Yesterday’s Architeaser featured one of the painted Corinthian columns at the Capital Hotel.
Today’s Capital is another Ionic one.
Category Archives: Design
Sculpture Vulture: Love and Forgiveness at St. Mark’s Episcopal
This week’s Sculpture Vulture focuses on Denny Haskew’s Love and Forgiveness which can be found in the columbarium at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. Donated by Mary and Dr. Dean Kumpuris it is the focal point of this peaceful, respectful site of contemplation, grief and hope.
Haskew’s sculpture features a rising figure with arms stretched out and palms facing upward towards the heavens. The figure is emerging from a cross which is planted in a pile of rocks at the base. The figure’s face is marked with a serene determination.
This sculpture was cast in 1999. It stands approximately 8 feet tall in bronze on top of a two foot stone base. It was the first of Haskew’s sculptures to be placed in Little Rock. He now has several in private collections as well as Riverfront Park.
A member of the National Sculptors’ Guild, Haskew has participated each year in the Sculpture at the River Market invitational.
Wildwood Azalea Walk
Wildwood Park for the Arts invites people to celebrate Spring, take a stroll and sip on some bubbly today.
Wildwood is blooming! The colors and aromas of spring are upon us, and to celebrate, Wildwood’s Board of Trustees is hosting the Park’s premiere Champagne Azalea Walk on Saturday, April 7, from 1-4 pm.
With champagne in hand stroll the park, enjoy hors d’oeuvres, listen to live jazz and smell the sweet aroma of Wildwood’s famed azalea blossoms.
The cost of the Azalea Walk is $30 per person.
Enhance the experience and include a garden luncheon specially prepared for you and your friends, as well as an up close seat to the live jazz trio. Garden Luncheon: $60 per person
Sculpture Vulture: Baptist Health Healing Garden
On the grounds of Baptist Health, there is a Healing Garden which features a sculpture by Kevin Kresse. It depicts a person reaching down to help out another person. Kresse’s abstract style allows the viewer to determine whether they think it is Jesus Christ helping a fallen man, or just a “Good Samaritan” aiding someone in distress.
The garden, which was designed by P. Allen Smith, also includes a cross on one end and a fountain on the other end. Cathy Mayton, who was longtime executive vice president of Baptist Health envisioned the Healing Garden, which was supported by Russell Harrington, ceo and president of Baptist Health. The project was made possible by donations from the Estate of Mary Ann Boyd, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Shell, the Stella Boyle Smith Trust, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Winstead, Gertrude Butler, Mr. and Mrs. R.J. Wills and hospital auxiliaries.
Though many people walk past the Healing Garden without noticing it as they are going in or exiting the hospital, it provides a refuge for countless visitors as well as employees.
A few years ago, I was out there and saw a grandfather and his toddler grandson in the garden. I have no idea whether they were at the hospital for a joyous reason or a sad reason. But whatever the reason, as they were playing in the garden, they were enjoying themselves and having a time alone – just the two of them – in the midst of the hustle and bustle of life.
This space exemplifies the purpose of public art. It allows people to have their own unique experience which meets the current need of their life. It allows for interaction, quiet reflection, and personal experiences.
Every time I am there I see a variety of ages, races, and backgrounds sharing the space in a meaningful way. It is through public art, and the arts in general, that we can come together as a society. Art allows us to be both an individual and part of a greater being at the same time.
Deadline Approaching for Arkansas Arts Summit Registration
The Arkansas Arts Council is pleased to be a sponsor of the 2012 Arkansas Arts Summit April 17-18 at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock. This intensive, two-day event will provide practical training for board members and arts administrators to help build and maintain art organizations and programs.
The conference will also offer performances, social events and networking opportunities. Registration is $95 and deadline to register is April 1. Click here to download a registration form, which includes a conference agenda and hotel information.
The Summit is presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the Kennedy Center.
Led by Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser, the conference will equip participants to:
- Recruit and manage board members
- Achieve fundraising success
- Create institutional image with impact
- Improve strategic financial planning
- Develop and support effective marketing campaigns
Sponsors include the Arkansas Arts Council, the William J. Clinton Foundation, Donna and Mack McLarty, Kaki Hockersmith, Mid-America Arts Alliance, the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, the Windgate Foundation, Stella Boyle Smith Trust, the City of Little Rock and the City of North Little Rock.
Another elite architectural award for a Little Rock firm and building
Polk Stanley Wilcox of Little Rock was awarded the American Architecture Award for its design of the Heifer International Murphy Keller Education Center in Little Rock.
In the last five years, PSW has won this award for both the Acxiom Data Center and the Heifer International Headquarters.
The Murphy Keller Eduction Center provides a place for visitors, staff, volunteers and the international development community to come together to learn about world hunger and poverty and current solutions to these problems.
It features an interactive learning center that includes exhibit space, a conference hall, a fair trade gift market and food service area.
“This recognition is proof that good design matters, and can contribute to getting an organization like Heifer’s message out into the public eye, which is critical for their humanitarian efforts,” Reese Rowland, the project’s principal architect, said. “We are also excited to bring more national exposure to downtown Little Rock as well.”
The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, together with The European Centre for Architecture Art Design & Urban Studies and Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd., selected the Polk Stanley Wilcox design for the award, one of 46 given this year.
The American Architecture Award aims to celebrate the “most outstanding new architecture” designed and built in the United States by American and international architects.
About 1,000 projects from around the world were considered for the award.
CALS Lights Way at New Library Construction Site
Photo courtesy of CALS
Just as libraries are places for illuminating minds, lights are shining on the Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) Children’s Library Initiative project at 4800 West 10th Street.
A tree on the site was lighted in November, and continues to highlight the work that has progressed. The structural steel is being erected, and roof beams are now being placed. The slab for the lower level has been poured, and the project is on schedule for the upper floor slab to pour very soon. Interior finishes are being selected, with the products and colors chosen for the countertops and the flooring carpet, tile, and cork.
Library staff is currently designing programming with Arkansas Out of School Network (AOSN), Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Central Little Rock Promise Neighborhood (CLRPN), the Clinton School of Public Service, and other organizations in preparation for the opening of the facility in early 2013. The library will offer programming for infants through middle school-aged children, including Storytime, crafts, music, and book clubs. The opening of the children’s library will allow CALS to expand the number and types of programs available for children. Public computers and a computer lab will allow more children to learn how to use and have access to computers and the Internet. Computer safety classes will teach them, and their parents, how to access the Internet safely.
Other planned features of the facility and site include a kitchen, gardens, and a greenhouse that will provide opportunities for enrichment activities for children in a wide variety of areas which cannot be duplicated currently by any other single organization. Located south of I-630 between the Pine/Cedar and Fair Park exits, the new Children’s Library will help anchor the renewal of the 12th Street Corridor Revitalization Project.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 