7th annual AAC Fountain Fest is tonight!

What better location for the 7th Fountain Fest in the Rock, than at 7th and Rock Streets?

With construction beginning at the Arkansas Arts Center’s MacArthur Park building this fall, the Contemporaries’ 7th Annual Fountain Fest is moving a few blocks down the street. This year’s fundraiser – featuring food, music, art and libations – will be on the lawn of the Terry House at the corner of East 7th and Rock Street in downtown Little Rock on October 17.

“We’re thrilled to be able to host Fountain Fest at the Terry House this year,” Contemporaries President Heather Wardle said. “Funds raised from Fountain Fest will support the Contemporaries continuing efforts to expand the Arkansas Arts Center Collection and provide exceptional arts programming for young professionals in Little Rock.”

The 7th Annual Fountain Fest will feature food from Petit & Keet and the Chenal Country Club, desserts by UA–Pulaski Tech Culinary Arts Institute, beer by Stone’s Throw Brewing and Back Forty Beer Company, and cocktails by Roxor Gin and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Local duo Brian Nahlen and Jason Lee Hale will provide music. Museum School instructors and students will offer art-making experiences, and the Children’s Theatre will host a shadow-puppet photo booth.

“Fountain Fest is a great opportunity for the community to engage with everything the Arts Center and the Contemporaries have to offer,” Fountain Fest Chair Chris Smith said. “We’re excited to continue hosting this popular event even while the Arts Center’s MacArthur Park building is under construction.”

Fountain Fest will begin at 5:30 p.m. on October 17 on the Terry House lawn. Event tickets are $30 each or $50 for two and can be purchased at arkansasartscenter.org/fountain-fest or by calling (501) 372-4000. Sponsorship opportunities are still available; for more information contact Spencer Jansen at (501) 396-0337.

The event will also feature a chance drawing for a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 20yr Bourbon. Drawing tickets are $10 each and can be purchased at arkansasartscenter.org/fountain-fest or at the event. The winner does not have to be present to win.

Fountain Fest provides an opportunity for the community to engage with the Contemporaries, an affiliate-membership group of the Arkansas Arts Center made up of art enthusiasts who wish to expand their knowledge and appreciation of the arts. The Contemporaries programs provide young professionals with an opportunity to experience the Arkansas Arts Center and become involved with the local art community. Through exclusive tours of the Arts Center, private homes and local galleries, the Contemporaries develop a more informed appreciation of art. The funds raised at Fountain Fest support acquisitions on behalf of the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection and other programming that supports the Arts Center.

The 7th Annual Fountain Fest is chaired by Chris Smith. Fountain Fest is sponsored by CenterPoint Energy, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Datamax, and Peckham + Smith Architects, Inc. In-kind sponsors are 107 Liquor; Roxor Gin; Stone’s Throw Brewing; Tito’s Handmade Vodka; Back Forty Beer Company; Moon Distributors; O’Connor Distributing; Chenal Country Club; UA–Pulaski Technical College Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute; and Argenta Downtown Council.

Artober – Patterns….Quilts at Historic Arkansas Museum

Stitched Together: A Treasury of Arkansas Quilts

Rocky Mountain Road by Elizabeth Rogers Manning and Martha Manning. part of Historic Arkansas Museum collection.

October is Arts and Humanities Month nationally and in Little Rock. Americans for the Arts has identified a different arts topic to be posted for each day in the month.  Next up is Patterns.

One way to highlight patterns is to look at some in the Stitched Together exhibit at Historic Arkansas Museum. Quilting is a skill that was carried to the New World by immigrants.  However, in the almost two and half centuries since the colonies became states, quilting has evolved into a uniquely American tradition.

Quilting is all about patterns, sometimes repeating, sometimes in response. But it is all about patterns.

Here are a few from the exhibit:

The first features my favorite fabric pattern: PLAID!

Log Cabin, a pieced quilt ca. 1950 by Clara Baker.  Part of Historic Arkansas Museum collection.

 

Signature. Made by members of the Women’s Missionary Society of Lonoke County. 1907. Part of the Historic Arkansas Museum collection.

Star of Bethlehem and unnamed pattern. Pieced and appliqued quilt. Mary Jane Vincent, ca. 1860. Part of Historic Arkansas Museum collection.

Artober – I Made This….

October is Arts and Humanities Month nationally and in Little Rock. Americans for the Arts has identified a different arts topic to be posted for each day in the month.  Today’s feature is “I Made This.”

A few years ago, I took a class at the Arkansas Arts Center Museum School where we splattered paint onto a spinning canvas. My colors were inspired by my love of the New York Yankees and by actor Ben Piazza.  I first painted dark blue pinstripes on the canvas as a nod to the Yankees. Then I washed it with a watered down version of that blue.

For the colors, I chose Lime Green, Khaki, and White.  The white echoes the white and blue of the Yankees. The Lime Green and Khaki came from Little Rock native Ben Piazza’s plays “Lime Green” and “Khaki Blue.”

BLACK HAWK DOWN: THE UNTOLD STORY is October’s Movies at MacArthur

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Black Hawk Down: The Untold Story presents the heroic efforts of soldiers from the 2nd Battalion 14th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division.  The movie will be shown tonight (October 15) at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.

These men demonstrated extraordinary courage, skill, and discipline as they fought their way into a “baited ambush” to rescue special operations forces pinned down at the crash site of Super Six-One while also attempting a rescue a the crash site of Super Six-Four. Two soldiers were killed and eighteen wounded in what many have described as the most ferocious urban combat since the Battle for Hue during the Tet Offensive in 1968.

The movie is this month’s Movies at MacArthur at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.  It starts at 6:30 pm.  The film series is presented in partnership with AETN, the Bruce Family Endowment, Stone’s Throw, and the City of Little Rock Parks and Recreation Department.

Special guest at the screening will be, Colonel Randall Larsen, USAF (Ret) who is the documentary’s Executive Producer/Director. He served in both the Army and Air Force for a combined total of 32 years of active duty military service and as military attaché at the US Embassy in Bangkok, the chief of legislative liaison at the US Transportation Command, and the commander of America’s fleet of VIP aircraft at Andrews AFB MD. His decorations include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, and 17 awards of the Air Medal (3 with “V” Device for Valor).

Admission is free. Popcorn and Beverages will be provided.

Artober – Museums…. the Museum of Discovery

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October is Arts and Humanities Month nationally and in Little Rock. Americans for the Arts has identified a different arts topic to be posted for each day in the month. Today looks at the Museum of Discovery.

Related imageLittle Rock’s oldest museum, it was founded in 1927 as the Museum of Natural History & Antiquities. After starting in a downtown storefront, it later moved to the third floor of Little Rock City Hall. In December 1929, it was given to the City as a “Christmas present.”  In the mid-1930s, the museum went dormant when the space it occupied in City Hall was needed to house federal New Deal agency offices.

In 1942, the museum reopened in a new location, the formal Arsenal Tower in City Park (now MacArthur Park.) It would remain in that building for over 50 years.  In 1998, with name change to its current one, it relocated to the Museum Center in the River Market district. In 2011, the facility closed for a major renovation and reopened in January 2012.

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Today, the Museum of Discovery is Arkansas’ premier science and technology center, with a mission to ignite and fuel a passion for science, technology, engineering, arts and math through dynamic, interactive experiences.

The permanent galleries include Discovery Hall, the Amazing You gallery, Earth Journeys, Tinkering Studio, Room to Grow, the Tesla Theater and Tornado Alley Theater.

It has been ranked the 6th best Science Museum in the US. by MENSA.

 

7th Annual Vintage Military Vehicle Show today at MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History

The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History will host its seventh annual vintage military vehicle show on Saturday, October 12, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Two dozen military vehicles from World War II through Desert Storm will be on display in front of the museum, located at 503 E. 9th Street in downtown Little Rock’s MacArthur Park.  The vehicle show will feature Jeeps and other vehicles from the Arkansas Military Vehicle Preservation Association and the West Tennessee Military Vehicle Collectors Club.

The event features living history performances by World War II Reenactors of Arkansas.  Refreshments are provided by Woodmen Life, Bluebell Ice Cream, and Premium Refreshment Services.

The show appeals to those who have an interest in military history, as well as in vintage cars and trucks.    It is free to the public.

October 2FAN at Old State House Museum – Runaway Planet

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This month’s musical guest for 2nd Friday Art Night at the Old State House Museum will be Runaway Planet, the 2019 Bluegrass Artist of the Year winner at the Arkansas Country Music Awards!

You’ll love the sound of the band’s unique “mix of hard-driving bluegrass, three-part harmonies, complex arrangements and original songs.”

Free Admission!