What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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CENTRAL ARKANSAS 38 WHAT'S UP! SEPTEMBER 12-18, 2021 Signs Of Wonder New art welcomes new season in Arkansas galleries SEAN CLANCY Arkansas Democrat-Gazette O h, September, you're already spoiling art lovers and Arkansas history fans. Last week, two photography exhibits — "Migrantes" and "Southbound: Photographs of and About the New South" — opened at Windgate Museum of Art at Hendrix College in Conway. At Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock, works by Little Rock photographer Tim Hursley, University of Arkansas at Little Rock wood- working professor Peter Scheidt and Little Rock quiltmaker James Matthews are featured in "An Unbroken Circle," which opened Sept. 10. But wait. There's more. Also at Historic Arkansas Museum, "Conspicuous Consumption: If You've Got It, Flaunt It" with items made, bought and, yes, flaunted by Victorian- era Arkansans, also opened Sept. 10. And "She Show" went up that same day at Little Rock's M2 Gallery. Let's find out more. Photos In Abundance Windgate Museum of Art at Hendrix College in Conway will be overrun with photographs this autumn. "Migrantes," which opened in the Windgate Museum's Window Gallery, was created by Brooklyn, N.Y., photographer Adam Ferguson and the subjects in his photos. In May and June, Ferguson asked migrants at shelters on the Mexico side of the U.S.-Mexico border to take self portraits. He told their stories in an article and photo essay published in The New York Times on July 1. Mary Kennedy, director-curator at Windgate Museum of Art, saw it online and was impressed enough to reach out to Ferguson. "I thought the images were so compelling and that it would be great for us to show at the museum," she says. "I found his website and contacted him. Two months later, we are going to have those prints at the museum. I just got lucky." One of the things that attracted Kennedy to the images was the fact that the subjects are taking the photos using a remote device provided by Ferguson that is visible in the final work. "When you learn about the images and realize it's a remote control to his camera that allows them to control how the picture is made, to my mind that makes them even more compelling." The black-and-white prints, by the way, are big — 5-feet-by-4-feet. "You can imagine what sort of impact those giant prints will have," she says. Victor Gomez, curatorial assistant at the museum and a 2021 Hendrix graduate, is the exhibit's curator. "Migrantes" will remain at the museum through Dec. 3. "Southbound: Photographs of and About the New South," also up through Dec. 3, features 220 images by 55 photographers that represent their visions of the South over the first two decades of this century. "The idea around that exhibition is what does the term 'New South' mean in the 21st century," Kennedy says. "This brings 55 unique depictions of the New South from all across the region." Little Rock photographer Hursley, who we will revisit in just a bit, is among those represented in the exhibit. A film series, lecture, artist residencies, tours, a poetry reading and hands-on activities are planned around the exhibit through the fall, Kennedy says. The museum is at 1600 Washington Ave., Conway. Hours are noon- 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Visit windgatemuseum.org for more information. If You've Got It ... The possessions of stylish Arkies from the second half of the 19th century are the focus of "Conspicuous Consumption: If You've Got It, Flaunt It" in the Arkansas Made Gallery at Historic Arkansas Museum, 200 E. Third St., Little Rock. Fancy furniture, silverware, clothing, paintings, dishware and accessories are just a few of the items that will be shown in the exhibit, which will be up for about two years. "It really covers a big area of interest in our collection," says Carey Voss, the museum's curator of exhibits. "Because Carlos Soyos, 34, and his son, Enderson, 8, were photographed by Adam Ferguson and Soyos at the Good Samaritan migrant shelter, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in 2021. This image is part of "Migrantes," an exhibit of photographs at Windgate Museum of Art at Hendrix College in Conway. The images were made by Ferguson and his subjects at migrant shelters in Mexico. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Adam Ferguson)