Author Archives: Scott

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About Scott

A cultural thinker with a life long interest in the arts and humanities: theatre, music, architecture, photography, history, urban planning, etc.

CALS Legacies & Lunch today at noon explores early banking

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cals_int_sponsor_butlerStereotypes hold that rural people in early Arkansas kept their money under their mattresses. Maybe they had the right idea back then. The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies will host “The High Costs of Arkansas’s Early Banks,” a free talk by Dr. Scott Lien, as part of its monthly Legacies & Lunch lecture series, Wednesday, July 3, at noon in the Main Library’s Darragh Center, 100 Rock Street.

Lien will discuss Arkansas’s experiences with the state’s first two chartered banks, from the days before the Civil War. The banks offered help to some while foreclosing opportunities for others. Lien is a history professor at Lyon College in Batesville. His research focuses on how democracy has affected opportunities of all Americans.

The Butler Center’s Legacies & Lunch program is free, open to the public, and supported in part by the Arkansas Humanities Council. Attendees are invited to bring a sack lunch; drinks and dessert will be provided.

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies is a department of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS). It was founded in 1997 to promote the study and appreciation of Arkansas history and culture. The Butler Center’s research collections, art galleries, and offices are located in the Arkansas Studies Institute building at 401 President Clinton Ave. on the campus of the CALS Main Library.

For more information, call 918-3086.

Tin Roof Project: John Hornor Jacobs

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JHJ_ABOUT_ME_PHOTOThe first week of each month, Tales from the South features one person sharing their life story. They call it Tin Roof Project.  July features novelist John Hornor Jacobs.

Music is by Bonnie Montgomery and blues guitarist Mark Simpson.

John Hornor Jacobs has worked in advertising for the last fifteen years, played in bands, and pursued art in various forms. He is also, in his copious spare time, a novelist. His first novel, Southern Gods, was shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Award. He has also written   This Dark Earth and a young adult series, The Incarcerado Trilogy comprised of The Twelve Fingered Boy, The Shibboleth, and The Conformity.  His first fantasy series, The Incorruptibles will be published in Spring 2014.

John is the co-founder of Needle: A Magazine of Noir and was the active creative director until fall 2012. He has a quartet of horror stories, Fierce As The Grave, available through Amazon.com.  John has played guitar semi-professionally and worked as an animator, videographer and designer.

“Tales From the South” is a radio show created and produced by 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.

Washington Tribute at Clinton Center

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Washington's Copy of the Acts of Congress.

Washington’s Copy of the Acts of Congress.

The library focusing on the 42nd President now has an exhibit honoring the the 1st President.  The William J. Clinton Presidential Center has a “Tribute to George Washington” on display through July 12.

It features:
George Washington’s Copy of the Acts of Congress
The volume contains the Constitution and draft Bill of Rights with Washington’s personal written notes as well as an original signature. The volume, dating back to 1789, is on loan from Mount Vernon.

George Washington Correspondence
On loan from the National Archives in Washington, DC, the Clinton Center will showcase two rare documents that helped shape American history during Washington’s administration. One includes a handwritten letter by President Washington regarding the the Jay Treaty with Great Britain. The second document is a letter to President Washington signed by Chief Justice John Jay.

George Washington [The Constable-Hamilton Portrait]
The portrait of George Washington was painted in Philadelphia in 1797 by artist Gilbert Stuart. New York merchant William Kerin Constable commissioned the portrait for Alexander Hamilton. The portrait is on loan from Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.

The Clinton Center is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Sculpture Vulture: Kevin Kresse’s Breaking the Cycle

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IMG_6022 The newest sculpture to be placed in Riverfront Park is Kevin Kresse’s Breaking the Cycle.  Is is located near the belvedere in the park (which is visible in the background of the photo below).

The sculpture depicts an older man (ostensibly a grandfather) being pushed in a wheelbarrow by a young boy.  The artist’s son, Roman, served as the model for the young boy.

Kresse’s piece was donated by Lisenne Rockefeller. Mrs. Rockefeller and Kresse have worked together before.  He sculpted the official bust of her late husband which is on display at the State Capitol.

In addition to this piece, Kresse’s art can be found throughout Little Rock, the state of Arkansas and the United States.

IMG_6024

Time Travelers exhibit at Ark Arts Center

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henrymoore

Henry Moore, Eight Reclining Figures No. 1, 1966, ink and watercolor on paper,

If an artist from the Treasures of Kenwood House exhibition were to time travel to the twentieth century, he would no doubt be shocked at the revolutions that had transformed the art of his native Britain, Netherlands, or Flanders (now part of Belgium).

Abstract and surreal art seems to break with nearly every precept of classically-based seventeenth- and eighteenth-century art. Yet the twentieth-century artists whose works have been selected from the Arts Center’s collection for this exhibition did not turn completely from their past.

In the 1980s, Dutch artist Anneke van Brussel (born 1949) drew asparagus in much the same naturalistic manner as seventeenth-century Dutch still life artists. The powerful British realist painter Lucian Freud (1922 – 2011) created an intimate figure drawing inspired by the work of eighteenth-century French artist Antoine Watteau (1684 – 1721). The British modernist sculptor Henry Moore (1898 – 1986) looked back even farther in his series of lithographs portraying the ancient British monument known as Stonehenge. Moore’s many reclining figures, sculpted and drawn, reflect both classical Greek and Roman figural sculpture and ancient Mayan stone carvings.

The great traditions of drawing, painting and sculpting human figures, animals, still lifes, and landscapes take on different guises from year to year, but they are never forgotten. The past provides the solid ground from which visions of the future take wing.

The exhibit runs through August 4.

Final Weekend of AVENUE Q at Ark Rep

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Avenue-QThe Arkansas Repertory Theatre closes out the 2012-2013 season with the Tony winning musical Avenue Q.  The production runs through June 30

Avenue Q is an adult, laugh-out-loud puppet musical that tells the timeless story of a recent college grad named Princeton who moves into a shabby New York apartment all the way out on Avenue Q. There, he meets Kate (the girl next door), Christmas Eve, Trekkie Monster, Gary Coleman and other colorful types who help Princeton finally discover his purpose in life.

The cast includes Will Holly, Bailey Means, Kathleen Choe, Jimmy Kieffer, Ethan Paulini, Shaleah Adkisson, Chad Burris and Leah Monzillo.  Lauren McClendon, Henry Melhorn and Mary Katelin Ward are understudies.

The production is directed by Robert Kolby Harper.  Rick Lyon, who worked on and starred in the original production of Avenue Q is the puppet designer and puppet coach.  The other members of the design team include Christopher Pickart (scenery), Shelly Hall (costumes), Daniel Davisson (lighting), Allan Branson (sound), Lynda J. Kwallek (properties) and Mike Nichols (technical director).  Michael Rice is the music director.

Avenue Q features a Tony winning book by Jeff Whitty and a Tony winning score by Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez.  It was originally directed by Fayetteville native Jason Moore (who received a Tony nomination for his direction).

June 27 Architeaser: Stephens Game & Fish Nature Center

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IMG_6042Last week featured a pair of friezes from the original Arkansas Game & Fish Commission building on the State Capitol grounds.  Today’s Architeaser is the Game & Fish Commission’s Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center in downtown Little Rock.

The Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center opened December 17, 2008. The 16,232 square foot building on 3.4 acres in Little Rock, overlooks the Arkansas River and is within the Julius Breckling Riverfront Park.

The Center is located at park level which is, at that point, approximately one story below the President Clinton Avenue street level.  The photo depicts the walkway and the stairs which lead down to the Center’s exhibit space. The sharp angles of the stairs and rooflines are reminiscent of cabins and lodges which are often found in nature.  Just like with this building, such facilities in the wild often are built to span ravines or to take advantage of unique landscapes.  The exposed beams are associated with the Arts and Crafts movement which espoused an appreciation of nature and natural surroundings in architecture.

The center focuses on the wide variety of outdoor recreational opportunities that our state’s fish and wildlife resources provide. Exhibits highlight the role of fish and wildlife management and many of the projects conducted throughout the history of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. The location along the Arkansas River allows many watchable wildlife activities within an urban area. Basking water turtles, butterflies and migrating pelicans are common sights. A portion of the Arkansas River Trail crosses the site, offering more options for exploration. The grounds of the center include beds of native plants found throughout the state, while the main building includes an exhibit hall, aquariums, gift shop, theater and special educational programs.