Tag Archives: Dr. Floyd Martin

Final weeks of “Piranesi and the Perspectives of Rome” at UALR Galleries

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Piranesi_First-Edit_AO1The prints of Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) have contributed much to defining what Europeans and Americans think of the as “ancient Roman glory.” An exhibit of several of his prints is currently on display at the UALR Art Galleries through October 5.

In approximately, architect Edwin Cromwell (1909-2001) was going through the papers of  his late father-in-law, architect Charles Thompson (1868-1959). Included in this was a loosely bound volume of 30 prints by Piranesi. In 1999, Cromwell approached the UALR Department of Art to suggest that research might be done on this set of prints. In fact, it provided the basis for the MA thesis project of Olga Elwood. In 2010, the three daughters of Edwin Cromwell donated the prints to the Department of Art.

Thompson and Cromwell were both leading architects of Little Rock in each of their eras.  Among Thompson’s many designs are both the 1908 Little Rock City Hall and the 1913 Central Fire Station which is now the City Hall West Wing.

The exhibit, was designed to accompany a special topics art history course taught at UALR this semester by Dr. Jane Brown and Dr. Floyd Martin.

There are two upcoming lectures this week in conjunction with the exhibit:
September 25, 10:50 a.m., room 161 in the Fine Arts Building
Dr. Carol C. Mattusch, Professor Emerita, George Mason University – Pompeiian Dreams: Myths and Realities about the Ancient Romans, a lecture to the students enrolled in the course “Piranesi and Perspectives of Rome.

September 25, 6:00 p.m., the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the Fine Arts Building

Dr. Richard S. Mason, Lecturer, University of Maryland, Baltimore County – Reliving the Ancient World: Rediscovering Herculanium and Pompey

Arkansas College Art History Symposium is today

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ualr logoFive University of Arkansas at Little Rock art students will present papers at the 24th Annual Arkansas College Art History Symposium on Friday, March 14.

Students will give 20-minute illustrated talks on an area of their research, similar to professional art historians. The symposium is being held this year at the University of Central Arkansas.

The following UALR students will present their work:

  • Ann Beck, a Master of Arts student with an emphasis in art history, will deliver a presentation called “Mirror Game.”
  • Tessa Davidson, also a student emphasizing art history in the M.A. program, will present on “Laocoön and his Secrets: Dating Attribution Concerns of the Vatican Sculpture Laocoön and his Sons.”
  • Hayley Chronister, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in art with an art history emphasis, will present “Thomas Gainsborough’s Response to Nature: An Analysis of Two Shepherd Boys with Dogs Fighting.”
  • Jeannie Lee, also pursuing a B.A. in art with an art history emphasis, will do her presentation on “Of Marriage and Death: Alternative Meaning in the Myth of Persephone.”
  • Badi Galinkin is in the Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio art program with a graphic design emphasis and will present “Mrs. Musters as Hebe by Sir Joshua Reynolds.”

The symposium was established in 1991 by Dr. Floyd Martin of UALR and Dr. Gayle Seymour of UCA as a means of encouraging and recognizing student achievements in art history in the state.

The symposium, which has been hosted by UALR, UCA, and Hendrix College, has helped encourage cooperation among art history faculty throughout the state.

Each symposium includes a guest art historian, this year’s is Dr. Ann Prentice Wagner, curator of drawings at the Arkansas Arts Center.

Arts Center, studioMain present lecture on Bauhas tonight.

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bauhaus

Photograph by Gordon Watkinson
Bauhaus Building – ‘Bauhaus Sign’

The Arkansas Arts Center, the state’s premiere center for visual and performing arts, together with studioMain, presents a special symposium, “From the Bauhaus to Our House,” discussing the history and influence of the Bauhaus movement to be held Friday, May 24, at 5 p.m., in the Arkansas Arts Center Lecture Hall. This symposium is in conjunction with the Arts Center’s current exhibition, Bauhaus twenty-21: An Ongoing Legacy – Photographs by Gordon Watkinson, on view May 24 – September 1, in the Winthrop Rockefeller Gallery.

“The Arts Center is pleased to be hosting such a notable panel of expert speakers,” said Arkansas Arts Center director of education Lou Palermo. “The Bauhaus movement was inspired by a world-changing vision to unite artists and craftsmen, and we will take a deeper look into that vision with the upcoming symposium. We are so excited to be partnering with studioMain to be able to offer this event to our friends and members of the Arkansas Arts Center.”

There will then be an hour break for viewing the exhibit and refreshments, followed by a 7 p.m. discussion with a panel of architectural experts in the design fields. Admission is free and no ticket required. The symposium will feature four of the top speakers in the state to discuss this important movement in architectural history. They are as follows: Dr. Floyd Martin (UALR, Art History), John Greer (WER Architects and Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas), Mia Hall (UALR, Applied Design) and Dr. Ethel Goodstein-Murphree (UA Fay Jones School of Architecture).

This exhibition conveys the lasting philosophies of the Bauhaus, a German expression meaning “house for building” and the name of an important German School principle of architecture and design. The Bauhaus school was founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 and introduced the sleek, functional architecture that is found in many of today’s modern buildings.

The exhibition is comprised of photographs, plans and elevations, and furniture that capture the essence of Bauhaus design and its influence on architecture. By pairing Bauhaus buildings with contemporary examples by leading architects, Gordon Watkinson explores the legacy of such modern ideas as passive solar, radiant heat and prefabricating housing.

Art of Architecture: William Morris and Arts & Craft Movement

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Morris

Tonight at the Arkansas Arts Center, the next installment of the Art of Architecture lecture series takes place.

Dr. Floyd Martin of UALR is discussing William Morris and Arts and Craft Movement. The lecture starts at 6pm in the Lecture Hall at the Arts Center.

William Morris, born in England in 1834, is long recognized as one of the major figures of the Arts and Craft Movement. A designer of textiles, wallpaper, furniture and books, Morris emphasized the importance of natural and organic forms in his work. Seeking inspiration from vernacular architecture and home furnishings, he schooled himself in the techniques and materials used in their construction.

Committed to making “aesthetically pleasing and well crafted things and making them available to as many people as possible”, Morris, had a profound influence on building and design. Though not an architect himself, working in collaboration with with architect Philip Webb, he played a major role in the design of his own home, known as the The Red House, a structure built in 1860 and now part of the British National Trust. Standen, another property with which Morris was associated, is a legacy of the Arts and Crafts movement and, too, part of the Trust.

Martin

Floyd Martin, the speaker, is Professor of Art History at UALR where he has taught since 1982. He has degrees in art history from Carleton College (BA), the University of Iowa (MA), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (PhD).

Material for this lecture on William Morris was developed while Martin was on sabbatical from UALR during the spring of 2010, and able to visit the Red House for the first time, and return to Standen, a favorite country house from previous trips. In November he began a three year term as President of the Southeastern College Art Conference, an organization of college and university studio artists, art historians, and art educators, that is the second largest national organization of its type.