Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
ARTS AND COMMUNITY
Though the festival only begins June 10, those in south Fayetteville have likely noticed a significant piece of the water and art conversation taking shape the past month. “Topo Map for School Avenue” is an art installation examining the terrain of the area, encouraging the viewer to consider the relationship between nature and urban landscape.
“We’ve had a history of doing public art installations; it just speaks to access and giving the community access to works of art,” says Laura Goodwin, WAC vice president of learning and engagement. “The wonderful thing about public art is that everyone gets to experience it, and you get to experience it whenever you want, however you want. There are no tickets; there’s no cost of admission.”
The topographic map will last as long as weather permits — potentially years — and serves to make visible the path that water takes in our urban environment. But the piece also provided an access point to the festival for local volunteers, artists
and students. Through a partnership with Fenix Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas, local artists got to participate in the installation, and students with the sustainability program at the UA included their research and context on the geography of Fayetteville.
“I think that was a really great way [to incorporate] community involvement” in the festival, Goodwin says. One of the elements Goodwin is most looking forward to this year is another addition utilizing community involvement: Jane’s Walks. “How
many tours have you been on led by somebody in your community? [The walks are] a way of fostering [citizen involvement] by encouraging people to learn from one another about the issues that are important to them.”
The series of free walks ties into a global initiative honoring writer and activist Jane Jacobs, who encouraged people to connect to their neighborhoods and to each other through walking and sharing stories.
Also curated for Artosphere and free to the public is the opening of the new exhibition in the Joy Pratt Markham Gallery inside the Walton Arts Center. The exhibition, “The Bleak and the Burgeoning,” brings nature indoors in asking the viewer to examine the extremes that can exist in landscapes and even personal geographies.
“Diversifying the audience and creating a more all-encompassing approach to what we do,” Galbraith offers, “across the board with everything, not just Artosphere — is something we’re very much attentive to.”