501-918-3025
calsfoundation@cals.org
calsfoundation@cals.org
Summer Art Exhibitions and Experiences at CALS
This summer offers many opportunities to view and experience art at the Central Arkansas Library System through exhibitions, events, and workshops!
Exhibitions
Catch this one before it closes! Jay Youngdahl’s exhibition What Did You Learn in School Today? opened in April in the CALS Roberts Library Underground Gallery and closes on June 29.
Featuring photography and sculptural elements, this exhibition focuses on the influence of textbooks that were used by students in Little Rock and throughout Arkansas in the mid-twentieth century. The artist Jay Youngdahl, a Little Rock native, received his MFA at the Art Institute of Chicago and is a photographer, writer, and conceptual artist. Read a recent review of the exhibition by University of Arkansas in Fayetteville assistant professor of political science Najja K. Baptist here.
Roberts Library visiting information is here.
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Opening this month at the CALS Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library & Learning Center is the Arkansas Arts Educators State Youth Art Show 2024.
On view Saturday, June 15–Friday, August 30
The Arkansas Art Educators State Youth Art Show 2024 exhibits the Best of Show winners from art competitions held in seven regions of the state: Northwest, Northeast, Central, East, Southwest, Southeast, and West. The artwork was created by talented students from kindergarten through twelfth grade.
The Arkansas Art Educators is an organization made up of art teachers from all over the state who work with the Arkansas Department of Education to provide teachers with high-quality in-service training and to promote student art in the state. CALS is proud to support Arkansas’s teachers and artists of all ages.
Entry to the exhibition is free, and so is parking! Children’s Library visiting information is here.
Events
Join us THIS FRIDAY, June 14, for 2nd Friday Art Night (2FAN) at the CALS Rock It! Lab at 120 River Market Ave.
Drop in between 5 and 8 p.m. for this free after-hours art event that happens on the second Friday of each month, hosted at several locations in downtown Little Rock by various organizations. So stop by each second Friday to chat with local artists, shop locally from Arkansas makers, take in some music, and sip wine with friends.
June’s 2FAN has amazing wood-fired pottery created by artists Hannah May and Logan Hunter, “Unique & Imperfect” works in clay by Virgeen Healey and Ray Schott, and fun, snarky collages and greeting cards by Denise Felton. Ceramics instructor at Windgate Art School / Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts artist Kelly Edwards and Sock Monster creator Chris Massingill will also be there.
On stage we will have Darril “Harp” Edwards, bringing Caribbean flavor. Born in the twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago, the well-known local steel drum musician and vocalist was raised on calypso, the limbo, and tunes for steel drums, the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago.
PLUS, 2nd Friday Knit Night!
Come knit and sip with us! Bring your WIP (work in progress) to 2FAN and hang out for an evening of social knitting.
Don’t know how to knit? We’ll teach you. Supplies provided.
For more information about all downtown 2FAN activities, visit the 2nd Friday Art Night Facebook page.
Made possible by generous funding from the CALS Foundation and the Windgate Foundation.
Here is some of the fun from May’s 2FAN!
Workshops
Two workshops are coming up in July! Workshops are free, with registration required.
Weaving with Beth Lambert
Saturday, July 13, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
The Rock It! Lab
Learn how to weave without a loom!
Art educator Beth Lambert was born and raised in North Little Rock. After retiring from a twenty-year career in writing, marketing, and software engineering, she began a career as a studio potter and educator. After a decade of teaching at what is now the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA), Hendrix College, and Penland School of Crafts, Lambert accepted a position at the AMFA as Ceramic Department chair and then associate director of the Museum School for 3D programming. She was promoted to director of the Windgate Art School in May 2021 and has just retired. Now she will be teaching her first art workshop with CALS!
Free workshop, with a limit of 15 attendees. Materials provided. Registration required. Register at https://events.cals.org/event/11008703.
Parking free with validation in the CALS lot (space limited due to construction) or deck.
Stained-Glass Art Mosaics with Cheri Bohn
Saturday, July 20, noon to 3:00 p.m.
CALS Roberts Library, Room 204
401 President Clinton Ave., downtown Little Rock
Participants will choose stained-glass shards and create their own design. Artist Cheri Bohn will also show how to cut glass. After laying out and cleaning the glass, participants will then glue down the pieces onto a glass pane. The one-of-a-kind artwork will be placed into the provided frame to take home.
Free workshop, with a limit of 20 attendees. Materials provided. Registration required. Register at https://events.cals.org/event/11037160.
Parking free with validation in the CALS lot (space limited due to construction) or deck.
Check out these artists-in-the-making!
Here is some fun we had at our mixed media art class with Sulac in March!
Here is some fun we had at Wire Work Basics with Krystal Cornelius in April!
Here is some fun we had at the printmaking workshop with Perrion Hurd in May!
And here is some fun we had at the felt flower workshop with with Rachelle Logan in June!
For questions about art classes and workshops, contact Shannon Holmes at sholmes@cals.org or 501-320-5792.
To see upcoming CALS art exhibitions, events, and classes, click here.
Art events and workshops are made possible by generous funding from the Windgate Foundation.
