Latino Art Project Exhibition

Underground Gallery, CALS Roberts Library
Thursday, November 2 to Saturday, December 30

The Latino Art Project Exhibition will open in the CALS Underground Gallery as part of the Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration hosted by the Central Arkansas Library System, the Mexican Consulate of Little Rock, and the Downtown Little Rock Partnership. The opening celebration and alley party on the Day of the Dead will be held in Count Pulaski Way between the Roberts Library and the Ron Robinson Theater from 5 to 8 p.m., on Thursday, Nov. 2. The event will feature authentic Mexican food, drinks, and music, as well as traditional Day of the Dead customs and objects.

The Latino Art Project celebrates Latino/Hispanic culture, artists, and subject matter through the visual arts.


Illustrated Arkansas: The Art of Comics

The Illustrated Arkansas exhibition features artists living and working in the state who have created or contributed to print or digital comics and graphic novels. The exhibition will represent a wide range of illustration styles and media of the comics art form.

CALS is excited to display the artwork of graphic artists and spotlight their efforts in the creation of comics and graphic novels in all their forms.

CALS would especially like to thank Randy Duncan, the director for the Center for Comics Studies at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, for the concept of the exhibition and all his challenging work in making it happen.

Underground Gallery
October 14, 2022 to January 28, 2023

Arkansas League of Artists’ 2022 Exhibition

The Arkansas League of Artists is a non-profit organization that formed to promote the visual fine arts in Arkansas. The League consists of visual artists and art enthusiasts from all over the state who gather to learn through the demonstration of techniques, the exploration of materials and media, and the sharing of collective experiences and knowledge.

Underground Gallery
March 11, 2021, to May 28, 2022

Jane F. Hankins: The Imaginator Extraordinaire

Witty, whimsical, wonderful—these words describe the creative world of Little Rock artist Jane F. Hankins. The Jonesboro native has been a strong presence in the Arkansas art community for over twenty years. Specializing in sculpture in porcelain and stoneware as well as drawing and painting, Hankins is a designer for nationally marketed sculpture reproductions and the creator of award-winning fine art coloring books. Hankins’s work shows us that art does not have to be serious to be important. The body of work on display includes sculptures and paintings spanning at least two decades, and some larger sculptures from her private collection will be publicly exhibited for the first time.

Underground Gallery
December 11, 2021, to February 26, 2022

From the Vault: Photography from the CALS Permanent Collection

The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) houses more than just books. The library’s art program also actively collects and exhibits works by artists working and living in Arkansas. This eclectic exhibition features historical and contemporary photography that shows 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.

Underground Gallery
September 10 to November 27, 2021

Arkansas Society of Printmakers: New Kids on the Print Block

The Arkansas Society of Printmakers (ASP) is a community of artists, art collectors, and supporters of the art of printmaking dedicated to the mission of generating greater excitement and appreciation for printmaking as a unique art form in Arkansas.

Underground Gallery
May 14 to Friday, August 27, 2021

Transformation: Artworks by Sandra Sell and Elizabeth Weber

This exhibition showcases the sculptures and paintings of two of Arkansas’s outstanding artists. Sandra Sell explores the contrast and rhythmic tension inherent in carved wood, and Elizabeth Weber’s work explores the concepts of hidden growth and transformation.

Underground Gallery
January 8 to April 24, 2021

Carol Corning: Reflections

A mixed-media collaboration of three Northwest Arkansas artists—Brandon Bullette, Octavio Logo, and Tina Oppenheimer—whose emotive experiments in color, texture, and pattern create artworks that offer a way to embark on an intuitive journey to explore the human condition.

Underground Gallery
September 13–December 28, 2019

EMBRAID—Three Northwest Arkansas Strands

A mixed-media collaboration of three Northwest Arkansas artists—Brandon Bullette, Octavio Logo, and Tina Oppenheimer—whose emotive experiments in color, texture, and pattern create artworks that offer a way to embark on an intuitive journey to explore the human condition.

Underground Gallery
April 12, 2019 — July 27, 2019

Paintings by Terry Brewer: Nepal Maa Dui Barsa Base (Two Years in Nepal, 2008-2010)

After a twenty-year career as a graphic artist, Terry Brewer made his first trip to Asia in 1998. While in Nepal, he began looking into volunteer opportunities, hoping to return someday to live, work, and explore. In 2008, he returned to Nepal as a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity International and stayed over two years. In between work assignments and treks into the mountains, he set up a studio in Katmandu and began an ongoing series of portraits and landscapes.

Underground Gallery
December 14, 2018 — March 30, 2019

Amily Miori: Au Pair Don’t Care

The exhibition features oil paintings based on the original (and sometimes disturbing) storylines of fairytales. Each painting has a summary of the original story and the modern version as told through the words of the rebellious and irreverent “au pair” storyteller.

Underground Gallery
September 14, 2018 — November 24, 2018

Arkansas and WWI

This exhibition will use documents, photographs, and artifacts from the Butler Center’s collections to highlight Arkansas’s role in the Great War.

Underground Gallery
January 12, 2018 — May 26, 2018

Jim Nelson: Abstraction and Color

A survey of new and older works by Jim Nelson that combines elements of abstract painting and low relief carving to create colorful and dynamic artworks in a variety of soft and hard woods.

Underground Gallery
August 11, 2017 — December 30, 2017

an image from arkansas committee scholars exhibition

Arkansas Committee Scholars Exhibition

Artists featured in the Arkansas Committee Scholars exhibit include Beverly Buys (Hot Springs), Robin Miller-Bookhout (North Little Rock), and Maxine Payne (Greenbrier). Each artist was selected from a group of applicants to The Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) to receive recent grant stipends of $2,000 to further artistic skills, pursue an artistic vision, or invest in equipment necessary to those ends.

Underground Gallery
January 13 – April 1, 2017

Studio Art Quilts Associates

A regional exhibition of contemporary art quilts. Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development, documentation, and publications.

SAQA defines an art quilt as “a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure.” Founded in 1989 by an initial group of 50 artists, SAQA now has over 3,000 members.

Underground Gallery
September 9 – December 31, 2016

an image from the exhibition

School’s Out: An Exhibition of Student Work by the Arkansas Arts Educators

This exhibition features work in a variety of media created by K-12 student artists from across the state. The Arkansas Art Educators (AAE) is a statewide organization of art teachers whose focus is to advocate for art education through supporting legislation and providing quality professional development for all art instructors in the state.

Underground Gallery
June 10 – August 27, 2016

an image from Painting 360

Painting 360°: A Look at Contemporary Panoramic Painting

This exhibition features works in a variety of media by artists who explore the possibilities of looking at the world beyond the edges of a viewfinder as they create images on curved surfaces. Artists whose work is featured in Painting 360° include Marcia Clark, Nicholas Evans-Cato, Christopher Evans, Amer Kobaslija, Jackie Lima, Matthew Lopas, Carrie O’Coyle, and Melissa Cowper Smith.

Underground Gallery
February 12 – April 30, 2016

an image from State Youth Art Show 2015: An Exhibition by the Arkansas Art Educators

State Youth Art Show 2015: An Exhibition by the Arkansas Art Educators

This show features dynamic works of art by talented students across Arkansas, from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The works featured are the Best of Show winners from seven regions of the state. The Arkansas Art Educators is a group of art teachers from around the state who work with the Arkansas Department of Education to provide high quality in-service training and to promote student art.

Underground Gallery
June 12 – August 29, 2015

an image from 'captured images'

Captured Images: Photographs from the Collection

From Bruce Jackson’s poignant portraits of Cummins Prison inmates (pictured here) to the compelling documentary photography of Alex Leme, this exhibition of photography from the Central Arkansas Library System’s collection presents a diverse representation of the people and places of Arkansas. Featured artists also include Gary Cawood, Thomas Harding, Benjamin Krain, David Mann, Barney Sellers, and more.

Underground Gallery
February 13 – May 30, 2015

an image from Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash: Arkansas Icon

Johnny Cash: Arkansas Icon explores the musician’s Arkansas connections over the decades, covering his childhood in Dyess, Arkansas, through his comeback at the turn of the twenty-first century. The exhibition places special emphasis on connections between his Arkansas roots and his music from his first performance in Little Rock in 1955 to a 2002 music video. Though Cash’s career took him far from Arkansas, he never quite severed his Arkansas ties. This exhibition tells that story through narrative and archival photographs from the CAHC and other collections.

Underground Gallery
October 10, 2014 – January 24, 2015

an image from Arkansas Extension Homemakers

Arkansas Homemakers: Home Demonstration and Extension Clubs

This exhibition celebrates 100 years of the Arkansas Extension Homemakers Clubs with photographs from the Arkansas History Commission and paintings by Katherine Strause. The exhibition is inspired by A Splendid Piece of Work, by Elizabeth Griffin Hill; excerpts of this book are presented as well.

Underground Gallery
July 11 – September 27, 2014

Arkansas Printmakers Association

An Exhibition of the Arkansas Society of Printmakers

This show features prints in a variety of artistic media by members of the Arkansas Society of Printmakers (ASP). Artists whose work will be shown include Robert Bean, Win Bruhl, Warren Criswell, Debi Findley, Melissa Gill, Diane Harper, Neal Harrington, Stephanie Kosakowski, Evan Lindquist, Dominique Simmons, Tom Sullivan, David Warren, Jorey May Greene, and Jane Watson.

ASP is a community of artists, art collectors, and supporters of the art of printmaking. Its mission is to generate greater excitement and appreciation for printmaking as a unique art form in Arkansas. ASP strives to maintain the integrity and identity of printmaking among artists by sharing skills and knowledge and thereby encouraging excellence in the field. ASP members facilitate community-based workshops, demonstrations and events, thereby increasing community awareness and access to prints and printmaking processes.

Underground Gallery
March 14 – June 28, 2014

arkansas women to watch 2013

Arkansas Women to Watch 2013

Arkansas Women to Watch 2013 is an exhibition of inventive textile-based art featuring works by Louise M. Halsey, Little Rock; Barbara Cade, Hot Springs; Jennifer Libby Fay, formerly of Rogers; Jane Hartfield, Fort Smith; and Deborah Kuster, Conway. The exhibition includes woven tapestries, felted and mixed media works, “textile paintings,” and hand-dyed and painted quilts. Arkansas Women to Watch 2013 is a project of the Arkansas State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, a non-profit organization dedicated to recognizing women artists of all periods and nationalities.

Underground Gallery
December 13, 2013 – February 22, 2014

abstract ar(t)

Abstract AR(t)

This exhibition offers viewers an opportunity to see contemporary, abstract works of art by Arkansas based artists. Artists in the exhibition are: Dustyn Bork, Megan Chapman, Donnie Copeland, Don Lee, Jill Storthz and Steven Wise.

Underground Gallery
September 13 – November 23, 2013

an image from the Creative Expressions exhibition

Creative Expressions

The Creative Expressions Program at the Arkansas State Hospital is a non-profit organization that uses the visual arts to promote and support the self-awareness and growth of individuals with mental illness.

Underground Gallery
May 10 – August 25, 2013

clinton for arkansas

Clinton for Arkansas

In the Clinton for Arkansas exhibition, selected materials from the Bill Clinton State Government Project depict Clinton’s political career in Arkansas and its impact on the state. Items representing both politics and policy are featured, including materials from his run for Congress in 1974 and his term as attorney general, as well as from his twelve years as governor. In addition, the exhibition highlights campaign memorabilia from 1974 through his second presidential bid in 1996.

Underground Gallery
January 11 – April 27, 2013

Art of Living: More Artwork from the Rosalie Santine Gould Rohwer Collection

Underground Gallery
September 14 to December 29, 2012

an image from Small Town

Small Town: Portraits of a Disappearing America

Farming communities have been suffering a slow and painful decline for decades due to the gradual but steady rise of agribusiness, the loss of small family farms, and the century-long exodus of rural populations to urban centers. Families facing job loss and economic strife-along with communities suffering failed businesses, depopulation, and a general malaise of perceived worthlessness-are common features of conversations that run through many small towns in America. Although these towns are often located just outside major metropolises, the realities of their social and economic landscapes are worlds apart.

With a meager population of 650, Cotton Plant is nestled in the rural northeastern portion of Arkansas, between Little Rock and Memphis, Tennessee. Despite its rich history and the “promising” nature of its past, Cotton Plant has suffered the same challenges and outcomes as many other small rural towns. What once was a relatively thriving center and one of the fastest-growing communities in eastern Arkansas is now a town littered with ghost factories, abandoned schools, and the carcasses of crumbling buildings while the handful of what local stores remain struggle to survive. Much of the historic downtown has been demolished, and only a few dignified older homes remain. The sense of purpose that once accompanied steady, meaningful work has long since vanished.

It is the goal of this project, Small Town: Portraits of a Disappearing America, to document a facet of the American identity, and its way of life, that is rapidly being replaced and taken for granted.

Underground Gallery
May 11 – September 1, 2012

an image from women to watch

Arkansas Women to Watch

The exhibition, sponsored by the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, includes the work of artists who were selected for consideration for the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ (NMWA) “Body of Work” exhibit as part of the NMWA’s biennial Women to Watch series. NMWA’s Women to Watch exhibition series features emerging or under-represented artists from the states and countries in which the museum has outreach committees. Artist and curator Les Christensen of the Bradbury Gallery at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas, selected the nominees Catherine Brimberry, Emily Wood, Endia Gomez, Janet Frankovic, Nikki Hemphill, Ruth Pasquine, Thu Nguyen, and Deborah Warren for submission to the national exhibit.

Underground Gallery
January 13 – April 28, 2012

Thomas Harding, Pinhole Photography

Underground Gallery
October 14 – December 31, 2011

Robin Tucker

Underground Gallery
June 10 – October 1, 2011

Book Arts

An eclectic exhibition of handmade books and journals created by Arkansas artists.

Underground Gallery
March 11 – May 28, 2011

en transito de regreso, by x3mex

Raices

In the collection titled Raices, or “roots,” artist x3mex compares the issues surrounding Mexican independence with the issues of today. In Mexico’s bicentennial year, x3mex examines the history of Mexico to learn from the example of those who gave their lives for the cause of independence. His works are mixed media, including acrylic, spray paint, markers, and screen printing.

Underground Gallery
August 13 to November 20, 2010

Arkansans in the Korean War—1950 to 1953

Butler Center Atrium Gallery
May 14 to July 31, 2010

The Big Bears Arkansas ABCs: Original Artwork and Storyboard

Illustrated by Leslie A. Przybylek
Map Graphics by William H. Isenberger
Written by Dr. Charley Sandage

Take an alphabetical tour of Arkansas with Big Bear and his Critter Crew: Rabbit, Squirrel, and Raccoon. Winner of the 2005 Arkansiana Award for Juvenile Literature awarded by the Arkansas State Library Association.

Underground Gallery
February 12 to April 30, 2010

ualr art faculty preview

UALR Art Faculty Preview

Featuring painting, photography, fiber, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture.

Underground Gallery
August 14 – September 27, 2009

Natural Connections: Paintings by Emily Moll Wood and Laura Brainard Raborn

This exciting collection of paintings by Emily Moll Wood and Laura Brainard Raborn explores a visual dialogue with the natural world and nature’s deep connections to their own family histories.

Artist Statement:

Emily Moll Wood paints a lot of portraits, and more recently an obsessive number of flowers, most of which are done in watercolor and on a variety of surfaces. She holds an MA in painting from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and has taught painting classes for over fifteen years, most being at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. Her work has been accepted into and won awards in numerous juried exhibitions. Wood’s work can be found in many private and public collections such as the Historic Arkansas Museum and the Springfield (MO) Art Museum. She lives in Little Rock with her partner JD and two young children.

Laura Raborn has had paintings exhibited in multiple collections in Arkansas, throughout the U.S., and in the Bahamas. Her work has earned numerous awards and has appeared in publications such as Women Make Arkansas: Conversations with 50 Creatives by Erin Wood of Et Alia Press. An interview about her most recent work can be found at https://www.arkansasartscene.com/home/interview-with-artist-laura-raborn. After receiving a BA from Rollins College, Raborn worked in marketing for six years and took evening classes at the Arkansas Arts Center. Later, at UA Little Rock, she earned a master’s in art while working as a graduate assistant. More recently, she has participated in three prestigious art residencies: the Women’s International Study Center in Santa Fe, NM; the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Amherst, VA; and Breck Create in Breckenridge, CO. Raborn has also recently increased her mixed media workshop teaching in various art schools such as the Ah Haa School for the Arts in Telluride, CO, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR.

Loft Gallery
November 11, 2022 to January 28, 2023

Photography by David Ankeny

David Ankeny caught the photography bug from his father, and later his wife nurtured the habit. Now, he never travels without a camera. He says, “The toys got more expensive, but photography hasn’t changed much. The trick is to go beautiful places and take a camera.” A Little Rock resident, Ankeny spends a good part of his summers in his native Wyoming, and until Covid struck, his winters in New Zealand and Australia. Ankeny’s photos have been displayed at the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock’s River Market District and Boulevard Bread Company in the Heights.

Loft Gallery
Friday, February 11, to Saturday, April 30, 2022

 

Print & Stitch: Collective Works

This exhibition featuring artists Mallory Darwin, Nancy Dunaway, Melissa Gill, Judy Henderson, Tanya Hollifield, and Ellen Ishee O’Lonney showcases works created in the “Printing and Stitching” class offered by Gill at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. With an emphasis on complete creative freedom and experimentation, the class explored different ways of combining printmaking and textile techniques such as relief printing, monotype, silkscreen printing, embroidery, and fabric dyeing. Coming from a variety of backgrounds and skill levels, the students created a wonderful synergy together and inspired each other’s processes and ideas of what was possible. These works challenge traditional notions of what printmaking is and can be, emphasizing image and concept rather than technique.

Loft Gallery
Friday, October 8, 2021–Saturday, January 29, 2022  

Gregory Moore: Biota

In this exhibition of paintings on found objects, a secret world of plants and animals comes alive on decaying scraps from the human realm.

Loft Gallery
June 11–September 25, 2021

Limbs by Chris Swasta of Rolling Hills Pottery and Mascaron by Jennifer Perren

This dual exhibition showcases vibrant ceramic artworks by two local artists and educators. Chris Swasta will display his expansive ceramic coral reef installation, titled Limbs. Two years in the making, the reef is made of more than 6,000 hand-rolled coils of clay. Jennifer Perren’s collection of functional and figurative works—titled Mascaron, which means an architectural ornament representing a face or head—invokes the concept of the protective properties of gargoyles.

Loft Gallery
February 12–May 29, 2021

Equilla Marie Walker: Vision from the Lens of My Soul

Equilla Marie Walker’s retrospective exhibition features soulful images reflected in black and white, color, and mixed media from her more than twenty years as a photographer.

Loft Gallery
October 9, 2020, to January 30, 2021

Melissa Cowper-Smith: Natural Treatment, 2018 – 2019

This series of pigment prints on handmade paper offers a visual chronicle of Cowper-Smith’s interviews with herbalists in the Ozark and Central River Valley regions of Arkansas and their complex relationships to healing, illness, and belief.

Loft Gallery
June 14, 2019 — September 28, 2019

Made in America: Vintage Film Posters from the Ron Robinson Collection

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, a department of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), holds an extensive collection of Arkansas-related and other movie posters. The late Ron Robinson of Little Rock, an avid collector who was the president of Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods (CJRW) and also served as a U.S. Air Force officer in Vietnam, generously donated these film posters, which are mostly related to Arkansas history, U.S. politics, and American popular culture.

Loft Gallery
February 8, 2019 — May 25, 2019

The Arkansas Blues: Photographs by Cheryl Cohen and Louis Guida

In collaboration with ACANSA Arts, these black-and-white photographs by Cheryl Cohen and Louis Guida, on loan from the Arkansas Arts Center, document blues musicians playing in Arkansas during the 1970s. This documentary project by Cohen and Guida became the foundation of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Blues Project; these photographs were part of the earlier exhibition Old Roots, New Directions: Arkansas Blues Today.

Loft Gallery
September 18, 2018 — January 26, 2019

Andrew Rogerson: Landscape

Andrew Rogerson’s life as an artist and a scientist has been driven by a common and overriding theme: an insatiable curiosity to investigate, know, and understand the world. Rogerson, who is chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, spent decades as a microbiologist and researcher, exploring life in microscopic detail, seeking discovery and revelation. He paints landscapes to explore nature as he sees it—through the process of translation with brush, canvas, and oil paints. This scientific view, informed by a sense of exploration and creativity, defines Rogerson’s work and his search for truth through art. Through his academic and scientific career, Rogerson has worked for eight universities, on multiple continents. After more than fifty years as an artist, Rogerson likes to quote the artist David Hockney: “I paint what I like, when I like, and where I like.”

Loft Gallery
May 11, 2018 — August 25, 2018

Delta Rediscovered

This exhibition displays images of early life in Arkansas’s White River Delta by photographer Dayton Bowers, who was active in Arkansas County between 1880 and 1924. Bowers chronicled the rise of prosperity in the Delta and also operated Arkansas’s first known photography studio, located in DeWitt.

Loft Gallery
February 9, 2018 — April 28, 2018

Bret Aaker: Conatus

These new assemblages by Bret Aaker explore the idea of conatus, defined by early philosophers of psychology and metaphysics as the innate drive of an animate object to continue to exist and enhance itself.

Loft Gallery
October 13, 2017 — January 27, 2018

Art Teachers of Arkansas

A display of Butler Center artists who are also art teachers.

Loft Gallery
September 8 – September 30, 2017

Maxine Payne and Robert Scoggin: “Historic Bridges of Arkansas”

An exhibition of contemporary photographs, historic memorabilia and the Arkansas Educational Television Network’s documentary “Historic Bridges of Arkansas” featuring Maxine Payne and Robert Scoggin.

Loft Gallery
May 12 – August 26, 2017

Richard Leo Johnson: Once was Lost

Once thought lost to a fire these photographs of friends, family, landscapes and strangers taken in North Louisiana and South Arkansas during the late 70’s to mid-80’s by well-known artist and musician Richard Leo Johnson are on display for the first time in Arkansas.

Loft Gallery
December 9, 2016 – March 18, 2017

an image from the 'from the vault' exhibition

From the Vault: Prints, Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture from the CALS Collection

This exhibition features contemporary prints, paintings, drawings, and sculpture from the Central Arkansas Library System’s collection. The artwork in this exciting and diverse exhibition ranges from prints by Win Bruhl and Evan Lindquist to sculptures by Shep Miers and Gene Hatfield. Also on display are recent donations to the collection from artists Ray Khoo and Jerry Phillips.

Loft Gallery
July 8 – October 22, 2016

images from twists and strands exhibition

Twists & Strands: Exploring the Edges

Twist & Strands explores the organic forms and shapes found in the natural world in a collaborative installation of Barbara Satterfield’s sculptural ceramics and Michelle Fox’s volumetric jewelry.

Loft Gallery
March 11 – May 28, 2016

an image from earth work exhibition

Earth Work: Photographs by Gary Cawood

Since 2006, Gary Cawood has been photographing the elements of landscapes reconfigured by humans. These staged compositions – the most recent feature terrarium forms – explore manipulations of the natural order and how the natural processes ultimately prevail.

Loft Gallery
November 13, 2015 – February 27, 2016

an image from Weaving Stories & Hope

Weaving Stories & Hope: Textile Arts from the Japanese American Internment Camp at Rohwer, Arkansas

This is a collection of decorative patterns, landscapes, and still life compositions created on muslin and denim. The adults and children held during World War II at the Japanese American Internment Camp in Rohwer, Arkansas, are known for creating works of art on paper and canvas. What are not as well-known are the decorative patterns, landscapes, and still life images created on muslin and denim. This exhibition, which displays some objects for the first time, also includes crafted cloth shoes and an elegant privacy screen. The Butler Center would like to thank fabric conservators B. R. Howard & Associates for their help. This project was funded, in part, by a grant from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program.


Arkansas Society of Printmakers logo

An Exhibition by the Arkansas Society of Printmakers

This exhibition features prints in a variety of media by members of the Arkansas Society of Printmakers (ASP). ASP seeks to generate greater excitement and appreciation for printmaking as a unique art form in Arkansas through mentorship, professional critique, collaboration, and more.

Loft Gallery
March 13 – June 27, 2015

of the soil exhibition image

Of the Soil: Photography by Geoff Winningham

Of the Soil features a collection of photographs highlighting Arkansas’s vernacular architecture, which reflects local traditions.

Loft Gallery
November 14, 2014 – February 28, 2015

an image from Quapaw Quarter

Quapaw Quarter: Where Little Rock’s History Lives

Drawings, blueprints, and photographs of buildings in Little Rock’s historic Quapaw Quarter.

Loft Gallery
August 8 – November 1, 2014

work from the Detachment exhibition

Detachment: Work by Robert Reep

Detachment is an exhibition of mixed media collage by Robert Reep, a Little Rock artist and owner of Chroma Gallery. Reep describes his artwork as “spirited and sophisticated artifacts that reflect [his] curiosity, emotion and enthusiasm for the inventory and activity of daily life.”

Loft Gallery
April 11 – July 24, 2014

Unusual Portraits: New Works by Michael Warrick and David O'Brien

Unusual Portraits: New Works by Michael Warrick and David O’Brien

Unusual Portraits: New Works by Michael Warrick and David O’Brien features explorations in portraiture using wood, wax, bronze, and other materials by two accomplished Little Rock artists.

Loft Gallery
January 10 – March 22, 2014

barney sellers

The Photography of Barney Sellers

Barney Sellers , a native of Walnut Ridge, AR, won awards for news photography while working at the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, TN and was well known for his images of Arkansas barns and rural landscapes.

Loft Gallery
October 11 – December 28, 2013

jerry phillips exhibition image

Get a Simple Landscape: Drawings by Jerry Phillips

This collection of drawings explores ideas about landscape, both the conventional depiction of the surrounding environment and the metaphorical kind of “scape,” as it reflects a generative, composite portrait of the artist.

Loft Gallery
June 14 – September 28, 2013

flying snake and oyyo comic retrospective

No I’m Not, He Is: A Flying Snake and Oyyo Comic Retrospective

Created by artist and musician Michael Jukes, the popular Flying Snake and Oyyo cartoon strip was featured in Little Rock’s alternative newspapers during the eighties. This exhibition gathers the cream of the corniest Flying Snake cartoons and other artworks for your viewing pleasure.

Loft Gallery
March 8 – May 26, 2013

Solastalgia

The artwork in this exhibition by Susan Chambers and Louise Halsey interprets the idea of solastalgia, a term coined by Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht meaning “the pain experienced when there is recognition that the place where one resides and that one loves is under immediate assault.”

Loft Gallery
October 12, 2012, to February 23, 2013

Pattern in Perspective: Recent Work by Carly Dahl and Dustyn Bork

Carly Dahl and Dustyn Bork are an artist couple who both work in painting, printmaking, and installation. Dahl focuses on ideas and ideals of beauty and representation in society by psychologically presenting the pressures and expectations faced by women; the faces are intentionally blank giving viewers the ability to relate to the figures and project others into them. Bork contrasts the intentional design of architecture, ornamentation, and pattern with the incidental structure of visual forms in various stages of decay in his colorful abstractions.

Loft Gallery
June 8 to September 29, 2012

Rockefeller Elementary celebrates Governor Rockefeller

Loft Gallery
April 1 – May 25, 2012

Arkansas Masters: Prints from the CALS Collection

This exhibition, including work by AJ Smith, Warren Criswell, Elsie and Louis Freund, John Paul Caldwell and others, features a variety of print styles and techniques such as lithography, etchings and woodcuts.

Loft Gallery
February 10 – March 31, 2012

artwork by leon niehues

Leon Niehues: 21st Century Basketmaker

Loft Gallery
October 14 – January 28, 2012

Renee Williams: New Works

Loft Gallery
July 8 – September 30, 2011

Norwood Creech: Selected Works from the Northeastern Arkansas Delta

Loft Gallery
March 11 – June 25, 2011

The Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects: 2010 Design Awards Exhibition

Join us for the opening during 2nd Friday Art Night, Friday, November 12, 2010 from 5 to 8 p.m.

The Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects presents the 2010 Design Awards exhibition. These designs, submitted by architecture firms from around the state of Arkansas, were selected for the exhibition by a jury composed of leading architects from New Orleans, Louisiana. Also on display will be architectural designs for affordable new housing for the neighborhoods between Interstate 630, Charles Bussey Drive, Elm Street, and Martin Luther King Drive in Little Rock.

Loft Gallery
November 12, 2010 to February 19, 2011

an image by Luke Anguhadluq

Luke Anguhadluq: Inuit Artist

From the collection of Dr. J.W. Wiggins, Sequoyah National Research Center, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Loft Gallery
July 9 to October 30, 2010

Book Arts

An exhibition of altered or hand crafted books by Arkansas artists. The exhibition will open on the 8th of April in conjunction with the Arkansas Literacy Festival. The exhibition reception will be on April 10th at 2pm. (The April Second Friday Art Night is cancelled; however the public is invited to purchase tickets to attend the Friday night Arkansas Literary Festival Author’s party located in the Arkansas Studies Institute.)

Loft Gallery
April 8 to June 30, 2010

Allen Jarvis: Land, Water, and Sky

Many of the places that inspired these simple abstract landscapes of land, water, and sky are in Arkansas and Alabama, especially in the wetlands area of upper Mobile Bay. Artist Allen Jarvis uses objects like yardsticks, rulers, and brightly colored protractors—affixed to reclaimed wood—to build the playful bridges and manmade structures from memory, creating joyful paintings that remind him of the journeys that inspired them.

Allen Jarvis lives in Perryville, Arkansas, where he serves as branch manager of the Central Arkansas Library System’s Max Milam Library. He studied art and graphic design at Southern Arkansas University Tech in Camden and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

The Landing Gallery
June 10 through September 24

Sulac: New Artwork for the New Year

This batch of new works from Little Rock artist Sulac is fresh out of the oven, baked in the warmth of his heart at 500 degrees over the last four weeks. Sweet yet savory, delicate yet sturdy, they are a treat for the whole family.

Sulac has had solo art exhibitions at the Thea Foundation, Historic Arkansas Museum, Ketz Gallery, and the Cox Creative Center, as well as group shows at the Chroma Gallery, Oval Gallery, A.C.A.C., Wildwood Park for the Arts, The House of Art, Gallery 360, Dedicated Art Studio, The Rep, Laman Library Main Branch Gallery, and Gallery 26.

The Landing Gallery
February 11, through Saturday, May 28

Imagine a Day Without Water: Artwork by LRSD students

Little Rock School District students from 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) afterschool programs at Bale, Carver, and Chicot Elementary Schools try to “Imagine a Day Without Water” through the creation of water-themed artwork. This effort is part of a partnership between Central Arkansas Water (CAW), the Little Rock School District, and the Central Arkansas Library System. Imagine a Day Without Water is an annual national day of awareness to impart the value of water to communities.

This project comes from the U.S. Water Alliance’s inaugural Water, Arts, and Culture Accelerator initiative. CAW was one of four U.S. water utilities challenged to work with local artists to creatively address growing water-related issues such as aging infrastructure, climate change, and lack of access.

The Landing Gallery
November 12 to December 30, 2021

Clara Mitchell: Clara’s Sketchbook

This exhibition highlights artwork by a new artist in Little Rock’s gallery scene. These pen-and-ink drawings, both serene and macabre, resonate with an emotional honesty rendered with a strong technique.

The Landing Gallery
July 9–September 25, 2021

Terry Brewer—Blood and Soil

Artist Terry Brewer takes the hateful rallying cry for racial purity “Blood and Soil!” used in the past by Nazis and in the present by white supremacists and morphs it into the idea of working with both substances as media for thought-provoking art. The paintings on display are mostly rendered with spray-painted stencils to convey a sense of gritty, immediate protest art coupled with themes of ignorance, attachment, and aversion and their opposites: wisdom, generosity, and loving kindness.

The Landing Gallery
February 12–May 1, 2021

Ledger Art from the J. W. Wiggins Contemporary Native American Art Collection

As part of the Central Arkansas Library System’s celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Arkansas author Dee Brown’s classic Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, the CALS Galleries at Library Square are honored to host an exhibition of contemporary ledger art from the J. W. Wiggins Native American Art Collection at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

West Gallery
August 14 to November 28, 2020

Mid-Southern Watercolorists 50th Annual Juried Exhibition

This exhibition will include thirty-nine paintings selected by juror Lynn Ferris of West Virginia. Mid-Southern Watercolorists is a non-profit organization incorporated in Little Rock, Arkansas, to enrich the stature of watermedia and encourage the recognition of its significance in our culture. This organization furthers the interest of painters and patrons by its programs and by its competitive and non-competitive exhibitions. It also provides opportunities for study by art students and others engaged in art making and in appreciation of arts.

West Gallery
March 13 to July 25, 2020

The Arkansas Pastel Society: 2019 National Pastel Show

The Arkansas Pastel Society was established in 2004 by artists who wanted a centrally located regional organization to promote pastels as a medium and to provide networking opportunities. The society seeks to create a supportive community of pastel artists who educate the public and each other through workshops and exhibitions. The 2019 exhibition is juried by Casey Klahn.

West Gallery
November 8, 2019–February 22, 2020

Arkansas Society of Printmakers: Big Impression Prints

Arkansas Society of Printmakers: Big Impression Prints—an exhibition featuring prints by members of the Arkansas Society of Printmakers (ASP). This show celebrates the impact large-scale imagery has upon the viewer—making a big impression. As part of Second Friday Art Night (2FAN) on September 13, 5:00–8:00 p.m., ASP members will hold a live printing event where attendees can watch art being created. Wood blocks of 24″ x 36″ or larger will be inked and printed using an industrial steamroller to create “big impressions.”

West Gallery
July 12–October 26, 2019

Part to Whole: The Making of Art, the Artist, and the Artists’ Group

With artists Mia Hall, Robyn Horn, Dolores Justus, Barbara Satterfield, Sandra Sell, and Elizabeth Weber.
There can be a great divide between the viewer who stands before a work on exhibition and the artist who creates that work in solitude, dedicated to the making of it, often for years before their art is shown. Without knowing the process (the how), or the concept (the why), engaging with a finished work of art can be difficult. This exhibition tells the story of how work is made, why work is made, who the artist is, and how ongoing conversations among like-minded artists often lead to wholes greater than the sum of their parts.

West Gallery
March 8, 2019 — June 29, 2019

Arkansas League of Artists

This is an annual exhibition from the Arkansas League of Artists, an eclectic and diverse nonprofit organization formed to promote the visual fine arts and artistic education in Arkansas to all ages and across multiple disciplines.

West Gallery
November 9, 2018 — February 23, 2019

A Legacy of Brewers

Incorporating paintings from both private and public collections, this exhibition of paintings by Nicholas, Adrian, and Edwin Brewer includes portraits and landscapes featuring people and places in Arkansas, Arizona, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Texas going back to the early 1900s.

West Gallery
July 13, 2018 — October 27, 2018

2018 Delta des Refusés

The Delta des Refusés is an annual exhibition started in 2015 that features the works of artists who were rejected from the Arkansas Arts Center’s prestigious Delta Exhibition. Conceived in the spirit of the original Paris Salon des Refusés from 1863, the Delta des Refusésexhibition seeks to challenge the traditional authority of juried taste by allowing any artist who was excluded from the Delta Exhibition to exhibit in the Refusés show. The exhibition, which is scheduled each year to coincide with the Delta Exhibition, will be split between the Butler Center Galleries and the galleries at River Market Books & Gifts (RMBG), both located on the CALS Main Library campus.

West Gallery
July 13, 2018 — October 27, 2018

Mid-Southern Watercolorists, 48th Annual Juried Exhibition, 2018

Mid-Southern Watercolorists is a non-profit organization incorporated in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1970. Our goal is to enrich the stature of water media and encourage the recognition of its significance in our culture. This organization furthers the interest of painters and patrons by its programs and by its competitive and non-competitive exhibits. It also provides opportunities for study by art students and others engaged in art making and in appreciation of arts.

West Gallery
March 9, 2018 — June 30, 2018

Arkansas Pastel Society

The Arkansas Pastel Society was established 2004 when local artists realized they needed a centrally located regional organization to promote pastels as a medium and as a means of networking with other pastel artists.

Our goals are to create a supportive community of pastel artists that educate the public and each other about the medium of pastels through workshops and exhibitions.

West Gallery
November 10, 2017 — February 24, 2018

Modern Ink

Modern Ink explores new artworks created in the medium of ink by artists Carmen Alexandria, Robert Bean, Daniel Broening, Diane Harper, Neal Harrington, and Steve Rockwell.

West Gallery
September 8, 2017 — October 28, 2017

Sammy Peters: Then & Now

A survey of paintings from 1962 to the present, in collaboration with Greg Thompson Fine Art

West Gallery
June 9 – August 26, 2017

Bruce Jackson: Cummins Prison Farm

Bruce Jackson has been documenting the lives of inmates in Texas and Arkansas prisons since the nineteen-seventies. This exhibition of photographs shows the people and landscape of the Cummins Prison Farm in Arkansas from early 19th century mugshots to inmates incarcerated in the 20th century.

West Gallery
February 10 – May 27, 2017

Fired Up: Arkansas Wood Fired Ceramics

The exhibition Fired Up brings together a unique collection of functional and sculptural ceramics created with traditional wood fired techniques. Participating artists are: Stephen Driver, Jim and Barbara Larkin, Fletcher Larkin, Beth Lambert, Logan Hunter and Hannah May.

West Gallery
October 14, 2016 – January 28, 2017

'Parts and Pieces', by Judy Honey from ALAartShow

ALAartShow: A Juried Exhibition of the Arkansas League of Artists

This exhibition of work created by members of the Arkansas League of Artists and selected by juror Joe Lampo features artwork created in a variety of media. The Arkansas League of Artists is an eclectic and diverse organization formed to promote the visual fine arts in Arkansas to all ages and across multiple disciplines.

West Gallery
July 8 – October 1, 2016

images from jeanfo exhibition

Jeanfo: We Belong to Nature

This exhibition features a collection of sculpture and paintings by internationally recognized artist Jeanfo. (Image courtesy of Tim Hursley.)

West Gallery
March 11 – June 25, 2016

an image from an exhibition by the arkansas pastel society

Arkansas Pastel Society National Exhibition

This is an exhibition of works by members of the Arkansas Pastel Society, a non-profit organization founded in February 2004 that promotes pastel art, provides fellowship, and educates pastel artists.

West Gallery
November 13, 2015 – February 27, 2016

an image from Disparate Acts Redux: Bailin, Criswell, Peters

Disparate Acts Redux: Bailin, Criswell, Peters

This is an exhibition created by three artists who have found community with each other during the past thirty years. Artists are solitary beings, wrapped up in their own obsessions. The fact that Bailin, Criswell, and Peters (works pictured right from top to bottom, respectively) have been meeting for lunch for over thirty years without doing serious damage (physically or aesthetically) to each other is remarkable. During that time, their work has evolved, changed focus, and acquired new media and techniques but has remained a central part of their lives, both individually and collectively. This exhibition is the result of those years of companionship and long hours of discourse. Though their creations remain uniquely their own – disparate – within each piece a small part of the others must be hiding.

West Gallery
August 14 – October 31, 2015

an image by Sui Hoe Khoo

Human Faces & Landscapes: Paintings by Sui Hoe Khoo

Sui Hoe Khoo is a graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore. In 1974, he was awarded a scholarship grant from the John D. Rockefeller 3rd Fund to study the development of contemporary art in the United States. Currently a resident of Jacksonville, Arkansas, Khoo has held numerous international solo and group exhibitions of his distinctive portrait and landscape paintings.

West Gallery
May 8 – July 25, 2015

reflections on line exhibition image

Reflections on Line & Mass: Paintings & Sculpture by Robyn Horn

Robyn Horn, a noted painter and sculptor based in Little Rock, is an abstract artist who is drawn to forms, textures, negative space, tension, and movement. She seeks to preserve the individual character of her materials and to combine the curving lines of nature with the angular lines of geometry. Horn began showing work in 1988 and has been included in exhibitions around the world. Her work has been collected by museums throughout the United States and in London, and she has received numerous awards, including a Winthrop Rockefeller Memorial Award from the Arkansas Arts Center and a Distinguished Service Award from the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN.

West Gallery
January 9 – April 24, 2015

arkansas league of artists

ALAartShow: Fifth Annual Juried Exhibition of the Arkansas League of Artists

This exhibition features artwork by members of the Arkansas League of Artists (ALA) in a variety of media. This is the ALA’s fifth annual juried exhibition; Manuela Well-Off-Man, assistant curator of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, is the juror for this year’s show. The winner will be announced at the show’s opening reception on Friday, September 12, 5-8 p.m., as part of Second Friday Art Night.

West Gallery
September 12 – December 27, 2014

an image by Whitney McLeland for the Arkansas Art Educators

State Youth Art Show 2014: An Exhibition by the Arkansas Art Educators

This show features dynamic works of art by talented students across Arkansas, from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The works featured are the Best of Show winners from seven regions of the state. The Arkansas Art Educators is a group of art teachers from around the state who work with the Arkansas Department of Education to provide high quality in-service training and to promote student art.

Pictured here is artwork featured in the exhibition, a painting by Whitney McLeland, an eighth-grade student in northwest Arkansas.

West Gallery
June 13 – August 30, 2014

Studio Art Quilt Associates

Southern Voices

Southern Voices features contemporary textile works related to the folk art quilt tradition. This show is the regional exhibition of the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibition, professional development, documentation, and publications. SAQA defines an art quilt as “a creative visual work that is layered or stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure.” SAQA was founded in 1989 by a group of 50 artists and now has over 3,000 members.

West Gallery
March 14 – May 24, 2014

arkansas pastel society

Reflections in Pastel: Arkansas Pastel Society’s National Juried Exhibition

Pastel paintings from artists around the country will be on view during the Arkansas Pastel Society’s 5th National Exhibition, “Reflections in Pastel”. The Arkansas Pastel Society is a regional art organization founded in February of 2004 to promote the use of pastels as an art medium. In addition to this biennial national exhibition, workshops, member-only shows, paint-outs, and programs with demonstrations are presented. Further information is available on the website www.ArkPastel.com.

West Gallery
November 8, 2013 – February 15, 2014

mid-southern watercolorists exhibition image

The Mid-Southern Watercolorists – 43rd Annual Juried Exhibition

Mid-Southern Watercolorists was founded and incorporated in Little Rock, Arkansas by five artists; Doris Williamson Mapes, Bruce R Anderson, Josephine Graham, Edwin C. Brewer and Catherine Tharp Altvater, in 1970. Mid-Southern Watercolorists was formed to elevate the stature of watercolor and educate the public to the significance of watercolor as an important creative, permanent painting medium. MSW is dedicated to the highest aesthetic standards and furthers the interest of painters in watercolor by its programs and competitive exhibits, and encourages its study by art students and others engaged in watercolor painting.

West Gallery
August 9 – October 26, 2013

an image from the Arkansas Arts Educators exhibition

Arkansas Arts Educators

The Arkansas Art Educators State Youth Art Show 2013 is comprised of the Best of Show winners from art competitions held in seven different regions in the state: Northwest, Northeast, Central, Eastern, Southwest, Southeastern and Western. The artwork was created by talented students from kindergarten through twelfth grade.

The Arkansas Art Educators is a 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. The AAE State Youth Art Show 2013 exhibition is a partnership between the Arkansas Art Educators and the Arkansas Department of Education.

West Gallery
May 10 – July 27, 2013

arkansas printmakers society

Arkansas Society of Printmakers

The Arkansas Society of Printmakers (ASP) is a community of artists, art collectors, and supporters of the art of printmaking.

We are dedicated to our mission: to generate greater excitement and appreciation for printmaking as a unique art form in Arkansas. We are committed to maintaining the integrity and identity of printmaking among artists by sharing skills and knowledge and thereby encouraging excellence in the field. We accomplish our goals through mentorship, professional critique, collaboration, camaraderie, exhibition, and portfolio exchange opportunities. Our members facilitate community-based workshops, demonstrations and events, thereby increasing community awareness and access to prints and printmaking processes.

West Gallery
February 8 – April 27, 2013

Arkansas League of Artists

The Arkansas League of Artists is an organization formed to promote fine arts in Arkansas. This group of artists and art enthusiasts gathers to learn from one another by exploring new techniques, working in new media, and sharing their collective knowledge.

West Gallery
October 12, 2012, to January 26, 2013

Hope and Despair: FSA Photography in Arkansas during the Great Depression

These thirty-six images by noted photographers Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Ed Locke, and Carl Mydans focus primarily on people in eastern Arkansas during the Depression.

West Gallery
August 10 to September 29, 2012

Arkansas Arts Educators 2012

West Gallery
May 11 – July 28, 2012

Connecting Threads

studio art quilt associates image

A Studio Art Quilts Associates regional exhibition of contemporary art quilts

Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development, and documentation.

SAQA defines an art quilt as “a contemporary artwork exploring and expressing aesthetic concerns common to the whole range of visual arts: painting, printmaking, photography, graphic design, assemblage and sculpture, which retains, through materials or technique, a clear relationship to the folk art quilt from which it descends.” Founded in 1989 by an initial group of 50 artists, SAQA now has more than 2,700 members.

Butler Center Main Gallery
February 10 – April 28, 2012

an image from Ark in the Dark

ARK. In the Dark: An Exhibition of Vintage Movies Posters about Arkansas

The Butler Center and Ron Robinson are co-hosting an exhibition of vintage Arkansas-related movie posters to be shown in Concordia Hall of the Arkansas Studies Institute. The show features 35 posters from films covering the years 1926 to 2009.

West Gallery
December 9 – February 25, 2012.

Arkansas Pastel Society's National Exhibition, by diana desantis

Arkansas Pastel Society’s National Exhibition

West Gallery
October 14 – January 14, 2012

Shep Miers: Now & Then

Shep Miers, a professional artist and educator, creates elegant minimalist sculptures in wood that explores the ideas of physical and implied balance.

West Gallery
August 12 – October 1, 2011

AAE State Youth Art Show 2011

Organized by the Arkansas Art Educators and the Arkansas Department of Education. The Arkansas Art Educators State Youth Art Show 2011 is composed of the Best of Show winners from art competitions held in seven different regions of the state: northwest, northeast, central, east, south, southeast, and west. The artwork was created by talented students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The exhibition is a partnership between the Arkansas Art Educators and the Arkansas Department of Education. The Arkansas Art Educators is 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.

A student award ceremony will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, 2011, in the Arkansas Studies Institute Main Gallery.

West Gallery
May 13 – July 29, 2011

an image from Anticipation of the Future

Anticipation of the Future: Contemporary American Indian Art

From the collection of Dr. J.W. Wiggins, Sequoyah National Research Center/University of Arkansas at Little Rock

At 6:00pm on February 11 during our Second Friday art night celebration Dr. Wiggins will present a program titled An introduction to Native American Art in room 124 in the Arkansas Studies Institute.

West Gallery
February 11 – April 30, 2011

lincoln: the constitution and the civil war

Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War

Using the Constitution as the cohesive thread, “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War” offers a fresh and innovative perspective on Lincoln that focuses on his struggle to meet the political and constitutional challenges of the Civil War. Organized thematically, the exhibition explores how Lincoln used the Constitution to confront three intertwined crises of the war—the secession of Southern states, slavery, and wartime civil liberties. Visitors will leave the exhibition with a more complete understanding of Abraham Lincoln as president and the Civil War as the nation’s gravest constitutional crisis.

2nd Friday Art Night is December 10, 2010, 5 to 8 p.m. and features our expanded Retail Gallery. Shop locally this holiday season!

Butler Center Main Gallery
December 1, 2010 – January 28, 2011

an image from the arkansas league of artists juried exhibition

Arkansas League of Artists Juried Exhibition

The Butler Center is hosting the Arkansas League of Artists’ first annual juried exhibition. The Arkansas League of Artists (ALA) is an organization formed to promote fine arts in Arkansas. The ALA provides workshops for members and awards scholarships to high school students. Townsend Wolfe, the former director of the Arkansas Arts Center, was selected as the judge for this exhibition.

The Arkansas Symphony Quartet will perform at the opening of this exhibition, as a part of 2nd Friday Art Night, September 10, from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

West Gallery
September 10 to November 27, 2010

Mid Southern Watercolorists 40th Annual Juried Exhibition

Join us for the opening reception at 2nd Friday Art Night, June 11, 2010 from 5 to 8 p.m.

West Gallery
June 11 to August 28, 2010

an image from 'Paper Trails: Drawings by David Balin'

Paper Trails: Drawings by David Bailin

An exhibit of large-scale, realistic charcoal drawings on paper.

West Gallery
March 12 to May 29, 2010

work by sui hoe khoo

New Works by Sui Hoe Khoo

Sui Hoe Khoo, Malaysian-born resident of Jacksonville and graduate of Nanyang Academy of Art in Singapore, has been exhibiting his art since the 1960s. Khoo has shown his artwork all over the world and was awarded the Certificate of Merit from the Asian Art Now exhibition in the Las Vegas Art Museum in 2002 and 2004.

West Gallery
November 13, 2009 – February 13, 2010

portraits from prison exhibition image

Woodworking from the Museum School at the Arkansas Arts Center

The Butler Center Galleries present the third biannual exhibition of student and faculty work from the Arkansas Arts Center Museum School wood-working department.

West Gallery
September 11 – October 24, 2009

portraits from prison exhibition image

Portraits from Prison: A Collection of Photographs from Cummins Prison

The Central Arkansas Library System invites you to view the first exhibition presented in the Butler Center galleries: historical and contemporary photographs of Cummins Prison inmates from the collection of artist and author Bruce Jackson.

Jackson is a SUNY Distinguished Professor and Samuel P. Capen Professor of American Culture at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York. The exhibition and his forthcoming book, Pictures from a Drawer: Prison and the Art of Portraiture, are part of a larger exploration on prisons as cultural sites.

Main Gallery
April 16 – June 30, 2009

Arkansas League of Artists: Members’ Exhibition

The Arkansas League of Artists is an organization formed to promote the visual arts in Arkansas to all ages. The annual Members’ Exhibition provides an opportunity for each active member to showcase their work in one of the following categories: Abstract/Contemporary, Animal/Wildlife, Portrait/Figure, Land/City/Sea scape, and Floral/Still Life.

The League consists of artists from all over the state who gather to learn through the demonstrations of techniques, the exploration of materials and media, and the sharing of collective experiences and knowledge.

June 12 through Sept. 26, 2020

Into the Woods: Arkansas Champion Trees by Linda Williams Palmer & Turned-Wood Vessels by Gene Sparling

Celebrating the natural beauty of Arkansas’s trees, artists Linda Williams Palmer and Gene Sparling have created works that highlight the unique qualities of these precious resources. Working in Prismacolor pencil on paper, Palmer has created her “Champion Tree” series showcasing the largest specimens in Arkansas. Sparling uses the wood from native trees to create his sculptural turned-wood vessels that provide another viewpoint from which to appreciate the beauty of the trees.

January 10 through May 23, 2020

“Pass the Biscuits!”: The King Biscuit Blues Festival and Arkansas Blues

Since 1986, the annual King Biscuit Blues Festival has assembled the world’s best blues artists to perform in historic downtown Helena-West Helena, Arkansas. For this exhibition, King Biscuit Blues Festival posters and other musical artifacts provide a visual timeline to tell the festival’s story and to celebrate the past, present, and future of the blues in Arkansas.

September 13–December 28, 2019

Patrick McFarlin – Fifty Years of McFarlin Oil: Paintings and Sculpture by an Arkansas Traveler

Patrick McFarlin has been making art under the moniker McFarlin Oil for more than fifty years. From his time creating works of sculpture during the Bay Area funk movement, we follow McFarlin back to his home state of Arkansas as he works through the eighties, painting his varieties of Ships of Fools as well as large so-called Manic-Expressive narrative paintings. When McFarlin moved his studio to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the early nineties, he began a series of portrait projects in Santa Fe and Napa Valley, California, that became known as Pat’s Downtown Club. Never an artist content to paint the same things over and over, McFarlin moved on to formal Dutch, Irish, and American landscapes. He says, “As an Arkansan by birth, I pulled a deep tangle of history and memory thick as kudzu through New Mexico to the Bay Area, then back down to New Mexico, juggling the light and dark all along the way…I mined the histories, people, and landscapes of the regions I have called home, but I have also mined my own history and that of my family’s, looking at it with a sense of humor…I’m an aging artist recounting the glorious adventures of a painter pushing his brush through a conceptual landscape.” His book Picture It Painted, presenting fifteen handsomely illustrated chapters of McFarlin’s explorations in sculpture and painting, will be available for purchase at the exhibition.

Galleries at Library Square
May 10 – August 24, 2019

Paintings by Charles Henry James: Back to the Garden

Artist and musician Charles Henry James, who has split his time between Little Rock and his native New York for nearly thirty years, takes a humorous, free-wheeling approach to socio/political engagement, filtered through the lens of pop culture tropes, op art, surrealism, and psychedelia.

Concordia Gallery
February 8, 2019 — April 27, 2019

A Matter of Mind and Heart: Portraits of Japanese American Identity

This exhibition, featuring works from the Butler Center’s Gould-Vogel Collection of materials from the World War II–era Japanese internment camps in Arkansas, will display portraits and other works of art from the Rohwer and Jerome centers in Arkansas with a focus on Japanese American identity.

Concordia Hall Gallery
July 13, 2018 — December 29, 2018

Education in Exile: Student Experience at Rohwer Relocation Center

Education in Exile: Student Experience at Rohwer Relocation Center is third in the Butler Center’s series of exhibitions exploring the Japanese American experience in World War II Arkansas. Partially curated by students throughout the state, Education in Exile offers a unique perspective into the school systems at Rohwer and Jerome, the two Japanese American incarceration centers in Arkansas. Student-selected works of art from the Butler Center’s Rosalie Santine Gould- Mabel Jamison Vogel collection illustrate what life was like for students living behind the barbed wire at Rohwer and Jerome.

Concordia Hall Gallery
January 12, 2018 — June 30, 2018

The Art of Injustice: Paul Faris’ Photographs of Japanese American Incarceration, Rohwer, AR 1945

The Art of Injustice, assembled by guest curator Professor Sarah Wilkerson-Freeman (Arkansas State University), will display images taken by Paul Faris during his visit to Rohwer Incarceration Center in 1945. His captivating black-and-white photographs capture the community created by Japanese Americans during their incarceration in Arkansas during World War II.
This project was funded, in part, by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program.

Concordia Hall Gallery
August 11, 2017 — December 30, 2017

Little Golden Books

In the early 20th century a new series of inexpensive, sturdy, and child-centered books would transform the world of children’s books. This private collection of Little Golden Books contains the work of some of the more prolific illustrators, among those Arkansas-born Mercer Mayer, creator of the Little Critter and Little Monster book series.

Concordia Hall Gallery
October 14, 2016 – December 3, 2016

ACANSA Arts Festival

ACANSA Arts Festival

ACANSA Arts Festival is a five-day arts festival that takes place annually in September. This year’s dates are September 21-25, 2016. The festival features a variety of events covering a wide range of modes of artistic expression. One of the key visual arts events is the ACANSA Gallery.

To highlight local visual arts and artists, ACANSA presents a “pop up” gallery! Opening on Little Rock’s second Friday Art Walk at the Concordia Hall in the Butler Center, the ACANSA Gallery will display works from local galleries in Little Rock and North Little Rock. A brochure with information and maps to galleries will be available. An opening reception will be held on Friday, September 9 during “2nd Friday Art Night”.

Concordia Hall Gallery
September 21-25, 2016

an image from Culture Shock exhibition

Culture Shock: Shine Your Rubies, Hide Your Diamonds

Culture Shock is a multi-disciplinary collective of Arkansas artists committed to exploring significant contemporary issues through the use of varied artistic practice to engage each other and the public. Artists featured in this exhibition include Melissa Cowper-Smith, Melissa Gill, Tammy Harrington, Dawn Holder, Jessie Hornbrook, Holly Laws, Sandra Luckett, Morgan Page, and Rachel Trusty.

Concordia Hall Gallery
April 8 – August 27, 2016

photographic arts exhibition image

Photographic Arts: African American Studio Photography from the Joshua & Mary Swift Collection

This is the first exhibition of works from the Joshua & Mary Swift Collection, featuring photographs of African American people, created in a studio setting during the 1860s-1940s. Many of the featured photographs were hand colored, which created artful and unusual effects on otherwise formal portraits.

Concordia Hall Gallery
October 9, 2015 – March 26, 2016

white river memoirs

White River Memoirs

The White River and its tributaries represent the most ecologically intact watershed in the continental United States. Over a million people inhabit it, living in 234 communities in 60 counties. For the past two years, Chris Engholm has traveled the White River in a cedar strip canoe, listening to people connected to it and collecting the artwork of 25 fine artists who maintain a special relationship with the river. This artwork, photographs, and information about the river are presented in White River Memoirs.

Concordia Hall Gallery
April 10 – July 25, 2015

work from Echoes of the Ancestors

Echoes of the Ancestors: Native American Objects from the University of Arkansas Museum

An artistic display of objects created by Native Americans in ceramics, wood, grass, cane, and shell materials.

Concordia Hall Gallery
September 12, 2014 – March 15, 2015

work from the Drawn In exhibition

Drawn In: New Art from WWII Camps at Rohwer and Jerome

This show features artwork created by people held in the Japanese American internment camps in Arkansas during World War II. The exhibition was inspired by the Butler Center’s remarkable collection of art work from the camp at Rohwer, donated by Rosalie Santine Gould of McGehee, and by the extraordinary generosity of people who lived in the camps or had loved ones who did and wanted the Butler Center to have more art created at the camps at Rohwer and Jerome. People with a personal connection to the camps were deeply moved by the existence of the collection and by the Butler Center’s public exhibitions of camp materials and want as wide an audience as possible to know about this chapter of Arkansas and U.S. history.

Concordia Hall Gallery
April 11 – August 23, 2014

native arkansas

Native Arkansas

Native Arkansas will take visitors on a tour of the state at a time when Euro-Americans began to explore the territory that eventually became Arkansas. Visitors will experience early Arkansas through the eyes of some of the first Euro-Americans to write about the state and will encounter some of the native flora, fauna, and geology of the state’s five geological regions. The exhibit will include examples of Mississippian period artifacts from the northeast and southeast regions, bluff shelter artifacts from the northwest, and Caddo artifacts from the southwest. the exhibit will also provide an in-depth look at the Native American community of Carden Bottoms and how they understood their environment.

This exhibit is installed by the University of Arkansas Museum Collections.

Concordia Hall Gallery
October 11, 2013 – March 15, 2014

image from 'from the vault' exhibition

From the Vault: Works from the CALS Permanent Collection

The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) houses more than just books. Managed by CALS’s Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, the library’s art program also collects and supports artists working and living in Arkansas. This exhibition features historical and contemporary artwork that shows the breadth and quality of art being created in Arkansas. On display in the exhibition will be historical paintings by Donald Draper, small works on paper by Little Rock’s own visionary artist Arthur Grain, a spectacular sculpture by Mary Cockrill, and much more.

Concordia Hall Gallery
November 9, 2012 – September 21, 2013

Invasion or Liberation

Invasion or Liberation? The Civil War in Arkansas

This Civil War exhibit, built around the theme of “occupied Arkansas,” will provide a provocative look at the war in Arkansas. Through the use of letters, diaries, photographs, and artifacts, the exhibit will examine the multi-faceted history of Arkansans caught up in the conflict. For example, contrary to popular opinion, not all Arkansans supported the Confederacy. Considerable attention will also be devoted to the perceptions and experiences of outsiders who found themselves in Arkansas during the war.

Concordia Hall Gallery
July 13 – October 27, 2012

making a place: the jewish experience in arkansas

Making a Place: Jewish Experience in Arkansas

Making a Place: Jewish Experience in Arkansas will explore the development of the Jewish community in Arkansas, focusing on immigration, isolation and assimilation, businesses, and culture. Making a Place is part of the Butler Center’s larger effort to create interactive historical exhibitions that visually tell the story of Arkansas’s history and culture, past and present.

Concordia Hall
March 9 – June 23, 2012

The Art of Living: Japanese American Creative Experience at Rohwer

From the Mabel Rose Jamison Vogel/Rosalie Santine Gould Collection, the Butler Center has created a multimedia exhibition titled The Art of Living: Japanese American Creative Experience at Rohwer that showcases art created by internees at the Rohwer Relocation Center in Desha County and tells the story of creativity in the face of dire circumstances.

To visit the exhibition website, click here »

Concordia Hall Gallery
September 9 – November 26, 2011

V.I.T.A.L .(Visual Images That Affect Lives) Artist Collective

This exhibition showcases a mix of artwork by some of Arkansas’s most exciting contemporary artists, including Melverue Abraham, Rex Deloney, LaToya Hobbs, Ariston Jacks, Kalari Turner, and Micheal Worsham.

Concordia Hall
June 10 – August 27, 2011

crossroads: rural healthcare in america

Crossroads: Rural Healthcare in America

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, along with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, is a sponsor of, Crossroads: Rural Healthcare in America, The Mississippi DeltaCrossroads, a Vision Project Production, is a story of doctors, nurses, community organizers, and patients who are part of an innovative and well-planned healthcare network in the Mississippi Delta.

The photography portion of the project will be on display at the Arkansas Studies Institute from March 31 – May 28, 2011 while the Clinton School of Public Service will host a one time film screening and public forum on Saturday, April 2, 2011, at 3 p.m. in Sturgis Hall.

Concordia Hall Gallery
March 31 – May 27, 2011

an image from 'Making Pictures'

Making Pictures: Three for a Dime

By Maxine Payne

An installation of photographs and texts based on Maxine Payne’s limited-edition artist’s book, “Making Pictures: Three for a Dime” documents the artistic and entrepreneurial spirit of the Massengills-an Almond, Arkansas, family of itinerant photographers who traveled the state in a homemade trailer and took pictures with a homemade camera (selling them three for a dime) between 1937 and 1941.

The Arkansas Symphony Quartet will perform at the opening of this exhibition, as a part of 2nd Friday Art Night, September 10, from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Butler Center Concordia Hall Gallery
September 10, 2010 to February 19, 2011.

AAE State Youth Art Show 2010:
Organized by the Arkansas Art Educators and the Arkansas Dept. of Education

The exhibition reception will be on Saturday, April 10th at 2pm. (The April Second Friday Art Night is cancelled; however the public is invited to purchase tickets to attend the Friday night Arkansas Literary Festival Author’s party located in the Arkansas Studies Institute.)

Concordia Hall Gallery
April 10 to May 29, 2010

local history goes to school

Local History Goes to School:
Traveling the World with Mifflin W. Gibbs

This exhibit combines student art work with historical documents and text to follow the life and travels of Mifflin W. Gibbs (1823-1915), a prominent African American politician and businessman.

Concordia Hall Gallery
February 12 to March 31, 2010

main street arkansas

Main Street in Black and White

Main Street in Black and White, organized by the Department of Arkansas Heritage, wil be on view in the Concordia Hall gallery at the Arkansas Studies Institute from October 9 through November 13

Butler Center Books authors Ray and Steven Hanley will sign copies of their book, Main Street Arkansas, on October 9 as a part of 2nd Friday Art Night in downtown Little Rock.

Concordia Hall Gallery
October 9 – November 13, 2009

rural arkansas churches

Rural Arkansas Churches

Rural Arkansas Churches is a collection of black-and-white photographs from more than twenty-.ve counties in Arkansas, illustrating the beauty and history of the churches and their connection to the local communities.

Concordia Hall Gallery
August 14 – September 27, 2009

Howard Simon: Art and Illustrations

New York native Howard Simon was a renowned artist of many crafts, including illustrating, painting, and woodcutting. He lived in Arkansas in the 1930s, and his illustrations in the books of famous Arkansas author Charlie May Simon (to whom he was married for a time) left an imprint on the state. This exhibition will display works by Simon as well as give information about his art and life, including his time in Arkansas. This exhibition, which includes works in the collection of the Central Arkansas Library System and some works on loan from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture, was organized by Katelynn Caple, a senior at Henderson State University.

The Landing
April 13, 2018 — June 30, 2018

Old School: Remembering the Brinkley Academy

Modern day teens can see how a school in rural eastern Arkansas served the needs of African American students who received direction and inspiration for nearly six decades through an exhibit of photographs.

In 1893, a consortium of Missionary Baptist congregations in eastern Arkansas pooled their resources to establish a residential secondary school for African American youth. The Consolidated White River Academy or, as it was often called, the Brinkley Academy was one of three African American boarding schools located within a few miles of each other.

Established in an era when public secondary education was routinely denied to African American youths, the Academy did its good work while society changed incrementally. It opened its doors three years before the Supreme Court’s landmark Plessy v. Ferguson decision sanctioned the doctrine of “separate but equal.” It closed a year before Linda Brown, a third-grade African American pupil, was denied the right to enroll in the school closest to her Topeka, Kansas home, leading to the Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies is presenting the “Old School: Remembering the Brinkley Academy” exhibition, which was produced by the Arkansas Secretary of State’s Office and Park Central Little Rock.Please note: This exhibition will be shown in the Main Library.

Level 4, Main Library
100 Rock St.
April 8 – July 8, 2013