Category Archives: Government

2FAN at HAM – Vice and Virtue tonight at Historic Arkansas Museum

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Join Historic Arkansas Museum in 2020 for another great year of 2FAN!

For the first 2FAN of the year, they’ll hold the opening reception for Vice and Virtue, an exhibit by Melissa Wilkinson. Providing the musical entertainment for the evening is Little Rock’s The Cons of Formant.

Beverages and appetizers will be served in the Stella Boyle Smith Atrium including Arkansas-made beer from Stone’s Throw Brewing.

2nd Friday Art Night is sponsored by the Historic Arkansas Museum Foundation, with special thanks to 107 Liquor. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.

Vice and Virtue
Second Floor Gallery
January 10 – April 5, 2020

Melissa Wilkinson uses the traditional processes of painting to meditate on issues of gender, identity construction, and beauty by embracing the tactile in an increasingly technological and dehumanizing time. Her works embrace dichotomies, such as obscuring and revealing, attraction and repulsion, good and evil, the past and the present, and masculine and feminine. Vice and Virtue consists of appropriated images sourced from disco, private Tumblr accounts, and late 70’s/early 80’s “tomboys” who informed Wilkinson’s identity and sense of self as a queer person. Wilkinson’s meticulously crafted watercolor and ink wash paintings straddle the line between abstraction and representation and invite the viewer to consider how gender is perceived and displayed.

Melissa Wilkinson received her BFA in painting from Western Illinois University in 2002 and her MFA in painting from Southern Illinois University in 2006. She serves as Associate Professor of Art-Painting at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. She lives in the Memphis, TN area.

Sandwich in History at Barton Coliseum today at 12 noon

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Image may contain: sky and outdoorYou are invited to join the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program’s next “Sandwiching in History” tour, which will visit one of Little Rock’s most storied structures, T. H. Barton Coliseum beginning at noon on Friday, January 10, 2020.

Barton Coliseum is a 7000+ seat arena at the Arkansas State Fairgrounds which housed many concerts and sporting events over the years and continues to serve as a venue for the State Fair’s rodeo and various motor shows.

Learn more about this 1952 structure during our approximately one hour walking tour of Barton Coliseum. Tickets are NOT required for this event. This event is FREE and OPEN to the public.

Sandwiching in History tours are worth one hour of AIA continuing education credit. If you would like to receive email notifications of upcoming tours instead of postcards or need additional information, please contact Callie Williams, Education and Outreach Coordinator for AHPP, at 501-324-9880 or Callie.Williams@arkansas.gov.

Tonight – opening reception for Arkansas Arts Council’s Small Works on Paper exhibit at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center

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Image result for arkansas arts council small works on paperThe Arkansas Arts Council, a division of Arkansas Heritage, is pleased to announce 35 Arkansas artists will be represented in the 2020 Small Works on Paper touring exhibition. The opening reception will take place tonight (January 9) at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.

Thirty-nine artworks will be on display in nine galleries statewide during the yearlong tour. Featured artists will speak during the opening reception. Both the exhibition and the reception are free. The exhibition will run through Jan. 25

The following artists’ work will be on display:

1. Oluwatobi K. Adewumi, of McNeil
2. John Ahlen, of Little Rock
3. Martin Balsam, of Little Rock
4. Ebony Blevins, of Little Rock
5. Win Bruhl, of Little Rock
6. Brian Cormack, of Little Rock
7. Anais Dasse, of Little Rock
8. Terra Fondriest, of St. Joe
9. B. Jeannie Fry, of Cabot
10. Catherine Goenner, of Bella Vista
11. Diane Harper, of Little Rock
12. Diana Michelle Hausam, of West Fork
13. Karlyn S. Holloway, of Austin
14. Jeff Horton, of Little Rock
15. Cary Jenkins, of Little Rock
16. Hannah Jeremiah, of Van Buren
17. Kimiara L. Johnson, of Pine Bluff
18. Kathleen Keefe, of Little Rock
19. John P. Lasater, IV, of Siloam Springs
20. Sigrid Lorfing, of Russellville
21. Lisa Martin, of Clarksville
22. Ray Ogar, of Little Rock
23. Karen Perry, of Hot Springs Village
24. Michael Preble, of Hot Springs
25. Lynn Reinbolt, of Searcy
26. Charlotte Bailey Rierson, of Fairfield Bay
27. Jane Rockwell, North Little Rock
28. Sabine Schmidt, of Fayetteville
29. Dominique Simmons, of Little Rock
30. Gary Simmons, of Hot Springs
31. Thomas Quinton Stanford, of Siloam Springs
32. Joe Stewart, of Bentonville
33. Brian Wolf, of North Little Rock
34. Terry Wright, of Little Rock
35. Anna Zusman, of Magnolia

Small Works on Paper is a juried visual art exhibition that showcases artwork no larger than 18-by-24 inches. The work is by Arkansas artists who are members of the Arkansas Artist Registry, an online gallery. The exhibition features new and established artists and offers those artists the opportunity to have their work seen by patrons all over the state.

This year’s entries were juried by Jamie Adams, associate professor of art at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Adams reviewed nearly 300 submitted artworks to pick the 39 works in the exhibit. He also selected the following works to receive purchase awards, which are cash prizes equivalent to the value of the artwork. Purchase award pieces become part of the Small Works on Paper permanent collection.

“Proud Tower,” acrylic and collage, by John Ahlen of Little Rock
“Self-Portrait,” charcoal, by Martin Balsam of Little Rock
“Ozark Gaming,” photograph, by Terra Fondriest of St. Joe
“Post,” photograph, by Cary Jenkins of Little Rock
“Reflections of Winter Series 1, Winter’s Kiss,” watercolor by Charlotte Bailey Rierson of Fairfield Bay
“Jonathan,” graphite, by Jane Rockwell, of North Little Rock
“Palm Hours,” acrylic on paper, by Brian Wolf of North Little Rock

First documented theatrical performance in Little Rock on January 8, 1835

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On January 8, 1835, the Little Rock Town Council passed an ordinance granting the Society of Thalians a one year franchise to conduct performances in Little Rock.

That same day, the Thalians performed She Stoops to Conquer, Oliver Goldsmith’s 1773 comedy.

The following week, on January 17, they performed the comedy Ways and Means (by George Colman, Jr.) and David Garrick’s farce The Lying Valet.

The cost of the license to perform was $10 for the year. That would be the equivalent of $287 today. The ordinance also instructed the Town Constable to attend, by himself or a deputy, all theatrical performances to keep and preserve order.

There may well have been theatrical troupes come through Little Rock prior to January 1835, but records do not exist to any performances they may have given.  The performances by the Thalians are the first documented theatrical productions in Little Rock.

Resumption of City of Little Rock government in post-Civil War era

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One hundred and fifty four years ago today (on January 8, 1866), Little Rock City Hall resumed functioning after the Civil War.  The City government had disbanded in September 1863 after the Battle of Little Rock.  From September 1863 through the end of the war (on on through part of Reconstruction), Little Rock was under control of Union forces.

Following the April 1865 conclusion of the Civil War, plans were made to restart local government in Little Rock.  Even though Arkansas would not have Congressional representation in Washington until June 1868 (becoming the second Confederate state after Tennessee), the establishment of local government took place in January 1866.  (It was supposed to have started earlier, but the local elections set for November 1865 were cancelled on the day they were originally set to take place.)

The first City Council meeting took place on Monday, January 8, 1866. The council met again on Tuesday, January 9 and Monday, January 15 as they were trying to establish committees and rules for the new government.

The first post-Civil War mayor was Dr. J. J. McAlmont, who was a physician and pharmacist. Following his service as the city’s chief executive, he would later be a co-founder of what is now UAMS.  The initial aldermen were I.A. Henry (who had been on the City Council when it ceased in 1863), Henry Ashley, M. H. Eastman, Rick Bragg, Dr. P. O. Hooper, G. S. Morrison, John Collins and Alexander George.

Their first action was to approve the bond of Thomas C. Scott as Constable and City Collector.  Vouching for him were S. H. Tucker and future LR mayor John Gould Fletcher.  The Recorder was asked to present his bond and the next meeting.

The Mayor then established several committees of the City Council and named his appointments. Among the committees were Finances, Streets, Ordinances, Mount Holly Cemetery, Fire Department and Police.

That meeting and the following two meetings, the City continued to approve motions, resolutions and ordinances to set up the duties and responsibilities of a government.

Ordinance Number 1 established the rates of Licenses for 1866.  Among those were:

  • $100 for the privilege of selling goods at auction
  • $20 for a one-horse wagon, paid quarterly
  • $35 for a two-horse wagon, paid quarterly
  • $50 for a four-horse wagon, paid quarterly
  • $25 to run a cab or bus (which would have been in some horse drawn conveyance), paid quarterly
  • $40 a month to sell liquor, wine, ale, beer, etc., by the glass or bottle to be consumed in a store, tavern, shop or store
  • $25 each quarter for each billiard table
  • $50 each quarter for each ten pin alley

Relive the 1990s in new Clinton Center exhibit

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“As if” anyone could forget the prosperous, golden hopeful years of the 1990s! The Clinton Presidential Center is bringing back the decade that brought us blockbuster movies, must-see television shows, genre-changing music, iconic fashion, collectible toys, and the rise of PCs and the World Wide Web.

This exhibit features an exciting and diverse display – from props and scripts to fashion and tech – that, together, will tell the story of popular culture in the United States at the end of the 20th century. You won’t want to miss Rose’s dress and Jack’s drawing portfolio from Titanic, scripts from The West Wing, one of Garth Brooks’ Stetson Cowboys hats, and, of course, a collection of Beanie Babies that were sent to the Clinton family during the White House years. you’ll definitely want to bring all your “Friends” for a special “perk”-y photo op!

Throughout the exhibit, you’ll have the opportunity to play a variety of interactive games that focus on the era, including ’90s trivia, Pogs, a giant crossword puzzle with ’90s clues, and a ’90s-style video game!

At the Clinton Center, we’ll “never let go” of the 1990s, and we invite you to join us in taking a trip down memory lane with …Like It’s 1999: American Popular Culture in the 1990s, on display to May 25, 2020.