What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1492257
woman in Savannah, Ga., said she was asked to recite the Constitution." The idea to make the ballot box pieces came from Philip Bell Downing, Cole says. Downing was a Black inventor who in 1891 designed the first street letter box, a forerunner to the mailboxes we see today. Tied Up Politics Cole's "Gerrymandering" works are a continuation of his "Tied Up in Politics" series that explored lynching in the South. Neckties make several appearances in the Little Rock show, including in the striking "Faith Over Fears," a large tangle of silvery aluminum strips with patches of blue and on "Poll Tax Ties," one of the small ballot boxes. Not to be missed, either, are Cole's pieces made with colorfully painted tar paper in the gallery's smaller room. The framed strips of tar paper are entwined into abstract, mesmerizing forms that echo what he did with aluminum in "Faith Over Fears." Cole says the inspiration to create art reflecting on the suppression of Black voters came from a visit to the Legacy Museum and a pair of books — "Freedom Is Not Enough: Black Voters, Black Candidates, and American Presidential Politics (American Political Challenges)," by Ronald W. Walters and "One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy," by Carol Anderson. "I started to look at the idea of where my work is in terms of voting," says Cole, who graduated from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, has a master's degree in art education from the University of Illinois at Urbana, and a Master of Fine Arts from Northern Illinois University. Cole's pieces are not just references to the South's troubled past; they speak clearly to issues going on right now. Arkansas' 2021 Reapportionment Plan resulted in a lawsuit last year by four residents and state Rep. Denise Ennett and state Sen. Linda Chesterfield claiming that "lawmakers have given no substantive reason for taking the approximately 23,000 Black voters from the 2nd Congressional District and dividing them between the state's 1st and 4th districts, while replacing those Black voters removed from the 2nd District with voters from virtually all-white Cleburne County," according to a Dec. 28 Democrat-Gazette story by John Lynch. A three-judge panel dismissed part of the lawsuit in October, but ruled the plaintiffs could expand on their accusations before the judges decided if the suit should be tossed or proceed to trial. Cole, whose 15-story Coca-Cola Centennial Olympic Mural was featured in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, hopes that his work will help younger people understand the importance of voting. "I wanted to make this an educational show as well. During this past election, being in Georgia, a swing state, I would hear a lot of young folks saying 'My vote doesn't matter.' If voting was not so important, why would they not want you to vote?" FEBRUARY 12-18, 2023 WHAT'S UP! 39 FAQ 'Where Do We Go From Here? II: Exploring Gerrymandering and Voting' Artwork By Kevin Cole WHEN — 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Satur- day, through March 16 WHERE — Hearne Fine Art, 1001 Wright Ave., Little Rock COST — Free INFO — 501-372-6822; hearnefineart.com "Dirty South: Arkansas," 2021, Kevin Cole, mixed media, is part of "Where Do We Go From Here? II: Exploring Gerrymandering and Voting," an exhibit of Cole's work at Hearne Fine Art in Little Rock. (Special to the Democrat- Gazette/Kevin Cole) "How Many Bubbles in a Bar of Soap," Kevin Cole, mixed media ballot box, is included in "Where Do We Go From Here? II: Exploring Gerrymandering and Voting," an exhibit of Cole's work at Hearne Fine Art in Little Rock. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Kevin Cole)