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

��Vlog��ý Little Rock student, longtime friend hold pop-up art show

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 12:32:16 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock student artist and her longtime family friend will display their unique art styles during a debut pop-up show. The show, “Weavings & What Not,” will debut during the SoMa After Dark event on Friday, Sept. 6, from 5-8 p.m. at South Main Creative, 1600 S. Main St., Little Rock. A drawing for a free piece of original art will be held during the debut.�� Cassandra Christ, a junior art history major from Little Rock and Donaghey Scholar, and her longtime friend Jack Foolery, a 64-year-old artist from Little Rock, were inspired to display their weavings, jewelry, poetry, and other art after a shared learning experience. “I taught a basic weaving class at South Main Creative, and Jack took it,” Christ said. “He loved weaving after he took my class. We both incorporate found objects in different ways into our art. I was so curious to see what Jack would come up with because he has such a wacky, creative mind. Jack is an outsider artist since he hasn’t had any formal training. Valerie Wingert, owner of South Main Creative, saw Jack’s art and loved it.”�� Pop-up shows, which are often held in smaller, non-traditional spaces, give young and nontraditional artists the opportunity to get more exposure. Christ and Grace Lytle, a senior art history major, curated South Main Creative’s first pop-up show, “Twenty-somethings,” last March. The show featured several ��Vlog��ý Little Rock student artists and young local artists who displayed ceramics, fine jewelry, paintings, photography, collages, and textile art. Now the store holds up pop-up shows every month.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock art history students Cassy Christ and Grace Lytle organized South Main Creative’s first debut pop-up show, “Twenty-somethings,” in March. Photo by Benjamin Krain.

“We like to bring a bunch of artists to do these pop-ups, and we want to showcase this great variety of artists that we have in Little Rock,” Christ said. “We want to give artists who may not have had the opportunity to show in a gallery. Now we have a platform and a way to share that. Jack has been doing art his whole life and has never had a show, and I think he deserves it. These shows are helping the artists and the community.”�� Christ has known Foolery, who is a college friend of her mother’s, her whole life. The two friends share a love of art that has grown ever since Foolery did fun art projects with Christ as a child. For Christ, the show is a representation of their friendship and how that friendship has inspired them as artists. “I am very excited about the show,” Christ said. “This is a very different experience than the ‘Twenty-somethings’ show, where I also had a curative and administrative role. This show is just about two people, and it’s more personal to us. It’s a reflection of our relationship with each other. You can see some of the things I taught him in his work and some of the things he taught me growing up. It’s a very personal project that I am excited about sharing with people.” “Weavings & What Not” will be on display through Sept. 30. South Main Creative is open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Over the summer, Christ worked as an object research and teacher programming intern at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. She was responsible for writing content documents about artifacts in Crystal Bridges’ permanent collections that are used as references for docents, and she assisted in teaching art workshops for educators.�� “I loved my internship at Crystal Bridges. During one of the textile workshops, I got to teach weaving to a group of 25 teachers,” Christ said. “I think my experiences at South Main Creative helped me get my foot in the door.”��

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to host 29th annual Art History Symposium

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 13:54:50 +0000

Four University of Arkansas at Little Rock students will be among the presenters at the 29th annual Arkansas College Art History Symposium on Thursday, March 7, and Friday, March 8, at the Windgate Center of Art and Design Room 101. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock art history students who will be presenting include:

��Shayla Grimmett, “George Catlin’s Effect on Manifest Destiny,” 9:15 a.m. March 8
��Cassandra Christ, “A Century of Violence: William Hogarth’s ‘The Four Stages of Cruelty’ and the Cyclical Nature of Violence in 18th Century London,” 11 a.m. March 8
��Kennedy Butler, “The Influence of JC Leyendecker’s Sexuality in Early 20th Century American Illustration,” 11 a.m. March 8
��Grace Lytle, “Images of Empathy: Käthe Kollwitz’s ‘Krieg’ Series,” 1:40 p.m. March 8

Students from Henderson State University, University of Central Arkansas, and University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, will also be presenting at the symposium. Dr. Debra Murphy, professor of art history and the inaugural chair of the Department of Art and Design at the University of North Florida, will give the keynote lecture, “Rendering Rome,” at 6 p.m. March 7. Murphy will discuss how artists have visualized the city of Rome in art from antiquity through the 19th century. Murphy earned her Ph.D. in art history from Boston University, where she studied the history of Italian Renaissance art. Her scholarly agenda includes 16th century Italian art and contemporary art, patronage, and collections in Florida. She has been recognized twice by UNF for outstanding undergraduate teaching and founded the University of North Florida summer Italy Program in 2009. The Arkansas College Art History Symposium was born through friendship and an awareness that undergraduate students in the state of Arkansas did not have an opportunity to present their research — an important experience for future art historians. Dr. Floyd Martin, professor of art history at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, and Dr. Gayle Seymour, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at the University of Central Arkansas, are the symposium founders and visionaries. The 30-year friends saw a need and established the Arkansas College Art History Symposium in 1991. The symposium experience echoes the expectations given to professional historians. Students have the opportunity to formally present their work, network with students in the state with similar interests and give greater attention to the discipline. The symposium also provides a unique opportunity for art history faculty from colleges and universities across the state to interact.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock students study art and architecture in Germany

Ajani Oyindamola — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 15:03:40 +0000

Seven University of Arkansas at Little Rock students traveled to Germany this summer for a unique opportunity to experience the art and architecture of Germany.�� Dr. Lynne Larsen, assistant professor of art history, led the July 2-17 trip, where students studied Rococo, Neoclassical, modern, and contemporary styles of art and architecture. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students who participated in the study abroad trip include Athena Bodini, a studio art major; Cassandra Christ, an art history major; Tatiana Correa, a studio art major; Grace Lytle, an art history major; Jana Miller, a graduate student studying art history; Katie Wilson, a graduate student studying art education; and Gege Zhang, a studio art major. While in Berlin, the group visited famous sites and museums, including the Charlottenburg Palace, Museum Island, and the Jewish Museum, and took a tour of the street art of Berlin. Outside Berlin, the students took trips to visit Dresden, a city that was heavily bombed during World War II and was previously known as the Jewel Box for its Baroque and Rococo city center, and Potsdam, the capital of the German federal state of Brandenburg that is site of several palaces. Larsen, who has previously lived in Berlin, said it was a memorable experience to revisit some of her favorite spots in Berlin with her students. “It was exciting to go back to these places that I know and love and to see them through new eyes and to see my students be awed by this architecture and art,” Larsen said. “It was an exceptional group of students who were super engaged. This trip opened the world for the students and empowered them.” In the upper right photo, the study abroad students visit the roof of the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament. The group (L to R) include: Astrid Bodini, Tatiana Correa, Jana Miller, Grace Lytle, Gege Zhang, Cassandra Christ, and Katie Wilson.

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

����Vlog��ý Little Rock student, longtime friend hold pop-up art show

����Vlog��ý Little Rock to host 29th annual Art History Symposium

����Vlog��ý Little Rock students study art and architecture in Germany

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

��Vlog��ý Little Rock student, longtime friend hold pop-up art show

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to host 29th annual Art History Symposium

��Vlog��ý Little Rock students study art and architecture in Germany