Art event: Eye Candy, Arkansas Times

Galusha, Krannichfeld, Thornhill at M2 Gallery

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

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

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.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

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.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Great Gammel Giveaway

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 10:51:23 -0600

Jason Gammel, known as North Little Rock's firefighter artist (though I'm not sure he's fighting fires anymore), has been giving paintings away through his Facebook page to people who perform good deeds.

His first giveaway was to the person who, within 2 hours of posting Feb. 17, bought and delivered cookies to a fire station and documented it with photographs posted to Gammel's Facebook page. In 7 minutes, a friend took him up on the deal, dashed to the store, took a picture of the cookies there on his cell phone and posted to Gammel's page, and then headed to a firestation, where he took a picture of himself and some bewildered firefighters. His prize: this 36-by-36 inch painting "Spring."

On Wednesday, Gammel posted his second challenge: The first person to give the Pulaski County Humane Society $75 would receive his 48-by-60-inch piece "Ascending Circles." Thinks got a little tricky here, thanks to Facebook timing weirdness that swapped first posters, so Gammel had two winners. Both donated, posted their receipts on Gammel's Facebook page, and Gammel gave both paintings, posting, "I just left an ass chewing on Mark Zuckerberg's voice mail (actually two, one for the confusion his servers caused and another for not answering his phone when I call)."

Here's "Ascending Circles," which another one of Gammel's Facebook friends suggest he rename "avocados on a cutting board." What else are friends for?

Gammel's last giveaway, last night, only required that persons guess the correct number of M&Ms he had in a jar. There were 105 guesses; and the winner received:

Gammel's having lots of fun and making room in his studio at the same time. If he decides to put up this one

I'm going to be all over it.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

3 Fridays @ FAC: Carole Katchen, Rena Wren & Co.

Leslie Newell Peacock — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 10:26:42 -0600

Carole Katchen, who's showing pastels at the Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs, 626 Central Ave., will give an art demonstration at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow, "What to do When Your Pastel Painting is a Disaster," as part of the Arts Center's 3rd Fridays @ FAC event.

Katchen's talk will be followed at 7 p.m. by a musical performance by singer/songwriter Rena Wren with her husband, Rodgey Roach, on bass; Roach's brother Rodney on guitar, and special guest vocalist Michelle Brewer.

The pastel show at the Fine Arts Center features 30 works by members of the Arkansas Pastel Society and runs through January.

The 3rd Friday event is free, but the FAC suggests a donation of $2 to support programming. Call 501-624-0489 for more information.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Gallery 26: Open late for Shop 'n' Sip

Leslie Newell Peacock — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:16:12 -0600

Gallery 26 at 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd. will be open after hours until 8 p.m. tonight for the Hillcrest neighborhood's monthly Shop 'n' Sip. This fact gives me the chance to run the names of all the artists who have work in the gallery's 18th "Annual Holiday Art Show" of paintings, drawings, pottery, photographs, glass, sculpture, ornaments, scarves and jewelry. See below, last name first. (P.S.: The Strause above ["The Real Thing"] may not be in the show; I stole it from her website as an example of her work.)

Adams, Cindy
Adams, Darrell
Bean, Robert
Bell, Lee Ann
Bingham, Sheila
Boyd, Brittany Jane
Bridges, John
Bryan, Ann
Bryant, Jennifer
Burnham, Ross
Cefalo, Stephen
Cox,V.L.
Crisp, Susan
Delavan, Jerry
Dixon, Randy
Dunaway, Nancy
Edgington, Amy
Fails, Connie
Fanning, Laura
Frost, Lynn
Glueck, Devin
Greenland, Jann
Harper, Diane
Hayes, James
Henderson, Josh
Henderson, Judy
Henry, Rita
Holt, Julie
Jones, Betty
Knowles, Shannon
Kordsmeier, Melissa
Krain, Ben
Kushmaul, John
Lacefield, Mindy
Lamar, Marlene
Lang, Erin
Lang, Walter
Laser, Amy
Leme, Alex
Linn, Amanda
Lorenzen, Erin
Luber, Elaine
McLeod, Matt
Miller, Patricia
O’Brien, David
Provost, Dale
Rackley, David
Reding, Holly
Sheung, Lam Tze
Simmons, Dominique
Singh, Amanda
Singh, Patricia
Slaughter, Susie
Smith, Jason
Steward, Babs
Strause, Kathy
Sulac
Sundell, Corri
Sykes, John
Taylor, Diana
Trusty, Rachel
Uptigrove, Amber
Uptigrove, Donna
Ward, Jessie
Wartinger, Leon
Wilcox, Janet Cecil
Wood, Emily

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Boswell-Mourot glitzes on Saturday

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 15:37:41 -0600

Boswell-Mourot Fine Art, 5815 Kavanaugh Blvd., opens its "Holiday Show" Saturday night with a reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. There, you'll get to see new works by glitter king Jon Etienne Mourot, who adds sparkle to the reason for the season, and other merry things. A portion of proceeds from sales will go to CAR, the Center for Artistic Revolution.
l

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Wednesday night: Support the Zoo at Boswell-Mourot

Leslie Newell Peacock — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:15:00 -0600

I just got down from the attic my monkey-painted Christmas ornaments. Jealous? You can have them too, and paintings by furry artists as well at Wednesday's "Great Escapes: Art by Animals of the Little Rock Zoo." The silent auction, sponsored by the Little Rock chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers, runs 6-9 p.m. at Boswell-Mourot Fine Art, 5815 Kavanaugh Blvd., which graciously hosts the sale every year. You can see more artists at work at the Great Escapes Facebook page. Call 664-0030 for more information.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Soooooo much art: M2 Gallery Holiday Show

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 15:02:36 -0600

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.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Kevin Cole, a guided tour

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 13:47:57 -0600

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.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Quapaw ceremony at sculpture Friday

Leslie Newell Peacock — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 16:09:08 -0500

Quapaw Tribal Chairman John Berrey said he looks forward to performing the cedar smoke ceremony tomorrow at a sculpture honoring Indian tribes in Riverfront Park and hopes to talk to the Little Rock Parks and Recreation Department "about something the Quapaw tribe could contribute to that location."

The sculpture, "Native Knowledge" by Denny Haskew, was purchased for the park by the non-profit organization Sculpture at the River Market, which opens the annual Sculpture at the River Market show and sale tomorrow at the River Market pavilions. There will be a $100-a-ticket preview from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and a $20 event to follow; the exhibition is free Saturday and Sunday.

The smoke ceremony is set for 5 p.m. at the sculpture, which is on the plaza in front of the Junction Bridge. Berrey declined to be more specific about what the tribe, whose ancestors populated Arkansas and for whom the Quapaw Quarter is named, would like to talk to parks about.

I asked Berry about his feelings about the sculpture, which also stands in front of a California casino and depicts a man in a Plains Indian headdress, and which I've written about previously in Eye Candy (here and here). Berrey said the tribe wasn't interested in "getting involved in any controversy" and would be there "to celebrate our history and for people to be educated about the Quapaw tribe. We think it's a good thing."

Berrey was unconcerned that the Indian carved into the stone sculpture was not representative of Quapaw traditional dress, asking, "Whose to say a Plains Indian couldn't have given a Quapaw" a feather headdress? He called the riverside site "a significant geographical location" in the history of the Quapaw. (Learn more about the Quapaw here.)

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

THEA Paves the Way (if it doesn't rain!)

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 13:28:51 -0500

The seventh annual Thea Paves the Way sidewalk chalk event at the Clinton Presidential Park kicks off tomorrow, Saturday, at 8:30 a.m. Students and teachers and families will be able to turn those blank concrete canvases into art and enjoy other events, like music, the Parkview Magnet High School mimes, concessions, caricatures by Democrat-Gazette cartoonist John Deering and free admission to the Clinton library. Teachers who register their students and compete together as a school group have a chance to win one of two $250 gift certificates for arts supplies from Dick Blick.

The event is hosted by the Thea Foundation, which promotes the arts as a path to success at school and life. Admission is free; the event wraps up at 1 p.m. If it looks iffy in the a.m., go to Thea's website at 8 a.m. to check to see if a rain date's been set.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

2nd Friday Art Night, Gallery 26 Saturday

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 12:56:55 -0500

The arts calendar is full of events this weekend.

Tonight's 2nd Friday Art Night from 5-8 p.m. adds a new venue — the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, which is showing the photographs of Ralph Armstrong — along with regulars the Butler Center Galleries, the Courtyard at the Marriott, Gallery 221, Hearne Fine Art, the Historic Arkansas Museum and the Old State House Museum. Not only will there be art — two new exhibits include artwork from the Rosalie Santine Gould Rowher Collection at the Butler Center and the exhibit at Hearne just posted here — but many venues will have live music. Guitarist Steve Davison will be at the Butler Center Galleries, Arkopolis with Stephen Koch will be at the Historic Arkansas Museum, Ed Bowman and the Rock City Players will be at Mosaic Templars and the Morange Trio featuring Dave Williams II will be at the Old State House.

Check the calendar listings for more information and note that the Mosaic Templars event closes a half hour before other 2nd Friday venues.

You'll also see on the Saturday calendar Gallery 26's new exhibit of recent works by Jennifer Bryant, V.L. Cox and David O'Brien. That show opens with a reception from 7 to 10 p.m. tomorrow night and continues through Oct. 27.

Also previously posted, the Terry House Community Arts Gallery opens Linda Palmer's much anticipated "Arkansas Champion Trees: An Artist's Journey" on Sunday with a 3-5 p.m. reception.

Friday through Sunday the Off the Beaten Path studio tour will take art lovers to 24 tucked away in the Ozarks; see earlier post.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Tonight: Katchen at MOCA

Leslie Newell Peacock — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:21:39 -0500

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Hot Springs welcomes the public tonight from 5:30-7:30 p.m. to see the works of Carole Katchen on exhibit there.

The museum is in the former Ozark Bathhouse on Bathhouse Row, along Central Avenue.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Head to the Ozarks, Off the Beaten Path

Leslie Newell Peacock — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:25:40 -0500

The three-day Off the Beaten Path tour of 24 Ozark artists' studios in Mountain View, Calico Rock, Pineville and Fox starts tomorrow. Start your tour by going to the OBP website, where you'll see profiles of some of the participating artists, including fiber artists Shawn Hoefer and Jeanette Larson of Laffing Horse Farm and Crafts, polymer clay and jewelry artist Chere Taylor, well-known ceramicist Joe Bruhin, woodworker Paul Gillam and more. Since the tour takes you to the studios, you'll see lots of artists demonstrating how they do what they do.

A map is in the online book; not sure if it's downloadable. But there are sure to be maps in Mountain View, the jumping off point for the tour, or perhaps Fox, the closest town if you're coming from Central Arkansas. Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m Sunday. A great thing to do on a weekend that's is beginning to look like fall.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Receptions: M2, Laman Library, Delta Cultural Center

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 15:35:35 -0500

In addition to tonight's Hot Springs Gallery Walk, more weekend art event reminders:

Tonight, reception 6-9 p.m. at M2 Gallery, 11525 Cantrell Road, for "Lifelines," photographs by Brian Fender, paintings by Kathy Bay.

Also tonight, reception 6-8 p.m. at Laman Library, 2801 Orange St., for its exhibition "Fighting the Fires of Hate: America and the Nazi Book Burnings."

Saturday, reception 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Delta Cultural Center for "Maude Schuyler Clay: Revisiting the Mississippi Delta."

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Saturday opening: Robert Bean, Jill Storthz

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:52:06 -0500

Gallery 26 is the place for art lovers to be tomorrow night when it opens an exhibit of drawings by Robert Bean and woodblock prints by Jill Storthz (Little Rock native gone Californian). A reception with live music is set for 7 to 10 p.m.

Bean, who describes himself as a narrative artist, is calling his collection of drawings "Fragile Moments." Storthz's linear abstract works read both as geometrical design and landscape. Their work will be up until Sept. 8.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Lifetime Achievement Award: Zeek Taylor

Leslie Newell Peacock — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:15:44 -0500

The Arkansas Arts Council has given Zeek Taylor, Eureka Springs' favorite painter of chimps and irises, its 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award. Taylor will receive the award, a glass sculpture by Riley Art Glass Studio in Hot Springs, in a ceremony in the fall.

Winning the Individual Artist Award was John Jeter, director of the Fort Smith Symphony.

Other 2012 winners: Jeff Baskin, Laman Library director, Arts Community Development Award; Christen Burke Pitts of North Little Rock and Clayton Scott of Fayetteville, Arts in Education Awards; TRUE Marketing of Jonesboro, Corporate Sponsorship of the Arts Award; gospel singer/songwriter Marty Phillips of Crossett, Folklife Award; Drs. Mack and Vern Ann Shotts, Patron Award; and retired ad man Jim Johnson, the Judges Special Recognition Award.

Jurors were chairman Michael Tidwell, Husny Dahlan, Lana Hallmark, Mike Malek, Clyde Milner and Bob Pest.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Sewer tower art: Kids' project at Hindman

Leslie Newell Peacock — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 10:41:39 -0500

This morning's feel-good news: A post from Hindman Park and the Meadowcliff/Brookwood neighborhood associations' Facebook page about a public art project:

We are youth who seek to empower other youth through creative and important projects in the Little Rock community.

On a Saturday in February, 2012, we went to help pick-up trash at Hindman Park. While there, we picnicked, played Frisbee, skipped rocks in Fourche Creek, and explored nature. We fell in swamp mud puddles, saw squirrel-monsters, and skinned our knees. We were hooked, and returned in the spring for more clean-ups, playing, and hanging out.

Many of of us grew up going to Hindman Park, but stopped because it became unsafe and dirty. Thanks to the dedication of volunteers of the Meadowcliff Brookwood Neighborhood Association, area residents, and Little Rock Parks & Recreation, the park has been reclaimed. To contribute to the park's beautification, we painted murals on three of the giant Manhole Sewer Towers that dot the 800-acre park.

May these Murals invite other children, youth, and families back into Hindman Park. We need the park and the park needs us. We hope our artwork will inspire others to find peace and solace in the environment, and to protect it for years to come.

Please start at the first post to see our Mural Project from start-to-finish.

Thank You:
The Meadowcliff Brookwood Neighborhood Association
Suzanne Kunkel, volunteer mural artist
Marjorie Lacey, historian and advocate of the park
Norm Berner, Little Rock Parks and Recreation
Mary Smith, Arkansas Audubon Society
Scott at Sherwin Williams
Kim Tran, UALR Sustainability and Earth Day committee
Ivery Diego Williams III
And to our families for putting up with all the paint in our hair and clothes.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Escargots rose

Leslie Newell Peacock — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 13:14:37 -0500

You know, when food maven Kat Robinson sends you a note with snails in the message line, you'd think it would be about escargot. But she's talking pink snails, the ones installed in Bentonville as a promotion for the 21c Museum Hotel being built there. I posted about the pink snails earlier, but Kat's picture is so much better, since it's actually in Bentonville and the courthouse helps with scale. As always, click on the picture to make it bigger. Merci, Kat.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Lawn party

Leslie Newell Peacock — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:53:52 -0500

Laman Library is hosting a reception from 6-8 p.m. tonight for Mike Lawn, former executive groundskeeper at the White House, who is in town to speak in connection with the Smithsonian exhibit, "The White House Garden," at Laman thorugh July 21.

Lawn and Janet Carson, the garden maven with the UA Cooperative Extension Service, will give a presentation, "Making Your Mansion Bloom," at the library at 10 a.m. tomorrow, June 2.

Laman Library is at 2801 Orange St. in North Little Rock.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Studying science through art at Park Hill

Leslie Newell Peacock — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:40:32 -0500

Virmarie DePoyster sends notice that art by fifth graders she worked with at Park Hill Elementary on the Conservation Sign Project at Lake Campbell near Cook's Landing will be unveiled at 10 a.m. Friday, May 4.

The project was designed to teach the kids about animals and ecosystems in a way they will always remember. (Like everyone who had Mrs. Horton at Forest Heights Elementary can tell you about the piece of art they enacted in "Living Pictures." Mine: "Strawberry Girl" by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Indelible.)

DePoyster says on her Facebook page that she worked with North Little Rock Park Ranger Kate Finefield, who talked to the children about the animals and their habitat. DePoyster worked with the students for six weeks on how to draw and paint with oil pastels.

As you can see at left, the result is wonderful.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

"EXPRESSIONS" tonight at the mansion

Leslie Newell Peacock — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:27:07 -0500

The annual "EXPRESSIONS" show and sale of work by clients by Birch Tree Communities is tonight at the Governor's Mansion. This year, there will be some 230 pieces of art for sale; artists get 100 percent of the proceeds.

Birch Tree Communities serves people with serious mental illness. Its art program is designed to promote self-confidence and a route to recovery. This year's sale will include selected works by clients of other programs as well and a live auction of works selected by jurors. There will be food, drink and live music.

The sale starts at 6 p.m. and tickets ($25) are available at the door. Go early, because there is always a long line and you want to get to your favorite work of art before someone else does! The event is over at 8 p.m.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Thea Arts Festival coming Saturday

Leslie Newell Peacock — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:27:00 -0500

This week's Art Notes column advances the first annual Thea Arts Festival that will be held on Main Street in Argenta on Saturday, April 28. Here's a slideshow of some of the work that the festival's 28 artists will be showing and selling from booths on Main, which will be closed between Broadway and Sixth. Lots of music, lots of kids activities, restaurants participating as well.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

ArtGroup opens remodeled gallery

Leslie Newell Peacock — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:29:51 -0500

The ArtGroupMaumelle reopens its remodeled gallery and studio space at 10840 Maumelle Blvd. today with its four-day "Spring Show" of work by gallery artists, including Lori Weeks, Matt Coburn, Ned Perme and others.

Hours are 6-9 p.m. today, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and and noon-4 p.m. Sunday. There will be live entertainment, wine and food.

The ArtGroup also shows at the Courtyard Marriott and Restaurant 1620. Find the home gallery next to Morningside Bagel.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]