LITTLE ROCK — As far as birthdays go, 50 is a pretty big deal - whether you happen to be a middle-aged person gifted with a bouquet of black balloons or an arts institution that measures with pride each year its doors are open.
The Arkansas Arts Center, the state’s premier destination for visual art, is celebrating 50 years of life this fall. “Building the Collection: How It Began,” showing off the first three works on paper bought for the Arts Center’s much-praised collection, will go ondisplay Dec. 10. Other special exhibits will follow.
If there’s a subdued tone to the celebrating, that’s because this golden anniversary comes on the heels of the Arts Center’s financial crisis, extensively reported earlier this year in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The money woes came to light during the ambitious “World of the Pharaohs” exhibit that opened in September 2009.
That show attracted 107,483 visitors, contributing to a 42 percent increase in attendance for the fiscal year that ended June 30. But “Pharaohs” wound up as a money loser and the prime factor in the $2 million deficit the Arts Center suffered during the year. Before the ancient Egyptian treasures were packed up in July, the Arts Center saw the resignation of director Nan Plummer and the naming of Joseph Lampo as interim director.
During his seven months as the head of the Arts Center, says Lampo, “We have been focusing on righting ourselves financially a little bit.” Despite all the disturbing newspaper headlines, the Arts Center’s future isn’t at risk. And Lampo is eager to point that out.
“We have strong programs and a vital and viable organization,” he says. “That is exemplified by what goes on here on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.” Perhaps being a landmark of 50 years merits a focus on just how expansive the Arts Center is - and how a museum that begin life as a Junior League project grew into a cultural bulwark for Arkansas.
An impressive statistic is the more than 21,000 pieces of art that the Arts Center has stashed away in various collections. They range from original drawings by George Fisher, late editorial cartoonist for the Arkansas Gazette; and the candy-colored glass sculpture of Dale Chihuly; to the renowned collection of works on paper by Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O’Keeffe and an array of other important art-world figures.
All this art resides in the handsome museum in Mac-Arthur Park with approximately 20,000 feet of exhibition space, almost half of it dedicated to works from the permanent collection. The Arts Center also operates the vibrant Children’s Theatre, whose popular productions are staged in the site’s 318-seat theater. The Arts Center’s Museum School teaches youngsters, teens and adults the finer points of making pottery, painting and other arts and crafts. For consumer impulses, there’s a gift shop and a restaurant.
Another thing to note about the Arts Center - and what differentiates it from many other major arts institutions around the nation: It still does not charge an entrance fee. Some of the bigger exhibitions in the last few years have arrived with admission fees, but most of the art here is available to anybody who can stroll through the galleries and has the time - although it’s hard to miss the donation box in the main lobby.
HEAVY GOLD FRAMES
It’s also well worth noting how different the Arts Center has become from its long-ago predecessor, the Fine Arts Museum, which opened in MacArthur Park in 1937.
In 1959, Jeane Hamilton was a young Junior League member who became involved in the League’s attempt to bolster the arts in Little Rock. Her first mission was to find volunteers to help staff the Fine Arts Museum, because the director was retiring. Her memory of the small and little noticed facility is still sharp.
“It was run by two people,” says Hamilton, now 84. “There was the director and a janitor. There wasn’t much by the way of art. The paintings were copies of originals in heavy gold frames. The museum was open 11 to 2 during the week, and nobody came out there.”
The Junior League wanted to create a community arts center, a more active institution that would support more than just the viewing of art by offering art classes and local theater. Hamilton was appointed project chairman and set out to find a fundraising chairman, essentially a person with deep pockets who could pull in donations.
Hamilton and other members of the Junior League met with Winthrop Rockefeller, a philanthropist who had recently brought his inherited fortune to Arkansas, and his new wife, Jeannette.
“Win was still in bed,” Hamilton recalls. “We chatted with Jeannette and eventually Win came down and joined us. We gave him this pitch about this community arts center. He didn’t want to be the chairperson, but he said he’d help raise the money. Then he said, ‘Well, girls, if we are going to build it, it needs to be an Arkansas arts center.’ I’ll never forget it.”
In 1960, the city of Little Rock passed an ordinance to rename the Museum of Fine Arts the Arkansas Arts Center. Thanks in large part to the Rockefellers’ efforts, money was raised from around the state and construction began on the site where the Museum of Fine Arts stood.
When the new Arkansas Arts Center was ready for visitors in 1963, the opening celebration was a star-studded event.
“We had a big bash, believe me,” Hamilton says. “Dave Brubeck came and played.The director of [New York’s] Metropolitan Museum of Art was there. It was a big, big bash and nobody had ever seen anything like it.” NEW DIRECTOR, DIRECTION
Even after the glittery opening, the Arts Center struggled to find its footing. There was definite improvement over the Fine Arts Museum, but Little Rock as a whole wasn’t responding with overwhelming enthusiasm. In those early days, the Arts Center aimed to be a place known for showing new work by artists in Arkansas and the surrounding states.
But when Townsend Wolfe was brought on as director of the Arts Center in 1968, he had a different course he wanted to take.
“When I came [as director], the collection’s focus was primarily original art by regional artists,” Wolfe says. “I felt that this focus was too limiting in terms of quality. I chose to redirect our focus to works on paper for the following reason: I could buy some great works at very reasonable prices and could build a collection that was international in origin with works that went in many directions.”
Lampo sees this as a crucial decision in the Arts Center’s evolution, and that is why the initial exhibit marking the anniversary showcases the first three works on paper bought by the Arts Center. Later exhibits will highlight the work bought in the ’80s, ’90s and first decade of the 21st century.
“The development of the collection is an important part of our history and our story,” Lampo says. “That is the reason we want to give it so much play.” BIG SHOWS, BIG RISKS
The most recent decade has seen the building renovated and expanded in 2000, followed by the retirement of Wolfe and the hiring of Plummer in 2002.
Plummer was at the helm as the Arts Center brought in impressively large exhibitions. The “Pursuing Picasso” show in 2006 and 2008’s Andy Warhol show were demonstrations of the museum’s substantial curatorial and financial muscle.
The “World of the Pharaohs” in effect doubled down on patrons’ appetite for seeing Egyptian artifacts up close and personal. In the aftermath of the disappointing “Pharaohs,” there were a number of theories floating around about why the Arts Center’s financial ship hit rough waters.
The troubles “are a combination of three factors,” Wolfe says. “Yes, outside financial pressures played a part but I believe, more importantly, the lack of fiscal discipline in the past few years along with the decision to bring the ‘Pharaohs’ exhibit to the Arts Center. That decision may have sacrificed art for money - that’s the caveat with blockbusters - they have the potential to make an institution a lot of money, but one must be careful to weigh the sacrifices.”
Hamilton, who is an honorary lifetime member of the Arts Center board, wants to point out the positives of the “Pharaohs” exhibition.
“If you look at the numbers who went through the exhibit, especially school age children, it’s really something,” she says. “They came from all over the state. They are going to remember when they are grown that they came to the Arts Center.”
Hamilton has directly participated in the development of the Arts Center over the last 50 years. She has seen the ups and downs and feels certain that the latest trouble is just a bump in the road. And she asks for a little perspective.
“A lot of people today have no idea of what we have been through to get to where we are,” she says. “The Arts Center is just a wonderful place. And we are lucky to have it.”School art, collections to tell story
To celebrate its 50th birthday, the Arkansas Arts Center is staging several special exhibitions. Featuring works collected by the Arts Center and created at the center’s Museum School, they will stretch over a three-year span. Two shows will kick off the celebration:
“Building the Collection: How It Began: Works on Paper by Willem de Kooning, Morris Graves and Andrew Wyeth,” Dec. 10-Feb. 27. On display in the Winthrop Rockefeller foyer, it will showcase the first three pieces bought in 1971 for the drawing collection, which now holds more than 5,000 pieces.
“Museum School Faculty Exhibition: Past and Present,” Jan. 11-Feb. 27. In the Stella Boyle Smith and Sam Strauss Sr. galleries, this will be the opening exhibit in a three-year series featuring work from the Art Center’s permanent collection created by current and former Museum School faculty.
Regular events on the Arts Center’s forthcoming schedule include the 42nd Collectors Show and Sale, Friday-Jan. 2; the 37th Toys Designed by Artists, Dec. 17-Feb. 20; and the 53rd annual Delta Exhibition, Dec. 17-Feb. 20.
Hours at the Arts Center, Ninth Street at MacArthur Park, are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free; membership is available at various price levels.
For information, call (501) 372-4000 or visit arkarts.com.
Style, Pages 57 on 11/28/2010