Tag Archives: UA Little Rock

iPhotos 2011: The Arty

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Like many people, the Little Rock Culture Vulture has an iPhone and takes many iPhotos. Yesterday, today and tomorrow, the entries highlight some of his favorite personal iPhotos taken in Little Rock during 2011. The are divided into the Good, the Odd and the Arty.

Today focuses on The Arty. These 11 from ’11 are presented chronologically. These were mistakes, but upon reflection some turned out interesting photos in their own right.

Rain reflected on the dashboard of the Culture Vulture's Vue - April 2011

Capital Hotel lobby - May 2011

 

Tired Rep carpet pre-renovation at last night prior to renovation - June 2011

 

Inside Clinton Library - June 2011

Little Rock Wind Symphony Flag Day Concert in MacArthur Park by MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History - June 2011

Downtown lights - July 2011

Light and shadow - Little Rock - October 2011

Wally Allen Ballroom at Statehouse Convention Center for 50th anniversary party of Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods - October 2011

John Willis and friends concert on UALR Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall stage - November 2011

Floor of Capital Hotel lobby - November 2011

Capital Hotel exterior decorated for Christmas by Tipton Hurst - December 2011

CALS commissions new art to Celebrate Centennial

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The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) has commissioned a piece of public art celebrating its 100 years of service to the community.

To help complete the work, through Thursday, December 29, CALS is gathering translations of the word “celebrate” in as many in different languages as possible. Patrons wishing to participate may submit a translation and identify the language on the CALS website, http://www.cals.org. Each entry of a correct translation of the word celebrate will be included in a drawing for a $50 gift certificate for “gently read” books, supplied by CALS’s River Market Books & Gifts. The drawing will be held on Friday, December 30.

Arkansas artist Michael Warrick (who is on the faculty of UALR and has pieces throughout the US as well as China) has designed a top which will incorporate the translations of the word in a ring around the piece. The Main Library campus will host the art, which is expected to be completed in 2012.

UALR Artspree: Ben and Brad in a Tribute to Fred Astaire

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UALR Artspree returns with its second offering of the season.  Tonight at 7:30 at the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall on the UALR main campus, Benjamin Sears & Bradford Conner will perform Ben & Brad: A Tribute to Fred Astaire.

The duo have been hailed by critics and audiences nationwide and received awards for their evening of American popular song and show tunes.  The Boston Globe notes “both Sears and Conner are helplessly gaga over this music. They just radiate happiness when they perform it, and you get happy too.”

UALR History Institute Continues Evenings with History

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The 21st year of the UALR History Institutes’ Evenings with History continues on November 1.

Tonight’s presenter is Dr. Story Matkin-Rawn, a special guest from the University of Central Arkansas.  Her talk is entitled “From Land Ownership to Legal Defense: The World War I Watershed in Black Arkansan Organizing.”  The session takes place at the Ottenheimer Auditorium of Historic Arkansas Museum. Refreshments are served at 7 with the program beginning at 7:30 pm. The cost is $50 for admission to all six programs.

Dr. Matkin-Rawn examines the time period around The Great War and how that affected blacks in the South, especially Arkansas.  A rise in farm commodity prices during World War I should have helped many black farm families break the cycle of sharecropping.  But due to fraud and exploitation, it did not.  This caused hundreds of black farmers to organize Progressive Farmers and Householders Union.  The Elaine Massacre destroyed their movement and claimed scores of black Arkansan lives. Though the organization was ended, the movement and quest for economic stability was far from over.

Matkin-Rawn

Matkin-Rawn

This talk traces how a rising generation of activists regrouped from broken wartime promises and white terrorism to create new strategies, new networks, a new vision, and indeed, a new generation who would confront white supremacy through a constellation of statewide political, civic, and legal justice campaigns.

Dr. Matkin-Rawn is an Assistant Professor in the History Department at UCA.  She received her Ph D from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Her specialty fields are Southern and African American History, 20th Century US History and the history of Education.

The corporate sponsors for the 2011-2012 season are Delta Trust, Union Pacific Railroad, the Little Rock School District—Teaching American History Program; the law firms of  Friday, Eldredge & Clark and Wright, Lindsey & Jennings. Support and gifts in kind have been provided by the UALR Ottenheimer Library; Historic Arkansas Museum, a museum of the Department of Arkansas Heritage; UALR Public Radio–KLRE-KUAR; and Grapevine Spirits.

Arts & Humanities Month: UALR Music presents HANSEL AND GRETEL

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The UALR Music Department presents the Englebert Humperdinck opera Hansel and Gretel today at 3:00pm.  Based on the Brothers Grimm folk tale, this production has been transported to Arkansas in the 1920s. The opera tells the story of a brother and sister who set out to find strawberries in the woods, but encounter much more. Their musical journey through the woods comes alive with all sorts of magical creatures, including an encounter with a horrible witch. This witch is not your everyday witch, for she is more clever and charming than most.  This production is one of more than 40 performances which the UALR Music Department presents throughout the year.

The UALR Music Department offers emphasis in conducting, guitar, instrumental, MIDI, music history, music theory, piano, songwriting and vocal music.  Among the various ensembles are the Chamber Choir, Community Chorus, Community Orchestra, Concert Choir, Gospel Chorale, Guitar Ensemble, Opera Theatre, Percussion Ensemble, Trombone Choir, Wind Ensemble and Women’s Chorus.

Music majors may take courses in performance study of classical music and jazz, audio recording techniques, computer music MIDI techniques, music history, theory, and composition. Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, a 304-seat facility equipped with a Steinway concert grand piano and a Bösendorfer Imperial grand, is the setting for the many concerts hosted by the music department each year.

Arts & Humanities Month: UALR Art Department

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The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Art Department maintains three galleries in the Fine Arts building that showcase varied works from visiting artists, traveling exhibitions, competitions, faculty work, and student work. Galleries I and II are located on the first floor of the art building and Gallery III is located on the second floor.

During the Fall and Springs semesters, the galleries are open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm, Saturday from 10am to 1pm and Sunday from 2pm to 5pm. Currently in the galleries are: Illustrators:53 traveling exhibition from the Society of Illustrators and Senior exhibitions.   Brad Cushman is director of the galleries.

Dr. Win Bruhl is the Art Department head.  The department offers degrees in three tracks – fine art (studio art), applied design and art education.  The fine art track offers specialization in drawing, painting, graphic design, illustration, photography, printmaking, and sculpture. The applied design track offers emphasis areas in furniture design, metals and ceramics. The art education track prepares students for licensure to teach art at the kindergarten through secondary school level as well as allowing these students to develop a BFA studio or applied design emphasis.

The department maintains a Visual Resources Collection which provides access to a teaching collection of approximately 90,000 slides, a growing number of digital images, and related information resources created to support the UALR Art Department faculty and students. Assistance with classroom presentations and the digital image databases is available to faculty and students by contacting the VRC to arrange an appointment.

Another program of the department is the artWORKS Artist Workshop Series which provides a learning community dedicated to creativity and growth through the making and understanding of the visual arts. It is a hands-on learning experience for local, regional, and national artists and artisans, students, and art educators.

Arts & Humanities Month: Rowher Art Exhibit at Arkansas Studies Institute

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The Arkansas Studies Institute (ASI) is a collaboration between the Central Arkansas Library System’s Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Rohwer Camp #23 artist unknown

In addition to being a repository for historical collections, the ASI houses four art galleries, , featuring the work of Arkansas artists and art related to the state. The exhibit galleries feature rotating exhibits including works from the CALS permanent collection.

Currently on display is the multi-media exhibit entitled “The Art of Living: Japanese American Creative Experience at Rowher.”  Curated by Butler Center staff from the Mabel Rose Jamison Vogel/Rosalie Santine Gould Collection, it showcases art created by internees at the Rohwer Relocation Center in Desha County and tells the story of creativity in the face of dire circumstances. It is on display through November 26.

 

Also on display at the ASI are the following exhibits:

  • Thomas Harding, Pinhole Photography – October 14 – December 31
  • Arkansas Pastel Society’s National Exhibition – October 14 – January 14
  • Leon Niehues: 21st Century Basketmaker – October 14 – January 28

Designed by the architectural firm of Polk Stanley Wilcox, the ASI campus is comprised of three buildings from three different centuries which were combined seamlessly.  In recognition of this effort, the Arkansas Studies Institute (ASI) received the 2011 AIA/ALA Library Building Award—one of only five awards given worldwide. The award, presented every two years by the national American Institute of Architects and the American Library Association, honors excellence in the architectural design and planning of libraries.

“We worked diligently to design a facility that would both connect the public with Arkansas’s rich history and enliven the streetscape, drawing people in,” said Reese Rowland, project design principal with Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects. “This national recognition is a testament to the public’s trust and continued investment in one of our community’s most critical assets, the public library. Our firm takes great pride in contributing to that trust. It’s always an honor to work with the visionary leadership at CALS.”