Friday, May 17, 2013
LaToya Hobbs at Hearne Fine Art
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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Art event Galusha, Krannichfeld, Thornhill at M2 Gallery
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Art event Angela Davis Johnson at Gallery 360
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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Thursday, May 16, 2013
Argenta ArtWalk "Best of the South" at Greg Thompson and more
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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Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Art news Little Rock park, Little Rock artist: Kresse
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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Exhibitions UAMS art show reception today
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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Auction Tabriz haul: $550,000
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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Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Tonight: Roberts and Rowland at Children's Library
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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Saturday, May 11, 2013
Reminder: Opening at Boswell-Mourot
"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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Friday, May 10, 2013
2nd Friday Art Night Detmers, Lykens, Tara-Casciano, Sacran, Hobbs and more
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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Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art "Genre Painting and Everyday Life," "Genre Scenes on Paper" open Saturday
- Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, photography by Dwight Primiano
- Winslow Homer, "Girl in a Sunbonnet," 1878
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.
- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, photography by Dwight Primiano.
- John L. Krimmel, "Parade of the Victuallers," 1821
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Business of art Free workhop on Artist INC Live
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
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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Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Coming to Boswell-Mourot: Huss, Taylor, Chapman, Bremner, Wilkinson
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.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Friday, May 3, 2013
Coming Sunday: Mid-Southern Watercolorists
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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