Rose exhibit at MOCA; 2nd Friday Art Night in LR.
When it rains, those who get rain say, it pours. There's a rain of art coming up Friday, July 13, that will require that gallery goers choose between Little Rock, where downtown galleries will be open late for 2nd Friday Art Night, and Hot Springs, where David Malcolm Rose's "The Lost Highway: Constructions in Miniature" exhibit opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
The last shall be first: "The Lost Highway" features Rose's amazing scale models of the motels and gas stations and diners that once lined U.S. highways before the interstates took away the traffic and the business.
Among the models: the funny turreted gas station in Rixey ("Gas"), a sun-worn Navajo trading post, the Asher Avenue drive-in. Says the Hot Springs artist of the works on his website, davidmalcolmrose.com: "Who knows, in the future we may want to find our way back to the times when business leaders and community leaders shared common interests. If that happens, these models may be as useful to us as bread crumbs were to Hansel and Gretel."
The MOCA reception runs from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Nine galleries are taking part 2nd Friday Art Night, showcasing Civil War artifacts (Butler Center Galleries in the Arkansas Studies Institute), bracelets by Linda Bradley (Curran Hall), and Arkansas Pastel Society members' work (Christ Church), landscapes by Jennifer Cox Coleman (Gallery 221). The Strojek family's Barbie Doll collection is the focus and Steve Bates offers the music at the Historic Arkansas Museum. Interstate Buffalo will provide music at the Old State House, which is showing "Battle Colors of Arkansas," an exhibition of 18 Civil War flags. StudioMain is pairing furniture designed by students in the Applied Design program of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with Herman Miller chairs. Garbo Hearne will give a talk at 6 p.m. on collecting at her gallery, Hearne Fine Art, which is showing "Montage 24," an exhibit of work by 224 artists who've been with the gallery 24 years.
On Saturday, the Delta Cultural Center is hosting a reception for artist John Ruskey, a Mississippi River canoe outfitter and guide who is also a painter and sculptor. "John Ruskey: The Downstream Painter" features watercolors of the Mississippi and its animals, hand-colored maps and hand-carved canoes.
The Arkansas Arts Center is accepting entries for its 38th annual "Toys Designed by Artists" exhibition, which runs Nov. 21 through Jan. 6. Deadline to enter is Sept. 14. Artists may submit up to three entries; all must have been completed since 2010. Entry fees are $15 for first and $10 for each additional. For more information, go to www.arkarts.com or call 372-4000.
Zeek Taylor, the Eureka Springs artist known for his paintings of chimps, irises and chimps and irises, a source of great energy in the artistic hamlet, has won the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Arkansas Arts Council. Winning the Individual Artist Award was John Jeter, director of the Fort Smith Symphony.
Other 2012 winners: Jeff Baskin, Laman Library director, Arts Community Development Award; Christen Burke Pitts of North Little Rock and Clayton Scott of Fayetteville, Arts in Education Awards; TRUE Marketing of Jonesboro, Corporate Sponsorship of the Arts Award; gospel singer/songwriter Marty Phillips of Crossett, Folklife Award; Drs. Mack and Vern Ann Shotts, Patron Award; and retired ad man Jim Johnson, the Judges Special Recognition Award.
Jurors were chairman Michael Tidwell, Husny Dahlan, Lana Hallmark, Mike Malek, Clyde Milner and Bob Pest.