Category Archives: Design

ARKANSAS GIVES today!

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Arkansans have a heart for giving. On April 2, 2015, let’s join together to grow the love for our state’s nonprofit organizations. Between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., we’re challenging all Arkansans to give to the charities of their choice.

During this one-day event, each donation you give will help your favorite nonprofit organizations qualify for additional bonus dollars from Arkansas Community Foundation. All participating nonprofits will receive a portion of a $250,000 match pool; the more a nonprofit raises, the more of the bonus dollars it will receive.

There are many worthwhile non-profits participating.  But since this is a Little Rock culture blog, here is a listing of cultural non-profits serving Little Rock which are participating.

Peter Gluck presents tonight’s Architecture and Design Network lecture

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This evening at 6pm, Peter Gluck, founder and principal of Gluck+ of NYC will speak.  Entitled “What’s Wrong with Us,” the lecture is presented by the Architecture and Design Network.

Gluck +, the innovative architectural firm founded by Peter Gluck, is known for its multi-faceted approach to creating award winning buildings. Responsive to a range and variety of factors – site, cost, time, construction, evolving client needs and attitudes among them – the firm is capable of dealing with a project from conception to completion.

The process, known as Architect Led Design Build (ALDB), requires the architect’s assuming responsibility for all phases of a building’s construction as well as its design. One firm, wielding a hammer as well as a pencil, does it all. in architectural circles, the approach is frequently the exception rather than the rule.

While a student at Yale, where he  earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, Gluck encountered the design build culture that subsequently served as the inspiration for ALDB. Architectural luminary Louis Kahn who taught at Yale  during the time Gluck was a student at the School, had an early and significant influence on his approach to architecture, his focus on the important link between design and construction.

Gluck, known for his iconic tree topping Tower House, is  also regarded for his work with moderate income urban housing. In one example, components were prefabricated in Pennsylvania and assembled on site in New York City.

Gluck, who is widely published in architectural journals worldwide, has taught at the Columbia and Yale schools of architecture. Exhibitions of his award-winning work have been held in the United States and Japan. He has curated exhibits for the Museum of Modern Art.

The program will take place in the lecture hall at the Arkansas Arts Center at 6pm.  A reception will start at 5:30 prior to the lecture.

All Architecture and Design Network lectures are free and open to the public. For additional information contact ardenetwork@icloud.com. Supporters of ADN include the Central Section of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, UA’s Fay Jones School of Architecture, the Arkansas Arts Center and friends in the community.

Debra Berke discusses “Out of the Ordinary” design this evening 

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As the founding partner of the architecture and design firm that bears her name, Deborah Berke oversees a staff of fifty, a skilled team that deals with a diverse portfolio of projects ranging from campus master plans, cultural and arts facilities, university buildings, hotels – Bentonville’s 21c Hotel among them – and custom residences. All projects, large and small, share the Berke imprimatur: a “knowing simplicity”.

An award winning design professional, Berke has been an adjunct professor of Architectural Design at Yale University since 1987. Additionally, she has taught at a number of campuses across the country. In 2005, the Rhode Island School of Design, where she earned a BFA in 1975, awarded her an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree.

Registered as an architect in a dozen states including Arkansas, Berke will talk about creating buildings that are “inevitable though not predictable”. She will describe the relationship between a designer’s vision, life patterns and place.

Berke’s lecture, which is free and open to the public, is made possible through the collaborative effort of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Architecture and Design Network. For additional information, contact ardenetwork@icloud.com.

Supporters of the Architecture and Design Network include the Arkansas Arts Center, the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture, the Central Arkansas section of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and friends in the community.

March 3, 2015 – 6:00 pm, preceded by a reception at 5:30 p.m. Arkansas Arts Center Lecture Hall

Sculptors announced for 2015 Sculpture at the River Market Show and Sale

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The  following list of Artists have been juried into the 2015 Sculpture at the River Market Show & Sale. Each of these Artists has also been invited to submit a proposal for the 5th Annual Monument Public Art Commission Competition.  Many favorites from past shows are returning, while the show also welcomes many new sculptors.

Mark your calendar for the Show & Sale – April 24-26, 2015

2015 Artists:

 

 

Little Rock Look Back: John Wassell the 27th Mayor of Little Rock

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Future Little Rock Mayor John Wassell was born on February 15, 1813 in Kidderminster, England.

In 1829, he came to the United States.  He learned carpentry and construction in Ohio and ended up in Little Rock.  One of his jobs was as the finishing contractor on the State Capitol building, now known as the Old State House.

He later gave up carpentry and became an attorney.  (It is said that he did so after becoming embroiled in a legal dispute arising from one of his construction jobs.) Wassell also served as a judge.

In 1868, he was appointed Mayor of Little Rock by President Andrew Johnson.  He is Little Rock’s only Mayor to have served through a military appointment.  Mayor Wassell died in January 1881 and is buried at Mount Holly Cemetery along with his wife and other family members.  One of his grandsons, Samuel M. Wassell also served as Mayor of Little Rock.

Second 2nd Friday Art Night of 2015

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2nd Friday Art NightForget friggatriskaidekaphobia. Don’t think of today as Friday the 13th. Embrace it as the second 2nd Friday Art Night of the year.  Among the highlights for tonight are:

Butler Center
Three exhibits continue at the Butler Center.  Reflections on Line & Mass: Paintings & Sculpture by Robyn Horn in the Butler Center Galleries (through April 24), Of the Soil: Photography by Geoff Winningham in the Butler Center Loft Gallery (through Febraury 28) and Echoes of the Ancestors: Native American Objects from the University of Arkansas Museum (through March 15).

Historic Arkansas Museum
Two exhibit openings – John Harlan Norris: Public Face opens in the Trinity Gallery for Arkansas Artists  and Lisa Krannichfeld: She opens in the Second Floor Gallery.  Live music by Whale Fire and food by The Veg.  As part of the continuing Year of Arkansas Beer, this month features Stones Throw Brewing’s Chocolate Stout.

Old State House Museum
Join violinist Geoff Robson and cellist Felice Farrell for a performance of works for solo strings by J.S. Bach. The performance will begin at 5:00 and last until 6:30. The museum will remain open until 8:00. This is a casual event and guests are welcome to drop in and seat themselves after the music has started.

A Lincoln Viaduct Portrait

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Photo courtesy of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program

Photo courtesy of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program

Since today is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, it is a good day to pay tribute to the Lincoln Avenue Viaduct.  This arched bridge is traversed by thousands of cars each day, with most having no idea the name of the structure.  The Lincoln Avenue Viaduct is the arched bridge connecting LaHarpe with Cantrell Road which (literally) bridges downtown with the west along Highway 10.

The Lincoln Avenue Viaduct is a reinforced concrete rainbow arch bridge. It was opened at 2:05 p.m. on Friday, December 28, 1928, and, despite later alterations, it remains particularly well-preserved. The Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, considered the most important railroad company in the state, constructed the bridge amid a series of improvements in Little Rock made necessary by the damage wrought by the infamous spring floods of 1927.

Though the bride was constructed by the railroad, the City had to give authorization to do so, this was accomplished by the passing of Ordinance 4,335, at the May 28, 1928, City Council meeting.

Lincoln Avenue was one of several names for stretches of Highway 10 in Little Rock. By the 1960s, the areas west of the Lincoln Avenue viaduct were all renamed Cantrell in honor of the man who had developed much of the area west of the Heights. The longest stretch of the road already carried that name. There had been an effort to rename Highway 10 (including sections named Lincoln, Q, and Cantrell) in Little Rock for Senator Joseph Taylor Robinson in 1930. He declined the offer because he did not want to diminish the contributions of Mr. Cantrell.  Over time the entire stretch bore the name Cantrell.

The stretches east of the viaduct which involved a couple of names were renamed La Harpe Boulevard in honor of the French explorer who first saw the Little Rock.

Though the street has been renamed, the bridge still carries the name of the 16th President of the United States.