Whether you have grand intentions of honing your artistry skills, some time to fill or are just looking to beat the heat, the Arkansas Arts Center has loads of upcoming events this summer to keep you busy.
We’ve highlighted a few of the AAC’s summertime offerings below, but believe us when we tell you this is only a small sampling of what’s in store.
Featured programming:
June 7: Films for a Sunday Afternoon, 2 p.m.
Lower Lobby Lecture Hall
“Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People” is a documentary that doesn’t shy away from digging through the elephant graveyard of long lost—and sometimes suppressed—photos of African-Americans dating from today back to the days of slavery. Inspired by the book “Reflections in Black” by photo historian Deborah Willis and featuring the works of photographers like Carrie Mae Weems, James Van Der Zee, Coco Fusco and Hank Willis Thomas, “Through a Lens Darkly” explores how photographs “[shaped] the identity, aspirations and social emergence” of a culture. Click here for more information.
June 12: Assembly Required: Hack into Your Inner Kehinde Wiley, 6 p.m.
Alice Pratt Brown Atrium and Galleries
This late night aspect of the current “30 Americans” exhibit offers a “highly interactive, subversive, fun, non-traditional” museum experience for guests 21 and older. Complete with drinks, music, dancing and a little art-making of your own, this event begs you to get inspired by the modern-day masterpieces around you. Learn more about “30 Americans” in our Q&A with AAC Chief Curator Brian Lang. Click here for more information.
June 18: 30 Americans Lecture: “Art as Activism,” 6:30 p.m.
Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, 501 West 9th Street
Also as part of the “30 Americans” exhibit, the AAC is teaming up with the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and “501 to 501 Partnership Program” to host a discussion with “Through a Lens Darkly” filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris, Tisch School of the Arts Photography and Imaging Department Chair Dr. Deborah Willis, mixed media artist Charley Palmer and Black Box Press Studios artist Delita Martin. This “Art of Activism” lecture is free and open to the public. Click here for more information.
Ongoing exhibits:
Through June 21: A Humble Hum: Rhythm of the Potter’s Wheel, Recent Work by Resident Artist Ashley Morrison
Museum School Gallery
With a degree in ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute, Ashley Morrison is now bringing her work to the AAC as a resident artist. She was born in Italy and lived in Japan before coming to Arkansas, and her pieces offer “an unconscious expression of how [she views] a variety of past and present cultures,” connecting with the importance of family meals instilled in her while growing up. Click here for more information.
“There is a timelessness surrounding clay and its utility. I am intrigued by how this material represents our past, and how its content evolves and changes between each generation through its analogy and context.” – Ashley Morrison
Through July 19: Paul Signac: Drawings and Watercolors: The James T. Dyke Collection
Signac Gallery
Back by popular demand, this exhibit brings together more than 130 pieces assembled by Dyke, an Arkansas industrialist. The gallery include watercolors and drawings completed by Signac in the early 20th century, depicting various harbors and shops along French coasts and rivers. The French artist was known for his oil paintings, but also for his work on paper which is the focal point of the exhibit. Click here for more information.
Through July 26: 54th Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition
Alice Pratt Brown Atrium and the Sam Strauss Sr. Gallery
One of the AAC’s coolest and most exciting yearly installments is the 54th Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition. The collection showcases pieces by students in kindergarten through 12th grade, doing so since 1961. If any of these exhibits act as a time machine with a look into the future of modern art, it’s this one. Click here for more information.
Like we mentioned above, there is much, much more going on at the AAC than we’ve listed here. For more information and a full lineup of offerings, visit the Arkansas Arts Center website.