Category Archives: Museum

The HAM Nog-Off a finalist for Bootstrap Award

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thnogoff_tstHistoric Arkansas Museum’s popular annual Nog-off event was a finalist for the Bootstrap Award at this year’s Arkansas Governor’s Conference on Tourism!

This free annual event has become a success on a bootstrap budget thanks to the hard work, passion and dedication of the museum staff, amazing volunteers, incredible competitors and expert judges both past and present!

HAM will host the 12th Ever Nog-off on December 9, 2016, and they hope to see you there!

Have you ever wondered why they include “Ever” in the title of this annual event? It’s because they began as the First Ever Nog-off almost 12 years ago! Staff thinks it’s been fun to see several knock-off nog-offs appear across the country (after all, imitation is the highest form of flattery); they are proud that Arkansas was the first and it all started at Historic Arkansas Museum!

This event is an ideal example of how HAM pairs Arkansas history and heritage with fun and engaging experiences. They are proud each year to showcase historic eggnog recipes with connections to our historic grounds and early Arkansas as well as innovative recipes from our contemporary culinary masterminds in Arkansas. ‪#‎ArkansasMade‬ ‪#‎AuthenticArkansas‬ ‪#‎HeritageFood‬

“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.

2016 Mid-Southern Watercolorists Exhibition at Arkansas Arts Center

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MSW Gold Award "Lake Lilies" by Judy Wright Walter

MSW Gold Award “Lake Lilies” by Judy Wright Walter

The artists of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists have been exploring the world through luminous color on paper since the group was founded in 1970. The MSW is one of the largest and most active art organizations headquartered in Arkansas. More than 200 members live and create across the Mid-South and beyond. Their works are widely exhibited in venues both regional and national. Each year their finest productions are gathered in a juried exhibition.

The guest juror for this year’s exhibition is nationally recognized watercolorist, Robert Burridge. From 136 entries submitted by 74 artists, he narrowed the exhibition list to thirty works. Burridge is the Honorary President of the International Society of Acrylic Painters (ISAP) and a Signature Member of both the ISIP and the Philadelphia Water Color Society. He is a recipient of their highest and most prestigious award, the Crest Medal for Achievement in the Arts.

The Mid-Southern Watercolorists hold their meetings on the third Wednesday of each month in the Lecture Hall here at the Arkansas Arts Center. They offer workshops where members can learn from locally and nationally recognized watercolorists. To learn more about the organization, or to join, please visit: MidSouthernWatercolorists.com.

New HAM exhibit looks at 75 Years of the museum

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75thbannerHistoric Arkansas Museum, a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, will host a free opening reception for the museum’s 75th anniversary exhibit A Diamond in the Rough: 75 Years of Historic Arkansas Museum during 2nd Friday Art Night from 5 to 8 pm. The reception will feature a vintage cocktail from 1941, the year the museum was founded, live music by the Delta Brass Combo and a unique 75th anniversary Living History performance featuring portrayals of museum founder Louise Loughborough, as she campaigns the historic structures that are now preserved on the museum grounds, as well as Senator Ed Dillon and Governor Bailey. Refreshments will be available, including the vintage cocktail Millionaire No. 1 which was popular in 1941 – the year Historic Arkansas Museum was founded.

A Diamond in the Rough: 75 Years of Historic Arkansas Museum

Experience 75 years of Historic Arkansas Museum, beginning with the ambitious Louise Watkins Loughborough whose one-woman campaign succeeded in the founding of the museum in 1941. The museum, now a gem of Arkansas history and culture, began as a diamond in the rough; a half-block of dilapidated historic homes—the last remnant of Little Rock’s oldest neighborhood. Loughborough’s passion and vision saved these historic structures and the subsequent contributions of architects and preservationists such as Max Mayer, Ed Cromwell, Parker Westbrook and others succeeded in making Historic Arkansas Museum the historic landmark and vibrant cultural institution it is today.

The anniversary exhibit is a celebration of the museum’s commitment to preserving and exhibiting objects and artworks that illuminate Arkansas’s rich and varied cultural heritage. Learn more about the contributions of pioneering community leaders, reflect on milestones in the museum’s development over 75 years and see many of the most important pieces from the museum’s permanent collection. This exhibit continues in the Horace C. Cabe Gallery through February 2017.

Currently on exhibit:

Historic Arkansas Museum is open 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 – 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission to the galleries and parking are free; admission to the historic grounds is $2.50 for adults, $1 for children under 18, $1.50 for senior citizens. The Historic Arkansas Museum Store is open 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Historic Arkansas Museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, which was created in 1975 to preserve and enhance the heritage of the state of Arkansas. Other agencies of the department are Delta Cultural Center in Helena, Arkansas Arts Council, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and Old State House Museum.

Governor’s Arts Awards presented today

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Arts Community Development recipient Dean Kumpuris

Arts Community Development recipient Dean Kumpuris

The Arkansas Arts Council will present the 2016 Governor’s Arts Awards today at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion. Sponsored annually by the Arkansas Arts Council, the Governor’s Arts Awards recognize individuals and corporations for outstanding contributions to the arts in Arkansas.

The recipients were nominated by the public and then selected by an independent panel of arts professionals from around the state. Each recipient will be honored at a ceremony in the spring and will receive an original work of art created by Arkansas artist Kelly Edwards.

Lifetime Achievement Award
Suzanne Vining Kunkel, Little Rock

Arts Community Development Award
Dr. Dean Kumpuris, Little Rock

Arts in Education Award
The Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, Pine Bluff

Corporate Sponsorship of the Arts Award
Deltic Timber, El Dorado

Folklife Award
Sonny Burgess and The Legendary Pacers, Newport

Individual Artist Award
RB McGrath, Jacksonville

Patron Award
Dr. Thomas A. Bruce, Little Rock

Judges Recognition Award
Theresa Timmons-Shamberger, Maumelle

The selection committee members included Mildred Franco, Arkansas Arts Council board, Pine Bluff; Ed Clifford, The Jones Center, Bentonville; Aj Smith, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; Chris James, The Roots Art Connection, North Little Rock; and Cathy Cunningham, Southern Bancorp Community Partners, Helena.

Brown Bag at Old State House today at noon – COURAGE, PROMINENCE, THEN OBSCURITY: THE LIFE OF EDWARD ALLEN FULTON

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OSH Brown BagToday (March 10) at noon, Blake Wintory presents the Old State House’s March Brown Bag program on the life of Edward Allen Fulton.
Fulton was an African American leader, politician and newspaper editor in Arkansas during Reconstruction and subsequent years. Born a slave in Kentucky in 1833, Fulton spent his youth as a slave in Missouri before escaping and joining the abolitionist movement in Chicago. During the Civil War he worked as a recruiter for U.S. Colored Troops and arrived in post-war Arkansas in 1866.

In 1870 Drew County elected him to the Arkansas General Assembly as a Republican. Fulton sided with Joseph Brooks’ “Brindletail” or Reform Republicans and often clashed with the Regular Republicans, including Governor Powell Clayton. Throughout his career he championed the rights of African Americans and even led several Drew County families to western Iowa at the height of the Exoduster migration. Despite a colorful life that included an assassination attempt, Fulton died in relative obscurity in St. Louis in 1906.

Blake Wintory received his Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas in 2005. He is the on-site director at the 1859 Lakeport Plantation, an Arkansas State University Heritage Site in Chicot County. He serves on the board of Preserve Arkansas and the Friends of the Arkansas History Commission. In 2015 he published his first book, Images of Chicot County, and has published articles on Arkansas history in the Arkansas Historical Quarterly, the Arkansas Review, and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture.

On International Women’s Day, see the Dorthea Lange’s America at the Arkansas Arts Center

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Today is International Women’s Day. The Arkansas Arts Center currently features several exhibitions celebrating women artists.  One of them is Dorthea Lange’s America.  It is on display through May 8.

Dorothea Lange, American (Hoboken, NJ, 1895 – 1965, San Francisco, CA), Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, 1936, gelatin silver print, Private Collection, © Dorothea Lange/Oakland Museum of California

Migrant Mother strikes the heart. Dorothea Lange’s iconic image of the Great Depression forces us to confront the humanity and strength of one woman struggling to get her family through the privations they face when there is no money. Dorothea Lange’s America brings together many of the photographer’s images made as she traveled across America during the 1930s documenting the suffering of unemployed or terribly underpaid agricultural workers and their families. Lange took these photographs as part of the photography program connected to the Farm Security Administration, a federal agency formed under the New Deal to assist poor farmers with loans and other programs.

Lange and her fellow FSA photographers recorded the lives of people coping with the dust bowl, bank and business failures, and the loss of their jobs and homes. We see the hopelessness of hungry men in breadlines and the shattered, abandoned cabin of a tenant farmer in the Mississippi Delta. But Americans did not give up. We also see the determination of men doing the grueling work of cutting lettuce for a pittance a day. And there is the radiant smile of an Arkansas mother who went to California to make a new start with her husband and eleven children. Such powerful images helped government agencies and representatives to understand the urgency of helping suffering Americans who had no other place to turn. 80 years later, these black and white documents of American endurance have not lost their impact.

Dorothea Lange’s America includes photographs made by Lange and her FSA colleagues, including Walker Evans, Ben Shahn, and Marion Post Wolcott. Depression-era photographs from photographers outside the FSA give a wider understand of the time. Here are striking visions by Mike Disfarmer, who worked as a portrait photographer in Heber Springs, Arkansas; and documentary images made from Oklahoma to Alabama by photographic artists including Lewis Hine, Doris Ulmann, and Willard Van Dyke. The exhibition continues with photographs Dorothea Lange made in the same spirit after the FSA was disbanded in 1943.