Tag Archives: UA Little Rock

Two new exhibits at UALR galleries

Posted on by

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.

UALR Applied Design Open Studio Today

Posted on by

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.

Bass next CEO of Museum of Discovery

Posted on by

The Museum of Discovery today announced that Kelley Bass will become the next CEO of the Museum.  He will succeed Nan Selz who retires at the end of this year.

Bass, who is currently Assistant Dean for External Affairs at the UALR’s Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology. Prior to that he worked at Acxiom, Arkansas Business Publishing Group and newspapers in Arkansas and Missouri.

He has been a member of the Museum’s Board of Directors for the past three years as the facility has undergone an extension renvoation and reinvigoration under Selz’s leadership.  He has also been active in Riverfest and other downtown activities.

The Museum of Discovery was founded in 1927 and is Little Rock’s oldest museum.
The museum was originally accredited by the American Association of Museums in 1993 and was re-accredited in 2001. During the period between its founding and its accreditation, the museum actively collected approximately 14,000 cultural and historical artifacts and numerous species of live animals and insects.

Selz and Bass

In 1998, the museum moved to the River Market and in 2003 became a Smithsonian Affiliate.  In 2011, the museum closed for nine months in order to add a new entrance and undergo a total renovation. This project, funded by a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, also provided funding for new, interactive science exhibits, completing the museum’s transformation from a collecting museum to a science center.

The Mission of the Museum of Discovery: To ignite a passion for science, technology and math in a dynamic, interactive environment.

Fall Dance Harvest at UALR

Posted on by

UALR’s Dance Program (the only  degree granting dance program in Arkansas) will be presenting Fall Dance Harvest this weekend.  Performances started Thursday evening and continue tonight at 7pm and Sunday at 2:30pm.   Performances will take place in the University Theatre.

Concertmaster Rhythm McCarthy for the show “9 Voices” organized the production and mentored the student choreographers who are senior dance majors in the bachelor of fine arts degree program.

Tickets are $7 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors.For tickets, contact the Theatre Arts and Dance department at 501-569-3456.

 

Earlier in the day on Saturday, UALR will be sponsoring a Fall Dance Festival.  This year’s festival gives dancers from across the region the opportunity to network and dance side-by-side with other dancers as they participate in MASTER CLASSES taught by UALR dance faculty.

After a full afternoon of classes in ballet, modern, and jazz, participants will enjoy an evening performance of UALR Dance Harvest, featuring original works choreographed by UALR dance majors.

The cost for participation is just $5. This includes three (3) master classes, bottled water and light refreshments, and a ticket to the Saturday evening performance of the UALR Dance Harvest concert.

Election Day: Go On the Stump at the Old State House

Posted on by

Twenty years ago, on Election Day 1992, the eyes of the world were on Little Rock.  That evening William Jefferson Clinton strode out through the front doors of the Old State House Museum and delivered his acceptance speech after being elected the 42nd President of the United States.

On this election day, you can visit the Old State House and visit the permanent exhibit they have on Clinton’s presidential announcement in 1991 and the election nights in 1992 and 1996.  You can also view the exhibit “On the Stump” which looks at campaigns in Arkansas from 1819 through 1919.

In 1819 when the Arkansas Territory was created, the elimination of property requirements for voting combined with the raucous spirit of the frontier produced a new style of mass participation in American politics. The results were crude and often vulgar, but thoroughly democratic. This manifested itself in Arkansas politics less centered on political parties of Arkansas and the ideology of citizens than on the personalities of those involved. So personal were the politics of the times that political campaigns often culminated in duels.  The exhibit was curated by Dr. Carl Moneyhon, Professor of History at UALR.

The Old State House is a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.  It is open from 9am to 5pm Monday through Saturday and from 1pm to 5pm on Sunday.

 

Ballet Arkansas premieres AMERICAN IMAGES

Posted on by

Just a few short years ago, Ballet Arkansas pretty much existed to produce the annual production of The Nutcracker.  Now, they are in the position to present an evening of six newly commissioned dance pieces!  Congratulations to all who have made this possible.

Tonight, Ballet Arkansas kicks off the 2012-2013 season with American Images, an evening of six commissioned works each built around the American cultural landscape.  The works are:

Times Torn
A Civil War ballet by Marla Edwards, the ballet’s new Ballet Mistress, herself a former soloist with Ballet Arkansas and a veteran of the Houston Ballet School.
American Dream
Choreography by Stephanie Thibeault, Associate Professor of Dance at UALR.
Pop
Choreography by Michelle Alexander, based on the art and writings of pop culture icon Andy Warhol.
Delta…Push Up Open
Choreography by Little Rock native Leslie Schickel, which premiered in March, 2012.
Spectre
A silent-film era pas de deux choreographed by former Ballet Arkansas guest dancer Edmond Cooper
Nowhere/Now Here 
Choreography by Tong Wang, currently assistant professor at University of California – Irvine Department of Dance. Wang is a former principal dancer at Ballet West in Salt Lake City and has worked with Shanghai Ballet, Tulsa Ballet Theatre, Dayton Ballet,
and Colorado Ballet, among many others.

 

The works premiered last night and will continue today at 4:00pm and tomorrow at 2:00pm at Wildwood Park for the Arts.  Also, while at Wildwood, enjoy this weekend’s Harvest Festival.

UALR Evenings with History Starts Tonight with Clea Bunch

Posted on by

Dr. Bunch will discuss “The Rumsfeld-Hussein Meeting, December 1983-A Nuanced View of American Policy”

The purpose of Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld’s talks with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in December 1983 has been scrutinized and criticized by the media and in popular histories in the wake of the 1991 and 2003 conflicts between the United States and Iraq. The prevailing interpretation of this meeting is that it resulted from President Ronald Reagan’s effort to contain the power of Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini by providing support to Iraq. This talk, based on documents from the Reagan Library, suggests a more nuanced picture of this meeting, arguing that Rumsfeld’s visit to the region was not concerned with containing Iranian power, but rather with enhancing the stability of Lebanon in preparation for a withdrawal of United States forces from that country.

Dr. Bunch joined the faculty in 2006. She is working with a committee to create a Middle East Studies minor and has assisted the Ottenheimer Library in the acquisition of an extensive collection of Middle East diplomatic documents. She serves on the Faculty Senate and the college Undergraduate Research Committee, and is the faculty advisor to the Saudi Student Association.

Dr. Bunch earned a Ph.D from the University of Arkansas. She has traveled extensively in the Middle East and she speaks both Arabic and French. Her work has been supported by numerous organizations such as the John F. Kennedy Foundation, the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations, and the American Center of Oriental Research. She is currently working on a book on Jordanian-American relations during the Cold War.

The Evenings with History series, sponsored by the University History Institute, features presentations by UALR faculty members sharing their current research. Although these talks are aimed at a general audience, each offers insight into the real workings of historical scholarship. The nationally-recognized series covers a variety of times, areas, and subjects. Many of the presentations illuminate current affairs. The format also allows for questions and discussion.

The six sessions of the 2012-2013 Evenings with History series will be on the first Tuesday of October and December of 2011, and February, March, and April, 2013. The November 2012 session will be on the second Tuesday.

This year’s meetings will be held at the Ottenheimer Auditorium in the Historic Arkansas Museum at 200 E. Third Street in Little Rock.  Historic Arkansas’s downtown location and the museum’s adjacent parking lot at Third and Cumberland make the sessions convenient and pleasant to attend.   Refreshments and an informal atmosphere encourage the interchange of ideas.  Refreshments are served at 7:00 p.m., and the talk begins at 7:30 p.m.

 

An individual subscription to the series, at $50 annually, includes admission to all six lectures.  A joint subscription to the series, at $90 annually, offers couples and friends a savings of $10.  A Fellow of the Institute, at $250 annually, receives admission to the six lectures plus an invitation to special presentations for Fellows only. This often includes a private evening with a noted author.

The Institute also offers a Life Membership at $1,000.

Subscribers to the series help support historical research.  The presenters donate their time, and the University History Institute uses all proceeds from the series to encourage research at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  In recent years annual Institute grants, made possible by the Evenings with History series, have made major purchases of historical research materials for UALR.  Subscriptions and donations to the Institute are tax deductible as allowed by law.