UAPB & ASC: Five Decades of Collaboration

Curator, Dr. Lenore Shoults

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB), a historically Black college in existence for over 140 years, and the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas (ASC), which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2018, have enjoyed decades of collaboration. This exhibition features artwork from ASC’s Permanent Collection by UAPB faculty and students.

Works on exhibit include pieces from each art department chairman: John Miller Howard, Henri Linton, and Danny Campbell. Faculty artists are Tarrence Corbin, Earnest Davidson, Fred Schmidt, and Dr. William Detmers. Students who have gone on to national acclaim include Kevin Cole, Joe Norman, and Dr. Jeff Donaldson with a piece on loan thanks to the UAPB Library and Mr. Ed Fontenette.

Art department chairman for 47 years, Mr. Henri Linton, was an invaluable resource for the exhibition loaning a piece by Isaac Hathaway who came to the university in 1915 to teach ceramics. Mr. Linton shared the art department history with Shoults and these conversations brought to light students who won recognition for their artwork including Rosalie Bushnok, Cathy Burns, and Sheila Cantrell all of whom have pieces in the Permanent Collection which are part of the exhibition.

Exhibition opening reception is February 2nd from 4 pm - 5 pm followed by Live@5 featuring the UAPB Jazz Ensemble. Admission to the art reception and Live @5 is free--in appreciation to the entire community for 50 great years.

Current ASC exhibitions include the STEAM STUDIO How People Make Things exhibition, sponsored by Relyance Bank, offering hands-on activities using real factory tools and machines to create objects with four manufacturing processes- molding, cutting, deforming and assembly; and #GildTheDelta: Recent Works by Norwood Creech, sponsored by Simmons Bank, Norwood incorporates metallic mediums of gold and silver into the paintings capturing the Delta landscape through gilded interpretations. Each painting depicts a specific place: from Native American burial mounds to exact roadside locations, farmer’s pivots in the field to Johnny Cash’s childhood home.  

The Arts & Science Center, located at 701 S. Main St. in Pine Bluff, is open Tuesday–Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 1–4 p.m., and closed on Sunday and Monday. Gallery admission is free. Support for ASC is provided in part by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Hands-on science exhibitions are offered through ASC’s partnership with Arkansas Discovery Network, a consortium of museums in Arkansas funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. For additional information about the ASC and sign up for upcoming event announcements, visit www.asc701.org.