7 minute read
THE TO-DO LIST
BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE
COURTESY OF WINDGATE CENTER FOR ART AND DESIGN
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.
GOOD WEATHER: HUNTER FOSTER’S ‘LAYMAN’
THROUGH SATURDAY 7/10. BURNS PARK, NORTH LITTLE ROCK. NOON-3 P.M.
COURTESY OF GOOD WEATHER
If part of an artist’s job is to make us view ordinary things through a different lens, then curator Haynes Riley is doing it right. Riley’s “Good Weather” pop-up art shows, often displayed in site-specific ways in a garage in the Lakewood area of North Little Rock, tend to tinker with the viewer’s feelings about gallery etiquette, time and even space; the press release for this exhibit lists its location in the form of latitude/longitude coordinates: “34°48’09.0”N 92°18’25.8”W.” Here, an offsite exhibit from fellow Central Arkansan Hunter Foster includes nine paintings situated “within a sculptural form of woven strips and opaque metal walls located in the center of a forested public park” — in this case, south of Burns Park’s dog park and just west of the Funland area. Made of dyed canvas, Foster’s pieces overlay the concentric circles of painted wooden tree rings, “engrained,” the creator said, “with a refusal of certainty (antagonistic, even, towards aboutness).” Good Weather’s pop-ups thrive on human interaction — an element sorely lacking in the world of visual art over the course of the pandemic — so visit during these Saturday afternoon “gallery hours” if you can.
MOVIES IN THE PARK
WEDNESDAYS 7/7, 7/14, 7/21, 7/28. FIRST SECURITY AMPITHEATER. SUNDOWN (8:30 P.M., APPROXIMATELY). FREE.
The Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau and River Market Operations are bringing back this summer movie series on the riverfront, with screenings of “Wonder Woman 1984,” July 7; “Raya and the Last Dragon,” July 14; “Bill and Ted Face the Music,” July 21; and Clark Duke’s “Arkansas,” July 28. Don’t bring: glass containers. Do bring: lawnchairs or picnic blankets, bug spray, leashed pets and picnic snacks. An adult must accompany all children under the age of 18, and an ID is required.
OZARK LIVING NEWSPAPER THEATRE: ‘A HONKY HYMN’
SUNDAYS 7/4, 7/11 AND 7/18. KABF-FM 88.3. 4 P.M. FREE.
This lively Central Arkansas theater company was born in 2016 from a class UCA professor Adam Frank taught on theater and social justice, and has since been partnering with nonprofits like El Zocalo Immigrant Resource Center, Lucie’s Place and Just Communities of Arkansas to create unconventional theater work, often with the use of handcrafted masks and puppetry. Here, the company puts playwright and Hendrix-Murphy Visiting Fellow Andy Vaught’s radio play “A Honky Hymn” on air for three Sundays in July, with music from multi-instrumentalist/rock goddess Rachel Ammons. The play, Vaught said in a press release, is “part poem, part sermon, part country song cycle ... . It follows the paths of four friends from childhood, through the war that separates them, and through the beliefs that seal their fates. It is the story of an America where the past mixes with the present, where the conflicts of yesterday find expression in the language of the modern age.” Catch it on KABF, or stream it on ozarklivingnewspaper.org beginning July 19.
TUESDAY 7/13-SUNDAY 8/1. WAR MEMORIAL PARK. $45.
The Arkansas Repertory Theatre, much to the delight of anyone who’s watched it navigate the twists and turns of a financial roller coaster over the last few years, is back, with outdoor productions in July and August. “If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s how much we all crave being out in the world, and sharing experiences with our families, friends and neighbors,” The Rep Executive Artistic Director Will Trice said. “That’s exactly what live theater provides, and these immersive productions give us the chance to enjoy our city’s beautiful community spaces in a whole new way.” The first of those productions, “Marie & Rosetta,” puts the spotlight on Cotton Plant native and gospel/rock icon Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and on her relationship with contralto Marie Knight. Steve H. Broadnax — Little Rock native, Penn State University professor and longtime Rep collaborator — directs this production of George Brant’s 2017 musical, which takes place in a “Rep Revival Tent” on the grounds of War Memorial Park. Tickets go on sale July 1; visit therep.org.
LAURA E. PARTAIN
MARY GAUTHIER
SUNDAY 7/18. FAYETTEVILLE ROOTS HQ, 1 E. MOUNTAIN ST., FAYETTEVILLE. 7:30 P.M. $60-$120.
From the minds that brought the food/music hybrid Fayetteville Roots Fest to Arkansas since 2010 comes an outdoor series worth the road trip up to Northwest Arkansas, particularly when the series offers you a chance to see the likes of Rodney Crowell, Parker Millsap and Mary Gauthier. Gauthier, whose own confrontations with homophobia and heroin form the backbone of her formidable talents, is the folk sage behind “Mercy Now,” “I Drink” and “The War After the War,” and is possessed of a knack for quieting a room with a whisper instead of a wail. When we went to press, the option to reserve a table for three was out, but tables for two or four were still available. See fayettevilleroots.org for tickets, and check out the rest of a compelling series lineup while you’re there.
PAUL CAUTHEN
SATURDAY 7/31. REV ROOM. 8:30 P.M. $25.
We may well have ruined the words “outlaw country” through sheer overuse, but we can still spot its spirit when we hear it. Paul Cauthen’s music bears all the DNA of ancestors like Waylon and Hank and Willie, and the wayward biography to accompany it: a childhood set to the soundtrack of Church of Christ hymns, turning 20 years old in prison, two druggy years in a crumbling Dallas hotel. For a primer, stand next to the fire of the March 2021 solo piano version of Cauthen’s “Slow Down,” shot in one continuous, glorious take by Amos David McKay. Then pair that with the darkly comedic meta-disco masterpiece that is Cauthen’s “Cocaine Country Dancing.” This Rev Room show is gonna be a barnburner, and Kentucky soprano Leah Blevins, opening the show, is bringing the matches. Get tickets at revroom.com.
ARGENTA PLAZA SUMMER SERIES: SYNRG, THE RODNEY BLOCK COLLECTIVE
SATURDAY 7/17. ARGENTA PLAZA, 510 MAIN ST., NORTH LITTLE ROCK. 5 P.M. FREE.
Even well before the pandemic forced such a skill set upon them, The Rodney Block Collective was great at funneling energy into a room even when there wasn’t a “room” to fill. With trumpet player Block at the core and the SYNRG trio opening the show at 5 p.m., this free outdoor summer series of concerts beckons Little Rock residents to heed the Dogtown mantra local creator Bang-Up Betty recently cemented into a T-shirt slogan: “Stop being a snob about coming to North Little Rock.” Bring lawnchairs.
‘COOL GLOBES: HOT IDEAS FOR A COOLER PLANET’
THROUGH 12/31. CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER. FREE.
The Clinton Presidential Library and Museum reopens July 1 after its pandemic-induced hiatus, but you won’t need a ticket for its newest temporary exhibit, which illuminates the crisis and impending challenges of climate change through a series of 26 globe-shaped sculptures, each designed by a different artist. Situated around the park’s outdoor landscape and designed for self-guided wandering, the globes have been circling the actual globe since 2007, positing accessible solutions to environmental crises in their themes: “Carpool,” “Conserve Water,” “Bee Mindful.” (Is it too late to add a “Hold Giant Corporations Accountable” globe? Asking for a friend.)
