Category Archives: Visual Art

Artful Adventures continue at the Arkansas Arts Center

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arkartsThe Arkansas Arts Center is excited to offer some of the best art classes for children of all ages. Not only are these courses so much fun, but students will learn something too! All classes are taught by area professional artists and educators!

AUGUST 9
Ages 15-18, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. (Bring lunch)
Mix it Up!
Students will use many types of painting materials, such as acrylic and watercolor, and mix them with other types of media like collage and spray paint.
$53 for members and $66 for non-members.

AUGUST 11-15
Ages 10-14, 9 a.m. – Noon
Color! Color! Color!
Students will learn the basics of color theory and paint mixing as they take a closer look at three colorful movements in the history of art: Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and Fauvism. Tuition is $131 per week for members and $164 per week for non-members. Class is limited to 12 students.

AUGUST 11-15
Ages 10-14, 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
The Evolution of Picasso’s Selfie
From Realism to the Blue Period to Expressionism, students will spend each day of the week creating their own selfies using one of Picasso’s many art styles.
Tuition is $131 per week for members and $164 per week for non-members. Class is limited to 12 students.

 

For more information, call 501-372-4000 or visit www.arkarts.com

 

Last weekend for Young Arkansas Artists exhibit at Ark Arts Center

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This weekend is the last chance to see the 53rd Young Arkansas Artists exhibition in the Alice Pratt Brown Atrium and the Sam Strauss Sr. Gallery at the Arkansas Arts Center.

“At the Arkansas Arts Center, we believe that the arts have the ability to educate and empower our children while cultivating a positive form of self-expression,” said Arkansas Arts Center executive director Todd Herman. “We strive to promote quality arts education initiatives and achievement in the visual arts and through this exhibition, we are offering a wonderful platform to celebrate artwork created by our very own Arkansas youth.”

First presented in 1961, the 53rd Young Arkansas Artists exhibition is a celebration of both the creative achievements of young artists and the youthful spirits of Arkansans. Now in its sixth decade, this annual children’s art exhibition showcases artwork by Arkansas students from with hopes to ensure learning, inspiration and creative expression are occurring in our state’s classrooms. In 2013, teachers from 127 schools across Arkansas submitted 508 works for consideration. Of those, 102 works were selected for inclusion in the exhibition.

The exhibition is open to all Arkansas students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Art must be original and completed within the current 2013-2014 school year. Original works in all media including drawings, paintings, prints, photographs, collages, crafts, and sculpture are eligible. Teachers may submit only one artwork per grade level per school or program. Entries must be made through a public, private or home school teacher or instructor of an art program. All artists whose works are selected will receive notification on March 18 and the deadline for delivery of all selected entries is April 11.

arkartsWorks will be selected for the exhibition by the Arkansas Art Educators Association. A juror selects one Best of Class and two Honorable Mentions for each grade, and each winning artist’s school receives a monetary award to supports its art program. Selected works from the exhibition travel to schools and other venues around the state as part of the Arkansas Arts Center’s State Services Program. The juror will also select the following awards: one Middle School and one High School level Art and the Written Word Award, the Ray Smenner Best in Show Painting Award and the Mid Southern Watercolorists Best in Show watercolor award.

The 53rd Young Arkansas Artists exhibition is sponsored by Barbara and Steve Bova, Dale and Lee Ronnel, The Philip R. Jonsson Foundation and The Central Arkansas Library System. Awards for the exhibition are sponsored by Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

Today there will be a Family Festival and Awards Ceremony in celebration of the 53rd Young Arkansas Artists exhibition on May 10 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Activities for kids of all ages will be offered and awards will be presented at 1 p.m. in the Lecture Hall. The events are free for members and exhibition artists, $5 for a non-member individual and $20 for a non-member family. Guests are similarly invited to enjoy a matinee performance of Sleeping Beauty at 2 p.m. in the Children’s Theatre that will also be held on May 10.

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

Susan Paulsen’s photos of Wilmot Ark are featured at Arkansas Arts Center through September 28

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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 from June 27, 2014 until September 28, 2014.

Sponsored by:

Brenda Mize
June and Edmond Freeman

Photographer Adam Smith featured on Tales from the South’s Tin Roof Project for July

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talesfromthesouthThe first Tuesday of each month, Tales from the South features one person sharing their life story. They call it Tin Roof Project.  The July featuree is artist Adam Smith.  The program will be Tuesday, July 1.

Music is by Brad and Amy Williams and blues guitarist Mark Simpson.  It will take place at the Argenta branch of the Laman Library.

Adam graduated from the University of Mississippi 1999 with a degree in business and a love of photography. Time spent in Mississippi provided Smith with unique opportunities to document the landscape and music of the state, especially the blues and the indelible culture which surrounds it. In this fertile environment, Smith photographed several blues legends, and his photographs captured the interest of world acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz, who needed assistance on a shoot in the Mississippi Delta, Smith was personally requested for his knowledge of the region and his relationships with the blues artists. Adam was again asked to assist for Leibovitz in 2010, which featured Gabourey Sidibe for a promotional “Precious” spread in Vanity Fair Magazine.

“Tales From the South” is a radio show created and produced by Paula Martin Morell, who is also the show’s host. The show is taped live on Tuesday. The night is a cross between a house concert and a reading/show, with incredible food and great company. Tickets must be purchased before the show, as shows are usually standing-room only.

“Tales from the South” is a showcase of writers reading their own true stories. While the show itself is unrehearsed, the literary memoirs have been worked on for weeks leading up to the readings. Stories range from funny to touching, from everyday occurrences to life-altering tragedies.

Dinner is served from 5pm to 6:30pm, the show starts at 7pm.  Admission is $10 for just the show and $25 for show and dinner.

You MUST purchase your ticket before the show.

Previous episodes of “Tales from the South” air on KUAR Public Radio on Thursdays at 7pm.  This program will air on July 17.

56th annual Delta Exhibition opens tomorrow at Arkansas Arts Center; Member preview tonight

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

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 opens tomorrow. Members of the Arkansas Arts Center can have a sneak peek tonight at a Member reception.  Prior to the reception, there will be a lecture by Brian Rutenberg who was the guest juror for this year’s show.

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.

ArtPlace America Awards $345,000 to Little Rock for Main Street

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ArtPlace_MAP_OCD_trans-520x337ArtPlace America announced today that the City of Little Rock has been awarded a $345,000 grant to enhance its creative placemaking project on Main Street Creative Corridor – a four block area of Main Street where arts organizations are relocating.  Little Rock is one of only 55 of 1,300 communities selected to receive 2014 funding.

In Little Rock the money will be used in a four block area of the Creative Corridor to enhance streetscapes, signage, artwork and an opening celebration.

“We are delighted to share this exciting news with our community. While we know first-hand that deploying the arts can transform communities, having our work recognized by a generous grant from ArtPlace further supports and validates our efforts to use the arts to revitalize our city,”  said Mayor Mark Stodola.

“Investing in and supporting the arts have a profound impact on the social, physical, and economic futures of communities,” said ArtPlace Executive Director Jamie L. Bennett. “Projects like these demonstrate how imaginative and committed people are when it comes to enhancing their communities with creative interventions and thoughtful practices.”

About ArtPlace America

ArtPlace America (ArtPlace) advances the field of creative placemaking, in which art and culture plays an explicit and central role in shaping communities’ social, physical, and economic futures.  To date, ArtPlace has awarded $56.8 million through 189 grants to projects serving 122 communities across 42 states and the District of Columbia.

ArtPlace is a collaboration among the Barr Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The William Penn Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation, The Surdna Foundation, and two anonymous donors.

ArtPlace seeks advice and counsel from its close working relationships with the following federal agencies: the National Endowment for the Arts, the US Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Education, and Transportation, along with leadership from the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Domestic Policy Council.

ArtPlace has additional partnership from six major financial institutions: Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Chase, MetLife and Morgan Stanley.

Little Rock Creative Corridor schematic designs for Main Street are on the City’s website: http://www.littlerock.org/!userfiles/editor/docs/The%20Creative%20Corridor_Final%20Report.pdf.

 

CELEBRATE public art tonight at CALS

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celebrateIn conjunction with 2nd Friday Art Night, the public dedication of Celebrate, the Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) newest public art piece, will take place Friday, June 13, at 6 p.m. 
This kinetic sculpture was commissioned in 2010 by CALS, Jim Conner, and other donors to commemorate the library’s centennial of service to the community and was recently installed on the Main Library’s campus, between the patron parking lot and the Arkansas Studies Institute building. 
The sculpture, in the shape of a spinning top, is inscribed with the word “Celebrate” in numerous languages from English to Binary Code to Klingon.
 
Michael Warrick, the sculptor who created Celebrate, and Bobby Roberts, director of CALS, will speak at the dedication. All will be welcome to try out the kinetic sculpture by giving it a spin. Afterward, attendees will be invited into the Butler Center Galleries to enjoy refreshments and live music as part of 2nd Friday Art Night.