Category Archives: Visual Art

2012 Arts & Humanities Month 2nd Friday Art Night

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October is Arts and Humanities Month.  What better time to try out 2nd Friday Art Night for the first time? Or to make a repeated visit?

Tonight from 5pm to 8pm at various downtown museums and galleries, guests can view art and enjoy live entertainment.  Admission is free.

Here are just a few of the highlights.

Christ Episcopal Church.  Watercolors by Kuhl Brown.  A resident of Hillcrest, Kuhl’s paintings are realistic landscapes and other subjects also in the realistic style. The show will run through Dec. 14.

Historic Arkansas Museum will feature live music by the Smittle Band as visitors view the current exhibits. Included at HAM are:

  • Recent Acquisitions: A Collection Vision, 2008 – 2012
  • The Civil War in Arkansas
  • Barbie: The 11 1/2 –inch American Icon
  • The Knife Gallery
  • Arkansas Contemporary: Selected Fellows from the Arkansas Arts Council
  • We Walk in Two Worlds: The Caddo, Osage and Quapaw in Arkansas

The Butler Center Galleries are located within the Arkansas Studies Institute building.  The galleries this month feature: Arkansas League of Artists and Solastalgia.  The Arkansas League of Artists is a group of artists and art enthusiasts who gather to learn from one another by exploring new techniques, working in various media, and sharing their collective knowledge.  Solastalgia will feature artwork by Susan Chambers and Louise Halsey.

The Arkansas League of Artists is an organization formed to promote fine arts in Arkansas. This group of artists and art enthusiasts gathers to learn from one another by exploring new techniques, working in new media, and sharing their collective knowledge.

Also, stop by the third floor of the Cox Creative Center for “Equinox 2011-2012: A Retrospective curated by Alex Leme and Rachel Golden.”  This exhibit, which will run through Decmber 1, features works by Carolyn Ascher, Ashley Barker, Kae Barron, Beth Beam, Rebecca Benson, Chris Cotton, Carolyn Crocker, Starr Crow, Megan Douglas, Chris Friemel, Chelsye Garrett, Heather Harmon, Cody Henslee, Lilia Hernandez, Kelly Hicks, Steve Hollis, Linda Holloway, Zechariah McGhee, Cyrene Quiamco, Becky Robinson, Jerry Rushing, Myriam Saavedra and Lauren Sukany.

The artwork by Susan Chambers and Louise Halsey interprets the idea of solastalgia, a term coined by Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht meaning “the pain experienced when there is recognition that the place where one resides and that one loves is under immediate assault.”

Sculpture Vulture: Jane DeDecker’s “Daphne”

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The annual Sculpture at the River Market Show and Sale takes place this month (October 19-21). In recognition of this, the October Sculpture Vulture will focus on more of the pieces in the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden which were acquired from previous shows.

Today’s feature is Jane DeDecker’s Daphne which was installed in 2011.  Cast in bronze, it depicts a headless torso with arms upstretched.  At the terminus of the arms are tree branches.

Jane DeDecker has been making a major contribution to the world sculpture scene since 1986. Creating over 250 limited edition, original sculptures, 60 of those being life-size and four one of a kind monuments, with 50 sold out editions. She has been published in magazines reaching global circulations, from Art and Antiques to European Home and Gardens. She has been sought out for her artistic integrity by organizations ranging from the National Parks Service to the President of the United States.

Sculpture Vulture: Bryan Massey Sr.’s “The Jazz Player”

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In recognition of the first annual Arkansas Sounds music festival taking place in Riverfront Park this weekend, today the Sculpture Vulture features Bryan Massey Sr.’s “The Jazz Player.”  It is located in the Vogelman-Schwarz Sculpture Garden.

The sculpture, cast in bronze, depicts a saxophone player jubilantly playing jazz.  It was donated to the Sculpture Garden by the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce in recognition of the 5th anniversary of the Clinton Presidential Center and Park.  Massey was inspired to create this piece because of President Clinton’s sax playing.

Bryan Winfred Massey, Sr. is currently a Professor of Art/Sculptor at the University of Central Arkansas, Conway. He is primarily a stone carver working with a variation of stone from alabaster, soapstone, limestone, marble and granite. He also casts in iron, bronze, and aluminum as well as fabrication of steel sculptures. He was selected for the Governor’s Award for the Individual Artist of the Year, 2006.

Sculpture Vulture: LR Central High Statues

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Today the Sculpture Vulture focuses on the four statues which stand abreast above the entrance to Little Rock Central High School. They have watched over students and faculty for 85 years since the school’s opening in 1927.

They also witnessed the historic integration by the Little Rock Nine on September 25, 1957. The 55th anniversary of those events is being marked this week.

The statues represent Ambition, Personality, Opportunity and Preparation. At the 1927 dedication service Lillian McDermott, then the president of the School Board, claimed that the new school “would stand…for decades to come [as] a public school where Ambition is fired, where Personality is developed, where Opportunity is presented and where Preparation in the solution of life’s problems is begun.”

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4th Annual Bernice Garden Sculpture Party and Fall Fest

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Come see the 2012 Sculptures unveiled at this great annual event !

See six new sculptures created by Arkansas artists and meet and talk to the artists about their work.

The chosen artists are: Mia Hall, Bryan Winfred Massey Sr., David O’Brien, Tod “Switch” Swiecichowski, Steph Shinabetzy and Jon M. Van Horn.

This event is free and will include delicious food from Boulevard Bread and The Root Café as well as music by “Rychy St. Vincent and The Package”

It’s a casual event where you can enjoy the cooler weather, chat with neighbors and enjoy great public art.

Sculpture Vulture: Michael Warrick’s VISIONARY

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Today’s Sculpture Vulture features Michael Warrick’s Visionary. This bronze cast sculpture depicts a head with eyes closed. The sculpture is a permanent installation in the Bernice Garden on South Main Street.

The sculpture was created by Michael Warrick. It is a replica of a much larger piece he created for a sculpture garden in Changchun, China. That city is one of Little Rock’s Sister Cities.

Warrick is a professor in the UALR Art Department. His sculptures are in display throughout the US and in foreign countries.

This Thursday, September 20, the Bernice Garden will host an event which will feature the unveiling of the 2012 sculptures. (The garden features both permanent and temporary installations.). Six new sculptures will be unveiled. The chosen artists are : Mia Hall, Bryan Winfred Massey Sr., David O’brien, Tod “Switch” Swiecichowski, Steph Shinabetzy, and Jon M Van Horn.

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September 2nd Friday Art Night

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It is time once again for 2nd Friday Art Night.  Tonight from 5pm to 8pm at various downtown museums and galleries, guests can view art and enjoy live entertainment.  Admission is free.

Here are just a few of the highlights.

Historic Arkansas Museum will feature live music by Arkopolis as visitors view the current exhibits. Included at HAM are:

  • Recent Acquisitions: A Collection Vision, 2008 – 2012
  • The Civil War in Arkansas
  • Barbie: The 11 1/2 –inch American Icon
  • The Knife Gallery
  • Arkansas Contemporary: Selected Fellows from the Arkansas Arts Council
  • We Walk in Two Worlds: The Caddo, Osage and Quapaw in Arkansas

The Butler Center Galleries are located within the Arkansas Studies Institute building.  The galleries this month feature:

  • Pattern in Perspective: Recent Work by Carly Dahl and Dustyn Bork
  • Invasion or Liberation? The Civil War in Arkansas
  • Hope and Despair: FSA Photography in Arkansas during the Great Depression
  • Art of Living: More Artwork from the Rosalie Santine Gould Rohwer Collection

At the Old State House Museum, the galleries will be open.  In addition, music by The Morange Trio with Dave Williams II will be featured.