Michael Warrick was the winner of the 2015 Sculpture at the River Market Public Art Monument Competition. His winning piece – Mockingbird Tree – will be installed at the corner of Chenal Parkway and Chenal Valley Drive.
Mockingbird Tree is a tree with bubble forms for foliage plus a pair of Arkansas’ state birds. It will be 18′ tall by 11′ wide by 7′ deep. The tree will be stainless steel and the mockingbirds will be bronze.
Through February 15, Wildwood Park for the Arts will be showcasing the works of 39 artists as part of their Art in the Park program.
This exhibit highlights recent work by Faculty, Students, and Alumni of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) Department of Art.
Tonight from 6pm to 8pm there will be a reception to celebrate the exhibit.
Following the reception, the art may be viewed weekdays between 10 am and 4 pm, and on Saturdays and Sundays, January 8 – February 15, from noon to 4 pm.
39 Exhibiting Artists Include:
Jasmine Av, Student
Heather Beckwith, Student
Win Bruhl, Retired Professor, Printmaking/Painting and Department Chair
Justin Bryant, Student
Byron Buslig, Student
Kevin Cates, Associate Professor, Graphic Design
Lane Chapman, Student
Taimur Cleary, Artist in Residence in Painting
Tom Clifton, Department Chair and Professor, Illustration and Drawing
Brad Cushman, Gallery Director
Jeffrey B. Grubbs, Associate Professor, Art Education
Mia Hall, Associate Professor, Applied Design
Kerrick Hartmon, Alumni
Morgan Hill, Alumni
Linda Holloway, Alumni
Amanda Hubbard, Student
Mehreen Khalid, Adjunct Professor, Photography
Joli Livaudais, Assistant Professor, Photography
Chelsye Mae Garrett, Student
Eric Mantle, Professor, Painting
Ian Park, Alumni
Tiffany Partin, Student
Jennifer Danielle Perren, Student
Katherine Purcell, Student
Laura Raborn, Alumni
Casey Roberson, Associate Professor, Photography
Sandra Sell, Alumni
Emily Shiell, Student
Allison Short Weaver, Student
David Smith, Assistant Professor, Ceramics
Aj Smith, Professor, Printmaking
Mesilla Smith, Student
Joe Tollett, Student
Joanna Waldron, Student
Michael Warrick, Professor, Sculpture
Marjorie Williams-Smith, Professor, Graphic Design
Spencer Zahrn, Student
As a historian, arts patron, and administrator, Deborah Baldwin has had a hand in shaping Little Rock’s cultural scene for nearly thirty years. As Chair of the UALR History Department from 1986 to 1992, she lead the department as it created the History Institute which sponsors the “Evenings with History” lecture series. At the time it was started, it was one of the few lecture series in Little Rock (if not the only one).
A member of the UALR faculty since 1980, Baldwin is a specialist in modern Mexican history with a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. She has published a book on the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and a variety of articles, primarily on Mexican social history topic.
As a History Department faculty member, she has lead the Public History seminar. This program has documented the history of several Little Rock cultural institutions over the years including the Arkansas Arts Center, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Museum of Discovery. The Public History program has trained many of the museum professionals working in Little Rock today. The Central High Museum, a private forerunner of the National Park Service Central High National Historic Site Visitor Center, was lead in a large part by persons associated with the UALR Public History Program.
Starting in the mid-1990s, Baldwin led the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. In that capacity, she oversaw the visual and performing arts programming at UALR. Under her leadership, the Departments of Art, Music, and Theatre & Dance were all revitalized. As a part of this, she ensured that cutting-edge technology was being integrated to arts curriculum. She also led efforts to upgrade the performance facilities. During her tenure as Dean, the College also played leading roles in the commemoration of the 40th and 50th anniversaries of the integration of Central High School, the centennial of the Mexican Revolution, and the “Life Interrupted” exhibit which highlighted the Japanese-American internment experience in Arkansas. She also oversaw the creation of Finale!, an event each spring which celebrates the arts in Little Rock and honors arts patrons.
With the creation of the Arkansas Studies Institute (a collaboration between UALR and Central Arkansas Library System), Baldwin took on additional duties as UALR’s supervisor on the project.
In 2014, UALR underwent a campus-wide administrative and academic reorganization. In conjunction with that, Baldwin became Associate Provost for UALR Collections and Archives. In that capacity she oversees the campus library system, Center for Arkansas History and Culture and the Sequoyah National Research Center. She continues to teach in the Department of History.
She is a past member of the board of the Arkansas Humanities Council and the MacArthur Military History Museum Commission.
The 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
June is Busting Out All Over with great art and music downtown on 2nd Friday Art Night. Visual art, music, refreshments, a trolley for transportation can all be yours for the low price of FREE. The festivities run from 5pm to 8pm, unless otherwise noted.
Among the highlights:
Two new exhibits opened yesterday in the UALR Art Galleries.
“Collecting Prints” features fine art prints from the UALR Permanent Collection that have been acquired over the past 15 years. The majority of the permanent collection is made up of late 20th century and contemporary drawings, prints, paintings, sculptural objects and ceramics by professional artists and UALR students. This exhibition will be open in Gallery I through March 11. A reception will take place Jan. 25.
This exhibition celebrates art Professor Win Bruhl’s love of the diverse media found in the print studio and to honor his tenure on the eve of his retirement in June 2013. Bruhl became chair of the art department in 1998 and counts printmaking among his studio passions.
“Surface Space (Sundial Face)” features recent paintings by UALR Artist in Residence Taimur Cleary. Cleary’s work centers around connections to and perception of the landscape, with influences that include landscape paintings, the quality of sunlight and reflected light, the seasons, meteorology, clouds, satellite imagery, memory, reading, and traveling. This exhibition will be open in Gallery II from Jan. 14 through Feb. 8. An artist talk will be held Jan. 31.
Cleary is the fourth person to hold the artist-in-residence position in representational painting within the art department at UALR. He began his residency in August 2011. He has taught at The Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio. Prior to that, he taught art as an assistant professor in Lahore, Pakistan.
The UALR Applied Design program will hold its annual Open Studio event from 4 p.m.-7 p.m. today, Wednesday, Dec. 19.
An eclectic mix of student and faculty work will be on display. Pieces will be from such classes as furniture design and woodworking, ceramics, metalsmithing and jewelry, blacksmithing, and contemporary crafts.
In addition to the exhibit, there will be a sale of one-of-a-kind artworks, forging demonstrations, a silent auction, and a raffle.
The Applied Design program at UALR provides students opportunities to learn about and create traditional arts and crafts representative of the South Central region of the U.S., with a particular emphasis on Arkansas.
The Applied Design studio is located in University Plaza. For more information, contact the Art Department at 501.569.3182.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 