COURTESY OF WINDGATE CENTER FOR ART AND DESIGN
BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE
MICHAEL WARRICK: ‘CLAY, METAL, STONE, WOOD’ AND ‘SPIRITS’
THROUGH TUESDAY 7/20. UA LITTLE ROCK WINDGATE CENTER OF ART AND DESIGN. FREE. Metalworker Michael Warrick, named the 2020 Arkansas Living Treasure by the Department of Arkansas Heritage, has been at it for a while now. He learned welding in the late ’60s in a high school industrial arts class and, a few years later, found himself working on large-scale mining equipment and railroad cars. It didn’t take long for his industrial skill to take a turn for the artistic, though; Warrick’s metalwork sculptures have found homes in parks in Changchun, China, and Hanam, South Korea. Here in the Little Rock area, his installations can be seen at the National Park Services Central High Museum, the Central Arkansas Library System, the Statehouse Convention Center, the University of Arkansas Ottenheimer Library, the CARTI Cancer Center and Bernice Garden. This summer, two exhibitions of Warrick’s work will be up at UA Little Rock in the Brad Cushman and the Maners/Pappas galleries. The first is a snapshot of works in clay, metal, stone and wood created over the last decade. The second is a site-specific installation called “Spirits,” and features seven “meditation portraits cast in Hydrocal with fiberglass reinforcement,” suspended at eye level in low light and meant to represent mentors and spiritual guides. The UA Little Rock art gallery’s hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays, and patrons can call 501-916-3182 with questions or to confirm a campus visit to the galleries, or view the exhibit online at artexhibitionsualr.org.
ARKANSASTIMES.COM
JULY 2021 13
