- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Art Gallery to highlight recent acquisitions from permanent collection

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 20:11:24 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Art Gallery will showcase new pieces of art that the university has added to its permanent art collection over the past two years. The new exhibition, “Recent Acquisitions: ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Permanent Collection,” will be on display in the Brad Cushman Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art and Design on the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock campus from June 5 to July 15. “The scope of the collection continues to grow, and efforts have been made to include more voices from around the world,” ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Gallery Director Brad Cushman said. The university permanent collection is comprised of drawings, paintings, fine art prints, artists’ multiples, photographs, graphic illustrations, political cartoons, sculptural objects, ceramics, and contemporary crafts. Pieces in this exhibition include 14 works from the Pierrette Van Cleve Collection. Earlier this year, Van Cleve donated 42 pieces of artwork from her personal collection from Southeast Asia, including pieces from Cambodia, India, Vietnam, Tibet, and China. This includes work by artists Oeur Sokuntevy, Linda Saphan, Surjit Akre, Shaw Ghosh, Ha Manh Thang, Phan Thanh Minh, Jangyung Jiang Jung, and Liu Yan. Also on display are two large-scale black and white photographs by Benny Gool, one featuring Nelson Mandela surrounded by children and another of Mandela speaking to a large crowd of people. Gool is a South African photojournalist best known for his work documenting Mandela in tens of thousands of photos he took over three decades documenting the historic leader’s life. Jeff Jaffe, gallery owner of Pop International Galleries, Inc. in New York City, donated five works by Benny Gool to the university. The Windgate Charitable Foundation continues to support the gallery programs and acquisition fund at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. With the foundation’s support, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock acquired several contemporary craft objects from the Penland School of Craft and the Blue Spiral Gallery in 2018. Included in this exhibition are objects made by Thomas Campbell, Jenny Mendes, Ronan Peterson, Kristin Stingle, Liz Summerfield, Shoko Teruyama, and James Viste. Summer gallery hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday or by appointment. For more information, contact Brad Cushman at becushman@ualr.edu or 501-916-5103. In the upper right photo, Oeur Sokuntevy’s 2015 painting, “What My Father Gave Me,” is shown.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock announces winners of 2019 Annual Student Competitive

Ajani Oyindamola — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 15:56:23 +0000

University of Arkansas at Little Rock art and design students are showing off their best work during the Annual Student Competitive art show on display in the Brad Cushman Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art and Design until April 21. The exhibition includes 84 pieces of artwork by 48 ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students involving drawing, paintings, prints, graphic design, photography, illustrations, textiles, metals, sculptures, ceramics, and furniture. Gwen Kudabeck was awarded the Friends of the Arts Purchase Awards for two of her digital photographs, “Highway 365” and “Highway 270.” Caleb LeFevre received the Wilma and Jack Diner Scholarship Award of $1,050 while Amanda Brown and Seth Smith received the Charles D. Massey Scholarship for $250. The winners were announced at a reception for the students on April 2, including: Local Business Awards Caleb LeFevre (Cantrell Gallery) Annika Shunn (Hearne Fine Art) Brady Jackson (Sol Alman Co.) Art Supplies and Materials (courtesy of Art Outfitters) – Carol Anderson, Austin Bowers, Carley Brown, and Gwen Kudabeck Starving Artist Awards Wai K. Lo (Trio’s Restaurant) Christina Osorio (Boulevard Bread Company) Terran Henderson and Amanda Brown (The Root Café) Lee Steen Hardwood and Woodworkers Association of Arkansas Awards – Gary Anderson, Christina Osorio, Shelby Ridgeway, and Karen Stein Friends of the Arts Purchase Awards – Gwen Kudabeck for “Highway 365” and “Highway 270” Wilma And Jack Diner Scholarship Award – Caleb LeFevre Wilma And Jack Diner Purchase Award – Brady Jackson Wilma And Jack Diner Cash Award – Terran Henderson The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Art Gallery, which is free and open to the public, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, and 1-5 p.m. on Sundays. For more information, contact Gallery Director Brad Bushman at becushman@ualr.edu or 501-916-5103.

Gwen Kudabeck photographs “Highway 365” and “Highway 270”

Collector donates 43 works of art from Southeast Asia to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 20:53:37 +0000

An art collector who donated a painting in honor of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s art gallery director last fall has followed up her first donation with a collection of 43 international paintings representing contemporary art from Southeast Asia. Pierrette Van Cleve visited ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in September 2018 to present a series of lectures to art students about the “Memory/Commitment/Aspiration” exhibit, which featured work from the Pierrette Van Cleve Collection and served as a backdrop for a new art history course, Global Contemporary Art, taught at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock last fall. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Art Gallery Director Brad Cushman curated the exhibit, which addressed the moral and political oppression of the people of Southeast Asia and India. Van Cleve has traveled throughout Southeast Asia, establishing personal relationships with artists in many countries. As a collector, she is drawn to stories about freedom, equality, and fights for justice. “The artwork needs to be at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock,” said Van Cleve. “The global focus of my collection will bring an international voice to the art collection at the university. The artists in my collection are not as well known in this country. Today, more than ever, it is very important to teach cultural diversity and give students a perspective beyond their immediate surroundings.” The artists hail from Cambodia, China, India, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam, and additional countries. Artists represented in the collection include Leang Seckon, Prom Vichet, Oeur Sokuntevy, Anida Yoeu Ali, Linda Saphan, Amy Lee Sanford, Surjit Akre, Shaw Ghosh, Preyawit Nilachulaka, Liu Yan, Xiong Lijun, Jiang Jung, H.M. Thang, and Phan Thahn Minh. Van Cleve was so impressed by her visit to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in the fall that she donated a painting, “My Surrounding People” by Phan Thanh Minh, to the university in Cushman’s honor.

Art collector Pierrette Van Cleve stands in front of the painting, “My Surrounding People,” that she donated to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in Brad Cushman’s honor. Photo by Ben Krain.

“It was my gift to the university as well as a nod to Brad’s decision to show this collection of Southeast Asian contemporary art,” Van Cleve said. “I also wanted to honor Brad’s years of curatorial vision, his dedication, and the gallery which bears his name.” Last fall, Cushman began to make arrangements to send Van Cleve’s collection back to San Diego when he received the stunning news. “It was at this time that Pierrette Van Cleve offered to donate the majority of the works that had been in exhibition plus other works as well. A donation of one work of art turned into a donation of 43 works of art. I was stunned,” Cushman said. “Pierrette had recently lost her mother and was in a reflective mood. We talked about the importance of having her collection at an institution where it could be used to educate future generations.” Van Cleve’s collection will be shown in future exhibits in the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Art Gallery. Additionally, there are plans to produce a research catalog regarding the history of the artists and paintings from the collection. For more information, contact Brad Cushman at becushman@ualr.edu or 501-916-5103. In the upper right photo, Brad Cushman (right) visits with art collector Pierrette Van Cleve (left) in the Windgate Center of Art and Design. Photo by Ben Krain.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to host ‘Sticks and Stones’ photo exhibit

Ajani Oyindamola — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 13:50:41 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will host a photography exhibit by Donna Pinckley, professor of art at the University of Central Arkansas, from March 18 to April 26. The exhibit, “Sticks and Stones,” will be on display in the Focus Gallery at the Windgate Center of Art and Design on the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock campus. Pinckley will talk about her work at 6 p.m. Monday, April 15, in the Windgate Center of Art and Design Room 101. Pinckley’s work has dealt with the human condition and the intimate relationship between the subject and her audience and has evolved into her current body of work that deals with racism. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography from Louisiana Tech University and a Master of Fine Arts in photography from University of Texas at Austin. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in over 200 solo and juried shows including a recent exhibit with The Royal Photographic Society International Photography Exhibition 160 in Bath, United Kingdom. She is also included in several public collections, such as the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, Louisiana, the University of Veracruz at Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, and the Photographic Collection at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin. In 2017, Pinckley was awarded an honorarium at the Houston Center for Photography’s Members Show. In 2016, she was the first recipient of the Josephine Herrick Photography Award for combining photography with social justice and was selected for Photolucida’s Critical Mass Top 50 exhibition. The Focus Gallery is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, and 2-5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, contact Joli Livaudias at 501-569-3182 or jklivaudais@ualr.edu. The upper right photograph contains Donna Pinckley’s photograph, “Black Feller. To each his own,” that will be on display in the “Sticks and Stones” exhibit.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to host traveling exhibit featuring artwork of emerging young artists with disabilities

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 17:34:44 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will host a traveling exhibit Oct. 22 to Dec. 2 featuring the work of young emerging artists with disabilities. The exhibit, “Electrify: VSA Emerging Young Artists, Kennedy Center Touring Exhibition,” will be on display in the Small Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art and Design. A reception for the exhibit will be held from 5-7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, in the Windgate Center. This traveling exhibit is organized by VSA Visual Arts Program for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The VSA is the Kennedy Center’s international organization on arts and disability. The year-long traveling exhibition titled includes the work of 15 young artists with disabilities, ages 21 to 25. The 15 artists were selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants by a jury of noted art professionals. One of the artists is Trinity Kai, a 2017 graduate of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Art and Design Department with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. As a student at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, she won the $20,000 grand prize for her photograph, “Insight,” in the Kennedy Center’s 2017 VSA Emerging Young Artists Competition. Kai’s winning entry “Insight” is a fine art photograph printed in the historical photographic process of gum bichromate over palladium. The photograph was one in a series of photographs she created as part of her BFA thesis project, using a combination of traditional darkroom and historical photographic techniques. Kai was born with oculocutaneous albinism, a genetic condition that results in poor vision and oversensitivity to light. For her winning entry, Kai turned the camera on herself to create an image that speaks to spirituality, identity, and feelings of alienation. She is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, and plans to teach art at the university level someday while working as a professional artist. The additional artists include Summer Mason, Haley Macherone, Rowan Di Ioia, Becca Schwartz, Jillian Santora, Marieke Davis, Brianna Beck, Rein Brooks, Esther Woo, Taylor Bielecki, Blythe Gurche, Carly Mandel, Kendall Schauder, and Kevin Quiles Bonilla. The exhibit is free and open to the public. The galleries in the Windgate Center of Art and Design are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, and 2-5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, contact Gallery Director Brad Cushman at becushman@ualr.edu or 501-916-5103. In the upper right photo, Trinity Kai’s award-winning photo, “Insight,” will be on display in “Electrify: VSA Emerging Young Artists, Kennedy Center Touring Exhibition.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to host art exhibit featuring faculty work

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 15:35:16 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Art Gallery will host its Faculty Biennial Show from Oct. 15 to Nov. 16 in the Brad Cushman Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art and Design. The group exhibition features studio art and design created by the faculty members in the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Department of Art and Design. A reception for the exhibit will be held from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, in the Windgate Center. The studio disciplines featured in the exhibit include drawing, printmaking, photography, painting, graphic design, metals, ceramics and various sculptural processes. The exhibit is free and open to the public. The galleries in the Windgate Center of Art and Design are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, and 2-5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, contact Gallery Director Brad Cushman at becushman@ualr.edu or 501-916-5103. In the upper right photo, Joli Livaudais’s 2018 photograph, “Nesting Instincts,” will be one of the pieces in the Faculty Biennial Show.

New exhibit to display silkscreens from now-closed Alternative Museum

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 05 Oct 2018 16:04:36 +0000

A new exhibit at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will feature 10 silkscreens that were donated to the closed Alternative Museum in New York City to protest cuts in public funding. The exhibit, “Artist as a Catalyst,” will be on display in Gallery III on the second floor of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Fine Arts Building from Oct. 10 to Nov. 10. In response to serious cuts in public funding in 1992, 10 artists contributed silkscreens to benefit the Alternative Museum in New York City, which opened in 1975 and closed its doors in 2000. The nonprofit museum’s primary functions were to provide a professional showcase for artists, leadership with an “artist” perspective, and an atmosphere where ideas could be presented and challenged. Commercial interests did not govern the museum’s choice of artistic presentation. The artists represented in this exhibit address social and humanitarian issues in their imagery, which still resonate in today’s cultural landscape. The exhibit features work from Ida Applebroog, Luis Cruz Azaceta, Leon Golub, Luis Jimenez, Jerry Kearns, Komar and Melamid, Adrian Piper, Ben Sakoguchi, Andres Serrano, Lorna Simpson, and Robert Storr. The exhibit is free and open to the public. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and closed university holidays. For more information, contact Gallery Director Brad Cushman at 501-916-5103 or becushman@ualr.edu. The upper right photo is Leon Golub’s 1992 seven-color serigraph “Interrogation,” which will be a part of the “Artist as a Catalyst” exhibit.

Art collector donates painting to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 13:18:28 +0000

An art collector who was so moved by her experience visiting the students and employees of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has donated a painting to the university. Art collector Pierrette Van Cleve visited ��Vlog��ý Little Rock from Sept. 4-6 to give lectures to art students and to attend a reception for an art exhibit that was displayed at the Windgate Center of Art and Design. The exhibit, “Memory/Commitment/Aspiration,” featured work from the Pierrette Van Cleve Collection and serves as a backdrop for a new art history course, Global Contemporary Art, being taught this fall by Dr. Lynne Larsen in the Department of Art and Design. The artwork explores the moral and political oppression of people living in Southeast Asia and India. “When the show opened on Wednesday, most of the students were there looking at the paintings, asking me questions, and wanting to take pictures with the works and myself,” Van Cleve said. “I found them to be curious, intelligent and introspective about the depth of the collection’s subject matter. I remember on my last day, after all the lectures and openings were completed, a young woman came up to me and said, ‘I want to be you in my career.’ I smiled and told her the best thing she could ever be was herself.” Van Cleve has traveled throughout Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Tibet, China, and India, establishing personal relationships with artists in these countries. As a collector, Van Cleve is drawn to stories about freedom, equality, and fights for justice. Memory, commitment, and aspiration fuel these defiant and powerful artistic voices. The conditions of life these artists have survived and experienced and what they hope to obtain in the future are hallmarks of their creative output. “Pierrette Van Cleve was so moved by the exhibition and her experience at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock that she has gifted a painting to the university collection in my honor,” said Brad Cushman, director of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Art Gallery. “It is a great honor for me, and the piece donated is a very powerful and expressive painting.” Cushman and Van Cleve have known each other since 2009, when Cushman was curating the exhibit, “El Grito: The Cry for Independence,” on display at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock.

Art collector Pierrette Van Cleve stands in front of the painting, “My Surrounding People,” that she donated to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in Brad Cushman’s honor. Photo by Ben Krain.

“It was part of the citywide project called Arkansas Celebrates Mexico 2010. Pierrette represented the artist Hugo Crosthwaite which we included in the 2010 exhibit,” Cushman said. “Both Pierrette and Hugo came to campus to work with our students at that time. We also have Hugo’s work in the university collection.” Van Cleve donated a painting, “My Surrounding People,” by Phan Thanh Minh. The painting features expressive faces on electric orange skeletal figures crowded together with their hands shielding the exchange of whispers and rumors. “I decided to donate the painting in honor of the exhibition that Brad had curated of my collection,” Van Cleve said. “It was my gift to the university as well as a nod to Brad’s decision to show this collection of southeast Asian contemporary art. I also wanted to honor Brad’s years of curatorial vision, his dedication, and the gallery which bears his name.” Van Cleve recalls how she first came across the painting in Hoi An, Vietnam, in 2009. “I was walking across a bridge outside of the city center and I smelled oil paint. I looked around and there was a doorway tucked away at the end of the bridge,” Van Cleve said. “I wandered into the studio of Phan Thanh Minh and was greeted by these amazing paintings.” Although she did not speak the artist’s language, their love of art brought them together. “Neither Minh nor I spoke each other’s language to any extent but the work, so passionate and powerful, bonded us together,” Van Cleve said. “I looked at him amazed and smiled, and he did the same. I relished in his work and bought two paintings. He somehow explained to me, I think he might have brought a friend in that spoke English, that these works were about surveillance. If citizens saw or heard something that was considered subversive or anti-communist and they reported it, they would be paid when the person was arrested. Ming’s art put him at risk.” In the upper right photo, Brad Cushman (right) visits with art collector Pierrette Van Cleve (left) in the Windgate Center of Art and Design. Photo by Ben Krain.

New gallery exhibit explores oppression of the people of Southeast Asia

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 13:52:42 +0000

A new gallery exhibit on display at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock hosts artwork exploring the moral and political oppression of people living in Southeast Asia and India. The exhibit, “Memory/Commitment/Aspiration,” features work from The Pierrette Van Cleve Collection and is on display in the Brad Cushman Gallery in the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Windgate Center of Art and Design from Aug. 1 to Sept. 28. The exhibit will also serve as a backdrop for a new art history course, Global Contemporary Art, being offered this fall by the Department of Art and Design. Art collector Pierrette Van Cleve has traveled throughout Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Tibet, China, and India, establishing personal relationships with artists in these countries. As a collector, Van Cleve is drawn to stories about freedom, equality, and fights for justice. Memory, commitment, and aspiration fuel these defiant and powerful artistic voices. The conditions of life these artists have survived and experienced and what they hope to obtain in the future are hallmarks of their creative output. A reception for the exhibit will be held in the Windgate Center of Art and Design lobby and galleries from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5. Van Cleve also will give talks on the exhibit at 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 4, and Thursday, Sept. 6, in room 101 of the Windgate Center. Artists with work on display in the exhibit include You Khin, Leang Seckon, Prom Vichet, Oeur Sokuntevy, Anida Yoeu Ali, Linda Saphan, Amy Lee Sanford, Surjit Akre, Shaw Ghosh, Preyawit Nilachulaka, Liu Yan, Xiong Lijun, Jiang Jung, H.M. Thang, and Phan Thahn Minh. The exhibit is free and open to the public. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and closed on university holidays. After Labor Day, the gallery will also be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday and 2-5 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, contact Gallery Director Brad Cushman at 501-916-5103 or becushman@ualr.edu. In the upper right photo, Leang Seckon’s 1974 piece “Sun” was created using mixed media, photos, advertisements, acrylic paint, and stitching.

Artist creates unique installation at Windgate Center of Art and Design

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 13:37:44 +0000

Artist Jowita Wyszomirska has transformed the Small Gallery in the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Windgate Center of Art and Design with an installation called “Water Memory.” The installation will be on display from Aug. 1 to Sept. 28. A reception for the exhibit will be held in the Windgate Center of Art and Design lobby and galleries from 5-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018. Wyszomirska will give an artist talk about her installation at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 28, in the Windgate Center room 101. After participating in the Wrangell artist residency in McCarthy, Alaska, in 2017, Wyszomirska was inspired to create the installation to remind her of the beautiful landscape of the national parks and glaciers she saw in Alaska. “Water Memory” includes nine-foot-tall drawings on mylar and other mixed media with glass containers at the foot of the drawings containing water from the Arkansas River. A native of Poland, Wyszomirska immigrated with her family to Chicago in the early 1990s. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Illinois State University and her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. With an interdisciplinary approach to drawing, and projects ranging from site-specific installations to video experimentations, she expands beyond the two-dimensional surface to explore edges of tangible and intangible of what cannot be seen with a naked eye. Wyszomirska’s work has been shown in exhibitions at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the VisArts in Rockville, Maryland, the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles, Missouri, and the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore, among others. Wyszomirska has completed numerous residencies, including the Soaring Gardens Residency in Meshoppen, Pennsylvania, Jentel Foundation in Wyoming, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska, and the International School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture in Umbria, Italy. She is also a 2014 recipient of the Board of Governor’s Award from the William G. Baker Jr. Memorial Fund. The exhibit is free and open to the public. The galleries are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and closed on university holidays. After Labor Day, the galleries will also be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday and 2-5 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, contact Gallery Director Brad Cushman at 501-916-5103 or becushman@ualr.edu. In the upper right photo, Jowita Wyszomirska’s installation “Water Memory” is on display in the Small Gallery at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Wingate Center. Photo by Ben Krain.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Art Gallery to highlight recent acquisitions from permanent collection

����Vlog��ý Little Rock announces winners of 2019 Annual Student Competitive

Collector donates 43 works of art from Southeast Asia to ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

����Vlog��ý Little Rock to host ‘Sticks and Stones’ photo exhibit

����Vlog��ý Little Rock to host traveling exhibit featuring artwork of emerging young artists with disabilities

����Vlog��ý Little Rock to host art exhibit featuring faculty work