The 57th annual Delta Exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock is an encore performance for two artists from the Three Rivers Edition coverage area.
Sheila A. Cantrell of Batesville and Carole A. Smith of Mountain View are among the 68 artists whose works have been selected for this year’s exhibition, which features 72 pieces of art. Both artists were selected for the exhibition in 2014 as well.
Internationally acclaimed watercolorist George Dombek of Fayetteville served as guest juror for this year’s exhibition. He selected the 72 works out of 882 entries from 380 artists. Of the 68 artists selected, 48 are from Arkansas; in all, eight states are represented in the exhibition.
“I am delighted to be in the Delta again this year,” said Cantrell, who works from a studio in her home in Batesville. This makes the fourth time one of her drawings has been juried into the annual show.
“The piece of mine that was selected this year is a small colored-pencil drawing of two pears within an open box,” she said. “The title, Forsaking All Others, developed as I was working on the drawing.
“In the image, there is a feeling of isolation, of being set apart from the world,” Cantrell said. “However, the box contains two pears, side by side, not a single pear. Realistic colored-pencil drawing is a slow task with plenty of time for one’s mind to roam. I began to think of my box with two pears as a representation of marriage. In a way, marriage is sort of like isolating yourself in a box with someone else. The world gets to see the side of you that you want to show to it, but that person in the box with you — he’s the one that really gets to know you.”
Cantrell has another colored-pencil drawing that was recently selected to be in a traveling museum show with the International Guild of Realism. That exhibit, Masterworks From the International Guild of Realism, is currently at its first venue in Shreveport, Louisiana, the R.W. Norton Art Gallery.
Cantrell has a Bachelor of Science in Education degree with a major in mathematics from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. She worked as a computer programmer years ago and took up art as a hobby.
She is a member of the International Guild of Realism and the Colored Pencil Society of America.
“I am again humbled at having my work accepted [into the Delta Exhibition],” said Smith, who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “Last year when I visited the exhibit, I was dumbfounded to find my work in the company of so many astonishing artists.
“Last year was the first time I had entered [the exhibition] and was inspired to do so by my daughter, Katie Leath [of Little Rock]. She is my biggest advocate.
“The watercolor I submitted this year is the fourth or fifth retake of the same image, and I am still not satisfied that I conveyed the image as intended. Living in a very rural and remote area, the images that compel me are derived from the landscape around me and from my ranch, Eloraleah.”
Smith’s entry in this year’s show is a watercolor on paper titled Cowgate.
Smith continues to teach art at Mountain View middle and high schools. She is also the Environmental and Spatial Technologies (EAST) facilitator for the Mountain View School District.
“The district supports art education and has sponsored the Arkansas Arts Center Art Mobile coming to campus several times over the past few years,” Smith said. “It visited last year; I hope we will be able to host it again. So many rural students don’t have an opportunity to experience art in a gallery. The art mobile provides that the docent who accompanies the exhibit makes looking at the work much more than simply seeing it.”
Smith holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Chicago. Her degrees are in ceramics, graphite drawing and art history. She also works in watercolors.
In addition to drawing, painting and teaching, Smith breeds Holsteiner horses on her ranch. She gives dressage lessons to riders of all ages, abilities and focus, and is working on earning her U.S. Dressage Federation instructor certification.
The 57th annual Delta Exhibition will remain on view in the Jeannette Edris Rockefeller and Townsend Wolfe galleries at the Arkansas Arts Center through Sept. 20. There is no admission charge.
The Arkansas Arts Center is at Ninth and Commerce streets in Little Rock. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. The gallery is closed on Mondays and major holidays.
For more information, call (501) 372-4000 or visit arkansasartscenter.org.