The Baum Gallery’s newest visiting exhibit, “Arkansas Women to Watch: New Worlds,” celebrates Arkansas’ female artists through a collection rich in diverse mediums and themes.
According to a UCA news release by Thomas Staab, Chany Jewell curated “Arkansas Women to Watch: New Worlds.” Jewell, the curator of collections and exhibitions at the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, included works by Anaïs Dassé, Hannah McBroom, Aimée Papazian and Heidi Carlsen-Rogers in the collection.
The Arkansas Committee National Museum of Women in the Arts website said, “‘Arkansas Women to Watch 2023: New Worlds’ is the latest exhibit in the Women to Watch exhibition series, conceived by the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, D.C. It is the only major museum worldwide solely dedicated to championing women through the arts.”
According to the ACNMW website, this exhibit has traveled from the University of Arkansas in Fort Smith, to the South Arkansas Arts Center in El Dorado, to the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff and now the Baum Gallery at UCA.
Brain Young, director of the Baum Gallery also said he added 11 fiber works by Alice Ayers in the smaller gallery to complement the Women to Watch exhibit.
Gayle Seymour, associate dean of fine arts and communication, said, “I am delighted to see the work of women artists featured in this exhibit. Throughout history, the art world systematically excluded women from participating, whether by restricting their access to art training, developing systems of patronage that favored men or reinforcing societal norms that relegated women to the home and childbearing. Even the title of the exhibit, Women to Watch, intimates women’s leadership, achievement and future prospects.”
Upon entering the Arkansas Women to Watch exhibition, viewers can find five works of Dassé, including “She-Wolf,” “Hog Hunting,” “Philomela et Procne,” “The Offering series — the Meal” and “The Offering series — the Dance.”
According to Dassé’s artist placard, her works combine the use of collage, oil painting, acrylic, charcoal, graphite and gesso.
“Anaïs Dassé describes herself as an archivist of the Fake and an ethnographer of the Maybe, picturing primitive children and young adults as fake ethnographic material … Emigrated from France to the Belt of God, she gives an outsider treatment of the subject of gun representations, religious beliefs and civilization,” states the placard.
The viewer then finds their eyes drawn to Carlsen-Rogers’ two large-scale pieces on the center wall of the gallery.
Carlsen-Rogers’ artist placard said she combined photographic woven tapestry, cotton-polyester-viscose thread and hand-dyed cotton cord for her two pieces: the 91-by-101-inch Undone (Meet me in the Garden) and the 80-by-153-inch Gather (Sacra Conversazione).
“Thread cascades from my floral tapestries as if nature itself is unraveling. The photographic tapestries and thread represent areas of our world that are fragile, fraying or coming apart and offer a visual reflection of our weakening social and natural landscapes,” Carlsen-Rogers said in her artist statement.
"Undone" by Heidi Carlsen-Rogers.
Centered in between Carlsen-Rogers’ two works is Papazian’s porcelain, stoneware, wire, glaze, flocking, plywood, paint and epoxy hanging sculpture titled “Which End is Up?”
Papazian’s artist placard states, “As the fabric of the world unravels, ‘Which End is Up?’ offers an escapist alternative land using elements borrowed from maps and architectural models … The surface whimsy of this piece masks a land where mass-produced machines have displaced all animals, which begs the question: What is the cost of this calm suburban landscape with its many “neutral” shades of white, and who pays it?”
Four oil paintings by McBroom titled “Waiting Room,” “Belladonna,” “Bedroom Eyes” and “What You Came For” populate the gallery’s right wall.
In her artist statement, McBroom said that these pandemic-age paintings “explore themes of transgender identity, materiality and the body. Collectively they are about wounds and recovery.”
According to the ACNMW website, “one of these artists … will be selected to have their work exhibited at NMWA in the spring of 2024.”
Young said, “Primarily we want students to see work by artists of the highest order … These are four artists that essentially are full-time artists. They make their living with their work, so we want them to inspire our students.
“Each of the artists in the exhibition has this large-scale work or works and I think that kind of gives our students a sense of the possible.”
“Arkansas Women to Watch: New Worlds” will be on display at the Baum Gallery until October 13th.
Visitors can access the Baum Gallery 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and until 7 p.m. on Thursdays. Admission is free.
