Yesterday’s Architeaser featured Byrne Hall on the St. John’s campus in the Heights. The building currently houses the offices of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Yesterday the ASO concluded the 2011-2012 MasterWorks series. This evening at the Clinton Presidential Center, this year’s final River Rhapsodies Chamber Concert will be held at 7pm.
This week we will look at some of the animals in Little Rock which are not at the Little Rock Zoo.
Major League Baseball started the 2012 season last week. The St. Louis Cardinals began their defense of their World Championship!
“Play Ball! The St. Louis Cardinals” opened at the Clinton Presidential Center last month. The exhibit features more than 100 items from the Cardinals’ Hall of Fame Museum, a collection the team owns and has improved in recent years despite not having a place to publicly display it.
“This is going to be something that kids, adults, women, men, baseball fans, non-baseball fans alike will all enjoy,” says Jordan Johnson, spokesperson for the Clinton Foundation.
The Clinton Library and the Cardinals have been working on this exhibit for several years, and it’s only by coincidence that the library will have the Cardinals-based display immediately following a World Series championship. Among the items that the Cardinals lent to the library are several Dizzy Dean-related artifacts, including one of four known game-worn jerseys from the Hall of Fame pitcher and Arkansas native.
The trophies from the 2006 and 2011 World Series are also featured.
The exhibit runs through Sept. 16.
The Arkansas Arts Council is pleased to be a sponsor of the 2012 Arkansas Arts Summit April 17-18 at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock. This intensive, two-day event will provide practical training for board members and arts administrators to help build and maintain art organizations and programs.
The conference will also offer performances, social events and networking opportunities. Registration is $95 and deadline to register is April 1. Click here to download a registration form, which includes a conference agenda and hotel information.
The Summit is presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the Kennedy Center.
Led by Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser, the conference will equip participants to:
Sponsors include the Arkansas Arts Council, the William J. Clinton Foundation, Donna and Mack McLarty, Kaki Hockersmith, Mid-America Arts Alliance, the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, the Windgate Foundation, Stella Boyle Smith Trust, the City of Little Rock and the City of North Little Rock.
On the heels of this past weekend’s Arkansas Symphony Orchestra of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, the ASO River Rhapsodies chamber music series presents Ode to Beethoven. It will take place this evening at 7pm at the Clinton Presidential Center. Tickets are $22.
The program will feature Lutoslawski’s String Quartet and Grandjany’s Rhapsodie. Michael Torke, the ASO Composer of the Year, will be represented with Chalk. The evening will conclude with Beethoven’s String Quartet in F-minor Op. 95 “Serioso.”
Torke will also be highlighted at the ASO on April 14 and 15 with Desert and Sea. Funding from the National Endowment for the Arts is, in part, responsible for the ASO to host Torke this year.
Sen. Glenn speaking to kids at the Museum of Discovery
50 years ago today, astronaut Col. John Glenn orbited the Earth.
Seven years and three months ago, as a former U.S. Senator, he visited Little Rock’s Museum of Discovery for a series of events in conjunction with the opening of the William J. Clinton Presidential center.
The Museum opened a new exhibit that week entitled “Space and the Presidency.” While that exhibit is no longer on display at the museum, there are many exciting new exhibits for audiences of all ages.
In preparation for the opening of the Clinton Library in 2004, a series of sculptures were placed which linked a walkway between the River Market and the Clinton Presidential Park.
One of these sculptures is entitled Harriet Tubman. Since she was from the era of President Lincoln, it seems fitting to feature this sculpture on this, Lincoln’s birthday.
The bronze sculpture, by Jane DeDecker, depicts Miss Tubman grasping the hand of a young boy and leading him on a walk. DeDecker captures both compassion and a steely determination in the features of Miss Tubman’s face. The folds of their clothes indicate that they are on a journey.
Whether their walk is a part of the Underground Railroad or simply a walk along the path in post-war times is immaterial. Miss Tubman understood that there is always some form of oppression one must struggle against.
Etched into the base of the statue (and repeated on plaque on the pedestal) is a quote attributed to Miss Tubman. “Children, if you are tired, keep going; if you’re hungry, keep going; if you’re scared, keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”
The statue was originally located in Riverfront Park near the site of the current Game and Fish Nature Center. It was relocated during the construction of that facility and now anchors the entrance to Clinton Presidential Park. Harriet Tubman was a gift of Haskell and Peggy Dickinson to the City of Little Rock.
LEGO portrait of President Clinton
Back by popular demand, the Clinton Presidential Center hosts a second appearance by lawyer-turned-artist Nathan Sawaya. In his remarks, he will relay how his childhood love of LEGOs has transformed into his artistic expression.
Sawaya’s works on display at the Center include buildings, furniture, animals and even “paintings.”
The exhibit “Art of the Brick” continues until February 12.
After the program, guests are invited to tour the exhibit. Sawaya will be signing copies of his book, The Art of the Brick Pictorial, which is available for purchase at the Clinton Museum Store.
Admission is free. Children are welcome. To reserve your seats e-mailing Joy Secuban at jsecuban@clintonfoundation.org or call (501) 370-8000.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 