Category Archives: Design

Today is #ArkansasGives Day

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Arkansas GivesIf you are like me, you’ve been receiving notifications about Arkansas Gives Day for months.  Well, today is the day!  From 8am until 8pm, you can help grow the love for Arkansas’s nonprofit organizations by making a donation to the charity of your choice.  The event is sponsored by the Arkansas Community Foundation.

As a special incentive to give, each gift made through ArkansasGives on April 7, 2016 will be matched with additional bonus dollars; the more you give, the more bonus dollars your favorite charity will receive.

Nonprofit organizations and other tax-exempt charitable organizations may participate if they:

  • Are headquartered in Arkansas or have a base of operations in Arkansas.
  • Are a member of the Arkansas Nonprofit Alliance.
  • Have 501c3 tax exempt status under IRS code AND are qualified as a 509(a)(1), (a)(2) or (a)(3) organization or as a private operating foundation.

The minimum amount is $25; there is no maximum amount you may give. You may designate up to 10 charities per transaction.

Accepted Forms of Payment: Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express credit cards online.
You will receive an email receipt of your gift; please retain it for tax purposes. Unless you choose to remain anonymous, your donor information will be sent to the nonprofits to which you give.

Here is a list of cultural organizations which offer services within the boundaries of the City of Little Rock.

There are MANY MANY MANY other worthy nonprofits which are participating. But since this is a culture blog, only the cultural institutions are listed.  But please consider visiting the website and perusing the entire list.

New Rooftop Terrace planned for Robinson Center

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RCMH EXT-01_Aerial1The Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau (LRCVB) is now booking events for the all-new Robinson Conference Center, set to reopen in November of this year.  Located on the north side of the building, the Grand Ballroom and adjoining meeting rooms offer magnificent views of the Arkansas River.  With seamless connectivity to the DoubleTree Hotel’s meeting space, the center offers flexibility for convention activities, meetings, and banquets.  For booking information, please call 501-255-3323.

Earlier this week, the Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission (LRA&P) also approved the addition of a 5,800 sq. ft. outdoor terrace.  The terrace was part of the original project plans, however, but it was removed from the plans in 2014 during contract negotiations due to budget constraints.  Now, less than eight months from completion, LRCVB and LR A&P are able to add the finished outdoor space back into the project.  The space will offer amazing views of the Arkansas River and sits on the highest level of the new conference center, and its addition will not impact the project’s completion date.

“We are so pleased with the progress of this complex project.  Our project team, including architects Polk Stanley Wilcox and Ennead, construction manager CDI/Hunt joint venture, owner’s representatives Mike Steelman of SCM architects, and a host of sub-contractors, have continued to provide meticulous attention to detail and countless effort to this project.  The all-new Robinson Center is going to be a show-piece for Little Rock and all of Central Arkansas,” said Gretchen Hall, President & CEO of LRCVB.

For more information on the Robinson Center Second Act renovation and expansion project, visit www.RobinsonCenterSecondAct.com and follow us on https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robinson-Center/276515585880 and https://twitter.com/RobinsonCenter.

Robinson Construction Facts to Date:

  • Over 10,878 tons of material have been recycled, representing 90% of the waste material diverted
  • 1,800 tons of steel has been erected
  • 3,000 cubic yards of concrete has been placed
  • 1,104 individuals have gone through CDI/Hunt Safety Orientation
  • 75% of the project subcontractors are local
  • 250,000 +/- man hours have been utilized to date

Robinson History

The historic Robinson Auditorium has long been a landmark in Central Arkansas.  Construction of the Joseph T. Robinson Memorial Auditorium began in 1937 and officially opened in February 1940.  The structure was a WPA (Works Progress Administration) project, and is an excellent example of the Art Deco style architecture of the time.  The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.  The facility is owned by the City of Little Rock and managed by the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Sculptors announced for 2016 Sculpture at the River Market

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Sculpture at the River MarketSculpture at the River Market is pleased to announce the artists who have been juried in to our 2016 Sculpture Show & Sale to be held April 22-24.

Each artist was invited to submit a proposal for the 6th Public Art Monument Sculpture Commission Competition – a $60,000 to $80,000 commission.

Guests attending the Preview Party on April 22nd will view and vote on the six semi-finalist proposals to help select the top three finalists; the top three will be announced at the end of the evening. These three finalists’ proposals will be juried on April 23-24 and the winning proposal will be announced on Sunday afternoon, April 24th.

2016 Artists

  • Lorri Acott
  • Lori Arnold
  • Terry & Maritza Bean
  • Hunter Brown
  • Craig Campbell
  • Kathleen Caricof, NSG
  • Leslie Daly
  • Darrell Davis, NSG
  • Jane DeDecker, NSG
  • John Deering
  • Clay Enoch, NSG
  • Kimber Fiebiger
  • Peter Grimord
  • Guilloume
  • Jeff Hall
  • Denny Haskew, NSG
  • Bob Heintzelman
  • Mark Hyde
  • Greg Johnson
  • James Keller
  • Kevin Kresse
  • Mark Leichliter, NSG
  • Harold Linke, NSG
  • Allison Luedtke
  • Bryan Winfred Massey, Sr.
  • James G. Moore
  • Nnamdi Okonkwo
  • Steven Olszewski
  • Richard Pankratz
  • James Paulsen
  • Nathan Pierce
  • Merle Randolph
  • Dale Roark
  • Kevin Robb
  • Timothy Roundy
  • Emelene Russell
  • Wayne Salge, NSG
  • Valerie Jean Schafer
  • Adam Schultz
  • Stephen Shachtman, NSG
  • Kim Shaklee
  • Stephanie & Scott Shangraw
  • Gene Sparling
  • Lawrence Starck
  • Charles Strain
  • Tod Switch
  • Michael Warrick, NSG
  • C.T. Whitehouse, NSG
  • Longhua XU
  • Michelle Zorich & Katherine Martin

NSG indicates membership in the National Sculptors’ Guild

Hillcrest Historic District to be site of 52nd Quapaw Quarter Spring Tour

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qqa tourThe Quapaw Quarter Association (QQA) will host its 52nd Spring Tour on Mother’s Day Weekend, May 7-8 in the Hillcrest Historic District.
The Spring Tour of Homes has been held since 1963 with the purpose of fostering appreciation of historic buildings and neighborhoods and the need for their preservation.  The Tour was last year’s recipient of the Grand Old Classic Special Event Award at the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism’s Henry Awards.  The 52nd Spring Tour will feature interior access to five historic homes, four of which have never before been on tour.
“The Spring Tour is our best tool to build pride in historic neighborhoods and encourage continued investment in our city’s architectural heritage” said QQA President Jarrod Johnson.  “The Tour is a great way to celebrate Mother’s Day and experience one of Little Rock’s unique neighborhoods.”
The 52nd Spring Tour will feature the homes at 516 Ridgeway, 478 Ridgeway, the Canby House at 420 Midland, the Ashcroft House at 444 Fairfax Avenue, and the Foster-Cochran House at 3724 Hill Road.  Pulaski Heights Elementary and Middle Schools will also be open with student-led tours.  The Candlelight Tour on Saturday evening will include the special additions of the house at 319 Midland, a champagne stop at the Storthz House at 450 Midland, and the chapel at Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church, followed by a party in the church’s fellowship hall.
In a new addition to the tour this year, the students in the Gifted and Talented Programs at Pulaski Heights Elementary and Middle Schools are doing research on the history of about 100 structures in Hillcrest, many of them the student’s own home.  Signs will be mounted in the yards or windows of these buildings that explain the history of the structure.  The signs will be temporarily posted, creating a walking tour throughout the neighborhood during the weekend of the Spring Tour.  In the process, the students will learn about the history of the community that they live in or utilize every day and how to use primary and historic resources when doing research.  The QQA hopes that residents of Hillcrest and Spring Tour-goers will take advantage of the walking tour to learn more about and appreciate the history of this historic community.
The tour will be open Saturday and Sunday afternoons; tickets may be purchased in advance for $20, or on site for $30.  Kids 10 and under are free.  The Candlelight Tour and Party tickets start at $125 per person and include afternoon tours.  Other activities will be a Sunday Brunch at Curran Hall and specials at neighborhood businesses.
Find more information and tickets at www.quapaw.com or at the Little Rock Visitor Information Center at Historic Curran Hall at 615 E. Capitol Avenue. You may also call 501-371-0075. Proceeds benefit the historic preservation programs of the QQA.
For social media, the QQA encourages attendees to use #QQASpringTour as the official event hashtag.

“Industrial Beauty: Charles Burchfield’s Black Iron” exhibit at Arkansas Arts Center through May 8

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The massive counterweights of a railroad drawbridge over Buffalo Creek fascinated watercolorist Charles Burchfield as he traveled to the Port of Buffalo in 1933. The artist promised himself he would one day depict the bridge. In 1935, he said, “I made one trip in to look over the subject, and received a new thrill. . . What a delight! What a joy it was! The subject ‘over-powered me’” He recalled, “It was difficult working, that first day, but I rejoiced in all the handicaps . . . the ground had not settled yet from the spring thaw, and where I stood it was all sand; engrossed in my work I did not know how treacherous it was until I went to step backward and could not move my feet . . .” A bridge worker had to rescue the artist, who was captivated, indeed.

Charles Burchfield, American (Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio, 1893 – 1967, West Seneca, New York), Black Iron, 1935, watercolor, 28 1/8 x 40 in. Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection: Gift of Hope Aldrich, in memory of her father, John D. Rockefeller, 3rd. 2013.006.001.

Burchfield’s devoted labor resulted in one of his greatest watercolors, Black Iron. This exhibition celebrates the arrival of this masterpiece in Arkansas as a gift from Hope Aldrich in honor of her father, John D. Rockefeller, 3rd. This generous donation also includes seven sketches and a sheet of notes from which the artist’s commentary above is quoted. The exhibition Industrial Beauty sets this material in a wider context.

Burchfield is best known as a visual poet of nature who was one of America’s outstanding modern watercolorists. Early and late in his career he made graceful images of trees, flowers, clouds, and abstract lines suggesting such natural sounds as the chirping of crickets. But in the 1930s, the artist was riveted by the technology used to move and store the grain, iron ore, and other products of the Great Lakes region where he lived. His style became more realistic as he depicted the beautiful geometry of railroads, bridges, grain elevators, and factories.

This exhibition gathers such images from the 1930s, including a 1933 watercolor of Buffalo Harbor, Three Boats in Winter (Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, Providence, Rhode Island), which he was making when he first spotted the drawbridge over Buffalo Creek. The exhibition gathers drawings, watercolors, and a rare oil painting from distinguished collections around the country. These images show us Burchfield’s vision of industry. The artist concentrated on massive iron structures and industrial scenes in the 1930s, but he had been depicting bridges and trains since his youth in the 1910s.

THE WITTENBERG HERITAGE focus of Architecture & Design Network discussion this evening at 6pm at Arkansas Arts Center

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wittenberg-heritageIn 1919, young architects George Wittenberg and Lawson Delony co-founded the firm that would become, under the visionary leadership of George’s son Gordon, one of the largest, longest-lasting and most influential architectural firms in the state. During his thirty-year tenure (1952-1982) as head of Wittenberg Delony & Davidson Architects, the company had a significant role in the design of many city landmarks, winning more than thirty awards for its work. The Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects awarded its most prestigious prize, the Gold Medal, to Gordon Wittenberg in recognition of his many contributions to the profession. In view of his outstanding contributions to the field, he was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, an honor accorded a select few.

This evening (February 23) the Architecture and Design Network will feature Gordon Wittenberg in a program entitled THE WITTENBERG HERITAGE.  It begins at 6pm at the Arkansas Arts Center with a reception at 5:30pm preceding it.

Wittenberg will be joined by his colleagues in reflection on the firm’s nearly one hundred year history, a heritage that shaped spaces and places throughout the state and beyond. THE WITTENBERG HERITAGE a group presentation, chaired by Gordon Ducksworth, AIA, Senior Associate/Project Architect, Wittenberg, Delony & Davidson Inc. Architects, Little Rock, AR. Like other Architecture and Design Network (ADN) lectures, THE WITTENBERG HERITAGE is free and open to the public. The Architecture and Design Network (ADN), a non-profit organization, is supported in part by the Arkansas Arts Center, the Central Arkansas Section of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture and friends in the community.

Little Rock Look Back: Robinson Auditorium opens in 1940

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auditoriumduskOn February 16, 1940, after three years of planning and construction including several delays due to lack of funding, the Joseph Taylor Robinson Memorial Auditorium officially opened. It was a cold, rainy night, but those in attendance did not care.

Searchlights painting arcs in the sky greeted attendees. They were borrowed from the Arkansas National Guard. Newspaper accounts noted that only a few of the men who attended were in tuxedos, most were simply in suits. The work to get the building opened had been so harried, that it was discovered there was not an Arkansas Flag to fly in front of the building. Mayor Satterfield found one at the last minute courtesy of the Arkansas Department of the Spanish War Veterans.

The weather delayed arrivals, so the program started fifteen minutes late. Following a performance of Sibelius’ Finlandia by the fledgling Arkansas State Symphony Orchestra, Mayor J. V. Satterfield, Mrs. Joseph T. Robinson, Mrs. Grady Miller (the Senator’s sister-in-law and a member of the Auditorium Commission) and D. Hodson Lewis of the Chamber of Commerce participated in a brief ribbon cutting ceremony. Mrs Robinson cut the ribbon on her second attempt (once again proving that nothing connected with getting the building open was easy).

The ceremony was originally set to be outside of the building but was moved indoors due to the inclement weather. The ribbon cutting took place on the stage with the ribbon stretched out in front of the curtain. The opening remarks were broadcast on radio station KGHI.

Mr. Lewis, Mrs. Miller and Mayor Satterfield look on as Mrs. Robinson cuts the ribbon

Mr. Lewis, Mrs. Miller and Mayor Satterfield look on as Mrs. Robinson cuts the ribbon

Though he had previously discussed how he had voted against the auditorium in 1937 before entering public life, the mayor’s remarks that evening were appropriately gracious, statesmanlike and a testament to the effort he had invested to get it open upon becoming mayor. “We hope you have a very pleasant evening and hope further that it will be the first in a long series which you will enjoy in this, your auditorium.”

Tickets for the event, advertised as being tax exempt, were at four different pricing levels: $2.50, $2.00, $1.50 and $1.00.

The estimated attendance was 1700. Following the ribbon cutting, the main performance took place. The headliner for the grand opening was the San Francisco Opera Ballet accompanied by the new Arkansas State Symphony Orchestra (not related to the current Arkansas Symphony Orchestra). The featured soloist with the ballet was Zoe Dell Lantis who was billed as “The Most Photographed Miss at the San Francisco World’s Fair.”

At the same time that the gala was going on upstairs in the music hall, a high school basketball double-header was taking place in the downstairs convention hall. North Little Rock lost to Beebe in the first game, while the Little Rock High School Tigers upset Pine Bluff in the marquee game.