Tag Archives: Riverfront Park

Sculpture at the River Market launches #LRSculpture Selfie Contest

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Sculpture at the River MarketThe Sculpture in the River Market Show and Sale is ushering in a new feature for its ninth year that encourages the public to explore, appreciate, and share public art offerings in Little Rock through social media.

The selfie with a sculpture contest will begin April 11 and continue through April 21. The concept is simple: A person finds their favorite sculpture in Little Rock, takes a photo with it, and tells why it’s a special sculpture while using the hashtag #LRSculpture on either Instagram or Twitter.

“Sculptures are such wonderful art pieces because of their accessibility. Everyone seems to have one that really resonates with them,” Sculpture at the River Market committee member Scott Whiteley Carter said. “We have over 100 sculptures in public places all around the City in addition to hundreds in private homes and businesses, so we’re excited to see what gets selected and shared.”

Photos showing misuse of a sculpture will not be considered.

Winners will be announced April 21. The grand prize includes tickets to the Sculpture Show Preview Party on April 22 at 6:30 p.m. Three additional prizes will be given.

Guests attending the Preview Party will view and vote on the seven semi-finalist proposals for the next public monument sculpture winner to help select the top three finalists. The winner of that competition will be announced Sunday, April 24.

The ninth Sculpture at the River Market Invitational Show and Sale takes place from April 22 – 24, 2016.

Over 800 sculptures will be on display in the River Market pavilions and in the adjacent area of Riverfront Park on those three days in April. The works featured will include all types of media, style, subject matter, and size.

Sculpture at the River Market will be open in the River Market pavilions from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday, April 23, and from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Sunday, April 24.  In addition to the opportunity to view the sculptures and meet with the sculptors, there are a variety of activities planned throughout the two days.

Docent led tours of the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden will be available at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 23 and Sunday, April 24. Andina’s Café & Coffee Roastery will be set up at the sculpture show Sunday beginning at 10 a.m.  From 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Sunday, Southern Salt and Southern Gourmasian food trucks will be set up at the River Market.

More information is available at sculptureattherivermarket.com/

Little Rock Look Back: Rock On!, or the day LaHarpe saw La Petite Roche

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IMG_4805On April 9, 1722, French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de La Harpe rounded the bend of the Arkansas River and saw La Petite Roche and Le Rocher Français.  He had entered the mouth of the Arkansas River on February 27 after traveling up the Mississippi River from New Orleans.

Though La Harpe and his expedition are the first Europeans documented to have seen La Petite Roche, the outcropping of rocks was well-known to the Quapaw Indians in the area.  The outcropping jutted out in the Arkansas River and created a natural harbor which provided a perfect place for boats to land.

The rock outcropping is the first one visible along the banks of the Arkansas River.  It marks the place where the Mississippi Delta meets the Ouachita Mountains.  Geologists now believe that the Little Rock is not the same type of rock as the Ouachita Mountains and more closely matches the composition and age of mountains in the western US.

In 1813, William Lewis became the first European settler to live near La Petite Roche but only stayed a few months.  Speculators and trappers continued to visit the area throughout the 1810s. During that time, the outcropping became known informally as the Little Rock.

La Petite Roche had become a well-known crossing when the Arkansas Territory was established in 1819. The permanent settlement of ‘The Rock’ began in the spring of 1820, and the first building has been described as a cabin, or shanty, and was built on the bank of the river near the ‘Rock.’ In March 1820, a Post Office was established at the ‘Rock’ with the name “Little Rock.”

Over the years, La Petite Roche was altered.  In 1872, Congress authorized the building of a railroad bridge. A pier for the bridge was built at the location of the La Petite Roche which caused the removal of several tons of rock.  The bridge was never built.  When the Junction Bridge was built in 1899, even more rock was removed in the process of erecting part of the bridge on top of the rock.  It was not viewed as being disrespectful of the City’s namesake at the time.  Indeed, it was viewed as a testament to the sturdiness of the rock.

In 2010, La Petite Roche plaza opened in Riverfront Park.  It celebrates the history of La Petite Roche and explores its importance to various aspects of Little Rock’s history and geography.

Happy Easter from the Sculpture Rabbits

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Downtown Little Rock has at least three different sculptures of rabbits.  Since today is Easter Sunday and the Easter Bunny is making his rounds, it seems a good day to highlight these sculptures.

In the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden, Laurel Peterson Greg’s Bunny Bump has been providing whimsy since 2010.

Bunny Bump

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few yards from the bumping bunnies, James Paulsen’s Lopsided presents a much more laconic rabbit.

Lopsided

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And at the corner of President Clinton Avenue and Sherman Street, Tim Cherry’s Rabbit Reach welcomes visitors to the River Market.  It was placed in memory of George Wyatt and Frank Kumpuris by Whitlow Wyatt and the Carey Cox Wyatt Charitable Foundation.

Rabbit Reach

Sculptors announced for 2016 Sculpture at the River Market

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Sculpture at the River MarketSculpture at the River Market is pleased to announce the artists who have been juried in to our 2016 Sculpture Show & Sale to be held April 22-24.

Each artist was invited to submit a proposal for the 6th Public Art Monument Sculpture Commission Competition – a $60,000 to $80,000 commission.

Guests attending the Preview Party on April 22nd will view and vote on the six semi-finalist proposals to help select the top three finalists; the top three will be announced at the end of the evening. These three finalists’ proposals will be juried on April 23-24 and the winning proposal will be announced on Sunday afternoon, April 24th.

2016 Artists

  • Lorri Acott
  • Lori Arnold
  • Terry & Maritza Bean
  • Hunter Brown
  • Craig Campbell
  • Kathleen Caricof, NSG
  • Leslie Daly
  • Darrell Davis, NSG
  • Jane DeDecker, NSG
  • John Deering
  • Clay Enoch, NSG
  • Kimber Fiebiger
  • Peter Grimord
  • Guilloume
  • Jeff Hall
  • Denny Haskew, NSG
  • Bob Heintzelman
  • Mark Hyde
  • Greg Johnson
  • James Keller
  • Kevin Kresse
  • Mark Leichliter, NSG
  • Harold Linke, NSG
  • Allison Luedtke
  • Bryan Winfred Massey, Sr.
  • James G. Moore
  • Nnamdi Okonkwo
  • Steven Olszewski
  • Richard Pankratz
  • James Paulsen
  • Nathan Pierce
  • Merle Randolph
  • Dale Roark
  • Kevin Robb
  • Timothy Roundy
  • Emelene Russell
  • Wayne Salge, NSG
  • Valerie Jean Schafer
  • Adam Schultz
  • Stephen Shachtman, NSG
  • Kim Shaklee
  • Stephanie & Scott Shangraw
  • Gene Sparling
  • Lawrence Starck
  • Charles Strain
  • Tod Switch
  • Michael Warrick, NSG
  • C.T. Whitehouse, NSG
  • Longhua XU
  • Michelle Zorich & Katherine Martin

NSG indicates membership in the National Sculptors’ Guild

Riverfest announces the 2016 Lineup

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Riverfest 2016The 2016 Riverfest lineup was announced today.

The festival, this year on June 3 through June 5, will include CHRIS STAPLETON, THE FLAMING LIPS, GOO GOO DOLLS, COLE SWINDELL, GRACE POTTER, KELSEA BALLERINI, X AMBASSADORS, JUICY J, GEORGE CLINTON, ST. PAUL AND THE BROKEN BONES, BROTHERS OSBORNE, BARRETT BABER, JUDAH & THE LION and ZZ WARD. Also on tap will be Givers, The Sheepdogs, Andy Frasco and the U.N., New Breed Brass Band and Knox Hamilton.

Riverfest 2016 will be held on the first weekend in June (no longer on the Memorial Day holiday). The weekend will kick-off Friday, June 3rd from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. with “Flowing on the River,” a party featuring tastings of hundreds of wines & local craft beers, great food & live music. Flowing on the River is a separately ticked event.

Riverfest Music Festival takes place Saturday and Sunday June 4th & 5th with all your festival favorites from great food, arts & crafts, special attractions and the best live music on the banks of the Arkansas River.

It wouldn’t be Riverfest without the largest fireworks display in the state to conclude a full weekend of fun and activity.

 

Little Rock Look Back: LR Mayor Martin Borchert

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Mayor BorchertOn January 16, 1916, future Little Rock Mayor Martin Borchert was born in Stuttgart.  After graduating high school he moved to Little Rock.  During World War II, he served as a bomber.  He started work at ACME Brick and spent 21 years there before engaging in other business interests.  Among these businesses were Martin Borchert Co., ASCO Hardware, Dtection Systems Inc. and Component Systems Inc.  In 2005 he was inducted into the Arkansas Construction Hall of Fame.

Mayor Borchert was elected to the Little Rock City Board of Directors in 1964 and served from January 1965 through December 1968. He chose not to seek a second term.  In 1967 and 1968 he served as Mayor of Little Rock. During this time, he laid out the vision for what has become Riverfront Park along the Arkansas River.

Other civic achievements included being a member of the Board of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, being on the Governor’s Citizens Advisory Committee, a member of the Pulaski County Quorum Court, vice chairman of the Arkansas Planning Commission, and being on the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council. In 1967 he served on the President’s National Advisory Council to the Small Business Administration. Mayor Borchert served on the Little Rock Water Commission, including a tenure as chairman. In 1985, he was chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Policy Board and as chairman oversaw the transfer of the Central Arkansas Transit system to the Central Arkansas Transit Authority. One of the achievements of which he was very proud of was that he was one of the very first in Arkansas to receive an Adopt the Highway road.

Mayor Borchert was married for 57 years to Rosemary “Biddy” Branch Borchert.  They had two children, a son, John “Topper” Borchert and a daughter, Leslie Borchert Wilson.  He died on May 11, 2007.

15 Highlights of 2015 – Sculpture at the River Market expands beyond River Market

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0202PeaceIn 2015, Sculpture at the River Market officially expanded outside of the River Market area.

There have certainly been sculptures in Little Rock since the Henry Moore sculpture arrived in the 1970s.  Working with the City’s Parks and Recreation Department, Sculpture at the River Market has located scores of sculptures in Riverfront Park (both in the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden and in other areas of the park) and on the streets in the River Market District.

In 2011, the group started a public monument competition. The first three annual winners were all placed in Riverfront Park. Lorri Acott won the 2014 competition for her sculpture Peace.  Instead of being placed in the park, it was installed at the southeast corner of the intersection of Second and Main Streets.

It has quickly become a focal point in downtown Little Rock.

The 2015 public monument competition was won by Michael Warrick. It will be placed on Chenal Parkway at Chenal Village Drive.

Also in 2015, the sculptures downtown started attracting attention.  Actress Melissa Joan Hart and singer Tim McGraw both took to social media to highlight Little Rock sculpture while they were visiting Little Rock.  McGraw highlighted the pig sculpture at the River Market while Hart praised Rabbit Reach at the corner of President Clinton Avenue and Sherman Street.

The 2016 edition of the annual show and sale will be April 22 to 24.