Category Archives: Museum

Little Rock Look Back: Gen. Douglas MacArthur

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MacArthurOn January 26, 1880, Douglas MacArthur was born in the Arsenal Building while his father was stationed at the Little Rock Barracks.  Though he left Arkansas a few weeks later when his father was transferred, he returned to his birthplace on March 23, 1952. On that day he was greeted by crowds welcoming one of the USA’s most famous military figures.

Though Gen. MacArthur spent only a few weeks in Little Rock, he was baptized at Christ Episcopal Church.  The location of the baptism remains a mystery today because the church was meeting in temporary locations due to the first structure having been lost to a fire.

When the General returned to Little Rock in 1952, he did pay a brief visit to Christ Church.  He also spoke at the Foster Bandshell in the park which bore his name.  He was one of three presidential candidates to speak at the Foster Bandshell in 1952, the others were the eventual Democratic and Republican nominees Adlai Stevenson and Dwight Eisenhower.

When General MacArthur died, he was granted a state funeral.  He was one of the few non-Presidents to have been given this honor.

Today, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History is located in the Arsenal building.  It was created to interpret our state’s military heritage from its territorial period to the present.

Located in the historic Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal–the birthplace of General Douglas MacArthur–the museum preserves the contributions of Arkansas men and women who served in the armed forces.

Exhibits feature artifacts, photographs, weapons, documents, uniforms and other military items that vividly portray Arkansas’s military history at home and abroad.

Finalists for Museum of Discovery Robot Name

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The Museum of Discovery received hundreds of wonderful name suggestions for our robot and narrowed the list down to ten. If we received the same suggestion more than once, we took the person who suggested it first. Here are the name suggestions chosen:Buttons (by Milo Krain)
I MOD (by Campbell Beazley)
Lunchbox ( by Jann Greenland)
Sebastian Razorbot (by Josie Parker)
Hoover (by Patrick Burnett)
AR-D2 (by Whitney Haynie)
Sheldon Tinkerton (by Sherry Berry)
Squeakers (by Sara Kamps)
Clamps (by Matthew Berry)
Sparky (by Sara Drew)

Thank you to everyone who participated by submitting suggestions. Now we need to vote on the above names. Voting will close Friday, January 24. You can only vote once per computer/mobile device.

Name the Robot Contest Survey

First 2nd Friday Art Night of 2014

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2nd Friday Art NightThe first 2nd Friday Art Night of 2014 takes place tonight.  Among the participating locations are Historic Arkansas Museum, the Central Arkansas Library System and Old State House Museum.

Historic Arkansas Museum will feature live music by Phil G. and Lori Marie from 5pm to 8pm.  It will also host the opening reception for Chasing the Light: Photography by Brian Chilson, in the Second Floor Gallery through March 10.  Arkansas Times photographer Brian Chilson has had a front row seat to some of the most exciting, entertaining, eventful and sometimes poignant events in Arkansas, as well as those smaller moments of everyday life. This collection of photographs taken over the past decade, from 2003 to 2013, serves as a sort of retrospective of life in Arkansas in the arenas of fashion, sports, politics and human interest.

At the Central Arkansas Library’s Butler Center a new exhibit will open.  Unusual Portraits: New Works by Michael Warrick and David O’Brien features explorations in portraiture by two accomplished Little Rock artists. Featured musician for the evening is Das Loop, a Little Rock duo that creates instrumental compositions using live loops and “layers of poly-rhythmic bliss.” The featured artist is Jacquelyn Kaucher, a painter who works with watercolor and acrylics, and she is a long-time teacher of watercolor and experimental watercolor painting in Little Rock.

The Old State House will host Second Friday Cinema: “Broncho Billy Anderson: Arkansas’s First Movie Star” at 6:00 pm. Born Max Aronson in Little Rock, Ark., Gilbert M. Anderson was a motion picture pioneer, who appeared in the groundbreaking film The Great Train Robbery in 1903. Anderson partnered with George Spoor to form the Essanay (S and A) Studios, where he wrote, directed, and starred in hundreds of one-reel westerns and comedies, the most popular featuring a character Anderson created for himself, Broncho Billy. “Broncho Billy” Anderson became Hollywood’s first western star, and Essanay one of the most successful studios of the early motion picture era.

The screening will include three short movies featuring Gilbert M. “Broncho Billy” Anderson:   The Great Train Robbery (1903) Broncho Billy’s Fatal Joke (1914) The Son-of-a-Gun (1919).  Ben Fry, General Manager of KLRE/KUAR and coordinator of the film minor at UALR, will introduce the films and lead a discussion.

Help Name the Robot at the Museum of Discovery

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A new robot is excited to have a permanent home at the Museum of Discovery but is sad that it doesn’t yet have a name.  The Museum is asking the public’s help to find the perfect name for this great addition to the museum? Submit a suggestion today (contest open through January 14 at noon.) The contest winner will receive a museum prize pack and a co-starring role in a video with the newly-named robot!

1. Keep it clean!

2. Keep it unique. We love famous robots such as R2-D2, WALL-E and Johnny-Five too but want our robot’s name to be an original. That way, we can avoid confusion (and trademark infringement).

3. Submissions must be made between January 3 through January 14 at noon. A committee will choose the best robot name suggestions and the public will vote on those names from January 16 through January 24. The winner will be announced on Saturday, January 25.

4. Submissions can be made in the following ways:

5. One submission per person.

The winner will receive four Museum of Discovery passes, an Explore Store gift pack and will appear in an official museum video with the robot.

2 times 13 photos of 2013

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Here are 26 of the Culture Vulture’s favorite photos from 2013.

Mount Holly Cemetery in January 2013.

Mount Holly Cemetery in January 2013.

A former movie theatre at 13th and Pine.

A former movie theatre at 13th and Pine.

Faded advertisement at 12th and Cedar.

Faded advertisement at 12th and Cedar.

A father and daughter enjoying time together at the Arkansas Arts Center.

A father and daughter enjoying time together at the Arkansas Arts Center.

Looking up through the grand staircase at Little Rock City Hall.

Looking up through the grand staircase at Little Rock City Hall.

Peering through a piece of public art in the River Market.

Peering through a piece of public art in the River Market.

Doorways

Doorways

Inside one of the houses on the Quapaw Quarter Spring Tour.

Inside one of the houses on the Quapaw Quarter Spring Tour.

A Superhero and his mother leaving the library after checking out books and games.

A Superhero and his mother leaving the library after checking out books and games.

A duck enjoying the Carrie Remmel Dickinson Fountain at the Arkansas Arts Center.

A duck enjoying the Carrie Remmel Dickinson Fountain at the Arkansas Arts Center.

The stairwell in the Villa Marre.

The stairwell in the Villa Marre.

A downtown streetsign.

A downtown streetsign.

The Broadway Bridge balustrade reflected in a rain puddle.

The Broadway Bridge balustrade reflected in a rain puddle.

The stairwell in the auditorium on the Philander Smith campus.

The stairwell in the auditorium on the Philander Smith campus.

The Tower Building.

The Tower Building.

Geese at dusk over MacArthur Park.

Geese at dusk over MacArthur Park.

Raindrops rest on the new Patty Cake sculpture in Riverfront Park.

Raindrops rest on the new Patty Cake sculpture in Riverfront Park.

The Capital Hotel.

The Capital Hotel.

A pigeon at City Hall.

A pigeon at City Hall.

Birds alighting on transformer wires.

Birds alighting on transformer wires.

A downtown sidewalk.

A downtown sidewalk.

The Clinton Presidential Bridge during the JCA Walk for CommUNITY.

The Clinton Presidential Bridge during the JCA Walk for CommUNITY.

Gingko leaves in Hillcrest.

Gingko leaves in Hillcrest.

Robinson Auditorium

Robinson Auditorium

Steps along the Broadway Bridge after the December snow.

Steps along the Broadway Bridge after the December snow.

A December sunset in midtown Little Rock.

A December sunset in midtown Little Rock.

13 Cultural Highlights of 2013

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In no particular order, here are 13 cultural highlights of 2013 in Little Rock.

10.+citylittlerock-21. The 73 year old Joseph Taylor Robinson Municipal Auditorium received a new lease on life when Little Rock voters approved an extensive, two-year plan for renovation, remodeling and expanding the new facility.

2. Speaking of Robinson, the new Ron Robinson Theatre was constructed in the Arcade Building.  It will be the flagship home of the Little Rock Film Festival as well as a site for events hosted by the Clinton School of Public Service and the Central Arkansas Library System.

3. The Little Rock Film Festival came downtown with all of its films being shown in downtown Little Rock and Argenta.  Among the highlights of the festival were Short Term 12, Bridegroom and Don John which have received plaudits at other festivals and are appearing on Best of 2013 lists as well as receiving award nominations.

4. As Main Street continues to redevelop, plans were announced in 2013 for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Ballet Arkansas to each move their offices and rehearsal spaces downtown.  Joining them will be an expansion of educational space for the Arkansas Repertory Theatre.

5. A few blocks south on Main Street, the new South on Main restaurant and performance space opened.  Weekly performances of live music accent the food and drink under the leadership of Chef Matt Bell.

6. Further down Main Street, Little Rock’s newest museum opened.  The Esse Purse Museum honors women and their struggles, accomplishments, hopes and dreams through highlighting the purse.

7. Fashion also took center stage at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center as well with an exhibit on Oscar de La Renta.  In addition to showcasing his contributions to design, the exhibit attracted many boldfaced names from the worlds of fashion and politics to an event in Little Rock.

Washington Bible8. George Washington was the focus of two separate exhibits in Little Rock during 2013.  Historic Arkansas Museum showcased his inaugural Bible as well as his family Bible.  At the Clinton Presidential Center “A Tribute to George Washington” was on display.  It featured George Washington’s personal copy of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights from Mount Vernon, and a portrait of George Washington painted in 1797 by artist Gilbert Stuart on loan from the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

9. The amphitheatre in Riverfront Park received a new name (First Security Amphitheatre) and a new roof just in time to kick off its 26th year and to play host to musical acts during Riverfest.

10. Rembrandt and Rothko were just two of the artists featured in exhibits at the Arkansas Arts Center through 2013.  The Arts Center featured the exhibit Treasures of Kenwood House which highlighted the works of Rembrandt, Van Dyck and many other world class artists.  Earlier in the year, exhibits highlighted Bauhaus architecture and relics of the Japanese internment camp at Rohwer.  The Arts Center was also the site of the world’s second largest yarn bomb installation.

Babe Sophie11. The Little Rock Zoo welcomed two new elephants: Sophie and Babe.  The Zoo also was the site of the birth of Bugsy the penguin and four new tiger cubs.  The tigers were born as the result of the Zoo’s new tiger exhibit which facilitated not only easier mating but also allows for the separation of the mother and cubs from the father.

12. The Central Arkansas Library System opened its new Children’s Library.  A few months after the building opened, a name was bestowed and it is now known as the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library and Learning Center.

13. As 2013 drew to a close, the holiday decorations at the Capital Hotel received international recognition as Forbes named them one of the ten best hotel Christmas trees in the world.  The nearly 30 foot tree was decorated by Tipton Hurst.

FREE Admission to ROTHKO exhibit at Ark Arts Center through Dec 31

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No. 8, 1949
Oil and mixed media on canvas
90 x 66 in.
The National Gallery of Art, Washington
Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1986.43.147
©1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko /Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington

In the spirit of giving, the Arkansas Arts Center is offering FREE admission to Mark Rothko in the 1940s: The Decisive Decade through Tuesday, December 31.

Mark Rothko in the 1940s: The Decisive Decade is the first exhibition and catalogue to reevaluate Rothko’s work in the context of his thoughts about art from the period. The exhibition brings to light many works not seen before by scholars or the public and highlights a period of his career that is often overlooked.

The 1940s was a decade of tremendous change for the world, for Western art, for New York City’s place in the art world and for Mark Rothko (1903-1970). The most important result was the formation of what became known as The New York School, a collection of artists working in a nexus of artistic approaches, the best known of which were Gesturalism, or Abstract Expressionism and Color Field. What most members of this group shared was a faith in the power of art effectively to address the pressing historical problems of their era writ large in the movies, news reports, and photographs of the war and its uncertain aftermath.

One of the major members of the New York School was Mark Rothko, the most important of the School’s Color Field wing. For Rothko, like many of his colleagues, the 1940s was the critical decade for his development. Mark Rothko in the 1940s is an examination into the artistic maturation—a decade of searching and rapid evolution– of one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century that deserves not only closer attention but also a re-evaluation.

Mark Rothko in the 1940s will be the first exhibition and catalogue to reevaluate this work in the context of Rothko’s thoughts about art from the period. Mark Rothko in the 1940s will bring to light many works not seen before by scholars or the public and highlight a period of his career that is often overlooked.

Mark Rothko in the 1940s: The Decisive Decade is organized by the Arkansas Arts Center, the Columbia Museum of art, the Columbus Museum of Art and the Denver Art Museum, in conjunction with the National Gallery of Art, Washington. The exhibition is funded in part by the Dedalus Foundation and is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. It is sponsored locally by Harriet and Warren Stephens; Chucki and Curt Bradbury; The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston; Mary Ellen and Jason Vangilder and the Capital Hotel.