Indoor outings
Art, science and history abound at Little Rock museums
Since a year ago, three new or improved Little Rock museums have brightened cultural horizons in Arkansas’ capital city.
The most visible arrival is the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, a dazzling architectural creation that opened in April to local and national acclaim. With larger exhibit space than its predecessor, the new MacArthur Park complex can display more paintings, sculptures and other art from the Americas and Europe.
Also happening at the new museum are more temporary exhibitions. On view through April 14 is “Path to Abstraction: Picasso, Braque and Cubism’s Impact on Modern Art.” The 17 works in the show trace the influence of those two Cubist masters. (arkmfa.org)
Toward the end of 2023, the nationally regarded Museum of Discovery at 500 President Clinton Ave. continued its recovery from serious 2021 flooding by opening a major new exhibit, the 7,500-square-foot Science Lab.
Visitors are advised that “the more you experiment, test and try, the more you will discover why our world works the way it does.”
Another large interactive area, Dynamic Earth, will be unveiled soon. It will have three themes: Adaptations in Action, Forces of Change and Transformations. Adaptations in Action will let guests mimic the actions of animals in the wild. (museumofdiscovery.org)
Last month, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center at 501 W. 9th St. reopened after fully revamping its exhibits. The new presentation creates a more dynamic picture of Black history and culture in Arkansas, amounting almost to a new museum.
Interactive displays have been added, in keeping with the trend toward participatory exhibits. The successes of Black individuals and communities are emphasized, without ignoring the hardships of the Jim Crow era. (mosaictemplarscenter.com)
Little Rock has a potpourri of other museums to visit on a chilly winter day. They include, in alpha
betical order:
■ Esse Purse Museum, 1510 Main St., essepursemuseum.com. Exhibits about women’s expanding role in social and cultural life over the past century make this only such museum in America more than a show of female accessories.
■ Firehouse Museum and Hostel of Arkansas, 1201 Commerce St., firehousehostel.org. Firefighting gear and artifacts from the past are on display in a building that operated from 1917 to 1960 as the city’s Fire Station 2.
■ Historic Arkansas Museum, 200 E. Third St., historicarkansas.org. Updated and reopened last year, the Knife Gallery is one of this museum’s most popular exhibits. It focuses on pioneering Arkansas knifemaker James Black and James Bowie.
■ Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, 2120 W. Daisy L. Gaston Bates Drive, nps.gov/chsc/index. htm. The Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday holiday on Jan. 15 and Black History Month in February will add resonance to the saga of the city’s 1957-59 desegregation crisis.
■ MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 503 E. 9th St., littlerock.gov/macarthur. Now on exhibit, “From Shangri-La to Tokyo: The Story of the Doolittle Raiders” salutes the B-25 crews who boosted U.S morale in 1942 by bombing Japan from an aircraft carrier.
■ Old State House Museum, 300 W. Markham St., oldstatehouse.com. Dating to 1837, the oldest standing state capitol building west of the Mississippi focuses on Arkansas political history, including the 47 governors and their spouses.
■ William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, 1200 President Clinton Ave., clintonlibrary.gov. The current special exhbition “Be Our Guests” chronicles White House visits by heads of state and other foreign leaders during the eight years of Bill Clinton’s presidency.
■ Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center, 602 President Clinton Ave., agfc.com/things-to-do/ nature-centers/. This is the most urban of nine such sites operated by the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. A highlight is aquariums with native species lining one wall. Jack Schnedler is a docent at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts.