Eye Candy, Arkansas Times

LaToya Hobbs at Hearne Fine Art

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:37:00 -0500

Hearne Fine Art,1001 Wright Ave., is hosting a reception from 5-8 p.m. tonight for "Beautiful Uprising," an exhibition of woodcuts by Little Rock artist LaToya Hobbs. Hobbs will give a gallery talk Saturday at 11 a.m. and a panel discussion, "Relevance of HAIR," at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.

From Hobbs' artist statement:

My work is an investigation of the point where the notions of race, identity, and beauty intersect concerning women of African descent. In this exploration, women, those with whom I have personal and virtual interactions, play a role that is paramount, making them the source of my inspiration and an integral part of my creative process.

Hobbs receives her MFA degree from Purdue this month.

The exhibition continues at Hearne through June 8.

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Galusha, Krannichfeld, Thornhill at M2 Gallery

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:27:00 -0500

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Angela Davis Johnson at Gallery 360

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:19:00 -0500

Gallery 360 will host a reception from 6-10 p.m. tonight for Angela Davis Johnson and her exhibition of mixed media works "Kinfolk," described as a "visual narrative" that starts with the image above.

Gallery 360 is at 900 S. Rodney Parham. The show will remain on exhibit through June.

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"Best of the South" at Greg Thompson and more

Leslie Newell Peacock — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:00:00 -0500

Greg Thompson Fine Art, 429 Main St., opens its annual "Best of the South" exhibition Friday, a show featuring works by Walter Anderson, Guy Bell, Daniel Blagg, J.O. Buckley, Carroll Cloar, William Dunlap, Theora Hamblett, John Hartley, Pinkney Herbert, Robyn Horn, Richard Jolley, Sammy Peters, Robert Rector, Edward Rice, Kendall Stallings, Rebecca Thompson, Glennray Tutor and others on Friday, May 17.

Oxford, Miss., artist Tutor will speak at a noon women's luncheon Friday at the gallery; tickets are $35. The gallery will be open 5-8 p.m. for Argenta ArtWalk and will host a special panel discussion, "What's Hot in Southern Regionalism," at 1 p.m. Saturday. Artists taking part will be Blagg, Hartley, Rice and Tutor. Tickets are $10; adult libations will be served.

Thompson announced recently that he has opened a second location in Dallas, at 3102 Maple Avenue, Suite 400, run by gallery associate director Jennifer Lee.

More ArtWalk events: Paint Box Gallery, 705 Main, will feature "A Taste of Jazz," paintings with a jazz them by Angela R. Green, along with work by Mike Spain, Robin Miller-Bookhout and Jan Ironside.

Work by students from Crestview and Seventh Street elementary schools will be displayed in the 400 block of Main, and there will be closing reception for Mary Ann Stafford's exhibition of pen-and-ink drawings, "The Argenta Project," at the Thea Center, 401 Main St. Selma F. Blackburn will give a watercolor demonstration at Laman Library's Argenta Branch, 506 Main. Other participants include the Art Connection, 204 E. Fourth St.; Starving Artist Cafe, 411 Main; Claytime Pottery, 417 Main, and Starving Artist Studios, 108 E. Fourth.

Individual artists — "Art In Unexpected Places" — will locate along Main Street.

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Little Rock park, Little Rock artist: Kresse

Leslie Newell Peacock — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:21:00 -0500

Little Rock artist Kevin Kresse's bronze sculpture "Breaking the Cycle," of a man being pushed in a wooden wheelbarrow by a young boy, was dedicated this morning at Riverfront Park near the Belvedere.

The sculpture, donated by Lisenne Rockefeller, is one of just a handful in the park created by local talent. Kresse, who lived with his family in Italy last year, said he could see the mark of generations of Italian artists and architects on the landscape and said it was time "to put our voice and our personality" in the park. (He is too polite to say it was about time an Arkansan was commissioned to do a major piece for the park, which park angel and City Director Dean Kumpuris has worked tirelessly to fill with sculpture, though most of it by Western artists.)

Kresse said he could envision the day in the distant future when his young son, Roman, the model for the boy in the sculpture, will be a grandfather like the man in the wheelbarrow and the sculpture will still be there, a piece of the puzzle that makes up who we are in Arkansas. By that time, the park have long been known as Kumpuris Riverfront Park, which is as it should be.

The artist, who also sculpted the bust of Winthrop Paul Rockefeller for the state Capitol and worked closely with his widow on the project, called Lisenne Rockefeller a "jewel" that Little Rock is "lucky to have in our community."

In his opening remarks, Kumpuris said the sculpture will be "loved and respected," a place to play for children, a sight to generate memories for adults. (The city will hold insurance on it, in case it gets the same disrespect that dumbbells here have inflicted on other public pieces.) Kumpuris said he hopes the park will hold 50 to 60 sculptures one day.

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UAMS art show reception today

Leslie Newell Peacock — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:51:00 -0500

The Psychiatric Research Institute of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will host a reception from 5-6:30 p.m. today, May 15, for the artists whose works were selected in a juried competition.

The event, held in conjunction with National Mental Health Month, is to recognized the value of art in healing. All of the works, submitted by professional artists and students and now a part of UAMS' permanent collection, will be displayed on the walls of PRI's new women's inpatient unit.

Winning a prize of $1,500 for first place was Julie Woods, a senior at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, for her oil and color pencil work "Scarlett's Sun Hat," seen above.

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Tabriz haul: $550,000

Leslie Newell Peacock — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:06:23 -0500

The biennial Tabriz auction of the Arkansas Arts Center will net at least $550,000 for the Arts Center's coffers, which will wipe out the current year's budget deficit of $216,280, Director of Operations Laine Harber said.

The fundraiser — two auctions, a black-tie dinner and an after-party held Thursday and Saturday of last week — grossed $813,000, an improvement of $200,000 over the 2011 Tabriz, chair Kakki Hockersmith reported to the board Monday. Thanks to this year's online strategy that preceded the Thursday auction, Tabriz sold $31,000 even before the party got rolling Thursday. Thursday night auction receipts were $93,000, and Saturday's $298,000. Ticket sales (the Saturday night black-tie event cost $750 a head) made up the rest.

The board also learned from director Todd Herman that the Arts Center's sorely-needed new website would go online Friday at www.arkansasartscenter.org. The old link, arkarts.com [typo in link corrected], will also work. Herman said the .com address could have suggested the Arts Center was a for-profit business. It will be the first update since the website was created in the last century.

Hockersmith said she didn't want the Arts Center to "lose the momentum" and hoped it would continue to bring in new interest and new dollars. The top three Saturday night auction items: A James Surls drawing, "On Being Back Agin with the Cow and the Bull," for $6,600; a Capital Hotel House Party for $5,000; and a Charleston, S.C., "experience" for 20 for $4,000. Top three Thursday night items: A Broadway show and backstage tour for $2,815, "Sit Like a Pro at Green Bay Packers Lambeau Field" for $1,750 and an "interactive" dinner with Chicago mixologist Paul McGee for $1,502.

Another person bought the Arts Center Board Party, in which the board members serve dinner for 12 in the galleries, for $4,000.

The Arts Center board has not yet decided what its off-year fund-raiser will be, but among the things it needs to buy is a backup generator. A wreck nearby that knocked out power to the Arts Center for three hours meant it had to cancel a Children's Theater performance and refund the money. (There are curatorial reasons as well for a system to keep the power going.) Harber also noted that the newest part of the Arts Center is now 13 years old, and the board must plan for updates.

More good news: The Signac Gallery will reopen May 24 with new paint, new text panels and new lighting. Attendance in April was up 10,500 over the year previous.

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Tonight: Roberts and Rowland at Children's Library

Leslie Newell Peacock — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:18:00 -0500

The Architecture and Design Network hosts Central Arkansas Library System director Bobby Roberts and architect Reese Rowland tonight at the new children's library as they talk about the library's goals and designs. Reception is 5:30; talk, “CALS Children’s Library and Learning Center: A New Paradigm,” is 6 p.m.

The library is at 4800 W. 10th St., south of the ghost of Ray Winder Field.

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Reminder: Opening at Boswell-Mourot

Leslie Newell Peacock — Sat, 11 May 2013 08:00:00 -0500

"Arkansas Artists & Their Works," work by Andy Huss, Winston Taylor, Megan Chapman with Stewart Bremner and Melissa Wilkinson, opens tonight at Boswell-Mourot Fine Art, at 5816 Kavanaugh Blvd., with a reception from 6-9 p.m.

Huss is showing abstract sculpture, Taylor his raku vessels, Chapman and Bremner collaborative work and Wilkinson paintings.

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Detmers, Lykens, Tara-Casciano, Sacran, Hobbs and more

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:45:00 -0500

Tonight's 2nd Friday Art Night downtown art troll — on foot or by trolley — from 5-8 p.m. features art exhibits, demonstrations, music and jewelry-making at nine venues. So much to do and see, so little time, as usual.

Historic Arkansas Museum, 200 E. Third, opens two exhibitions, "Reflected by Three: William Detmers, Scott Lykens and G. Tara-Casciano" and "Painting in the Air: Day and Night," work by Jason Sacran. There will be music by the Rolling Blackouts to go with Detmer's photos, Tara-Casciano's sculpture and Lykens' and Sacran's paintings.

The Butler Center Galleries in the Arkansas Studies Institute, 401 Clinton, opens "Arkansas Art Educators Youth Art Show," juried student work, and "Creative Expressions," work by persons served by the State Hospital. Raku artist Kelly Edwards will give a demonstration and the band Mockingbird will perform (singing, no doubt). Michael Jukes' “No I'm Not, He Is: A ‘Flying Snake’ and ‘Oyyo’ Comic Retrospective" is also on exhibit.

Around the corner, the Cox Center at 120 River Market is exhibiting the "Spring Members Show" of the Arkansas League of Artists, and down Clinton at the Courtyard at the Marriott is work by Holly Tilley and other members of the ArtGroup Maumelle.

Christ Church, 509 Scott, is showing "Dream Weavers," work by Sandra Marson. Gallery 221 at 2nd and Center continues the show "Spring Celebration," paintings by Gino Hollander. The jewelry making — making bracelets from found objects — is the event at the Old State House Museum, 300 W. Markham.

Farther afield from downtown but not to be missed: "Beautiful Uprising," woodcuts by LaToya Hobbs at Hearne Fine Art, 1001 Wright Ave., and "From Bauhaus to Your Haus" at StudioMain, 1423 Main. If you don't want to drive, take the trolley. If you don't make it to Hearne this week, you've got to go May 17 and 18, for Friday's reception and Saturday's discussion, "Relevance of Hair."

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"Genre Painting and Everyday Life," "Genre Scenes on Paper" open Saturday

Leslie Newell Peacock — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:52:45 -0500

Crystal Bridges opens two new exhibits Saturday, May 11: "American Encounters: Genre Painting and Everyday Life," which I wrote about here in April, and "American Experience: Genre Scenes on Paper from Crystal Bridges’ Permanent Collection."

The museum will also extend Saturday viewing hours for its exhibit "American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell" to 7:30 p.m. on May 11, 18 and 25.

The "Genre Painting and Everyday Life" features two paintings from the Louvre Museum by European painters who influenced American artists, an Eastman Johnson from the High Museum in Atlanta, a George Caleb Bingham from the Terra Foundation for American Art and a painting by Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait from CBM's own collection.

"Genre Scenes on Paper" includes watercolors and drawings by William Anderson Coffin, Winslow Homer, John Lewis Krimmel, Luke Robins and Thomas Waterman Wood from CBM's collection.

Peter John Brownlee, associate curator for the Terra Foundation and curator of the "American Encounters" exhibition, will give a talk on the evolution of American genre painting at 3 p.m. May 19 at the museum.

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Free workhop on Artist INC Live

Leslie Newell Peacock — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:09:00 -0500

If you are trying to make a living as an artist, you might want to check out "What Works!", a free workshop that will provide information on the Mid-America Arts Alliance business training program Artist INC Live for artists in all disciplines. The workshop will be held from 6-9 p.m. May 20; register here.

Artist INC Live Argenta will offer three-hour classes once a week for eight weeks, Sept. 9-Oct. 25, in planning, marketing, budgeting, intellectual property law, fellowship and grant aid and technology. The program is limited to 25 artists. Read more about the program here. Applications are available at the Artist INC KC website. Deadline to apply is June 14.

The Mid-America Alliance is partnering with the Arkansas Arts Council, Artist INC and the Argenta Arts Foundation to bring the program to North Little Rock.

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Dallas Bump: Living Treasure

Leslie Newell Peacock — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:25:00 -0500

The Arkansas Arts Council has named 95-year-old Dallas Bump the 2013 Arkansas Living Treasure for his lifetime of making rocking chairs in a shop at Bear (Garland County).

Bump, who lives in Royal, is the fourth generation of his family to make chairs. He'll be honored by the Arkansas Arts Council at a reception from 5-7 p.m. May 16 at Smokin' in Style BBQ in Hot Springs.

According to the Arts Council, Bump apprenticed under his father, Fred Bump, who learned the trade from his father, Philander Bump, who came to the United States from Canada and opened the chair shop in 1870. Here's more from the news release it issued on Bump:

Bump runs the Bear Chair Shop with his nephew Leon Sutton, whom he has
trained for six years. The shop is a rustic barn where Bump uses many of
the 100-year-old tools, patterns and equipment that his father used.

Sutton selects and cuts the trees, mostly red and white oak, and dries
the wood in a kiln. He and Bump turn each piece by hand using a
hand-turning lathe and they assemble the chairs one at a time using a
unique method that involves no glue or bolts.

"The side rungs are kiln dried. The posts are half dried so they won't
crack. We half dry the frame. Then we drive them together and they
shrink down to make the lock. After about two days, you can barely take
a chair apart," Bump explained. Sutton's wife, Donna, weaves the seats
with white oak strips. She learned how to weave from Bump and his late
wife, Amelia.

The most popular of his chairs is known as the Bump Rocker, which is
made of red oak and white oak strips for the seat. The Bump Rocker comes
in two basic sizes: one for the average size person and an extra-large
version known as the "John Lewis," which will seat up to 350 pounds.
Bump also creates rockers for children, stools and a double-seated
rocker known as the "Love Seat."

His customers come from all over the United States, including such
notables as former president Bill Clinton and Governor Mike Beebe. He
has exhibited his chairs at festivals throughout Arkansas and the
Smithsonian Center for Folk Life and Heritage. He has been featured on
Good Morning America and in Southern Living, as well as many local media
outlets.

"Making chairs is just something the family has always done," Bump said.
"I still enjoy working at it. There's always something different and
always something new to learn. I don't know when I'm going to quit. The
best advice I've ever received is to find something you like and stay
with it."

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Coming to Boswell-Mourot: Huss, Taylor, Chapman, Bremner, Wilkinson

Leslie Newell Peacock — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:17:00 -0500

Boswell-Mourot Fine Art at 5816 Kavanaugh Blvd. will open a new exhibition, "Arkansas Artists & Their Works," Saturday, May 11, with a reception from 6-9 p.m.

The exhibition will showcase a variety of media, with abstract sculpture by Andy Huss, raku vessels by Winston Taylor, collaborative works by Megan Chapman and Scotsman Stewart Bremner, and paintings by Melissa Wilkinson.

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Coming Sunday: Mid-Southern Watercolorists

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 03 May 2013 17:03:00 -0500

The 22nd annual “Mid-Southern Watercolorists Special Open Membership Exhibit” opens Sunday at Cantrell Gallery, 8206 Cantrell Road, with a reception from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

This exhibit is open to all members of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists, and usually 30 to 50 artists participate, so there will be lots to see. The exhibition will run through June 22.

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Cefalo students to exhibit work

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:58:00 -0500

If you pay attention to art at all, you know Stephen Cefalo and his figurative paintings. His classic technique adds a sort of timelessness to the work, much of it depictions of full-figured nudes and babes, and it's a method he's passed on to students at the Arkansas Arts Center's Museum School, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and in private lessons over the past seven years. They'll be showing their work at the Terry House Community Gallery, 7th and Rock streets, starting Sunday, in an exhibition called “Learning to See: Students of Stephen Cefalo.” There will be a reception from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. opening day, and the show will run through June 2.

The show was organized by the artists; Cefalo was juror, choosing 46 works. Artists whose works are in the show include Ash Barker, Nancy Spargo DeLamar, Jennifer "Emile" Freeman, Jameson Gresham, Jordan Lynn Gribble, Pamela R. Hawkins, M.N. Henry, Logan Hunter, Meghan Jones, Greg Lahti, Megan A. Lewis, Kayla Martin, Grant Mason, Carmien Penny, Jennifer Perren, Lora Peter, Eli Ramsay and Jason A. Smith.

From Cefalo's online biography:

I was born in the hometown of Albrecht Dürer on the birthday of Winslow Homer, Charles Le Brun, and Franz Von Stuck, so I already had my work cut out for me. My dad was a sergeant in the U.S. Army from Philadelphia, and my mom was raised on a cattle farm in Kentucky. When I was six my parents separated, and we moved to Indiana. My two sisters and I were raised in the historic river town of Newburgh by our mother who worked full-time at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Evansville. I had trouble in school, but found comfort in drawing and was enchanted by the lonesome moans of the barges at night. My aunt Marilyn gave me oil painting lessons at twelve, and my mom bought me books on figure drawing and supplies when she could.

During my undergraduate studies at the former Savannah Campus of the School of Visual Arts I found mentors in Jeff Markowsky and Anthony Palliser. When SVA Savannah closed its doors in 1997, I was already married with my first child, and moved to the main campus in New York. There I studied with one of my heroes, Steven Assael, and Max Ginsburg.

Cefalo was also an assistant painter for Jeff Koons. Yep, the big guys have artists painting for them.

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Rene Hein, Fabio Inverni, Marc Hatfield ...

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 03 May 2013 10:51:00 -0500

What is so rare as a day in May when you'll need a coat for Gallery Walk? Bundle up anyway for the monthly after-hours gallery event in Hot Springs, where you'll see:

Plein-air paintings in an exhibition called "Saving Our Heritage: Arkansas' Historic Structures," at the Fine Arts Center, 626 Central; new paintings by Marc Hatfield and raku by Kelly Edwards at Blue Moon Fine Art, 718 Central; paintings by Fabio Inverni at Gallery Central, 800 Central; Sheliah Halderman pastels and Teresa Widdifield paintings at Artists Workshop Gallery, 810 Central; and "Fresh Paint," work by Rene Hein, Dolores Justus, Rebecca Thompson and Emily Wood at Justus Fine Art, 827 Central. Check out Taylor's Contemporanea at 204 Exchange St. and other galleries as well.

Artchurch Studio at 301 Whittington is showing its final exhibition at that locale, "Artchurch Studio: Retrospective," featuring artwork by artists who've shown over the past five years at the gallery. The gallery is changing its name to Emergent Arts and moving to the 4,000-square-foot Dryden Potteries building at 341 Whittington Ave. Emergent Arts will collaborate with the Drydens to offer ceramics classes, and the new space, to open in September, will include a performing arts studio as well as galleries and visual arts classrooms.

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Reminder: Matthew Lopas to show "Miller House"

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 03 May 2013 09:54:15 -0500

Hendrix College art professor Matthew Lopas' 5-by-9-foot oil panoramic view of the parlor of Carl Miller's Quapaw Quarter home, the 1892 Dibrell House, will be on exhibit today at the house, 1400 Spring St., from 4-8 p.m.

Other works by Lopas will be on view as well. He'll follow this exhibit with one in the Narthex Gallery at St. Peter's Church, 619 Lexington Ave. (at 54th St.) in New York, starting May 17. That exhibit runs through June 19.

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Tonight: Governor's Culinary Challenge

Leslie Newell Peacock — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:39:00 -0500

Still time to get tickets to tonight's Governor's Culinary Challenge, 6:30-9 p.m. at the Capital Hotel. So who's cooking? Glad you asked: Gilbert Alaquinez, the Governor's Mansion chef; Stephen Burrow, 42 Restaurant; Capi Peck, Trio's; Donnie Ferneau (formerly of Ferneau's); Mark Abernathy, Local Luna; Joel Antunes, Capital Hotel; Lee Richardson (formerly of the Capital Hotel); Peter Brave, Brave New Restaurant; Brian Deloney, Maddie's; Jason Knapp, chef at the University of Central Arkansas. All will prepare their own dishes to display their distinct styles.

Joining the chefs will be TV personalities and First Lady Ginger Beebe. The event is part of the American Culinary Federation Central Regional Conference here.

So here's why we're talking food on Eye Candy: The event benefits the Thea Foundation's programs for arts education in Arkansas. Tickets are $100; buy them at the online site above.

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Tabriz auction opens online

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:38:00 -0500

Ticket holders to the Arkansas Arts Center's Tabriz "Thursday Night (May 2) Auction" fundraiser (a.k.a. the cheap night) may start your engines now: The Arts Center has created an online bidding site. Buy tickets at the Tabriz website here.

Unfortunately, the images of the art for sale are tiny. It would be nice to see the work by Marjorie Williams-Smith, Delita Martin, Neal Harrington, Evan Lindquist, Jon Shannon Rogers, Emily Wood, Brad Cushman and myriad other artists — as well as the Louis Comfort Tiffany compote — bigger than a postage stamp. (I don't yet have a ticket, so maybe the images are bigger if you are actually a bidding ticketholder.) Fortunately, I found Harrington's "The Truth About Mermaids" on his website in a size that lets you appreciate it.

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The Thea Arts Festival is tomorrow in Argenta.

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:08:00 -0500

This week's ArtNotes has the lineup for the Thea Arts Festival tomorrow in Argenta. Three blocks of Main Street will be closed off, from Broadway to Sixth, sit-down restaurants will serve food on the streets, artists will demonstrate their skills and each block will have its own musical entertainment. Artists will be under tents, so don't let a little rain hold you back.

The festival is organized by the Thea Foundation, which supports arts education in the schools as a way for children to achieve in all areas of academics and is the state office for the Arkansas A+ arts-infused model that has been adopted by several schools with great success.

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LaToya Hobbs "Uprising" at Hearne

Leslie Newell Peacock — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:46:05 -0500

Printmaker LaToya Hobbs, known for her terrific woodcut- and linoleum block-print portraiture of beautiful African American women, is exhibiting work at Hearne Fine Art, 1001 Wright Ave., through June 8.

With "Beautiful Uprising," Hobbs hopes to "challenge past notions of identity concerning the black female body, deconstruct them, and resurrect an ideology grounded in positivity," she says in her artist's statement. The manner in which she works is symbolic of the goal of her work, a mimesis she expresses beautifully here:

My primary medium of choice is relief printmaking. Symbolically this serves two purposes. The act of cutting away from my matrix (the surface of the wood or linoleum block) to shape an image is synonymous with the way one has to cut away negative ideologies imposed on them by others to expose or embrace their true selves. In this same sense women of African descent have had to cut away the negative stereotypes imposed on them by external forces to express their true identity. Secondly, the historic nature of printmaking stems out of protest and communication. This is significant to my work because I seek to dismantle negative stereotypes based on Euro-centric standards of beauty and communicate how past influences, expectations, and personal preferences resonate with women of color in the 21st century and are expressed through the canvas of their bodies.

Hobbs, who will receive her master's of fine arts degree from Purdue University next month, will attend 2nd Friday Art Night receptions from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. May 17 at Hearne and will present two talks the following day, May 18, one about her work in the show at 11 a.m. and with a panel speaking on "The Relevance of Hair" at 1:30 p.m.

As a student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where she learned printmaking from Aj Smith, Hobbs was ~~the student of printmaker~~ mentored by Delita Martin. Martin will be demonstrating her work Saturday, April 27, at the Thea Arts Festival in Argenta, to be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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Keith Haring sculpture debuts at Crystal Bridges

Leslie Newell Peacock — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:17:14 -0500

Keith Haring, the cartoon artist who became famous first for his graffiti drawings in the subway tunnels of New York, purposely made his affordable for the public (opening the "Pop Shop") after his success in the art world pushed his gallery prices into the stratosphere. Everybody has seen Haring's simply outlined cartoon figures in some form or another, from T-shirts to posters to paintings. That he died of AIDS at the age of 31 in 1990 is also part of his legend, as he was one of the earliest activists to speak about the illness.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art announced today the installation of Haring's 1986 "Two-Headed Figure," a red aluminum figure that features a baby's head on one end with a dog's on the other, ~~on the grounds~~ at Walker's Landing, the terrace on the east side of the pooled spring.

The sculpture was bought at auction at Sotheby's in New York last November for $578,500. The museum press release said its acquisition "was made possible by Sybil Robson Orr and Matthew Orr." Sybil Robson Orr is museum founder Alice Walton's first cousin and a film producer.

In a press release, Crystal Bridges President Don Bacigalupi said the sculpture is a "rarity."

The work features two of his signature creatures, here as dual heads on a singular body, leaning over their respective shoulders to engage one another in dialogue. It’s pure delight and whimsy with an invitation to join the conversation.

An exhibition of Haring's early work is now on display at the Musee d’Art Moderne in Paris in an exhibition titled "Keith Haring: the Political Line." His work is included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Centre Pompidou Paris; the Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro; and Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Geneva.

Photo credit:
Keith Haring (1958-1990)
Two-Headed Figure, 1986
Polyurethane paint on aluminum
96 x 82 x 56 in. (243.8 x 208.3 x 142.2 cm)
Made possible by Sybil Robson Orr and Matthew Orr

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Time to apply for Arts in Education Program

Leslie Newell Peacock — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:01:00 -0500

The Arkansas Arts Council is accepting applications from performing, literary or visual artists who would like to join the roster of the Arts in Education artists. Artists interested in working with teachers and students in schools or after-school/summer programs are encouraged to apply. Deadline to apply is July 5; applications are available at www.arkansasarts.org or may be requested from Cynthia Haas, Arts in Education program manager, at 501-324-9766. Interested artists may also email Haas at cynthia@arkansasheritage.org.

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Kat Wilson: Two shows to see in Fayetteville

Leslie Newell Peacock — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:22:00 -0500

Photographer Kat Wilson, whose narrative compositions of people and places have brought her many awards, including a Delta Award and two other awards from that annual exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center, is exhibiting her work at two venues in Fayetteville, the U of A Fine Arts Center Gallery and Arsaga's Depot. Since both go down Friday, and both have closing receptions, you can party amid her work from 6 p.m. on that day.

At the UA gallery, Wilson's exhibit "Portrayal" includes her photographs of Arkansas artists. Her show at Arsaga's, "Habitats," is a continuation of her work featuring subjects and locations from Northwest Arkansas. The UA reception starts at 6 p.m., and the Arsaga's reception, on Dickson Street, starts at 9 p.m.

From a news release on the exhibitions:

In every circumstance, Wilson has developed relationships with her subjects. The images in Portrayal present artists from around the state within their respective studios. Each one reveals more than the environment, or countenance of the subject, it also examines the relationship between an artist's body of work, their public persona, and their private realities. Wilson's photographs are carefully staged and have strong references to historical portraiture compositions. Portrayal is a unique opportunity to glimpse behind the curtain of an artist’s public perception and peer into their private realms of domestic space and psychology.

Habitats captures our local 'folks' on film. She includes and carefully arranges everyday and sometimes exotic belongings owned by each subject in their domestic space. The resulting images are of an environment that defines each subject’s appearance, personal interests, and desires. 'I’m exploiting these people and their stuff,' Wilson admits, and through this exploitation she enables them to express themselves completely, if only for a single moment in time.

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