LITTLE ROCK — Works by three artists from the River Valley & Ozark Edition coverage area are once again part of the Small Works on Paper annual touring exhibit sponsored by the Arkansas Arts Council.
Dennis McCann of Maumelle, David Rackley of Russellville and Charlotte Bailey Rierson of Fairfield Bay are among the 36 artists selected for the 2017 Small Works on Paper touring exhibition, which opened Jan. 3 at East Arkansas Community College in Forrest City and continues there until Jan. 27.
Now in its 30th year, Small Works on Paper is a juried visual art exhibition that showcases artwork no larger than 18-by-24 inches by Arkansas artists who are members of the Arkansas Artist Registry (www.arkansasarts.org/Programs/Arkansas-Artist-Registry/artist-registry-list), an online gallery showcasing the artwork of Arkansas artists.
“I have been included in this exhibit about 10 times, and I was included in their first exhibit,” Dennis McCann said. “It is always nice to be accepted into this competition. Being included validates the effort that goes into creating works of art.
“My accepted entry is titled AP and is a pastel detail from a photo that I took in Atlanta, Georgia.”
McCann’s work has been included and won awards in many regional and national exhibitions, including a purchase award in the 2015 SWOP exhibit.
“Like most artists, my work has periods of change or growth as I adapt to new techniques and experiences. These changes deal mostly with subject matter, scale and process. Most of my artwork uses strong sunlight and shadows to establish interesting compositions,” McCann said.
“I am currently working on a series of figurative images from both current and old photographs,” he said. “These images emphasize interesting shapes created by the play of light over the human figure and other objects. They represent a slice of life both past and present. Using playful colors on the figures sometimes creates an abstract quality in a realistic setting. The old black-and-white photos also complement the use of charcoal as a medium.
“To create my artwork, I generally work in my studio, using photographs. The large paper is pinned to the wall, and I listen to music while I draw or paint. Each piece is a representation of the photo, and I make adjustments to the composition based on intensity of light, color or subject complexity.”
McCann holds Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science in Education and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is retired from the Little Rock Fire Department.
This marks the third time Rackley has been selected for the Small Works on Paper exhibit. He had two pieces of work selected for the 2016 SWOP exhibit and received a purchase award for one of them.
“It was great to get accepted into the show again this year,” he said. “I love the concept of an exhibition that travels throughout the state for an entire year. It’s great exposure for the artists and a chance for the public to see what artists around the state are creating.
“My piece in this year’s show, Descending Stairs, is a photograph taken in an abandoned stairway of an apartment where I was staying on Rue Jacob in Paris.”
Rackley said that in November 2016, he received a first-place award in mixed media at the 22nd annual Artists of Northwest Arkansas Regional Exhibition in Fayetteville.
“Other than that, I have been working on a Delta
series with hand-painted photographs from the Helena area and Louisiana,” he said. “So far, I’ve been concentrating on abandoned buildings, cemeteries, signs and remnants of the past. It’s an ongoing project that keeps growing.”
Rackley received a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology at Arizona State University and has traveled extensively, photographing in Mexico, Guatemala, South America, Southeast Asia and Europe. He later received a master’s degree in education from the University of South Carolina. His camera of choice is a large 4x5 view camera.
Rierson said this is the fifth time her work has been selected for the Small Works on Paper exhibit.
“One year, I won a purchase award for my painting Celebration,” she said, adding that the painting is in the Arts Council’s permanent collection.
“It was such an honor to get accepted into the exhibit this year,” Rierson said. “I am competing with outstanding artists in all mediums on paper. We never know what paintings will be chosen. As most of us know, art is in the eye of the beholder.”
Rierson said the painting that was chosen for this year’s SWOP exhibit is one of three paintings from her Dream Series, titled Panic (Fear).
“I have recurring dreams that I am lost or running from something, which is frightening to me,” she said. “I painted this of myself with passion, using loose, evocative brushwork techniques.
“I wanted the viewers to feel the emotion of my fear and panic.”
A graduate of the University of Central Arkansas with a Bachelor of Science in Education degree in art, Rierson is a signature artist and a past president of the Mid-
Southern Watercolorists, as well as a signature artist of the Arkansas League of Artists. She is also president of the North Central Arkansas League of Artists. In the early 1990s, she established the North Central Arkansas Art Gallery at Fairfield Bay and is now the gallery coordinator and a contributing artist.
Rierson said 2016 was “an exciting and rewarding year” for her. She was juried into the Arkansas League of Artists’ fall exhibit in Little Rock and won first place in the abstract category of the Conway League of Artists’ spring show in Conway. Her paintings were chosen to be included in an online registry sponsored by the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. She also had a one-woman exhibit at First Security Bank in Clinton, and her paintings were shown at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre
in Little Rock during its production of The Bridges of Madison County.
The entries for the 2017 Small Works on Paper traveling exhibit were juried by
David Houston, executive director of The Bo Bartlett Center at Columbus State University’s College of the Arts in Columbus, Georgia.
The remainder of the 2017 Small Works on Paper touring schedule includes the following:
• Feb. 1-24: The Alma Performing Arts Center,
103 E. Main St. in Alma; call (479) 632-2129 for more information.
• March 6-27: Northwest Arkansas Community College, 1 College Drive in Bentonville; call (479) 636-9222.
• April 5-28: The William F. Laman Public Library, 2801 Orange St. in North Little Rock; call (501) 758-1720.
• May 3-29: Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas, 1000 Campus Road in Helena; call (870) 338-6474.
• June 3 through July 11: The Arts Council of Mississippi County, 306 W. Main St. in Blytheville; call (870) 762-1744.
• July 20 through Aug. 26: The Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, 701 Main St. in Pine Bluff; call (870) 536-3375.
• Sept. 4-29: Southern Arkansas University, 100 E. University St. in Magnolia; call (870) 235-4000.
• Oct. 5-26: Ouachita Baptist University, 410 Ouachita St. in Arkadelphia; call (870) 245-5000.
• Nov. 6-24: Southern Arkansas University Tech, 6415
Spellman Road in East Camden; call (870) 574-4500.
For more information on Small Works on Paper, visit www.arkansasarts.org or call (501) 324-9767.