Friday, November 30, 2012
Art sale Creative Expressions show tonight
Work by patients in the Arkansas State Hospital's Creative Expressions art program goes on exhibit tonight in the hospital lobby at 305 S. Palm St. The artist patients, who work with Little Rock artist Ariston Jacks, will benefit from the sale of their work.
The show and sale starts at 5 p.m. and runs to 8 p.m. There will be live music.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Art news Murphy Foundation pledges $5 million to arts in El Dorado
The Murphy Foundation of El Dorado has committed $5 million to a non-profit's ambitious plan to create a performing arts venue that will stage more than 250 performances at the renovated Rialto Theatre.
The El Dorado Festival and Events Inc. plans to collaborate with the Southern Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and the Southern Arkansas Arts Center (SAAC) for programming and revamp the Rialto for the Southern Theatre Festival. The project will cost $50 million; the city of El Dorado has committed $9 million to the project. The organization now puts on 35 events a year.
It's great news for El Dorado, which already benefits from the Murphy Foundation's college scholarships for all graduating El Dorado seniors.
News release on the jump.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Art news Dallas museum drops admission fee
The Dallas Morning News reports that the Dallas Museum of Art will stop charging its $10 admission fee on Jan. 21 and will offer free memberships.
DMA director Maxwell Anderson told the Morning News that “We’re going to build a model for museum engagement that we believe every other museum like us will want to have.”
“We’re a public institution supported by the taxpayers of Dallas,” Anderson said, “and many of those taxpayers don’t have the disposable income to toss around for cultural endeavors. They’ve got to pay the bills, keep the kids clothed. They have serious issues. And I don’t want an admission fee to be an obstacle to them.”
Dallas owns and operates the museum and contributes about $3.4 million in services and actual dollars annually. The museum has an endowment of $138 million. The museum will still charge admission to major exhibitions.
The model is one that the Arkansas Arts Center has always followed: Its mission has always been to get people in the doors, members or not, and it's never charged folks to get in. (Even its admission fees to special shows is a relatively new thing.) And that's how it ought to be, says LA Times art critic Christopher Knight.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
New sculpture for the Crystal Bridges landscape
Crystal Bridges Museum of American art posted on its Facebook page today a picture of men installing a new sculpture, "Chaise Gabion" by Celeste Roberge, against a slope on the grounds of the museum. According to artnet.com, the sculpture is made of waterjet cut stainless steel and 1350 pounds of river rock. When complete, the sculpture should look like the picture above — quite suited to the Ozarks landscape.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Monday, November 26, 2012
Art news Sculptor repairing vandalized art
The Times' David Koon, who is blogging on the Arkansas Blog today, posted about more desecration of public art in Little Rock, this time at the Cox Center of the Central Arkansas Library System on River Market Avenue, across the parking lot from the Main Library.
CALS Director Bobby Roberts said this afternoon that sculptor Michael Warrick, the UALR professor who made the piece, has picked up the sculpture to repair it. Roberts said he believes it can be restored by sanding. The library will put in more pins and an epoxy glue to secure the sculpture when Warrick has repaired it.
Library cameras captured the three men who decided to knock the sculpture over about 2 a.m. Friday. "I'm sure they were drunk and thought it was a good idea," Roberts said.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Crystal Bridges hoax
Max Brantley has, again, beat me to the punch on the latest art world news: The fake website that mimics Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art's own but posts a letter purportedly from Alice Walton announcing that the museum would close on Black Friday out of respect for all Walmart workers who are planning to stage walkouts and other protests.
The website has taken in at least two arts writers; Lee Rosenbaum sent out an apology for her Culturgrrl blog post on the fake announcement, as did theartblog. It might have been three had Brantley not beat me to the page and pointed out the hoax. We first thought the Crystal Bridges website had been hacked, but then noticed that the url was www.crystalbridgesfoundation.org. Its links are the same as the CBMAA's website; crafty bit of dirty tricking.
My favorite part of the hoax:
"Truth Crushed to Earth Will Rise Again,"
New Temporary Exhibition Honoring LaborIn honor of the 1.3 million workers of Walmart and especially all those who earn the minimum wage, the Museum also announces a special temporary exhibition on labor in American art. Drawn from the collection, the exhibition centers on Winslow Homer's The Return of the Gleaner (1867). Gleaners were the poor, most often women, who were permitted to pick through a farmer's field after it had been harvested, in search of leftover grain. Homer's painting ennobles this stooped, back-breaking labor and his stirring tribute to the survival of the American spirit is echoed in other works by George Wesley Bellows, Thomas Hart Benton, Ralston Crawford, Francis Criss, Eastman Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, Ben Shahn, Charles Sheeler, and Everett Shin. The exhibition, titled "Truth Crushed to Earth Will Rise Again," will be on view November 24, 2012 - January 28, 2013.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Art news Stolen sculpture
You no doubt read earlier today on the Arkansas Blog about the theft of parts of three sculptures from the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden in Riverfront Park.
City Director Dean Kumpuris, who's made Riverfront Park his project and who heads up the Sculpture in the River Market group that purchases the art for the city, said this afternoon that he's discussed with City Manager Bruce Moore putting security cameras at the sculpture garden and increasing security. The park is now full of sculpture and other assets, Kumpuris noted, and the city must start taking care of it.
Truman Tolefree, director of Little Rock Parks and Recreation, Tolefree said there is already some security in the park, but "if folks want to steal, they'll find a way to do it."
No kidding. The guys who stole the sculptures, whenever they stole them — the theft wasn't reported until this morning by a Parks employee who was checking the park — came equipped with some kind of tool capable of grinding through the base of Dee Clements' "Birds of Happiness" and taking off the mounting bolts from Bryan Massey's "Uptown Saturday Night" to remove one of two dancing figures in the piece. The third thing stolen, the small figurine on Lorri Alcott Fowler's "Conversation with Myself," was removed by force.
It was the second time the small figures in "Conversation" and "Uptown Saturday Night" have been yanked off; both were vandalized in 2010. (At that time, vandals left the dancing figure from "Uptown" on the ground.)
"It's honestly embarrassing," Kumpuris said, that there are people in Little Rock who are so "dumb, silly or mean" that they would destroy a public amenity.
Kumpuris said the $20,000 estimated value of the sculpture was the original purchase price plus 20 percent, representing increased value.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments (4)
Exhibitions Daniel Roberts at Good Weather
Daniel Roberts, who works in New York City, will show his work in an exhibition called "Unlikely Defectors" tonight at the Good Weather Gallery, 4400 Edgemere, North Little Rock. The gallery will be open from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
From the Facebook posting on the event:
There is something sinister about examining society's role in its own misfortune. Through the body's associative history with objects and places, artist Daniel Roberts seeks to describe this turn to failure with both brutality and tenderness, leaving the viewer in an inextricable atmosphere of dust and dirt, color and fate. We discover articles that represent an abandonment of assumed affiliations, revealing dubious endorsements of opposing forces. Placed next to each other, these discarded items find companionship. In this spirit, they exist as remnants of their misfortune and maybe as semblance of resilience. Roberts' drawings frame these disused objects in a bundled futility while three bronze sculptures uncover a bending truth. 'Unlikely Defectors' is an intimate portrait of this reckoning and these drawings and sculptures serve as a reminder of the disused's purpose in the weathering disarray and descent.Daniel Roberts lives and works in New York City. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Oregon State University in 2007 and his Master of Fine Arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2011. His work has most recently been part of 'Peekskill Project V' organized by Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (HVCCA). Visit www.danieljohnroberts.com for more information about the artist and his work.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Monday, November 19, 2012
Art sale Clay Guild Sale at UALR through Wednesday
There are more cups and plates and bowls and objets in clay for sale than you can shake a stick at at UALR, work by its Clay Guild. The sale runs 11 a.m.-8 p.m. today, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday. If you go, you WILL find something you love. Or at least you'll find something I love. So go.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Friday, November 16, 2012
Art event Soooooo much art: M2 Gallery Holiday Show
As if there weren't enough to do tonight, add M2 Gallery's Holiday Art Show to the itinerary. Dan Holland and Suzanne Koett are the featured artists, and Dan Thornhill, Charles Henry James and Jason Gammel will have work on display as well. Since I'm having a little problem stealing images from the gallery's Facebook page, I'm using the invitation (above) as a hint at what you'll see.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Art event Kevin Cole, a guided tour
Guided tours of galleries by people who know whereof they speak is a great way to get to know art and artists, like Kevin Cole. Cole, who uses neckties (and abstracted neckties) in his brilliantly-colored sculptures and prints because of their role in lynchings, has work in the Corcoran in Washington, D.C., the Tampa Museum in Tampa, Fla., the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans and a multitude of other institutions. He is also exhibiting in three galleries in Arkansas: including Hearne Fine Art, where his 25 year retrospective "Straight from the Soul" is up until Jan. 7; the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff, and the Leedell Moorehead-Graham Fine Arts Gallery at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
Hearne, whose expertise is in African-American art, will give a tour of all three exhibits from 9:30-2:30 p.m. Nov. 28 and 30. The tours wrap up with lunch at RJs’ Diner (on the recommendation of the artist, a Pine Bluff native). The cost is $30 and includes lunch. Call 501-372-6822 to reserve. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas has a good entry on Cole.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Art sale Sooooooo much art: Matt McLeod
Arkansas impressionist Matt McLeod holds his annual show and sale tonight at Pulaski Heights Christian Church, 4724 Hillcrest Ave. "Seasons of Change" features new work, and a portion of proceeds from sales will go to the Our House Shelter for the working homeless and Pulaski Heights Christian Church ministries. The sale is 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Argenta ArtWalk Soooooo much art: Gorrell, Peters, Horn, Rogers ...
Argenta ArtWalk has much in store for tonight's 5-8 p.m. event. Two new galleries, and the second Argenta ArtWalk events for two new-ish galleries. A new exhibit at Greg Thompson Fine Art. Artists' booths ("Art in Unexpected Places").
"Southern Abstraction" at Greg Thompson Fine Art (429 Main St.) features work and sculpture by by Pinkney Herbert, James Hendricks, Robyn Horn, Sammy Peters, Robert Rector and Shannon Rogers. On Saturday, several of the artists will speak on Southern abstraction at 1 p.m. Admission is $10. Call 664-2787 to reserve.
Doug Gorrell opens the Gorrell Gallery of Fine Art, on the second floor of the First Presbyterian Church at 4th and Maple. The gallery will feature work by emerging and established artists, both locally and regionally. Regular hours will be 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri. and noon-4 p.m. Sat.
Starving Artist Studio at 108 Fourth St. will feature paintings by Doug Norton and Mike Spain and photography by John Watson, and will be open until 10 p.m. tonight.
The Paint Box Gallery at 521 Main St. is holding is Holiday Open House tonight, with hot cider, cookies, "stuff covered in chocolate," fudge, candies and Arkansas wines. New paintings by Jan Ironside and Robin Miller-Bookhout will be on exhibit.
Thea Foundation at 401 Main St. continues its exhibitions, "Arkansas Champion Trees: An Artist's Journey," colored-pencil drawings by Linda Palmer, and the "Hunsicker Memorial Show," work by the late Luke Hunsicker.
Art Connection, the newly created after-school and summer visual arts work program for teen-agers, will debut its gallery at 204 E. Fourth St. tonight and staff will be on hand from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Art sale Sooooo much art — Museum School Sale
The Arkansas Arts Center's annual Museum School Sale kicks off tonight (Friday) for members and opens to the public tomorrow at Clear Channel Metroplex. Featured is work by students and faculty in paintings, pottery, photography, jewelry, fused glass, woodwork, drawings and pastels. If you've been, you know it's ginormous.
There will be many sales tonight; if you aren't a member and want to make sure you don't miss something, you can join at the door tonight during the sale, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. (We're warned that some artists sell out on Friday night.) The sale Saturday runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. You'll need cash or checks.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Museums Mosaic Templars new director: Sericia Cole
Sericia Cole, who's been the interim director of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center since March, when she replaced previous director H.L. McGill, has been named the permanent director. Her hiring was announced by Department of Arkansas Heritage director Cathie Matthews.
Before joining the museum, Cole served as director of minority affairs for Gov. Mike Beebe's office for two years. Prior to that, she was director of public relations at Philander Smith College.
The museum's exhibits tell the story of African-Americans in Arkansas business, politics and the arts from 1870 to the present. A special exhibition, “A Voice through the Viewfinder: Images of Arkansas’ Black Community by Ralph Armstrong," runs through Jan. 5.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
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