Tag Archives: University of Arkansas at 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.

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: 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.”

Arts & Humanities Month: UALR Theatre & Dance presents ONCE UPON A MATTRESS

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The UALR Theatre and Dance season kicks off with the whimsical musical fairy tale Once Upon a Mattress.  This marks UALR’s first musical in several years and comes after the theatre and dance program have been revitalized.  The production of this Mary Rodgers, Marshall Barer, Dean Fuller, Jay Thompson musical opens tonight at 8pm.  Other show times are Friday, October 7 at 7pm; Saturday, October 8 at 2:30pm and 8pm; and Sunday, October 9 at 2:30pm. Tickets can be obtained by calling the UALR Box Office at 569-3456.

Rhythm McCarthy is serving as director and choreographer.  Designers are William Marshall, Yslan Hicks, Jim Spencer and Karen Harris.  Michael Heavner is serving as musical director.

The 2011/2012 season has the tagline: Where Your Imagination Is Our Reality.  Other productions are:

  • Senior Dance Projects, November 17-20
  • Jeff Baron’s Visiting Mr. Green and Jane Martin’s Criminal Hearts presented in repertory, February 22-26
  • Spring Dance Concert, April 19-22

Arts & Humanities Month: UALR History Department’s Evenings with History

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This year marks the 21st year for the History Institutes’ Evenings with History.  This nationally recognized series has featured a variety of subject.  This year, the first three evenings comprise a mini-series focused on African-Americans in Arkansas.  The other evenings will take listeners around the world in geography and chronology. The sessions take 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.

Tonight’s program features Carl Moneyhon speaking on “Freedom: Black Arkansans and the End of Slavery”

On November 1, Story Matkin-Rawn of the UCA History Department will present a program entitled “From Land Ownership to Legal Defense: The World War I Watershed in Black Arkansan Organizing”

John Kirk presents December’s program on the 6th: “A Movement is more than a Moment: Arkansas and the African American Civil Rights struggle since 1940”

The Evenings in History return on February 7 with Jeff Kyong-McClain’s “The Heavenly History of the Han, or How a Liberal Baptist from Green Forest, Arkansas Taught Racial and Ethnic Nationalism to the Chinese”

On March 6, Charles Romney will address “A Brief History of Human Rights”

The 2011-2012 sessions will conclude on April 3 with Edward Anson’s “Counter-Insurgency: The Lessons of Alexander the Great”

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.