Cantrell Gallery and Mid-Southern Watercolor Exhibit

“A sincere artist is not one who makes a faithful attempt to put on to canvas what is in front of him, but one who tries to create something which is, in itself, a living thing.” -----William Dobell

Greetings Artists and Patrons of ArkansasArtists.com

Sunday July 14th Helen, Cindy and Clarke at Cantrell Gallery featured the Mid-Southern Watercolor Artists Event. The event started with a reception for the artists and friends with a wonderfully delightful spread of wine, cheese, fruit and other delisious finger foods. Everyone who attended had a wonderful time and I got to visit with Arkansas Artists: Marlene Gremillion, Diane Ziemski, Terry and Debi Bean, Duane Hada and many others. Most of the artists present were entrants and winners of the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion Association art calendar competition that was announced several weeks ago. ArkansasArtists.com play an important roll in helping organize, create and run the competition along with Ginger Beebe and many other wonderful volunteers from the Governor’s Mansion Association.

Helen tells me that the watercolorist’s exhibit will be displayed for several months so please make it a point to drop by Cantrell Gallery to see all the wonderful art created by some of the most talented artists from our state. Also, join me in congratulating all the artists that participated in the gallery exhibit and I promise you will be captivated by all the exquisite art, not to mention that Helen, Cindy and Clarke are delightful conversationalists so you will not be disappointed when you stop in to view their collection. Cantrell Gallery will soon be one ArkansasArtists.com’s coveted sponsors and we want to welcome and thank them for being part of Arkansas’s best website that showcases Artists from the great State of Arkansas.

"My emotions, dreams and feelings transformed into the colors and images on the canvas are my paintings."::: Nick Japaridze :::

Greetings Artists and Patrons of ArkansasArtists.com,

My apologies for being remiss in my postings but we have been busy with the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion Art Calendar Competition which is finally coming to an end with the calendar picks being announced this weekend.

Thursday June the 28, I had the pleasure of attending a reception for the newly formed Partners Insurance Agency at Lulav’s Modern Eatery. I got to talk with the President of Partners Insurance Morgan Pile as well as Jay Davidson and the lovely Jennifer Davis. I talked with Matt Lile who is also one of the owners of Lulav. There was an excellent selection of wine, beer, cocktails and some amazing appetizers that were created by the head chef at Lulav which were magnificently delicious. A great time was had by all who attended, as seen above, and the esthetics of the building and the ambiance of the restaurant were delightful. Matt told me he could accommodate as many as 200 people in their reception area and restaurant. After the reception I set with some friends who were eating on the restaurant side and they said the service was awesome and the entrees were absolutely exquisite. They were on they way to see “The Full Monty” which I got a chance to enjoy the last night of the season a week later and I must say, it was a fabulous presentation which had us rolling with laughter in our seats. This coming “Second Friday Art Walk” in beautiful downtown Little Rock you will find me finishing the evening at Lulav restaurant for some of the downtown areas finest dining. I hope to see you there.

Second Friday Art Walk Downtown Little Rock

Greetings Artists and patrons of ArkansasArtists.com:

The weather was perfect for the Second Friday Art Walk in beautiful downtown Little Rock. The streets were bustling with anxious art patrons and people generally just out for a well earned good time at the end of their busy work week. The trolleys were glistening by in reds and yellows and as you walked by you could hear music and merriment beaming from each establishment. Their were street musicians, dancers and a living Michael Jackson statue (my personal favorite) as you navigated through the multitudes making you way down Clinton Avenue.

It was a business as usual scene at the local art galleries with wine, soft drinks and appetizers but much to my chagrin, I did not get to talk with any featured artists this evening. Feeling rather vexed we moseyed over to Rumbas for a bite to eat out on the back porch where Barrett Baber supplied a delightful repertoire of originals and his renditions of many famous artists. His acoustic guitar sounded awesome and his voice was reminiscence of Dave Mathews. All in all, a great time was had by all who were there.

I had Rumbas’ Cuban style Ahi Tuna with black beans and rice which was absolutely exquisite and the top-shelf margaritas’ were outstanding. We stayed for two or three of Barrett’s sets and bid beautiful downtown Little Rock adieu. So until next time, we hope your glasses stay filled and your expectations are gratified.

M2 Gallery Grand Opening

M2 Gallery Grand Opening

We have been remiss in posting the last three to four weeks because of the immense flow of art entrees we have had to process for the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion Art Competition. With that said, thank goodness the dead line for entries was Friday June 1st so now we can concentrate on ArkansasArtists.com.

M2 Gallery had their Grand Opening featuring two distinguished Arkansas Artists; V.L. Cox and Jason Gammell. John and Kim Magee, and Mac and Ashley Murphy, the owners of M2 Gallery in the new Pleasant Ridge Town Center on Cantrell in Little Rock, were present and I spoke with them about the interesting artists and the exquisite art on display. M2 is a prestigious gallery with some great artists from our state and around the world. They had live music, wine, beer and some awesome appetizers, so all who attended had a wonderful time.

I got to speak with Jason Gammell about his intriguing style and the way he manipulates his acrylic medium to produce his exceptional abstract renditions of time, space and dimension that seem to draw you into his creation.

I also had the pleasure of visiting with the delightfully perky V.L. Cox who is always a pleasure to talk with. She is one of the most assiduously creative artists that I know, whose genius blend of acrylic, mixed media and excitingly unusual objects will capture you gaze for hours. Each of her pieces is like a marvelous novel that you just can not put down, one that captures your imagination as you try to visualize her inner most emotions.

After our immensely enjoyable tour of the M2 Gallery we walked next door to one of Little Rocks newest sensational restaurants called Crew for an exquisite dinner. I had the delectable grilled yellow fin tuna which was presented in an art like form. The food and the wine were both excellent and the service was outstanding bringing our evening of art, music and dining to a delightful end. I hope to see you next Friday at the 2nd Friday Art Walk in beautiful downtown Little Rock.

Al Hooks Gallery in Eureka Springs Grand Opening

Al Hooks had the Grand opening for his signature gallery in Eureka Springs the 2nd week in May. The Hooks Gallery is at 7 Center Street in the beautiful down town area of Eureka Springs.

Al is one of our premier artists at ArkansasArtists.com. The next time your in Eureka Springs visit Al's fabulas new gallery and let him know you heard about it here at ArkansasArtists.com.

Friday Night at Cantrell Gallery, May 4, 2007

Greetings Art Patrons and Arkansas Artists:

Friday night May 4, 2007 was an outstanding night at Cantrell Gallery

The Cantrell Gallery is at 8206 Cantrell in the strip center across from Pavilion in the Park in Little Rock. This evening’s exhibit could have been called City of Angels with an awesome display by Virginia Williamson from Junction City. Virginia, pictured above next to one of her pieces, works in a mixed media of acrylic and oil pastels. This particular piece is done on a sheet of tar paper which makes it particularly unique. I loved her use of a technique double layering acrylic paint then dripping alcohol on it to create beautiful expressions of colors. She also incorporates crushed paper soaked in latex paint and for additional effects she uses scrap pieces found at the local scrap metal yard for emphasis.

Cantrell Gallery was packed for the event and I got to speak with Helen Scott who owns Cantrell Gallery along with her husband Norman. Helen has hundreds of exquisite art works from many different Artists from the State of Arkansas. She is also one of the many galleries’ sponsoring the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion Association art competition project to raise money to purchase art for display in the Governor’s Mansion. ArkansasArtists.com hopes to have Cantrell Gallery as one of our sponsors’s to keep ArkansasArtists.com, the premier web site that showcases Artists from our State, free to our Artists.
After a wonderful visit at the Cantrell Gallery exhibit we went journeyed to the downtown area that was bumper to bumper, after which we decided to sojourn our way to Loco Luna’s for a delightful meal. I had the Voodoo Stew which was delicious, and my son had the Brick Oven Pepperoni Pizza which he claims is the best pizza in town. As we bid you farewell we are looking forward to another wonderful 2nd Friday Art Walk May the 11th in beautiful downtown Little Rock.

Hot Springs First Friday Art Walk, April 6, 2007

Artists and patrons of ArkansasArtists.com

Last Friday night was the First Friday Art Walk in beautiful down town Hot Springs. The weather was quite brisk but we had a great time. We started out visiting Gallery Central and talking with owner Bess Sanders. Her theme this night was “Horses, Horses, and Horses” and we view some of the most awesome equestrian/horse racing art we have seen. We also had the pleasure of speaking with Gallery Central’s Featured Artist Jan Woods who displayed some exquisitely beautiful horse racing sculptures featured in the pictures below.Next we visited the Artists’ Workshop Gallery a few doors down where we spoke with their Featured Artist Shirley Anderson and view some of her wonderful pastel works. I especially loved the piece titled Alpandiere, Espana as seen in the top left of her picture below. We cut our chilly outing short and had dinner at Ristorante Belle Arti across the street where the cuisine was absolutely outstanding and the service was great. All in all we had an extremely wonderful evening despite the cold and are looking forward to returning to the beautiful city of Hot Springs on the next First Friday Art Walk when the weather should be much more conducive to Gallery hopping. We will be sure to look for you there.