Monthly Archives: December 2015

15 Highlights of 2015 – New Visual Arts Building Announced for UALR thanks to gift from Windgate Foundation

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Entry DriveFor the final fifteen days of 2015, a look back at some of the cultural highlights of 2015.

Up next–

In May, UALR announced plans for a new Visual Arts Building.  With a target date to open in fall 2017, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s newest building will be among the finest higher education facilities in the country for visual arts education.

UALR unveiled the design concept for the 71,636 square-foot building during a news conference in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall. The visual arts building will be funded by a $20.3 million grant award approved by the Trustees of the Windgate Charitable Foundation, headquartered in Siloam Springs. The grant, designated for building construction and equipment, is the second largest gift in UALR’s history.

UALR serves about 1,000 students each year who are enrolled in visual arts classes. This semester, 180 students have designated visual arts as their major, and there are 16 full-time faculty devoted to visual arts programs.

The new facility, to be located on the UALR campus at 28th Street and East Campus Drive, will bring together under one roof the applied design program currently located at University Plaza and the art history and studio arts programs currently in the Fine Arts Building, a structure built in 1977 to house the departments of art and music.

The new building will integrate UALR’s Applied Design, Art History and Studio Arts classes into a facility that promotes collaboration and creativity between students, faculty and guests under one roof. Drawing/Painting/Printmaking/Art History and 2D Design and Illustration classrooms will be located on the north side of the building to make use of the large expanse of glass along 28th Street.

Faculty and administrative offices will be oriented on the south side to take advantage of the campus and natural plaza views. Photography and Graphic Design spaces will complete the programs that are housed within the visual arts track.

Students and visitors have the opportunity to experience two generous art galleries within the building showcasing both permanent and transitional exhibits or attend a guest lecturer speaking in the 80-seat lecture hall and reception venue on the ground floor.

The Applied Design spaces will be organized within a single story industrial high bay section of the building to take advantage of the expansive volumes of space necessary for Sculpture/Metalsmithing/Furniture Design /3D Craft & Fibers/Ceramics. Each of these spaces has access to an outdoor studio space that allows work on large pieces with natural ventilation and sunlight.

The building will be designed to achieve a LEED Silver rating with the USGBC LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Art/Applied Design track, a unique program in Arkansas, primarily serves students interested in the study of traditional arts and crafts representative of the South Central region of the U.S., with particular emphasis upon craft practices within Arkansas.

“The vision of the Department of Art is to be a destination center for students intent on pursuing lifelong careers in the visual arts,” said department chair Tom Clifton. “This new facility will enable the department to embrace traditional, contemporary, and technological approaches to the visual arts in central Arkansas and provide opportunities for students throughout the southern region of the United States.

The Windgate Charitable Foundation has provided consistent and visionary support of the UALR Department of Art through scholarships, program support, visiting artists, workshops and gallery exhibitions.

Holiday Music with ASO this weekend!

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dec 18 20The ASO’s most popular and longest running tradition brings holiday cheer to music lovers of all ages. Featuring holiday music you know and the best artists from around the state – and beyond! – this concert is an ASO favorite and the best way to settle in to the most wonderful time of the year with the whole family!
The ASO, under the direction of Associate Conductor Geoffrey Robson, will showcase holiday favorites like Joy to the World, Silver Bells, and Silent Night, seasonal orchestral classics from Bach and Gabrieli, children’s choir, the gospel vocals of Vickie Woodard, and special guest Bonnie Montgomery on vocals and guitar.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
BACH, J.S. Zion Hört die Wachter Singen from BWV 140 (Children’s Choir)
GABRIELI Canzon Noni Toni (Antiphonal brass)
von HERBECK Pueri Concinite (Children’s Choir + Christine Westhoff)
Silver Bells arr. Holcombe (Christine Westhoff)
O Holy Night (Christine Westhoff)
Silent Night (Children’s Choir)

INTERMISSION

Carol of the Bells
Pretty Paper (Bonnie Montgomery)
Little Drummer Boy (Bonnie Montgomery)
Deck the Halls Arr. Davis
Go Tell It on the Mountain Arr. (Vickie Woodard)
Joy To The World Arr. Schnurr (Vickie Woodard)
Christmas Singalong Arr. Finnegan (Bonnie Montgomery and others)

The concerts are at the Connor Performing Arts Center on the campus of Pulaski Academy.  They start at 7:30pm on Friday and Saturday and 3pm on Sunday.

Little Rock Look Back: LR Mayor Charles Bussey

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Mayor Bussey BWFuture Little Rock Mayor Charles Bussey was born on December 18 in 1918.  Throughout his life he was a trailblazer.  He was the first African American Sheriff’s Deputy in Pulaski County and expanded the Junior Deputy program into the African American community.

In 1968 he became the first African American elected to the Little Rock City Board of Directors. He was not the first African American to run for the City Board, but he was the first to win a race.  Mr. Bussey sought support not just from the African American community, but from all sectors of Little Rock.  Apparently, while campaigning in 1968, he deliberately went into the Arkansas headquarters of segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace to see about leaving campaign literature.  A hulking man with a broad smile, he shocked the young receptionist. He was undoubtedly the first (and probably last) African American to enter that campaign headquarters.

He served from 1969-1977 and again from 1979 through 1991.  In 1981 he was selected by his fellow City Directors to serve as Little Rock’s Mayor, which made him the first African American Mayor of Little Rock.  He served as Vice Mayor of Little Rock for a total of 8.5 years which is the longest of anyone in the City’s history.

Throughout his lifetime Mayor Bussey championed youth outreach efforts.  He also was active in the Arkansas Municipal League, National League of Cities, West Little Rock Rotary Club, Elks, Shriners and many other organizations.

In 2006 he was posthumously inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.  The previous year, 20th Street in Little Rock was renamed in his honor. In 2015 he was included in the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail.

It’s OFFICIALLY Here! The new Star Wars movie

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IMG_5919As a third grade boy, I remember devouring the novelized version of Star Wars in 1977. I read everything I could about the movie. I owned the two album London Symphony Orchestra soundtrack.

I was a few months late to Star Wars figures, but Christmas of 1977 and birthday of 1978 did feature them as gifts. (I promptly lost my Sandcrawler weapon at my grandparents’ house on Christmas day.)

In those early days, I was excited by the idea of NINE Star Wars movies. Then, I gave up hope when George Lucas abandoned them after Return of the Jedi. When the prequels were announced during my adulthood, I was excited. Only to be disappointed by the actual movies (though admittedly they did get better by episode 3).

But now – the day my eighth grade self dreamed of, is here! What happens AFTER Return of the Jedi.

In honor of Star Wars: The Force Awakens opening day, here is a flash back to the Arkansas Gazette ad in June 1977 when the first film hit Little Rock (a full month after it first opened in New York).

It did not reach Little Rock until June 24, 1977. Given its status as a sleeper hit, it is no surprise that it came into Little Rock largely unnoticed.

In that day, major films opening on a Friday would be heralded the previous Sunday with a substantial advertisement. The first Star Wars ad ran on Thursday, June 23, 1977, the day before it opened. By contrast, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, which would play at the same theatre, had a large ad on Sunday, June 19.

While Star Wars would seem like the perfect movie for the great UA Cinema 150, it did not play there. The film playing at the 150 was A Bridge Too Far, which was, at least an action movie. Star Wars did not even open at a UA theatre. It opened at the ABC Cinema 1 & 2 (located at Markham and John Barrow) and at the McCain Mall Cinema. (The ABC Cinema location is now home to discount cellphone and discount clothing businesses; a cinema has returned to McCain Mall but in a different location.)

The day it opened, there was a fairly large ad which incorporated the familiar beefcake Luke, Leia in flowing gowns, and Darth Vader mask. On the Sunday after it opened, there was a slightly smaller ad with the same artwork. McCain Mall also ran a small add for both Star Wars and Herbie. It noted that Star Wars was a film that management “does not recommend for children.”

15 Highlights of 2015 – Polk Stanley Wilcox wins AIA/ALA Library Building Award for CALS Children’s Library

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Childrens Library 2For the final fifteen days of 2015, a look back at some of the cultural highlights of 2015.

Up first –

Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects and the Central Arkansas Library System were honored with Library Architecture’s highest and most prestigious achievement: A 2015 AIA/ALA Library Building Award. 

Of all libraries submitted, the 2015 AIA/ALA Library Building Awards honor only six separate projects. The Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library and Learning Center joins prestigious projects from as far away as Vancouver, Washington, Dartmouth, Mass., Norfolk, Virginia, San Antonio, Texas, and Des Moines, Iowa. The projects was honored at the National ALA Conference in San Francisco on June 25-30th.

To encourage excellence in the architectural design and planning of libraries, the National American Institute of Architects (AIA) in Washington DC and the American Library Association (ALA) created this award to distinguish accomplishments in library architecture. Biennially, representatives of each organization celebrate the finest examples of library design from around the world designed by American Architects.

READThe new Children’s Library and Learning Center is based on experiential learning, where children are educated through hands on activities that teach life skills needed to become responsible adults. Referred to as a “community-embedded, supportive learning center,” this library offers not only books, but also a performance space, a teaching kitchen, a greenhouse and vegetable garden, and an arboretum.

The award is given every two years.  It is the second time that Polk Stanley Wilcox has received the award for a CALS project.  In 2011 the firm won it for the Arkansas Studies Institute building.  Not only is it rare for a firm to receive this award, it is even more rare for the same firm to receive it twice for working with the same client.  These honors are a testament to the leadership at both Polk Stanley Wilcox and the Central Arkansas Library System.

Dr. Susanah Shaw Romney, UALR History Professor, receives NEH fellowship

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Susanah Shaw Romney, assistant professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, received a $50,400 fellowship award from the National Endowment for the Humanities to conduct research on the Dutch empire.

Dr. Susanah Shaw Romney, UALR

Dr. Susanah Shaw Romney, UALR professor and author, lands National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship.

Romney was awarded the maximum amount under the Fellowships for University Teachers category to pursue her project titled “Personal Interactions and Imperial Geographies in Early Modern Dutch Colonies.”

In addition to Romney, the NEH awarded 294 other projects, for a total of $21.8 million in grants. Only two projects from Arkansas received NEH funding.

“NEH provides support for projects across America that preserve our heritage, promote scholarly discoveries, and make the best of America’s humanities ideas available to all Americans,” said NEH Chairman William D. Adams.

Romney, who plans to write a book based on her research, will conduct a comparative study of the early modern Dutch empire in North and South America, southern Africa, and southeast Asia.

“This fellowship lets me do new research on people and places that I haven’t encountered before. It gives me a chance to read records about Munsee Indians in the Hudson Valley, Khoekhoe people of southern Africa, Dutch traders in Guyana, and South Asian slaves on Java,” said Romney.

“I’ll be able to bring that new perspective to students in my classes at UALR and to the scholarly community through the book that I will write,” she added.                                                  

Romney’s previous book on the Dutch empire, “New Netherland Connections: Intimate Networks and Atlantic Ties in Seventeenth-Century America” garnered several awards, including the 2014 Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Book Prize.

Susanah Shaw Romney is originally from California, and did her undergraduate work in history at UC Santa Cruz. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University, where she worked with Prof. Mary Beth Norton on women in Colonial America. Her research focuses on gender, race, and the fur trade in the seventeenth-century Dutch colony that later became New York. Her book is the winner of the 2014 Berkshire Conference of Women Historians First Book Prize, 2013 Jamestown Prize (given every two years by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture), and the 2013 Hendricks Prize from the New Netherland Institute. She is now at work on a new project looking at gender, settlement, and land claims in the seventeenth-century Dutch empire in North America, Guyana, South Africa, and Java. Her research has taken her from the Huntington Library in California, to the Stadsarchief in Amsterdam, to the Western Cape Archives in South Africa. She offers classes at UALR on the colonial period, slavery, the frontier, pirates, gender, and other topics.

For more information about recently awarded NEH grants, go to www.neh.gov/news.

About the National Endowment for the Humanities

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanitiessupports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at www.neh.gov.

The 2016 Arkansas Arts Council “Works on Paper” artists announced

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Arkansas_Arts_Council_logo_2The Arkansas Arts Council recently announced the 37 Arkansas artists who were selected for the 2016 Small Works on Paper touring exhibition.

Now in its 29th year, Small Works on Paper is a juried visual art exhibition that showcases artwork no larger than 18 x 24 inches by Arkansas artists who are members of the Arkansas Artist Registry, an online gallery showcasing the artwork of Arkansas artists.

Forty works are featured in the show that will travel to 10 galleries throughout the state in a yearlong show. The exhibition will make its first stop Jan. 5-29 at the Batesville Area Arts Council’s Gallery on Main on 226 E. Main St.

The entries were juried by Kati Toivanen, professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Ten artists were selected by Toivanen to receive purchase awards. Purchase award winners receive the cash amount equivalent to the value of their selected works. Funded by entry fees, the purchase award pieces become part of the exhibition’s permanent collection.

The artists selected to receive purchase awards are Kathy Attwood of Eureka Springs; Margo Duvall, Amy Edgington and Robert Reep, all of Little Rock; Clarke Galusha of Norphlet; Matt Kaye of Camden; Penny Jo Pausch of Jonesboro; David Rackley and Rachel Trusty of Russellville; and Steven Vickers of Van Buren.

The complete list of artists is below.

  • John W. Ahlen, Little Rock
  • Joshua Asante, Little Rock
  • Kathy Attwood, Eureka Springs
  • Sandy Barksdale, Cotter
  • James Berg, Hot Springs
  • Susan Chambers, Little Rock
  • Melissa Cowper-Smith, Morrilton
  • Warren Criswell, Benton
  • Margo Duvall, Little Rock
  • Amy R. Edgington, Little Rock
  • L.S. Eldridge, Rogers
  • Thad Flenniken, Royal
  • Janet Gade-Malone, Hot Springs
  • Clarke Galusha, Norphlet
  • Angela Greene, North Little Rock
  • Lori Halley, Springdale
  • Gwen Haverland, Van Buren
  • Matt Kaye, Camden
  • Kimberly Kwee, Little Rock
  • Tim LaTourette, Fayetteville
  • Brian Madden, Little Rock
  • Jason McCann, Maumelle
  • Kasten McClellan Searles, Little Rock
  • Stephanie McLeod, Springdale
  • Robin Miller-Bookhout, North Little Rock
  • Penny Jo Pausch, Jonesboro
  • Laura Raborn, Little Rock
  • David Rackley, Russellville
  • Robert Reep, Little Rock
  • Sabine Schmidt, Fayetteville
  • Cathryn H. Slater, Little Rock
  • Stacy Spangler, Little Rock
  • Tod Swiecichowski, Little Rock
  • Rachel Trusty, Little Rock
  • Steven G. Vickers, Van Buren
  • John Watson, North Little Rock
  • Judy Wright Walter, Texarkana

The Arkansas Arts Council is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.