Yearly Archives: 2014

The Ides of March

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“The Ides of March hath come” – so wrote William Shakespeare.

In tribute to the day on which Julius Caesar was felled by assassins in Rome, a look at a two pieces of art featuring views of Rome, which are in the Arkansas Arts Center collection.

AAC Rome 1

Giovanni Battista Piranesi – from the collection of the Arkansas Arts Center

The first presents a classical take on Rome.  View of the Piazza del Campidoglio (Veduta della Piazza del Campdoglio) was painted in 1774 by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720 – 1778).  The print is an etching, acquired by the Arts Center in 1990; it was a gift of John and Grace Marjorie Wood Keppel and Nell Wood.

According to the Arkansas Arts Center,

The Campidoglio has been the seat of the city government of Rome from ancient times to the present. At the top of the Capitoline Hill-one of the famed Seven Hills of Rome-the buildings in Piranesi’s etching are the work of Michelangelo. These elegant Renaissance palaces, perched on this ancient site, were important tourist destinations in the 18th century just as they are today.

Piranesi takes a viewpoint from the side of the site, giving us a dramatic diagonal view of one palace and a head-on view of the other. In the foreground are Grand Tourists in their three-cornered hats as well as a number of less well dressed, slightly suspicious-looking figures.

John Heliker - from the collection of the Arkansas Arts Center

John Heliker – from the collection of the Arkansas Arts Center

The second piece is John Heliker’s Pertaining to Rome.  Heliker was a 20th Century artist from New York living from 1909 to 2000.  His painting is an abstract look at the Italian capital city.  It was a gift in 2005 to the Arkansas Arts Center from the Heliker-LaHotan Foundation, Inc.

 

Ron Howard’s RUSH being shown by LR Film Festival tonight at 7.

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LRFF RushTonight you can see Andy Griffith on screen at the Old State House at 5:30.  At 7pm, you can see an opus by Opie as Ron Howard’s recent film Rush is screened by the Little Rock Film Festival at the Ron Robinson Theater.  (If you want to have a Mayberry weekend, you can see Griffith tonight and catch a reprise of Rush on Sunday at 7pm.)

Two-time Academy Award®-winner Ron Howard delivers the exhilarating true story of a legendary rivalry that rocked the world. During the sexy and glamorous golden age of Formula 1 racing, two drivers emerged as the best: gifted English playboy James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth, The Avengers) and his methodical, brilliant Austrian opponent, Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl, Inglourious Basterds). As they mercilessly clash on and off the Grand Prix racetrack, the two drivers push themselves to the breaking point of physical and psychological endurance, where there’s no shortcut to victory and no margin for error.

The film reunited Howard with screenwriter Peter Morgan from Frost/Nixon.

Rush is rated R.  Admission is $5 and concessions will be available for $1.

Second Friday Cinema at Old State House – A FACE IN THE CROWD

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OSH FaceFor Second Friday Cinema, the Old State House Museum will screen A Face in the Crowd.

With scenes shot in Piggott and other Arkansas locations, A Face in the Crowd tells the story of an Arkansas native, Lonesome Rhodes (played by Andy Griffith in his first screen role), who becomes a media sensation. Director Elia Kazan used many Arkansans as extras in the film and praised the people of Piggott for their hospitality. The film has achieved notoriety in recent years because of its predictions about the rise of the cult of celebrity and the power of television to make and break personalities and politicians.

Joining Griffin in this film are Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa, Walter Matthau, Lee Remick and Kay Medford.  Also in the cast are Lois Nettleton, Charles Nelson Reilly, Diana Sands and Rip Torn. Lending an air of reality to the movie is a series of cameos by media personalities playing themselves including Bennett Cerf, Faye Emerson, Betty Furness, Burl Ives, John Cameron Swayze, Mike Wallace and Walter Winchell.

Ben Fry, General Manager of KLRE/KUAR and coordinator of the film minor at UALR, will introduce the film and lead a discussion after the screening.

The screening starts at 5:30 pm.

Arkansas College Art History Symposium is today

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ualr logoFive University of Arkansas at Little Rock art students will present papers at the 24th Annual Arkansas College Art History Symposium on Friday, March 14.

Students will give 20-minute illustrated talks on an area of their research, similar to professional art historians. The symposium is being held this year at the University of Central Arkansas.

The following UALR students will present their work:

  • Ann Beck, a Master of Arts student with an emphasis in art history, will deliver a presentation called “Mirror Game.”
  • Tessa Davidson, also a student emphasizing art history in the M.A. program, will present on “Laocoön and his Secrets: Dating Attribution Concerns of the Vatican Sculpture Laocoön and his Sons.”
  • Hayley Chronister, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in art with an art history emphasis, will present “Thomas Gainsborough’s Response to Nature: An Analysis of Two Shepherd Boys with Dogs Fighting.”
  • Jeannie Lee, also pursuing a B.A. in art with an art history emphasis, will do her presentation on “Of Marriage and Death: Alternative Meaning in the Myth of Persephone.”
  • Badi Galinkin is in the Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio art program with a graphic design emphasis and will present “Mrs. Musters as Hebe by Sir Joshua Reynolds.”

The symposium was established in 1991 by Dr. Floyd Martin of UALR and Dr. Gayle Seymour of UCA as a means of encouraging and recognizing student achievements in art history in the state.

The symposium, which has been hosted by UALR, UCA, and Hendrix College, has helped encourage cooperation among art history faculty throughout the state.

Each symposium includes a guest art historian, this year’s is Dr. Ann Prentice Wagner, curator of drawings at the Arkansas Arts Center.

Marching to Historic Arkansas Museum and Butler Center for 2nd Friday Art Night

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March 2FAN

It is time again for 2nd Friday Art Night in Downtown Little Rock.  Numerous locations from 5pm to 8pm with free admission and free shuttle to various sites.

Ciara Long: A Different Perspective – at Historic Arkansas Museum‘s Second Floor Gallery.
Opening tonight and running through May 4, 2014 – Ciara Long’s art reflects the itinerate life of a military child. Moving from place to place, Long ritualistically sketched the people she met and left behind. “The fragmented lifestyle of my past has directly influenced the way I observe the environment around me now,” says Long.

The body of work on exhibit illustrates Long’s ongoing process of elaborately encoding her observations and has been carefully organized according to place of occurrence, specific moments in time, or specific individuals.

At the Butler Center Galleries of the Central Arkansas Library System –

Featured artist: Judy Tipton Rush is a self-educated fiber artist who studied at the University of Arkansas and came to her avocation from an art background. Her work has been exhibited in numerous juried shows and has toured the United States and abroad. Her work is also included in many private collections.
Featured musician: Tribal Motion & the Motioneers will pair bellydance performances with rhythmic tribal drumming.
Opening exhibitions:

Southern Voices: A Regional Exhibition of the Studio Art Quilt Associates – This show features contemporary textile works related to the folk art quilt tradition. Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibition, professional development, and documentation. SAQA defines an art quilt as “a creative visual work that is layered or stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure.” SAQA was founded in 1989 by a group of 50 artists and now has over 3,000 members.

An Exhibition of the Arkansas Printmakers Association – This show features prints in a variety of artistic media by members of the Arkansas Printmakers Association. Artist whose work will be shown include Robert Bean, Win Bruhl, Warren Criswell, Debi Findley, Melissa Gill, Diane Harper, Neal Harrington, Evan Lindquist, Dominique Simmons, Tom Sullivan, David Warren, Jorey May Greene, and Jane Watson.

Stephanie Smittle and The Smittle Band at The Undercroft tonight

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resized_99263-smittle-v_47-16964_t300Stephanie Smittle and the Smittle Band play at one of Little Rock’s newest music venues when they perform tonight at The Undercroft. It is located on Capital Avenue just east of Scott Street, in the undercroft of Christ Church.

The concert starts at 8 p.m; doors open at 7:30. The cover charge is $5 at the door. The space is on the campus of Christ Church; the entrance is through the sidewalk-level red door on Capitol Avenue east of Scott Street.

As the Arkansas Times wrote: Regulars in jazz bars around the state, The Smittle Band offers gorgeous, fluid lounge sounds with a trickling undercurrent of classy Americana. Fronted by Stephanie Smittle, the band balances her hushed, smoky vocals with sharp guitar work from co-writer Wythe Walker, tasteful, smart keys from Jim McGehee and brushing percussion courtesy of Ray Wittenberg.

 

undercroftFor information about the new performance space The Undercroft, contact Rev. Scott Walters at Christ Church at swalters@christchurchlr.org or 501-375-2342.

The Play’s The Thing at UALR Shakespeare Scene Festival

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bardofavonThe annual Shakespeare Scene Festival started yesterday at UALR.  It continues this morning. The Shakespeare Scene Festival is a UALR event sponsored by the Departments of English and Theatre Arts and Dance. It takes place in March in the UALR Center for the Performing Arts (University Theater). Its main purpose is to provide teachers and students a venue for the performance of Shakespeare’s plays.  One of the purposes is to demystify Shakespeare for students in school.

It was founded by Roslyn Knutson in 1998 and inspired by a workshop at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

The schedule for today includes:

9:35 – 10:00
In Fair Verona
Central High, Drama I
Instructor: Dr. Rhonda Fowler

10:05-10:20
From A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Sheridan Middle
Instructor: Amber Forbush

10:25 – 10:50
Richard III
J.A. Fair High, GT 10
Instructor: Allison McMath

10:55 – 11:20
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act III, Scenes 1 & 2 and Act V, Scene 1
J.A. Fair High, Freshmen Troupe
Instructor: Christina Cereghini

11:25 – 11:40
The Banquet Scene from Macbeth
Mayflower High, Drama
Instructor: Di Baldwin

11:45 – 12:00
From A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Sheridan Middle
Instructor: Amanda Honea

12:05 – 12:30
From Much Ado about Nothing, The Tempest, Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, and The Taming of the Shrew
Parkview Arts-Science Magnet High School
Classic Scene Study
Instructor: Fred Boosey

Among yesterday’s presenters were Central High, Mayflower High, Sheridan Middle and Warren Dupree Elementary.