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

Arkansas High School Students Learn New Art Skills at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Summer artWAYS Program

John Hill — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 13:19:07 +0000

More than 60 students from across Arkansas spent the week of June 20-24 learning new art skills during a free residential summer intensive program for juniors and seniors at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The artWAYS 2022 camp was provided at no cost thanks to a generous grant from the Windgate Foundation. This included all art materials, meals, housing costs, and evening activities. During the program, students took the following sessions: Drawing the Dynamic Figure with Robert Bean, drawing instructor; Lensless Photography with Joli Livaudais, associate professor of photography; From Start to Finish: Learn to Make Your Own Jewelry with Lydia Martin, artist-in-residence of metals; and Typographic Sculptures with Kevin Cates, professor of graphic design. “It was a great experience,” Livaudais said. “The students did some amazing work, and it was a lot of fun. We had them doing primitive photographic techniques, like taking photos with cardboard cameras. They also worked in the darkroom using historic photographic processes like cyanotype.” In Cates’ class, students designed layouts and created 3D typographic sculptures based on quotes. The sculptures included a 3D guitar sculpture that held up displayed quotes about the American rock band Weezer. All the students in the program signed the guitar, which Cates plans to display in his office. “My favorite part was seeing the sculptures in the lobby for everyone to see,” Cates said. “Attending the program really helped get the creative juices flowing and helped students get excited about what they can do in college.” Students also enjoyed evening activities including tie dying t-shirts, movie night, water wars, a campus tour, open art studio, and indoor and outdoor games.

High school students from around Arkansas participate in the weeklong immersive visual arts summer program artWAYS in the Windgate Center for Art and Design at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. Photos by Ben Krain

The 62 Arkansas students who attended the program include: Alleyah Evans, Alexa Whisenhunt, Alexandro Vazquez, Alice Neely, Allyson Ramsey, Anna Johnson, Anna Reber, Ariana Langley, Aubree Wright, Bella Garbett, Kim Bitna, Brooke Weinzimer, Cailey Stover, Carla Servin, Dawn Phillips, Deliliah Duguld, Destiny Montogomery, Eliot Spann, Emily Flores-Ayala, Emma Herbold, Evelyn Flores, Hanna Pruitt, Jadon Parks, Jenna Phillips, Jessalyn Cotton, Jillian Thorpe, Josslyn McCall, Judson Ogle, K’lari Collins, Karrington Bost, Kennedi Green, Kennedy Lucas, Kevin Rivera, Kimberly Bright, Kloe Jackson, Lani McClure, Lillith McAfee, Macy McLaughlin, Marisela Morales, Maryn Asbury, McHarvey Morrison, Mikka Reid, Nhi Le, Niko Maxey, Noelia Borkowski, Olivia George, Paley Honeysuckle, Paris Enriquez, Rebecca Worthington, Samantha Smith, Sidnye Nealy, Sofia Theodore, Sophia Bozeman, Sydnie Maxwell, Tarini Eswaran, Tristan Johnson, Vaida Stacy, Ximenia Gonzalez, Yessenia Gonzalez, Zach Miller, Zenobia Kelley, and Zoe Tarbille. “The program is super good,” Noelia Borkowski, a student at Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School. “I felt like I was interested in all the classes and learned a lot from them. I would highly recommend it to everyone who is interested in art.” Kennedy Lucas, a student at Joe T. Robinson High School, said she attended the artWAYS program because she was interested in learning new kinds of art. “I’ve been doing art for years. It’s always been my favorite class in school,” Lucas said. “My favorite artWAYS class was jewelry making. I got to do something different, and we got to learn different metalworking techniques to make jewelry. I also learned a lot about figure drawing that I will use in the future. It was a really good experience. I’ll probably apply again next year.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Opens Three New Exhibits at the Windgate Center

John Hill — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 13:00:08 +0000

��Vlog��ý Little Rock has launched three new summer art exhibits at the Windgate Center of Art and Design. The exhibits will feature artwork by the faculty members teaching the artWAYS summer workshops and intensive art camp, artwork focusing on internet era aesthetics, politics, and humor, and artwork curated from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s permanent art collection. The exhibits, which are free and open to the public, will be on display through July 22 in the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Art Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art and Design. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Hot Weather, Cool Faculty The exhibit “Hot Weather, Cool Faculty” will be on display in the Brad Cushman Gallery. It features pieces by faculty teaching the artWAYS summer workshop and art camp. artWAYS is a two-week long intensive workshop for art educators and a one-week long intensive art camp for rising junior and senior high school students. Housing, meals (except dinner for art educators), and art materials are covered by a generous grant from the Windgate Foundation, making this experience free to participants. The workshop gives attendees the opportunity to see how their instructors use materials, art processes, and imagery as well as promote an enriching experience for all attendees and instructors. artWAYS instructors include Robert Bean (drawing), Kevin Cates (graphic design), Jeremy Couch (painting), Joli Livaudais (photography), Lydia Martin (jewelry), Peter Scheidt (furniture design), John Shea (ceramics), and Michael Warrick (sculpture). Jeremy Couch: Terminally Online The exhibit “Jeremy Couch: Terminally Online” will be�� in the Focus Gallery in the Windgate Center. The phrase “terminally online” is used, usually as an insult, to describe people who spend most of their time online. The body of work reflects the past three years of people consuming most of their information, news, and media online. The work channels the chaotic nature of online media feeds through juxtaposing memes and cynical, sarcastic, and political pieces. How the pieces work together, in this case, are said to be more important than what they represent individually. The Summer Art Exhibition�� The exhibit, “The Summer Art Exhibition,” will be on display in the Maners/Pappas Gallery. Each piece is presented as inspiration for the artWAYS workshop and artWAYS art camp attendees. The exhibition includes landscape photography, portraiture and figural paintings, drawings and prints, abstract paintings and drawings, letterpress prints, book binding, printmaking, ceramics, and jewelry pieces. Artists are Ediciones Vigia, Samuel Joseph Brown Jr., Henry Cravens, Angela Cummings, William E. Davis, Judith Duff, Robert Ebendorf, Susan Feagin, Emily Fan, Endia Gomez, LaToya Hobbs, Julia Leonard, Logan Hunter, Maurice Kellogg, Susan Lefler, James McCartney, Delita Martin, Joe Phillips, Kimberly Snow, Carmen Thennis, Renee Williams, and Arnold Zimmerman.

Windgate Foundation Awards ��Vlog��ý Little Rock More Than $3 Million in Grants for Art Outreach, Art Acquisition, and Children International Education and Outreach Efforts

John Hill — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 16:25:59 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has received more than $3 million in grants from the to support art education at the university, acquisition of art from working artists for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s permanent art collection, and support of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Children International’s education and outreach programs. “These three grants from the Windgate Foundation will go a long way to support art education and outreach programs in our community,” said Chancellor Christina Drale. “We are thankful to the Windgate Foundation for their continued dedication to artists, art educators, and students across the state.” Windgate’s first grant will provide $1.56 million for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Children International, which serves approximately 2,100 children and youth in central Arkansas. The first $1.5 million will create an endowed fund to cover operational expenses. Children International will receive $60,000 as a bridge grant to use in the next year. “We are impressed by the efforts of the hard-working staff of Children International to provide education and outreach activities for children in the Little Rock School District,” said Pat Forgy, executive director of the Windgate Foundation. “I’d encourage others to consider supporting their work to help children become healthy, educated, and self-reliant. There is so much more Children International could accomplish with additional help from the community.” Now in its 27th year, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Children International offers a variety of school- and community-based programs, including after-school and summer programming, cooking classes, emergency food assistance, and college preparation and career training. “We’re grateful for the continued support of the Windgate Foundation,” said Ryan Davis, director of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Children International. “This endowed fund will allow us to plan further, dig deeper, and reach higher in our work with children and youth in central Arkansas” The second grant provides $1 million to create an endowed art acquisition fund. The funding will be divided equally, with $500,000 going to acquire contemporary craft art from living artists and the other $500,000 to acquire art from living artists. “The Windgate Foundation has been a champion of the gallery program for 10 years,” said Brad Cushman, director of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Gallery Program. “Their financial support of exhibition programming and acquisitions began in 2011. The Windgate Foundation has granted acquisition funding to major museums and art institutions across the country. They have certainly put the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Gallery Program and Permanent Collection in prestigious company.” With this grant, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock will acquire more art for the university’s permanent art collection, which holds over 1,700 items, and provide a broader range of exhibits for the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Gallery Program. “Windgate’s support has allowed us to bring more contemporary craft into the collection,” Cushman said. “Their support has also helped us to diversify the voices represented in the collection to include more women, Black, Hispanic/Latino, LGBTQ, and other artists.” Additionally, Windgate has awarded ��Vlog��ý Little Rock a multi-year additional support grant for the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Art Outreach Program. Windgate originally awarded ��Vlog��ý Little Rock a grant of more than $750,000 in November 2018 to establish a series of educational art workshops for Arkansas high school students and art teachers.

Woodworking Professor Peter Scheidt assists visiting art educator Loni Rainey as she builds a small Shaker table during the artWAYS furniture and woodworking program in the Windgate Center of Art and Design. Photo by Ben Krain.

The additional $470,713 grant will continue to support art education outreach efforts for high school students and art teachers in Arkansas through December 2024. The final payment for 2023 is contingent upon an increase of students in ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Art and Design Department. “We appreciate the opportunity that the Windgate Foundation has given the department,” said Tom Clifton, chair of the Department of Art and Design. “Sharing our expertise with the community of art teachers has been an incredibly fulfilling experience for the department faculty. We’re looking forward to providing more programming and meeting new participants in the future.” ��Vlog��ý Little Rock was unable to hold the high school student visits and workshops for K-12 art educators during summer 2020 due to the pandemic. With social distancing procedures in place, the Department of Art and Design continued programming this summer with seven week-long workshops for art educators from across the state. Faculty members Kevin Cates, Jeremy Couch, Joli Livaudais, and Peter Scheidt taught workshops on drawing, graphic design, painting, photography, and woodworking. Art Outreach Specialist Andrea Tompkins reports more than 50 teachers from 33 Arkansas schools attended the workshops and earned 30 hours of professional development credit each. In summer 2022, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock plans to offer two camps for art educators and one camp for highly motivated high school students who are considering majoring in the visual arts. The workshops are free to high school students and art teachers. The Windgate grant will cover on-campus housing, meals, supplies, and instructional materials. In the upper photo, a group of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Children International students display their denim artwork during an Art in Action Camp taught by Lorria Eubanks of A Different Stroke of Art.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to host virtual lecture with Art Appraiser Jennifer Carman

John Hill — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 13:30:33 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of Art and Design is hosting a free virtual lecture featuring art appraiser Jennifer Carman. The online lecture, “For What It’s Worth: A Conversation with Art Appraiser Jennifer Carman,” will be held from 6-7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23. Carman will discuss her career, what practicing artists should know about art appraising, and show some examples of her appraisal process Carman is a graduate of Hendrix College and holds a master’s degree in art history from the University of Glasgow with an emphasis on fine and decorative American and European arts of the Renaissance through the present day. She is a graduate connoisseur of Christie’s Education in London, where she studied paintings, works on paper, sculpture, furniture, ceramics, textiles, silver, and glass. Carman is an independent art advisor and historian who is an accredited senior appraiser of American and European fine art, decorative arts, and material culture. In 2003, she founded J. CARMAN, Inc., Fine & Decorative Art, a Little Rock based firm specializing in art advisory and appraisal services. For two decades, Carman has been dedicated to researching and documenting historic and contemporary artists who worked in Arkansas. She has catalogued and appraised the contents of the Drennen-Scott House in Van Buren, Arkansas, as well as cataloged and authored narrative for the quilts at the Historic Arkansas Museum. One of her recent projects was serving as a consultant and author for the expanded and revised edition of Historic Arkansas Museum’s “Arkansas Made” book series, a multi-volume publication that explores the fine and decorative arts made by Arkansas artisans through 1950. The 2020-21 artWORKS Workshop Series is funded by a grant from the Windgate Foundation. Those who would like to register for the lecture may

Windgate Foundation donates $3 million to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock for Windgate Center of Art and Design

John Hill — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 16:08:39 +0000

The has made a high-impact gift of more than $3 million to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock that will help educate generations of future artists. “The generous gift by the Windgate Foundation for the creation of a building maintenance endowment for the Windgate Center could not have come at a better time,” said ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Chancellor Christina Drale. “The upkeep of facilities and grounds across the campus is of critical significance to the university’s capability to fulfill its mission and provide a transformational educational experience for our students.” The gift will be used to establish a maintenance endowment fund for the Windgate Center of Art and Design. The endowment will finance long-term major capital renewal and maintenance projects for the Windgate Center. In addition to the endowed fund, the foundation gave a gift of $42,020 to be used this year for immediate maintenance needs. “Nobody wants to learn or work in a place that is not properly maintained, and it makes sense to support the Center of Art + Design building into the future,” said Patricia Forgy, executive director of the Windgate Foundation. “This attention to infrastructure by ��Vlog��ý Little Rock leadership will benefit both students and our community by providing a well-kept and welcoming place for learning and collaboration.” The Windgate Center opened for instruction and student use in January 2018. It is a state-of-the art facility for instruction in the visual arts. The center was uniquely designed for the purpose of teaching specific media in its classrooms and studios. Well-placed windows throughout the building are a central feature, which allow desired natural light into the studios. Their regular cleaning and maintenance is a necessary upkeep expense that helps provide students, faculty, and members of the public with an ideal space to create and teach art.

Windgate Center of Art and Design

“The Department of Art and Design is thankful for our decades-long partnership with the Windgate Foundation, helping to educate the next generation of artists,” said Thomas Clifton, chair of the Department of Art and Design. “This gift makes it possible for us to maintain our state-of-the-art facility so that we can continue to provide the highest caliber art education to our students and high-quality programs to the local community.” Two galleries in the Windgate Center provide spaces for showing the university’s permanent art collection, recent student and faculty artwork, and exhibitions borrowed from other institutions. The galleries have handsome hardwood floors that show the university is committed to the care and development of the art collection and to maintaining a schedule of exhibitions that provide learning experiences for art and design students and aesthetic experiences for the public. The maintenance of these galleries, their floors, and other features is critical to that commitment. The Windgate Center of Art and Design Building Maintenance Endowment can cover these and future maintenance expenses, such as repairs and eventual replacement of the Windgate Center’s parking lot and roof. With building maintenance costs on the rise and tighter operating budgets, university administrators recognize the importance of finding ways to fund regular maintenance and capital renewal needs. Creating endowed maintenance funds for the sustainability of campus buildings is one of five fundraising priorities established by Chancellor Drale. “The Windgate Foundation’s magnanimous gift not only helps the university achieve one of its priorities, but also serves as an excellent example for other generous donors as we embark on the path to achieving all five of these priorities,” said Chancellor Drale.

Adamson to serve as inaugural speaker of Windgate Distinguished Lecture Series

John Hill — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 17:09:09 +0000

Renowned art historian and curator Glenn Adamson, senior scholar at the Yale Center for British Art, will serve as the inaugural speaker of the Windgate Distinguished Lecture Series at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Windgate Center of Art and Design 101.�� The Windgate Distinguished Lecture Series is a new lecture series that will bring nationally known scholars, artists, makers, and art and craft influencers to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock on an annual basis. The series is funded by a grant from the Windgate Foundation. Adamson will give context to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s art exhibit, “Contemporary British Studio Ceramics from the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection,” which is on display from Jan. 16 through March 7 in the Brad Cushman Gallery in the Windgate Center. Drawn from the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection, this exhibit contains examples of 20th century studio ceramics. The majority of these works were gifts from Diane and Sanford Besser and range from functional wares, including bowls and teapots, to purely sculptural forms. In his lecture, “To the Moon and Beyond,” Adamson will speak about the exhibition, “Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery,” which he co-curated at the Yale Center for British Art in 2017. Surveying a century of creativity in the ceramic field, the exhibition rotated particularly around the encounter between tradition and modernity. Beginning from the famous Korean “Moon Jar,” a white porcelain jar that serves as an icon for potters, Adamson will trace this opposition and the way it shaped the discipline. A follow-up community panel discussion, “Community in the Making: Expanding the Craft Field,” will take place at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 31, in Windgate Center 101. The panelists include Adamson, Jan Padgett, assistant curator at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, and Marilyn Zapf, assistant director of the Center for Craft in Asheville, North Carolina.�� The panel will explore the roles of different institutions in advocating for the craft field, supporting artists, and expanding audiences. The panelists will also talk about how craft is used in the region and in Arkansas, including a discussion of a major craft exhibition opening at Crystal Bridges in October being co-curated by Adamson and Padgett. Adamson is a curator, writer, and historian who works at the intersection of craft, design, and contemporary art. He is the senior scholar at the Yale Center for British Art. Adamson has previously served as the director of the Museum of Arts and Design; head of research at the V&A; and curator at the Chipstone Foundation in Milwaukee.�� His publications include “Thinking Through Craft” (2007), “The Craft Reader” (2010), “Postmodernism: Style and Subversion” (2011), “The Invention of Craft” (2013), and “Art in the Making (2016). His latest book, “Fewer Better Things: The Hidden Wisdom of Objects,” was published by Bloomsbury in 2018.

Artist Meena Khalili to Give Sept. 26 Talk about Louisville exhibit

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 21:53:12 +0000

Artist Meena Khalili will give a lecture on her exhibit, “New in LOU, Drawn Daily,” on Thursday, Sept. 26 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The lecture will begin at 4:30 p.m. in the Windgate Center of Art and Design Room 101. The exhibit is a record of the one year Khalili spent living in Louisville, Kentucky. She captures the life of the city through 365 drawings in pen, ink, and collage processes in small accordion fold books. “As an artist and designer, I am inclined to organize, archive, and record,” said Khalili, assistant professor at the University of South Carolina. “The city of Louisville is a living organism behaving similarly to most other small-to-mid-sized cities across America. Some of the businesses archived in the project were closed down by the project’s final day, while some spaces revitalized and opened with new life. Even the unique signage of the city speaks to Louisville’s collective vibrant eclecticism.” As a method of accountability, Khalili shared a daily drawing through the Instagram account @newinlu365. Collage is used throughout this work to develop a narrative between text and image for the viewer. “In the��‘New in LOU’��series, I find this most appropriate as the city itself is a collage of sounds, images, billboards, historical sites, and churches,” she said. “Thus, a ‘text’-ural history is incorporated into the process of image creation. Most of the papers used are found in antique shops in the Louisville metro area, and many of them date from the 1800s to the mid-20^th��century, a time of developing industry and growth of the river city’s economy.” As a first-generation Iranian American, Khalili is fascinated with geography, impermanence, history, and translation. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration and a Master of Fine Arts in visual communication and graphic design from Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts. Khalili’s work has been shown at the Type Director’s Club of New York, Chicago Design Museum, and galleries throughout North America, Canada, China, Indonesia, Croatia, Australia, and Moscow, with illustrations and book art in permanent collections at the VCU Libraries Special Collections and Archives, the Omni Hotel Louisville, and recently inducted artwork in the Library of Congress. Khalili’s artwork will be on display in the Small Gallery at the Windgate Center of Art and Design through Sept. 29. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The lecture is funded by a grant from the Windgate Foundation. For more information, contact Art Gallery Director Brad Cushman at becushman@ualr.edu or 501-916-5103.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock sets fundraising record, endowment tops $80 million

Janea Snyder — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 20:37:24 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock raised $20 million in private gift support during the fiscal year that ended June 30, marking an 11% increase over the previous fiscal year. This also marked the largest fundraising year in the university’s history since receiving gifts for the Jack Stephens Center and the Windgate Center for Art and Design. More than 7,600 individuals, corporations, and private foundations gave 26,366 gifts between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019. This is the third consecutive year of gift growth. New endowments totaled $2,774,937, bringing ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s total endowment to more than $80 million. ��“These gifts from our generous donors support efforts to maintain our distinction as a recognized research university while advancing the social and economic well-being of our students and the community,” said Chancellor Andrew Rogerson. “Making college education affordable remains a top priority for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. With the help of private philanthropy, the university is able to make a college education more affordable and ensure this generation has access to a world-class education close to home.” One of the largest gifts this year includes a $754,000 gift from the Windgate Foundation supports the Windgate Center for Art and Design and its programs. “The fundraising success ��Vlog��ý Little Rock is experiencing is possible thanks to the generous donations of alumni, parents, foundations, friends, and businesses,” said Christian O’Neal, vice chancellor for university advancement. “Our donors are helping to grow our city, our campus, and giving students a world of opportunity. We are extremely grateful for their support in changing lives.”�� Trojan Athletics received more than $3 million this year. The Donaghey Foundation helped fund a $725,000 renovation of the Donaghey Athletic Center on ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s campus. The project provided significant upgrades and much-needed enhancements that have allowed the athletic program to better serve and prepare student-athletes for success. This investment has also helped the athletic program with recruitment of student-athletes and with competition for championships. All 15 Division I Trojan athletic programs are benefitting from several legacy gifts totaling more than $1 million from donors. Some of the gifts were in the form of three naming rights throughout the Jack Stephens Center. The Lot 16 entrance on the northwest corner is named the Dr. Bob Young Entrance. The student-athlete entrance, located on the ground floor, is the Mary and Rick Edwards Family Entrance. The Athletic Administrative offices located on the third floor are named the Patricia and Mark L. Pollack Athletics Suite. Included in the suite is the Victor Jacuzzi Family Office of Director of Athletics.�� “The Little Rock Trojans continue to benefit from tremendous support from our community,” said Chasse Conque, vice chancellor and director of athletics. “This past year provided another strong fundraising campaign leading to nearly $7.5 million in support over the past two years which has directly enhanced our student-athlete experience. We are most grateful to our loyal supporters who continue to invest in Little Rock’s Team and our mission of graduating champions.” “Our development team is dedicated to changing lives through education,” added Holly Rose, executive director of development. “It is through their work with our generous donors that we can provide students a quality, affordable education, some of the best facilities and programs in the region, and teaching excellence.” Other noteworthy achievements in FY 2019:��

The university awarded $1.52 million in private scholarships, an all-time high. These scholarships helped students with tuition, books, and other school-related expenses. Some students who were near graduation but had particularly dire financial hardships received “Last Mile” funds to help them complete their degree.
The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Alumni Association membership grew to a record 3,300 members�� and raised $113,452 in online gifts from 131 donors in one day. The popular Taste of Little Rock event also generated $141,000 in sponsorships, ticket sales, and in-kind and general donations.��
First-ever nationwide development efforts celebrated alumni in 21 cities across America. University events were held in Atlanta; Austin; Chicago; Dallas; and Hollywood.
$100,000 in private funding was awarded to 100 students for Signature Experience grants to pursue research and creative endeavor projects. This is the second year that ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students could receive grants to work on faculty-mentored projects, allowing them to gain knowledge and skills to compete in a competitive work workforce after graduation.��
Forty-six percent of benefits-eligible employees donated through the annual faculty and staff giving campaign, demonstrating an investment in future students, faculty, and staff.

In the photo above right, a student discusses her breast cancer research with a group of students during the Research and Creative Works Expo. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock awarded $100,000 in research grants to 100 undergraduate students this year. The grants were made possible by private donations from university supporters.�� Photo by Benjamin Krain

Arkansas teachers learn new skills at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock graphic design workshop

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:24:20 +0000

Stacy Owens, an art teacher at Pinnacle View Middle School, found the opportunity to take a free graphic design workshop for teachers at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock this summer serendipitous, considering she will begin teaching graphic design again this fall after many years of not teaching the course. “I was a graphic designer for 10 years before I was a teacher,” Owens said. “I decided this was a kismet (destiny or fate) thing that right before I was supposed to teach design again, this workshop became available.” Kevin Cates, associate professor of graphic design at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, taught a free week-long graphic design teacher workshop in June in ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Windgate Center of Art and Design. Participants learned principles and practices that are helpful in building a foundation for innovative graphic design trends. The workshops are funded by a $754,108 gift from the Windgate Foundation in January 2019 that enabled the university’s Department of Art and Design to establish a series of free educational art workshops for art teachers and high school students in Arkansas and surrounding states. “These sessions will be designed not only to instruct or train participants in a particular technique or process, but also to introduce them to our highly skilled Department of Art and Design faculty and the up-to-date equipment and facilities of the Windgate Center of Art and Design,” said Thomas Clifton, chair of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Department of Art and Design. Owens found the workshop a good way to reboot her skills and to come up with some lessons for her students in the fall. “It’s been the reboot I’ve needed,” she said. “Sometimes, it’s good to get a clean start and see what others are doing in the field before you get too comfortable. I’ve really enjoyed the program, and I’m making sure I’m first on the list for next year when the new classes and workshops are posted. I’m going to modify the exercises we’ve learned to a middle school concept for my students.”�� In the upper right photo, art educators from around the state participate in a free professional development summer workshop for graphic design at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. Photo by Ben Krain.

Photographers learn historic 19th-century photographic process at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:54:56 +0000

Erasto Carrananza, a photographer since 1989, has been studying historic photographic processes for more than 15 years.�� “I’m in the middle of my master’s degree in visual arts, and this is one of the four historic photographic processes that I want to use in my final project,” Carrananza said. “That is why I am here to learn this process.” The former architect traveled from his home in Monterey, Mexico, to learn how print photographers use the chemical cyanotype process, a non-toxic, historical light-based printing process discovered in 1842. Joli Livaudais, assistant professor of photography, taught a week-long workshop on the process June 10-14 in the Windgate Center of Art and Design. The workshop is part of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s artWORKS Artist Workshops Series, which provides a learning community dedicated to creativity and growth through the making and understanding of the visual arts.�� “This simple and inexpensive technique yields gorgeous handmade prints in Prussian blue and has many options for toning and manipulation of the final print,” Livaudais said. Carrananza’s desire to learn historic photographic processes stems from his desire to preserve these dying arts for the next generation.�� “In 2000, digital photography took flight,” he said. “I don’t like digital photography because I like to use film. At that time, I started to seek printing processes back in the early days of photography. The main reason to learn these processes is to reach the younger generation and not lose the information over time. If just one student learns the process, it’s a win.” Melissa Gill, a professor of drawing and printmaking at Hendrix College, was inspired to learn the chemical cyanotype process after seeing her students use it.

Workshop participants develop photographs in a darkroom at the Windgate Center of Art and Design using a 19th-century photographic process. Photo by Ben Krain.

“I’ve seen my students use this process at Hendrix, and I thought it was so beautiful that I wanted to learn it,” Gill said. “This is working with layers of color, and that is exactly how a printmaker works. I wanted to see how this process could inform my work. Now that I know how it works, I can better advise my students who do this work.” Dave Erickson, a commercial photographer and drone pilot from Milwaukee, traveled from Wisconsin with a friend to attend the workshop. The two have plans to set up a darkroom when they get back to explore the chemical cyanotype process as a hobby.�� “I’ve always had a varied, robust interest in photography,” Erickson said. “I have a lot of respect for people who have mastered this process. There is a lot of artistry involved. It’s not as clean cut as just developing a photograph. It takes a lot of patience.”�� In the upper right photo, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock professor Joli Livaudais, left, works with participants of a week-long art workshop on the chemical cyanotype process. Photo by Ben Krain.

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

Arkansas High School Students Learn New Art Skills at ����Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Summer artWAYS Program

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Opens Three New Exhibits at the Windgate Center

Windgate Foundation Awards ����Vlog��ý Little Rock More Than $3 Million in Grants for Art Outreach, Art Acquisition, and Children International Education and Outreach Efforts

����Vlog��ý Little Rock to host virtual lecture with Art Appraiser Jennifer Carman

Windgate Foundation donates $3 million to ����Vlog��ý Little Rock for Windgate Center of Art and Design