Category Archives: Museum

Woo at the Zoo Tonight at 6pm

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6_wooatthezooJoin the Little Rock Zoo for a hysterical look at the world of animal mating at Woo at the Zoo!

Woo at the Zoo is a special tour around the Zoo for adult-only where guests learn all about the strange, interesting, bizarre, and downright hysterical world of animal mating! Did you know that a rhino female in the wild will ram her male mate up to 30 miles per hour to test his strength? You’ll learn this fun fact and more at Woo at the Zoo! This year, Woo at the Zoo has a special stop featuring the Zoo’s new TIGER CUBS!

Special adult beverages and refreshments will be served along the way and the tour will end in Cafe Africa with live music and food and a special silent auction with paintings painted by the Zoo’s animals. All proceeds benefit the Arkansas Zoological Foundation and the American Association of Zookeepers Little Rock Chapter.

Must be at least 21 years of age to attend! Please have photo ID ready to show at front gate entry!

Please remember to wear comfortable shoes – this is a walking tour!

Call (501) 661-7208 for more information or to purchase tickets over the phone. Ticket will be available for purchase online until 3:00 p.m. on June 21, 2014.

Celebrate Arkansas’ Quest for Statehood at Old State House and Historic Arkansas Museum today

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OSH logohamlogoTomorrow is Arkansas’ 178th birthday.  Two state museums are helping people get in the mood by giving them a one day head-start on festivities.

The Old State House Museum and Historic Arkansas Museum are partnering to mark Arkansas’s 178th birthday with the annual Arkansas Statehood celebration, The Quest for Statehood, on Saturday, June 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Visitors will be given a chance to view and participate in a living history of  1836 Arkansas. Costumed interpreters will transform The Old State House and Historic Arkansas Museum to portray Arkansas as it was 178 years ago.

Several games and activities will be offered, including a large-scale game of commerce and trade that will provide an immersive experience. Living historians will portray the townspeople of 1836. These include a tavern keeper, phrenologist, carpenter, shop keeper, owner of a ladies’ emporium, silhouette artist and more.

The Old State House Museum and Historic Arkansas Museum are agencies of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

 

Dale Chihuly Exhibit at Clinton Presidential Center

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chihuly2Dale Chihuly is credited with revolutionizing the Studio Glass movement and elevating the perception of the glass medium from the realm of craft to fine art. He is renowned for his ambitious architectural installations around the world in historic cities, museums, and gardens.

The exhibit includes new and early works representing the breadth and scope of the artist’s vision over the last four decades. The exhibit features four installations designed specifically for the Clinton Presidential Library. One installation is on-view in the temporary exhibition space, one in the Garden View Room, one in the Sky Lobby and one in the outdoor fountain.

The exhibit will run from May 17, 2014 to January 5, 2015. The Clinton Presidential Library & Museum is open Monday-Saturday 9-5 and Sunday 1-5,

Explore Mayan culture at Museum of Discovery

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MayanThe secrets of an ancient world await in Mystery of the Mayan Medallion, the Museum of Discovery’s summer exhibit, which opened on May 24.

In this immersive exhibit, visitors are transported to Palenque, Mexico, where an archaeological team has mysteriously disappeared from a dig site while investigating rumors of a priceless jade medallion. They will follow the clues the team left behind to locate the precious medallion while avoiding the dangers lurking in the ruins.

In the exhibit, visitors will:

  • Translate glyphs
  • Discover which rainforest animals are poisonous
  • Learn how the Mayans recorded dates
  • Take rubbings from a sarcophagus
  • Interpret a “battle” mural.

Exhibit components include archeology, biology and astro-mathematic field stations, an observatory and a tomb area that yield clues to the medallion’s whereabouts.

“Mystery of the Mayan Medallion has been popular everywhere it’s been experienced, and we know museum visitors young and old alike will enjoy engaging with the many components of the exhibit,” said Kelley Bass, CEO of the Museum of Discovery. “It is a fun mix of science, history and intrigue.”

Mystery of the Mayan Medallion will remain at the Museum of Discovery through September 12.

Museum of Discovery’s mission is to ignite a passion for science, technology and math in a dynamic, interactive environment.

Museum Information

Hours of Operation: Tuesday – Saturday: 9 am – 5 pm; Sunday: 1-5 pm; Closed Monday

(open Mondays in the summer and on major holidays)

Admission: $10 adults; $8 ages 1-12; free under 1; members free

Final weekend of Carroll Cloar Exhibit at Arkansas Arts Center

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Carroll Cloar, The Smiling Moon Cafe, 1965, casein tempera on Masonite, 25 in. x 36 in., Private Collection, ©Estate of Carroll Cloar

There are only three days remaining to experience (or experience again) The Crossroads of Memory: Carroll Cloar and the American South exhibit at the Arkansas Arts Center.  It runs through June 1.

The paintings of Carroll Cloar (1913-1993), rank among the most haunting and beautiful evocations ever made of the American South. Drawing upon family stories, photographs of ancestors, rural scenery, small town life, and memories of his childhood on an Arkansas farm, Cloar captured the quiet richness of a simpler world.

Marking the centenary of the artist’s birth, The Crossroads of Memory: Carroll Cloar and the American South will include approximately seventy paintings, ranging from early Realist masterpieces to the poignant pictures of his later career.

An exhibition organized by the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and the Arkansas Arts Center curated by Stanton Thomas, Curator of European and Decorative Art at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, the exhibition will feature works from major public collections as well as rarely seen pictures still in private hands.

Presented in Arkansas by: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; Lisenne Rockefeller; Stella Boyle Smith Trust.

Sponsored in Arkansas by: Anonymous; Bailey Foundation; Sandra and Bob Connor; Terri and Chuck Erwin; Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP; Eileen and Ricardo Sotomora; John Tyson & Tyson Foods, Inc.; Arkansas Farm Bureau/Agriculture Council of Arkansas; Capital Hotel; Cindy and Greg Feltus; Munro Foundation; J.D. Simpson; Don Tilton; Gus and Ellis Walton.

May Science after Dark at Museum of Discovery – Science of Botany!

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may2014 mod scienceThe April showers have brought May flowers.  And for some of us, the May flowers have brought seasonal onset allergies. Tonight at the Museum of Discovery, it is the monthly Science After Dark feature for adults.  This month explores the Science of Botany.

There will be information on pollinators, hops, gardening, agri technology and more. If you love gardening, flowers or locally-grown foods this one is not to be missed!

The program runs from 6pm to 8pm at the Museum of Discovery. It costs $5, but is free to Museum Members.  If you attend several of these a year as well as visit the museum once or twice, you MORE than make up your membership fee.

Summer is here, take your kids to the museum.  If you don’t have kids, borrow some from a friend, neighbor or relative — you’ll be their hero.  Or just go by yourself – the Museum of Discovery offers activities and exhibits designed to engage literally all ages.

ROCKing the TONY AWARDS – Clinton Library Opening with Spacey, Streisand and Hipp

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Rock the Tonys KS BS PHKevin Spacey, Barbra Streisand, Paul Hipp

Little Rock connection: All three were in attendance in Little Rock for the opening of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in November 2004.

Tony Awards connection: Spacey has a Tony Award for Featured Actor in a Play for 1991’s Lost in Yonkers. He has also been nominated for Actor in a Play in 1999 for The Iceman Cometh.

Streisand was nominated for Tony Awards in 1962 (Featured Actress in a Musical – I Can Get It for You Wholesale) and 1964 (Actress in a Musical – Funny Girl) and received a Special Tony in 1970.

Hipp was nominated for Actor in a Musical in 1991 for Buddy- The Buddy Holly Story.

While Bono and The Edge played at the Clinton Presidential Center opening and also penned the score for Spiderman, they failed to win a Tony nomination.

(The Culture Vulture met Spacey at a reception at the Arkansas Arts Center and had a conversation with Hipp and his girlfriend at a reception hosted by the Downtown Little Rock Partnership.)