Winter Art Exhibitions and Experiences at CALS

Winter 2025 offers many opportunities to view and experience art at the Central Arkansas Library System through exhibitions, events, and workshops!

Exhibitions

From the Vault: A Survey of the CALS Art Collection will be on display throughout the spring, with some additions to mark Black History Month.

The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) houses more than just books. CALS’s art program also actively collects and exhibits works by artists working and living in Arkansas.

This eclectic exhibition features historical and contemporary artworks that show the diversity of art being created in Arkansas.

The CALS Permanent Collection holds more than 1,000 works of art and incorporates a wide range of media, including paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, and decorative arts. Works are added to the collection regularly through purchases and donations.

For Black History Month in February, From the Vault will feature artworks by Black artists in the CALS art collection, including prints, paintings, and drawings by Kevin Cole, Perrion Hurd, Ariston Jacks, Louise Mandumbwa, and Delita Martin, as well as early artworks by AJ Smith and Marjorie Williams Smith.

Also on display will be works by Terry Brewer, John Deering, and Kevin Kreese depicting Black Arkansans.

More art from the CALS Permanent Collection can be seen throughout our thirteen library locations. Works by the following Black artists can be viewed at branch libraries throughout the system:

Children’s Library: Equilla Marie Walker; Maumelle Library: Henri Linton; McMath Library: Angela Johnson; Mille Brooks Library: Kevin Kresse; Rooker Library: Adaja Cooper; Thompson Library: John Deering and Henri Linton; and Williams Library: Alice Ayers, Adaja Cooper, CC Mercer, and Kevion Williams.

Visit the CALS website (opens in new window) for Roberts Library visiting information (opens in new window).

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Call for Submissions

Imagining Black Futures: Call for Artists

The upcoming exhibition in the Roberts Library titled Imagining Black Futures: Young Artists Envision Afrofuturism invites young artists to explore themes of Black identity, autonomy, and liberation through the lens of Afrofuturism. Black/Afro-diasporic artists enrolled in 9th through 12th grade may submit original artwork for consideration. Homeschooled students and teenage artists in nontraditional schooling/GEDs may also participate.

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Events

[Note: CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER; join us on February 14!] Join us THIS FRIDAY, January 10, 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 have snacks and sip wine with friends.

At CALS’s monthly event, attendees will be greeted with local artists selling their work and/or providing art demonstrations, a DJ or performer playing music, and light refreshments and libations. On stage for January we will have Matt Stone on solo guitar.   

The event is free to attend and parking is free with validation in the CALS library lot/deck (as space is available). Due to construction, you must enter the parking deck from President Clinton Ave. and the lot from 2nd St. Street parking is also free after 5 p.m.  

PLUS, 2nd Friday Knit Night is part of 2FAN!

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.

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Art Around CALS

In December, art administrator Colin Thompson and art programmer Shannon Holmes reinstalled artworks from the CALS Permanent Collection at the McMath Library after McMath’s renovations were finished.

For questions about art classes and workshops, contact art programmer Shannon Holmes at sholmes@cals.org or 501-320-5792.

 Art events and workshops are made possible by generous funding from the Windgate Foundation.