ASC hosts ART Night on the BLOCK with new exhibit
White Hall middle-schooler Jason McClain returned to the first floor of The ARTSpace on Main, 623 S. Main St., after examining the second-floor exhibit, “Spectrum Dynamic,” describing the large pieces on glass as “vibrant, colorful, different.”
McClain was there for the first ART Night on the BLOCK hosted by the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas last Thursday evening.
A few minutes earlier, Brae McDonald also stood before a digital-generated piece by Indiana University Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture and Design Associate Professor Caleb Weintraug. McDonald was spellbound by the 3-D aspect of the work. It was as if the viewer could walk into the piece, he said.
The exhibit is located in the Loft Gallery of The ARTSpace and runs through Monday, April 3.
Normally, McDonald said, such work is seen on a computer screen, but the larger, individual image presentation focuses on the subject in a new way, inviting the audience to travel beyond the gallery.
He added, “It’s dramatic.” The exhibit’s name, “Spectrum Dynamic,” captures the collective feel of the pieces, said University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff printmaker Jonathan Wright, “It gives me a new appreciation for the [digital] art.”
But there’s more to this exhibit.
It was born out of the collaborative efforts of Weintraub, Dr. Dan Kennedy, IU Department of Psychological and Brain Science, and College Internship Program Bloomington staff and students.
According to ASC information, “CIP is an agency that assists young people on the Autism Spectrum.”
The end pieces are “visual interpretations” of the repetitive motor stereotypies, such as body-rocking, head-nodding or pacing that is often called stimming.
Weintraub used 3D modeling programs to distill stimming movements into “kinematic signatures” or rhythms and patterns, and present an “alternate perspective on these behaviors.”
CELEBRATING ITS OWN
Earlier in the evening, McClain listened as Pine Bluffborn and now internationally-renowned artist Kevin Cole opened the event, talking about national and personal histo
ries that influenced the recent work that appears in his newly released book, “Where Do We Go From Here?”
The pages are filled with his written and visual interpretations of current and past events related to gerrymandering and voting in the South, including Arkansas.
More than 100 people filled the first floor’s main gallery to hear Cole speak.
Like others, such as UAPB math major Patrick Knight of Birmingham, Ala. and music major Kristain Hicks of Monticello, McClain noted the “little details” that Cole included during his talk.
The artist talked about how in the past and in order to discourage Blacks from casting a ballet, poll workers would ask impossible-to-answer questions like how many bubbles are in a bar of soap or how many jelly beans are in a jar.
Knight appreciated how Cole captured and turned such facets and refashioned them into art.
Hicks said, “They might seem like small things but they had big consequences.”
MORE TO SEE
ART Night on the Block ran from 4 until 7 p.m. Thursday and also included an opening reception for Leah Grant’s exhibit, “Becoming Once More,” which runs through Saturday, April 29, and the UAPB Senior Exhibition featuring the work of Austin Dunn and Zach Webb and closed Thursday.
The evening events also included the Mid-America Arts Alliance’s presentation, “How to Apply Yourself: Catalyze Grant Info Session.”
Rachel Miller, ASC executive director, said she was pleased with the turnout and they’re planning a second event for this spring.
The Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas main building, at 701 S. Main St. in Pine Bluff is open Tuesday through Fridays from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.
For more information about the center, which includes the main facility, and the ARTSpace on Main, 623 S. Main St., and ART WORKS at 627 S. Main, go to: www.asc701.org/events or call (870) 536-3375.