What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1419275
8 WHAT'S UP! OCTOBER 17-23, 2021 COVER STORY Let The Art Speak For Itself Regional works convey who, where, when we are JOCELYN MURPHY NWA Democrat-Gazette W hen organizers at the Walton Arts Center's Joy Pratt Markham Gallery resolved to curate an exhibition that reflects Northwest Arkansas' sense of place, that realization only led to more questions. "We were like, 'Well, what does that mean? Do we want Razorbacks? What is that, right?'" shares Jason Smith, exhibition project manager. "And we [determined] we just want a picture of what artists are doing right now in Northwest Arkansas — what they are creating in this time, here in this region. And that's really what we were looking for." Thus, "Our Art, Our Region, Our Time" became the first exhibition in the venue's history to put out a completely open call to artists in the area. Seventy-three pieces, by 64 artists, represent 16 cities in the WAC's first regional visual arts exhibition. Kicking off the arts center's 30th anniversary season with such a project is a testament to the institution's commitment to supporting and reflecting the community it calls home. "We could have easily gone out and picked 12 artists that we knew and had a brilliant show, but it wouldn't have the same impact that this will have," Smith says of the ambitious installation. "And it's just a drop in the bucket," exhibition curator Kathy Thompson adds. "There are so many artists in this area. And that's what we want people in our community and region to know, is we are so lucky to have so many creative people of all kinds, not just in the visual arts, but in our area, and we should be supporting them. That's very important." In that spirit, "Our Art, Our Region, Our Time" is another in a long line of efforts the WAC has made to support local artists through pandemic- induced hardships. During covid, Smith explains, the staff took on a "community-based artists kind of mission," organizing performance opportunities in nontraditional settings and getting musicians paid when gigs were scarce. Part of the purpose of the exhibition was to extend the same support to visual artists, and to get their work in front of Northwest Arkansas patrons, which is not always easy, Smith points out. "And the full commission goes to the artist, which is never done. Unheard of," Smith says of the works available for sale. "Besides the show, that's the gift of the Walton Arts Center," Thompson adds. Among the 73 pieces chosen to fill the gallery space, the people and social communities that make up Northwest Arkansas are all there, the pair agree proudly. One of the only true criteria the selection committee was looking for, they reveal, were pieces that "make the viewer stop and think and ask questions." "The first word that comes to my mind is diversity," Thompson says in thinking over the collection on display. "I mean, it's not just the artists that are diverse, it's not just the work is diverse. It's the way we hung it. We tried to make it seem that way; we want people to come in and just go, 'Wow!'" "I think what Kathy did so beautifully was that she mixed them up in a way that it adds value to each piece that you come across," Smith says of the exhibition's layout. "Because it really kind of points out how different and how special each piece is, which you don't always get when you go in and it's all the same theme or all the same medium." "We could have easily gone out and picked 12 artists that we knew and had a brilliant show, but it wouldn't have the same impact that this will have," says Jason Smith, exhibition project manager for "Our Art, Our Region, Our Time." The 73-piece exhibition is the first time the Walton Arts Center has put out an open call to artists for an installation of regional work and features 64 local and regional artists. (Courtesy Photo/Walton Arts Center)