Category Archives: Museum

Deadline for Ark Arts Center Delta Exhibition is this week

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arkartsApril 17 is the deadline to submit to be included in the Arkansas Arts Center’s annual Delta Exhibition.

The Delta Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture was founded in 1956 to feature contemporary work by artists from Arkansas and bordering states. Today, the annual 56th 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.

Brian Rutenberg will serve as juror for the 56th Annual Delta Exhibition. Born and raised in the Lowcountry of coastal South Carolina, Rutenberg is an artist now living and working in New York City. Rutenberg holds a B.A. from the College of Charleston and M.A. from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Rutenberg will select the artworks to be exhibited and will assign the $2500 Grand Award and two $750 Delta Awards. Additionally, a $250 Contemporaries Delta Award will be selected by the Contemporaries, an auxiliary membership group of the Arkansas Arts Center.

To enter, visit here.

Art of Wine at Arkansas Arts Center tonight

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AAC art of winePrincess Corsini is a member of one of the oldest families in Italy, which produced both a Pope (Clement XII, who commissioned the Trevi Fountain) and a Saint (Sant’ Andrea). She is renowned for her Renaissance gardens and vineyard. Princess Corsini will lecture on the preservation of the small, family-run Tuscan wine estate.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014
5:30 p.m. Salute! begins / 6:00 p.m. lecture
Lecture followed by Italian wine reception with Tuscan-inspired hors d’oeuvres.
Members $50 / Non-Members $60

Sponsored by: Kaki Hockersmith and Max Mehlburger, Terri and David Snowden, and Moon Distributors Inc.

To purchase tickets, click here.

ESSE Purse Museum Opens New Exhibit Today – On Hats

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Esse Purse HatsThe ESSE Purse Museum & Store is opening a new temporary exhibit today. Entitled “The Milliner’s Art” it runs through Sunday, June 8.  Though the ESSE Purse Museum & Store mainly focuses on purses/handbags/clutches/etc., this exhibit looks at another fashion accessory which also tells the story of the changing roles and tastes of women through the years.

The exhibit features vintage hats (circa 1910-1960) from the collections of Anita Davis and Catherine Nugent.  Admission to the exhibit is $10, $8 seniors and students.

ESSE Purse Museum & Store is located at 1510 South Main.  It is the culmination of owner Anita Davis’ dream of sharing her love of purses, art and history — while honoring women and their struggles, accomplishments, hopes and dreams.

More than just a fashion history, ESSE shows the evolution of the 20th-century American woman — decade by decade — not only through the bags she carried but through their contents. More than a trip down memory lane or history lesson, ESSE Purse Museum is a don’t-miss experience.

ESSE grew out of a traveling exhibit selected from Davis’ extensive collection. From 2006 to 2011, “The Purse & the Person: A Century of Women’s Purses” (curated by Curatrix Group and managed by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services) traveled the country.  Now Davis has brought her handbags back to Little Rock for good and given them a home worthy of the part they have played in women’s lives and history. ESSE is housed in a historic building in SoMa, an up-and-coming, hip neighborhood in downtown Little Rock.

 

Old State House Museum presents new play THE BRIDEGROOM OF BLOWING ROCK

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OSH logoThe Old State House Museum has partnered with the Torn Kite Theatre Company to present The Bridegroom of Blowing Rock, a play by Catherine Trieschmann. The production is supported from a $2,000 grant awarded by the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission. Performances will take place on Friday, April 4, and Saturday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m., and on Sunday, April 6, a matinee performance will be performed at 2 p.m.

All showings are free and open to the public, but seating is limited. To make reservations call 501-324-8645 or visit oldstatehouse.com/bridegroom.

The Bridegroom of Blowing Rock is a play set during the last days of the Civil War and uses humor and drama to tell the story of women who must keep their homes together in the absence of able-bodied men. Director Josh Sigal says the play is a unique opportunity to both entertain and educate audiences about life during the Civil War.

“This play is an ideal fit for the Old State House Museum because it sensitively looks at the war from a woman’s perspective,” said Sigal. “That viewpoint has been underserved.”

The play is the first collaboration between the Old State House Museum and the Torn Kite Theatre Company. The Torn Kite Theatre Company is a Little Rock-based group that aims to make thought-provoking pieces of theatrical art that focus on socially conscious and historically significant issues.

The Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission is housed within the  Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. The AHPP is the Department of Arkansas Heritage agency responsible for identifying, evaluating, registering and preserving the state’s cultural resources.

The Old State House Museum is a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and shares the goal of all seven Department of Arkansas Heritage agencies, that of preserving and enhancing the heritage of the state of Arkansas. The agencies are Arkansas Arts Council, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Delta Cultural Center in Helena, Historic Arkansas Museum, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, and the Old State House Museum.

Starlifter – US Air Force Band of Mid-America in free concert tonight in MacArthur Park

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Starlifter“The best music I’ve ever heard” is how one young listener described the United States Air Force Band of Mid-America’s group, Starlifter.

This seven-piece group of talented musicians performs in virtually every musical idiom, from Rock and Pop to Jazz and Country, to great contemporary and traditional patriotic songs. They feature the best in popular music from the 1970’s to the most current sounds at the top of today’s charts.

Bring your lawn chairs, blankets, picnic dinner and beverages and join us for the free concert behind the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History on Tuesday, April 1, at 6:30 p.m.

In case of inclement weather, the concert will take place in the Children’s Theater of the Arkansas Arts Center.

Spring Break Activities continue in LR

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For those who stayed in town over Spring Break and may now be hearing “I’M BORED!” or “There’s Nothing to Do,” Little Rock’s cultural institutions offer plenty of activities.

CPC42 SpringbreakThe Clinton Presidential Center is partnering with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra on an Instrumental Petting Zoo for kids Pre-K through 5th grade. For those in 6th through 12th grades, there is a “Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII” video game free play with a tournament on Saturday.  The hours of the Petting Zoo and the Blazing Angels are from 10am to 2pm through Friday.  While at the Clinton Presidential Center, visitors can take in the Presidential Pets exhibit as well as the “Spies, Traitors and Saboteurs: Fear and Freedom in America” exhibit which is in on loan from the International Spy Museum in Washington DC.

BoyWolfThe Arkansas Arts Center galleries are open featuring the exhibits “The Crossroads of Memory: Carroll Cloar and The American South,” “Woodworking Instructors Exhibition,” “Paul Signac Watercolors and Drawings: The James T. Dyke Collection,” “Earthly Delights: Modern and Contemporary Highlights from The Permanent Collection,” “Ties That Bind: Southern Art from the Collection” and “Art In Context.”  In addition, the Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre is presenting The Boy Who Cried Wolf for its final performances today and tomorrow at 2pm.

sid scienceThe Museum of Discovery has partnered with Arkansas Educational Television Network (AETN) to bring Sid the Science kid to the museum on Thursday, March 27, and Friday, March 28. Visitors can meet and have their photo taken with Sid and participate in science experiments seen on the popular science show. Sid will meet visitors both days from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Museum of Discovery is offering spring break visitors the chance to enjoy science demonstrations and animal programs on the museum floor in addition to the 90 hands-on exhibits and the current temporary exhibit, Tech City.

 

MARCH 26, 1979 (artwork in collection of Arkansas Arts Center)

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March 26, 1979 - Evelyn Ellwood, Collection of Arkansas Arts Center

March 26, 1979 – Evelyn Ellwood, Collection of Arkansas Arts Center

Today is March 26, 2014, so it seems an appropriate day to feature a painting from the Arkansas Arts Center entitled March 26, 1979. The painting is by Evelyn Ellwood.

Painted in 1979, it measures 9 7/8 by 13 7/8.  It was acquired by the Arts Center in 1995 as a gift of Louis K. and Susan Pear Meisel of New York.

No artist’s statement could be obtained, so the significance of this date remains a mystery.