Home Gallery: A Mini Arkansas Art Tour

Arkansas is fortunate to have such a vibrant art scene. In Little Rock alone there are scores of galleries filled with the works of dozens of incredibly talented artists. Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to collect a handful of great pieces from some of my favorite artists.

However my first purchase wasn’t from a fancy gallery show, but from an Easter Seals silent auction in 2002. Each year the students at the Easter Seals Arkansas center held a big art show featuring work created by the kids. Myself and another magazine coworker were invited to be judges for the show.

Anyway, the kids’ art was also up for auction to raise money, so I bid on a few things and won the above mixed-media piece that reminds me of all the fun I had with my little paint-spinner thing when I was a kid. It’s now hanging in a little nook between two light switches, in our oddly-shaped, pod-like hallway.

In the early days of the magazine I worked for, some new titles were launched, including At Home in New Orleans. There was a huge launch party, complete with people arriving in stretch Hummers (*gag*) and Robin Leach as the event’s host. Yeah, that Robin Leach. I didn’t go, as it was just for the top of the masthead, but we all got to see the unintentionally hilarious DVD chronicling the night. And I think we can agree it all pretty much went down hill from there.

However, the best thing to come out of the whole flustercluck were the great launch party posters designed by the senior designer at the time, Amy (Colclasure) Vaughn. Entitled Voodoo House, I love the color scheme and the Beetlejuice-esque house. She couldn’t believe the first time she saw it hanging in the kitchen of our old house, but she’s a phenomenal illustrator and I just love this. And it also looked fabulous in that orange kitchen!

We acquired the above painting under unfortunate circumstances—after my father-in-law’s sudden death in August 2005…just a month-and-a-half before Matt and I were to be married. The artist, John Deering, has been a political cartoonist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (and before when it was just the Arkansas Democrat) for many years, and his work is loved by many. He and my father-in-law were pals, and besides the above painting, Deering often created sketches and cards and such for Jerry’s birthday or when he was in the hospital many years ago, really setting a high standard for the typical office card.

Not only a gifted artist, Deering is a great guy all around. Last fall he donated several original and limited-edition editorial cartoons for a silent auction I was coordinating for IABC/Arkansas. Even better, I managed to outbid a few folks and acquire a couple more of his works, although they’ve yet to be framed. But this particular painting will always be a favorite, as it truly speaks to my father-in-law’s love for blues and jazz.

Because we’re taking this tour chronologically, the next work of Arkansas art features yours truly; but that’s not why it’s a work of art (although my dress does look fabulous, right?). No, it’s a work of art because it was shot by Nancy Nolan. Nancy is one of the single most wonderful people I have had the privilege of calling a friend, as well as a colleague. Having shot everything local to everything national (New York Times, WWD, Saks, etc.), Nancy is, really, our Annie Liebovitz. The woman is a genius behind the lens, and her level of creativity knows no bounds.

So for Fancy Nancy to shoot my bridal portrait as a wedding gift was such a thrill, and such an honor. Playing around on a tire swing in her front yard in my wedding dress on a pretty fall day was one of the best days ever.

This was my first official big-girl art purchase. I first saw the painting, C. Flower 2 by Ashely Saer, on the invitation to her latest show at Tobi Fairley Gallery in the fall of 2006. As soon as the colorful card came across my desk, I was transfixed with the trio of bouquet oil paintings, but particularly this one. The abstract blooms, the varied hues of my favorite color, and the vase. Especially the vase. We had only been in the new house for a few months, but I had already painted the hall/pod this fun blue (Enchantment by Behr, Home Depot, by the way), and when I saw this painting, with a vase that was virtually the exact same color as the pod walls, I knew it would be mine. I’d long-admired her work, and this was the perfect piece to start a collection with. The color combo and the textural blooms make me happy every time I look at it.

But I didn’t stop there. I also picked up Love Birds, which was completed during the time Saer spent working in France. I thought it was a beautiful way to celebrate our new home and our first anniversary, and I love the unexpected, old-school date stamp in the left corner.

I’d also admired the colorful Kabob series, and decided I had to have Tiny Kabob Rows too. And despite loving the other two paintings, my anti-abstract husband said, “I could do that.” My response? “Then do it.” He’s a graphic artist himself, but so far these are the only colorful kebob watercolors we have hanging on our living room wall.

And finally, the two most recent additions to the pod gallery, which is ideal for small pieces. By local fashion legend and all-around cool person Connie Fails, the paintings, with their chaotic brushstrokes, are diminutive depictions of Hurricane Katrina’s wrath. The top painting is titled simply Nola, the bottom, Shotgun in the Storm. I found both last fall at Local Colour Gallery.