Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
ACO Art On Show
Siloam Springsarea artist and teacher Joel Armstrong’s art installation — titled
“It’s Time to Adress’er Drawers” — opened
Jan. 8 at the Arts
Center of the Ozarks in Springdale and will run until Feb. 7. The exhibit is a multisensory meditation on loss, says Eve Smith, ACO’s visual arts and program director.
“Society as a whole doesn’t talk about abuse, depression, etc., so my hope is that the community will find something in this exhibit that speaks to them,” says Smith. “I love when an artist can use their work as a conduit for social change. This is an interactive arts installation, so the viewer will actually be part of the artistic process.”
Armstrong teaches drawing and illustration at John Brown University. His work with nickel and silver wire has gained prominence, and that work is featured in this installation.
“As an installation artist, the entire gallery becomes my canvas,” says Armstrong in a statement on his website. “My art is an extension of real life and offers connections with memories, feelings and expressions that the steady sound of a sprinkler can resurrect, or the bright sounds a happy bird can bring to mind. I tell stories that reflect our human experience.”
Artist K. Nelson Harper will also be exhibiting her book art — which Smith calls “amazing” — in the same time frame. Harper is an associate professor at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, where she specializes in teaching graphic design and book arts.
“This retrospective exhibition will explore the ways that design concepts and production methods, both old and new, influence fine art, especially with regard to technique,” reads the description of Harper’s exhibition. “It will include explorations into photography and printmaking, as well as award-winning letterpress and book arts.”