Three exhibits now up in Central Arkansas
There’s something about this time of year that makes viewing art more poignant for me. On the surface it’s likely to do with rejuvenation, with coming out of winter, with new blooms and the return of greenery. Seeing artists’ work up close is an affirmation of the magical alchemy of creativity that just hits a little harder in the spring.
And it doesn’t hurt that there are several inspiring exhibits up now in Central Arkansas, so let’s take a look at three of them. One of my favorites in recent years was Hunter Foster’s 2021 exhibit “Layman,” which was held in a structure that was once part of North Little Rock’s jail and had been moved to the more serene surroundings of Burns Park.
Foster, who grew up in North Little Rock and now lives in Connecticut, creates fascinating works of target-like circles made from dyed canvas strips. Seeing them in the shadowy, rusty, cramped jail cells was a revelation. Now he’s back with “Navel,” another show of circular canvas strip paintings that also includes a church steeple and a large disc made from paper towels. Yes. Paper towels.
As with “Layman,” “Navel” is presented by Good Weather, the gallery started by Haynes Riley in North Little Rock in 2011. The gallery’s Little Rock location is at 420 Byrd St., in what was once a plumbing supply retailer and warehouse.
The exhibit begins with 10 of Foster’s circular dyed canvas works, each with a heart motif inspired by the heart suit from a deck of playing cards. The hues are earthy with occasional pops of color coming from the round wooden piece that sits in the middle of each work. Some of the hearts have been swirled, as if they’d been quickly spun around on one of those spin art platforms, and all are a uniform 10 inches by 10 inches. Foster’s clever, round canvas works always make me feel hopeful and these are no exception.
In the building’s expansive former warehouse are two more pieces from Foster. The first, “Trumpet,” is a white, 12-foot-long fiberglass church steeple that has been laid on its side. Foster found it last year on the lot of a North Little Rock
Baptist church that had been destroyed by a tornado.
“I became more and more interested in the fact that the most symbolic aspect of the building was left behind, split off from the body of the church,” he said in the artist’s statement that accompanies the show.
To see the lonely steeple on its side in the gallery space is haunting, an effect aided by the afternoon spring light that pours in through the large, east-facing windows.
In the far northwest corner of the space sits “Bounty (After Tom Friedman),” a 41-inchwide roll made of Bounty paper towels. It’s whimsical and fun, fully embracing the spirit of the conceptual sculptor Friedman. It would also come in quite handy for cleaning up spills on the gallery floor. Just kidding.
“Navel” is on view until April 20, 420 Byrd St., Little Rock. Hours: 1-6 p.m. Saturdays.
The 54th Annual Juried Exhibition of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists at William F. Laman Public Library in North Little Rock features 42 works by artists from 10 states chosen by juror Alicia Harris.
They are all watercolors, of course, but the subject matter is varied. There are abstracts, still lifes, landscapes, figurative works and a little bit of everything in between. Some are sentimental, others inventive; some are joyous, others melancholy.
“Denkyu,” Carrie Waller’s skillfully made rendering of light bulbs, won the Mid-Southern Watercolorists $1,500 Gold Award. It’s a mesmerizing, hyper-realistic painting by the Jacksonville-based Waller that somehow adds elements of abstraction, especially in the cool blues and purples of the glass.
Maumelle’s Dennis McCann’s “Porch Sitting” is a beautifully realized portrait of a seated man. What makes it stand out is McCann’s deftness with light and shadow. His editing is also a marvel; McCann isn’t afraid to leave a lot of information in his works and they are stronger for it.
The handling of light — in this case well-placed patches of yellows — is also what makes “Afternoon Bales” by Gary Simmons of Hot Springs so pleasing.
Robert Klausing’s detail-filled “Deepwater-High Water Riffle,” which shows tree roots and a stream, is a tour de force of realism by the Butler, Mo., artist. With “Rock City Skyline,” L.S. Eldridge of Rogers uses intricately painted tools that belonged to his grandfather to re-create the Little Rock skyline. David Rawlinson’s “At Rest” is an atmospheric, splotchy, loose depiction of two shrimp boats docked in Apalachicola, Fla.
There’s also “Moving Day” by Linda Larey of Texarkana, Texas, a slice-of-life domestic scene in which a tired-looking woman sits at a table while a cat looks on and birds can be seen flying past the window. It reminds me in a very good way of early 20th-century French painter Suzanne Valadon.
This is just scratching the surface of an exhibit overflowing with good paintings, and I’m looking forward to making more visits to take them in.
54th Annual Juried Exhibition of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists, William F. Laman Public Library Main Branch, 2108 Orange St., North Little Rock, through April 26. Hours: 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday-Saturday (closed March 25-26 for staff training).
An eclipse-related, multimedia exhibit is on display at Windgate Museum of Art at Hendrix College in Conway.
“In the Shadow of the Moon” will be up through April 13 and features a collection of pieces including interpretations of eclipses throughout history, like the reproduction of Dutch artist Jan Luyken’s circa-1700 etching “Solar Eclipse at the Death of Christ.” There are also more tongue-in-cheek works like “47 Rockets,” a wooden chair with fabricated, cartoonish fireworks strapped to it. The sculptural piece, by Raina Belleau and Caleb Churchill, was inspired by the legend of Wan Hu, a Chinese official and contemporary of Galileo who attempted to launch himself into space in the chair after lighting the fireworks’ fuses (it didn’t work, but the crater Wan Hoo on the moon is named for him).
The short film “Totality: an Immersive Experience” is also part of the exhibit. And if you go, don’t miss “The Moon and Beyond,” a collection of space-related art by Arkansas K-12 students also up through April 13 at the museum.
“In the Shadow of the Moon,” Windgate Museum of Art at Hendrix College, 1600 Washington Ave., Conway. Hours: 12-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.