Korean conflict.

Clinton Center Free Today in honor of 9th Anniversary

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On November 18, 2004, the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park officially opened.  As the Clinton Presidential Center has done since it opened, it marks the anniversary with a free day (usually on a weekend closest to the actual anniversary date).
Celebrate the Center’s ninth anniversary with a FREE admission all day long. Take advantage of the opportunity to see “Oscar de la Renta: American Icon” and “And Freedom for All: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” as well as all the permanent exhibits. Also available, FREE Acoustiguide audio tours narrated by President Clinton.
Sunday is the last day to view And Freedom for All: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  This exhibit follows along the historic journey of the 1963 March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom through the powerful images of famed photojournalist Stanley Tretick.  Tretick was assigned by LOOK magazine to cover the March behind-the-scenes with organizers and program speakers as they led the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and where history led Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to deliver his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

Oscar de la Renta: American Icon runs through December 1. This seminal fashion exhibition celebrates the world-renowned work and inspiring life of designer Oscar de la Renta. The exhibit will feature more than 30 of his iconic creations worn by leading arbiters of style, from First Ladies to Hollywood’s brightest stars.

In the 1960s, Dominican-born Oscar de la Renta moved to the United States, where he launched his signature ready-to-wear label and quickly became known as a leading figure in international fashion design. Oscar de la Renta’s award-winning career spans five decades and he continues to produce an exceptional body of work – a testament to his enduring creative vision.

The Hot Sardines at Wildwood Tonight!

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Wildwood Park for the ArtsThe Hot Sardines will be in concert tonight at Wildwood Park for the Arts.  The music will start at 8pm; tickets range from $35 to $75.

Take a blustery brass lineup, layer it over a rhythm section led by a stride-piano virtuoso in the Fats Waller vein, and tie the whole thing together with a one-of-the-boys frontwoman with a voice from another era, and you have the Hot Sardines. (We haven’t even told you about the tap dancer yet.)

In a short time, the Hot Sardines have gone from their first gig – at a coffeeshop on the last Q train stop in Queens – to selling out Joe’s Pub five times in as many months, headlining at Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing, and opening for the Bad Plus, Lulu Gainsbourg and French gypsy-jazz artist Zaz. Through it all they’ve become regulars at the Shanghai Mermaid speakeasy and turned The Standard, where they play regularly, into their own “saloon in the sky” (The Wall Street Journal) – complete with tap dancing on the bar – honing a live persona that’s been called “unforgettably wild” and “consistently electrifying” (Popmatters).

The Sardine sound – wartime Paris via New Orleans, or the other way around – is steeped in hot jazz, salty stride piano, and the kind of music Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt and Waller used to make: Straight-up, foot-stomping jazz. (Literally – the band includes a tap dancer whose feet count as two members of the rhythm section). They manage to invoke the sounds of a near-century ago and stay resolutely in step with the current age. And while their roots run deep into jazz, that most American of genres, they’re intertwined with French influences via their frontwoman, who was born and raised in Paris (and writes songs in both languages).

The band was born when said Parisian (“Miz Elizabeth” Bougerol) met a stride piano player (bandleader Evan “Bibs” Palazzo) at a jam session they found on Craigslist. Above a noodle shop on Manhattan’s 49th Street, they discovered a mutual love for songs from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s that no-one really plays anymore. Or if they play them, “they handle them with kid gloves, like pieces in a museum,” says Evan, underscoring a point the pair can’t stress enough: “This music isn’t historical artifact. It’s a living, breathing, always-evolving thing.”

The hosts for the evening are: Dr. F. Richard Jordan, Gert Clark, Lee and Dale Ronnel, Jane Wilson, Buff Blass and Walt Winters

Governor’s Arts Awards Presented Today

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Arkansas_Arts_Council_logo_2Governor Mike Beebe will present the 2013 Governor’s Arts Awards today at a luncheon sponsored by the Arkansas Arts Council.

Sponsored annually by the Arkansas Arts Council, the Governor’s Arts Awards recognize individuals and corporations for their outstanding contributions to the arts in Arkansas. The recipients were nominated by the public and then selected by an independent panel of arts professionals from around the state. Each recipient will receive an original work of art created by Arkansas artist Stephen Driver.

The recipients are:
Arts Community Development Award – Bob Ford and Amy Herzberg (Fayetteville)
Arts in Education Award – Paul Leopoulos (North Little Rock)
Corporate Sponsorship of the Arts Award – Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard, PLLC (Little Rock)
Folklife Award – Paula Morell (North Little Rock)
Individual Artist Award – Robert Hupp (Little Rock)
Patron Award – Lee and Dale Ronnel (Little Rock)
Lifetime Achievement Award – Billie Seamans (McGehee)
Judges Special Recognition Award – Farrell Ford (Arkadelphia)