Tag Archives: Wildwood Park for the Arts

Final Wildwood House Concert of Season tonight – Dreaming Sophia

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WW dreamingDreaming Sophia will close out the Wildwood House Concert series tonight under the Pavilion on October 8 at 7 pm.

Dreaming Sophia came into being around six years ago.  Ted Williams had been a percussionist and flutist for many years when he picked up a guitar and transferred his knowledge and experience with world rhythms to a new chordal medium.  His wife Sonja would hear him combining chord with time, and inspired, began writing lyrics and melody lines to accompany his rhythm guitar.

The husband and wife song-writing team soon joined with violinist, Jason Choate, and proceeded to create an extensive repertoire of songs with gypsy, folk, jazz and alternative rock roots.   Drawing on universal themes with an Ozark twist, the song list expanded, as did the band.  Marvin Schwartz added mandolin, David Alexander brought in bass and, most recently, the band added Rand Retzloff’s drumming and percussion.

The songs of Dreaming Sophia are eclectic.  They are philosophically lyrical, yet as down to earth as an Arkansas morning.  Whether illustrating rekindled romance, the excitement of a child at a Southern fair, or coming back home, the songs pay tribute to longing, love, remembrance and compassion.

Admissions is a $15 suggested donation; doors open at 6:30 pm.  There will be beer, wine and snacks available for purchase.

Creative Class of 2015: Sericia Cole

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sericiaSericia Cole has quietly and quickly transformed the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.  She was named interim director in July 2012 and permanently took the post in November of that year.  Since then, she has expanded programming and outreach efforts of the museum.

Under her leadership, Mosaic Templars has started lunchtime lecture series and has expanded its exhibition schedule.  She has also worked to ensure that special events take place year-round at the museum.  In addition to exhibits on a variety of aspects of African American history in Arkansas, the museum is the permanent home of the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.

A Little Rock native and UALR graduate, she has previously worked for Governor Mike Beebe, Philander Smith College, Wildwood Park for the Arts, and KATV.

 

 

The 2015 ACANSA wraps up with Gospel Brunch at Wildwood

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St Mark Baptist ChoirJoin ACANSA Arts Festival at Wildwood Park for the Arts for a Gospel Brunch with the award winning Saint Mark Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir.

Sunday brunches are a southern tradition.  Also on Sunday mornings in the south, African-American churches burst into song with the joyous sounds of gospel. Gospel brunches, a relatively new phenomenon, allow an audience to enjoy a sumptuous meal while appreciating this uplifting, soulful music on the day it was meant to be heard.

Price of $35 includes performance and brunch.

Brunch begins at 11:00am.

Other ACANSA events today:

A Little Poetry: The Art of Alonzo Ford will be on view until October 25, 2015 in the Arkansas Arts Center’s Sam Strauss, Jr., Gallery.

The Angela Davis Johnson Exhibit will be on display at the Argenta Gallery all day today (and through October 12). It has free admission as well.

Reception tonight at Wildwood to mark opening of new Art in the Park exhibit

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ww LK-SukanyWildwood Park for the Arts announces Art in the Park – Developed and Less Finished: Maintaining Life with artist L. K. Sukany.

The exhibit will run from August 21 – September 20. Sukany uses developed compositions and less finished paint applications to depict mysterious scenes of figures in interiors maintaining life. These memory-inspired works do not have obvious narratives but are based on a collection of moments in time. The themes of maintenance, celebration, conversation, and leisure use formal elements of figures in interiors and perspective for emphasis. The individual pieces are not intended to portray real life, but to show figures in a shared physical and mental space. Many of the pieces blur the line between depiction and magic realism so that the events can seem weird, magical, or wonderful to a spectator.

A free opening reception will be held on Friday, August 21 from 6 – 8pm. Foods for the reception have been generously provided by Whole Foods Market. Live music for the reception will be provided by Who Knows a Robot and The Damsels in Distress.

Wildwood’s gallery hours are Monday – Friday: 10am-4pm, Saturday and Sunday: 12-4pm.

Tonight at Wildwood – Maria Natale & Kyong-Eun Na in concert

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Tonight at 7:30pm, Wildwood Park  plays host to a recital by guest artist Maria Natale.

Hailed by The New York Times for her “plummy, penetrating voice”, soprano Maria Natale is quickly becoming noticed as a rising talent in the NYC area. At the Manhattan School of Music, she sang the role of Lady Macbeth in Ernest Bloch’s only opera Macbeth and was praised for her “high voltage vocal thrills” (OPERA NEWS). This year, she was selected by OPERA NEWS to sing in Lincoln Center in a Masterclass with legendary tenor Placido Domingo.

Ms. Natale will be joined on piano by Dr. Kyung-Eun Na. Dr. Na is a performer, educator, opera coach, and radio program director. She has served as a vocal coach and collaborative piano faculty at UALR and as adjunct faculty at Seoul Arts High School and Sungshin Women’s University in Korea.  Tickets are available here.  WAMA students and their families attend free.

Wildwood Park gets greener, brighter due to Earth 7 AmeriCorps team

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Wildwood Park partnered with nine talented and hard-working Earth 7 AmeriCorps team members for several months. They made such a positive impact on the landscape here. Among their many accomplishments, Earth 7 planted more than 1600 bedding plants, removed 800 pounds of weeds, distributed 60 cubic yards of mulch, planted 16 new trees, rewired the Park’s pavilion, revamped the Cabe Theatre’s lighting inventory, restored 11 benches, and worked on 2 miles of trails including the new Wild 40 and the Ruth Allen Dogwood Trail.

NCCC AmeriCorps teams are groups of young people ages 18 – 24 who provide one or more years of volunteer service to nonprofits and communities in need across the United States. Thank you for your awe-inspiring help, Amy B. Stewart (Team Leader), Jillian Kelly (Assistant Team Leader), Daniel Bracamontes, Kara Churchill, McKenzie Dunlap, Jessica Faylor, Thomas Moore, Mike Mwrigi, and Gabriel Pope.  While in Little Rock, they worked with Michael Drake, the City of Little Rock’s Chief Service Officer and Lauren Faehl, the City’s AmeriCorps coordinator.

Alongside them were Wildwood’s Grounds Manager David Pickens, Facilities Manager Kevin Thompson, and some very fine volunteers including Tom Bruce, Pulaski County Master Gardeners, Bill Toland, members of Central Arkansas Master Naturalists and Central Arkansas Trail Alliance, Jim Patterson, and John Cooke of Stageworks.

According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, these individuals are among 62.6 million volunteers who last year gave 7.7 billion hours of time across the country to make our communities better places to live. At the Park in 2014, volunteers provided upwards of 4000 hours of service to assure that Wildwood is thriving and fulfilling its mission to enrich the lives of Arkansans of all ages by creating community through nature and the arts.

The various volunteers bring to life Wildwood Park for the Arts’ green spaces, performances, and programs like Art in the Park and the Wildwood Academy of Music & the Arts. From the gardens to greeting guests, from administrative tasks to the woods, your every hour counts and is deeply appreciated!

Violinist Tarn Tarvers, a WAMA instructor, in concert tonight at Wildwood

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ww TarversOne of several coaches instructing students at WAMA, the Wildwood Academy of Music & the Arts, world-class violinist Tarn Travers has performed across the United States, Europe and Japan as a soloist, but is also renowned for his work as a chamber musician and as an orchestral player.

He is a winner of the prestigious Heifetz Guarneri auditions and has performed with the New World symphony, at the Library of Congress in Washington DC, and recently completed an Austrian tour of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto. He has served on the faculty of Luther College and AlpenKammerMusik in the Austrian Alps.

The performance begins at 7:30pm in the Cabe Festival Theatre.

Tarvers will be accompanied by pianist Kristina Marinova. The performance is free to all students.
Tickets are available here.