NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Artists from across Arkansas gathered Friday for the opening of the 28th annual Small Works on Paper touring exhibition at the William F. Laman Library in North Little Rock. Three artists from the River Valley & Ozark Edition coverage area were among them.
The exhibit, which is sponsored by the Arkansas Arts Council, will remain on display at the North Little Rock library, 2801 Orange St., through Jan. 27 before moving on to nine other locations throughout the state.
Dennis McCann of Maumelle received a purchase award for his pastel Colored People on Beach. He has another pastel in the show — Two Guys on a Bench. Purchase-award winners receive the cash amount equivalent to the value of their selected works. Funded by entry fees, the purchase-award pieces become part of the exhibition’s permanent collection.
Jason McCann of Maumelle has two pieces in the exhibit — Study for Two Girls, a Boy and a Watergun, a pastel and watercolor, and Study for Watergun War, a pastel.
Tammy Harrington of Russellville has one piece in the traveling exhibit — a hand-cut paper work she titled Crane.
Eleana Del Rio, owner of the Koplin Del Rio Gallery in Culver City, California, served as this year’s juror of the competitive visual-art exhibition that showcases artwork no larger than 24-by-24 inches by Arkansas artists who are members of the Arkansas Artists Registry, an online gallery showing the works of Arkansas artists. Del Rio selected 29 artists for the show, which includes 40 works of art.
All three artists from the River Valley & Ozark Edition coverage area are veteran exhibitors in this annual show.
Dennis McCann has been chosen for the SWOP exhibit many times over the years. However, this marks the first time since 2012 that his work has been selected for the show.
“I am always very pleased, also surprised, to get in this show,” said Dennis, who is now 62. “I don’t do many small works. I usually work on 3-by-4-foot frames.”
The two pastels he has in the current show are a continuation of a series the Maumelle artist started a couple of years ago. This series of works features figures rather than the traditional lawn chairs or scenes from his childhood growing up in the Levy area of North Little Rock. But, Dennis said, both of the pieces concentrate on light, shadows and drapery — elements that show up in most of his works.
These current works of art were created from photographs — one he took of his parents and his wife about 30 years ago, and the other was taken by his daughter Christen, 20, on a trip to Brazil.
Dennis’ purchase-
award-winning painting, Colored People on Beach, features his wife, Connie; his mother, Joan, of Maumelle; and his
father, Doug, who died in 1990.
“We were on a family vacation, at a beach in a state park somewhere,” he said. “The term ‘colored people’ refers to the blues, greens, reds — whatever I saw in the photo.”
Dennis retired from the Little Rock Fire Department on Oct. 31, 2014, after more than 30 years of service, the last several spent in fire prevention and community outreach.
“I have been very busy since then,” he said with a laugh. “In the past, I would do about 20 paintings a year. I’ve already done 12 pieces — major pieces — since November.
“I’m selling them,” he said. “It’s going really well.”
Dennis and Connie, who is a portrait artist, have two other children: Jason, 37, and Erin, 35.
Dennis McCann holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art and a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Jason McCann has also been in the SWOP several times, but his last showing was also in 2012.
An art teacher at Little Rock Central High School for the last 12 years, Jason said, smiling, “Life goes on. I tell my students that you may get in some shows; you may not.
“One of the neatest things for me about this show is that one of my former students (Jennifer D. Perren of Mabelvale) has three pieces in the show, and one of my students at [Arkansas] Governors School (Claire Cade of McRae) has a piece in the show.”
Both of Jason’s pieces of art in this year’s SWOP exhibit are studies for larger works, which he has since created.
“I do mock-ups for a painting,” he said. “I collect and take photos and then piece them together. Then when I get to the painting, I have something other than the original photo to work from.
“I don’t want to be a photorealist, not that there is anything wrong with that. By making a mock-up from the photos, I think it gives me the ability to be more expressive, more artistic.
“I grew up watching Dad (Dennis McCann) paint. I am just trying to find ways to be different than he is — other than the obvious fact that I’m about a foot taller than he is,” Jason said, laughing.
Jason has a bachelor’s degree in art education from the University of Central Arkansas and a master’s degree in fine arts with emphasis in painting and drawing from UALR.
Tammy Harrington’s work has been included in the annual SWOP exhibit several times, the last being 2014. Her work deals with her identity as a Chinese-American woman growing up in the United States.
Her piece in the 2015 SWOP exhibit is called Crane. She used a paper-cut technique that is a traditional Chinese folk-art technique.
“I started off with a red piece of charcoal paper, drew out my design, which is inspired by the graphic depictions of cranes in the Chinese culture, and then used an X-Acto knife to cut out all the white areas,” Harrington said. “This is a very laborious technique, and it requires lots of patience to complete the piece. There are several delicate areas that can easily tear.
“Much of the folk art of Chinese paper-cut imagery reflects themes important to Chinese mythology. The crane is symbolic of longevity and auspiciousness. A long lifespan is associated with these birds, and they are the most popular bird used in the Chinese culture. I found the long and sleek appearance of the crane very appealing against the rough texture of the tree bark and pine needles.”
A native of South Dakota, Harrington, 40, is a professor of art at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in printmaking and graphic design from the University of South Dakota and a Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from Wichita (Kansas) State University.
The 28th annual Small Works exhibit is free and open to the public. Gallery hours at the William F. Laman Library are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The library is closed on Sunday. For more information, call (501) 758-1720.
The 2015 SWOP touring schedule follows:
• Feb. 4-25, the University of Arkansas at Monticello;
• March 2-30, East Arkansas Community College in Forrest City;
• April 2-30, Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville;
• May 6-27, the College of the Ouachitas Library in Malvern;
• June 3-26, the South Arkansas Arts Center in
El Dorado;
• July 1 to Aug. 12, the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff;
• Aug. 23 to Sept. 11, Harding University in Searcy;
• Oct. 6-26, Henderson State University in Arkadelphia; and
• Nov. 2-28, Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia.
For more information, call the Arkansas Arts Council at (501) 324-9766 or visit www.arkansasarts.org.