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.

��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

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

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

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

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

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