NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Artists from across Arkansas gathered Jan. 9 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 Three Rivers 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.
Megan Snoddy, a senior at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia and a resident of Jacksonville, received a purchase award for a linocut she calls Mind. 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.
Dustin Bork of Batesville has one piece in the show, a serigraph he calls Space No. 4.
Claire Cade of McRae, also a student at HSU, has a linocut, Sisters in Christ, in this year’s traveling exhibit.
Snoddy, 21, is set to graduate in May from HSU with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in digital art and design. She is the daughter of Kevin and Kathy Snoddy of Jacksonville and a graduate of North Pulaski High School. She hopes to enter the character design and concept art field after graduation.
This is the first time she has entered the Small Works on Paper competition.
“I am very happy that I got in and won a purchase award,” she said.
As a freelance artist, Snoddy said, “I work with a Wacom Cintiq [creative pen display] to create digital drawings and illustrations. Most of my work focuses on the characters themselves rather than the environment they are in. These characters take place in a nonfictional world. Fictional elements such as supernatural events are sometimes incorporated.
“The very beginning of a piece is sometimes difficult to come up with, but it is the most exciting,” she said. “I spend most of my time sketching. I believe it is the best way to generate ideas rather than diving straight into a piece.
“I derive inspiration and ideas from websites such as tumblr.com or pinterest.com. Looking through pictures of people and fashion is one of my pastimes. People are interesting and complex, both in personality as well as shape and size. I sketch them to help generate ideas to create characters of my own.”
Bork, 37, is an assistant professor of art at Lyon College in Batesville. He is originally from Monroe, Michigan, and moved to Batesville five years ago to accept the teaching position.
Bork, who received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1999 and a Master of Fine Arts in printmaking from Indiana University at Bloomingdale in 2002, is a printmaker and painter interested in color and pattern.
Bork said the serigraph chosen for the Small Works on Paper exhibit is one of a series of five, printed with pattern and text, that explores space.
“I’m drawn to abstracts,” he said. “I like the contrast. I also like new designs in architecture, as well as urban decay. It’s interesting to see abandoned buildings standing side by side with brand-new buildings.”
Bork said that although he is happy and proud to be in the show, he is also proud that one of his former students has two pieces in the show. Ashley Mott of Fort Smith, a 2014 graduate of Lyon College, now lives in Fayetteville. Her works in the show are two encaustic paintings, Untitled #2 and Untitled #3.
Cade, 22, has a reduction linocut in the show. This is the second time Cade has had her artwork selected for this exhibition.
“I am delighted to be in the show again,” she said.
The daughter of Gary Cade of McRae, she is a graduate of Beebe High School. She is scheduled to graduate from HSU in May with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio art.
Cade said her current artwork is about dichotomy in a person’s life.
“It’s about the dichotomy people feel about secular values vs. church morality,” she said. “I always felt the pull. I grew up to be an atheist, an agnostic, a queer girl, but I was raised in a churchgoing family.
“It’s all about being true to yourself,” Cade said. “Sometimes you are not sure which self you should be true to. The conjoined twins in this linocut represent that dichotomy.”
Cade said she hopes to find a “good job” in Little Rock, one that will allow her to continue making art.
In addition to the SWOP, Cade also has work on display in the Arkansas Society of Printmakers’ show at the Historic Arkansas Museum.
Eleana Del Rio, owner of the Koplin Del Rio Gallery in Culver City, California, served as this year’s juror of the competitive SWOP visual-art exhibition that showcases artwork no larger than 24- by 24-inches by Arkansas artists who are members of the Arkansas Artists Registry. Del Rio selected 29 artists for the show, which includes 40 works of art.
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 gallery 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- Aug. 12, the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff;
• Aug. 23-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.