Category Archives: Museum

Award winning children’s author Boots Hensel signing copies of JOHARI’S JOY at Little Rock Zoo today

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johari_coverBoots Hensel, an award winning children’s author, will be at the Little Rock Zoo today to sign copies of her latest book Johari’s Joy.

Johari, a lonely black rhinoceros, noticed the other animals with best friends.  He didn’t have a best friend.  A kind zookeeper noticed his dilemma and placed a lonely pig named Joy in his enclosure for companionship. Could this odd couple become friends?  Or is living with a stinky pig more than this rhinoceros can handle?

Hensel will be at the Zoo in conjunction with Rhino Awareness Day.  Copies of her book will be available for purchase.

Hensel’s previous book The Zoopendous Surprise was based on Mary and Ellen, two elephants who used to be at the Little Rock Zoo.  Hensel’s daughter cared for the elephants from 2002 to 2004.

Late Night at Arkansas Arts Center tonight – Evening Lecture and Extended Hours

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AAC LinesTonight the Arkansas Arts Center is open until 9pm with a lecture, galleries and dining at Best Impressions.

From 6pm to 7pm, Ann Prentice Wagner, Curator of Drawings at the Arkansas Arts Center will present a lecture entitled “New Lines: The 12th National Drawing Invitational.”

Drawing lines is one of the oldest and most enduring of characteristically human endeavors. Ann Prentice Wagner will discuss how the 12th National Drawing Invitational challenges us to reconsider the nature of drawing. The exhibition includes distinctive graphic works by eight artists from the Mid-Atlantic region. Each artist finds a different way of imbuing marks on paper, or on Mylar, or walls, or vinyl, with meaning.

The lecture is free for members, $10 for non-members. Tickets are required.

To make reservations for dinner at Best Impressions, call 501-907-5946.

Trail of Tears Commemoration Day

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Today is Trail of Tears Commemoration Day.  There were several different routes on the Trail of Tears.  Little Rock was one of the only places (if not the only one), in which each of the tribes passed through on the way out west.

Much research on the Trail of Tears has been conducted by the UALR Sequoyah National Research Center (SNRC).

The SNRC recently opened an exhibit entitled “Toy Tipis and Totem Poles: Native American Stereotypes in the Lives of Children.”

"Ten Little Indians" spinning top for SNRC exhibit

Ten little Indians spinning top; Photography by George Chambers

The exhibit runs through Dec. 19. Held in the Dr. J.W. Wiggins Native American Art Gallery, the purpose of the event is to create awareness of the variety of native cultures and the achievements of contemporary American Indians and Alaska Natives.

The exhibit comes from the Hirschfelder-Molin Native American Stereotypes Collection, a collection of more than 1,500 museum objects and archival documents, possibly the largest such collection in the world.

The items were donated to SNRC in 2012 by Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin, professional educators and authors with decades-long experience in Native American education and Native American studies. SNRC archivist Erin Fehr will curate the exhibit with Hirschfelder, Molin, and SNRC staff.

The exhibit will highlight the areas of the collection dealing with children and Native American stereotypes omnipresent in the lives of American children.

By examining childhood objects – dolls, toys, books, games, clothing, sports memorabilia – the exhibit will create awareness of the inculcation of the images and the difficulty of changing mainstream thinking about Native American stereotypes.

In addition to presenting the stereotypes themselves, positive images and responses from Native people will be presented as an alternative.

UALR’s Sequoyah National Research Center is dedicated to the collection and preservation of all forms of Native American expression. Located in the University Plaza, SNRC has served as an archive for Native Americans for more than 30 years. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information contact Erin Fehr at ehfehr@ualr.edu or 501.569.8336.

Final Weeks to Visit Wilmot Ark at the Arkansas Arts Center

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Susan Paulsen, Wilmot, 2011, photograph, courtesy of the artist

Susan Paulsen, Wilmot, 2011, photograph, courtesy of the artist

Wilmot is a little town in Ashley County, in southeast Arkansas. . . .A few years ago, Susan Paulsen set out to tell a kind of story, to chronicle a place in Arkansas through evocative photographs taken there over the course of many visits, in all seasons of the year. . . . Together, they form a picture of a place. For the artist, that place has a personal importance—part of her family comes from there, and for generations it has been a kind of homing place for them. Through her photographs of this particular place, she wants, as she has said, to make a sort of poem about all such places; to find commonalities among these individuals and people in other places. Her goal, from the outset, has been to evoke all the Wilmots, wherever they might be. But still there is this town, these people. . .”  –

From the essay by George T. M. Shackelford, Susan Paulsen: Wilmot.

The evocative visual poetry of Susan Paulsen: Wilmot comes to the Arkansas Arts Center in the form of more than 70 photographic prints and groupings of photographs that she took in Wilmot, Arkansas between 1995 and 2012. Most spectacularly, one large wall is covered by a grid of 90 photographs. Susan Paulsen: Wilmot was organized by Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris. The images are coming home to Arkansas for their American debut.

They will be on view in the Townsend Wolfe Gallery until September 28, 2014.

Sponsored by:

Brenda Mize
June and Edmond Freeman

Little Rock Look Back: H. L. Fletcher, LR’s 35th Mayor

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Mayor H L FletcherOn September 15, 1833, future Little Rock Mayor Henry Lewis Fletcher was born in Saline County.  His parents were Henry Lewis and Mary Lindsey Fletcher.  One of his siblings was future Little Rock Mayor John Gould Fletcher.  The Fletcher brothers are the only set of siblings to serve as Mayors of Little Rock.

Though the life of John Gould Fletcher is fairly well documented, not much information is out there on his brother Henry Lewis (and some of what is out there is incorrect).  He married Susan Bricelin August 30, 1855, in Pulaski County.  During the Civil War, he served as a sergeant in the cavalry for the Confederate Army in Captain Ed Nowland’s Company.

As a civic leader, Fletcher oversaw Arkansas’ contribution to the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. The building received as a prize a cast-iron fountain still standing in front of the Old State House Museum.

Fletcher served as Mayor of Little Rock from 1891 to 1893.  When Fletcher became Mayor he appointed a new Police Chief (as most Mayors did) and the entire police force was dismissed.  A new police force was hired by E. H. Sanders, who served as chief for 18 months.  Upon his resignation, Frank MacMahon (who had been dismissed from the force when Fletcher came to office), was appointed Chief by Mayor Fletcher.  He would serve from 1892 until 1905.

Mayor Fletcher died on June 30, 1896 and is buried at Oakland Cemetery next to his wife (who died in 1911).

September 2nd Friday Art Night Highlights

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Among the locations participating in 2nd Friday Art Night tonight are Historic Arkansas Museum, Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Old State House Museum, and Museum of Discovery.

Historic Arkansas Museum
5 – 8 pm

Free
Live music by Finger Food

Jack Kenner and Ed Pennebaker: Disciplined Inspiration

Trinity Gallery for Arkansas Artists
September 12 through November 9, 2014 
Jack Kenner of Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas, spent much of his professional life traveling the world as an accomplished commercial and art photographer, but it was the Horseshoe Lake landscapes of the Arkansas Delta that inspired the body of work he will exhibit at the Historic Arkansas Museum. “While traveling the 30 miles back and forth to my studio in Memphis, I found I could not pass by the beautiful scenes of the farmlands and lake without seeing it through my camera lens.”
Ed Pennebaker who resides near Osage, Arkansas, makes illuminated art glass and sculpture using traditional offhand glassblowing techniques, and he believes in “working incessantly—cultivating concepts, discrimination and technique.” Pennebaker works with the glass to show its fluid qualities and its interaction with light. “I derive much of my inspiration from the garden and the woods surrounding my home and studio.” Pennebaker has worked from his woodland studio, Red Fern Glass, near Osage for more than 20 years.

40 Years of the Arkansas Times

Second Floor Gallery
September 12 through December 9, 2014
From a spunky monthly launched with $200 to one of the earliest alternative weeklies, the Arkansas Times has been an essential voice in Arkansas news and culture since 1974.
Take a look back at the last 40 years of Arkansas history through the often-irreverent lens of the Times in a collection of archival covers, photos, art and memorabilia.
Butler Center Galleries

ALA art Show: Fifth Annual Juried Exhibition of the Arkansas League of Artists 

This exhibition features artwork by members of the Arkansas League of Artists (ALA) in a variety of media. This is the ALA’s fifth annual juried exhibition; Manuela Well-Off-Man, assistant curator of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, is the juror for this year’s show. The winner will be announced at the show’s opening reception as part of Second Friday Art Night.

Echoes of the Ancestors: Native American Objects from the University of Arkansas Museum

This exhibition features an artistic display of objects created by Native Americans in ceramics, wood, glass, cane, and shell materials.

Featured artist:

Walt Priest – Walt Priest is a photographer based in North Little Rock.

Featured musician: Ted Ludwig Duo – Entertainment in the galleries will be provided by the Ted Ludwig Duo, who will play traditional jazz and innovative improvisational music.

 

Old State House Museum

Music by Big Silver headlines September’s Second Friday Art Night on Friday, September 12, as part of Second Friday Art Night. The acclaimed Little Rock band will be playing on the lawn of the museum starting at 5:30 pm. Bring your picnic blankets and lawn chairs to enjoy the music and mid-September weather. Big Silver can be heard here.In case of inclement weather, the concert will be moved inside. Food and drinks will be provided for this free event.

 

Museum of Discovery

The Museum of Discovery is excited to participate in this month’s 2nd Friday Art Night on Friday, September 12 from 5-8 p.m. They will display nature photographs taken by David Ankeny. The exhibit will remain on display at the Museum of Discovery this fall.

Free drinks and hors d’oeuvres will be served.

56th annual Delta Exhibition at Arkansas Arts Center wraps up later this month

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Mark Lewis, Peoria Avenue #7, 2011, graphite and paper collage, 2013 Grand Award

“As one of the most anticipated Arkansas Arts Center events of the year, the 56th Annual Delta Exhibition offers a unique snapshot of the Delta region,” said Arkansas Arts Center executive director Todd Herman. “The widely held exhibition sanctions local artists to lead and inspire their respective communities through art, education and cultural excellence.”

The Delta Exhibition runs through Sunday, September 28.

The Delta Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture was founded in 1956 to feature contemporary work by artists from Arkansas and the bordering states. Today, the 56th Annual Delta Exhibition has grown to encompass works in all media and is a showcase for the dynamic vision of the artists of the Mississippi Delta region. The diversity of their art reflects the region’s strong traditions of craftsmanship and observation, combined with an innovative use of materials and an experimental approach to subject matter.

The competition is open to all artists who live in or were born in one of the following states: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. All work must be completed during the last two years and must not have been exhibited previously at the Arkansas Arts Center. This year’s exhibition will be on view June 27 – September 28 in the Townsend Wolfe Gallery.

Guest juror Brian Rutenberg of New York selected works for the exhibition in addition to a Grand Award, with a cash prize of $2,500, and two Delta Awards, with cash prizes of $750 each, for the top works in the show. Juror Rutenberg earned his Master of Arts degree from New York’s acclaimed School of Visual Arts and went on to become a Forum Gallery artist in 2001. He has since had three successful solo exhibitions and actively exhibits throughout the United States and Canada.

For more information, visit arkansasartscenter.org/delta or call(501) 372-4000.