Category Archives: Design

A Conversation with Rocco Landesman this afternoon

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Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, will be making his first visit to Arkansas. Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, will be making his first visit to Arkansas today.

As a part of that visit, he will be participating in a Please join us for a very enlightening panel discussion at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. It is being co-hosted by The Rep and the Oxford American. Arkansas First Lady Ginger Bebee will introduce the conversation.

Visiting Arkansas for the first time, Chairman Landesman will participate in a panel discussion with Rep Producing Artistic Director Bob Hupp and Oxford American Publisher Warick Sabin. Arkansas Arts Council Executive Director Joy Pennington will moderate the panel on “Creative Placemaking in Little Rock.”

The panel discussion will take place in the Rep’s Cindy Murphy Theatre at 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Following the panel, there will be a reception at 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
The panel discussion and lobby reception are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Rocco Landesman was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 7, 2009 as the tenth chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Prior to joining the NEA, he was president of Jujamcyn Theatres, which owns five Broadway theatres. A Broadway theater producer and multiple Tony winner, he has brought Big River (1985 Tony Award for Best Musical), Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (1993 Tony Award for Best Play), Angels in America: Perestroika (1994 Tony Award for Best Play), Into the Woods, and The Producers (2001 Tony Award for Best Musical) to Broadway.

Marching along 2nd Friday Art Night

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History takes front and center at this month’s 2nd Friday Art Night.

First up, the Butler Center Galleries of the Arkansas Studies Institute are featuring the new exhibit “Making a Place: Jewish Experience in Arkansas.”  This exhibit explores the development of the Jewish community in Arkansas focusing on immigration, isolation and assimilation.

Over at Historic Arkansas Museum, the Smittle Band will be entertaining visitors who are looking at the temporary and permanent exhibits of art and history.  The evening will also feature a sample of wines hosted by downtown’s very own Zin Wine Bar.

The Old State House Museum will be open so that visitors can see the new exhibit “Things You Need to Hear: Memories of Growing up in Arkansas from 1890 to 1980.”

Another exhibit with a history flavor will be at studioMain. The March exhibition is “The History of Our Downtown.”

These and other stops of 2nd Friday Art Night will be open from 5pm to 8pm.  While on-street parking is available near most sites, a free trolley makes stops at each of the venues.  The Arkansas Times is a sponsor of 2nd Friday Art Night.

Historic Preservation Alliance seeking Endangered Places nominations

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The Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas is now accepting nominations for the 2012 Most Endangered Places List.  The deadline for nominations is Monday, April 2, 2012.

Every year, many historic properties across the state of Arkansas are threatened by demolition, neglect, lack of resources or knowledge of their importance. Each of the endangered resources holds a special place in our collective memory and helps to define who we are as a people, a culture, and a State. Once these unique places are gone, they are gone forever

The Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas has maintained a Most Endangered Places List in our state since 1999. By bringing attention to these threatened buildings, sites and places in Arkansas, we seek to raise awareness in communities statewide and to create many success stories from places in peril. This nomination form is your chance to initiate your own story of success.

Properties selected for the Most Endangered Places List will be announced in May during Arkansas Heritage Month and National Preservation Month.

The list of Arkansas’s Most Endangered Historic Places is publicized each year through the announcement of the list in mid-May, which is also Arkansas Heritage Month and National Preservation Month. Press packets are issued to the media in conjunction with the announcement, encouraging TV and radio coverage as well as articles in both statewide and local newspapers. In addition, the Alliance newsletter annually publishes an article about the properties in the list, and information about the list is provided to the Arkansas Historical Quarterly and to the newsletters of local preservation groups and historical societies.

Each year, the Board of Directors of the Alliance appoints a special five-member “Most Endangered List Committee” to oversee the selection of properties for the list and to work with Alliance staff on organizing the announcement of that year’s list.

The composition of this special committee is as follows:

  • A representative of the Alliance Board of Directors
  • A representative of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program
  • An architect
  • A historian familiar with Arkansas history
  • An at-large member chosen from the Alliance membership

The representative of the Alliance Board of Directors chairs the committee.

Sculpture Vulture: St. Andrew

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As runners in the Little Rock Marathon raced downtown today, they went past this sculpture of St. Andrew which sits in front of the Cathedral of St. Andrew near the race course.

The sculpture, St. Andrew – Ave Crux (Behold the Cross) was installed in 1979 under the leadership of Bishop Andrew J. McDonald of the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock and Monsignor B. F. McDevitt, Rector of the Cathedral of St. Andrew.

In 1981, the statue was dedicated as a memorial to Monsignor McDevitt.

The statue, by the sculptor Pedrini, is just under 10 feet tall and is carved out of Carrara marble.  It depicts St. Andrew holding a scroll with the words “Go Teach All Nations” as well as a string bag of fish.

These items pay homage to his background as a fisherman and his work as a disciple who taught and traveled as far as Russia, Turkey and Italy — far journeys from the Holy Land in ancient times.

The saltire, or X shaped cross, stands behind him.  Also known as St. Andrews cross, legend has it that he was crucified on a cross of this shape as opposed to the traditional “T” shape.

February Frieze Frame Friday – Nature Friezes

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701 Capitol

Since there was really no freezing weather this February, the architectural friezes have had to do.  The final feature in this series is actually five small friezes on a one story building at 701 West Capitol.

This one story office building sits on a corner with the entrance actually being off the corner instead of a street front.  Though the majority of the building is brick, the granite front entrance wraps around the corner. 

(no idea what this is)

The friezes are spaced at the top of this granite.  According to the Pulaski County Assessor’s office, this building (which is across the street from the Federal Courthouse) was built in 1960.

The friezes, designed in an art deco style, depict scenes of nature.  It is apparent that one is of a bird (an eagle?), one is a duck flying, one is of fish, and one of an antlered animal (an antelope?).

The remaining frieze is a mystery to the LR Culture Vulture. All of the other designs are very detailed yet this one appears to be more stylistic.

Eagle (centered over entrance)

Duck flying (along Capitol Avenue)

Fish swimming (along Capitol Avenue)

Antelope playing (along Capitol Avenue)

Sculpture Vulture: Bill Clinton

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Tomorrow is not President’s Day, it is Washington’s Birthday.  But in honor of the only Arkansan to succeed Washington as President, today’s Sculpture Vulture highlights the bust of William Jefferson Clinton which is on the grounds of the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion.

The bust was commissioned in 1994 by the Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission.  It had originally been intended as more of a plaque featuring Clinton’s face. But sculptor Jan Woods, who had been selected to create the art, suggested turning it into a bust.  A bust does look more statesman-like and appropriate for the intention of honoring the only resident of the Governor’s Mansion who has also lived in the White House.

Woods created a very life-like, realistic depiction of Bill Clinton.  She captures the slight smile and intense gaze of his face which is part of what creates the feeling of empathy and personal connection even his harshest critics agree he possesses.  Unlike the JFK bust in the Kennedy Center which is abstract or the lifeless gazes so often found in busts and statues of earlier presidents, this bust captures the essence of the man.

The bust sits on the front lawn of the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion to the west of the main gate.  Even when the grounds are closed, it is visible to the public through the fence.

February Frieze Frame Friday, the 3rd

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This frieze is found above the entrance to the building at 801 West Third Street, which houses a law firm.  The building was built in 1954 as an office.  At the time, that portion of Third Street was a mix of commercial and residential structures.

Though it is only a one story building, the combination of the frieze above the door and the glass blocks framing the door makes the building look more imposing than a typical 1950s one-story office structure would.

As was the case with many 20th century friezes, this depicts people in “modern” dress but in classical style.  These are less angular depictions than are found in Art Deco freizes; the lines are more natural and realistic.  The women’s fashions are definitely mid-20th century in dress and hair.  The men are depicted in a similar fashion, but in keeping with the classic tradition, the men are shirtless.