Dr. Jeremy Ecke has been appointed interim dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education (CHASSE) following the departure of Dr. Sarah Beth Estes, who has accepted a deanship at Wichita State University.聽

He previously served as associate dean for college operations and chair of the Department of English and will lead the college while a national search for the next dean takes place.  

鈥淐HASSE is home to a vibrant group of faculty and students doing meaningful work in the classroom, on stage, in studios, and in the community,鈥� said Ecke. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a privilege to support that work and help ensure a smooth transition during the upcoming academic year.鈥�

Additionally, Joli Livaudais has been named the director of the School of Art and Design. Livaudais has worked to leverage the university鈥檚 world-class Windgate Center of Art and Design to enhance student experiences, support faculty practice, and expand public programming.

鈥淥ur students and faculty bring such creativity and passion to their work,鈥� Livaudais said. 鈥淚鈥檓 excited to continue supporting their efforts and building momentum for the school鈥檚 future.鈥�

In the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (DCSTEM), Dr. Annie Childers has been named chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. 

A longtime faculty member, Childers has served in a variety of leadership roles, including interim associate dean of the college and graduate coordinator for all applied mathematics and statistics programs. 

鈥淢athematics and statistics are essential to a wide range of disciplines,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 grateful for the opportunity to serve the department in this new role and to continue supporting our students and faculty.鈥�

Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Ann Bain said the appointments reflect the university鈥檚 strong momentum and the caliber of leadership rising across campus. 

鈥淭hese leaders represent the best of 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock 鈥� dedicated scholars and collaborative professionals who care deeply about our students and the future of their fields,鈥� Bain said. 鈥淭heir leadership will help us continue building momentum across campus, and I鈥檓 excited to work alongside them.鈥�

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The Elevate at 21c program presents temporary exhibitions for artists living and working in the communities surrounding each 21c Museum Hotel property. Elevate provides hotel guests with unique access to the work of notable regional artists, while featuring their work in the context of 21c鈥檚 world-class contemporary art collection.

Livaudais鈥檚 exhibition, 鈥淎ll That I Love,鈥� is currently on display at 21C Museum and Hotel. The installation includes more than 1,000 origami beetles folded from photographs. Livaudais鈥� beetles can be seen swarming along the walls and ceiling of 21C Museum and Hotel through April 2025.

鈥淚 am very excited to show at 21C,鈥� Livaudais said. 鈥淚 love the contemporary exhibitions there, which are always amazing, and it’s a thrill to have my work there.鈥�

The exhibition, 鈥淎ll That I Love,鈥� has had quite a successful history. It was selected as part of the sixth installment of the National Museum of Women in the Arts 鈥淲omen to Watch鈥� exhibition series in 2020. The exhibition showcased contemporary artists working in paper, celebrating their wide-ranging approaches and the transformation of this ubiquitous material into complex works of art.

Additionally, 鈥淎ll That I Love,鈥� has been displayed at the Materials Hard and Soft exhibition in Denton, Texas, and in five venues across Arkansas in 2021 as part of the Arkansas Chapter of the National Museum of Women in the Arts Tour.

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Valentine, a 26-year-old native of Colorado Springs, Colorado, joined 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock as an assistant professor of drawing. With a rich background in visual arts and a passion for nurturing creative talent and developing collaborative partnerships, Valentine brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the university.

鈥淚 am very interested in providing students with the opportunity to explore creative practice on an individual level, building a program structure in the drawing area where students are encouraged to investigate themes and topics personal to them, and to look at practices that are used in creative research practice,鈥� Valentine said. 鈥淲e want to help our students have the skills to see a project through from start to finish and have the tools to pursue their own creative freedom.鈥�

Prior to joining 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, Valentine taught at Colorado State University, the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, and Front Range Community College in the areas of drawing, painting, and foundations. He earned an associate degree in studio art from Pikes Peak Community College, a Bachelor of Arts degree in visual and performing arts from the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in visual arts with a concentration in drawing from Colorado State University.

鈥淐lark is a master of process and has built a creative practice that is centered around meditation, collaboration, and meticulous craftsmanship,鈥� said Joli Livaudais, interim director of the School of Art and Design. 鈥淗e doesn’t just make art, he lives it, and that’s a wonderful lesson to teach our students.鈥�

Valentine is a founding member of the , a collective of artists from four continents who work to create international collaborations that address environmental, sociological, and economic concerns on a global level. The group of artists met during a 2020 residency through The School of Visual Arts in New York City. Since it was during COVID, the artists hit it off during their regular virtual meetings.

鈥淲e were meeting every day on Zoom, and we decided to keep it going,鈥� Valentine said. 鈥淲e were kind of lucky that the structure of the pandemic allowed us to have this ongoing conversation. The overarching goal of our artwork together is to investigate the overlap between digital and physical space in the postmodern world that we live in. We have a shared digital space that offers new and unique opportunities, but there are also limitations when you don鈥檛 interact in a physical space.鈥�

The collective鈥檚 most recent project was a collaborative installation called 鈥淟a Tormenta,鈥� which was showcased at the Museo Maeso in Villa Soriano, Uruguay, through the beginning of 2024. The project took 13 months to coordinate and involved artists working remotely and on site. Valentine was invited by the Department of Culture to spend a month in Soriano, Uruguay, to work on the project.

鈥淭his is an important part of my artistic practice, connecting with people from around the globe and having diverse dialogues with people from other cultures,鈥� Valentine said.

Valentine鈥檚 work has been exhibited in museums, universities, and galleries on five continents, and widely throughout the United States. His work is in the permanent loan collection at King鈥檚 College, Cambridge, in London.

Valentine has had solo exhibitions at universities around the world, such as at the Centro Cultural Nacional in Dolores, Uruguay, Penn State Altoona, and Weber State University. He has attended residencies at The School of Visual Arts, New York, Vatelon Residency in Villa Soriano, Uruguay, and Barac Mannheim Residency in Mannheim, Germany.

Valentine has a busy year ahead of him preparing a series of new works for upcoming shows. He will have a solo exhibition of his work at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock in August, followed by another solo exhibition in Colorado Springs in October. He also has an upcoming 2025 solo exhibition in Peoria, Illinois, where his work is part of the Heintzman Collection, which is pledged to the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

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After the COVID-19 pandemic shut down 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 annual art sale for a couple of years, this was the question facing Andrea 鈥淎nDi鈥�  Tompkins, art outreach specialist for the School of Art and Design. Luckily, Tompkins organized art sales at the for 12 years and was ready to take up the challenge for the university.

鈥淭his year鈥檚 success of the Open House and Holiday Art Sale is a testament to the way people feel about visual arts in the community,鈥� Tompkins said. 鈥淭hey enjoy supporting the students, local artists, and the school. This year we put more of a focus on decorating, marketing, and preparing the students to present their work in a professional and positive environment.鈥�

The 2023 event was held Friday and Saturday, Nov. 10-11, at the Windgate Center of Art and Design. Nov. 10 featured an open house where visitors could tour the Windgate Center of Art and Design, view art demonstrations, art history lectures, and enjoy a reception with cookies and cocoa. Altogether, this year鈥檚 event featured more than 70 artists and had close to 700 visitors during the two-day event!

鈥淭he holiday sale is a wonderful opportunity to teach our students how to price, present, and sell their artwork, and it’s also a lot of fun,鈥� said Joli Livaudais, interim director of the School of Art and Design. 鈥淭his year’s sale was a grand event. It was wonderful to see so many people supporting our community of artists, and it definitely got the holiday spirit ignited in the School of Art and Design!鈥�

To help prepare students for the experience of selling their art professionally, the School of Art and Design held a mandatory meeting for all artists participating in the event. Artists learned about table presentation, customer service, sales tax collection, marketing, and revenue collection.

鈥淲e wanted our students to have a lot of engagement with their customers,鈥� Tompkins said. 鈥淲e told them not to use their phones unless it was for a transaction. They are learning how to present themselves and their work in a professional manner. These are all important things they need to know how to do as professional artists.鈥�

Drawing Instructor Robert Bean, who teaches the capstone Professional Practices course and saw many of his students participate in the sale, was grateful that his students had the opportunity to participate in mandatory meetings to help prepare them for the sale.

鈥淔or many of them, this was their first time to deal with sales tax,鈥� Bean said. 鈥淚’d much rather have them learn that in a supportive school environment than have them figure it out on their own after graduation while also trying to be professional with an exhibition or some other form of financial exchange. What really made me happy to see, however, was just how well the students responded to the opportunity to share and sell their work to the public. They didn’t shy away from the chance, and they listened, learned, and rose to the challenge of being professional with all the guests and visitors.鈥�

糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock student artist Kristi Pruett said she was thrilled to be a part of the holiday art sale and plans to return as an alumnus.

鈥淪witching the event to Friday and Saturday was perfect, and the open house really worked to bring in an audience,鈥� Pruett said. 鈥淎lso, having a greeter at the door was really helpful in directing people around the building and making them comfortable in a space that they are unfamiliar with. It makes it a much more personable experience.鈥�

Professor Emeritus of Art Michael Warrick, who is a longtime participant in the holiday art sale, commented that the 鈥渟ale was very good this year.鈥�

鈥淩obert Bean and Andrea Tompkins did a great service in helping students learn about the art marketplace, how to be better organized, and how to approach it professionally,鈥� Warrick said.

A unique aspect of 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 holiday art sale is that the event is completely free for vendors, meaning all sales go straight to the artists.

鈥淭he artists do not have to pay a table fee, and we do not take a commission on sales,鈥� Tompkins said. 鈥淎dmission and parking is also free. All the money that the artists make goes back to them, which is a little unheard of when you have a sale like this. We are a school just trying to teach our art students about professional practice standards.鈥�

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鈥淚 am very excited at the opportunity to be in this leadership role,鈥� Livaudais said. 鈥淲e have some great faculty and programs here in a beautiful facility. I care deeply about giving a great education to our students and supporting the faculty.鈥�

Livaudais is taking over for Thomas Clifton, who is serving as the interim dean of the College of Business, Health, and Human Services.

The 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock School of Art and Design offers engaging and inspiring art instruction at both the undergraduate and graduate levels that prepares students for fulfilling careers as professional artists and in museums, businesses, schools, and more. In this role, Livaudais is responsible for overseeing the approximately 35 faculty and staff who work in the school.

Housed in the Windgate Center of Art and Design, the school is the home to about 150 students pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Art degree with concentrations in art education, art history, and studio art as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art degree with emphasis areas in ceramics, drawing, graphic design, furniture design and woodworking, illustration, jewelry and metalsmithing, painting, photography, and printmaking. The school also has minors in applied design, art history, digital arts, photography, and studio art as well as certificate programs in applied design, graphic design, and photography.

Livaudais originally trained to work in the field of experimental psychology, earning a bachelor鈥檚 degree and master鈥檚 degree in psychology from the University of Texas at Arlington. Feeling a pull toward photography, she spent two decades working as a commercial photographer in Dallas and Monroe, Louisiana. She earned her Master of Fine Arts from Louisiana Tech University in 2013 and joined 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock as an assistant professor of photography in 2014. Since 2017, she has also served as the graduate program coordinator for the School of Art and Design.

鈥溙切腣log传媒 Little Rock is a real gem of a program,鈥� Livaudais said. 鈥淚 was very excited to get the position, and it鈥檚 everything I could have hoped for.鈥�

In 2020 and 2021, Livaudais鈥� work was featured in the 鈥淧aper Routes-Women to Watch 2020鈥� exhibition series at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Her installation, 鈥淎ll That I Love,鈥� contained 1,500 origami paper beetles of varying sizes made of aluminum, pigment ink, resin, and mulberry paper.

Livaudais鈥� most recent body of work involves historical process pieces, meaning photographic printing methods that were invented in the 1800s. Her latest exhibition, 鈥淎pophenia,鈥� has been shown in Arkansas and Alabama this year.

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The exhibit, 鈥淎pophenia,鈥� will be on display in the Ann Maners and Alex Pappas Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art and Design from March 13 to April 8. A reception will be held from 5:30-7 p.m. Friday, April 7, in the Taylor/Mourning Lobby on the first floor of the Windgate Center.

Joli Livaudais is an associate professor and head of the Photography program in the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Department of Art and Design. Livaudais created the featured works during the Fall 2021 semester by putting samples of insects, plants, and old film negatives under the microscope, photographing them, and pairing them together to make a series of diptychs.

鈥淩eminiscent of the 19th-century alchemists, who studied nature in search of ways to purify and transform the spirit, I use a microscope and camera as my tools,鈥� Livaudais said. 鈥淭he chemical processes alter color, value, and texture in response to the hand and will of the maker, transforming the final image. It does not escape me that perhaps my search has uncovered hidden unity, or perhaps my desire has created it where none truly exists.鈥�

Livaudais received her bachelor鈥檚 degree and master鈥檚 degree in experimental psychology from the University of Texas at Arlington and her Master of Fine Arts degree from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana. Her fine art photography explores both historical photographic processes and contemporary alternative methods, including gum bichromate printing, photo sculpture and installation, and incorporates her interest in both psychology and spirituality.

Her artwork has been exhibited in the 鈥淧aper Routes – Women to Watch 2020鈥� exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. She was also featured as an artist in Christina Anderson鈥檚 two-part book, 鈥淕um Printing: A Step-By-Step Manual, Highlighting Artists and Their Creative Practice.鈥�

The 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Art Gallery is open from 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 501-916-5104 or email Nathan Larson, interim art gallery director at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, at nglarson@ualr.edu.

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