It's been pointed out to me that it makes perfect sense that Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art has installed Claes Oldenburg's "Alphabet/Good Humor" sculpture of a melting popsicle of letters in its restaurant. Now, you can see the drip off one side.
When it comes to art, A. Walton is something of a Good Humor Woman. She enjoys playful art. Me too, even if the flesh tone/brain form on the Oldenburg makes it hard to love at first.
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The goal is not simply to reproduce the appearance of the subject, but to capture its soul. To paint a horse, the ink wash painting artist must understand its temperament better than its muscles and bones. To paint a flower, there is no need to perfectly match its petals and colors, but it is essential to convey its liveliness and fragrance. East Asian ink wash painting may be regarded as an earliest form of expressionistic art that captures the unseen.
Sumi-e paintings by Ann Shedelbower should give you the picture tonight at Blue Moon Fine Art, 718 Central Ave., Hot Springs. The gallery will be open after hours for Gallery Walk, 5-9 p.m.; the artist will be there and will display some of the brushes and tools she uses in her work.
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Ceramic sculpture by German-born artist Ingrid Gipson goes on exhibit today at Taylor's Contemporanea, 204 Exchange St., off Central. The gallery will be open 5-9 p.m. for Hot Springs' monthly Gallery Walk.
Her artist statement:
I perceive myself as a story teller, one that might through my work, inspire others. To be enchanted by the discovery of the many unexpected role models in Religion, Mythology, Psychology, Anthropology, Philosophy as well as Art, ancient to modern.
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"Linedrives and Lipstick: The Untold Story of Women’s Baseball" opens today at the Laman Library in North Little Rock and All-American Girls Professional League player Dolly Brumfield White will be on hand for the after-hours reception, which begins at 6 p.m. and is open to the public.
"Linedrives and Lipstick" features picture postcards, game programs, photographs, posters and magazine articles from such publications as Colliers, Liberty and the Saturday Evening Post to tell the stories of such players as Jackie Mitchell, who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game in 1931, and Sophie Kurys of the South Bend Blue Sox, who still holds the record for the most stolen bases in one season in any league (201 steals in 203 attempts in 1946).
White played for the South Bend Blue Sox, Kenosha Comets and Fort Wayne Daisies.
The show comes from the ExhibitsUSA touring program.
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Gallery 726 tonight is featuring the work of Teri Levine, an Atlanta artist, art teacher and art therapist. The gallery, at 726 Central Ave., will be open from 5-9 p.m. tonight for Hot Springs' monthly Gallery Walk.
Exhibiting with Levine are visual artists Shirley Anderson, Barbara Seibel, Sue Shields, Caryl Joy Young, Pati Trippel and Gary Weeter; jewelry designer Marlene Gremillion; potter Janet Donnangelo; aluminum sculptor Russell Lemond, glass artists Michael Riley and Charles Riley and wood turner Ken Vonk. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays in January and February. In March the gallery will also be open on Tuesdays.
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Photographer Jerry Taliaferro, who premiered the exhibition "Women of a New Tribe" at the Afro-American Culture Center in his hometown of Charlotte, N.C., has brought the exhibit to Fayetteville, where he took photos of local women to include in the show: A UA student, a doctor, a hair stylist, a minister ... women from all walks of life. The exhibition runs through April in the UA's Mullins Library lobby.
From a press release on the show:
Taliaferro presents his subjects in the dramatic, high-glamour style reminiscent of the photography of 1930s and 1940s Hollywood. The photographs explore different themes, such as tribal beauty, portraiture and family relationships. Taliaferro explains that the exhibit’s title was inspired by hearing Toni Morrison refer to African Americans as “New World Africans” in an interview on National Public Radio. This resonated with Taliaferro who believed that “African Americans are a new people born of this new American experience.”
A native of Brownsville, Tenn., Taliaferro joined the Army in 1972 and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1977. His interest in photography began when he was posted to Fort Bragg, N.C., for Special Forces training and continued to grow while serving in Germany, where his work was first published in a Munich magazine. After returning to the U.S., Taliaferro left the military for a career in commercial photography. As his interests evolved, he turned to the fine arts. The success of this exhibit inspired the publication of Women of a New Tribe: A Photographic Celebration of the Black Woman in 2007.
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Nathan Sawaya, the Lego artist whose work is on display at the Clinton Presidential Center, will be at the library tonight from 6-7 p.m. talking about the exhibit and signing copies of his book, "The Art of the Brick Pictorial" (for sale at the Clinton Museum Store). The exhibit runs through Feb. 12.
Reserve a seat by e-mailing Joy Secuban at jsecuban@clintonfoundation.org or by calling 370-8000.
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“Tin Grizzly First Anniversary Art Event" starts at 7 p.m. tonight at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Hot Springs.
Tomorrow: Friday night is the monthly Gallery Walk at galleries along Central Avenue. Make plans to head to Blue Moon Gallery, 718 Central, to see the sumi e work of Ann Shedelbower; Gallery Central, 800 Central Ave., to see paintings by Doyle Young; Justus Fine Art to see new work by Hugh Dunnahoe; Gallery 726 to see paintings by Teri Levine, Taylor's Contemporanea to see figurative sculpture by Ingrid Gibson and the Malco Theater's student show, "HeART for Art."
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Tin Grizzly Western art and furniture store at 516 Central Ave. in Hot Springs will hold its first anniversary celebration tomorrow at the Museum of Contemporary Art, in the old Ozark Bathhouse.
Bronze sculptor Burneta Venosdel will unveil a new work, inspired by Kiowa chief Satanta, at the event, from 7 to 9 p.m. Valerie Hanks will demonstrate pine needle basketmaking, Robbie Robinson will demonstrate silver wire wrapping jewelry and Ron Russell will demonstrate painting on wild turkey feathers.
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Writer Paul Brady goes to colleague Doug Smith to find out a bit more about Bentonville's past. Read the story here. Spokesperson Laura Jacobs is quoted: "We're learning that this is many peoples' first experience with a museum."
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The Bernice Garden, the public sculpture space created by Anita Davis on property she owns at Daisy Bates and Main Street, has issued the call for entries for the fourth round of sculptures to be placed there.
Any Arkansas artist or team of artists may enter. Winners will receive a stipend of $2,800, plus a $200 design fee to create a model for their project. Up to five sculptures will be considered. Deadline is 5 p.m. Friday, April 20.
Liz Sanders, coordinator, has the details; call her at 501-617-2511, e-mail bernicegarden@gmail.com or go to the Bernice Garden website.
About the image above: The Bernice Garden's signature nest sculpture is the creation of Little Rock artist and UALR faculty member David H. Clemons; it got the attention of a real mockingbird.
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His photographs on exhibit at Olde World Pizza, 1706 W. 3rd St., are posted on the slideshow portion of the home page.
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At the opening of the "54th Delta Exhibition" and the "Masters of Watercolor" show.
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A change from the release below: Entry deadline is now Feb. 5.

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Bentonville gets yet another plug as a travel destination, this time from the Los Angeles Times, which includes Crystal Bridges Museum in its "12 places to visit in 2012." To wit:
Bentonville, Ark.: That's right, Bentonville, served by Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport. It's where Wal-Mart is headquartered, and it's where Alice Walton, of the chain's founding Walton family, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build Crystal Bridges, a new museum of American art, colonial to contemporary, on a 120-acre site. The collection, which opened Nov. 11, leans toward representational works with broad appeal. Norman Rockwell's "Rosie the Riveter" is here, as is Andy Warhol's "Dolly Parton." New Yorkers may scoff at this distant town as a cultural destination, but we out west should be above that. crystalbridges.org; free admission to the permanent collection.
(That's my emphasis in the paragraph above.)
Travel and Leisure magazine was the first out of the gate to urge folks to travel to Arkansas. Many others have followed.
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