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

Kirk to Present “Doing History: Research-Based Teaching & Learning” at Next Evenings with History Event

John Hill — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 14:05:02 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will hold the next meeting in the Evenings with History series on Tuesday, Dec. 6, at the Historic Arkansas Museum at 200 E. 3rd Street in Little Rock. Dr. John Kirk, George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History, and his graduate students will present, “Doing History: Research-Based Teaching & Learning” from 7-8:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served at 7 p.m., followed by the lecture at 7:30 p.m. They will reflect on their experiences in the HIST 7391 Seminar in Public History (Fall 2021) class, including the award-winning project they created. The piece, “Criminal Justice in the Age of Segregation: The Arkansas Cases of Robert Bell and Grady Swain, 1927-1935,” won the Arkansas Historical Association’s 2022 Lucille Westbrook Award for the best article manuscript on Arkansas History. It will soon be published in the Arkansas Historical Quarterly. The audience can expect insight on what faculty and students can learn from experiential research, how they enhance the student experience, and what challenges they present. Dr. Kirk will also discuss how including students in hands-on research can enhance their skills, experience, and employability. The Evenings with History series, sponsored by the University History Institute, features presentations by ��Vlog��ý Little Rock faculty and guest speakers sharing their research and teaching interests. Admission to the series is by subscription, but visitors are welcome to attend individual talks for free. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students may attend free of charge. For more information, people may contact historyinstitute@ualr.edu, 501-916-3236, or visit /history/history-institute/.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Evenings with History Lecture to Discuss Warfare in Ancient Times

John Hill — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 16:40:13 +0000

The first ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Evenings with History lecture of the fall 2022 semester will explore the purpose of Greek and Roman warfare in ancient history. Dr. Edward Anson, professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will present, “We are the Champions: Terrorism, Body Counts, and the Ultimate Purpose of Ancient Warfare” from 7-8:30 p.m. Oct. 4 at the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock. Refreshments will be served at 7 p.m., and the talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. In ancient literature, war is lamented for producing misery, but not condemned as a practice. Dr. Anson will discuss how it was seen as the right of the victor to do what they wanted to the defeated, including murder and enslavement if they saw fit. This was considered acceptable conduct, and ancient armies used that knowledge to dominate their enemies, maintain power and supremacy, and scare the weak. The Evenings with History series, sponsored by the University History Institute, features presentations by ��Vlog��ý Little Rock faculty and guest speakers sharing their research and teaching interests. Admission to the series is by subscription, but visitors are welcome to attend individual talks for free. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students may attend free of charge. For more information, people may contact historyinstitute@ualr.edu, 501-916-3236, or visit /history/history-institute.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to Host Exhibit Exploring Poet William Blake’s Views on Femininity and Masculinity

John Hill — Mon, 16 May 2022 13:00:41 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will host an exhibit that explores William Blake’s, the English poet, painter, and printmaker, views on femininity and masculinity. The exhibit, “Jordan Hancock: William Blake and the Fallen Binary,” will be on display from Monday, May 16, to Thursday, May 26, the Maners/Pappas Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art and Design. The exhibit explores Blake’s views on the morality of masculinity and femininity as shown in his 1795 large print series. The exhibit is based on research by Jordan Hancock, who is graduating from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock with a bachelor’s degree in art with an art history track. Through six reproductions of Blake’s own paintings and art from more contemporary artists, we can see how Blake’s views on gender are reflected in the modern world. Blake believed both masculinity and femininity to be equally a part of Original Sin, hoping to deconstruct these concepts in pursuit of moral purity. The other artists shown also play with gender in ways that contradict traditional divisions of masculinity and femininity, often blurring the lines between the two and promoting some form of androgyny. Blake and these other artists all use gendered visual language as a way to comment on moral failings of the human condition. The exhibit features work from the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Permanent Art Collection by artists Surjit Akre, Marianela de la Hoz, Benito Huerta, James McCartney, Preyawit Nilachulaka, and Oeur Sokentevy. Additionally, the exhibit also features work by the Historic Arkansas Museum by artists Louis Freund, Lily Kuonen, Doris Mapes, Liz Noble, Bob Sherman, and Howard S. Stern. The exhibit is free and open to the public. The Windate Center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Woodworking Students’ Work Featured in New Exhibit at Historic Arkansas Museum

John Hill — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 17:27:20 +0000

A unique partnership between the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Applied Design program and the Historic Arkansas Museum is bringing a reimagining of fine craftsmanship and woodworking skills to life in a new exhibit at . The “” exhibit opens Feb. 11 as part of Historic Arkansas Museum’s (HAM) 2nd Friday Art Night celebration from 5-8 p.m. The exhibit will be on display in the Trinity Gallery through May 22. “The HAM has this wonderful archive of furniture that they don’t often get to show,” said Peter Schedit, assistant professor of furniture and woodworking at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. “This partnership has been a wonderful experience for my students to show their personal creative work off campus, to network, to learn how a professional gallery operates, and to learn the business side of the art world. The curators enjoyed having students in a space that isn’t typically open to the public, and the students enjoyed seeing some pieces that a lot of people don’t normally get to see.” The collections of the Historic Arkansas Museum hold rarely seen treasures made by Arkansas woodworkers over the past two centuries. These include functional ladderback chairs, hand-carved headboards, and wooden furniture. Over the past 200 years, skilled artisan trades like joinery and cabinetry have been in decline. Fortunately, many people still feel connected to wood as an artistic medium, and they aspire to build unique and durable objects. To support these makers, the museum teamed up with ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Applied Design program for a semester-long collaborative exhibit. Scheidt’s beginning and advanced woodworking students toured Historic Arkansas Museum’s extensive collection to draw inspiration from historical objects such as a bootjack, a fancy chair, a corner cupboard, and more. “Historic Arkansas Museum is delighted to have this special opportunity to collaborate with woodworking students in ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Applied Design program,” says Carey Voss, curator of exhibits for Historic Arkansas Museum. “By providing access to the museum’s collection, we’re able to bring Arkansas’s creative legacy full circle. Our curatorial staff is so impressed with the woodworking students and their unique interpretations of historical objects.” Some students discovered the benefits of incorporating traditional joinery techniques to produce exceptionally strong and stable connections, while others amused themselves by examining items with unfamiliar forms and strange functions.

Advanced woodworking students Andrew Myers and Kim Arcega prepare for an upcoming Historic Arkansas Museum exhibit, “Dovetails/We Fit Together.” The exhibit is a collaboration between the museum and the Applied Design program at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. Photos by Ben Krain.

Andrew Myers, a junior from Little Rock, created a looming cabinet that was partly inspired by a piece on display at Historic Arkansas Museum that incorporated stone into wooden furniture. “I’ve been wanting to make a hanging piece of furniture for a while,” Myers said. “My cabinet is made out of African mahogany, white oak, and a piece of marble. The inspiration for craft style and traditional joinery was taken from what I saw at the HAM. I am trying to blend traditional craft with more modern forms and shapes.” Displayed at every stage from concept to completion, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock woodworkers created pieces for this exhibit that include historical elements while reflecting their contemporary cultures, visions, and skills. Advanced woodworking student Kim Arcega, a senior from Hot Springs, found inspiration from a cast iron boot jack, a small tool that aids in the removal of boots, she saw at the museum. She created a jewel-encrusted boot jack based on the look of maquech, a live beetle jewelry accessory widely sold in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. “We were allowed to see a lot of period woodworking pieces, and I enjoyed seeing the early 19th century craftsmanship,” Arcega said. “You usually only get to see these pieces in books. The amount of work that went into some of these pieces is inspiring.” ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students were excited to have the opportunity to view and create unique interpretations of the historic items found in the museum’s collection, while also showcasing their work in a professional exhibit. “It’s a great opportunity to showcase our work, and it’s a really great opportunity for new artists,” Myers said. “You usually spend a little more time in the trade before you end up with work in a museum. I encourage people to come out and see our show at the Historic Arkansas Museum.” In the upper right photo, Historic Arkansas Museum curators Victoria Chandler and Carey Voss look over a student’s woodworking design plan as he prepares for an upcoming exhibit at the museum.

Scheidt’s Woodworking Works on Display at Arkansas Historic Museum

John Hill — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 20:32:46 +0000

The furniture sculptures of Peter Scheidt, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock woodworking professor, are on display at the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock in a new exhibit featuring how local artists have reinvented abandoned objects that might otherwise be considered metaphorically dead.�� The exhibit, “,” is on display in the Trinity Gallery at Historic Arkansas Museum until Jan. 23, 2022. The exhibit also features works by Little Rock photographer Tim Hursley and Little Rock quiltmaker James Matthews. Scheidt’s furniture sculptures, Hursley’s photographs, and Matthews’s textile pieces come together for this exhibit bound by concept, rather than visual compatibility. The artists use creativity and skillful labor to revive objects, structures, and landscapes that might otherwise be considered metaphorically dead.��

Peter Scheidt’s “Chair-valet”

Abandoned objects are reborn through relationships of interdependence: between those who originally made a thing and the artist who recognizes potential for alteration where others see only trash. The circle is completed when the viewer interprets the item anew. The artists’ thoughtful modifications reinvent cast-off items and invest them with fresh aesthetic meaning while preserving their original histories.�� Scheidt’s pieces include “Chair-bar cube (after Hans Wegner)” and “Chair-valet,” which are made from found chairs, ash, paint, steel, aluminum, walnut, poplar, and hardware.�� “I have always been interested in the act of repair,” Scheidt said. “Like hot rodders do, I’ve heavily modified these objects while repairing them. I have a huge respect for furniture craft tradition but simultaneously want to challenge myself to work irreverently. I try to stay true to the authentic purpose and form of the furniture while also transforming it with a sense of humor and playfulness.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Student is Finding her Passion at Historic Arkansas Museum

John Hill — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 13:52:31 +0000

Jordan Hancock, a rising senior from Benton, is gaining some valuable professional experience by working as an intern at the this summer.�� “I had an internship in London in a museum last year that I had to leave a month early because of COVID,” she said. “I want to work in museums in the future, and I loved the chance to get another internship. The Division of Arkansas Heritage has all the museum internships listed on their website. It made me want to get another museum position when I could.” Hancock works in the Curatorial Department under the guidance of Victoria Chandler, curator of collections. “Jordan is a very promising intern and really has a natural feel for museum studies,” Chandler said. “We hope she will continue to intern with us in the future. Jordan clearly has a passion for objects and the study of material culture. We are excited to continue working with her as she begins her foray into the field.” As part of her duties, Hancock assists with the museum’s exhibits, investigates the history of objects in the collections, writes descriptions for objects, and tags them with identifying information. “The curatorial team’s job is to take care of the museum’s collections, restore historic objects, and create displays and exhibits for the museum,” Hancock said. “At our museum, we are actually an historic site first, and our most important objects are the buildings on site. Some are original to the site, and some have been moved a few blocks. They are the oldest buildings in Little Rock.” Hancock is also a Donaghey Scholar and art history tutor. Last year, she spent the spring 2020 semester interning at the Foundling Museum in London. “I worked with the visitor engagement team,” she said. “I was with the front desk for the most part, and I helped conduct tours and engage with guests at the front of the house. I also helped with some classes with the education department. I worked there for two months before I had to end up going back home on my 20th ��ٳ�岹��.”

Jordan Hancock examines items in Historic Arkansas Museum’s collection.

After she graduates with a bachelor’s degree in art history in 2022, Hancock plans to take a gap year so she can get more experience working in museums before pursuing a master’s degree in public history at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. “This is such a perfect internship,” Hancock said. “I will probably continue to do volunteer work with the collections teams during my gap year. I would love to make this more of a consistent part of my life. The objects focus a lot on crafts, textiles, and ceramics. I think that craft work is especially interesting to me because I’m an art history major.” The photos of Jordan Hancock are courtesy of Andrew Vogler/Historic Arkansas Museum.

Krain, Yamada featured in exhibit that explores aloneness of creativity during COVID-19

John Hill — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 18:41:06 +0000

Two University of Arkansas at Little Rock employees are featured in a new art exhibit at the Historic Arkansas Museum that converges around the artists’ observations and thoughts surrounding the aloneness of creating during the COVID-19 era. The exhibit, is curated by the Arkansas Arts Council and reflects on the experiences, moments, and thoughts of beauty and individuality. Whether in crowds or in solitude, some people have always been living in their own world. The featured artists included Benjamin Krain, university photographer at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, and Kensuke Yamada, assistant professor of ceramics at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock.

Kensuke Yamada’s Bud Series

“This exhibit is going to be about the reflection on the people and myself in everyday life,” Yamada said. “This idea can transfer somewhat to our life and time during the pandemic era. I think 2020 had many events, including the pandemic, to make us think about people, community, and myself. I requested to lift the pedestal up higher to eye level to ensure that people can experience the face-to-face moment and conjure reflection.” While he’s spent decades photographing news events, disasters, and wars, Krain’s photos in the exhibit represent moments of everyday life that “are accessible to anyone with a camera and a desire to explore.” “The more challenging photographs are those of everyday life,” Krain said. “The simple exploration of nothing. The moments in-between the moments. I find these unplanned encounters the most interesting. The content is not about the news. It is about the human spirit. These are the photographs in this exhibit. They can be taken by anyone. There is no special access or credential required other than just being present.” A graduate of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, Krain spent more than 20 years as a photojournalist with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette before joining the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Office of Communications and Marketing. He has won numerous state and national awards, and his work has been featured in publications like Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times.

Vertigo by Ben Krain

A native of Japan, Yamada came to the U.S. to attend Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree and later a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Montana. He has traveled widely for professional residencies including Resident Artist at the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana and the Clay Studio in Philadelphia, as well as guest and adjunct positions at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, and more before joining the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock faculty in 2018. The exhibit will be housed in the Trinity Gallery for Arkansas Artists at the Historic Arkansas Museum until March 26, 2021. The exhibit can also .

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown to host virtual art tour for 2nd Friday Art Night

John Hill — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 13:58:56 +0000

If you are in the mood for some art and culture without leaving the comfort of your home, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown is one of the city’s downtown venues participating in on Sept. 11. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown Director Ross Owyoung will host a virtual tour of the two exhibits on display in the Brad Cushman Gallery in the Windgate Center for Art and Design from 6:05-6:20 p.m. The exhibits feature contemporary British studio ceramics from the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection and objects from the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Permanent Art Collection. The virtual 2nd Friday Art Night event begins at 5:30 p.m. You can or watch it . Other participating locations include: Downtown Little Rock Partnership, Bella Vita Jewelry, Old State House Museum, Historic Arkansas Museum, Nexus Coffee & Creative, and Sergio Valdivia Art as well as Central Arkansas Library System through the Bookstore at Library Square and the Galleries at Library Square. In the upper right photo, the two porcelain vessels were made by Julian Stair and are gifts of the Diane and Sandy Besser Collection.

History lecture to explore characteristics of absentee plantations

Mon, 04 Nov 2019 17:43:17 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will host a lecture about life on absentee plantations in the Mississippi River on Nov. 5.�� Dr. Kelly Houston Jones, assistant professor of history at Arkansas Tech University, will give the talk at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, at the Historic Arkansas Museum Ottenheimer Auditorium, 200 E. Third St.�� Parking is available at the Historic Arkansas Museum parking lot at Third and Cumberland streets. Refreshments will be served at 7 p.m., followed by the talk at 7:30 p.m. The talk is part of the University History Institute’s Evenings with History lecture series. Throughout the Mississippi Valley, including Arkansas, the actual owners of many plantations did not live on-site. In this talk, Jones will examine these operations and explore questions about their management and similarity to absentee-owned plantations in the Caribbean.�� “One of the first things people conjure in their mind when they think of a southern plantation is a big, opulent home with beautiful moonlight and magnolias,” Jones said. “But across much of Arkansas and northern Louisiana, many plantation owners lived east of the Mississippi River and hired plantation managers to oversee their investment in what was considered a somewhat uncivilized region west of the river. This reminds us that, first and foremost, plantations were an economic venture. At the end of the day, it’s a factory in a field.” The lecture offers an opportunity to consider what life was like for enslaved people on absentee plantations. “Absentee plantations operated free of the domestic politics that otherwise would have been created by owner families living on-site,” Jones said. “This would have influenced the power struggle between between owners and managers, managers and slaves, and between slaves.”

Ursin named 2019 Edward L. Whitbeck Memorial Award Winner

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 18:04:07 +0000

A Donaghey Scholar who is passionate about preserving and sharing history through her work at museums has been chosen as this year’s recipient of the Edward L. Whitbeck Memorial Award at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.�� Nicole Ursin, 21, of Batesville, has earned a 4.0 GPA while double majoring in anthropology and history with a minor in nonprofit leadership studies, all while working at nine different museums and historical organizations throughout her college career. The Whitbeck Memorial Award is the single greatest distinction the university annually bestows on a graduating student through a competitive application process that comes with a $2,000 prize. Ursin will receive the award during a luncheon beginning at 11:30 a.m. Friday, May 10, at the Clinton Presidential Center Great Hall in Little Rock. In the fall, Ursin will begin a dual master’s degree program in applied anthropology and historic preservation at the University of Maryland. Once her education is complete, she would like to continue her historic preservation and education work at a museum and consult for communities that want to increase tourism based on historical sites. When she started college in 2015, Ursin looked to ��Vlog��ý Little for an affordable, in-state education the provided her access to museums and culture in the heart of the capital city. She was also accepted into the prestigious Donaghey Scholars program, which provides tuition, fees, an on-campus housing subsidy, and a yearly stipend for up to four years, as well as financial assistance toward a Study Abroad program and a computer. “I wanted to stay in Arkansas for the affordability of staying in state, but I also wanted to be in Little Rock where I would be at the center of where things are happening in heritage and culture,” Ursin said. “I wanted to work and intern at museums and historical organizations, and being a part of the Donaghey Scholars helped me get the liberal arts education that I wanted.” During her study abroad experience, Ursin interned at the Národní (National) Museum in the Czech Republic. She preserved historic human remains from medieval times as well as worked in the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and Native American Cultures. “I even got to piece together a human skull that was broken into fragments,” she said. In Little Rock, Ursin has interned the National Archives and Records Administration, the Center for Arkansas History and Culture, and the Clinton Foundation. For the past two years, she has worked at the Historic Arkansas Museum, where she researched the factors that drive museum audience demographics and diversity. Throughout her internships, she has developed educational materials for the Clinton Presidential Center’s traveling exhibits and photographed and rehoused museum artifacts from President Bill Clinton’s administration. She also created an online exhibit about the life of, the vice principal for girls at Little Rock Central High School who was responsible for protecting the six female members of the Little Rock Nine. Ursin loves the opportunity to bring history to life for people to better understand the past. During her last two years with the Historic Arkansas Museum, she has learned some invaluable 19th-century skills like candle making and butter churning, to the delight of visiting children.

Nicole Ursin, the 2019 Whitbeck award winner, has worked at the Arkansas Historic Museum for two years. Photo by Benjamin Krain.

“I love my time at the Historic Arkansas Museum,” she said. “I have learned the most and been given the most opportunities to work in different parts of the museum. I am on the education staff, so I help coordinate programs and give historic tours. Recently, I coordinated the museum’s spring break week activities where we do a lot of living history demonstrations. We show people how to do historic cooking and laundry, candle making, butter churning, and a printing press. Kids usually love to make butter. People often don’t understand how much of a chore it would be to do these activities back in the 1840s.” Additionally, Ursin has volunteered at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Sequoyah National Research Center, the Quapaw Quarter Association, and the Old Independence Regional Museum in Batesville. She has curated a permanent exhibit panel about school in early Arkansas, helped develop a database of Arkansas obituaries from newspaper records, and researched historic buildings in Arkansas to aid in historic preservation. On the anthropology side, Ursin put her skills to use by studying an immigrant community of Micronesians living in Corsicana, Texas. Along with her mentor, Dr. Juliana Flinn, professor of anthropology and gender studies, she has visited Corsicana on multiple occasions to meet with community leaders and longtime residents to learn about daily life in the community. “I think one of the most interesting components of the research is how much the immigrants are working to preserve their culture while maintaining a deep connection by visiting the island, sending money back to relatives, and staying active in politics,” Ursin said. “They are really trying hard to preserve their culture and share their culture in Texas.” The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Faculty Senate Honors and Awards Committee selects the Whitbeck scholar based on t citizenship, scholarship, and leadership. Frank L. and Beverly Whitbeck established the award in memory of their son, Edward Lynn Whitbeck, who was a senior at Little Rock University, the predecessor of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, at the time of his death in 1965. Each scholar receives a personalized plaque and a monetary award and will lead the graduating students during the academic processional at spring graduation on May 11.

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

Kirk to Present “Doing History: Research-Based Teaching & Learning” at Next Evenings with History Event

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Evenings with History Lecture to Discuss Warfare in Ancient Times

����Vlog��ý Little Rock to Host Exhibit Exploring Poet William Blake’s Views on Femininity and Masculinity

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Woodworking Students’ Work Featured in New Exhibit at Historic Arkansas Museum