Tag Archives: Todd Herman

The Arkansas Arts Center chooses Studio Gang as design architect

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The Arkansas Arts Center (AAC) announced on Tuesday the selection of Studio Gang as design architect for its upcoming building project.
“We had a number of highly qualified firms respond to our RFQ, and narrowing this impressive group down to the five finalists was extremely difficult,” said Todd Herman, executive director for the Arkansas Arts Center. “All five finalists were incredibly talented with international reputations and credentials. The Arts Center would have been well served by any one of them. We were in a great position to choose from such an impressive pool of talent.”

The five firms selected as finalists were Allied Works (Portland, Ore./New York), Shigeru Ban (New York/Paris/Tokyo, Japan), Studio Gang (Chicago/New York), Thomas Phifer (New York) and Snohetta (Oslo, Norway/New York/San Francisco).

Herman said the selection committee felt Studio Gang was the best fit for the project, due to the firm’s elegant and smart approach to architecture, their understanding of the issues posed by the AAC’s current facility, their vision for the center as a cultural beacon for Central Arkansas and their commitment to sustainability and strength as urban planners.

Founded by MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang, Studio Gang is an award-winning architecture and urbanism practice based out of Chicago and New York. A recipient of the 2013 National Design Award, Jeanne Gang was also named the 2016 Archiitect of the Year by the Architectural Review and the firm was awarded the 2016 Architizer A+ award for Firm of the Year.

Studio Gang is recognized internationally for a design process that foregrounds the relationships between individuals, communities and environments. The firm has extensive knowledge in museum, theatre and artist studio spaces, with projects ranging from the Writers Theatre in Glencoe, Ill. to the Aqua Tower in Chicago to the expansion of the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

“Designing a re-envisioned Arkansas Arts Center is a truly exciting commission,” Gang said. “Its extraordinary collection, historic MacArthur Park setting, and rich mix of programs present a unique opportunity to redefine how the arts can strengthen local communities and surrounding regions. We look forward to working closely with the AAC to discover how architecture can enhance the Center’s important civic and cultural mission by creating new connections between people and the arts in Little Rock and beyond.”

An RFQ for a local architect to collaborate on the project will be issued later this month.

“When the Arkansas Arts Center project is completed, it will not just be a renovated facility, it will be a re-envisioned experience,” Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola said. “The enhanced building will offer opportunities for an even higher level of exhibits, classes, children’s theatre productions and special events, making the Arkansas Arts Center not only a signature tourist attraction, but an even more important cultural anchor for the arts community in Little Rock.”

“It is well known that businesses looking to locate or expand look at a city’s quality of life offerings,” Stodola said. “An enhanced Arkansas Arts Center will be a showcase which will enable us to attract and retain quality job creators in a variety of sectors.”

Herman said he is looking at the project holistically, including Historic MacArthur Park, and reevaluating how the Arts Center meets the needs of its community.

“This project is about more than just addressing the physical issues of the current building. It requires rethinking how the AAC fits into the downtown fabric,” said Herman. “How can we best serve the community, and how do the AAC and MacArthur Park connect to other social and cultural nodes in downtown Little Rock? We want to do more than build; we want to transform the cultural experience.”

The five finalists presented their firm’s general project approach and design philosophies to the selection committee on November 1, 2016. The presentations took place in the AAC lower lobby lecture hall and were open for public viewing. More than 100 people were in attendance at the presentations, including students, community members and media.

The committee determined their selection at a public meeting on December 6, 2016. The selection committee included: AAC Executive Director Todd Herman; City Director Dean Kumpuris; Director of Little Rock Parks and Recreation Truman Tolefree; AAC Board Chair Mary Ellen Irons; AAC Board members Isabel Anthony, Van Tilbury and Chucki Bradbury; AAC Foundation Chair Bobby Tucker; Little Rock Small Business Development official Chauncey Holloman; and past Director of the Central Arkansas Library System Bobby Roberts.

A technical review panel was responsible for reviewing all proposals and recommending a slate of finalists to the selection committee, based on specialized criteria outlined in an RFQ that reflected the specific needs and goals of the AAC.  The technical review panel included: AAC Executive Director Todd Herman, AAC Chief Curator Brian Lang, Architect Ken Sims, Dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture Peter MacKeith, Chair of the AAC Buildings and Grounds Committee Kaki Hockersmith and international museum consultant Deborah Frieden.

The leadership phase of a capital campaign to maximize the impact of public dollars dedicated to the project is currently underway.

“Anyone and everyone can participate in the creation of a new Arkansas Arts Center,” Herman said. “The Arts Center is a symbol of the importance that this community ­– and state – places on culture, arts education and quality of life, and all Arkansans will have the opportunity to share in that civic pride.”

The Arkansas Arts Center seeking entries for 58th Annual Delta Exhibition

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58thDeltaThe Arkansas Arts Center, the state’s premiere center for visual and performing arts, announces a call for entries for the 58th Annual Delta Exhibition which will be on display June 10 – August 28, 2016. The deadline to submit entries is March 11.

“As one of the most anticipated Arkansas Arts Center events of the year, the 58th Annual Delta Exhibition offers a unique snapshot of the talent located in the Delta region,” said Arkansas Arts Center Executive Director Todd Herman. “This exhibition allows artists to lead and inspire their communities through art, education and cultural excellence.”

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.

Elizabeth K. Garvey will serve as juror for the 58th Annual Delta Exhibition. Garvey is the co-founder and owner of Garvey-Simon Art Access, Inc. Prior to her current role, she was co-director of the venerable Schmidt-Bingham Gallery in New York, where she worked from 1989-1998; and then president and owner of EKG Art Advisory, (1999-2009). She has been a fine art dealer and advisor in New York City for over 20 years and leverages her professional relationships with galleries, auction houses, private dealers and artists to offer clients a relaxed entry into the often intimidating visage of the New York art world. Garvey maintains a boutique gallery in Manhattan that is focused on drawing, works on paper, unusual materials and design; while also acting as curator and advisor to select private clients. She is a member of ArtTable, and a founding member of the New York chapter of the Association of Women Art Dealers.

Garvey will select the artworks to be exhibited and will assign the $2,500 Grand Award and two $750 Delta Awards. Additionally, a $250 Contemporaries Delta Award will be selected by the Contemporaries, an auxiliary membership group of the Arkansas Arts Center. Artists and AAC members will be invited to attend a special reception and exhibition preview on Thursday, June 9 during which the 58th Annual Delta winners will be announced.

The Delta Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture was founded in 1958 to feature contemporary work by artists from Arkansas and the bordering states. Today, the 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.

Artists will be responsible for all shipping arrangements. Interested parties may enter their information and upload images of their work at ArkansasArtsCenter.org/delta by March 11, 2016. The entry fee is $20 for one entry and $10 for each additional entry. Artists are limited to three entries. Notifications will be mailed on March 30 and all accepted work must be received by April 27. This year’s exhibition will be on view June 10 – August 28.

The 58th Annual Delta Exhibition is sponsored by Isabel and John Ed Anthony, Bank of the Ozarks and the Delta Regional Authority. The Grand Award is supported by The John William Linn Endowment Fund. The exhibition is supported by the Andre Simon Memorial Trust in memory of everyone who has died of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

15 Highlights of 2015 – Arkansas Arts Center exhibits “Our America” and “30 Americans”

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Since the 1960s, the Arkansas Arts Center has worked to showcase artists from a variety of backgrounds.  This year, Dr. Todd Herman and his staff brought two outstanding exhibits to Little Rock.

From April to June, the Arkansas Arts Center was home to 30 Americans.

30americans30 Americans showcased works by many of the most important African American artists of the last three decades. This provocative exhibition focused on issues of racial, sexual, and historical identity in contemporary culture while exploring the powerful influence of artistic legacy and community across generations.

“This exhibition presents a sweeping survey of artwork by many of the most influential African-American artists of the last four decades,” said Arkansas Arts Center executive director Todd Herman. “For years, I’ve searched for an exhibition of this kind but couldn’t quite find what I was looking for – an exhibition with powerful interpretations of cultural identity and artistic legacy. When I came across 30 Americans, I knew this was exactly what I wanted patrons and visitors of the Arts Center to experience. These themes are universal in nature and speak to the larger human experience.”

30 Americans features work by such early and influential artists as Barkley L. Hendricks, Robert Colescott and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and those of younger and emerging artists, such as Kehinde Wiley, Wangechi Mutu and Shinique Smith. Often provocative and challenging, 30 Americans explores what it means to be a contemporary artist through an African-American point of view – whether addressing issues of race, gender, sexuality, politics or history.

Drawn from the collection of Mera and Don Rubell, 30 Americans contains 41 works in a variety of media – paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, digital videos and photographs – by 30 of the leading contemporary African American artists. The Rubells began acquiring contemporary art in the late 1960s, often forging close friendships with living artists, particularly young artists.

On display since October and there until January 17, 2016 is Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art.

A major collection of modern and contemporary Latino art from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the exhibition Our America includes 93 works in all media by 72 artists who participated in various artistic styles and movements, including abstract expressionism; activist, conceptual and performance art and classic American genres such as landscape, portraiture and scenes of everyday life.

Our America presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-20th century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge. The exhibition is drawn entirely from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s pioneering collection of Latino art.

Artists featured in the exhibition reflect the rich diversity of Latino communities in the United States. Our Americashowcases artists of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican descent, as well as other Latin American groups with deep roots in the United States. By presenting works by artists of different generations and regions, the exhibition reveals recurring themes among artists working across the country.

The 72 artists featured in the exhibition are ADÁL, Manuel Acevedo, Elia Alba, Olga Albizu, Carlos Almaraz, Jesse Amado, Asco (Harry Gamboa Jr., Gronk, Willie Herrón and Patssi Valdez), Luis Cruz Azaceta, Myrna Báez, Guillermo Bejarano, Charles “Chaz” Bojórquez, María Brito, Margarita Cabrera, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Melesio “Mel” Casas, Leonard Castellanos, Oscar R. Castillo, José Cervantes, Enrique Chagoya, Roberto Chavez, Carlos A. Cortéz, Marcos Dimas, Ricardo Favela, Christina Fernandez, Teresita Fernández, iliana emilia garcía, Rupert García, Scherezade García, Carmen Lomas Garza, Ignacio Gomez, Ken Gonzales-Day, Hector González, Luis C. “Louie the Foot” González, Muriel Hasbun, Ester Hernandez, Judithe Hernández, Carmen Herrera, Carlos Irizarry, Luis Jiménez, Miguel Luciano, Emanuel Martinez, María Martínez-Cañas, Antonio Martorell, Ana Mendieta, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Franco Mondini-Ruiz, Delilah Montoya, Malaquias Montoya, Abelardo Morell, Jesús Moroles, Raphael Montañez Ortiz, Pepón Osorio, Amado M. Peña Jr., Chuck Ramirez, Paul Henry Ramirez, Sophie Rivera, Arturo Rodríguez, Freddy Rodríguez, Joseph Rodríguez, Frank Romero, Emilio Sánchez, Juan Sánchez, Jorge Soto Sánchez, Rafael Soriano, Ruben Trejo, Jesse Treviño, John M. Valadez, Alberto Valdés and Xavier Viramontes.

The exhibition is organized by E. Carmen Ramos, curator of Latino art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Generous support for the exhibition has been provided by Altria Group, the Honorable Aida M. Alvarez, Judah Best, The James F. Dicke Family Endowment, Sheila Duignan and Mike Wilkins, Tania and Tom Evans, Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino, The Michael A. and the Honorable Marilyn Logsdon Mennello Endowment, Henry R. Muñoz III, Wells Fargo and Zions Bank. Additional significant support was provided by The Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. Support for “Treasures to Go,” the museum’s traveling exhibition program, comes from The C.F. Foundation, Atlanta.

15 Highlights of 2015 – Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter led panel at Clinton Presidential Center

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Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter addressing the audience. Photo by James Doyle

On October 21, 2015, Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter and a distinguished panel of Arkansas educators and artistic directors discussed national trends in teaching the arts and humanities, while exploring new ways to give Arkansas schools access to combined national and local resources.

While no single cultural institution in Arkansas can match the reach & multi-disciplinary offerings of The Kennedy Center, Little Rock and Arkansas have many of the same resources distributed across multiple institutions. Educators and arts advocates from across the state participated in this very important conversation about the transformation of arts and humanities education in Arkansas through deeper collaboration between these institutions.
The program included two engaging panels.
Educator Discussion Panelists
  • Joy Pennington ( Moderator ), Executive Director, Arkansas Arts Council
  • Zinse Aggine, Teaching Artist and Musician
  • Jama Best, Senior Program Officer, Arkansas Humanities Council
  • Dr. Jeff Grubbs, Associate Professor, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
  • Lana Hallmark, Fine Arts Coordinator, Arkansas Department of Education
  • Melanie Landum, Executive Director, Arkansas A+ Schools
  • Dr. Lenore Shoults, Executive Director, The Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas
Institution Discussion Panelists
  • Dr. Todd Herman  ( Moderator ), Executive Director, Arkansas Arts Center
  • Sericia Cole, Director, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center
  • Robert Hupp, Producing Artistic Director, Arkansas Repertory Theatre
  • Philip Mann, Music Director, Arkansas Symphony
  • Deborah Rutter, President, The Kennedy Center
  • Stephanie S. Streett, Executive Director, Clinton Foundation
This event was hosted by the Clinton Foundation; President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts member, Kaki Hockersmith; Mid-America Arts Alliance; Donna and Mack McLarty; and the Stella Boyle Smith Trust.

Final week for 57th Delta Exhibition at Arkansas Arts Center

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arkartsThe 57th Annual Delta Exhibition provides a unique snapshot of the Delta region by showcasing innovative and provocative contemporary works in all media.

– Guest juror George Dombek, an internationally acclaimed watercolorist and previous Delta award winner, selected the artworks to be exhibited among 882 pieces submitted by 380 artists. He won the 1975 Delta Purchase Award with his work White Whites.

– The exhibition 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.

– 72 works were selected for the exhibition from 68 individual artists, with 48 of those artists from Arkansas. In all, eight states were represented in this year’s Delta.

– Artists awarded in the 57th Annual Delta Exhibition include:

Grand Award

Mark Lewis of Tulsa, Okla., for his work titled, Under the Oak (Woodward Park)

Delta Awards

Lisa Krannichfeld of Little Rock, Ark., for her work titled, Shirt (in gold), dressed series

Neal Harrington of Russellville, Ark., for his work titled, Feather Signal

Honorable Mentions:

Michael Preble of Hot Springs, Ark., for his work titled, Unintended Consequences

Robyn Horn of Little Rock, Ark., for her work titled, Sideways

Aaron Calvert of Arkadelphia, Ark., for his work titled, Giving Figure

John Salvest of Jonesboro, Ark., for his work titled, Cage A

Laura Terry of West Fork, Ark., for her work titled, Ozarks Landscape, Late Summer

David Underwood of Jefferson City, Tenn., for his work titled, Abandonded Schoolhouse

Contemporaries Delta Award:

Mark Lewis of Tulsa, Okla., for his work titled, Under the Oak (Woodward Park)

Contemporaries Honorable Mentions:

Neal Harrington of Russellville, Ark., for his work titled, Feather Signal

The exhibition, which runs through September 20, is sponsored by Mrs. Lisenne Rockefeller, Bourbon & Boots, The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston, Dianne and Bobby Tucker, Janet and Sam Alley and the Capital Hotel. The Grand Award is supported by The John William Linn Endowment Fund. The exhibition is supported by the Andre Simon Memorial Trust in memory of everyone who has died of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Creative Corridor Banners Unveiled 

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The designs for the Main Street Creative Corridor banner competition were officially “unveiled” 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 27, at the parking deck at 2nd and Main streets as artists Stephano and Virmarie DePoyster who created the winning works are introduced.
Also speaking were Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, Downtown Partnership Executive Director Gabe Holmstrom, and Arkansas Arts Center Executive Director Todd Herman.

Funding for the two outside banners and lighting for all three comes from the private foundation ArtPlace. Funding for the middle banner comes from the Little Rock Visitors and Convention Bureau.

Get INSPIRED BY NATURE while indoors at Arkansas Arts Center

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AAC NatureThe Arkansas Arts Center offers a way to appreciate nature while still remaining in climate controlled settings.  The exhibit INSPIRED BY NATURE by David Paul Cook, Victoria Harvey and Catherine Rodgers, is on view through October 18 in the Museum School Gallery.

“We are pleased to host works by our very own Museum School instructors who work tirelessly to teach students of all ages and skill levels to become artists,” said Arkansas Arts Center executive director Todd Herman. “These faculty members created wonderful works of art by working in the open air – influenced by nature and the environment around them.”

David Paul Cook has been the Museum School’s Watercolor Landscape and Plein Air (outdoor) Instructor since the fall of 2002. He also works with beginning students on watercolor techniques and brush handling and helps more advanced students with landscape composition and design. David is an avid outdoor painter of Central Arkansas scenes, rendered in a realistic style. His colorful and unique sketchbook-journals have been recently featured in articles in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the Maumelle Magazine.

Victoria Harvey is a landscape painter in the medium of oils on canvas. A juried member of Oil Painters of America and Landscape Artists International, her work is represented in many notable collections around the country and is shown in Artworks Gallery on Nantucket. She teaches Beginning Painting and Landscape Painting and is the coordinator for Plein Air Painters of Arkansas and resides in Little Rock and in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Catherine Rodgers attended summer workshops at the Arkansas Arts Center as a child. Her works are held in hundreds of private collections in Arkansas and across the United States. Recent exhibits include the55th Annual Delta Exhibition, the Inaugural Exhibit of the Mississippi River Museum and The Erudites Exhibit at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.