Signs and Signals: Claire Coppola, Michael Davis Guitiérrez and Marilyn Nelson
- Ongoing: until Sunday, May 8, 2011
- Sunday: 1:00pm
- Monday: 9:00am
- Tuesday: 9:00am
- Wednesday: 9:00am
- Thursday: 9:00am
- Friday: 9:00am
- Saturday: 9:00am
- Where: HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM, Little Rock
- Cost: Free
- Age limit: Not available
Two Contemporary Exhibits Open, Featuring Arkansas Artists Free opening reception on Friday, February 11, 5 – 8 pm in conjunction with 2nd Friday Art Night
LITTLE ROCK (February 1, 2011) – Historic Arkansas Museum will open two new exhibits with a free reception on Friday, February 11, 5 – 8 pm, in conjunction with downtown Little Rock’s 2nd Friday Art Night. Signs and Signals: Claire Coppola, Michael Davis Guitiérrez and Marilyn Nelson will be on display in the museum’s Trinity Gallery for Arkansas Artists through May 8, 2011. There will be an artist talk for Signs in Signals at 6 p.m. Liz Noble: Game Face Rituals will be on display in the Second Floor Gallery through April 3, 2011. Mockingbird Hillbilly Band will provide live music for the evening. The artists’ works will be available for purchase in the Museum Store. As part of 2nd Friday Art Night, a free shuttle is available to transport visitors to other Art Night venues. Shuttle service ends at 8:30 p.m.
Signs and Signals presents the work of three artists working in distinctly different formats and materials. Rooted in the visual artist’s language of color, line, light and the interpretation of space, the artists each share their unique commentary and personal styles. Signs and Signals is presented in conjunction with the Arkansas Arts Council (AAC) and created with resources identified in the Arkansas Artist Registry, a program of AAC.
Born in Michigan, and now living in a 100-year-old farm house in the Upper Mississippi Delta, Claire Coppola re-purposes and reinterprets retired fuel company signs employing a sense of irony and humor while making her statement about the struggle to leave fossil fuels behind. Coppola is an art teacher in the Jonesboro public schools and a recipient of Outstanding Educator Award at the 2003 Arkansas Governor’s School. In 2006 she founded the Jonesboro Art Booster Club seeking support for visual art in Jonesboro and in 2010 was one of 100 teachers nationwide selected to attend the National Gallery of Art Teacher Institute on early colonial American Art in Washington, D.C. She is an adjunct professor at Arkansas State University in the Art Education department.
Born in Conway and now residing in Fayetteville, Michael Davis Gutiérrez chooses Arkansas limestone through which to signify his more esoteric and Zen-like statement, inviting us to experience his sculpture. Gutiérrez’ work has been shown in several exhibitions locally and internationally.
A resident of Fayetteville since 1993, Marilyn Nelson re-interprets the U.S. Naval Signal Flags employing her personal imagery, color and narrative through hand-pulled serigraphs. Nelson is an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Arkansas where she teaches visual design. She has achieved numerous awards for her teaching and research activities. Her work is widely exhibited in solo shows, juried and invitational group shows nationally and internationally.
Game Face Rituals features the work of Liz Noble, an Artist in Residence at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Through Noble’s close observation of the contemporary female condition, her work achieves anthropological significance. Noble’s paintings reveal the private struggle of reconciling mass-media and gendered expectations with our own personal realities. Solitary female figures fill the picture plane, documenting the ways the contemporary female body is actively altered through makeup, food or other domestic rituals. These subtle narratives coupled with structured dress patterns or tightly repeated shapes visually underscore the impact of societal pressures to conform. Noble received her MFA from Louisiana State University.
Historic Arkansas Museum is open 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 - 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission to the galleries and parking are free; tours of historic grounds are $2.50 for adults, $1 for children under 18, $1.50 for senior citizens. The Historic Arkansas Museum Store is open 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 - 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Historic Arkansas Museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, which was created in 1975 to preserve and enhance the heritage of the state of Arkansas. Other agencies of the department are Delta Cultural Center in Helena, Arkansas Arts Council, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and Old State House Museum.
This event was posted Feb. 2, 2011 and last updated Feb. 2, 2011
