What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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JULY 4-10, 2021 WHAT'S UP! 9 the French Impressionist and his garden, "and I've got an Arkansas back yard." She controls this natural space with her brushes and paint. "I like to set up order," she says. "I might need a red plant here, and then it's like, 'OK, what red plants do I have,' and then I plant them on the canvas. You can do that with painting." In "Jackson in the Garden," Chambers' black-and-white titular dog strolls up a path against a cobalt background and alongside sunflowers, red peppers and other plants. "The Artist's Garden" shows Chambers, her back to us, drawing among her plants as robins perch on a blue birdbath, the clouds reflected in its water; "Urban Sanctuary" has plants towering as high as the Little Rock skyline in the background. In "Soliphilia," a robin splashes in the birdbath as a brick pathway is depicted in cool purples and butterflies flutter among gorgeously blooming plants. Chambers has a bachelor's degree in art from Rhodes College and a Master of Fine Arts degree in drawing and painting from the University of Georgia and taught at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Hendrix College and the University of Central Arkansas before retiring and taking up painting full time. She is represented by Boswell Mourot Fine Art in Little Rock and Justus Fine Art Gallery in Hot Springs. "Susan has been making work for some time at a high level," says Carey Voss, Curator of Exhibits at Historic Arkansas Museum. "She has always done really high-quality work, but it seems that in the past two or three years, her work has really gone to the next level. It's exceptional." Calvert teaches art at Henderson State University and lives in Russellville with wife Summer Bruch, head of Arkansas Tech University's art department, and their two daughters. His "Rocket Rabbit" won the Grand Award in the Arkansas Arts Center's 2020 Delta Exhibition. "I'd been super impressed with Aaron's work in the last couple of Deltas," Voss says. She decided to pair Calvert and Chambers in an exhibit at the suggestion of tapestry artist Louise Halsey. Like Chambers' paintings, Calvert's ceramics are loaded with information, though his application is looser. With both artists, repeated viewings are rewarded with more revelations from each piece. Calvert's ceramic figures in "Gone to Seed" range from the raccoon of "Zoom Raccoon Head" to a deer, a bear, a squirrel and a pair of rabbits. Each is brightly decorated with drawings of patterns, figures, codes and phrases and is part of what he calls his "Brain Rattle Series." "There is so much time late at night in the studio just looking at those things and drawing on them, your brain kind of drifts," says Calvert, who has a bachelor's of fine arts from Kent State University and a Master of Fine Arts in ceramics from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. "A lot of times, those are things I'm thinking about as I'm working." The largest of his "Gone to Seed" pieces is "Da Rabbit," a 40-inch-tall rabbit's head with pointy ears. It has what looks like a face made up of rows "Take the Weight Buck Head" has ears of corn, honeycomb patterns and lightning bugs on it as well as lyrics from Kool & the Gang's "Who's Gonna Take the Weight." (Courtesy Image) "Rosa's Squirrel," stoneware clay, underglaze, enamel, by Aaron Calvert is among works on show at the Historic Arkansas Museum in an exhibit titled "Gone to Seed." (Courtesy Image) Calvert's ceramic figures in "Gone to Seed" range from the raccoon of "Zoom Raccoon Head" (pictured) to a deer, a bear, a squirrel and a pair of rabbits. Each is brightly decorated with drawings of patterns, figures, codes and phrases and is part of what he calls his "Brain Rattle Series." (Courtesy Image) Ceramic artist Aaron Calvert Artist Susan Chambers See Palette Page 38