Category Archives: Visual Art

Farewell Party at the Arkansas Arts Center today

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The Arkansas Arts Center is celebrating the end of an era!

After 56 years, it is time to say goodbye to the current MacArthur Park space with a party that takes over the whole building.

They have filled the galleries with a carnival of activities – karaoke, giant yard games, a beach party, photo booth, and inflatable fun zone. Don’t miss music, dancing, food, drinks and much more!

Join the AAC for family-focused fun and activities for all ages from 2–5 p.m. Starting at 5 p.m., the Farewell Festival will be 21+.

The Farewell Festival is free for Arkansas Arts Center members, with special perks available for members of ’22&You.

Membership Card Required for Entry

PS – Stay tuned for announcements of upcoming events! Just because the facility in MacArthur Park will be closed for reconstruction does not mean the AAC is ceasing having events.

Arkansas Visual Artists encouraged to apply for more Downtown Little Rock mural projects

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Arkansas visual artists are invited to submit concepts and proposals for two new pieces of public art to be installed in downtown Little Rock this fall.

Downtown Little Rock Partnership released an RFP for each site-specific location. The first location is a roughly 900 square foot wall within the first floor of the parking deck at Scott and 6th Streets. The area is included in Baker’s Alley, behind The Rep on Main Street. The second RFP is for a “selfie wall” in SoMa, located at 112 Daisy Bates Drive.

“We are excited to be able to add two new pieces of public art to downtown Little Rock’s growing collection,” said Gabe Holmstrom, Downtown Little Rock Partnership Executive Director. “With the great response to Jason Jones’s “Playtime” mural at Capitol and Main, we want to keep the creative momentum going. We can’t wait to see what our incredible Arkansas artists come up with.”

The deadline to submit proposals for both locations is September 25. Completion of each art installation is set for October 30. To learn more and to submit applications, artists may visit http://downtownlr.com/pages/public-art/murals/.

These projects are an initiative of Downtown Little Rock Partnership’s Public Spaces subcommittee, which is chaired by Carol Worley. As part of its public art strategy, Downtown Little Rock Partnership is dedicated to collaborating with Arkansas artists to present public art that enhances the city’s imaginative capacity, enlivens neighborhoods, contributes to economic vitality, sparks civic exchange, and enhances community connection.

August 20, 1961 – Groundbreaking for Arkansas Arts Center

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On a warm Sunday afternoon, ten golden shovels turned dirt to mark the start of construction for the new Arkansas Arts Center.  The activity followed a series of speeches that day, August 20, 1961.

The speakers and dignitaries sat on the front portico of the original Museum of Fine Arts in MacArthur Park. That building would be incorporated into the new structure.

Among those who took part in the speeches and groundbreaking were Winthrop Rockefeller, Jeannette Edris Rockefeller, Gov. Orval Faubus, Congressman Dale Alford, and Little Rock Mayor Werner Knoop.

The efforts to create the Arkansas Arts Center started in the mid-1950s when the Junior League of Little Rock started an effort to establish a new art museum.  Next, the business community founded a Committee for a Center of Art and Science to accept funds donated.

When a suitable location within Little Rock could not be found, the decision was made to join with the Fine Arts Club and the Museum of Fine Arts.  Under the leadership of the Rockefellers, the drive to form the Arkansas Arts Center was launched. In September 1960, the City of Little Rock formally established the Arkansas Arts Center.

Little Rock Look Back: Birth of longtime Arkansas Arts Center director Townsend Wolfe

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Townsend Wolfe, who led the Arkansas Arts Center for 34 years, was born on August 15, 1935.  He was hired to lead the Arkansas Arts Center 50 years ago this month.

Though not the founding director of the Arkansas Arts Center, Wolfe was the director for well over half of the institution’s 57 year history. Hired in 1968 at the age of 32 (making him one of the youngest art museum directors in the US at the time), he retired in 2002.  That year he was honored with the Governor’s Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Arkansas Arts Council.

A native of South Carolina, Wolfe held a bachelor’s degree from the Atlanta Art Institute and a master’s degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He also received a certificate from the Harvard Institute of Arts Administration, and honorary doctoral degrees from two other institutions.  After teaching some classes and seminars at the AAC in the early 1960s, he was recruited to return full-time to the Arkansas Arts Center by Governor and Mrs. Winthrop Rockefeller.

During his tenure at the Arts Center, he first was responsible for creating financial stability. After drastic cost-cutting measures, he refocused programming which led to the creation of the current Museum School, a focus of works on paper for the collection, cultivating a thriving collectors group, establishment of a children’s theatre, expansion of statewide services, and several additions to the physical structure.  He encouraged others to collect art and expanded Arts Center programming into Little Rock neighborhoods.

In addition to serving on the National Council of the Arts, Wolfe was a member of the National Museum Services Board and the board of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in New York. He was curator for an exhibition in the First Ladies’ Sculpture Garden at the White House in 1995, and was the recipient of the 1997 Distinguished Service Award (outside the profession) by the National Art Educators Association.

Over the years, Wolfe has served in a variety of capacities for the Association of American Museums, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Wolfe, who died in 2017, was posthumously honored by the Arts Center in 2018 with one of its Portrait of a Patron awards.  In 1973, he received the first Winthrop Rockefeller Memorial Award from the Arkansas Arts Center.

Dr. Victoria Ramirez Is New Executive Director of the Arkansas Arts Center

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Dr. Victoria Ramirez was approved by the Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees today to be the next Executive Director of the institution.

She comes from the El Paso Museum of Art, where she has been Director. Previously she has worked at museums in Austin, Houston, Washington DC as well as Georgia and Virginia.

Dr. Ramirez has degrees from the University of Maryland, George Washington University, and University of Houston.

The Arkansas Arts Center was established in 1961. The facility is undergoing a two plus years renovation process.

On World Lion Day, a look at LIONS PRIDE sculpture in War Memorial Park

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Saturday, August 10, is World Lion Day.  In honor of that event, today features three of the newest sculptures in Little Rock.

Dedicated on June 26, the trio of leonine creatures are located in the new roundabout at Zoo Drive and Fair Park Boulevard in War Memorial Park.

Lions Pride consists of three sculptures.  Created by Darrell Davis, they are made of cast aluminum. These are likely the first sculptures in Little Rock made of cast aluminum.

One is of a male lion, while the other two depict female lions.  All three are posed in sitting positions atop rocks which were installed last month in the roundabout.

One of the large rocks weighs over 37,000 pounds while another weighs more than 35,000 pounds.  There are several other rocks in the formation which weigh more than a ton.  The rocks were donated by Granite Mountain Quarry.

The project was a partnership between Sculpture at the River Market, the Little Rock Zoo, the Little Rock Parks & Recreation Department, and the Little Rock Public Works Department.  A portion of the money donated for this project was a memorial to former Zoo Director Mike Blakely.

August 2nd Friday Art Night – CALS Library Square

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The Galleries at Library Square and The Bookstore at Library Square participate in 2nd Friday Art Night (2FAN)

On the second Friday of each month, The Galleries at Library Square and The Bookstore at Library Square participate in 2nd Friday Art Night (2FAN), a time, once-a-month, when the galleries, museums and businesses in downtown Little Rock, are open from 5-8 p.m. for an after-hours gallery walk. This event is FREE and open to the public.

The Bookstore at Library Square exhibition:

Milkdadd: Eager, Young, and Qualified

The Galleries at Library Square exhibitions and music:

  • West Gallery: Arkansas Society of Printmakers: Big Impression Prints
  • Loft Gallery: Melissa Cowper-Smith: Natural Treatment, 2018–2019
  • Concordia Hall: Patrick McFarlin –  Fifty Years of McFarlin Oil

Musical Guest: Jazz ‘R’ Us (jazz-pop trio)

Additionally, in Room 124, the Friends of Fourche Creek will be available to talk to the public about the Drain Smart program. On view will be 18 paintings that were replicated on drains around the city.