• "Andromeda"

The "Rockefeller Influence" exhibit at the Arkansas Arts Center will open Wednesday, May 30, and not today, as previously scheduled.

The exhibit will feature works contributed by the Rockefeller family or in honor of the Rockefellers and is part of the centennial celebration of Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller. Winthrop and Jeannette Rockefeller made the Arts Center possible, thanks to their guidance during an initial capital campaign in the 1960s and continued financial support.

Among the works in the show: Odilon Redon's "Andromeda" (above) and works by George Bellows, Georges Braque, Jean-Baptiste Corot, Honore Daumier, Edgar Degas, Eugene Delacroix, Charles Demuth ... well that's just some big guys at the top of the alphabet. You get the picture.

• Library of Congress
• How Jefferson would have done it.

The exhibit, which includes photographs and other materials, follows the development of the 18-acre White House gardens and grounds, created by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, to the present. Laman will host a reception from 6-8 p.m. Friday, June 1, and former executive groundskeeper Mike Lawn (yes, that's his name!) and Little Rock garden pro Janet Carson will give a talk at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 2.

The library gallery is on the second floor and there's a coffee shop and lounge nearby for thinking green thumb thoughts.

• Strause's "The Truth About Women"

Gallery 26, 2601 Kavanaugh, opens an exhibit of new paintings by Katherine Strause and Jason Smith on Saturday, May 19, with a reception from 7 to 10 p.m. There will be live music and the place will be crammed elbow to elbow, if it's like most Gallery 26 openings. Strause takes inspiration from photographs in sort of a reverse preservation of memory; Smith's work includes atmospheric landscapes.

• Smith's "Sunrise"

• Hurst's "Monet's Garden in May"

Local Colour, the artists' cooperative at 5811A Kavanaugh Blvd., is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month with an open house tomorrow night, May 10, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Featured artist for the month is Susan Hurst, whose work appears above.

This just in Thursday a.m.: George Wittenberg sends along an example of his work that will be at the Local Colour sale:

• "Palm," by George Wittenberg

• Watercolor by Amber Manney at Cantrell Gallery

The 21st Annual Mid-Southern Watercolorists Open Membership exhibition is filling the large exhibition space at Cantrell Gallery with work by dozens of artists, including Nina Ruth Baker, whose painting of lambs I liked (I'm a sucker for animal paintings); George Wittenberg, whose fine watery sketch of the Empress B and B downtown is lovely, translucent and stamped; and Amber Manney, whose painting you see above.

The show runs through June 23 at the gallery, 8206 Cantrell Road, and while we were there we heard a bit of news: Cantrell is scheduling an upcoming show of work by Warren Criswell.

• Work by Orit Hofshi

Art's in the air in Fayetteville as the Walton Arts Center kicks off Artosphere 2012, its annual event celebrating nature, art and sustainability. On Thursday, "Structuring Nature," an exhibit of work by Orit Hofshi, Andrew Moore, Serena Perrone, Ben Peterson and Randall Exon, opens in the Joy Pratt Markham Gallery with a reception from 5-7 p.m., just prior to the evening's "Conversation with Michael Pollan" in the theater.

• Randall Exon, "Lift"

• Ben Peterson, "Gung Ho"

Israel-born woodcut artist Orit Hofshi addresses geographical and political issues (his style is vaguely reminiscent of David Bailin's). Connecticut artist Andrew Moore's subject matter juxtaposes man-made buildings and nature, frequently using buildings that have been abandoned for long periods of time. St. Louis artist Serena Perrone's mixed media addresses the longing to have a balance between culture and nature, sometimes with intentionally incomplete-appearing work. California artist Ben Peterson draws structures that are not physically sound as symbolic of our strained relationship with nature. Swarthmore professor Randall Exon depicts man-made structures and nature in harmony.

• Serena Perrone, "In Our Cinematic Lives

• Art by M.P.

An exhibit of work created in the Creative Expressions program, a VA group for veterans who've experienced homelessness or are homeless, goes up today at Market Street Cinema as part of the Market Street Arts Partnership.

The program is offered to veterans every week at the Day Treatment Center in downtown Little Rock, the St. Francis House treatment center and the Wilbur D. Mills treatment center.

The exhibit includes photographs of the veterans in the program as well as their artwork. The "Veterans Art Gallery," which is free and open to the public during Market Street's business hours. runs through June 1.

• Thomas G. Wood

An exhibit of Civil War portrait photography that tells a story of the war through the faces of its soldiers and focuses on photographic technique of the era and the photographers as well opens today at the Rogers Historical Museum, 322 S. 2nd St in Rogers.

"Portraits in Gray: A Civil War Photography Exhibition featuring the Collection of David Wynn Vaughn" features enlarged reproductions of original photographs; the traveling exhibition comes from the Southern Museum of Kennesaw, Ga. There will also be photographs of Union soldiers and replicas of a Union uniform and items that would have been used by a Union soldier.

Information about the tintype photo above:

The image of Thomas G. Wood is reversed in this a 1/9 plate tintype by an unknown photographer; a mirror held up to the image reveals Tommie’s initials "TWT" under the brim of his cap. Tommie Wood of Social Circle, Georgia was orphaned at the age of sixteen. In July 1861 he joined Company H of the 11th Georgia Infantry as a drummer boy. He quickly became the pet and idol of his regiment. Months later his unit was sent to Richmond, Virginia where during the harsh winter months he contracted pneumonia. He was sent to a nearby hospital. When a visiting Reverend named William M. Crumley asked if he was afraid to die, Tommie replied, “No, I joined the church when I was but eight years of age. My father and mother are both in heaven, and I would rather go and be with them there than to stay and suffer here.” Following Tommie’s death Reverend Crumley wrote, “he was beautiful in death, lovely as the fresh cut rosebud, dripping with the dew of the morning.”

The exhibit runs through July 21.

Slideshow

Alice in Wonderland

Click to View 8 slides

Fans of "Alice in Wonderland" will not have to down a bottle labeled "Drink Me" to find their way to the "Mad Hatter Tea Party and Art Show" that opens Friday at Stephano Fine Art, 5501 Kavanaugh Blvd. in the Heights. Stephano's hosting receptions from 6-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and the exhibit of paintings, jewelry and more by regional and local artists working from an "Alice" theme will run through May 15.

Marvel comics illustrators Elizabeth Dismang and Mitch Breitweiser, papier mache artist Lynda Marnon, children's book illustrator Paula Wallace, metal artist Robbie Wellborn, jewelry designer Kathleen Kennally and works on canvas by Stephano, George Peebles and gallery artists Scott Davis, Elijah Talley, Robert Bean, John Kushmaul, V.L. Cox, Mike Gaines, Ron Logan, Jim Jolly, L.C. Kitchen and Angela Turney will keep you out of a pool of tears.

• "Cole" Water by Victoria West

The 51st "Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition," the annual show of art by students from kindergarten through 12th grade, opened today at the Arkansas Arts Center.

There were awards for Best of Class and two honorable mentions for each grade; Victoria West's painting above was judged Best of Class for all seniors. Victoria is a student at Lakeside High School, located in one of Arkansas's art hotbeds, Hot Springs.

I refer you to the quote posted earlier on Eye Candy: "Picasso said that he spent his childhood trying to make art like an adult and then spent his adult life trying to learn to make art like a child once again."

Here's a list of statewide winners. The show runs through May 27.

University of Central Arkansas Gallery Director Barclay McConnell passed this video of the "2012 Spring BA/BFA Senior Art Exhibition" at UCA's Baum Gallery to Eye Candy.

Michael Tatum of Tatum Films and musicians Brandi Howard, Anthony Coleman and Sedrick Wilkerson of the Arkansas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired were commissioned by senior art major Mark Monroe for his thesis exhibit, "Invisible Prison."

The show runs through April 28 at the university in Conway.

• Art of Aiden Rose

We've been following the career of the relatively unknown artist Aiden Rose for years. Now, he's about to break on the scene in Little Rock with an exhibition at Community Bakery.

David Rose, Aiden's father and an artist as well, says Aiden has been an artist since he was a little boy. Now 8 years old, Aiden's giving his second one-man show.

Besides the illustration above (click on it to see it larger), Aiden is also the creator of anti-hero Kung-Fu Cat. You can see Aiden's art in May at the bakery and meet him at a reception from 2-4 p.m. May 5.

David Rose notes that "Picasso said that he spent his childhood trying to make art like an adult and then spent his adult life trying to learn to make art like a child once again. Aiden has no such issues."

• Humphrey's "Larry, the Singing Hobo"

Some of Humphrey's cubist takes on rural scenes and vivid impasto portraits can be seen on the Hearne website. The artist will talk about his work from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, April 13, and the 2nd Friday Night art reception will follow that evening from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

According to one biography online, Humphrey is half-brother to the late William Tolliver, a self-taught artist of some renown. Here's an article about him in Delta Magazine.

• Installation by John Orr, at sUgAR

sUgAR Gallery (which I hate typing, by the way) in Bentonville is hosting a reception tonight for John M. Orr, a graduate painting student at the UA, from 6 to 8 p.m. Orr's exhibition, "Marais des Cygnes," went up yesterday and will run through April 15.

The exhibition, as described by the artist in a press release, "is about a fictional wandering car thief and alcoholic named Vernon, the bad guy in a novel written by the artist." The Marais des Cygnes (as in swan marsh) is a river in southeast Kansas and western Missouri and is, I suppose, a setting for the novel.

The exhibit will include paintings, drawings, photographs and installation work. Tonight's reception will have music by Artistik Approach, a hip-hop soul duo.

Slideshow

Boswell-Mourot 2012

Click to View 3 slides

New work by Little Rock artist John Allison and Cuban artist Guillermo Portieles is on exhibit at Boswell-Mourot Fine Art in the Heights (5815 Kavanaugh) through Saturday, April 14. Coming April 10 to the gallery: new artist Jeff Faust of California.