What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1415939
OCTOBER 3-9, 2021 WHAT'S UP! 37 LITTLE ROCK MONAH Continued From Page 9 • "We live as if we're separated from nature, but the truth is, we're never separated from nature. You've got to have air, land, water, sun if you're a human being. The term I've started using is we've insulated ourselves into ignorance." • Get children outdoors and encourage them to start paying attention to the natural world around them — what plants grow in their back yards, what animals live in the country around them. "Children by nature are inquisitive, and by planting those seeds, they get very interested." "For me, the take-away is to remind people that humans have always been a part of nature, and one of the problems we have today — and climate change is an excellent example — is that humankind began to think there wasn't anything they couldn't improve, including nature itself. So we separated ourselves from that world around us to the extent that we started looking at the life around us as nothing but resources and forgot we're all connected — and that means the plants, animals, land, air, water. We need to restore that awareness." And if you're a non-Native, Wildcat adds, the take-away is that you're surrounded by American Indians who have "their own traditions and some deep knowledge — and possibly some wisdom — that might help a lot of people on the planet today." For Buchanan-Yale, Wildcat's conference opener, "a rare conversation" he'll share with Robin Wall Kimmerer — author of "Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants" and a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology — will be the highlight of the event. "Both of them inspire us to be better humans and walk a road of gratitude — to see all creation as our family," she says. "They both inspire me every day to be present and be of service. I am humbled and honored that my destiny has led me to meet extraordinary people who I listen to and learn from every day." PRESIDENT Brent A. Powers EDITOR Becca Martin-Brown 479-872-5054 bmartin@nwadg.com Twitter: NWAbecca ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jocelyn Murphy 479-872-5176 jmurphy@nwadg.com Twitter: NWAJocelyn REPORTER Lara Hightower 479-365-2913 lhightower@nwadg.com DESIGNER Deb Harvell ! UP WHAT'S ON THE COVER "We are investing equally in the performing arts and visual arts with Arts One Presents," says Anne Jackson, the executive director. "Going into year one, we have ebbs and flows of when one program has a lot going on versus the other, but in general, there's no down time for one to do the other; we are working in tandem on the project every day with both the performing arts and visual arts elements." (COURTESY IMAGE/ARTS ONE PRESENTS) What's Up! is a publication of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Road Less Traveled UALR exhibit features 'outsider artists' Sean Clancy Arkansas Democrat-Gazette S tunning works on display in "A Visionary Vernacular Road Trip," the current exhibit at the Brad Cushman Gallery at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Windgate Center for Art + Design, represent voices that have not always been acknowledged in the art world establishment. They are proof that if the will is strong enough, art can come from any and every corner, not just the academy, and some of it will be staggeringly good. Cushman, the school's gallery director and curator, has gathered a powerful collection of works for an exhibit that winds through back alleys and lesser-traveled paths. Howard Finster, James "Son" Thomas, Bill Traylor, Jane "in vain" Winkelman, Russell Butler (aka buZ blurr) of Clark County and Minnie Evans are among the more than 40 folk, self-taught and outsider artists from more than 20 states represented in the exhibit, which remains on view through Oct. 24. A reception is set at the center from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 15. One of the highlights of the show is the sheer expanse of media used to make these images and objects. Broken glass, scrap paper, leather, tin, house paint, bones, teeth and more show up in the works as proof that art can come from whatever the person creating it has at hand. "That was enough for me to bring this into the gallery to let students see that if you just let go and explore materials, look what you can come up with," Cushman says. "The reactions that I've seen have been that people really do get pulled in by the mix of media and the lyrical nature of the images." The works stretch from the 19th century to the present day and include Samuel G. French's elaborately carved walnut and cherry bedstead from the mid-1800s; Clementine Hunter's playful oil paintings depicting her memories of the African House on the Melrose Plantation in Louisiana; the glass and mixed media pieces of Paul Darmafall, aka the Baltimore Glassman; and musician Lonnie Holley's carved sandstone of multiple faces. Cushman, a longtime collector of self-taught and outsider artists, went back to catalogs from two pivotal exhibits, 1982's "Black Folk Art in America" and "Baked in the Sun: Visionary Images from the South" from 1987, for inspiration for "A Visionary Vernacular Road Trip" and reached out to his network of galleries, collectors and institutions for suggestions and works. The response was such that he decided one show could not contain its breadth, so the exhibit keeps on truckin' for part two, "The Road Trip Continues," at the Windgate Center's Ann Maners and Alex Papas Gallery from Oct. 6-Dec. 2. "Saturday Night on the Cane," 1970, oil on canvas, by Clementine Hunter, from the Dana and Dr. Curt Kinard Collection is among works on show in Little Rock during "A Visionary Vernacular Road Trip." (Special to the Democrat- Gazette/UALR Gallery Program) FAQ 'A Visionary Vernacular Road Trip' WHEN & WHERE — 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday; through Oct. 24, Brad Cushman Gallery, Windgate Center for Art + Design, University of Arkansas atLittle Rock & "The Road Trip Continues," Oct. 6-Dec. 2, Ann Maners and Alex Papas Gallery, Windgate Center for Art + Design, University of Arkan- sas at Little Rock COST — Free INFO — 501-916-3182