Tag Archives: Townsend Wolfe

LR Cultural Touchstone: Jeane M. Hamilton

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Photo taken for SOIREE

Photo taken for SOIREE

Jeane M. Hamilton is not a native Arkansan. But it was Little Rock and Arkansas’ good fortune that she married a Little Rock native and came here.

Arriving in Little Rock a young wife in 1952, she immediately set about to become involved in her new community as she and her husband James set up a household.  In the mid-1950s, the Junior League of Little Rock tapped her to chair the initiative to create a new art museum for Little Rock.  The two decades old Museum of Fine Arts was threadbare through years of neglect and unfocused programming and collecting.

Hamilton, along with Junior League President Carrie Remmel Dickinson and Vice President Martha McHaney, approached Winthrop Rockefeller (then a relatively new resident) to lead the fundraising effort for the new museum.  He agreed on a few conditions: one was that a base amount had to be raised in Little Rock first, and second that the museum would be for the entire State of Arkansas and not just Little Rock.

Hamilton and her colleagues set about to raise the funds. They raised $645,000 at the same time Little Rock’s business climate was stymied by the aftereffects of the Central High crisis.

Now a lifetime honorary member of the Arkansas Arts Center Board, Hamilton has spent much of her life working on Arkansas Arts Center projects since that visit in 1959.  She has served on the Board, chaired committees, chaired special events, served hot dogs, helped kids paint and danced the night away at countless fundraisers.  She was on the committee which hired Townsend Wolfe as executive director and chief curator.  Jeane has led art tours for the Arts Center to a number of countries over the years.

When she is not at the Arts Center, she is often seen at the Rep, the Symphony or any number of other cultural institutions.  While she enjoys seeing old friends at these events, she also loves to see a room full of strangers – because that means that new people have become engaged in the cultural life of Little Rock.

LR Look Back: 50th Anniversary of Arkansas Arts Center opening

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IMG_5262Fifty years ago today, the Arkansas Arts Center officially opened in Little Rock’s MacArthur Park.  The project, which dates back to the early days of the Fine Arts Club, was formally authorized by the Little Rock City Board of Directors in September 1960 following a successful fundraising drive by supporters.  Future Governor Winthrop Rockefeller was a vital force in raising money and establishing the vision which transformed a small municipal art museum (the Museum of Fine Arts) into a comprehensive art center serving the entire state.

Since that day in May 1963, the physical plant of the Arkansas Arts Center has expanded several times. The programming has also grown. Though the degree-granting graduate school was abandoned in the late 1960s (because it nearly bankrupted the AAC), the Arkansas Arts Center now boasts an extensive and expansive Museum School offering classes in a variety of art forms to students of all ages.

Likewise the cutting-edge theatre company which was once in residence at the AAC is long-gone. After a few other programming attempts, the theatre space has been home to the Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre since 1975.

The changes mentioned above and the expansions were shepherded by longtime Director and Chief Curator Townsend Wolfe.  Pictured above is a look at the main entrance to the facility, which has served in this capacity since an expansion which opened in February 2000.

Dr. Todd Herman is the current Executive Director of the Arkansas Arts Center. He joined the museum in the summer of 2011.

 

Ark Arts Center Collector Show & Sale: Nov 30-Dec 30

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Opening this Friday, the Arkansas Arts Center presents the 44th Collectors Show & Sale.

First organized in 1968 by then-Arkansas Arts Center Director and Chief Curator Townsend Wolfe, the purpose of the exhibition is to encourage local collecting, acquaint Arkansas Arts Center visitors with works from New York galleries and promote the drawing media.

Arthur B. Davies “Figure Composition” c. 1905

Through the years the exhibition has evolved to an annual tradition that brings the New York Gallery scene to Little Rock. Executive Director Todd Herman and curators select the best in drawings and contemporary craft from over 20 New York galleries.

The exhibition includes works in a variety of media that range from 18th century masterworks to contemporary pieces by emerging artists. The unique and varied selection of works allows seasoned buyers to add to their collections, while introducing potential new collectors to the field.

There will be a members reception on Thursday, November 29 from 6pm to 8pm.  Memberships are available at the door.

Sculpture Vulture: Standing Red

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As Thanksgiving weekend comes to a close, today’s Sculpture Vulture looks at a sculpture that was placed as a token of thanks.

In 1970, artist Tal Streeter and the Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees donated Streeter’s sculpture Standing Red in honor of Jeannette Edris Rockefeller.  Mrs. Rockefeller had been a champion of the Arkansas Arts Center and had served as longtime chair of the Board.  She had also been instrumental in the recruitment and hiring of Townsend Wolfe who would be the longtime director of the Arkansas Arts Center.

Streeter’s sculpture stands 27 feet tall and is 54 feet from one end to another.  It consists of a T-shaped base and a perpendicular pedestal.  It is in the Minimalist style of art.  In creating it, Streeter focused on the placement of a thin red line into a setting.  It was placed near the then-entrance of the Arkansas Arts Center (which still serves as the entrance for the Museum School and Children’s Theatre).

This was one of the earliest pieces of abstract art in Little Rock.  A silkscreen by Streeter is also in the Arkansas Arts Center collection.

Ark. Arts Center Lecture: National Drawing Invitational

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Charlotta Kotik, guest curator for the Arkansas Arts Center exhibit 11th National Drawing Invitational: New York, Singular Drawings exhibition, will lead a gallery talk. Ms. Kotik is the Curator Emerita at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.  The program will be this Sunday, June 24 at 2pm in the Jeannette Edris Rockefeller Gallery.

Ati Maier

The 11th National Drawing Invitational continues the Arkansas Arts Center’s commitment to collect and exhibit drawings of all periods. The Arkansas Arts Center began its collection of drawings in 1971 when AAC Director and Chief Curator Townsend Wolfe purchased Willem de Kooning and Andrew Wyeth works on paper. Today the drawing collection includes over 5,000 sheets. In 1986, Wolfe created the first National Drawing Invitational to further advance the Arts Center’s commitment to collect and exhibit drawings and to focus on living American artists and their work. Guest Curator Charlotta Kotik puts together an exhibition that features drawings by New York artists whose work borders on obsession.

The exhibit runs through September 9.  It is sponsored by Friday, Eldredge and Clark, LLP.

11th National Drawing Invitational at Arkansas Arts Center

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The Arkansas Arts Center presents the exhibition 11th National Drawing Invitational: New York, Singular Drawings on view April 20 – September 9, 2012, in the Jeannette Edris Rockefeller Gallery.

In 1986, Arkansas Arts Center Director and Chief Curator Townsend Wolfe organized the first National Drawing Invitational to further advance the Arts Center’s commitment to collect and exhibit drawings and to focus on living American artists and their work. For the 11th National Drawing Invitational, guest Curator Charlotta Kotik puts together an exhibition that features drawings by ten New York artists whose works border on obsession in their execution.

Ati Maier

Charlotta Kotik works as a writer and independent curator, facilitating various projects for galleries around the world. Until 2007, Kotik was Chair and Curator at the Brooklyn Museum of Art Drawing Department. Currently, Kotik is Curator Emerita at the museum. During the course of her career, Ms. Kotik has organized over 100 museums exhibitions, presenting the work by contemporary artists such as Mariko Mori, Kerry James Marshall, John Cage, Jenny Holzer and Robert Longo.

The National Drawing Invitational continues the Arkansas Arts Center’s commitment to collect and exhibit drawings of all periods. The Arkansas Arts Center began its collection of drawings in 1971 when Wolfe purchased Willem de Kooning and Andrew Wyeth works on paper. Today the drawing collection includes over 5,000 sheets.

11th National Drawing Invitational: New York, Singular Drawings is sponsored by Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP

Sculpture Sunday: Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge

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Little Rock’s most famous piece of public art is Henry Moore’s 1961 creation Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge, which is known locally as “The Henry Moore Sculpture.”  The original model was created in 1961; this sculpture was cast in 1976 and purchased in June 1978 by the Little Rock Metrocentre Improvement District. The purchase price was $185,000 — a princely sum at the time but now a bargain for a Henry Moore sculpture.

A committee consisting of Townsend Wolfe (then the director and chief curator of the Arkansas Arts Center), James Dyke and Dr. Virginia Rembert actually traveled to England to meet with Moore about the sculpture.

It was originally placed at the intersection of Capitol and Main as the centerpiece of the pedestrian mall. When the final segment was reopened to vehicular traffic, it was put at its current location of the southeast corner of Capitol and Louisiana.