What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/945438
ARTS AWAY 40 WHAT'S UP! FEBRUARY 25-MARCH 3, 2018 Little Exhibit, Big Deal Unique objects from Louisiana Purchase together in Little Rock JENNIFER NIXON Arkansas Democrat-Gazette A ging pieces of paper. A knife and fork. A portrait of Napoleon. They seem like disparate items, randomly put together. But they all played a role in one of the most important events in American — and Arkansas — history. "The Great Expedition: Exploring the Louisiana Purchase and Its Impact on Arkansas" is the Clinton Presidential Center's current exhibit, an examination of what was, in essence, an epic real estate deal. In 1803, French leader Napoleon Bonaparte was in need of more money to finance his European wars. The still-young United States was anxious to get control of the land west of the Mississippi River. So, in late spring of that year, America bought the Louisiana Territory, about 828,000 square miles that included present-day Arkansas, from France for $15 million. In that defining moment, the country doubled in size, and westward expansion became a reality. The exhibit is part of the Clinton Center's Fusion: Arts + Humanities Arkansas program. It's based on a similar program in Texas that, in a world where science and technology are taking a lead in education, shines a stronger light on a different aspect of learning. Clinton Center spokeswoman Rebecca Tennille explains: "Not to take away from the importance of STEM [Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics], but it's just to focus on the arts and humanities as well." The center's main exhibit spaces were already taken with "Art of Africa: One Continent, Limitless Vision" and "Mandela: The Journey to Ubuntu," both of which have since closed. Ben Thielemeier, Clinton Foundation communications manager, says, "We don't have a lot of specific gallery spaces outside the two. So, how can we creatively use other spaces?" They turned to the small, circular theater where the center's orientation video usually plays on a loop and turned it into a temporary gallery. For now, the video plays out in the hall. The video screen and half the theater seats are hidden behind information panels and display cases. It turns out, this windowless, interior room is perfect for this small but historically giant exhibit. "The artifacts, they're sensitive to light, of course," archivist Stephanie Sims says. "We just decided to bring everything inside." Actual Louisiana Purchase documents, on loan from the National Archives and Records Administration, include: • The American original of the sale treaty, signed by U.S. diplomats Robert Livingston and James Monroe and by French Finance Minister Francois de Barbe-Marbois. • The exchange copy of the convention for payment of money due to U.S. citizens signed by Napoleon. • The American original of the convention for payment of 60 million francs ($15 million). This exhibit's run is only about a month, shorter than other center exhibits, and the documents' fragility is the main reason. "There's a formula we use on all sensitive textiles, how many days they can be exhibited," Kurt Senn, deputy director of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, says. "It's calculated on the amount of light exposure and climate exposure." The documents are among the archive's "100 Milestone Documents" and normally stay in Washington. Ed Williams, right, with Early Arkansaw Re-enactors Association, holds steady a replica his group built of the Aux Arc keel boat, as workers with Campbell Sheet Metal install it in front of the Clinton Presidential Center. The original boat was used by William Dunbar and George Hunter in 1804 to chart the Red, Black and Ouachita Rivers on an expedition to Hot Springs shortly after the Louisiana Purchase. The replica is part of an exhibit featuring artifacts from the Hunter/ Dunbar Expedition. File Photo/BENJAMIN KRAIN