Ozark Living

grown a little bit," Moncrief said. Admission to the museum is free, and access to most of the classes and exhibits remains free and open to the public. For many of the classes, supplies are provided free of charge, all as a means of fostering art appreciation and art participation in Fort Smith and the surrounding community. "at's a beautiful thing that connects us to our past," Moncrief said. at sentiment is shared by Dr. Georgia Hale, the former provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and interim director of RAM. Hale assumed the post in October when Louis Meluso retired from the position and while the RAM Board of Directors searches for a permanent replacement. "Our mission is to bring culture to the Fort Smith community," Hale said. e museum staff works hard to ensure that everyone has equal access to RAM and its artistic exposure, especially communities that don't oen have access to art education programs, she said. "We are involving a large group of people in planning, as well as to participate, in our anniversary events, so we can celebrate those with the foresight to know that something like RAM was needed in a city like Fort Smith," Hale said. How it started Who were those people with foresight? Many individuals, past and present, of course. But what became RAM started in 1948 as a project organized by the Arkansas Association of University Women, Moncrief said. ese women began organizing art classes and exhibitions throughout the community. ey had no permanent building at the time, Moncrief said. Instead, they used whatever space they could, including the KFPW building and the Goldman Hotel. In 1951, the effort was continued by a group of artists organized under the name the Associated Artists of Fort Smith, Moncrief said. ese artists continued to hold art classes and art appreciation events around the city, but particularly in and around the Belle Grove Historic District, she said. It was also around this time that the first summer art camps were conducted by the group, she added. roughout this time, and even today, volunteers have been a very important part of what keeps the museum going, Moncrief said. Oen in these early years, volunteers would go door-to-door in Fort Smith, collecting donations to support the various classes and events. By 1968, the group first incorporated as the Fort Smith Art Center, and the Vaughn-Schaap House served as the first permanent home for the art museum for nearly five decades. Delayed art career Also in 1968, a 14-year-old aspiring artist named Jon Williams attended one of the Fort Smith Art Centers' summer art camps for the first time. "My mother was an artist, a very fantastic artist," said Williams, now a retired 68-year- old Fort Smith resident. "Some of my earliest memories are of her and her artwork. I loved to watch her paint." Williams recalled being very interested in art because of his mother, so when he heard about the summer art camp, he begged to be allowed to attend. Several nuns from nearby St. Scholastica led the art camps, Williams said, and the attendees included about 20 youths all around the same age. During the art camp, Williams said, participants painted and sketched, sculpted with modeling clay, built popsicle stick creations and fashioned dried bean and macaroni art projects. e nuns would critique the finished projects and help the students to improve, and they were very supportive, he recalled. Williams recalled one clay project where he'd sculpted a face he described as "horrendous." e clay face broke apart in the firing kiln, but the nuns glued it back together. As much as Williams enjoyed art and his time at the 1968 summer art camp, he didn't think about being a full-time artist right away. "e reality of earning a living, supporting a family, that would be hard as an artist," Williams said. "But once I retired 3 1/2 years ago, I was able to pursue art again and didn't have the pressure of having to make a living and sell my art to support myself. "at makes a big difference, not having to feel the pressure of needing monetary gain," he said. Williams now paints and sculpts faces and other things from wood. He shows his artwork in about five or six shows each year. He's also had some of his pieces entered in RAM Invitational events in the past few years and will have his first solo exhibit at RAM later this year. Williams, a Cherokee tribal citizen, has also had his artwork shown at the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma; the Trail of Tears Art Show and Sale in Tahlequah, Oklahoma; the Art Show on Main in Van Buren; the Arkansas/Oklahoma State Fair; and other venues, where some of his pieces have won numerous awards. "It's been quite a learning experience and something I really wanted to do," Williams said of his art. "It's very rewarding." RAM today RAM moved to its present location on Rogers Avenue in 2013, making this 75th anniversary year also the 10th anniversary at the current location. With that last move also came national museum standards for lighting, climate and storage, Moncrief said. e location also features large windows, airy Daleana Vaughan Georgia Hale Julie Moncrief This ceramic piece is part of RAM's "Pablo Picasso: 25 Years of Edition Ceramics" exhibit, part of the museum's 75th anniversary celebration. 28 • February 2023 • OZarK LIVING

• Cover